mommypalooza™ ~ a daily dose of mommy mayhem.

Yet another smart move by me.

A couple of weeks ago I received a promotional email about purchasing this year's Entertainment Book for $4.99.  Now, normally I would've already purchased mine for the year but for some reason hadn't yet.  So, naturally I went online and paid for it and a few days later it was in my mailbox. 

Since then David and I have made such good use of it that we've paid for it ten-fold!  Tonight?  Oh, yeah, we're using our buy-one-get-one-free coupon from Culver's for a two-scoop sundae.  I'll be stopping by there on my way back home from bible study.

Doing what they're supposed to be and having fun.

So the babes are having fun creating wonderful memories with their Grammy & Popo in Texas, but they're also remembering to brush their teeth!  I miss them so much, but these make me smile! (Thanks for the pics, mom!)

Dating for married folk.

D and I have truly been enjoying our time together since the kids have been in Texas for the past few days.  Not that we don't miss them or talk about them and their little nuances constantly, but we are getting to do a few things together that we haven't done in over four years.

Today I was able to start work on my closet.  Now for those of you whom I've been too embarrassed to even let see my closet, lemme tell ya' - it needs work, ya'll!  So yesterday I drug the huge rolling rack in from the garage and began to sort all of my clothes into three parts:

• Keep-ers
• Giveaway-ers
• Garage Sale-ers

That part was actually pretty painless.  Now I just have a humongo pile of clothes that I need to get ready for garage sale-ing.  It's actually kind of nice to see all of my wardrobe organized in one orderly fashion.  Now I can actually see how many tees, shorts, etc. I have without having to waste time going hanger-by-hanger to see what is where.  I do have to say though that I am a little short on fun tops (I've got the tees and tanks part covered), so I foresee a little shopping trip after this whole closet cleaning thing is done.  Tomorrow I'll begin going through D's stuff and sifting things out and then I'll be begin actually setting up a functional closet, utilizing the damn great space we have up there.  So, realistically this whole project could take another day or two.

D and I were invited a few weeks ago to a post-Jiggle Jam thank you party that was going on tonight so we decided to head out and grab dinner before we went to the party.  Now, this is where the dating part comes in.  We went out for a quick bite to eat (with a buy one get one free coupon, of course!)  At one point after we had been seated and were waiting for our food, I mentioned to D how weird it was to just be sitting there enjoying our beverages while we waited without anything to do.  No high chairs to settle into or straw fights between kids.  Just D and I sitting peacefully. 

So dinner was great.  And, as if that weren't enough, afterwards we went out for a little treat.  YUM-O!  D made mention of the fact that we don't take our kids out for ice cream like that, yet when they're gone we decide to go.  I told him it was no big deal.  We are allowed to do that every once in a while!  The ice cream was great and we then headed off to the party.  We had fun visiting with my great pal (and mom expert!), Amy, of course Jim and Jeni, and Tara (who, by the way, does HR for THE company for women to work for in Kansas City!), and the fabulous peeps over at the coolest PR firm in town, and countless others.  As we arrived they all asked D and I about our kids and when we explained to them that they weren't in town, everyone oohed and ahhhed over all of the "things you could get done!"  I must say that I definitely do miss my little babes, but I could totally get used to this dating thing!

Five things.

So, here are my Five Things for today.  With it being a full 24 hours since I last saw the kids, I've discovered five things that I've enjoyed doing thus far.

• Shopping for sunglasses is a breeze without the usual suspects trying on every pair and dropping them off of racks.
• Scrabble actually can be played in an orderly fashion on the kitchen table without little hands running over to scatter the lettered squares.
• Eating chips and salsa for dinner really is quite enjoyable!
• Saying "that sucks" out loud without looking over your shoulder feels mighty good!
• It's no big deal if you're husband is making all kinds of noise with the slushie maker at 10 o'clock at night fixing up some alcoholic concoctions.

And, they're off!

Grammy and the kids took off this morning at about 8:30.  Of course, I got a little teary-eyed.  Who wouldn't?  W just kept waving his little hand at me saying, "byeeee!" and N was as eager as ever to jump into his carseat and get all settled and ready for the long drive to the Lone Star State.  As I kissed and hugged him for the billionth time, I reminded him of these things:

• Listen to Grammy & Popo.
• Take care of W and be a good big brother.
• Call me.
• Have fun.
• Say your prayers.
• I love you and I'll be right here when you come back.

Of course, he was like, "okay, okay, mom, okay". 

Now I'm left with this empty house full of toys.  And, I haven't showered yet this morning.  I have all these things I want to do with my time, but yet, I am procrastinating.  Maybe I'll take the phone into the bathroom with me so if they call, I won't miss it!

I love red meat.

There's no two ways about it.  It's yummy.  It's good for you.  It's expensive.  It's worth it.  Now I'll be the first to tell you that I'm no cook.  Nah.  Nothing like my younger sis who can just whip up a batch of homemade pesto from scratch.  But, I'll be darn if I wouldn't do just about anything (even learn to cook!) for a juicy, succulent, melt-in-your-mouth piece of meat like this:

Yes, I had already taken a couple of bites by the time I realized I'd wanted to capture the essence of this wonderfully cooked meal.  So this is what I was treated to last night by my wonderful husband for our anniversary.  J. Alexander's is my all time favorite place to devour meat and I'd say it's easily been two or three years since D and I set foot in there.  The food was beyond excellent; the service was beyond impeccable.

Post dinner, we headed over to the movie theater to enjoy a funny flick and a bag of popcorn.  Actually, I didn't have any of the popcorn or the soda.  I was so completely stuffed!  You know I must've eaten well if I passed on popcorn - that's a rareity!

My take on the whole evening?  A complete treat! 

7 years ago today (and, on an island!)

(If you can't view the show, visit it here).

So tonight to celebrate our 7 years of wonderful married bliss, we'll be enjoying a movie and dinner at my favorite restaurant!  Last night we also watched our wedding video with the kids and had a fun time laughing at how much we've all changed in the past 7 years!  When we asked N why he wasn't in the video, he replied, "mmm...because there's no kids allowed there!"  I highly doubt he will actually feel that same way when it comes time to venture back out to Hawaii!  When I asked him what his favorite part of the wedding video was he also told me it was the dove release.  Nevermind that his parents were getting married on the most beautiful resort EVER - he just liked the doves! 

So, in honor of my wonderful husband and the past 7 years we've shared with each other as husband and wife, here are 7 things I absolutely LOVE about my marriage:

1. We've been together for over 15 years and sometimes behave like we're still in high school!
2. We've produced two handsome, smart, funny, independent, and loving sons.
3. All the wonderful memories we've created with each other and our kids.
4. That we still use our pet names for each other that we created when we were teenagers!
5. How supportive we are of each other's hobbies, interests and various ventures, past and present!
6. We are each other's biggest fans!
7. That over the years our marriage, love and respect has evolved so much yet stayed the same in all the right ways.

I think we're the first to have these.

Today while D & N went to exchange some of our mail-in Blockbuster movies, they managed to pick these up as well:

It's the long awaited Wall-E & Eve.  N & W have known these characters by name for months!  The movie finally opens this weekend, but alas, they will be on their Texas vacation by then so we'll have to wait until July to see it in theatres.  D said the toy figurines hadn't even been put into the Blockbuster inventory system when they went to buy them yesterday so they had to wait a while for them to actually put them into their computers before ringing them up.  The boys are so into robots, it's sickening!  From robot dances to robot commands and chores, the T household is full of 'bot tots!

Grammy + bubbles = smiling kids.

Today was an exciting (and long!) day for the T household.  Of course, when does it not feel hectic around here?  After heading home from a birthday party this afternoon, the kids and I took a two-hour nap!  I have no idea why I felt the need to sleep so darn much but was definitely tired!

Afterwards, my mom called and informed me she was nearly here!  I gasped!  I really didn't think she'd make it here this weekend and was hoping to see her sometime this week, so her news was a very pleasant surprise!  The boys were so excited that they kept watch out for her through the storm door and waited till she finally arrived.  The moment she arrived, she was hurried upstairs to read books, play, and who knows what else with N & W!   After dinner we headed outside for some fun with bubbles.

I am pooped!

Today has been absolutely exhausting!  I got to run to Sam's by myself this morning to pick up a few essentials while D stayed around with the kids before heading into the office.  I love being able to buy two pounds of organic strawberries for just under $5!  What a steal!  Afterwards we were going to meet N's friend Cole and his mom and baby sister for a pool playdate and picnic. 

So there I am at my mother-in-law's pool and I had just unloaded the car with all of our gear and I see the lifeguard gal taping a sign to the front gate that reads, "Sorry, pool closed".  I was like, "WTF?" After asking her what the heck was going on she politely told me that they had found poop in the pool so they were going to have to flush the entire pool out with chlorine and wouldn't be able to open back up for at least two hours!  So I quickly called Ang who was on her way and we made Plan B:  head on over to our neighborhood pool (a.k.a., the ghetto pool because it has no waterslide!) instead.  So, I quickly ran back to the house and picked up our pool key and a few other pool toys since I figured the boys would be bored seeing as there was no slide to keep them occupied.

We arrived at our 'hood pool and unloaded and the boys wasted no time literally jumping right into the water for a swim.  After Ang, Cole, and Olivia arrived, we just hung out, had lunch and snacks, and enjoyed the sun.  I didn't even think about my email or computer ONCE!  (Okay, maybe just once or twice)  We left the pool at about 3 p.m. and came straight home for naps.  I finally got a moment to sit at my computer and check email, etc.  when it hit me that I am so unbelievably tired!  I am going to a workshop tonight that I am very excited about so I know I must get my energy back but for now I am enjoying looking at my arms which look fabulous sans the "farmer tan", as my sister would call it.  And, my thighs now match the color of the rest of my legs - no more bermuda-shorts tan.