Kids are SO literal!!

So we're driving home from the Rock'n River water park near our house and Matthew suddenly has to pee. The following ensues...................

Matthew - "Mommy - I have to pee"

Jessica - "We're almost home - can you hold it?"

Troy - "Hold it buddy - squeeze your legs!"

We look back and Matthew has one hand on each of his legs - and he's "squeezing his legs" with his hands - just like we told him! At that point, I start cracking up!! Troy maintained his composure as usual!

Troy - "No Matthew, squeeze them together!"

So we look back and Matthew has moved both of his hands to one leg - hands "together" - and is squeezing!

Kids take things SO literal!

Tweezers - a tool no mother should live without!

A few of you may remember one of my first posts to this blog. I gave all of you moms out there a few tips on how to get your kids to clean up - and one of them was "give them some tweezers!!" Do you remember?

Well today - I found yet another reason that tweezers are essential in my home!!



Does everybody know what these are?

Pom poms - those cute little puffy balls that you let your kids use on art projects!! Right? I bought them a few weeks ago - trying to do some crafts to keep my kids entertained indoors during the summer heat until Jacob healed up from his surgery (and his second ear infection!)

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that my boys would find another use for them!!

But - oh they did - and it wasn't a good one!!



So I'm sitting at my desk on the phone with my insurance company - and I had JUST gotten through to speak to the right person about replacing my roof (I LOVE TEXAS HAIL!) - and my boys come downstairs SCREAMING!! And I'm thinking - seriously?! Right when I get on the phone - this better be something serious! So I look for blood - no blood. I ask why they are crying and they just keep crying.

Then Jacob points to his nose!! And says "ball"! So I'm freaking out - I can't imagine what is up there! If I use tweezers, am I just going to stick it deeper? At least I can still kind of see Jacob's - so I go for his first. After much screaming (both me and Jacob) - my trusty tweezers come out along with a POM POM!! Yup - they both stuck one of those stinking Pom Pom things up their nose - WAY UP THEIR NOSE!! Matthew's was a little tougher - but it came out too!

Can I just say I LOVE TWEEZERS? Had I not had tweezers - I would have had to go to the Dr. or Urgent Care or the ER to get these things out of my boys nose!!

Are you taking pictures of my kids?

Last night, we took in our second baseball game at Dell Stadium. Last time, we sat in seats and let the boys play at the playscape for most of the game. This time we decided to do Berm seats (lawn seats just beyond the outfield, for all of you who haven't been!).

BERM IS THE WAY TO GO!! It's all families out there and the kiddos can run around without bugging anybody! Not to mention, we sat right behind where the pitchers warm-up - so we got to watch that.

So all was going well. People were watching my kids and laughing - and I was getting the normal questions (triplets? how far apart? etc). Until.........................I swore I saw a girl take a picture of Zachy!! Wierd huh? I thought, ok she must have just taken a picture of something BEHIND Zachy and Zachy just got in the way. Right?! So I let it go.

Then like an hour later - Troy asks me if it's wierd that that girl is taking pictures of our kids!!

Now, she seems pretty normal. I think she was pregnant and she was there with her husband and some friends. She was a cute little blonde girl wearing a UT hat - probably in her mid-twenties. Maybe she just didn't know better? Maybe she was practicing for when she had kids? Maybe she was trying out a new camera?

But it made me just a little uncomfortable! This is wierd right? Have you ever had people you don't know take pictures of your kids?

Did you watch 'em?

Tell me you watched only the most entertaining night of television of the entire year?! And tell me you know what I'm talking about!! If you do - we can be best friends! If you don't - well Troy didn't either until we got married and now he LOVES it (although he might not admit it in public)!!

The TONY'S!!!

The only night when you can sit back in the comfort of your own home and, for free (because most GOOD shows cost at least $80+ per ticket) watch fabulous performances from the best Broadway shows!

I have to say - the last few years, I was sorely disappointed!! The revivals were just OK, the new musicals were just typical and nowhere near clean entertainment and frankly the format of the show and the performances were just OK. But this year............................WOW!!

The new shows: Xanadu (not really musical genius, but funny), Cry-Baby (wow phenomenal dancing!), In The Heights (really new and fresh, collaberates old Braodway with rap and pop - great voices!) and Passing Strange (so happy this didn't win!).

The REVIVALS - now here's what you wanted to watch!! Gypsy with Patti Lupone (WOW), Sunday In The Park With George (another Sondheim gem), Grease (fun and light entertainment that we all grew up watching) and South Pacific (a Broadway classic).

The PERFORMANCES - all I can say if you missed it is "Thank Goodness for youtube.com!" Patti Lupone singing Roses Turn - it was historic!! So here you go - watch it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXl10a9gJwA

Did you LOVE it?!

What a champ!!

One of the scarier things in a mom's life is having to watch her child be taken away from her down the hall to an operating room!! Today was my 3rd time - this time with Jakey!!

Last Thursday, his hernia popped out again and was really hard and painful! So we rushed up to Temple (Texas) and saw the surgeons and they scheduled a surgery for this morning. Now a hernia surgery is pretty straight forward - or so I hear - I couldn't do it!! But it does require anesthesia - which just adds a little more stress to the situation.

Jakey was a CHAMP!! We were taken in almost immediately because the person before us was late (so we got their spot - yeah for us - too bad for them!!) They had this CUTE girl come in with a bag full of stuff to help Jakey understand the process. She had pictures of the operating room, mask with the balloon on the end that the anesthesia gas comes through (and he got to blow up the balloon through the mask), a teddy bear that he could take with him - along with his new Power Ranger!! And they showed him a picture of the yellow line that they called "the hugs and kisses line." That was where you gave mom and dad hugs and kisses before your surgery.

He put on his little robe - seriously there is nothing cuter than a little kid in a hospital robe. And they wheeled him out in a red wagon. He looked for the yellow line - we kissed and hugged - and he was off!! He didn't even look back - just kicked back in the wagon and took a ride!

Next thing we know - we are in a post-op room and holding a VERY cranky boy. Anesthesia is not fun to wake up from. That took about an hour and now we have our Jakey back!!

We received 2 instructions from the Dr.
1 - Keep the wound dry - ok easy enough.
2 - Keep him from doing anything too rough or physically demanding - YEAH RIGHT!!!

It's 4 hours since we got home - about the time the local and Tylenol should have worn off - and this kid can't be kept down!! We're in for a rough couple of days!! Not for him - for mom who is going to be stressed out with this crazy, active child!!

But he sure is a champ!! Go Jakey!!

Is this a problem?!

Can you see what he's drinking? I'd like to say that this is a totally isolated event!! That this is his first and last introduction to this sweet nectar from the heavens! But alas, I cannot.

I think it's safe to say that you may have a small tiny bit of an addiction when your kids are so used to seeing you drink DC (that's what I call it) that they call it "juice" and think it's just fine for them to drink! Yeah - that's a problem!! And is it a problem that I have a pet name for it (DC=Diet Coke!)? Um - I think so!

Where did it all go wrong?! I grew up not drinking any "cola" as my mom would call it. Even if it was caffiene-free, it wasn't allowed in our house. I never drank caffiene until my working days - when one busy season I was working 14-16 hours a day and everybody else was downing the coffee like there was no tomorrow. I clearly didn't drink coffee - so what was there to keep me going?! DIET COKE!!

Fast forward to today.................chances are if you know me AT ALL, you've seen me with a DC in my hand! Hello, my name is Jessica Sheen and I'm a Diet Coke-aholic! (just kidding - kind of ; )

The first step is admitting it - right? So there you go - I've said it - for all the world to read (or the one or two of you that read my blog!)

And - I'm cutting back. No - I'm not giving it up - let's not be drastic people!! Baby steps!

But I vow today that I am NOT buying a 12 pack from the grocery store every week anymore(Troy did drink some - not just me). And I'm NOT "going on a drive" with the boys just so I can drop by JITB for a fix. Maybe, I can order one when we go out to eat. Or maybe to treat myself on a really good or really tough day - I can go to Sonic for Happy Hour (99cent drinks 2-4pm daily) every once in awhile.

So, if you see me drinking my beloved DC - feel free to ask me how detox is going - I can use all the support I can get! Hold me to it people!

Daddy worship!

How great would it be if everytime you walked in the door to your house, everybody came racing to the door to great you, jumping up and down, with HUGE smiles on their faces, eagerly waiting for their turn to give you a hug?!

Well - I know somebody who knows that feeling well - in fact, he experiences it almost daily! This is what happens everytime Troy comes home from work. Why? Well, he has 3 little boys that absolutely worship the ground he walks on!! Yeah - they like mommy alright - she's pretty cool - but daddy..............he's the best!!

Here's the proof!!

They LOVE snuggling daddy and watching a good movie!
They LOVE watching him work on that computer!
They LOVE helping him mow the lawn and wash the cars (or just make a mess of the garage while he does it)!
They LOVE wearing his HUGE shoes!
What a lucky guy, huh?!