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!

Walking!

Samantha is finally figuring out the walking thing! I know I should live in the moment, and not just be looking forward to the next phase. Generally, I would say that I am pretty good about that. She has been so frustrated over not being able to walk on her own, though. She wants to walk everywhere, and she gets mad when she can't; she just hasn't been able to get it down! She finally took a couple of steps on Sunday, and has been practicing ever since. I can't wait for her to start chasing Carter around instead of him always going after her. Revenge will be sweet...

Who knew I was so hot?

Mike had a work thing the other night, and we were supposed to dress up, and I haven't really gotten dressed up like that in a while, so I thought I would post some pictures: What? I didn't tell you that I chopped my hair off, got a boob job and lost 30 pounds? I am getting my hair done tomorrow, and I heard about this site, hairmixer. You can download a picture of yourself and mix and match hairstyles. I didn't have any plain head shots, so I just took one after a day of cleaning, no make up. Next time, I will have to try it looking a little more made-up, but what do you think?

Long and Lovely Linda a la Pink

Channeling Lindsay Lohan

I think I may have had an "aha" moment with this one:

Linda for president!

And finally, I find comfort in the fact that if I ever wanted to cross over, I would make a decent looking guy. I actually look a lot like my brother, kind of wierd.Anyways, I didn't find any great inspiration, but it was a fun way to kill some time while Mike watches his 10th basketball game of the week.