Skellekins in the closet

Apparently we have a skellekin in our house. For anyone who will get rid of our skellekin I will gladly:
scrub around and behind your toilets
stand in line for you at the post office
fill up your gas tank
organize your food storage
massage your feet
pull your weeds
empty the dead bug carcasses from your lights
pluck out the huge hairball which is clogging your shower drain
dig through your trash for that lost check
catch your gopher and even take it off the trap (okay, maybe that only pertains to me)
pop your back pimple
scrub out your oven
clean out the gerbil cage (caked on poop included)
put away your Christmas decorations this year
Take your pick. In fact, I will do all of the above.
If you get rid of our skellekin.

What's that you say? What IS a skellekin?
Oh, here's a quick description.
Apparently it's a person. It's black. It's scary. It lives in Carter's bedroom. But most importantly, it wakes up Carter, who starts bawling and wakes up me, who goes into his room to try and and get him to go back to sleep. Then after singing a dozen songs and BEGGING (pleading) him to let me go back to bed, Spencer comes in. By this time he is hungry and they go have a 3am snack. Then he's totally wide awake after a good 7 hour nap and wants to sleep in my bed. But he keeps talking so he gets kicked out and is upset again about the skellekin. He is so exhausted and unreasonable that Spencer gets frustrated and tells him I'll come in to see him. And the process is started all over again.
Time elapsed from first waking until going back to sleep- 1 1/2 hrs.
Times this has happened in the last 4 nights- 4
Chance it's going to happen again tonight- 99%
Chance I will still be crazy about the kid tomorrow even though I'll probably do it all over again tonight because I'm a parent and that's just what I do- 100%
Any help????

We're Back...(exhale)

The kids and I left for Houston on the 10th (Carter's birthday. I know, he's three. I can't believe it. He had about four different parties to celebrate that week. No wonder the poor kid is so confused) and hung out with my parents and brother and sister-in-law and kids while we awaited Spencer's arrival on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday we went to see Wes and Kate in Dallas (where Carter got really sick, had a fever, and spewed all over himself and their pillow)
(Wes and Kate. Aren't they cute??) (Kate, you made my blog. Aren't you excited??)
then spent the weekend relaxing at the lake house in Longview (in which Spencer got sick and spent 3/4 of time in bed. Don't you just love traveling??)

I got to take Carter on the "little boat". He loved it but didn't want me to go over about 18 mph. I'm a bit of a thrill-seeker on the wave runner so after I took him over a few waves, he was ready to get on dry land. We also did a lot of fishing (Carter liked the pink pole more than the blue)

I was showing him how to fish for perch with the pink pole, a bobber (he called it a bobbin) and a worm. I kept getting a nibble in the same little area and kept casting in the same spot. One cast didn't go where I wanted it to so I was reeling it in to re-cast and it got taken by a sweet bass. The little pole wouldn't reel in my bass so I had to wrap the line around my hand and pull him in.

(Can't take the Texas out of the girl)

This pic should look a little familiar (I was even wearing the same shirt), but this time with a fish on the line and not a nasty little gopher.

At my mom's house we got to swim. (I love the classic closed eyes picture. The baby looks TOO cute here, though)Spencer stayed outside and layed on a floaty chair for more than an hour without any sunscreen. He looked like a lobster that night (not like in this picture where his skin reflection resembles Edward Cullens'. Yikes)

We had an awesome time, covered a lot of ground, saw a lot of family, ate a lot of junk food, slept a very little, downed a lot of Dr. Peppers, played a lot of games, stayed up talking or watching movies too late, and cleaned up too many barf messes...sounds like a pretty productive vacation.

Therapeutic

I whipped out Carter's coloring book today so he could color a picture and sit still for 2 seconds while I made breakfast. He wasn't real interested so I said, "Here, Mommy will color with you" and I sat down to color. I haven't colored for EVER. I found it so relaxing and so fun that even after Carter completely lost interest and we were through with breakfast I kept coloring and ended up with this:So I got thinking about the things that are therapeutic and here are some of my favorites:
Working in my garden, weeding, and yes, catching gophers (all though that is more like a high. Like finding a really good deal at Target)


A walk on the beach with the family (note sleeping baby)
Driving my van. Seems silly. We've had it for a year and a half now but I still love that it's clean, it smells like leather, and it has a DVD player to keep Carter quiet so I can breathe for a few minutes.
And finally, working out. I don't take my camera with me to the gym so I don't have a picture of that for you. I seriously have to go every day. I love it. OH, and oddly enough, mowing the lawn. I do it every week. I guess I could group that with working in the yard/garden.
What do you find therapeutic?

Sitting, Rolling, Slobbering

Nolan has reached two major milestones this week. Since he's been slobbering ever since leaving the womb, I'm pretty sure you've guessed what they are. He turned six months old a week and a half ago, so it's taken this big boy a little longer but as you can see, he is very healthy and happy. He surprisingly graceful in his rolling over for being like a beached whale. Here's a clip for ya:

That horrible, ear-piercing squeal you hear at the end is Carter. I know, you are wondering how a human could make a noise like that. Here's proof that it is possible.

Carter has also recently picked up a new habit of taking naps in some peculiar places and positions. Here are a few examples:
In his "lion tent".

In the closet.

When my mom came for my play a couple weeks ago we went to Sea World for the first time. Carter loved it and couldn't stop chanting the "Shamu, Shamu!" song for a few days. It was pretty sweet.

And there's a Shamu trainer on his nose here, which may be one of the coolest jobs a person could have, besides being Tinker Bell and getting to fly over Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland in front of the fireworks.

Hope you enjoy the pics!

Shirts and Skins

EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!
There is NOTHING more disgusting than having to endure the sights and smells of the gym on Monday and Wednesday mornings. On these mornings, about 20 overweight, sweaty, hairy, loud, boobied men play shirts and skins basketball on the full-sized court at my gym. This wouldn't be a problem except for the court is RIGHT in the middle of the entire gym. I mean, there's no way around it. You cannot go work out without seeing these guys with their sweaty, hairy chests smacking up against each other. EEW again. It really REALLY grosses me out. Plus, there's this one guy (probably not much older than I am) who has a mow hawk, but he doesn't like slick it down or anything before he just gets out there and plays. So the hairs stick together and fall on either side of his greasy face and have sweat dripping from them.....HURL.
Plus while I'm on the subject I just have to say I'm totally appalled at the lack of modesty, espcially from (surprisingly enough) the "Silver Sneaker" old farts who work out there. The couple times I have actually dared to enter the locker rooms, the women just walk around in the BUCK, no more sense of modesty than Carter. I won't even tell you the reports I have heard from Spencer on the men's bathroom but it's worse. Yes, worse.
So why is it so hard to cover up? It's not like these people have something to flaunt. They're like 70 years old. Why can't it be shirts and jersies?? You think if I bought them those mesh ones you use in PE that they would use them. They can't add that much heat. I think they should be a little more curteous to those of us who would like to have an appetite for breakfast once we get home and cover up. OH, and get some longer shorts. Because it is NOT attractive to see you stretching in those. Yikes.

A Little Help, Please?

Can someone who is a more advanced blogger tell me how to change my security settings to add in that little typing test I see when I comment on other people's blogs so that I can't get the automatic comments on mine?? Wow, that was a long sentence and it was pretty confusing. I'll translate:
When I go to comment on other blogs I have to fill out this "verification" line (which I'm pretty sure is really an idiot filter to test my IQ and make sure I'm smart enough to comment) where I have to figure out the secret code and then type it in the space provided. I THINK that what this does is keep people from getting strange annonymous comments on their posts like I did with the 10 Virgins post I did a couple of weeks ago where I got some comment from a Brasilian company with HORRIBLE English skills.
So, what do I have to do to make this typing test show up on my blog?

The Old Gang

I'm not kidding when I tell you that it's actually an incentive to get out the door and to the gym on Monday and Friday mornings when I know I can get on the eliptical trainer and watch a good 1/2 hour of Saved by the Bell.

I haven't watched this show in YEARS and I didn't realize how much I missed it. It's so cheesy but I cannot get enough of Zach and Kelly's on-again, off-again romance, the "whhHOOOOOOOOooooo" that follows each peck on the cheek, and the just total 90s-ness of the whole show. I love it. How could you not? Plus, I don't care what era it is, Zach is still a total babe. Slater's okay except for the mullet (and frequent wife beaters). I never understood why he had a thing for Jesse, though. She did and still does bug the crud out of me. Her hair is really frizzy and she is just really annoying all the way around.

What has happened to all of our moral-teaching shows? They are non-existent! Back in the day, every episode had a conflict, a (sometimes teary) resolution, and a moral (and most were about families). It's so sad that my kids won't grow up with the Cosby's, the Tanner's, the Banks', the Arnold's, and the Winslow's. (Can you name the shows those families were on??) They were like family to me (sniff).

What were your favorite cheesy 90s show?