Time all to myself.

I tried to have free time all to myself last night. I made two big mistakes. The first was thinking I could get some free time to myself and the second was actually attempting it.

I decided to take a bath and maybe even work a Sudoku or read some of my book that I haven't been getting to (A Tree Grows In Brooklyn). I ran a nice hot tub while listening to my youngest beg over and over and over again to please come in the tub with me. Lip out and everything. I asked her ever so nicely to please give mommy just a few minutes of quiet time in the tub and then she can join me. I admit I was probably begging just a little. My sanity needed the time.

As I lower myself into the tub ever so slowly enjoying the nice hot warmth of the water, I hear my oldest say "where are the kitties?" This may seem like a normal questions, except that we have a pretty small house and if they can't be found chances are they escaped to outside and that would be bad. I listen for a little and am hearing no sense of urgency to find the little kitties and so out of the tub I go to assist in the hunt. I ask my wonderful husband if he has looked in the cubby and under the desk to which he replies "yes." So I skip those locations and look everywhere else. This included walking around outside wrapped in a towel with my husband's slippers on calling our two new kitties. The humor in that is that they probably don't know their names yet so I am not sure what good I am doing by calling their names. Back upstairs I go. Again I ask Robb if he looked under the desk and he replies "yes." I look in all the cubbies, under the beds, in cupboards, under couches and everywhere else I can think of except under the desk because Robb is adamant that he checked there.

By this time I am starting to get frustrated. My bath water is getting cold I just know it and the amount of time I have for some alone time is slipping away while I search for the kitties. I decide for the heck of it to look under the desk. Guess what? There they were looking up at me with their big eyes all sprawled out enjoying some lazy alone time. With that I stood up, practically fuming. So upset that precious minutes from my alone time had been stolen. I went to the bathroom and locked myself in. Lowered myself back into the tub and sank all the way under the water. I didn't want to hear anything except my own breathing for as long as possible.

New Kitties

I think I was on something. That is the story I am sticking to. I could go with "I was drugged by their cuteness" because that would work also. Either way nothing could have prepared me for the cat poop massacre that I just had to deal with.

I suppose my first mistake was trying this new crystal cat litter. It is HORRIBLE. It doesn't clump and it doesn't stick to poop. And as far as I am concerned that is a definite necessity.

Picture this . . . Robb walks in the bathroom while the girls are in the shower and asks them if they pooped in the shower it smells so bad. I tell him it was probably his cat (Bert has already had a few that could peel paint.) and he says "Wow! Some cat." He then proceeds to go about doing whatever it was that he was doing before he smelled the atrocity. I then go into the bathroom and it still smells horrible. I ask him if he cleaned the box and he says "No."

No? Why the heck not? I tell him he either needs to clean the box or finish making the bed with the fresh sheets I just washed. He of course chooses the bed. I head to the bathroom and get in there just in time to witness Bert trying to cover up his poop with the horrible crystal cat litter and it isn't working and the poop is getting thrown all over the toilet and the walls. I go in really quick like and scoop him out of the box while trying to not get any poop on me. I then notice these little poopy paw prints heading out of the bathroom. I realize that those have to be Lonni's since I am holding Bert. I yell to Robb to grab her and sure enough Lonni's paws are covered in poop. I check Bert's and his are also. I hand the two cats to Robb and tell him "You get the poopy paws if I have to clean the poopy walls and floor."

So that is how I spent my Saturday evening. I cleaned cat poop off the toilet and the walls in our bathroom. I wonder what the week has in store for me. I can't wait. Maybe after I get over this little poop incident I will post some pictures of the little trouble makers.

My answer in a not so golden wrapper.

Ellie started school this week and since Monday I have been wondering how it was going to go. I wasn't worried about whether or not she would have a fun time or if she would make friends. I knew that she would have a fabulous time. What I was concerned about was if having school right during her normal nap time would be such a good idea. I have learned the answer to my question. No!

I learned this while in Walmart this evening. Ellie and I stopped there on our way home from gymnastics to grab a few groceries (laundry detergent, bleach, silk). I didn't even make it into the store before sweet Ellie turned into psycho screaming Ellie. It was a pleasant experience for sure as I zoomed around the store gathering the few things I needed and flying towards the checkout as fast as I could. Went right for the self check, avoiding any unnecessary contact with other humans, paid and went straight for the car.

The one positive . . . fastest trip through Walmart ever.

Sam Murdoch

I was recently given the fun opportunity to take pictures of the girls' past babysitter and her boyfriend.

Proud Mom Moment

I would have to say that one of the proudest mom moments ever is seeing my beautiful girls excited for their first days of school. They both talked about it weeks before it happened building up to the big day. This year was a really big year for Olyvia. It is her first year of all day school.

Here she is on her way to her first day in Mrs. Hawkins' first grade class.

There were a few kids that were still clinging to their parents but my daughter just reassured me everything would be just fine with a quick, 'love ya mom.' My cue to head out.

It was all old hat for Ellie as she started her first day of her last year in preschool with Teacher Sue. She too was extremely excited and after a quick picture outside of her portable. . .

I had to chase after her to catch up with her.

After washing hands and signing in, she went straight to the rug with her friends.

I really feel blessed that my girls are so comfortable where they are at and that they are establishing a love for school and education at such an early age.

I wonder. . .

Recently I have come up with some great ideas for things I wanted to blog about. You may notices that my blog has not been bombarded with new posts lastely which may lead you to ask, "where are all these great ideas?" Excellent question.

All these fabulous ideas I have gotten have either come while I am driving down the highway and can't stop to write them down or when I am just about into lovely dream land and don't want to get out of bed. I think to myself that I can remember the idea if I just repeat it to myself multiple times. Then I sit down to blog and instead of the wonderful amazing idea that I had running through my mind earlier, you get this.

So, I appologize for my inability to remember these great ideas and I promise that I will try and keep a notebook with me at all times, even under my pillow if necessary, so that you don't miss out on any wonderful tidbits I might have to offer.

Toffee

We have had a loss in our family. Something we hate to see our children go through is the loss of a family member. Robb and I had our first experience with telling our children that their pet kitty had disappeared. There were a lot of tears and our youngest exclaimed "Don't be sad sissy. She will be back tomorrow" as our oldest shed buckets of tears.


Olyvia wanted to know all the details but I had to tell her that I really didn't know. I explained that she could have been caught by a wild animal or she could have been sick and wandered off, but that I just didn't know for sure. Watching her struggle with this was sad for me as her mother. I could see her trying to grasp the meaning of it and then all of a sudden she stopped crying, she looked at me and explained to me, quite matter of fact, that Toffee had gone to find her mommy and would be fine because if she was lost that is what she would do.


And so our wonderful kitty went to find her mommy. She will be missed, but we enjoyed all the fun times we had with her.

'Night' by Elie Wiesel

'Night' by Elie Wiesel is an amazingly powerful true story of a young Jewish boy who is taken from a ghetto with his family to a concentration camp as told by Elie himself and translated by his wife. The book details the horrors of seeing his family ripped from his life and his father murdered by the Nazi soldiers. I was crying in the first chapter and there were parts of the book where I was actually sick to my stomach and had to take a break from reading. That said, it is definitely on the top of my "best books" list and I would highly recommend it to anyone, especially those searching for a first hand perspective on the atrocities that occurred at the hands of the Nazi's during WWII.

***** A definite must read for all.

This book was highlighted on the Oprah book club and her website offers some great resources.

What have I read?

Earlier today someone mentioned that, while on my blog, they were surprised not to see more posts on books I have ready. I then realized she was right and I couldn't believe it. So I have decided that I really need to do something about that. Plus, by sharing my love for reading I can hopefully encourage another to read a good book.

I am going to rate books on a 5 star scale in relation to all books I have read. Should it happen that I read a book I don't want anyone to have to suffer through it, it would receive zero stars. I will also try to give a brief explanation of what I thought of the book. I would encourage anyone who reads my reviews of the books to comment, especially if you disagree. Many people will have differing opinions on the same book and I love to discuss those in a outlet such as this so others can review the debate, read the book and then make their own opinions.

Enjoy and happy reading!

Michaud Family Photos

Rencently I had the amazing opportunity to take photos of a friend's family. They hadn't had family photos in a while and had asked me if I would take them and I was honored. The family is a very close and it could be seen in how they interacted with each other and how the kids interacted with each other. It was pure joy to see it. Here are a few of the pictures from the evening.

A beautiful day at the beach.

What a beautiful evening it was. I met up with Sara and her wonderfully spunky daughter, Hanna, at the beach. It was great to see her and Hanna enjoying each other so much in such a beautiful place. Hanna was intrigued by everything and I loved following her around and capturing her beautiful personality as she went.

Leilah turns 3!

We had a great time last weekend at my niece's 3rd birthday party. My sister decided to hold it at Silverdale Waterfront which proved to be the perfect location. The kids could play on the playground, there was concrete for them to draw on with chalk, grass to run in, and beach to explore. Plus it was a beautiful day. I was able to get some precious pictures that I want to share with all of you.
Is she a beauty or what? Oh, and she loved the watermelon.

The Neighbor Kids.

I had so much fun last Saturday when I was able to take pictures of our neighbor's three kids. They are such beautiful children. I took some bubles with me to help them be more at ease with the idea of someone taking a lot of pictures of them and it worked like a charm for the girls. The son was a little tougher, but upon promises of a tractor ride and a visit from the neighbors' dog he became a lot more excited. They were so much fun to shoot and I can't wait to get an opportunity to take some more pictures of them.