Kid Funnies

You know, kids really do say the darndest things. With 4 of them, I've heard quite a lot of kid funnies, and I always think, "I really should write these things down." And then I don't. My friend Angie has a blog devoted just to the funny things her kids say. So, I'm going to start posting some of them here for posterity, and hopefully a giggle or two ;) One of today's funnies:

Last Wednesday, my mom took Kyle with her on a short trip to Colorado to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and their girls (all FOUR of them!). I'm guessing my brother got a much-needed little testosterone boost, especially since Kyle is definitely our most rough-and-tumble boy of the three. (After all, his first word was, "Hi-Yah!" I kid you not.) Anyway, they got back this evening and I had to take the other kids to meet my mom and pick him up. They were watching a movie in the van and as we got close to home, Kyle said, "I want to watch the rest of it!" I told him they could watch it tomorrow. Alec said, "Me and Joey can watch it on our way to school tomorrow." Kyle replied, "When I'm 5, I can watch it on the way to school, too." Very matter-of-factly, Alec replied, "Well, it'll be over by the time you're 5." HA! Indeed.

The Ultimate Blog Party 2009 Wrap-Up

Well, the week flew by and the Ultimate Blog Party 2009 with 5 Minutes for Mom has come to an end. But blog-hopping and meeting new friends doesn't have to stop! If you happen by and didn't see my party post, you can read it here and find out a little bit about me. My final thoughts....

This was my first UBP and I really did have fun. My party post received 15 comments, and while I had hoped for more, it's at least 6 or 7 times the number I usually get! Of course, I was also fashionably late to the party ;) And, at least that is a pretty manageable number, so I am hoping to continue to drop in on those ladies that were kind enough to stop by and take the time to leave me a comment. Those with Entrecard will see me in their drops inbox ;)

I enjoyed visiting new blogs and "getting to know" some new people. Although, it's so big and I visited so many blogs that I'm not sure I remember who all I visited. I'm going to have to start adding some to my blog list so that I remember to check in with some of of the lovely ladies I met, and in turn they might remember me and stop by once in awhile. The main reason I joined the party was because I'd love to make some new friends and boost my readership.

If you've read my profile, you probably noticed that there are 4 blogs listed there. I don't have 4 blogs. One of the things I have been tossing around in my head is the idea of starting a separate blog for mom reviews and giveaways. I deleted 2 of them after deciding against their titles and thought they'd be gone forever. But it appears that Blogger did some updating that now lists the deleted blogs, too. The other I'm hanging onto "just in case". But I don't know how some of these ladies do it. One day, I was browsing the buttons on my friend Angie's blog, as I often do when I'm visiting, and checked some of them out. She belongs to so many things that I don't know how she keeps track or has time to manage them all. AND she has 5 children, homeschools, and runs a design business! Some of the blogs I subscribe to have one to several new giveaways posted each day. It looks like a LOT of work!

So, for now, I am going to keep my personal little corner of the blogosphere here. I need to boost my readership before I could launch something like that anyway, even if I could figure out the time management part of it. I also don't really know much about how to get started or get connected with the right people. Maybe in time.

Oh, and the BEST part of this week....I WON A GIVEAWAY!!! WOOHOO!!! I totally didn't expect it. I won a beautiful necklace from Amy Manning with Lia Sophia over at the Jensen Family blog. I LOVE necklaces. I don't wear much jewelry besides my wedding rings, but I always like to have a necklace on. Thanks, Anne, for such a great giveaway!

So does anyone want a German Shepherd???

ARGGGHHH!!!! The pee saga continues....

Today, the bedskirt I bought on Ebay for Lauren's new room arrived. YIPPEE!!! It was perfect, just what I had been looking for. Plus, it's the kind with the elastic band, not one that you have to put under the mattress. That is THE best invention in bedding ever! So, of course I couldn't wait to try it on the bed. It worked great, easy as pie to put on, and it looked adorable. I just left it on the bed.

We went about our day and I went out this afternoon to do yet some more running around. Shaun took the kids with him to a couple of stores, but he put Rex in his kennel this time and put him out as soon as they got home. I came home, gave Lauren and Alec a bath. I took Lauren into her room and laid her on the bed to get her pj's on just like I always do when my foot slipped on something wet. At first I just thought I had some water on my shoe from the bathroom. But I kept slipping around and I stepped back to see a puddle on the floor right by Lauren's bed. I was like, "What the....where did that come from?" Right about that time, Shaun came in to see what was going on and said, "He peed on the bed." I looked and saw that Rex had peed on the NEW BEDSKIRT! AHHH!!!! Seriously?!?!

I don't know what we're going to do with this dog. Shaun said he was going to pee in Rex's kennel. HA!

Crisis averted...

...and a life spared. I love animals, I really do. We always had some kind of pet when I was growing up, usually a dog. But if you read this post, you will recall that we've had some issues with K-9 Rex since he retired and we moved to our new house. Actually, he's been doing much better lately. He hasn't peed by the sliding glass door in awhile. However, today he's lucky he's not pushing up daisies.

I've been working on Lauren's room, trying to get something accomplished in this house to make it more of a home. A couple of weeks ago, I happened upon this DARLING shabby chic quilt at Home Goods for $40. (An Ebay seller was selling the EXACT SAME quilt with a sham for $114.95! I think I'm in the wrong business.) Last week, I picked up a cute shabby chic rug at Target for $35. But, I have been waiting to put these things in her room until I get all the pieces I want and can put everything together. In the meantime, I've had the quilt and rug sitting on the floor in our bedroom. I bet you can see where I'm going with this...

Rex has never really peed anywhere but by that door, other than the Christmas tree and a couple of trash bags of stuff I had sitting in another room once right after we moved in. He's been sleeping in our room at night. Since he hasn't peed in there and he sleeps in there, we sometimes close him in there if we leave for a little while or something. So, when I went to pick the boys up from school today, that's what I did. Except, we didn't come right home. No, I really wanted to go to a couple of places to try to find some things I've been looking for. We didn't get home until about 6:00.

I had Joey go get Rex and put him out right away. As I was bringing some stuff I bought into our room, I saw it. He had PEED RIGHT ON THE QUILT AND RUG!!! AHHHHH!!!! Up until just the other day, I still had the quilt in the plastic bag it came in, but I had taken it out to put in on Lauren's bed just to see how it looked with the new paint. Dummy me didn't put it back in. Granted, it had been awhile since he had last been out, but I'm doubting that's what it was. I mean, dogs stay home all day while their owners work and don't pee in the house, ya know? Even so, WHY did it have to be on $75 worth of BRAND NEW stuff? I could have cried. Actually, I did a little as I scrubbed the rug out in the bathtub.

Lucky for Rex, I stain treated everything and washed it right away, and it appears the dark yellow pee all came out. I've never been particularly fond of him sleeping in our room, but now I am definitely insisting that he just sleep in his kennel, and that we put them in there whenever we leave, too. I'm just not going to have him ruining our stuff.

Whew!

Review: Suzi Homemaker

A little while ago, I won a $25 gift certificate for Suzi Homemaker from a giveaway on Buy by Mom. Suzi has a variety of unique items, and everything in her store can be personalized, a great touch for gift-giving or just to make that item for yourself more personal and unique. I especially love personalized items for baby gifts and my own children.

It just so happened that when I won this gift certificate, Joey was in desperate need of a new lunch bag for school. His old one had definitely seen better days. Even though there were probably at least a dozen things I wanted on her site, when I saw that Suzi had lunch bags available, I knew that's what I wanted to get with it. She even had a camo print, which is PERFECT for Joey. He is all about anything having to do with the military.

So I contacted Suzi to tell her what I wanted. Let me tell you, she is one of the most wonderful people to work with. She was always prompt to respond to my emails, and just as pleasant as can be. In fact, believe it or not, I kinda forgot about having won the gift certificate and SHE emailed ME to make sure I got my order in! The lunch bag was actually several dollars less than the amount of the gift certificate, and I told Suzi that that was okay, she could just forgive that amount. But Suzi responded and offered to include one of her cosmo bags to match as well. I just thought that was so kind. I'm sure there are many business people out there who would be happy to get off a little cheaper, but not Suzi. She wanted to make sure I was happy with my prize. But rather than get that for Joey, too, I decided to get it for myself. It will make a great make-up bag, especially for someone who is always digging around in her purse for her lip gloss! And not only did she include the cosmo bag, but she embroidered it for me, too!

Lunch bag:

Cosmo bag:

The cosmo bag would actually be great for any number of things. It could also be used as a pencil case, a snack pouch, or as an accessory for your diaper bag to hold wipes, keys, etc.

Suzi's prices are very reasonable, and the quality of the items and the embroidery is excellent. Joey LOVES his new camo lunch bag (though perhaps I should have had her embroider G.I. Joe on it instead!), and the monogram she embroidered on my cosmo bag is very classy. I really need to clean out my purse so I can put all those things I am always searching for in my cute new cosmo bag and never have to dig around endlessly again.

I highly recommend checking out all of the great items at Suzi Homemaker, whether you're looking for something for yourself or a unique gift for someone else. You can get to her site through any of the links in this post or her button in my right side bar. Good luck choosing! ;)

The Ultimate Blog Party 2009

Yeah, I'm a couple of days late. (What else is new?) It was a busy weekend around here. Friday I spent all day painting Lauren's room (it is going to be SO cute when it's all done!), Saturday I went to my mom's for my gram's birthday, and Sunday was busy with church and other stuff. But, I figured that since today is my birthday, it's a good time for a party anyway! 5 Minutes for Mom is hosting its Ultimate Blog Party that runs through this Friday, March 27th. It's all about getting to know other bloggers, bringing people to your blog, and even winning cool prizes! This is my first time joining the party and thought it would be fun to meet some new bloggers as well as (hopefully) get some new visitors here. Click the link in this post or the button in my sidebar and join in the fun if you haven't already!

For those who don't know me, my name is Natalie and I'm the stay-at-home ringmaster here at The Kummer Family Circus. (By the way, it's pronounced Koomer.) I'm married to my dear husband Shaun who is a police officer and we have four beautiful children who drive us crazy. Joseph is 10, Alec is 5, Kyle is 4, and Lauren is 2 1/2. We have joked for a long time that our house is like a 3-ring circus (it is, you should see us when we are all getting ready to go somewhere). So, when I started this blog a few months ago, I thought the name was only appropriate ;) The circus theme music is also my cell phone ringtone when someone is calling from the house, LOL!

I haven't been blogging very long, but I am hoping to make some new connections and friendships as I go along and grow my blogging network. I first learned about the valuable friendships you could have through the internet when I started visiting message boards when we were trying to get pregnant with our second child. Although I have kept a few of those friends to this day, something that I never would have expected and am most grateful for, most of those connections have faded away over time and I miss the discussions and advice I used to get from the larger group of women. I also love to give advice when I have some. Being a mom his hard work, and no matter how many children you have, there are still surprises! I'd also love to start doing some of my own product reviews and giveaways in the future.

More stuff about me:

* I'm 33 years old today!
* I've been married to my husband for 11 years. (12 at the end of May!)
* I have a degree in elementary education.
* I enjoy baking, decorating cakes, SHOPPING, learning new things, seeing new places, decorating my house, gardening, and making hair bows.
*My favorite color is PINK!
* I'm NOT a morning person. (Of course, that could also have something to do with me staying up too late, LOL!)
* I have a MAJOR sweet tooth. (Er...teeth?)

Feel free to browse my blog and old posts to learn a little more about me and what this blog is all about. For my fellow Entrecard droppers, you will see my widget near the top in the right sidebar. If you drop on me, I'll be sure to return the favor! I hope some of you will come back and visit me often.

As I mentioned, there are TONS of great prizes for the blog party. My top choices if I won are:

#58 - Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer from Moms Who Think
#89 - $100 Home Goods gift card from HG Open House
#22 - $50 Target gift card from Beginner Baby Blog
#118 - $25 Old Navy gift card from Manic Mother
#123 - $20 Kohl's gift card from The Grotto

Other Prizes I would love are: #26, 91, INTL 3, INTL 15, INTL 30, INTL 58, USC 11, USC 15, USC 45, USC 47, USC 56.

You can probably see a theme with my selections, LOL! But, of course, I would be happy with anything I won. I'm not very lucky when it comes to contests like these, so I'd be thrilled just to win. If it happens to be something I can't use, I will happily pass it along to someone who can.

Mommy Brag

You know we have to do it every now and again....moms have to brag about our kids. I guess it's that affirmation we need that, amidst all of the frustrations, missteps, and ups and downs, maybe, just maybe, we are doing something right and our kids will turn out okay after all.

We have always believed Alec was smart. I mean, we think our other kids are smart, too, but Alec has struck us as exceptionally bright. I know, I know....all parents think their children are especially smart, right? Well, yesterday we got the results from the Iowa Tests that the boys recently took at school. The summary of his test scores is as follows: "Alec's Core Total national percentile rank of 98 means that he scored higher than 98 percent of kindergarten students nationally. His overall achievement appears to be high for kindergarten." Now, I'd say that's some affirmation of our assessment, wouldn't you?

I think Lauren is a smart little cookie, too. Yeah, of course I do, right? Sunday on the way to church we were about 1/2 mile from the exit where we get off when she said, "We're almost there!" I was surprised that a 2 1/2 year old would realize where we were and how close we were to church. I don't know if that qualifies as above average or not, but it certainly impressed me! ;)