Water plants.

Water plants.

My father-in-law and his wife asked if we would keep their plants when they moved to another, hotter, state last month. I warned them that, no doubt about it, they would be dead when they returned for them.

I was not joking even a little.

I cannot keep plants alive for the life of me. I either forget about them and they die or I worry about them to much and overcare for them and they die. I have killed bamboo before and that's pretty hard to do.

But, as most kids are, my children are fascinated by seeds and plants. I taught Taylor the process of photosynthesis (and the intellectual-sounding words that come along with it) when she was only two. So, conceding to their begging, I allowed them to pick out a seed packet at the store and we came home and planted them and placed them in the kichen windowsill. At the kids' persuasion, I even picked a packet for myself. We put them in color-coordinated cups so we would know whose was whose.

Over the past three days, two of the colored cups have begun to sprout beautifully.

One shows no sign of life. Any guess whose cup that is?

Go on a cruise.

Go on a cruise.

My mother-in-law called us from the Gulf of Mexico Sunday to wish my hubby a happy birthday (Happy Birthday, hun) and to tell us about what happened that day on her cruise.

Buy new stroller.

Buy new stroller.


Since the mouse ate through our double stroller and I promptly disposed of it, I was on the prowl for a new one. Not just any double stroller, but the perfect double stroller.

I was looking for something that wasn't too big for small aisles at the malls (like my jogging stroller), something that could still handle long casual strolls outdoors (like the zoo), but something that was comfortable enough the kids would actually stay put in it (unlike my Sit-N-Stand stroller, where I end up pushing the stroller, holding one kid, and holding the other's hand).

I was at Toys-R-Us when unexpectedly, I found it-- The Fisher-Price Kid Utility Vehicle. The name alone is so cool I knew I had to have it. But when my kids saw it and went crazy for it, I was certain it was the stroller for us. Since I eventually bought it online, and will not be returning it, I have to like it. So I do. And here are my reasons why:

The kids sit facing each other, which keeps them entertained, the seats are super-padded and comfortable, it has off-road wheels, and it pulls like a wagon (which is perfect for me as I am one of those people who pulls the grocery cart from the front at the grocery store because pushing it just isn't comfortable, and certainly doesn't look as cool).

I think it will be the perfect stroller for Disneyland. So now I suppose we have to go.

The Cons:

It is hard to take downhill, so it is not a stroller for say, my neighborhood which consists solely of steep hills. I was going to take the kids to the park in it. I turned around half-way.

It folds up compactly and simply, but it is much more complicated and time-comsuming than flipping a latch and pushing it together.

I guess there's always a price that comes, though, with being cool.

Do Laundry.

Do Laundry.

It was a good thing the family had so much fun at the birthday party because that night was spent cleaning up round after round of kid vomit.

I spent the entirety of that night holding towels under Chase's mouth (a method my hubby was skeptical of but, as I saw it, my only option as my 2-year old refused to use a bowl).

The next day was my turn. Then my daughter's.

Needless to say we had a LOT of laundry piled up on the laundry room. I was once again self-assured I made the right decision on splurging for my new washer and dryer, which are AWEsome and (yay!) I finally get a chance to blog about.

The washer holds 23 towels! So freakin' awesome. (It is the set pictured above, though this is not my photo as my washer and dryer are not displayed in my living room. But how cool is it that they could be?)

I still had to do like 6 rounds of laundry to catch up. Now I just need a machine that folds and puts away . . .

Have more fun.

Have more fun.


We went to a birthday party last week for a friend's daughter at Bouncin' off the Walls --basically a huge warehouse filled with gianormous inflatable slides and obstacle courses . . . so pretty much heaven on earth for any kid.

The best part is adults are allowed to play too. The kids all had a blast but I'm pretty sure Jake and I had more fun (and made bigger fools of ourselves) than any kid there. Thanks, Mark and Amy!

Set Clocks Forward.

Set Clocks Forward.




Best idea ever. If it was so easy to change the law to give us even more daily sunlight, why oh why wasn't this done decades ago?





My only, ONLY concern is the affect this will have on the glow-in-the-dark costume industry for Halloween trick-or-treating, now that there will be less hours of candy gathering in the darkness.





Is it because of all the talk about global warming and saving energy?





And the even bigger question: Is Al Gore going to take credit now for inventing this too?

Brush kids' teeth better.

Brush kids' teeth better.

When I took Taylor in for her Kindergarten doctor's exam (yikes!), the doctor asked me if she brushed her teeth by herself. I laughed and told him my kids will be teenagers before I trust them to brush their own teeth.

He recommended this new product I hadn't heard of yet. It's a listerine mouth wash that tastes good, has all the benefits of listerine, and coolest part--it tints the plaque in your mouth blue.

Remember those red tabs from 80's elementary school dental care assemblies (or was that just my school who had those every year)? Same principle but with a way cooler name and color.

Now, my kids are going on 3 and 5 and turns out the process of rinshing your mouth and spitting is still too abtract for them, but I think it's a great idea for older kids. And I found myself using it for kicks too. Pretty cool stuff.