Memorial Day Weekend

This has been such a busy week! Mike had a half day on Friday and then Monday off for Memorial Day, so we decided to finally paint the living room. We have been putting it off because we knew it would be a huge project and it would be hard to have basically the entire downstairs off limits to the kids. Luckily the weather was great so Mike could take them outside while I worked. He did a lot too, but by the weekend, I am usually ready for a break from the kids, and he is ready to spend time with them after working all week. So it just works out best for me to do the projects and him to keep the kids out of the projects (it's different story once the kids are in bed - then I really put him to work!). I am still waiting for paint to dry on the doors to get them back on the coat closet and bathroom, but that should happen today. Then we just need to get some stuff on the walls and a few more finishing touches and we are done with one more room! Only 5 more to go!

On Monday we also went to our annual BBQ with some of our Kohl's friends. We were embarrassingly late because I had to get a coat of paint on the trim before we left. There were still quite a few people there though, and although I didn't get any great pictures, we had fun.

Afterwards, the weather was actually warm enough to bust out the water toys outside! Carter was a little bit hesitant about the slip n' slide at first - Mike had to throw him down it (he loved it) but once he got the hang of it, he had a great time.

Here are some pictures. For some reason, it won't let me move them, so they are a little bit out of order, but here are the kids playing in the water:

I wish my lawn were that green in real life - I have busted my butt on that lawn and still have dead spots and crab grass. Maybe next year, right?

And, living room before and afters:

I love it, it makes a world of difference. Come on over and check it out!

Too much TV?

A couple of weeks ago as I was brushing Carter's teeth, he stopped me and said "wait, I want to tell you something!" I am waiting for something great as he points to the toilet bowl cleaner on the back of the toilet (Mike's reminder to clean it) and says "that's Deep Reach. It cleans all the way down in the S bend and kills the germs." What?!? Then, today, he comes up to me and says "Mom, it's ok if messes happen, because Clorox disinfecting wipes clean them up!". Ok, I swear all he watches is Nick Jr and PBS. Just goes to show how much they really absorb from that TV. At least he is learning about cleaning products, not new toys!

It's the end of the world as we know it.

I just finished watching "Out of Gas: We Were Warned" on CNN. HUGE mistake. I so easily fall into the doomsday-end of the world thinking. It was all about what could possibly happen if we ran out of oil. It had a scenario set in September of next year. Houston is hit by a huge hurricane and all the refineries are severely damaged. Two days later, Al Qaeda hits some huge oil pipeline in the middle east and the oil fields in Saudi Arabia. No gas means no groceries, no travel, nothing. They were going on and on about how the earth can't possibly sustain the amount of oil we need. It's amazing how much oil affects everything we do. I started thinking Mike could bike it to work if necessary, but wait, if people can't buy groceries, they aren't shopping at Kohl's either. We would lose our house, because no one else would be hiring. Then I am thinking about our lack of food storage and just our general lack of preparedness. It spirals downward from there - I imagine telling Carter and Samantha that there is no more food and I tear up. Anyways, you get the picture. Am I nuts or what? I talk to Mike about it, and he says "Oh, we'd be fine. But we should get a gun." What kind of preparedness plan is that?!? We can shoot the rabbits out back? Anyways, I am hoping that if I can get this off my chest, I can sleep tonight without the vision of my starving children in my head. I do know that I could do better, be more self-sufficient, and I am trying. Doesn't that count for anything? I miss the days when I knew I could depend on my parent's plentiful pantry to carry us through whatever. It's hard to have to be responsible all the time!

Happy Mother's Day!

I just have to brag for a little bit about my fabulous husband. He totally pulled through this Mother's Day! Yesterday Carter and he went shopping for some groceries for dinner and to run a few errands and he came home with a new buffet for my dining room. I have been wanting one to serve things off of. Anyways, he found a steal at JC Penney outlet (I love that place!) and made my day.
This morning he let me sleep in and then made my favorite breakfast of Gandalfo's bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches. We had our good friends Mike and Jessica over for dinner, which was so delicious, and then Mike let Carter pick out a cake for me yesterday at the store. He picked a carrot cake because it had carrots on it and apparently, I love carrots. I do love carrot cake, so it was a good pick. After that, Mike and Mike watched the Jazz game (they recorded it while we were at church) and Jessica and I watched P.S. I Love You (so cute!). Other than the teething/colicky/I don't know what's wrong with her baby, it was an awesome day!

My new addition:The kids new addition:
Thanks Mike! You're the best! Keep this up, and I might have more of your babies:).

My son, the exception.

I have been reading Love and Logic, trying to get some fresh parenting ideas for Carter. This book is all about natural consequences, just letting kids learn from their mistakes. There is one specific example they give about kids not keeping up with parents in the grocery store. He suggests that you just keep going, and then keep an eye on your kid where they can't see you until they freak out because they are alone and they learn to keep up. Sounds easy enough, right? So we are out shopping today, and I can't get Carter to keep up with me for anything, so I just go down the next isle. I waited for a minute for him to realize that I was gone, and when I didn't hear anything I went to check on him. A lady comes up to me and asks "is that your son outside? He's got me a little bit worried!" That's right, he just left. So I go grab Samantha and go the rest of the way down the next isle to grab him and he is gone by the time I get there. I looked outside, and right as I am about to freak out, I see him up on a shelf behind some boxes, just hiding (he will tell you, he's a really good hider). Anyways, I guess that theory was shot down today. Needless to say, he rode in the cart for the rest of the trip and was not happy about it. He said he really just didn't want to be in that store with me. What a stinker. Anyone want a sassy 3 year-old?

Job Hunting...

Along with everyone else, we here at the Chaplin home are experiencing a bit of a cash crunch with gas prices as well as grocery prices going up and up and up... Since that is pretty much all we buy, I have decided to get a job. This isn't a new thing, these past few months are actually the first that I haven't had at least a part-time job since I was 15. I kind of miss the adult interaction, and getting out of the house to do adult things. We also miss the paycheck :). Anyways, I had a job interview with Aurora Healthcare today for the health unit coordinator (that would be HUC for short). It's basically the unit secretary at the hospital. It sounds like a great job, evenings and weekends, and good pay. Can't go wrong there, right? I think the interview went well, she will pass along my info and then if someone at one of their hospitals wants me, they will call for a second interview. Keep your fingers crossed! If this falls through, I am looking at either serving or retail. Neither of which really excites me...

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!!!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have never really been into holidays. Something about having 10 kids in the family makes it hard to do them well, I guess. We never really had any great traditions growing up that I can remember. Anyways, I just never really got into them. However, since having kids, especially now that Carter is getting older, I look for any chance to create fun traditions. We celebrated Cinco de Mayo by having tacos, rice and beans, mockaritas, and I even made flan! I didn't have a mold for it, so it didn't look quite right, but it tasted great! I did look for a pinata at Pick N' Save, but came up empty handed. Next year we will have a pinata and sombreros.
Carter's favorite part had to be the margaritas. I can't wait to have to explain that in church...

Make your life easier...

For all you blog stalkers out there (like me) who can't go a day without checking up on other people's blogs you must try out Google Reader. I was introduced to it by the queen of blog, the wet donkey herself, Karen. It is so easy! You go there , sign in with your Google account info (shame on you if you don't have one--get one today!), add some subscriptions by copying and pasting blog addresses and that's it! You go there, it downloads the posts and tells you when someone has updated their blog. You have just saved yourself a million link-clicks.

The only downsides are: 1. You miss out on the cute templates that people spend hours on. 2. You can't leave comments from here--but you can just click on the post and it takes you right to it. 3. You can't subscribe to private blogs, so you still have to check these the old-fashioned way.

So what are you still reading this the old-fashioned way for? Get your booty to Google Reader!

Thanks Karen!