Things

-I am thinking of getting this sewing machine. The Brother one that I bought from Costco quit working and I tried calling them for a company to fix it and they told me to just return it. So I get to start all over, which is good and bad. This one is a Singer, let me know if you have any good or bad opinions.
http://www.sewingmachinesplus.com/singer-7463-sewing-machine.php?gclid=CNiOkMGR46ACFRQhnAodWG1PDQ

-This story is a prime example of my little sassy girl. Today I was cleaning the tub and she wanted to help but decided the only way she could was if she stripped down and got into the tub. Half way through she got out, dried off, and I found her laying naked on my couch.

Mom: "Katelyn, you need to get dressed, I don't want your butt on my couch, that's gross."

Fast forward a half an hour, I was showered and was sitting in front of the mirror doing my make up. Don't ask why, but I always get ready in the buff. Only I am not so buff and the views aren't too great, that's besides the point.

Katelyn walks in..."Mom, why are you naked? I don't like your butt on my carpet, it's really gross."

TOUCHE'. I had to laugh about that and had to share, sorry if I offended anyone. Hey at least there are no pictures with that story! Eh?!

-I almost scared Preston for life. Good thing Dad stepped in to save the day. I was at Target and saw washable swim diapers. What a great idea, I think to myself. Well the girl ones were little panties and the boy ones were like a swim suit. I already bought him a swim suit, I just needed the panties. So I brought home these pink panties with flowers on him to go UNDER his swim suit. Stephen insisted that his son will not wear those and so I will be taking them back to the store.

And the good times keep on rolling....

Frusterated

I have realized that I am cranky lately and I don't like it at all. I do not like to fight and I do not like to argue, I especially do not like to raise my voice. I feel like sometimes I have to with Katelyn. She doesn't listen to me, if I reprimand her she says it right back to me in her sassy little voice. I am constantly telling her that I am the mother and she needs to treat me with respect. I am just frustrated.

Today we went to Costco and she was fighting with Preston in the double cart. Anyways there was this sweet old couple sitting next to us that felt the need to comment on every action my kids performed. "Oh she's going to drop that drink. Oh look at him wiggle, he's going to fall. Oh he just spit out his pizza." Thank you for the play by play. Then the little old lady asked me how I handled Preston at home. I replied that I have a high chair at home and he can run around freely so it's easy. Then she said mockingly that I need to have another baby. Give me a freaking break. Can't you tell by the look on my face that I am having a bad day, and I am on the brink of tears? I do want more children some day but honestly I don't know how people do it. Both of my children have very strong personalities, which can be good and bad. It's time to get serious and dive into the books I have purchased for ideas. Today I am trying not saying anything when she sass's me, just quietly taking her hand and putting her in time out. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for letting me vent.

Updates

This morning Katelyn said, "Take a picture with me and all my junk stuff. Oh wait, let me do my mermaid tail." Ha ha. She is so freaking awesome. So like 4 days ago we were having the hardest time with her. She was throwing fits like crazy and we were both at the end of our ropes. Then yesterday and today she has been a perfect angel. She went to dance class all by herself and didn't throw a fit which hasn't happened in months. She is such a spit fire but man I love her. Oh Stephen taught her about boobs so now she randomly brings them up. Today she pointed to her Cinderella Barbie and was like, "Look at her boobs." She asked when hers were going to get big and I told her when she is 20. Then she asked if they were going to get huge like a giant. Yikes, new subject please!

This picture is what Preston is made of. When he is sleepy, he carries around his binkie and his blanky and he is the sweetest little boy. Eventually I will wean him but he's not even a year and a half and he is my baby. He has recently said bath, roll, and grandpa, all in the right contexts. He is starting to watch tv shows which is awesome for a slacker mom like me. He will sit on the couch or lay on my bed and watch Barney. It allows me to do necessary things, like I don't know, shower!

I am so excited about these next 3 pictures. We have lived at our house for 5 years now and for 5 years I have wanted new light fixtures. We previously had nasty gold ones that were way out dated. The first picture is the new fixtures in the bedrooms and the hall.

This is our new chandelier for our kitchen. It's simple, but I love it. You can't tell from the picture but these fixtures are black with an antiqued brown showing through. I heart them, and the fact that it was only $60. Katelyn said she wants one like this in her room. Hee hee.

This is the new fixture in our entry way. I love doing home improvements. Next is our ceiling fan in the living room. It makes me feel like we have a whole new house, which helps when I get a little stir crazy.

I am so grateful to be married to such a talented and intelligent man! He is a white collar worker that can do a blue collar job too! This fixture was especially hard to do and I am so grateful that he didn't give up. Thanks honey for making our home beautiful!!

Jason Aldean Concert

My in-laws really love me and gave me some tickets to the Jason Aldean concert at the Taco Bell Arena. At first I only had 2 tickets, then 4, then last minute I found out I could have 6! I had the hardest time finding people to go last minute, but I got some seriously awesome girls to go and we had the greatest time ever!!!!! Luke Bryan, the opening act, I liked him more than Jason Alean. He would shake his tush on the stage like nothing else. We danced like retards and had the greatest time. I did this crazy dance move and Luke Bryan pointed at me and did my dance move!!! I am not even kidding you! It was the coolest thing ever!

Okay so I did not wear a cowboy hat. This nasty group of old cowboy men were sitting in front of us and kept staring at our super awesome dance moves. So one of them hands his hat to Carolyn and tells her to put it on my head! Sick huh? But I just went with it. I am pretty sure that I contracted lice from it.

Carolyn, Krista, Kaysha, and Kendra.

Carolyn took our picture and before she did I said, "Hey it's the KKK." I was the only one who thought that was funny.

Kaysha has been my good friend for 8 years now. We have had our ups and downs and now we both have 2 children and are stay at home moms. It's super fun.

Happy Birthday

(This picture was taken the night before we got married.)

Happy Birthday to my brown eyed boy!! I love you more today than yesterday. Thanks for 7 great years together and here is to forever. You truly are my best friend. And if I knew how to upload music on our blog, I would put the Bob Dylan fast version of "May You Stay Forever Young." Thanks for being such an awesome father and a great husband. I love you more than life itself. To quote Tom Cruise, "You complete me." Baaa haa, Love you lots!!

Little Ruffer

For those of you that have the pleasure of knowing my Grandpa and Grandma Fowler, I just love them. They are from Alabama and they are hilarious. I think they have dated since grade school or something ridiculous like that, and they are still so in love. I went up to Garden Valley a couple of days ago with the kids for a little break. Katelyn relayed a story to Stephen and you'll get the punch line later, it's pretty darn funny.

Katelyn: "Um Daddy when I was in Garden Valley, my Grandpa called me a little ruffer. And then my Grandma said, Ben don't call her that, she's a sweet little girl. And then my Grandpa said, I know, she's a sweet little ruffer."

I laughed and laughed when I heard this. My grandpa calls people little heifers. He always says, "In our family that's a term of endearment." Sorry I just thought that was too funny.

On another note, Preston said Grandpa while we were there. It was so stinking cute. I keep thinking he is still a baby because to me he is, and I am not planning on having another one for a while. Anywho, he throws his food all the time and I just pick it up. Well yesterday he threw it and Stephen disciplined him by firmly telling him no, and patting his hands. Preston pulled out the biggest cutest frowny face I have ever seen in my entire life. It made me want to laugh and cry. He handed Stephen his hot dogs. This proves that he can actually understand us and needs to be told no more, by me. Oh my baby is growing up.

Let's talk about S...

SODA! You naughty. It is seriously getting to be so expensive. I tried to find coupons online and couldn't, can't find them on the box anymore, so I decided to write Diet Coke a little love note. Here is my actual email to them, I will let you know if it produces any results.

Dear Diet Coke,

I love you so very much. Especially with Lime. You are my favorite. I am just not sure if I can afford to drink you anymore. Everywhere I go, it's almost $5 for a 12 pack. I have kept my eye out for coupons on your cute little box but I haven't been seeing them. Any suggestions on where to find coupons so that you and I can continue our little love affair?

Sincerely yours,
Kendra Nicolaysen

My Birthday

So for those who know me pretty well, I love my birthday. I celebrate it as long as I can. I think of what I am going to get the day after my birthday for the next year. This year is a big one because I am going to be 25!! That sounds so old, although I feel like I am 40. My dream birthday party would have ponies, cotton candy machine, a jump house, and a bbq. Pretty much like a fair but for my birthday with all my friends and family. It's really not realistic or mature for me to have a birthday like that in my old age, someday I might just go for it, it will probably end of being one of my kid's birthdays. Anywho, this year I've got it all planned out. And these are all going to happen on different days to drag it out as long as I possibly can. :)

I am going to go ice skating with my favorite cousin Krista. We are going to hold hands and dance and pretend that we are retarded for majority of the time.

I am going to go to Wahzoo with Stephen and spend the day playing lazer tag, miniature golf, and racing go carts.

I want to go to the YMCA with my mom and brother Jordan, and my brother Jake and his cute wife and kids. I haven't cleared that one yet though. Or any of the following.

I want to go to lunch with my Dad and Step-mom Rochelle.

I think it would be super fun to go bowling with the Nicolaysen Clan.

I would love to get my girlfriends together and go to lunch or dinner.

Basically I just want to spend time with the people that I love and I find it easy to get them to hang out with me by pulling the birthday card. And I freaking love my birthday.

And if I have enough money, I would LOVE to go on a HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE!!! They are about $250 bucks though. Just don't know if it's worth it or not.

So my birthday is on April 14th, we've got a long way to go. Stephen's birthday is March 16th. We may get to sneak away to a hotel for the night. I try to do big stuff for his birthday but he's not really into all that stuff.

Anywho, these are just my random thoughts and an excuse to blog. Thanks for listening!

Funny to me stories

Okay so you'll have to excuse me. I am weaning myself from Tylenol PM. So instead of just crashing when Preston just woke me up, I laid in bed chuckling to myself about how semi-funny I am. So here's two stories that I think are pretty funny. Keep in mind it's 6 am, thanks.

Okay so some of you 8th warders might remember this one. About 2.5 years ago I went to an Enrichment activity at some one's house. It was outdoors and they had a trampoline. So already my mind was thinking of how I could be super cool and do a back flip in front of all these ladies, because then of course they would think I was super cool. So we played this guessing game and I said that I could do a back flip, they guessed it was me who said it but didn't ask me to do it. What? My plan failed miserably. Well before we all left some sweet sister mentioned that I never did my back flip. So I ran over there as fast at my legs could carry me. I didn't get enough air and ended up doing a back flip, then a backward summer salt, then hit my back on the bar and fell on the ground. Boy was I cool! I sucked in my tears all the way until my car and didn't try it again...until YESTERDAY! Let me rewind a bit now to when I was younger. We always wanted my mom to jump on the tramp with us and every time she would, she would pee her pants a bit and go into the house. Disgusting right? Well considering I am an old lady now, I did it too! And it wasn't disgusting, it was hilarious! I am supposed to be in my prime, and here I am once again thinking I am super cool doing a back flip, and I pee my pants! But to quote Billy Madison, "You ain't cool, unless you pee your pants." That makes me feel much better, thanks Billy!!

Story Number 2: This one isn't that funny but again, it's 6 am, so to me it is. I have been taking out the trash our whole marriage. Does it bother me? Not at all. I am actually a little freak about it. About every 2 days I go around and empty all the little trashes even if there is hardly anything in them. I have read books where women think that if their husband doesn't empty the trash they take it to mean he doesn't love them. Well that's just crazy. I don't empty it because I love Stephen (although I do, very much) I do it because it is full and it needs it. It's a common sense thing for me. So anywho, we missed trash day last week and have had even extra this week. I was seriously stressing about fitting it all into the trash can so we could clear it out. The garbage was full and I had bags on top of it too. Well Stephen went out there yesterday and came back in two minutes, I was expecting bad news, but he fit it all. Here is the funny part. He said that he thinks the wrong person has been doing the trash. I know that was supposed to be a dis, but I took it as a compliment. As President of this operation, I took it upon myself to fire the crappy worker, and hire the good one! Thanks honey for volunteering! You rock!