Best Inventions EVER

There are so many products on the market that I wish that I had invented, not only for the financial aspect, but for the simple fact that they make my life easier and they save me money.  Here I list a few of my favorites, including my newest favorite that I fell in love with tonight.....

The first: The Magic Eraser.  The Magic Eraser is such a nifty (yea, I said nifty) sponge that cleans everything.  It cleans the funky gunk out of the crevices of my fridge, it gets the permanent marker off of the walls, it cleans it all.  It saves me from having to paint, repaint and paint again, scrubbing with an old toothbrush to get the gunk out and from looking at Byron trying to explain how our 1 year old got a hold of a permanent marker to mark all over the counter tops, table and walls, all without me seeing it.  Thank you Mr. Clean!

The Second:  OxyClean.  Again, thank you Mr. Clean.  How you can put this magical powder; (I'm pretty sure that the magic eraser and the OxyClean are made from the same thing, I just can't figure out how) that looks the same as any other powder detergent, in the washing machine and it actually gets my clothes - and more importantly, the kids clothes; looking so bright and clean amazes me to no end.  It has saved me from having to throw out cute outfits and go buy the kids new clothes when I thought that they were forever ruined!

The Third: Tide-To-Go Stick.  A.maz.ing.  How this little stick works is beyond me.  I know that there are some that doubt me, but I have had nothing but success when getting the accidental pen mark out of my shirt (in a not so good place if you know what I mean!)  I have also had success in getting makeup out of collars (keep your minds out of the gutter people, Jen at work practically dumped her whole bottle of foundation on her collar!) to pen out of shirts, pants, you name it.

The Fourth, and my new favorite: CLR.  Those three little words brought me happiness and contentment this evening.  For those who don't know, CLR is a Calcium, Lime and Rust Remover.  It is most often used on shower heads to get the lime deposits off.  Let me tell you why this is my new favorite.  Our dishwasher heating element was breaking down, so every time we washed the dishes and used the sanitize feature, there would be flakes of that heating element on them, and our clear glasses would come out foggy.  No matter what I would do (which wasn't much because I wanted them to get to the point where I could convince B to buy a new dishwasher) they didn't come clean and looked awful.   So, I finally convinced the hubby to buy a new dishwasher, and I told him that while he was installing the dishwasher, I would CLR all of our clear glass dishes to try and get the fog off.  I knew that it worked on our shower head, but had never used it on our glasses.  I tried it, and even did a side by side comparison of before CLR and after.  By no means are our glasses and bowls brand new, but they look a million times better than they did before, and I got a new dishwasher to boot!

Now for those who are paying attention, yes, all of my favorite inventions revolve around the idea of cleaning, saving money, and cleaning, oh and did I mention cleaning?   I have many other favorite inventions, but I could live without those...the four listed above - I would be one lost mom (with kid coloring on the walls, pen all over my pants and shirt, destroyed kid clothes from Gymboree and foggy dishes.)  Thank you to the women - they have to be women inventors because a man wouldn't care that the fridge has gunk built up in the crevices - for your brains and talent.  Because of you, there are happy women with clean houses, clothes and dishes!

Vocabulary

Carter is 15 months old now...I have heard so often that the second child doesn't walk as soon, doesn't talk as soon, doesn't really do anything as soon as the first child did - especially if the second is a boy.  I think that my son has proven that theory wrong.  I know....I know, it is still early in the game of development, but Carter walked at 10 months - same as his big sister and B and I have noticed that he is doing things at such a young age and wonder if Haylee did them at the same age.  How quickly we forget right?

Carter is quite the little talker. He jabbers on in his baby language, totally understanding what he is saying, all the while giving mom and dad the look of "why don't you understand what I am saying!?"  We happened to catch Carter in a chatty mood, so here are some of the words that both he and mom and dad know - thanks to his sister for helping mom and dad get this out of him!

Four Years Later

Then - Nov 2006

Now - Nov 2010

I am still learning everyday.  I will never stop learning.  Four years after having Haylee, I am still learning her quirks, her moods (yes people, I will admit it - SHE IS MY DAUGHTER and SHE HAS MY PERSONALITY) what makes her tick, and how to raise a daughter, not only for survival, but how to keep her on the right path and to be happy, healthy and productive.  Haylee is an amazing little girl.  I look at her everyday and can't believe that she is mine, I can't believe that she came from me and from my husband.  I can't believe how amazing she is and how lucky I am to watch her grow and explore the world.  She is so smart, and has such a personality.


As in my last post, she is independent and is voicing her opinion more and more. We let her pick the "theme" she wanted for her birthday party, and what else could it be? Of course - princess themed! We got princess invites, princess favors, and to make it all come together, we made her a castle cake. She asked us if she could invite friends from her preschool to her party - not just girls, but BOYS too! Yikes - is she old enough to have boys coming to her birthday party? Turns out, she is, and she had a blast. We played pin the horn on the unicorn, and then as a fun craft/goody bag present, I found canvas bags, and let the kids pick out an iron on picture, and then color that picture once it was ironed on. I think the kids had a good time doing it, and all 7 of the 4 year olds left my house without fabric marker on their clothes!

The whole day was such a success!

The Princess and The Hulk

As Haylee gets older, she can voice her opinion and (usually) gets what she wants.  This year was no exception when it came to picking out her Halloween Costume.  For those who haven't been shopping for a 4 year old Halloween costume lately, you can either be some sort of bug (lady, bumble, etc) or you can be some sort of princess/fairy.  Haylee chose to be Cinderella.  The costume we bought we a little big, but with a little help from Grandma Denning, we got it the perfect length.  

Carter, however, was oblivious to what Halloween is and what it actually means to dress up (aside from how annoying the hat that mom is forcing him to wear is).  

They both looked adorable.  We headed to Mom's house on Saturday so Grammy could see the kids and they could see their cousins.  On Halloween we had my good friend Erin, Matt and their son Landon up to do some trick or treating.  We then headed over to my friend Tiffany's block and did some trick or treating there.  Surprisingly, Carter did great - I think it's because he had big sister Haylee and Brynn to follow! 

Punkin Huntin

I love going to the pumpkin patch to pick out the biggest pumpkin I can find. This year was no exception...we go to the pumpkin patch off of Riverdale - it's great, you find your pumpkin, and then head off to the playground or the petting zoo. They also have two corn mazes, but it has been so windy the past few years, that we have yet to embark on that. Here are some pictures from the pumpkin patch. We let Haylee and Carter pick whatever pumpkin they wanted!

We got home and it is Daddy's job to carve the pumpkins. Mine is to clean them out, and he carves...Carter was fascinated by the pumpkins and loved sticking his hand in the pumpkin to feel the "goo".

Here are the kids sitting by their carved pumpkins!

Gymnastics

Haylee has been asking for a few months to do gymnastics, so we signed her up at the Rec Center. She LOVES going to gymnastics!

Here's a video of Haylee doing the balance beam!

I think we might have a future Olympian in our family!!!

Tiny Town

There is a place in the foothills near our house called Tiny Town. It has a "village" to include houses, shops, school houses, etc from the early 1900's that are all child size. The kids can't go into most of the village, but there are a few houses that they can go in. They also have a train that gives you a tour of the whole village. Byron and I, although we are natives, have never been to Tiny Town. We thought it would be fun to take the kids and "G.G" - my grandmother up for a day trip. We packed up a lunch and headed to the hills. We had such a good time. The local fire department was there and had their truck set up, and had a hose set up to put our the flames in a house. Haylee had such a great time putting the flames out of the house!

GG and the kids driving the fire truck.

We tried to get a picture of GG and the kids sitting on the train, but that was towards the end of the day, and the babies were tired, so we were unsuccessful in that!

Race For The Cure

For the last few years, Mom, Erin and I have done the Race for The Cure. Because we found out a dear family friend was just diagnosed with Breast Cancer, my dad, older brother and his girl friend joined in on the race this year. Here are some pics from the day!

As always, Erin and I ran it and then went back to pick up the walkers. It was pretty cold in the morning, but the kids were good sports and had a good time too!

What I learned in Preschool

Haylee started her second year at Little Lights this Fall. She loves going to school and according to her teachers, is a good kid, likes everyone to be included in what is going on, and will finish a project that they have started when most of the kids are bored and moving on after 10 minutes. Her coloring is fantastic, and I am pretty sure she is artistic like her Daddy.

Here are her 1st day of school pics from this year.

A few weeks ago they were learning the story and song of 5 Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed. Her brother loves it when she sings the song, and I was able to catch some of it on video!

Enjoy my two little monkeys!

Ugh, I'm Terrible at this!!!

Ok, so I try so hard to keep up on the blog, but it just doesn't work!

This post will be a brief update on what our fam has been up to since Carter's birthday (yeah, nearly three months ago!!!)

We went to Aspen over Labor Day weekend. Usually we have done a hike just behind our condo, but we decided to forgo that one this year and found a different path behind the condo. It took us to a really old cemetery, a play ground and eventually to the river. It was a great, relaxing weekend.

Kids playing in the fountains in town.

Hanging in the tee-pee at the park

The kids playing at the park

I love this picture of Haylee sitting by the river. She had a great time throwing rocks and twigs into the river and watching them sink or float!!!

At the end of September, Byron and I with Byron's brother Jason and sister in law Jen, headed to Las Vegas for a long weekend away! The Barrett-Jackson Car Auction was in Vegas that weekend so we had a great time hanging out there. Here are some pics from the weekend.