Invasion is Inevitable

Before Ryan moved to the other side of the planet, he got my kids a little ant farm. We had to send away for ants and I kind of forgot about the farm -- until this morning when the ants arrived in the mail. I am not afraid of ants. I don't really like having them on me, but I wasn't terribly worried. If an ant were to get out of the jar before I got it in the farm, I would just let it crawl on my finger and then put it in it's new home. Then, on the outside of the ant container I see this on the label:

WARNING: DO NOT HANDLE ANTS, THEY MAY STING.

What? Why would they send me ants that sting?!?!? Needless to say, I was a little more anxious about the transfer process. Sure enough, 3 ants escaped and I had flashes in my head of ant colonies springing up all over my house -- crawling all over my kids and stinging them in their sleep -- a huge fumigation tent over my house -- eventually burning the house down because these ants are indestructible. I put on my big girl panties and picked them up with a butter knife and got them in the ant farm. No casualties. I was pretty happy about it. Of course, the kids wanted them to start digging right away. They aren't very patient. This is what I found a few minutes later:

Tori was a little wary of the ants and I was glad. Just what I need is her getting curious, taking off the top and setting all the ants free.

Little did I know, that wasn't her plan at all. Her plan was to take off the lid, lure a few helpless (perhaps stinging) ants out of their safe, new home, and crush them! She brought me a handful of dead ants a few minutes later!!! Ugh. There was one ant alive crawling up her arm and it was freaking her out, so she squashed it and brought the death toll higher. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. At least now I know that if the ants somehow get out of the ant farm, all I need to do is send Tori after them and she'll have them taken care of in no time.

For now, the ant farm is living on top of the refrigerator where they are safe from the clutches of Tori-zilla.

Good Grief!! I was just about to publish this post when I heard Tyler yelling that an ant had escaped! I ran to him and found the ant farm in the hallway!!! Who got the ant farm down? No one's 'fessing up to the crime. Sigh. This may not last throughout the day. (I got the ant back in the ant farm safe and sound and it's back on the fridge. I threatened the kids with an hour in their room if I saw anyone going near it again.)

I feel like they are all over me!!!

It's a Giveaway!!

It seems like everyone is having a giveaway these days on their blogs, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. The only problem is, I don't have anything to give away -- except my respect and adoration. So, that's what you'll get if you win. What do you have to do to win this amazing prize? All you have to do is agree with me. I know! It's so easy! Especially since I'm right.

My Position: Mustaches make men look creepy.

My Evidence:

SEE WHAT I MEAN ?!?!?!?!?

 Isn't this better?

I'm not a hater. He looks good with facial hair. There just needs to be more than just a mustache!

Even when he's being goofy, he still looks funny, not creepy.

In this picture, Ben was at Wal-Mart looking at glasses with Tyler. Just imagine a guy with a nasty mustache trying on little boy glasses. Yeah, not so cute anymore, is it?

So, if you agree with me, leave me a comment and I will respect/love/adore you (whichever you prefer) and hopefully Ben will not have his feelings hurt too much by my little giveaway. :-) 

I love you, Benamin! 

(just not the 'stache)

The Price I Pay for Some Extra Zzzzzz's

I was up late last night. And the night before. And the night before that. It's starting to catch up with me. I couldn't seem to drag my buns out of bed this morning and since we didn't have anything we had to do this morning, I stayed in bed. It was wonderful. I had my bedroom window open and I felt the cool, summer morning breeze on my face. I could hear my kids playing nicely together in the toy room. My muscles were sore from working out, but that meant that I had worked really hard and that felt good too. Then I heard it: the very unique sound of Rice Krispies on hard wood floor. I was out of bed in no time at all. I found Tori in the middle of the mess looking like this:

I managed to get her out of there and brush off her feet before she could go Godzilla on the scene and track the debris into the rest of the house.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY: Tomorrow, I'll make her breakfast before I climb back in bed. :-)

At the Dentist

I've been feeling parental guilt. I know I need to take Tori to the dentist. I realize that dental health is important. Does that make me want to do it? Nope. Not even a little bit. The first time I took Nicole to the dentist, she screamed and cried so much that she threw up all over the hygienist. Tyler wasn't much better. He cried and then bit the hygienist. They both do much better now, but I was still really not looking forward to Tori's first visit. However, I was feeling brave one day and made an appointment for the girls. Two kids at once? Am I crazy? Like I said, I was feeling brave. I went into it expecting the worst. What did I get? Tori was an angel. Yeah, I thought it was weird too. Would you believe me if I told you she even let them do x-rays? Yeah, I didn't think so, that's why I took some pictures to prove it.

No cavities!!!! Maybe next time she'll be a monster, but that's not for another 6 months. I'll worry about it then.

Watch out, Bangkok. Here comes Ryan!

Bangkok is a big place. Going to this big place by yourself when you don't know anyone, don't speak the language, and don't have a place to live would be scary. Well, it would be scary for me. For my little brother, it's an adventure. He's on a plane right now with a couple of backpacks and is going to spend a couple of years teaching science to middle school kids. Why? Well, because he wants to, that's why.

I have to admit, I sort of hate the idea of him being so far away. I have had a few teeny-tiny crying spells thinking about him being so far away for such a long time. But I thought I would be okay... until I saw him walk down the stairs with a tear stained face. Ryan was my very best friend growing up. We don't see each other as much as I would like (and that's going to get worse now), but he will always be my little brother and I will always love him more than he knows. I tried to explain to my kids that he was moving away for a long time. They didn't seem to understand. They weren't upset at all! I told Tyler that he wouldn't see Ryan until he was 8, Nicole would be 6, and Tori would be 4 (yikes! that means I'll be 31 when he gets home!!). They still didn't seem upset. I guess that's good, I don't want them to be sad. I told them that when I was little Ryan and I were best friends just like Tyler and Nicole. Then I asked Tyler if he wanted Nicole to move away for 2 years. He said maybe Tori could move for 2 years and Nicole could stay. The kids had lots of fun with him (and Uncle Jason) for a few days before he left. We got out the kiddie pool at grandma's and the kids laughed until they could barely stand up.

When it came time to actually say goodbye, I told the kids to give Uncle Ryan a big hug. Tyler provided the perfect comic relief by saying, "Bye Ryan, see you when I'm 8." It was funny and it made us all laugh which helped calm down the crying-fest that was quickly developing. The good news is that with the help of technology, we can talk on Skype, keep up on Facebook, send emails, and put home videos on YouTube. He can also check this lovely blog and see how big my kids are getting. :-)

I wish I would have thought about getting a picture with him BEFORE we both started crying. Time to put on a brave face for the camera.

            Come home safe, little brother.

Places Legos DON'T Belong

The nose. It should let smells in and mucous out. Legos don't belong in that sentence at all. Apparently Nicole didn't agree.

It's hard to tell, but that lego is pretty far up there. Worse yet, she was crying hysterically and kept sniffing and getting it farther and father up her nose! Finally -- with the help of a small lollipop -- I got her to calm down and I armed myself with tweezers. She stops me and says, "wait, I want to look in the mirror and see it," Seriously? I'm worried this thing is going to get sniffed into her sinus or something and she wants to see it? So, I grabbed the camera and took a picture. She wouldn't let me pull it out until she had seen the picture.

(The first picture wasn't good enough. I had to open her nostril and take another picture with flash so she could see it. This isn't really the time to be picky, Sweetheart.)

I guess it had to happen sooner or later. Thank goodness I was able to get it out myself!

Make-up Mishaps

I walked in my room and this is what I found:

When I threatened to take it away, this is the face she made (notice the vein sticking out of her neck, she's winding up for a big fit)

 

When I finally got the lip gloss out of her hand, she dropped to the floor and did this:

You should be glad that I did a photo instead of a video. Your ear drums would be bleeding right now if you had to listen to that.