The ABC Journal

You might have read the post title and thought "oh, goody, another look into Katie's Journal" (which, again, I honestly do feel a little bit guilty about reading and then thinking it was funny enough to take photos of and blog about...but she's only 5, she'll understand. If you haven't read the previous Journal posts, click HERE and HERE).

Today's look into the mind of 5-year-old comes courtesy of her school.

Yesterday Katie brought home her A-B-C Journal from school. They've done all the letters so the journal was sent home. After she went to bed I went through it and was cracking up, but pretty impressed at some of her spelling attempts. She's a funny gal, and quite creative. Here are some of the highlights of her Journal.

In the world according to Katie, dogs are hatched from eggs...

WM and I had to laugh at this one...I DON'T walk the dogs. I love them, I feed them, I play with them, I even bathe them, but I don't walk them. Unless you ask Katie...she apparently thinks I do.Here is what she would wish for...a "rumbo." You and I know this item as a "rainbow." I love that everyone is wearing their prince/princess capes as they dance across the "rumbo"--everyone except me.

Yes, Katie, what are you doing under the house??? (or as she spelled it--'hais')
Katie seems to really like "Brokcley, chez." I like Chez-Its (or is it Cheez-Its)? I had to include this one because in this family portrait...I'm the only one wearing shoes. Katie knows her mommy and knows how I love shoes...check out the size of my feet, though. Whoa! This is my favorite one of all. Katie's favorite dinner:
Spedgedeey.That's actually true...she does love herself some spedgedeey.

Peace, love and a rainy day to you to (if you're reading from what will soon be The Tropical Rain Forest of NE Oklahoma).

She's Got the Pox

She's got some type of pox!

Oh wait...

I think it's the sparkly-mosaic-princess-stickers pox.

She'll be fine.

She was NOT fine when I pulled all those stickers off. OUCH!

But she's fine now.

And please don't judge me because she's filthy. I do bathe my children--we'd been playing outside ALL day.  Dirt happens.  And I'm just keepin' it real.  

Eights

Silly girl Baloney tagged me on this little game (Baloney, by the way, likes to tease me with my age and other random things, she's crazy, I tell ya, crazy)...but I'm kinda glad because I can't really think of anything witty and clever to blog about tonight.  I'm laying here in bed watching Twilight, so I can't really focus.

Here's how to do this 8 THINGS thing:

- Mention the person that tagged you--that would be Baloney
- Complete the lists of 8's--see below
- Tag 8 of your wonderful bloggy friends--see disclaimer below
- Go tell them you tagged them!

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO:
Our trip to Mexico in a couple weeks
Facebooking and Twittering and blogging
Getting my daily Starbucks
Shopping
Warm weather
My husband coming home
Hugs from my kiddos first thing in the morning and goodnight kisses at night
Going to church

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY
Went to work
Gave a tour of the St. John Center for Women's Health
Stuffed a whole bunch of envelopes for St. John Street Party
Went to Target
Gave the kids a bath
Did Katie's religion homework with her
Did several loads of laundry
Caught up on back episodes of The Tudors

8 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO
Play the piano everyday (I can play the piano, I just don't have a piano in my home right now)
Get a full night's sleep
Keep up with house work
Quit procrastinating
Go shopping without a budget
Sew
Travel with my family more (it's hard with the kids the ages they are)
Keep my kids from ever getting hurt

8 SHOWS I WATCH (I don't have 8, I don't have time to watch TV, but here's what I can come up with)
Dancing with the Stars
The Tudors
Eastbound and Down
The 10 o'clock news
CSI Miami
David Letterman

People I'm tagging:

Well, I don't have 8 people that haven't already been tagged.  So, if you're reading this...you're tagged.  But let me know by leaving me a comment so I can read your "Eights."

Have a super great weekend!!

Phobias

I've decided that I need to be a little better about keeping this silly little blog up to date.  Apparently there really are people out there reading this.  Hopefully you're not checking back daily to see the same 'ol post and say "darn it, I really wanted to know what is going on in her life today, why won't she post something new?"  Actually, I know you're not.  

So what's been up?

Oh, not much, just busy, you know, what's about you? 

Nice weather, huh?  You know this 'cold-weather-hatin'-girl' is loving it!

Oh--have I mentioned that I had a dentist appointment on Tuesday?  No?  Really, didn't mention it?  Hmmm....

It's because I was too FREAKED OUT!  I couldn't do a new post because I was too wigged out about going to the dentist.  

My mind was scrambled...  

...scrambled........like eggs. Scrambled eggs...that was my brain.

Going to be dentist does that to me.  It's not just 'dental anxiety'...I have real dentalphobia.  It just straight up freaks me out.  Thankfully for me I have a dentist and hygienist who recognizes my problem and totally sympathizes.  But honestly, it doesn't help relieve my anxiety.  It just helps that they don't think I'm a total weirdo (which we all know I kinda am). I'm just learning to live with it.  Trust me, this isn't a new thing for me...I've been this way my entire life (ahem, Baloney...I'm not too young...just weird).  My 5+ years with braces almost sent me over the edge.  I do believe it's just a phobia that I was born with and like other phobias in our lives, I learn to live with it.

You wanna know what...I have a cavity and have to get a filling.  I'm just not thinking about that May 19th date ('filling day') yet.  Why torture myself?  But let's just say things could get ugly around that time...expect some bizarre posts.

So now that I've exposed my biggest phobia (I have others, but nothing huge), I would like to know what some of your phobias are...what just flips you out?  I promise not to judge you (just like I know you're not judging me, right?  Right?  RIGHT?????  Yeah, I didn't think so.

We're all different...so tell me your phobia and how you cope with it when you have to face it (it might help me cope with mine).

Later Alligators!

A Whole Bunch of Nothing and Random Picture Post

Usually I do a 'Monday Mumbles' on Mondays...where I just mumble randomly about nothing, about our weekend, about the random things that my kiddos say to me.  But not today! NO...you get something different.  For two reasons:

1.  I'm scatter-brained right now.  I have a dentist appointment tomorrow and I suffer from EXTREME dental anxiety.  I mean, it's bad.  A simple cleaning can send me into a frenzy.  And tomorrow I'm getting a cleaning, but I've also been having a little toothache, so I think there are bigger things in store for me.  Oh my--just the thought of that makes my stomach do flip flops.  In order to keep myself from crying, I think we'd better move on.

2.  Baloney posted this and so I'm going to do the Random Picture Post (click on Baloney to see her random photo).  

Here's what you do...

-Go to your APRIL 2008 or 13th folder

-Then go to your 42nd picture or 4th if you don't have that many.

So here's what you get from me:

That's the Three Little Lams a year ago--April 2008.  Not exactly an exciting photo or even a very good one.  But it's an eye opening photo of how they've grown in a year.

Now, I'm also supposed to do some Mr. Linky thing, but I don't know how to do that, so my instructions to you are this:

Go find your photo (April 2008 folder, etc., etc.) and leave me a comment with a link your blog so I can go see your random photo.

Have Happy Monday!  I'm not sure if I'll be blogging for the next several years--tomorrow's dental appointment might send me over the edge.

Pump Up the Volume

I love Sundays...church, big breakfast, day spent with the family...peaceful, relaxing days.  But, lately I've noticed that the volume in our home has dramatically increased and Sunday's are becoming less peaceful and more chaotic.  It's always been a little loud around here...I mean, we have three kids age 5, 3 and 20 months...even when everyone is behaving and playing nicely together, it's still a little loud.  But in recent weeks it really seems like the volume has been kicked up a notch and I just can't figure out what has changed.

This evening when I was going through my downloaded photos I began to notice a trend.  And then a lightbulb went off in my head.  A-HA!!--could this be our noise problem?

Surely this little gal couldn't be the culprit...

...Surely not?

I mean...she's so.........

.....calm and easy going...

Yep--let's blame it on the baby.

The Girl's Got Style

Over the past year I've displayed some photos of my 5 year old and her sense of style.  For those of you new to my blog let me give you a little background on my girl.

1.  She seriously believes that she will be a princess someday.

2.  Her favorite color is pink--purple comes in a close second.

3.  She wears something sparkly everyday (even if she has to hide it under her school uniform where no one can see it).

4.  She will only wear skirts or dresses...year round.

5.  She wants her hair curled everyday (doesn't happen, but she asks).

6.  She loves to look at clothing catalogs and is into fashion, hair styles, etc.

7.  She's the girliest girl you'll ever meet.

I think you get the point...girly, girly girly and loves clothes and putting outfits together.  For some reason headwear is super important to her.  

Here's a few photos of some of her best choices in headwear.

Stocking cap with kitty ears (this was when she was probably 3--it started early).

If you're ever in a pinch for snappy headwear--just run through your nearest McDonald's--a Happy Meal box works with any outfit!

Panties--you can never go wrong using panties as a hat.  (I think I was in college before I wore my first panty hat).

I thought I'd share a few photos of some of her latest outfits.

Here is she is wearing her raffle ticket vest--nice accessory, don't you think?

And then there's this...oh gosh, I don't know...that's about all I can say about that headband/pinwheel/blanket-as-a-dress outfit.  I just don't know...and don't want to.

There are two conclusions that I have come to:

1.  Thank goodness for school uniforms.

2.  Maybe I should take a serious look at what I wear--surely her sense of style isn't being inspired by......ME!?!?!?!

It Was a Hairy Situation

This was me yesterday at 10:00 a.m.

This was me yesterday at 3:30 p.m.

WOW! What a difference!

Actually that's not me. That's Gisele Bundchen. If you thought that was me--well, golly, you are my new best friend...and you'll be sadly disappointed when you meet me in person.

But yesterday I got my LOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG overdue hair cut and colored and, boy, did I think I was sassy when I walked out of the salon! There is nothing better than a fresh hair cut and color to make a girl have a little bounce in her step.

This post is dedicated to my fabulous friends Joy and Sarah for recommending their stylist to me. She was AWESOME! Thank you girls for making my day!

Oh--also, that first picture isn't me either. That is a DUDE--I am not a dude. But my hair looked that bad.

Peace, love and happy Wednesday. If you live around here...go enjoy this beautiful day!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all of you!

I love Easter!  I love Easter for all the superficial reasons...because I love spring, because I love jelly beans, because I love little girls in pink dresses and little boys in sweater vests, because I love egg hunts, chocolate bunnies and Sunday Easter brunch.  I love it because of the church music that moves me to the point of tears and because the purple veils have been removed from the crosses and adorned with Easter lillies.  I'm one of those few people who actually loves Easter more than Christmas.

But why do I really love Easter?  What's the real reason I love Easter?

I love Easter because of the real reason. 

Jesus rose--for you, for me.  We are forgiven and will receive eternal life.

Sometimes that's hard for me to comprehend--the magnitude of that.  In our self-filled world it's hard to wrap your brain around.  As a mother trying to comprehend the sacrifice that Our Father made renders me speechless.  But I have an unwavering faith and belief in God and Jesus, I know it to be true.  The truth is the Truth.  It gives me great peace in my life and is the reason I am what I am.

I hope you have a blessed Easter.  And hope you feel the grace of God today and every day.

He is risen!

It Pays to Grow Up

This is going to be a super quick post...but I need some help.

I ran to Target today to get tights for the girls for Easter and this is what I paid:

$1.89 (size 4-6x)

$3.99 (size 18-24 month)

Can anyone explain to me why the little bitty tights are $2 more than the big girl tights?  

I should've bought some tights for myself, I bet they would've been like $.19 or something.

Why, oh why do retailers feel the need to exploit the pocketbooks of mommies with baby girls?  Just because it's tiny, cute and pink doesn't mean it should cost more than what I paid for my entire spring wardrobe--which at this moment is about $7--since spring hasn't decided to show up yet--but you get my point.

By the way, I almost paid $86 for a Pink Floyd concert t-shirt that was converted into a baby girl dress.  It was so rockin' and cute.  But a rare moment of sensibility overcame me...

...thank goodness.

Mommy's Purse

This morning in the midst of what was probably one of the most trying mornings of my life since entering motherhood, Ms. Baby Lam, a.k.a. "That Wild Baby" (that's what Patrick calls her) decided to empty out my purse. I'm usually very diligent about making sure my purse is kept out of her reach, but she shimmied her diaper-laden behind up onto the table and got it down. She's been totally obsessed with my purse lately and dumping out all the contents.

Now, I should've been angry that there was one more huge mess to clean up, but things were going so poorly this morning that a 'purse dumping' was minor.

Ok--you're wondering what was going on this morning? I'm not sure but Patrick was in full 3-year-old mode and cried for 1 1/2 hours and screamed and yelled. He was definitely in the "fight or flight" mode, and since he couldn't "flight" (I'm mean really, what could he do? Grab the car keys and get out of there?) it was big-time "FIGHT." And he took it to a whole new level. I was super impressed with my patience, I didn't get angry or even raise my voice at him. Even when he yelled at me, "I don't want to see you looking at me!!!!!"

What started all this, you ask? It was bad, I'm telling you...BAD. His sister had the nerve to sit in his spot at the table. Oh, the humanity!

So back to the purse dumping. I had to find humor in it or I would've lost my mind by this point of the morning. So to make a funny out something that could have been frustrating, I decided to share with you the contents of my purse. Some of which I didn't even know was in there.

Here's the big picture of what she did. Let me explain some things...

I have quite the pen collection...I have a lot of writing to do, you know! Plus they probably would come in handy as a weapon if I ever needed to poke at someone. Or maybe not.

I have girls, therefore, I have bows. Mama must be ready to do hair at all times!

Panties and little boy briefs. (Whew...just glad those weren't my panties, that would be hard to explain to WM. JUST KIDDING, please, people...why would I have my panties in my purse)?

Minty freshness--it's a necessity!

I'm a germaphobe, so I have a nice stash of antibacterial products.

Which leads to the need for this (all that anti-bac stuff dries out your hands). Love this hand cream by the way. Find it--buy it! You'll love it!I have a secret addiction to lip products, as seen here. This is just a small sampling.The following three things are necessities:(that's a pony tail holder--don't get all perv on me. Remember this is a G-rated blog)!

One random baby girl sock...not sure what good that's going to do me.

This really should be hanging in my car, not buried in my purse. It was one of those things that made me say, "oh, I wondered what ever happened to that! Haybails. Don't tell me you don't have haybails in your purse. If you don't you know you wish you did.Little Ponies and wrenches (is that a wrench)? Again...you know you wish you had these in your purse.And finally, this. For you mommies out there, get one if you don't have one. They keep diapers from getting all scrunched up in your purse.

That's the gist of it. Sadly, that isn't everything that was in my purse, just a small sampling. It's time for me to 1). go back to the diaper bag--NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! or 2). downsize to a smaller purse so I can't get as much crud in it. (I did see a sweet butter yellow Coach bag in the window the other day---hmmmmm, good excuse to buy it). WM--hint, hint!!

This, however is my favorite thing in my purse. When I reach in for something and accidently pull it out, I find it hard to believe it was an 'accident.' I believe it's a visual reminder of who is in control of my life. Or when I'm digging around in my purse and my fingers run across the cool, smooth surface, I know what it is, and again, I'm reminded who is guiding my life. It makes me stop and be silent for a moment (which isn't easy to do in my crazy life).

Thanks be to God for the blessing in my life!

Mumbly, Mumbly Monday

Newest edition of Monday Mumbles right here.

But since the kiddos and I were out of town this weekend I haven't gathered my thoughts together enough to give you a presentable Monday Mumbles.  So I'll just give you a few quick quotes I got from The Three Little Lams while in the car or during our stay in Kansas.

Me: Patrick, is Josie asleep?

P: Um, yeah, I think so, two of her eyes are closed.

Hmmmm, wonder how many other eyes she has.

_______________________________________

Katie: I know we are in Kansas now!

Me: How can you tell?

Katie:  Because the grass is green, and grass isn't green in our state.

_______________________________________

Me: We're going to go down to my friend's house now and play with her kids.

Katie: Have you ever been to her house?

Me: Yes, lots of times, Kelley has been my friend since we were little girls, we've know each other a long time.

Katie: So you've been friends for like 100 years?

________________________________________

As we are going to bed:

Patrick: Do we need to say prayers at grandma's?

Me:  Yes, we say prayers wherever we go.

Patrick: Ok...'Dear God, please help that one (pointing to Josie in the crib) not be so wild.  Amen'

Me: Amen to THAT!

That's about all I can think of right now, sorry for such a lame post.  Hopefully tomorrow I can post the photos of our trip.

Happy Monday--where's spring???

Miss Congeniality

Apparently Katie has a new talent.  I'm sure it will come in handy...in beauty pageants and all. :)

This is what happens when you leave daddy in charge of a 5 year old princess girl.  As you can hear from her last comment..."daddy" taught her to do that.

Ok--I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed--but I'm her mom.

Also, is it just me, or does my voice sound weird?  I mean those of you who have heard me talk--does my voice sound weird?  I've had a scratchy throat for a week now, but good grief I sound like Harvey Fierstein.  Bleck!

Happy Thursday!  Go play yourself some wine glasses!

A Parting Post

My dear, dear Blog-reading friends,

I've been searching deep in the depths of me to find a way to break this to you. But I've decided that the end of Out on a Lam has come. Yes, you read that right...this sweet little blog has lived it's life and it's time to put it to sleep. I'm too busy Facebooking, Tweeting, doing laundry, cooking meals, running kids around, working, living, breathing to keep up with it and I can't handle the constant pressure to find something new and clever to blog about. So with that I bid you adieu. Thanks for reading. I have loved you all and your comments have made me smile (thank to all 3 of you who comment--you're my FAVES). Please remember this blog with fond memories.

APRIL FOOLS!

Ha---are you kidding me? Do you think I'd really quit blogging? I've got too much random craziness to tell you about. Some of the stuff that happens in my life would not be believable if I didn't put it on my blog for the whole world to see.

So tune in tomorrow...I'll still be here...bloggin' away! :)

Really, I'm just kidding, you know that, right.

I seriously want you to come back tomorrow.

Please.......come back!

Oh---and if you comment then you'll get to be another one of my FAVE peeps!