Tuesday Tidbits...

Tuesday Tidbits = A little bit of this and A little bit of that = Nothing really important to say or clever to blog about. Just a bunch of randomness thrown into one blog.

A couple of weeks ago, during one of our unusally warm winter Saturdays, we decided to take a little stroll into town to let the girls play by the fountain. I figured it would be a good photo opp and they proved me right. The P's were such camera hogs that day, particularly Presleigh. Check out her modeling poses- I didn't teach her these, she worked them up herself and made sure I captured every last one. It got to a point where I had to pretend I was still taking pictures, just to apease her. D.I.V.A.

This picture is a little embarrassing and I'm not quite sure why I'm even posting it. As I was cleaning my bedroom one weekend, I decided it was probably time to lift the dust ruffle and vaccum under the bed....and this is what I found. Compliments of my little rat, garbage disposal, sorry excuse of a dog, should have been a goat, Cayenne. This is where the saying "everything but the kitchen sink" would be completely appropriate.

Upon that same cleaning day, I found these- tucked away in a drawer under the girls bath towels. Should I be concerned? Guess it could be worse, had it been their heads.

You might be a redneck if......
You take a patio bench, flip it upside down, nail a peice of roofing material to it, to create your very own remote control car ramp. Yes folks, this is no joke.

Last but not least, I stumbled across these pics today as I was uploading photos. One day the P's decided to sneak a tube of lipstick from my purse. Here's the results:

Not only was makeup smeared all over their faces, but so was their utter shame and disappointment. Those puffy red eyes were the result of lots of tear shed, when they experienced the longest time out of their lifetimes, accompanied with lots of scolding, no snacks, and zero cartoons the rest of the afternoon. After I cooled off a bit, I made sure to snap a photo and actually crack a smile.

The Tooth Fairy's Very First Visit...

Presleigh is now the proud owner of a permanent tooth and a slight lisp. That super wiggly, front and center bottom tooth finally came out....Thanks to Mimi! We all know I wasn't about to pull it out and neither was Presleigh. So after dinner one Sunday evening, Mimi wrapped the little tooth in a napkin and popped it right out before Presleigh even knew what had happened. Presleigh was sooooo brave and very excited and naturally we had to get home ASAP, so that she could get ready for the Tooth Fairy's arrival.

I asked Presleigh how much money she thought that the Tooth Fairy should provide and she replied with a modest $15.00. I found that to be reasonable considering it was her first tooth, but do hope I didnt set the expectation of receiving that for all 26 teeth, a grand total of $390 once all of her teeth have fallen out.

Once home and in our pj's, Presleigh pulls out her little tooth box and tooth fairy pillow and places her teeny, tiny little tooth inside. Here a few pictures I snapped of her right before bedtime.

You can see by the pictures she was very excited, so much so that she woke up 2x before 11pm to see if the Tooth Fairy had arrived. This proved to be a very late night for the Tooth Fairy, as a matter of fact, she was up until well after midnight. In the Tooth Fairy's sleepy haze, she realized that we didn't have $15 in cash at home, and rather than waving her magic wand at the ATM, she decided that a portion of that $15, seven to be exact, would be in change-so out of desperation she decided to pull a robbery on Dad's piggy bank.
When Presleigh awoke that morning, she found a nice, heavy package full of coins & dollar bills under her pillow, sprinkled with lots fairy dust. The Tooth Fairy had left her a sweet little note, congratulating her on the loss of her first tooth and reminding her to take good care of her teeth by brushing the sugar bugs away every day!

Although the experience of losing a first tooth had started off somewhat tramautic in the weeks prior, it ended on a much more calm and positive note. I can remember the day that little baby tooth made its arrival 4 years ago and celebrating with just as much excitement about it as we did the day it left!

If I were an octopus...

Octopus- A cephalopod (Octopus and other genera, order Octopoda) with eight sucker-bearing arms, a soft saclike body, strong beaklike jaws

I find myself murmuring this a lot lately- especially when I'm having orders yelled at me from 2 demanding divas like I'm a Waffle House cook. Or, when I'm fixing breakfast in the kitchen for said divas and I'm being meowed at violently from the cats who act like they haven't eaten since last week. And combined with the demanding divas and meowing cats, I have a husband shouting from the fridge, "have you seen the creamer" or "where'd you hide the sugar" all before I can wipe the sleep from my eyes and make a cup of coffee for myself. It's mornings like these where I wish I had those eight arms. One arm to make the breakfast, one arm to feed the cats, one arm find all of those so called "hidden" items for the husband, one arm to drink my coffee, and the other 4 to gently cover all of their mouths for some much needed piece and quiet during the morning hustle. I'm not a morning person, never have been, I'll admit it. So this type of ruckus in the morning is too much to take.

Its been said, that along with their eight arms, the octopus can move at incredibly fast speeds and that they also have the ability to camouflage themselves with their surroundings. Now the idea of being an octopus sounds even better! fast speed + eight arms = chores done in under half the time! I could be cleaning up the massive spill of valentines fun dip ( thank you to the a-hole mom who that was a good idea for a goodie bag) and folding the 3 loads worth of laundry that has been sitting in the basket ALL WEEK. There are days when I feel like I want to run away, but instead, I keep it sane and hide in the bathroom or escape to my closet and just shut the door-but those glorious moments of silence are short lived, because in a matter of seconds jaws and his little piranhas are catching up to their prey. BUT, but, if only I were an octopus- I could camouflage myself with my surroundings and they'd never find me! <<insert evil laugh here>> I could blend right in with the dishwasher or the  neutral tones of the walls and laugh to myself as they all walk around madly shouting "Mommmmmy, Mom, MOM!, where are you?"

Ah, yes, to be an octopus would be splendid indeed...

One Verse Short of a Sad Country Song...

Yep, that about says it- it's been an old school Country Gold Saturday Night kinda week around these parts. All week last week I was out of town for work-a very long 5 days. The week before that everyone in the entire house was sick, again a very long 5 days. Coming back home after being gone puts you behind a week- on everything, requiring another very long 5 days to catch up- can you hear the twang of the guitar yet??  So in between playing catch up on my domestication duties and trying to squeeze in a little R & R, life decides to shake things up a bit.

It all started with Jolie aka Jo Jo- she's been sick for some time now. We discovered prior to Christmas she has developed heart worms and is for the most part, in congestive heart failure. She's been a tough cookie though, taking her medication like a champ ( every $100 dollars worth ) eating regularly, and for the most part acting like herself. I noticed on Sunday that she wasn't looking too good and I of course started thinking the worst and preparing for what I felt was the inevitable. After a few bouts of crying, discussing whether or not we should put her to sleep, trying to figure out what you do with a dog once they die if you didn't want to bury them in the yard if you didn't intend on living there forever, I decided I'd watch her for a couple days and if she didn't improve, I'd make an appointment to take her to the vet. Are you sad yet?

Monday night shortly after I put the girls to bed, Presleigh calls my name from her bedroom-

P- Mommmmy, I think I need to show you something
Me- Okay, give me just a second and I'll be in there ( cussing under my breath b/c I just laid them down )
P-But Mommmmy, you I REALLY need to show you something
Me-Okay, I said I'll be there in just a second - (slamming the last dirty dish into the dishwasher)

I turn around to walk into her room and she's standing there behind me, holding her mouth open and there's blood on her hands and in her mouth. Of course my immediate reaction was - " Oh my God! " Her tooth obviously bleeding and slightly crooked. My freaked out reaction put her in full blown panic mode and now she's crying- smooth move right, I'm not the calmest when it comes to blood. Presleigh's bottom teeth have been wiggling for a couple weeks now. Shocked me when I initially discovered it, she seemed too little to be loosing her teeth. Having to explain to a 4 year old that her teeth are falling out as you scramble around grabbing red solo cups and wet paper towels is no easy task- what was I going to do w/ a red solo cup? Good question- maybe give her a mixed drink to calm the nerves, catch the tooth with it, who knows, but it sounded like a good idea at the time. The bleeding had stopped and I had explained the tooth fairy, bribed her w/ money and a little surprise if it comes out, but she still had no interest in losing that tooth. Again, I'm not good with things like this and the thought of having to pull the tooth out made me gag, literally. After about 30 minutes of gagging and talking about why our teeth fall out, I realized I was fighting a losing battle. It was after 9pm on a school night and past their bedtime, so I threw in the towel. It wasn't loose enough to where she might swallow it in her sleep, so I felt okay letting her go to bed. But only after she had bribed me with her crocodile tears and " Mommy, I'm scared can I pleeeease sleep in your room" talk. So up we went, to my room, where all 4 of us slept like can of sardines.

On Tuesday I call Carrie on the phone looking for some sympathy or a good laugh. Hearing the exhaustion in my voice, she asks " Girl, what's wrong with you?" And that's where I proceed in my best Merle Haggard impersonation- " My damn dog's dyin', My kid's teeth are fallin' out, and I'm just slap tired"  Where she then responds with " Well, hell, you're about one verse short of a country song aint ya?"
See! laughter and sympathy, I knew she could do it! Oh and a bonus blog title to boot.

It's now Wednesday night- Jo Jo seems better with a little more pep in her step, Presleigh still has her tooth and shouts "hey, look at this " as she wiggles it for every stranger this side of Dallas, and I'm slowly but surely marking things off of my to do list ( like blogging for example ) so I guess I can quit drowning in my sorrows for now and suck it up at bit :)

Baby Jo Jo

A Whole Lotta Nothin'...

That's exactly what we've been doing lately.... NOTHIN'. I guess we've needed a couple of weeks to slow down and reboot after the holidays. The P's have gone back to school, I'm back at work, and we're finally getting back on a schedule. I figured since I don't have a whole lot to say, I'd share some pics I've taken recently. Still trying to learn how to maneuver the camera, but its been fun. I look forward to warmer days and taking little mini photo sessions with the girls. Enjoy the randomness that has been our January to date and I promise to have something more interesting to share next time :)

Insisted on pics of the squinkies...

and Ariel too...

Just an ordinary day in the Orrell home

This face right here is decieving ( at times ) and difficult to say no too!

and this one, this is the face Paisley makes for 98% of her photos! How grown does she look here?!

My princesses are also tomboys from time to time. Fun day climbing trees ( in a skirt )

"Sassafrass" as Mrs Jennie would call it....DEAD ON!

I get that response everytime I ask her to do something, mostly annoying, but sometimes cute :)

Sweet threads, right?...She dressed herself

and her favorite outfit...NAKED! ( but with jewelry, of course )

Camera Shy, I Think Not....

My kids have a love hate relationship with the camera. It's really hit or miss with them. Sometimes, if its just me behind the lens, they'll be cute and funny, making faces and even smiling. When someone else is behind the camera and there's others around, you can forget it. The only thing you'll get from them is a few tears.  However, they themselves love to take pictures....lots and lots of pictures. They have become little professionals at taking pictures with our phones, maybe too professional.

Because the P's take so many photo's with the phones, Craig and I find ourselves deleting and cleaning up often. One day, as I'm in the kitchen, probably baking a delicious pie or something, Craig approaches me with his phone and is like " hey, what is this?" I take a look and for a minute, can't quite figure out what it is. Then it hits me and its all I can do to keep from peeing myself with laughter. And then this conversation occurs:

Me:     Well, it looks like a butt
Craig:  Well, is it your butt?
Me:     WHAT! NO!
Craig:  Well, I see long hair...
Me:     Okay, as if I'd take a picture of my butt, on your phone!! That would be Paisley- her hair, her butt
Craig:  What the f*ck....
Me:      <<dying laughing unable to speak>>
Craig    Seriously, where did they learn that from?
Me      <<doing the pee pee dance>> I don't know, but don't look at me like I taught them
Craig    Brittany, this is serious-stop laughing
Me       Craig, they're kids, not porn stars in the making
Craig    What if someone else would have gotten a hold of my phone...this could be child porn!!
Me      <<now I'm snorting I'm laughing so hard>>

 I guess it could have ended badly with Craig ending up on  To Catch a Predator or even worse, prison, butt (LOL) nonetheless, I knew we needed to nip that in the bud real quick, to make sure it didnt happen again. We ask the P's why they took a picture of their butts with the camera and all we can get out of them is uncontrollable laughter. I mean, what did we expect-a drawn out explanation of why they got freaky w/ the camera? Needless to say, Presleigh received her own camera for Christmas, one that's being carefully monitored by the butt police aka Daddy.

Reflecting...

2011 was a memorable year, with lots of change and new beginnings. It started off a little shaky and stressful, but picked up some pace middle of the year and ended on a positive note. 2011 marked my 5 year anniversary, my 30th birthday, my first 5k, my first blog, and my first year in the gym-fully committed. When I sat down to think about 2012 and what was around the corner for me and for us as a family, all I could think about was 1 thing and that's my baby girl turning 5 years old, in 5 months and heading to kindergarten 2 weeks later! I cannot believe it or even think about it for long periods of time without getting teary eyed and all hormonal. And lets not forget little P, she heads to pre-k and will be right behind big sister in no time.

Cliche in every way, but time really does fly by-especially after you have kids. The realization of this really hit me last year, when I turned 30. I've never been one to make resolutions, but like the idea of setting goals for myself, something I had never done in the past....until I was approaching 30.  During one of my " Oh my God, I'm aging" anxiety attacks and somewhere shortly after the new year had arrived, I decided that I needed to start pushing myself harder. I realized I had become complacent and content doing the same things every day at work and at home. By no means do I dismiss the fact that raising a family and running a household is always important and hard work and by all means keeps you on your toes, but at some point in time, you need to do things for yourself as well, if you ever want to be fulfilled as an individual. I realized that to be a better Mom, Wife, Daughter, Sister, Friend, etc, I needed to be a better me. I needed to be a little selfish, self absorbent, and self centered- to be fulfilled, but only in moderation. I pushed myself to new levels at work and earned myself a new title, I pushed myself in the gym and for the first time in my life developed a bicep and a love for running. I told myself I was going stop watching so much trash tv and  whattaya know I actually read 6 books. It doesn't seem like a lot, right? But the growth I have experienced and the change in my outlook is huge. That's really all that matters in the end, how you feel about the life you're living and the life you lived. I've come to know myself pretty well over the last couple of years. We've faced a lot of trying times as a family and as a couple, but each of those experiences have put me where I am and helped me discover where I want to be. A sense of clarity, is worth its weight in gold. And, just as it has taken a lot of hard work to get to where I am, the place of knowing who I am, it will take a lot more hard work to get to where I want to be.

My most recent post on Facebook went something like this:

"This year there will be new knowledge to gain, new concepts to take in, new skills to learn, new people to meet, new friends to enjoy, new sights to see and new thrills to experience! I have a feeling 2012 is going to be full of great things indeed!"

One of the comments I received was from a lady that I worked with for many years, Mama Bern. She always had the most positive things to say and I really did enjoy her prospective and miss having her around. What she said, sums it up when I think about the goals I'm setting for 2012. I want all the memories capable of making! 

"Amen, Brittany! Life is for Living, So do It to Its Fullest...you will have great "rocking chair memories (as do I...ha ha)"