Snips and Snails and Puppy dog tails

So here's the thing...my childhood wasn't that great and the long and short of it is that because of events that took place in my family...well lets just say that two sides of the families took a turn for the worse. Families always have their times when they don't always mesh well, well that's my experience anyway. Because of these events (very long story) it tore two familiesirreplaceably apart. I lost connections with grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles...something I will NEVER get back. It hurts and saddens me to the core! A palpable ache in the deepest darkest part of my heart. A bible verse comes to mind...the sins of the father shall follow the child....

Anyway, all that to say, the meaning of family is important to me and for as much as it's important to me I struggle with all that it means and the components that make up a family. CONSTANT struggle. So when moments like these come, and not every family is as privilege as my boys are, I take a picture of …

This is Eli and his love affair with the cake...it was a site to behold. He was tentative at first. He would put a finger in the icing and then lick it off and look around to see what people would do. After a few times of this he finally went for it. Now we are really digging in..this is YUMMY!Slowing down..just a wee bit though...the sugar high hasn't' hit yet...YET!He looks fairly clean from hereAnd here he is in a complete daze...his pupils are huge and he just sat there for a few...to really let the sugar sink in and mix around in there. He couldn't get the frosting in his mouth fast enough...It was pretty funny to watch!
This is Eli eating his cake...its long but funny!

So I know it's been awhile since I last posted and here it is. Here is Eli's birthday cake that his grandma bought him. It's tradition that grandma buys the birthday cake that the kids want...with in reason :) No triple threat ganache' for them :)This little bitty was Eli's personal cake...it was so cute!Here is the birthday boy...he got so big in a year. I did manage to get through the day with out really thinking about this day and it's meanings. I was so busy trying to get things cleaned and stuff put out before people came to the party. I managed to get the house cleaned but the kids weren't fed and the decorations were not put out...thankfully I had to lovely nieces who willingly put up Eli's decorations.We opened presents...he wasn't so into them, he came and checked them out but other than that...he was good. He was really checking this gift out...way up close!We did come across some tasty treats on a gift though and that rocked our wo…

Happy Thanksgiving from the Paulson Family

Here in pictures is a very small and condensed look (we could be here for a year+ looking). Enjoy.

Me and Sparky. Yes I look tired...wish I was pregnant a little longer...looking back. Everyone has one of these if they are in a hospital...not where I wanted to be. Would rather have been at home giving birth...more natural, relaxing, and less invasive. I love my OB, but home is where I should have been. There's no place like HOME...Daddy in waiting...he was excited. Although he thinks cause I bought girl clothes just incase (weeks before his birth) that Sparky spent all the extra days growing a penis...cause I bought girl clothes. *shaking head*Just trying to get through it...it was really hard for me to be at the hospital having people touch me and not being able to labor in a pool/hot shower...mostly the pool. Last time it did wonders, it was AMAZING! Took 90% of my pain away.Sparky is HERE! I am in SO much pain and not happy...Proud Papa...what a work out for him too.My boyHis sta…

Tomorrow Eli turns 1. I don't like this one bit. I am trying to get through all these emotions with out turning into a blubbering idiot. I want ALL my time back...ALL of it! Chapters are ending...and beginning, but all I see are endings right now. The first 9 months were so hard (I think if he'd been my first he really might have been the last) but I want all the time I was pregnant and those 9 months back. I would go back and change some things during my pregnancy(stick to my guns and not have evicted my child, why didn't I stick to my guns? WHY!?!) and the first 9 months I would change my attitude. Maybe if my attitude had been different the first 9 months might not have been so hard, maybe more enjoyable?

SIGH!

My stomach is churning about tomorrow...the tears are hardly being kept at bay....I don't know if I can do this...all I see are endings...no more first holidays, no more taking first steps, first tooth, first smile, first anythings....all those have ended with …

On Wednesday, Dru and I were watching cartoons and then all of the sudden out of no where Dru gets all excited. In a high pitch voice starts squealing "FIRETRUCK!!!!!!!!". Sure enough, right in front of our house. What a RED letter day!!!So I took Dru out there and we looked it over. I was kinda bummed the fireman were busy and they left before I realized they got back in the truck. Dru, however, was pretty tickled to just be as close to it as he was. There is my itty bitty man by the truck.I had to laugh, the truck was at our house on Wednesday. The same day that he came home early to surprise me. But before he surprised me he was on his way to the store and noticed the truck there so drove by to see if we were OK...un-beknownst (spelling?) to me. When he did surprise me and we were walking into the house I looked at him and said that I bet someone sees this and calls us...sure enough we got a call as soon as I walked in the door...couldn't have timed that bet…

Meet the man of my dreams. He's a handsome fella, in my opinion. We have been together 11 years and married 9 of those. We have 4 children and wonderful home and I believe we are happy. We met in college when we were going to Central Washington University, while we were working at Tunstal Dining Hall (for some reason that looks like I spelled it wrong). Oh what a summer that was.We met the summer of '98 in the wee hours of a summer morning. My best girl and I were in the washroom (where all the dirty dishes came when people were done eating in the cafeteria) sitting on a stool waiting for all the other people who were working here during the summer to get there. And in walks this guy...GRUMPY as all get out (much hasn't changed). He stomped in and walked all the way to the other side of the room and leaned against the trough and folded his arms and just grumped and glared at the two of us. I turned and looked at my friend and said this is going to be a LONG summer. That wa…

So, was everyone aware of the fact that this week was November 21st and not next week? You did huh? Well good for you! I on the other hand was not aware of it. I thought November 21st was NEXT week.

Any idea what happens this week on that day? Any thoughts? Well i will let you know. That's Eli's birthday, he will be 1! This is upsetting!! I thought I had one more week to prepare for this! Wanna know how I found out I only have days before Eli's birthday and party? I thought you might...so here we go.

I called one of my sister in laws today and was talking to her about some things and then i asked her if she got my message about Eli's party. she said she had and that it was this Saturday and I said no it's next Saturday. She said well aren't you having it on his birthday? I said well yeah! (I'm thinking duh!?!) She said Anita, that's this Saturday. CRAP! Is all that's going through my mind!! Guess what's next week...Thanksgiving! W…

So my story starts out Monday afternoon of last week. Lee came home not acting like his self and I asked him if his ear hurt. He said yes (surprise!) and I went and took Lee's temperature and sure enough he hit 100' while at school. (I told Frank at least a week before this that he would catch a cold and it would settle in his chest and ears...and it did...3 days before he was scheduled to have his surgery...that's SO us!) So I gave him some Motrin and some ear drops I refer to as 'liquid gold' and that seemed to have helped cause he started bouncing off the walls.

Well dinner came and went and it was bedtime and that went fine (I should have known cause they were all quiet all at the same time). I finally am able to lay Eli down in his bed and while I'm doing that Lee wakes up to go potty and so I tap on the door and check to see how he's doing (he's been up off and on coughing). He tells me he's not doing so well and his ear REALLY hurts. S…

Tomorrow evening a very good friend of mine and myself are going to see this man, Jeff Dunham. He's a comedian and is a ventriloquist. On top of ALL that he's hysterical! This is one of his puppets, I guess is what you would call them for lack of a better word, that is in his comedy routine. The puppets name is Achmed (sp?)...I have no idea if that's how it is spelled. Tomorrow my friend is coming to my house and we are going to treat ourselves to a wonderful dinner at the Olive Garden! Bring the bread sticks and salad on baby!!! I do plan on eating enough food to make my eyeballs hurt...I'm sure I'll let you know how that all goes.
Then after dinner we are headed to the Tacoma Dome and are going to laugh our butts off! I can already tell my gut is going to hurt...thankfully this time we won't be so close to the comedian that he could point me out like Beeiiilll did (that's Bill Engval for those of you who don't know). Anyway, it's gonna b…

Because everyone loves Toy Story and my son Dru is no different, he does love the characters. Dru i s 3 and so is still learning...he can say that this is Woody.This on the other hand is Eyebulls...not to be confused with Bullseye. It gets funnier!Lastly, meet Buzz Light Beer...yes you read that right the first time...I can not stop laughing!!
That was my giggle I thought I'd share for the day, courtesy of Dru.

I came across an article today on MSN's home page called 'Surprising Uses for Your Dishwasher. It sounded interesting enough that I clicked on it to read more. It goes on to tell of how you can wash some toys, baseball caps...things like this. It does get weird though and here is where it gets weird.
They are talking about washing your hat in the dishwasher, which is all fine and dandy until I read further along and it mentions that when doing this, you need to not wash your hat in with dirty dishes cause the food particles MIGHT collect on the cloth of the hat! Are you serious!?!? The fact they had to mention that at all is beyond me but you know someone out there did it...I been laughing over that one.

An FYI, crocs (as in the shoes) are not dishwasher safe...I wouldn't have guessed that one.
Here's another one in case on a whim you wash your garden tools because they do come into contact with chemicals and animals...don't wash those with your dishes either because …