Adventures in Munchkinland: November 2008

No "Good Mommy" Awards for Me

The other day, I could hear a tell tale creaking coming from The Princess' room, in addition to the usual radio blaring (she constantly has music playing in her room). She was listening to Abba - she loves the song Mamma Mia, probably from all the movie previews. :)

What was the creaking sound? Well, she doesn't have the world's strongest bed. Based on the noise, I knew that she must be jumping upon the poorly-constructed contraption.

What should I have done? A good mommy would go into her child's bedroom and sternly remind her of the lesson learned in the book "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." The well-behaved child would have been able to relate, because it's one of her favorite bed time stories.

What did I do? I told her to wait for a minute while I put a new memory card in my camera. After I set up the flash, I told her to start jumping again. Wanna see the proof that I'm a bad mommy? Here's the evidence.

Photobucket

Don't worry - my "bad mommyness" doesn't extend to allowing my children to write on the walls wherever they wish. The top part of the wall in the background is covered in dry-erase material and the bottom half is purple chalkboard paint (yep, it comes in colors now - how cool is that?!?).

Photobucket

More Fun at the Doctor's Office

We went back to the doctor's office for the third time in a week-and-a-half. The Princess had her 5-year-old well child check-up, and Sparky had her ears re-examined (they're fine) so that she could get her four-month immunizations. They both had shots today. Amazingly, I still have two happy girls at home right now (knock on wood). It's even more amazing since Miss Sparky still hasn't had a decent nap today.

The Princess is apparently following in my footsteps. She failed her vision exam, so we have to make an appointment with the opthamologist. She also *techinically* failed her hearing test, but since she hears everything at home, they'll re-test her before kindergarten next year. The doctor also recommended a good pediatric dentist and wants us to take her to see a genetecist, since there's apparently some testing that can be done to possibly determine whether or not she has her dad's syndrome (although a negative isn't a guarantee that she doesn't have it). Thank goodness for flex spending - especially with our crappy new benefits.

After her check-up, The Princess and Sparky both got their immunizations. Sparky went first, and they woke her up from a mini nap to stick a needle in her leg - she was NOT happy about it. But she calmed down pretty quickly. Then it was The Princess' turn - two nurses came into the room - one for each leg (I'm grateful they try to do it as quickly as possible by having two people administer two different shots). She was okay with the Polio vaccine, but the MMR made her cry just a little. She was really brave, though, and settled down the moment they told her she could go look in the "treasure box."

So that was our excitement for the day. We'll see if I still have 2 happy girls this evening. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Salsa Chicken - Yummy!

We're having one of my favorite recipes for dinner tonight - Salsa Chicken in the crockpot. It's so yummy (and ridiculously easy) that I have to share the recipe. Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible for any failed diets. Read this recipe at your own risk. :P

Salsa Chicken

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
1 jar salsa
1 can black beans (drained)
1 can corn (drained)
1 block of cream cheese (optional, but it makes the recipe. I usually use about half of an 8 oz block)

Place chicken in crockpot. Cover with salsa, black beans, and corn. Cook on high for 4 hours (some people cook it for 6 hours depending on the size of the crockpot). Add cream cheese for the last half hour (I shred my chicken before adding the cream cheese). Serve over rice or tortilla chips.

Fun at the Doctor's Office

For the first time in about 3 weeks, Miss Sparky slept through the night last night. Yay us!! Of course, it meant that I didn't sleep very well, because I kept waking up and wondering why she was still sleeping - I didn't want to wake her up, so I'd go out to the tv room and wait until I heard her breathing on the monitor. She slept from 9PM-9AM. Keep your fingers crossed that this is a new habit - I could really use some consistent sleep. :)

When she woke up, she was covered in a crazy rash. I called the doctor's office, and they wanted me to bring her in. Of course, by the time her appointment rolled around, her rash was completely gone. The doctor thinks it was a really delayed reaction to the Amoxycillin she's taking for her ear infection, but everything seems fine, so we're going to finish the course of antibiotics.

While we were there, The Princess and I got our flu shots so that we didn't have to make a trip back tomorrow for the flu shot clinic. The nurse was AMAZING! I was nervous like always, but she did this thing where she tickles your arm, and by the time she told me to relax, it was over. I didn't feel ANYTHING! I was amazed. The Princess was rather nervous for her shot, and she cried a bit, but I think it was more nerves than pain, because she stopped crying after about a 10th of a second when we told her she could have a lollipop.

As we were headed back to the car, The Princess tripped over her shoes and fell head first into a parking sign pole. It was really loud, and totally freaked out the lady walking behind us. She helped me carry the car seat and diaper bag back into the doctor's office (we were literally 10 steps outside the building - gotta love the irony) since I was carrying a screaming child at that point, and waited in the waiting room while the doctor took a quick look at the Princess. I thought it was really sweet that somebody would be that concerned about our well-being, and I thanked her profusely for her help.

The Princess has a pretty huge knot on the side of her head, but she's feeling fine. Hopefully the rest of the weekend will be less eventful.

Recent Princess-isms

I totally agree with my dad - I would love to get inside this little girl's head for a few minutes - just to see what it's like. Not only does she have the most crazy photographic memory, she comes up with the most amazing ideas. Here are a few recent Princess-isms - they're never preconceived - they're just things she says in the middle of conversations with us.

"I'm an activist on paper. I think up the ideas, and then make my dreams come true." I think I need to have one of those vinyl wall sayings made out of this one and put it up on the wall above my computer.

And here's another one - she was talking about heroes and what she could do when she's bigger to help people, and what she could do right now: "I know I am a small hero, but my hands can make a small difference."

This one was from last Sunday. We were driving to church and asking her if she remembered her favorite scripture story for her part in the primary program: "I think I forgot to click 'yes' in my mind. So I may have put it in the trash and forgot it"

That last one makes me giggle. Obviously she spends far too much time on the computer - not really her fault, though, when you consider her parents.

I've Been Tagged

Hilary tagged me today, so it's my turn to answer some questions. Call me a geek (I've come to accept it), but I love blog tag.

8 TV Shows I Love to Watch...
1: House
2: Bones
3: Life on Mars
4: Top Chef
5: America's Next Top Model (I know it's cheesy, but I like the photo shoots)
6: Saturday Night Live (at least the Weekend Update)
7: Project Runway
8: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

8 Things That Happenend Yesterday...
1: Overslept and got to church late
2: Helped the kids practice for the primary program
3: Wished Shayne a happy birthday
4: Talked to my mom on the phone
5: Snuggled with the munchkins
6: Listened to Sparky giggle - it's rare, but adorable!
7: Watched Get Smart
8: Made Mongolian Beef in the crockpot

8 Favorite Places to Eat...
1: Anywhere that I don't have to clean up the mess!
2: Chick-fil-a (It's bad that there are so many of them here!)
3: My mom's house - she's a great cook!
4: Thaifoon
5: Texas Roadhouse
6: Anything Italian
7: Cafe Rio
8: Bajio

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To...
1: Paying off hubby's student loans
2: Having lots and lots of portrait clients
3: Christmas
4: A trip home next summer
5: And end to The Princess' tantrums
6: A trip to Disney
7: Getting The Princess into a dance class - she LOVES dancing!
8: Fitting back into my pre-pregnancy clothes.

8 things on my wish list...
1: To get Sparky on a somewhat predictable schedule
2: A clean house
3: New car
4: New shoes
5: A Mac computer with LOTS of space for photos
6: New camera
7: New camera lenses
8: A fenced yard

So now I'm supposed to tag 8 people who are supposed to fill this out and tag 8 more people. Lizzy, Erin, Susie, Jen, Lori (mom), Ashlee, Sam, Sarah.

The rest of the Halloween Pictures

I could only get "studio" shots of Miss Sparky. She wasn't feeling particularly photogenic on Halloween night.

The pictures of The Princess were taken the day before Halloween. We were on our way to a costume party, and we stopped by this little wooded area that I've been meaning to scope out for a while.

I really like the spot (although the wooded areas around here still make me a little bit nervous - we could still see the road, though), but I'll go a little earlier in the day next time for more ideal lighting.

Halloween Pics

I know it's late for Halloween pictures, but I wanted to share some images of The Princess in her Alice in Wonderland costume. These pictures are from the Halloween party at Daddy's work. She doesn't look particularly thrilled in any of these images, but I promise she had fun. There were a LOT of people in attendance, and I think she was a bit overwhelmed, but she enjoyed it.

She started out wearing a black ribbon in her hair, which made her more obviously Alice, but she got tired of wearing it pretty quickly. I still think she looked cute, though.