Out to Lunch

Everyone always says, and I believed, that dogs from an animal shelter are always the best. Somehow, they seem grateful that you rescued them. I've heard this time and time again. I've had no experience getting a dog from a shelter until Roxie.

I don't know if she was out to lunch or on a walk when talk about being grateful was passed around the shelter, but she definitely missed the memo.

Before my Aunt's party on Sunday, David had taken Roxie for 2 walks in 2 hours. He wanted to make sure her bladder was empty and she was thoroughly tired before we left.

She's had issues with peeing on our carpet. We can't put her outside because she escapes. We can't put her in a kennel as that experience cost $100 at the vet. She's also been known to get destructive in the house. The gingerbread house, going through trash and knocking over chairs are examples of her bad behavior.

The good news is she did not pee on our carpet while we were gone.

The bad news is she ate 4 presents.

Well, she nibbled on 3 boxes until she found what she was looking for.

David's chocolate covered cherries. She ate the entire box. Literally, I think she ate the entire box.

David was panicked that she would die because of the chocolate and was ready to rush her to the vet. I thought the dog will probably just go into sugar shock for a few hours and maybe get diarrhea. We were both wrong. She didn't show a single sign of downing a dozen sugar balls.

I guess life really is like a box of chocolates, at least with this dog.

You never know what you're going to get.

Round 2

On Sunday we went to another party. It was at my Aunt Cathy and Uncle John's home. They live here in Prescott by Thumb Butte Mountain. Their home is truly spectacular. I don't think I have ever been in such a lovely home. Antiques everywhere, yet it's so cozy. They also love food and always have a delicious spread at these parties. We look forward to it every year.

Here's Ben & David before the party. Ben thinks this party is #1.


I spiked up Ben's hair and it just cracked me up. It's so cute. Emily looked adorable in her party dress.


Here is the moose above the fireplace. My Uncle John did not kill it.


Now, this is worthy of "Oh, Christmas Tree!" Wow!


Emily being cute on the stairs.


This was an original Bob's Big Boy. They were a popular hamburger joint out here. I guess not that popular since they closed years ago.


Ben in an antique plane.


My Aunt lives 25 minutes from our house, but it's almost 900 feet higher in elevation. She got blasted with snow last week in the storm. I know where to take the kids next time we get jipped. There was still lots of snow left on the ground after 4 days! David and the other kids had a huge snow ball fight. He was throwing them hard. He was like a 37 year old kid. The other kids were 9 and 5, and he was sneaking up on them and pegging them with snow balls. It was actually fun to watch. I love the picture of the kids in the snow. Notice the prickly pear cactus behind Ben. Snow and cactus...go figure.


The kids put on a concert for us. They were singing all sorts of Christmas carols. It was cute. Yes, Emily has chocolate across her mouth. It was after dessert.


It was a wonderful party. I grew up with this family, so it always feels like home being around them. They actually aren't really my Aunt and Uncle. My mom and my Aunt Cathy have been best friends since they were 6. I guess that makes her as close to an Aunt as if she were blood related.

We were driving home and I was feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Such a great weekend. We are truly blessed.

Then, we got home...

I'll save that for the next post as Emily is begging me to get off the computer.

An All Nighter

Last night was the annual Rampley Christmas party. Our good friends, Amy and Colby, host this party for our "gang" every year. We eat way too much. We talk. We fondue. We play a game. We laugh. We drink. We are kid free. We thoroughly enjoy ourselves.

We look forward to this party every year. My Mom came up to watch the kids. We went down to Phoenix for the party. I almost don't know what to do with myself when I can just sit in a car, listen to music and talk (without interruption) to my husband. I caught myself once or twice looking back to see if someone needed water or more goldfish crackers. Realizing we were alone, I took a moment to take my husband's hand and soak up the silence. The drive down and up from Phoenix is just an extension of our date.

Did we pull an all nighter? Heck no! We were yawning by 9:30.

We got home at 11:30 to find Emily and my Mom on the sofa watching Iron Man. Emily had taken a nap that day, so she was ready to stay up late. Ben was asleep.

I had given my Mom the basic instructions for the kids before we left. I always think she is only half listening. I've tried writing it down, but that doesn't seem to work either. I just figure, she knows what to do. This isn't her first rodeo after all.

I'm the last to roll out of bed at 9:00 this morning (my Mom was still snoozing), which is usually the case on weekends. I go out to the living room and Ben and Emily run up to give me my morning love. I'm holding Ben and notice he does not have a diaper on. I ask David if he already took it off him. I specifically remembered telling my Mom that Ben sleeps with a diaper on. She shook her head okay. I even told her they were in his drawer like always. Still, Ben was diaper free. David hadn't removed it. I looked around the house because Ben has been known to take it off in the morning. Now that he is diaper free during the day, he doesn't like a wet diaper. I couldn't find it.

My Mom wakes up and I ask her about Ben's diaper. She gasped, "Oh no, I forgot! Did he wet the bed?" Nope. Ben did his first all nighter.

Not only that, but he was up for 2 hours before I woke up and he still didn't go to the bathroom. That's like 12 hours! I would kill for that bladder. After 2 kids, I'm up 3-4 times a night.

I'm looking at the unopened box of diapers from Costco in Ben's closet. At the rate of 1 a day, that's a 6 month supply. I'm thinking we don't need it. I'm going to return them and get my $37.99 back.

We are done with diapers.

I guess my Mom not listening to me turned out to be a great thing.

Skip The Lecture

I was standing in the line at Starbuck's (in Safeway) today to get a few gift cards for Emily's teachers. The kids were in one of those shopping carts that have the little cars on the front, basically a mini bus for any Mom who has to steer it around. The kids like these carts, so I make my way through the store, taking out a few end caps here and there, to make them happy.

I parked the cart/car/bus about 5 feet from me as I didn't want to be in anybody's way while I waited in line. Of course, it is by a table that has some Starbuck's merchandies on it. Ben reaches for it.

"Ben, get back in the car."

He doesn't listen and goes for the ceramic mug.

"Benjamin, don't touch the mug and get back in the car."

This is when the man in front of me decided to give me some unsolicited advice.

"You should be grateful your children are healthy and not scold them."

I, being a healthy child who was raised with manners, simply said, "You're right. I am blessed."

What I wanted to say was:
"Listen here old man, I'm grateful every day for my healthy, spoiled rotten children. Just because I am blessed doesn't mean I shouldn't discipline my children when they are doing something they shouldn't. It's my job as a good parent to teach my healthy children right from wrong."

Because they are healthy, I should just never reprimand them?
Just let my two year old play with a bunch of ceramic mugs until he breaks them?

Maybe next time we are in line and you butt your nose where it doesn't belong, my healthy child will tell you to "mind your own business old man." But, if I raise them right, hopefully, they will just grin and say "Merry Christmas."

Here are a few pictures of my healthy spoiled children in the bath:

Get Out The Shotgun

Emily has been mentioning a boy at preschool named Cody. At the Christmas program, I had my friend Dakri point out who he was. Dakri had to stay in the classroom every day for almost a month to help her daughter, Alanah, because she was in a cast. So, Dakri figured out a lot of the ins and outs that us parents usually don't know. The good news was Cody was one of the nicest and kindest boys in the class. Not a surprise, a girl always looks for a boy like her Dad.

When I asked Emily what she did at school on any given day, I always get the same reply.

"I don't know."

It's rather frustrating as she has a memory like an elephant. She is just choosing not to tell me. I always have flash forward to her teenage years at these moments and pray for help with those years. Yes, it's 10 years away, but just think of all the prayers I'll have racked up by then!

Dakri called me the other day to tell me that her and Alanah were talking about preschool over lunch. Alanah informed her that Emily is Cody's girlfriend.

What? What? What?

Me: "Emily did Cody ask you to be his girlfriend?"
Emily: "Yes."
Me: "What did he say?"
Emily: "I don't know."
Me: "Did he say, Emily will you be my girlfriend?"
Emily: "No, he said Emily be my girlfriend."
Me: "What did you say?"
Emily: "I shook my head."

And, it's official. She has her first boyfriend at 4.
Maybe we should seriously think about getting a shotgun.

Trick Up Your Pants...

Emily loves playing games, especially Candy Land. She wanted me to play with her the other day and I was really involved trying to find just the right word to beat my Mother in law in online Scrabble. So, I told Emily to set up the game and I'd be right there.

And she did.

We start playing and Emily tries to slyly pull the "ice cream cone lady" card out of her pant leg! This is the card that sends you almost right to the finish line.

Where did she learn that? I assume some horrible influence (like my husband) has taught my innocent daughter to cheat. I questioned her.

Nobody taught it to her. She wanted to beat me, so she set me up for failure and herself up to win.

Cheating at 4? Really? Already?

Maybe I shouldn't look at it as cheating, just using her imagination to win.

In any case, I'm checking her pant legs and sleeves before our next match.

Oh, Happy Day!

This picture is probably the funniest thing you will see all day. Seriously, you laughed right? Look at my face. If you didn't at least chuckle, call the doctor and get some Prozac. I can't stop laughing. This confirms it. I'm a total dork.

We are preparing for our first snowfall of the winter. Snow is on the forecast almost every day for the next week. I know, I know, Aunt Linda in Chicago and Amy in Maine are laughing at me. But for us desert rats, this is exciting!

This year, we are going sledding! We have a great park next to us that has a mighty hill. It's big enough to have fun, but not so big that we dread walking up it. We are going to go down (and up) that hill a few hundred times this winter.

My great friend Dakri (like strawberry daiquiri) loaned us all of her sons winter clothes that he has outgrown. There is a pair of black bibs for Ben and Emily. So cute! And even cuter since I'm not out $50 buying them something that we will only use a handful of times and won't fit next year. When I saw the black bibs for the kids, I got to thinking about the pair of black bibs that I used to wear. You know, before kids, before the dreaded 10 pounds that I can't seem (or don't care) to lose.

I hesitantly opened the guest room closet. There they were. Staring at me. I peak inside to take a look at the tag. Why set myself up for certain doom? I had cut the tag off. I looked at them thinking surely my ass won't fit in them.

It did!

Oh, happy day!