Happy Birthday!!

Look who is three years old today!!

When it Snows in Tennessee...

I believe in global warming.

I can't give you hard statistics, nor can I recall the theoretic details of melting ice caps and unusual weather phenomena, but I can tell you what I think is proof of global warming...

When I was a kid, East Tennessee saw lots of snow, and as of the last five years, nothin' but empty promises from the weather man and a little white dust.

Until today.

Here's my little Red enjoying his first snow.

Now, I have to stop here for a second and give you a little insight into how much it snowed when I was a kid, and how little it snows now. This is important, because it will explain a very confusing picture at the end of this post of a child careening down a hill in a cardboard box.

Back then:

1. Snow days were factored into the school calendar for a reason, and we used every one of them.

2. Everyone owned gear. Water-proof gloves. Hat with a chin strap. Snow boots. And most importantly, a sled (or an inverted garbage can lid with the handle broken off, God bless the innovative Southerner)

3. Speaking of sleds, we all have at least three scars from crashing those things into curbs or a parked car at the bottom of a hill.

4. Every family had a snow routine. Play outside until you couldn't feel your fingers and toes. Sit by the fireplace while Mom rubbed feeling back into your limbs and gave you hot chocolate with marshmallows. Listen to Mom try to convince you to stay inside. Go back outside.

Now:

1. No.

2. No. Gloves, maybe.

3. Nope.

4. Afraid not.

That's right. Sad, sad, sad. The snow boots section at Target is like half a shelf. I'm guessing there are probably a few sleds for sale in Knoxville somewhere, but I've never seen them.

So today when the snow hit, we improvised. Try to follow me here, I'll start from top to bottom.

Hats, check. No longjohns, so each child was layered with two pajama tops. Red has a big head, so he needed a scarf since the neck holes of his pajama tops are stretched out. To keep legs warm, we pulled Biscuit's soccer socks all the way up to Red and Blondie's thighs. Then pajama bottoms. Then the ever-so-classy plastic shopping bags for the feet, then warm-up pants over that to hide the embarrassing plastic bags. A pair of socks over the bags, then insufficient shoes, but that's what the bags are for... water-proofing (we already know we're genius, you don't have to say it). Coats, check. Mittens, check. Except for Biscuit, who had to wear his mother's gloves, which explains why he looked like Edward Scissorhands.

And now for the pictures. As you will see, we do not own a sled, but our children will not be denied.

TDH caught this picture of me on our snow day. Joy.

The Comeback

Yes, sirreee, I'm alive!! Thanks for all your well wishes, they were bright spots on this dark and lonely highway called "wisdom teeth removal." I went to the doctor yet again this morning, to fix my third dry socket, but I'm not going to talk about it any more, because I'm as sick of hearing about it as anybody else.

In my lucid moments, I've been keeping busy by organizing my office, reading this book, working on SuperNoots stuff, fighting the CPSIA, keeping KFC afloat by purchasing 7,498 orders of mashed potatoes, oh, and trying to resurrect some semblance of order in my household.

Yes, the members of this family have been spoiled by Mama's inability to command a room like she used to. I'm talking about backtalk, excessive whining, and complete memory loss of every rule and responsibility. And that's just TDH.

But since coming off pain meds, uncrossing my eyes and splashing cold water on my face a few times throughout the day, Mama is making her comeback.

My children once again look at their mother with a healthy amount of fear, and I'm okay with that.

Ibuprofen is Calling

Okay, so apparently when you have tooth pain, you should go to the dentist.

Not wait 3 months until one morning you can't chew.

I can see you out there, shaking your little heads and wagging your fingers at me. So, let me just say, I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW.

My four impacted wisdom teeth have been trying to tell me for quite some time now that they are tired of being in my mouth. They want out, and really who can blame them? So surgery it is.

Now those of you who know me will be shocked by what I am about to share with you. If you are just joining us, a short recap... I eat healthy.

My diet yesterday? Applesauce, Panera chicken noodle soup, 1/2 a kashi bar (swallowed whole), and for dinner, Kentucky Fried Chicken mashed potatoes. By the time TDH brought them home for me, I was in tears from being so hungry, and I don't think I've ever appreciated anything more in my life.

I'll keep you updated.

I'm off to pack up lots of SuperNoots. But first, Ibuprofen.

The Lassie Experience

From time to time, for absolutely no reason in particular, I decide I no longer want to be a member of my generation, and I bake biscuits from scratch, consider moving my whole family to Montana, and buy things like this...

I have no idea why, but the why is not the point of this post but possibly the basis for an in-depth psychological study, but I digress...

The following is our Lassie experience, and it takes place in our minivan. You'll be afraid for me and the children at first, but don't worry, it has a happy ending.

One morning on the way to school, we began watching an episode of Lassie in which she accidentally gets locked in the back of a delivery truck, and as a result ends up hopelessly lost, 600 miles away from home.

Now, it takes us 25 minutes to get to school, so by the time we had gotten there, this episode had ended as a "to be continued," with Lassie wet, hungry and sad, and Timmy heartbroken. Biscuit was extremely concerned, but I explained to him that Lassie would find her way home soon.

When I picked up the kids, Biscuit was anxious to start the show. The poor little guy had been on the edge of his seat all day over Lassie finding her way home. But by the time we made it to karate, the poor dog was still lost. Not only was she still lost, but she had been stalked by a bear, attacked by a horrible dog, and barely made it across a river. On the homefront, Timmy was completely beside himself, and the parents were telling each other it was hopeless.

When karate was over, the kids ran, not skipped as joyful, carefree children should do, but RAN to the DVD player. Shortly after we got in the car, the second episode of the day ended, and alas, Lassie was. still. lost. Not only was she lost, but Timmy's parents asked a friend to bring over a new puppy to ease the pain.

At this point, I'm starting to panic. I'm looking in the rear view mirror at my impressionable, sensitive five-year-old, and thinking he'll remember for the rest of his life that his mother was excited to show him the story of Lassie.

So, now I do the honorable thing, and start blaming the dog. Well, Biscuit, I can't believe Lassie's not home yet! She's supposed to be home by now, Timmy's really missing her, and she should be home. She needs to be home. Come on, Lassie, go home!

Ten minutes from our house, episode three begins. Timmy is desolate, refuses to love the new puppy, and returns it. Lassie is being helped by a kind man now, but the director doesn't hint to any happy endings. We are now in our neighborhood, so I pull over on a sidestreet to watch what I hope will be some form of closure.

A hopeless, tearful Timmy gathers Lassie's toys and heads out to the backyard to bury them. Biscuit is crying, I am crying, then...

A bark.

Let me just tell you, when Timmy looked up and saw Lassie coming over that hill, I cannot explain to you the immense joy that flowed throughout that minivan. Lassie and Timmy ran as fast as they could into each other's arms...

And I breathed an immeasureable sigh of relief. Then I silently cursed the 1950's for their cruelty and lack of cell phones.

Egg-a-Nog

AAAHHHHH. Breathing now.

Has everyone settled down from what I hope was a beautiful and blessed holiday season?

We had a big Christmas surprise in our house. A new little addition to our family.

May I present... Egg Nog.

Have you ever heard of a cat that will sit in a two-year-old's lap without being held down against their will?

And just look how she sleeps, on or next to their unpredictable, spastic little feet and hands...

I thought Biscuit might want to change her shelter-given name, but turns out "Egg Nog" grows on you. Red says it with a french accent. Egg-a-nog. Cute.

We love her.

We also celebrated the christening of our little Goddaughter. She is even cuter than Egg Nog. Here she is with her parents and brother.

The SuperNoots family... (that's us)

And now TDH and I are gearing up to celebrate the New Year. I hope with all my heart that you and yours have a blessed and meaningful 2009. I love y'all!

Red's Little Victory / Lori's Favorite Salad

A big shout out today to our little Red. Yesterday, he used the potty every single time. Yay!!!

Of course, the money he saved us in diapers he made up for in toilet paper. I don't mind, though, because I'm remembering when Biscuit started pottying, he would only use one square. Unpleasant. He's the conservative one in the family.

Now if we can just get Blondie on the bandwagon. She likes to do things on her own time.

OK, if you can stomach talking about food now, then I'm offering up my favorite salad of all times. If you could put together your 'dream ingredients' on a salad, what would they be?

Lori's Favorite Salad

fresh spinach
romaine lettuce
bibb lettuce
grilled chicken
feta cheese
cranberries
pine nuts
cucumber
red onion
balsamic vinaigrette

Mmmmm....

Halloween pics

Just getting around to posting pictures!

May I present...

Biscuit, the race car driver (a little unsatisfied that a Tony Stewart uniform was not available)

Red, the disgruntled chef

Blondie, the 50's dancer

California

Biscuit and I just returned from our trip to California. We had a great time visiting family, and he was thrilled to fly for the first time. On our return home, he got the full experience... we flew right into the remnants of hurricane Fay going into the Atlanta airport. His mother, who does not handle turbulance well due to a seat-gripping experience several years ago, was beside herself, and was forced to pull out the acting performance of her career. Whee, wasn't that fun?!?

We were supposed to have an hour layover in Atlanta, but for some reason, headwinds or whatever, we landed with 20 minutes to spare before our Knoxville flight took off.

SO, I grabbed Biscuit by the shoulders, looked him dead in the eye, tightened his little backpack straps, and said, "Son, you and me. We're gonna make this plane." And off we were, running from terminal A to B, which in Atlanta is no short run, hair flying and cough drops flying out of an unzipped pocket of my backpack.

We made it. Barely. It was a true bonding experience, knocking over little ol' ladies and taking out unsuspecting children with our flying backpacks.

The trip itself to California was wonderful, filled with fun and family time.

Biscuit needed serious coaxing to pose for this picture. This was a little dinosaur museum close to Palm Springs.

Can you see Biscuit sitting on his toe?

Aunt Judy and Biscuit

I've seen the desert many times in my life, but there's nothing like seeing one of God's amazing creations for the first time through your child's eyes.

We had a wonderful time, and hugs and kisses to my wonderful family out there, who I love deeply and there's just never enough time to visit.

Oh, the guilt!

The first day of school!
With SuperNoots growing more and more every day, TDH and I had to make the tough, tough decision to start the twins in pre-school one year earlier than planned. After a jam-packed summer, I thought their first day of school would go like this... drop the kids off, grab a well-deserved frappuccino from Starbucks, head home, organize the house, work, send out way-over-due thank you notes from Biscuit's birthday party, breathe...

It didn't quite go as planned.

When I walked into that quiet, empty house, it did not say organize me. It said, bad mommy.

So, I cried and sat numb from the brain down for the rest of the day.

The second day of school, I pulled myself together for a nice walk. I didn't walk for exercise as much as I walked for a little clarity, and it came to me somewhere between the warm sun and the cool breeze that this transition into the working mom world is not going to be as easy as I thought.

So, last week I spent most of my time piddling and dealing with a family crisis or two, including my transmission going out, Red's trip the ER for a cut on the head, and two of my three grandparents going into the hospital. Everyone's okay now, except for the car, and I'm happy to say I'm pulling myself together over here!

Here are a few pics from our last few weeks of summer vacation.

Here is Biscuit, his cousin, and Aunt Frankie taking it easy in Atlanta. Biscuit is loving the swimming this summer.
Biscuit with me, my Godson and one of our dear friends :)

Red and Blondie

Oh, almost forgot... on a side note, check out Ship Full O' Pirates post today. Mother Hen found us a great link to an incredible way to save money on groceries and household items at CVS. Have you heard of this?! I'm going to try it!

Birthday 'Cluster'

If you've been following along here at this crazy little blog, then you've gathered that our family is in the middle of its birthday cluster, a.k.a. the short span of time where nearly half the family members celebrate his or her special day. (not to mention the anniversaries, too!)

Anyway, I thought I'd post a few pics on our recent celebrations, starting with my little neice, who we've just been celebrating every day for the past few weeks!

Isn't she sweet? Yes, I know.

Next is a non-picture of my sister-in-law, who soon after giving birth to this little darlin', celebrated her birthday. For her birthday, she took a 10 minute break from feeding to blow out her candles.

And soon after my sister-in-law, little Biscuit turned five, and somehow his birthDAY turned into his birthWEEK.

Trip to the zoo. Yes, Biscuit's wearing a Peyton Manning jersey. No, we don't live in Indiana. But we love Peyton Manning for being a Tennessee alum and also setting a great example for our kids.
Trip to Creative Kids Museum in Chattanooga. Biscuit posing with a T-Rex.



The big birthday party! We had a great time. In this picture, I'm not sure if Biscuit is blowing his candles out or if I've just told him about his 5-year immunization shot!



TDH's Dad celebrated a big mile-marker birthday just yesterday. Unfortunately, he didn't get to enjoy but just a bite of his birthday dessert. Wonder why?


And we're not done! My nephew celebrates his big 5 in a few weeks. Then it's almost two months before the next 'cluster.'

Business note... thank you, Stacy Julian, again for an amazing post about SuperNoots. Your support has been tremendous, and I truly truly truly appreciate you :)

Celebrating Almost Over

Oh, sweet readers, how I have abandoned you. My excuse is a good one... Biscuit's 5th birthday.

We're having an outdoor water games party, and I want it to be fabulous. (We already took a family trip to Chattanooga in honor of his birthday). You see, this year, I'm experiencing the same guilt I had two years ago. Let me explain...

Before Biscuit's third birthday, I had been on bed rest and breastfeeding twins for the last six months of his life. For his party that year, I totally overextended myself to compensate for neglecting the poor thing. It got a little out of control!

So, this year, same guilt, different reason. SuperNoots has been full-steam ahead since March, and once again, my little Biscuit has paid the price. Quite frankly, I just don't know how you working moms manage your guilt.

That being said, I want this little party to be special. Biscuit will be sharing the spotlight with his grandfather, who is turning 70. I hope he doesn't mind a dinosaur cake!

CHECK OUT bookieboo.com THIS WEEK! One of my previous blog posts is being featured! Check out the great picture of Biscuit :)

Happy Almost Birthday, Biscuit!

Stay tuned, sweet readers. My little Biscuit turns five tomorrow, and we have been celebrating all weekend long. Tomorrow, TDH is taking off work for a fun-filled family day!

I'll be posting lots of pictures :) I can't believe my little boy is five-years old!!!

Since I'm abandoning you without much content, I'll defer to one of my favorite bloggers, Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer. This post is great, you'll be seriously entertained!

A Serving of Weight Loss, Topped with a Dollop of Cynacism

There are four points listed at helpguide.org to help us lose weight. Here they are along with my take on why it just ain't that easy for us moms.

1. Take time to chew your food. There are only two ways this will work for us. One, if you factor in chewing while walking as extra gravitational chewing force, then the five trips you take from the table to grab a papertowel might help you lose weight. Secondly, if you count the food you eat that has already been chewed up by one of your kids, well, then that might help you lose weight, too. Otherwise, there is no way we're scoring on this one.

2. Avoid stress while eating. Ha! Even those of us with the most well thought-out plans for dinner have no way to anticipate the sibling food fight, the spilled milk that a little sister thinks is funny so she dumps hers out, too, or the tot who didn't listen when you told him he had eaten enough, but gorged anyway, and experienced a 'reversal of fortune,' so to speak.

3. Listen to your body. This could not only keep us moms from losing weight, but send us into a downward spiral of peppermint patties and Starbucks Java Chip ice cream. Oh, that sounds so good right now. In fact, listening to our bodies might make us abandon our children altogether, and drain the college fund for a trip to an all-inclusive spa resort.

4. Eat early, eat often. The 'eat early' part is often sacrificed to keep the kids from whining, er, going hungry themselves. As for 'eat often,' well, here's where I'll abandon my cynacism for a moment (why am I in this mood today?) and offer a healthy eating tip for moms.

Eating small, healthy snacks/meals throughout your day will keep your metabolism going strong and give you the energy you need to perform your superwoman duties. If you are feeling particularly sluggish, have a high-protein snack, along with fiber. The protein will give you an energy boost, and the fiber will make the protein work more efficiently in your body.

I like turkey and cheese roll-ups with whole wheat crackers OR yogurt with fruit and granola.

Oh, and put down that diet coke! Caffeine is the worst thing for keeping your metabolism at a steady, beneficial rate.


I had promised a long, long time ago that I would share pictures from the CMA Awards in Vegas, and here the few that turned out okay. Seems that waving a picture phone around in a crowd of rowdy country music fans is not the best scenario for taking a quality picture.

Here is Taylor Swift at the pre-awards show party. As you can see, we bullied our way to the stage. If you're one of the unfortunate souls we trampled, I really am sorry.

Kellie Pickler

My friend Joanne, my sister (in-law) Frankie, and me, just before the Saturday pre-award show party. Sunday was the big show, and the highlight for me was seeing Reba. Of course, the best pictures I got of her were on the big screen (for some reason they wouldn't seat me by the stage, next to Nicole Kidman, as I requested).

Teach Kids to Eat Healthy Now, Prevent Drug Use Later

Here's the scenario.

Little Red hates corn.

But my rule at the dinner table is everybody tastes everything in order to get their cookie.

I don't serve corn very often, and when I do, I sympathize with Red's dilemma and I will even add butter to make it more enticing. Biscuit and Blondie love corn, so I keep it coming, hoping one day Red will give in and eat it.

Tonight, however, at the dinner table, Red would not eat his corn. We all tried different tactics... I went with gentle persuasion, Biscuit dramatically demonstrated how he eats corn, TDH tried hypnosis with a cookie, and Blondie yelled, Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!

He would not give in, however, and we all ate our cookies in front of him. He sat, motionless, expressionless, and if his grandmothers had been present, they would have cried their eyes out.

Even though my cold, mean mommy heart had melted into my shoes, I had a wonderful glimpse into his future and I felt much better.

I am prepping him for peer pressure.

So, I'm sharing this thought with all the mean mommies and daddies, who feel like the scum of the earth when you deny sweets.

In fact, GREAT JOB! Not only are you giving your kids a leg up on their growth and development by pushing the healthy stuff, you are fine-tuning their resistance skills.

Now, on a personal note, I would like to introduce you to my little neice and goddaughter, who was born yesterday. (And, if you remember, the first picture in this blog!)




She's our beautiful, healthy little girl... we are truly blessed. Welcome, little one!

Here I am with my nephew. He's holding his little sister for the first time.

SuperNoots, Mommy Bloggers, and a Little Girl Named, Hmmm....

Thanks, Rachel Mickelson, of fitnessformommies.net, for a great product review of SuperNoots. I love reading all the comments... they're like little warm fuzzies. You are doing a great job with your site and I can't wait to see who wins the big contest :) Check out Rachel's review and all the sweet comments (84 to date!) here.

I also have to give a shout out to Stacy Julian and Lisa Cohen, both of which supported Victoria and me in a huge way. Stacy, I still remember the day Victoria and I were just getting started, and all of a sudden, we had like 150 hits on our site and loads of orders. We had no idea what had happened! We finally tracked down the traffic to you and your awesome blog, so thank you, thank you, and thank you! Find Stacy's blog here. And Lisa, your blog readers were so inspired by your SuperNoots testimony, you wouldn't believe the love that came my way thanks to you... and what can I say about a fellow Coldplay fan, but ROCK ON!! Find Lisa's blog and SuperNoots ravings here and here.

As for me, I am anxiously awaiting the birth of my neice and Goddaughter, uh, nameless at the moment, but nonetheless already loved more than she'll ever comprehend. I expect any moment to get the phone call (hopefully before her June 30th due date), then I will mercilessly drop my three kiddos at my mom's doorstep and drive to Atlanta. I might remember to pick up TDH along the way, hopefully he can jump through the window of a moving minivan, er, car.

You probably noticed I've just now learned how to link. Yes, I am the world's biggest tech dummy. I have decided that my first posted picture will be of the newest family member, so get ready. I realize that a photo along with my blog will seem strange, but I'm confident we'll make it through together. L