And away we gooooo.....

SO MUCH has been going on, so many little things to talk about and NO time to do so.  I'm here to say this....Max is on a personal quest to destroy his face and his brain apparently.

Yesterday, at a playdate with friends, a mere 15 minutes in, I watched as he came tra la la-ing down the stairs and then suddenly caught air and faceplanted on the tile floor below.  There was instant crying, and it was that kind of crying that was total pain.  I ran over to him, and sure enough, some blood.  This has happened alot, some gum bleeding, or a little cut on the lip, etc.  But, i could see right away this was very different.  There was A LOT of blood.  Like giant droplets on the ground, on his clothes, gushing blood.  I ran him into the kitchen and worked on him with wet paper towells for awhile.  I could see that this was not your ordinary lip cut, it was HUGE, deep, hideous.  It took him awhile to stop crying and even longer to stop bleeding.  Eventually we got it to stop, and he carried around his cute little flower shaped ice pack, attached to his lip for the rest of the day.  He's a trooper.

Wanna see it?  Warning....it's gross.

His reaction to seeing this picture is hysterical.  Any time he's seen it, he literally covers his mouth in horror and freaks out.  Also, please ignore the booger in his nostril.  Thank you.

I won't lie...if his perfect little lips end up permanently damaged, well, I just might not recover from that.

In other news....today, on our excursion to Costco, he thought slamming his head into the bench at high force would be a most excellent idea.  It wasn't.

He slipped on his drink that he'd spilled all over the ground.  When he fell, I was up getting a refill on his drink and some more pizza for Maggie.  I heard the scream and cry and immediately felt panic.  When i got to him some lady was rubbing his head.  He hit the back of his head and there is a HUGE goose egg to prove it.  It was horrible, and sad.  He cried for a very long time and just kept saying Owie.  No kidding...OWIE!  I'm sure his head was spinning, his ears were ringing and the pain was great.  I finally got him to stop crying and we got ourselves home, after picking Jere up from work, cause I couldn't do this day alone anymore. 

Good news.....he has remained responsive and alert and playful.  He took a great nap, wherein Jere woke him up every 1/2 hr.  just to be sure.  We iced it for a couple hours and gave him tylenol.  By tonight he seems ok.  But, I tell you what.  SCAREY!

Anywho...personal vendetta on himself or not.  We are moving forward.

'Cause you wanna know what tomorrow is?

Tomorrow we leave for

To be with these people

We're EXCITED!

Maggie woke me up this morning with complete sparkle and joy in her eyes and said:

"Mommy....only one more sleep until GREER!"

It may have been the cutest thing she's ever done.

Good news.  Greer did NOT burn down.  It came close.  Very, very close.  But, for the most part, it's still standing.  And that is all that matters.

So, try not to miss me too much whilst I'm off reading, taking walks, playing games and laughing in the cool weather.  That is if i can actually finish packing and be prepared to go.

Burn lines,green trees and busted lips,

Allyson

UPDATE:

In case anyone is still worrying over "what the suck".  I would like to report, with a little sheepish embarassment, that ALL worked out with minimal money and or pain.  My fabulous bro. in law Troy came over after work and found that the garage was simply a tripped safety lock.  It was fixed in an instant.  Then he set his sites on the shower.  After some vicious hacking, clanging, unscrewing and banging, he got the pipe free and was able to put in a new pipe.  So for a mere $15.00 the shower problem was fixed.  Like I said, I feel a little stupid admitting that, maybe, just perhaps I overreacted a bit.  But please, when you're in the moment, and you're super stressed about owning a house, and money and two things are suddenly "broken" it FEELS like the end of the world.  And i had to get it off my chest.  BUT, alls well that ends well.  And no children were harmed in the moment.  Thanks for all your sweet comments and concern.

Trash to Treasure Tuesday

It was a close call folks.  This post almost didn't even happen.  For whatever reason, our wireless router decided to take a dump and die.  No internet for TWO.WHOLE.DAYS, it was nearly death. NEARLY!  Thankfully, my fine brother in law Adam came by and not only fixed the internet, but he also killed a giant cockroach.  That guys a keeper FOR SURE!

So, what to show, what to show???  I've done another table this week, and I've also created a message board.  Oh, and fun.....I got myself two new FREE chairs which I shall be making over shortly.

Alright, I'll posed this question:

What do you get when you take a FOUR DOLLAR frame.....

You guys....I found this HUGE, solid wood frame at Hobby Lobby, in a very magical aisle full of things 90% off.  FOUR BUCKS, are you even kidding me here?  I can't even get a plastic 4 x 6 at Walmart for that much.

Anyway, a little black spray paint and we were good to go.

With this little bunch of materials?

Ok, first I have to show this as the BEFORE:

It just looked messey.  And sorry, this was the only pic I could find that sorta showed the area.

ANYWHO......what you get is THIS smashing Message Board:

So, for somewhere around $21.00 I made the whole board.  As opposed to the $100.00 that the store wants for something that big.  I love having the white board to write on, and the cork to attach the calendar and things too.  And I really love having the keys underneath there.  Everything just feels cleaner.  YAY!

There was also this  BEFORE:

This was on my living room wall.  In this house, it just needed a wee little makeover.

AFTER:

Just a quicky coat of ocean breeze, or something like that.  This is a sneak peek at what is going on in my "new" living room.  It's coming together nicely, but still changing daily.

And finally, because you don't really care, I'm gonna show you my laundry room/pantry anyway.

It's hard getting a good shot, so you get the true feel for how big it is.  Just know that the pictures go in order around the room.  This one is standing outside the door, looking in.  Whatever, don't mock.  I know you can see that much. hahaha

I actually missed a corner full of shelves that holds more supplies, wrapping paper, bags, etc.  This mess is the "craft" corner.

I just sincerely love how much space I have in there, and how much CRAP i can put in there.

And THAT concludes our treasures and tour for the day.

Peace in the ghetto,

Allyson

What the SUCK?

I believe the term I'm looking for here is..."Shit happens"?  You've all heard it, Right?  Well, there is that term, and then there is SHIT HAPPENS!!!!!!

It has been a BANNER day of "the suck" here at Casa MVP.  For real, UN-BEE-LEAVE-ABLE caca poopy happening around here.

Owning a house with toddlers and small children should just not be allowed.  I want a re-do.  Can we rewind and start over?  Please?

Right, so here is my day.

Got up, fiddled around for a bit, fed the kids breakfast and then decided to be such a NICE Mommy and take them all swimming (Brooklyn spent the night).  We swam for a good long time.  I worked with Maggie on her swim skillz.  I worked with Brooklyn on her diving into the water (it didn't help) and just played out there forever.  Totally deserving the good mom points, especially because I don't enjoy swimming as just a for the sake of doing it thing.  Got them all dried, in the house, ready to take showers.  Brooklyn and Maggie were gonna do a duo shower, so I turned on the water for them, got it just the right temp and then turn the knob for the shower.  Suddenly, water was spraying at me FROM.THE.WALL. 

What the hell? 

I reached up to stop it and turn the water off at the same time, when suddenly, the entire shower head and part of the pipe just came OUT of the wall. 

WHAT THE HELL? 

Brooklyn then calmly says, "Oh, that was Maggie?" Excuse me?  Maggie did what? She then says that Maggie had "swung" on the shower and it broke. which, if true, happened yesterday, and they never bothered to inform us.  So, here is what our current shower situation looks like.

Not looking good.

Apparently she "swung" from the tubing of the detachable showerhead part.

Look here Tarzana, what ever would possess you to DO that?

Something tells me I am SCREWED!

And here is what the Mom looks like now:

I was so, for lack of a better term.....pissed and shocked, i couldn't even cry about it.  At the time I needed to get in the shower and hurry because we needed to leave to pick up our car (that story coming).

So, we all get showered in my shower(not at the same time, trust me, my shower is mini) and I finally finished getting ready.  I had Jere herd the kids toward the car so we could try and move faster.  I heard the garage door going, and then an "uh oh, this isn't good."  Only to see the garage door STILL down.  Jere said, "it sounds like its working, but its not moving."  Then Maggie says, ever so nonchallantly  "Oh, that's Brooklyn.  She broke it."  WHAAAAAAAAAAT?????

Yep, Brooklyn pipes up, well Maggie told me to.  Really, Fanny follower, if she told you to eat her poop, would you?  She had grabbed a hold of this red cord thing and hung from it, and SNAPPED the main wire that lifts the garage door.  All in just a matter of seconds.  Jere had turned his back to take his meds, heard a thud against the garage door, but didn't think anything of it.  Ta DA!  Destructo and her partner struck again.

You have GOT to be FREAKING kidding me at this point.

Pretty sure there were flames, heaving, breathless, white hot flames on the side of my face. It was a rage and a frustration like no other.  I mean really.  WHY?  I've lived here exactly 1 month and already two MAJOR repairs that trust me, I can NOT afford to do.  I may or may not have lost my Shishkabob on them, and totally sucked at motherhood.  Jere had to excuse himself, for fear he may hurt someone.  BUT, we didn't have time to punish, discipline or cry.  We were very late to pick up the car and get jere to work.  So, we piled in, in stoney silence (after we'd calmed Max down, who was crying and upset because we were upset, and thought HE was in trouble, poor thing) and drove to get the car.

I called my parents and cried, and told them everything.  Their response?  "I'd forgotten how much little kids can destroy."  and "You had better spank them hard and sit them in a corner."  And essentially (though not verbalized) "wow, sucks to be you."

See that little black wire?  Yeah, it's not s'posed to be just dangling there like that.  Nope, not s'posed to do that, AT.ALL.

See that face?

Serenity now!!!!

I believe Jeres comment as we were driving away was..."We shoulda just moved into an apartment."  Agreed!  I can't handle all this stuff.  It's too stressful.

THE VAN:

So, a couple weeks ago, we drove to workshop....all was well.  After we got home that day (between shows) I ran to grab some dinner.  But right away I could tell something was wrong, because instead of cool air blowing in my face, there were fiery darts from hell, blasting at me.  Somewhere between coming and going, the air had broken.  So, I hustled it down to our mechanic.  When he called me the next day and the first words out of his mouth were "do you have any warranty left?"  I KNEW we were not in for happy times.  Apparently, the clutch on the compressor had gone out, which is fairly unheard of in cars with as little miles as mine, and or on a HONDA!  But of course it happened to me.  OF COURSE!  He then informed me that it would be $1100.00.  Kill me now.  He suggested I take it to the dealer and plead my case (only 3000 miles past my warranty, take care of it, etc.) and see if they'd work with me.  After I cried and hyperventilated and yelled at God for awhile i decided to do just that.  I made an appt. at the dealership and took it down.  I explained all those things and they said they'd see what they could do.  Long story short.....Honda said they would "goodwill" fix it for me this one time and they completely fixed it under warranty so it cost me NOTHING!  Thank you for the small miracles. HOWEVER, when they were fixing it they found that my front engine mount was broken (also vERY rare for a car my age) and I needed new front breaks.  The dealership was gonna charge my 700+bucks for that.  So, I said, no thanks and called Hon-Man (my bro. in law and parents swear by him).  He said he'd fix it for nearly 300 less.  So, I took it in yesterday and today i got to pick it up. 

Hence, my added stress and frustration that I was shelling out $500 big ones for the car, while my kid and niece had done 1000's of dollars of damage at the house.

And lest we all forget....Millie (Jeres car) took a dump earlier this summer.  That little axel explosion cost us NINE HUNDRED dollars.  But, don't worry, she's workin like a champ now.

NOT.TO.MENTION......

This really pretty looking dishwasher only worked ONE TIME after we moved in.  Then, well, it just won't do anything.  Not even start.

Yet ANOTHER thing on the list.  Which I THOUGHT I might be able to get fixed.  but now.....not so much.  Which means....

Dirty dishes in my sink.

I hate washing dishes.

But I do it, daily.

Blech!

At least it's a lovely DEEP and big sink.  It can hide a lot of dishes.

Also, thank goodness I don't do much cooking these days.  Less dishes to wash.

So there you have it.  The story of our suck!

I HAD to sit down and write about it, otherwise I woulda just sat here and cried and or continued to rage and be pissed more.  How ridiculous that one of the first thoughts after it had all gone down was...."well, at least I'll finally have something to blog about."

Seriously....like my Mom said earlier.  You may as well laugh about it, because otherwise all you'd do is cry.  I know that's true.  And i'm really trying not to freak out on an epic level, I am.  But, it's sorta overwhelming and scarey round here at times.

With that said, I'm off to do something mind numbing so I don't have to think about the state of affairs round here.  The kids have been banished to their room for naps, and who knows.....maybe I'll just keep them there indefinitely.  One thing I do know for sure, they TOTALLY aren't getting the cookies they wanted.  HMPH!

Signed....the keeper of Tarzans apprentices,

Allyson

T-RASH to TREASURE Tuesday ya'll

It's that time of week again.......time to see whats I've been up to in re-do land.  I have been pretty busy, not gonna lie.  And i find it hard not to just show you everything at once.  BUT, I shall try to show some restraint, difficult as it may be.

This last week I got a lot of my living room done.  I think i'm pretty happy with the wall layout going on.  I painted a table, painted pieces on the wall, found some new pieces.  Painted a shelf, etc.  Yet, there is still so much to do, 2 more tables to paint, though I have a vision of a certain table I'm looking for, to fit in the corner and will be on the hunt.  STILL looking for fabric for my two faboo chairs that need to be painted and re-upholstered.  BUT, I guess that's good.  I will have plenty of projects to work on.

Anywho.......let me just look through my bag of tricks and see what I'm gonna share with ya.

BEFORE:

Here it is....our "cawfee" table.  When we bought it 9 years ago, I was so madly, deeply in love with it.  I loved the color, loved the shape, loved it all.  And Jere was the coaster nazi.  I mean really....you could NOT touch that thing without laying down a coaster.  It was kept spectacularly well.  Then....we had kids.

I rest my case.

Drink rings, deep gouges, scratches, missing knobs, etc.

Plus, if you look back at the pic above, all the way around the edges, the color had been worn off, because we may sorta use it as our ottoman too.

Anywho.....it had seen better days.  And also, I'm over all the dark wood.  Don't get me wrong, I still love dark wood and if I want wood, it will always be a choice for dark.  But, I'm just over it for now.  I want everything to feel lighter, brighter, cheerier.  Sooooo, I scrubbed it down (and by scrub I mean, I sprayed some TSP and half assedly wiped it clean) and spray primed it.

Here she is, all primed and ready to go.  Have i mentioned how much I love me a garage.  Somewhere covered, shaded and private to do all my painting.  AWESOME!

AFTER:

Hi you cute little white table with glass turquoisey knobs.

You're adorable, nice to meet you.

And I'll have you all know, I actually ROLLED this bad boy.  No spray paint.  I know, I know....WHO am I?

Now, I'm staring at it day after day and trying to decide if I should do my glaze work around the edges.  Not sure, but it just might happen.

And now, because you're all cute and good little audience members, I shall show you the finished project in the eating area.

Many thanks to Troy for his master craftsman skillz.

BEFORE:

First of all , I get it....my table is tragically to small in this space.  Don't even think i'm not on the hunt for a bigger, better more ROUND table.

Also, look how sad this room looks, so empty on that wall.  Before we moved in, I had this idea and huge desire to have a huge framed out area to display all my childrens "artwork."  My kid is in preschool for goodness sake, I got new pictures every other day.  And then there is all the drawing and painting they just like to do daily.  It was a constant mess on my refrigerator, or a constant placement in the circular file, ifyaknowwhatimean.

AFTER:

Better?

I like to think so.

Noone worry.  That IS Jeres just fantasmigorical handwriting.  He has the most beautiful penmanship.  Whilst I have, according to him, the scrawl of a serial killer (sad but true).

Oops!  Those cute little kids just sorta slipped in there.

Anyway, there you have it.  Next week, elements of the living room, and a look into another room.

Try not to pee your pants with anticipation.

Spraying and sweating,

Allyson

Well.....her name AIN'T Grace!

You know the fear right?  The one where you trip and fall in a rather unfortunate situation.....we've ALL had it.  You're walking on stage, in front of a large group of people and you suddenly turf it.  You feel utterly stupid, and horrified.  It's one of those things on the list of "most" embarassing. (One that I have done in spectacular fashion)

Well, today, Maggie completely got to check that off her list.  Which I say, thank goodness she took care of it at 4, as opposed to 24.

This morning Maggie was the reverence child in church.  What that means is, she stood up at the pulpit with her arms folded as everyone walked into church.  She is there to "remind" people to be reverent.  Of course we were running late and we got there only 5 minutes before church started.  Which in the history of our ward would have been like 10 minutes early because we NEVER start on time.  But today, TODAY we have a new Bishop and darn it, he started smack dab ON TIME!  So, her moment of reverent glory was short lived.   It's ok, at least she willingly went up there and did it.  Anyway, Bishop thanks Maggie for her reverence and then excuses her.

Here is where things take a turn.

She walks across the stand, gets to the steps (there are 2), puts her hands out to hold the sides and then in the blink of an eye she was "ass up in the neighbors yard."  (please name where that quote comes from).  Literally, her feet flew out from under her and she was on her back with her dress all askew.  She just laid there, and I, being the horrible mother that I am, could NOT stop laughing.  She wasn't crying, and she wasn't hurt, lest you think I'm THAT horrible.  I got up and picked her up and asked if she was ok.  Yep, just her pride totally hurt.  She stood there with her purse up in front of her face, hoping the world couldn't see her.(I understand little one) I brought her back up to sit by me on the stand (I lead the music in church).  She sat nicely beside me, while I tried my DARNDEST to stop giggling and lead the opening song.  During the Sacrament she said she wanted to go sit down with Daddy.  I told her to go ahead, then she asked me to go down with her, which I couldn't do (not in the middle of Sacrament).  I told her no, but she could go.  Then she said, "but I don't want those stairs to make me fall again."  I assured her if she went carefully that she would be ok.  You shoulda SEEN how gently she took those steps.  And the relief on her face as she cleared them and then ran to the safety of Daddy.

Yep, homegirl is definitely her Mothers daughter. 

Whatever you do, just don't call me "Grace."  'Cause I ain't got it, and neither apparently does my girl.

Slips and slides,

Allyson

Four? Already? Give me more!

The flying by of years is startling.  How time literally marches past me in rapid fashion just overwhelms my senses.

Today is a celebration of MAGGIE!!!

It simply boggles my mind that this little peanut:

Maggie at minutes old

Maggie at 1 year

one of my fave pictures because it's one of the first REAL smiles captured

Enjoying icecream on her 2nd birthday

My 3 year old princess

Somewhere along the way, she turned into my 4 year old "super model."

And, for her 4th birthday she decided to up and swim on her own.  I told her we should just take off her floaty suit and see how she did.  She just swam around and "didn't drown."  Wish you could see the sparkle and excitement in her eyes when she told whoever would listen that she can swim all by herself.  That makes me feel so much better, knowing she can swim.  Now.....to get Max on that bandwagon.

So, who knew that wee peanut (once deemed failure to thrive) could turn into this crazy smart, overly sassy, incredibly hard headed, adorably loving, gorgeous 4 year old.  HOW did this happen?

We had a big ol' Birthday Bash for Miss Thang yesterday afternoon and she felt all kinds of special.  Actually, we kept it simple; all her "best friends" AKA her cousins and her special request of Navi (her friend) came for swimming and pizza.

I got her this cute little outfit for her birthday.

I love this picture.

Here she is, rockin some serious dance moves.

She was dancing to "Happy Birthday Princess."

There is a part in the song that says something like "you're the cutest princess."

And at that moment Maggie pointed at herself and yelled "THAT'S ME!"

It was funny.

My Dad and Troy are seriously playing the princess tic tac toe.

It just cracked me up.

What?  Who doesn't just wear jaunty birthday hats and swimsuits while eating pizza.

Oh this cute boy, and his silly floaty suit.

We gave her a baby alive (thanks Miss Jenee for that), an outfit and some makeup.

I think I spent a total of 10 bucks on her gifts.

YAY!

You MUST enlarge this pic and see what she's holding.  It was the cutest reaction to a gift ever.

Aunt Lana scored the brownie points of the century with this Justin Bieber necklace.  HELLO!

Thanks Auntie Julie for getting the princess cupcake cake.

She could barely contain herself waiting for her moment to blow the candles out.

Once they were blown out, I asked her if she made a wish.  She nodded her head coyly.  I then asked her what she wished for.

Here she is telling me the wish/dream of her heart.

"I wished that I would marry Justin Bieber."

Dude!  People, she is all serious business with this Bieber thing!

I actually allowed her to paint her own nails for the first time.  She was positively giddy about this.  So cute!

All in all it was a GRAND success. She had her dream day of playing with her cousins, we all got to spend some crazy, loud, fun time together.  AND there were presents and cake.  I'm thankful for my awesome, big fat Mormon family (I use that phrase like Big Fat Greek, not like FAT as in chubby), and all the love and support they give to me and our kids.

Here is what I know about Maggie:

1. She LOVES her Mommy and Daddy and her Max, and I know cause she tells us multiple times daily.

2. she LUH-UH-UH-UHVES  Justin Bieber

3. She has a beautiful voice and never stops singing and making up songs

4. Girl can get jiggy with it.  She has some serious moves.

5. She is crazy smart in her understanding of complex thoughts and emotions.

6. She will antagonize her brother to no end.  But can not STAND to see him sad by any other persons hand.  She will do anythign she can to make him feel better and happy.

7. She can roll her eyes with the BEST of them.

8. Maggie LOVES salad.  She would prefer to eat that, or ice cream over anything else.

9. She is 100% Daddy's girl.  I'm pretty sure she's got him so tightly wound round her pinky finger she could get ANYTHING she asked for.  (not gonna mention the Justin Bieber DVD waiting for her to open after her nap and the new giant sized Biebs poster courtesy of Lies'l)

10. She LOVES to make people laugh. (generally by saying poop and pee about everything)

I'm just grateful that God saw fit to send me this precious, precocious little princess.  She tests me to my limits every.single.day, and she makes me laugh and she makes me cry and she's just perfect.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS MAGGIE!  We sure do love you!!!