RING RING RING

*MEOW. I'm still here.  Yesterday my parents came up to visit.  We are so lucky to have grandparents that can come randomly to visit our crazy.  As is the norm, they had a car load of kids clothes/junk to transport back and forth between my sister and I.  In the treasures yesterday was a rotary phone.  Betsy latched onto it and we proceeded to annoy all our friends and family by calling and forcing them to call us.  The phone also opened up a lot of questions, like what is long distance calling, can this phone text and why is this phone so stupid loud? It sounds like we are running our own insurance/dentist/realtor office.  We finally decided on the fact that we should start our own detective agency. Feel free to send us your suggestions for names.  Betsy worked really hard at taking messages and recording who had called.  If nothing else it keeps her busy, I personally am hoping (for once) that telemarketers call.

Reminder: Please do not leave important messages with Betsy. Shockingly enough her writing is a smidge hard to read.

This picture reminds me of YEARS ago trying to pull the cord as far as it would go to secretly talk to boys.  

*We are so ready for warmer weather.  Even so a couple days ago, Zack stepped up "fun dad" to a new level.  Sledding behind a bike.  He pulled everyone (no not me, that would have been more like a stationary bike, I'm afraid.)I believe that his legs might still be sore.  

the birthday post.

*I am like the cat who came back.  Holy hell.  Every couple months I show back up on your doorstep, a little more mangy than the last time.  You kinda wonder where I have been, then wonder how long I'll be around this time. Yup.  Nailed it.  So while I'm back, I will catch you up on the last couple months.  

* I turned 38 in January, then a couple days later got a double ear infection.  You did catch that I turned 38 not 5 right?  Oh my.  This lasted a couple weeks, let's just say I wasn't a barrel of fun to live with.  Strong antibiotics can do that to a girl. Whew.  I'm guessing I'll come down with the chicken pox next. 

*Ella Kate turned 8! This girl will be taller than me in a couple months, is full of love, sarcasm and spunk.  She is becoming a really cool kid who can roll her eyes better than I ever could and is just plain fun to be around. (except when rolling eyes)

*Then 10 days later Max turned 6! He is hilarious boy who has stepped up the love for Lego and Transformers to a whole new level.  I love his humor and ninja abilities.  He hasn't started the eye rolling yet, but has solid opinions on life and the amount of Orange juice that should be consumed each day. 

*Great grandma stopped by to visit. She keeps me on my toes...all the day long.

* Now time for naps for Betsy and I. Well, in all honesty its time for me to lay down in Betsy's bed with her and try to block her from getting out, while I squeak in a nap.

stuff.

Monday ramblings....

*I bought some wrinkle cream. blah.  I also got a giant zit, that I tried to pull off as a cute Cindy Crawford mole.  Fail.  38 is coming in a harsh way.

* I have 9 pairs of black yoga capri pants.  All fit a smidge different, therefore i must keep all of them...right...right?

*Feeding this family of mine every night for dinner is so hard. Why must everyone need to eat 3 times a day and why can only one of those meals be cereal?

*I accidentally dropped kicked Betsy's eye down the hall. Relax, it wasn't in her eye at the time. 

*I bought a new coat, then realized it is exactly the same as the one currently hanging in my closet.  At least my fashion choices are staying consistent.

*I redid the pictures on my living room walls this weekend.  I don't like what it looks like, but currently am too lazy to change it.  

*When changing the decor in the living room, I discovered there are about 412 nail holes in the wall, which really impresses my husband.  I have a knack of trying to eyeball where a frame should go.  Not my best work. Good luck to the next person who lives here.  I would suggest tearing the wall down vs trying to patch it.

*We went to a pro indoor soccer game this weekend.  I forget how much I love to stand up and yell random things at strangers.  Must do this more often.  Side note: works much better at a sporting event then at Walmart. 

*The chairs at our dining room table are all falling apart.  What? Really? I guess being used in forts for several years has taken its toll.  Currently it's like playing Russian Roulette when you sit down. 

*The kids are already counting down the days till summer.  Currently there is something like 85 school days left.  They want to make a paper chain...ahem...talk to me when we are under 20 days.

*I have started putting things on my daily list that include, drink coffee, get dressed, take kids to school. Then I can tell Zack that I was so busy and completed my to do list.

My brain has slowed down on the ramblings for a bit, time to get that to-do list done!

Merry Christmas!

*Hello! I almost forgot that I had a blog (seems to happen quite often this year.)  

*In true Phillips family fashion, my kids posed for this adorable picture a week AFTER I sent out our Christmas cards.  Geez.  Since we didn't manage to get family pictures done and my adorable children never cooperated to look half way normal for any.other.picture in the last couple of months....consider this your Christmas card from us!

*We are excited to start our Christmas break tomorrow, hope yours is filled with lots of love, family, minimal fighting and no injuries (maybe that's just us).  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dead arm syndrome.

*Psst....Hey guys.  Did you hear Mom snuck away for an evening with her friend to do some Christmas shopping? Apparently she really needed some time away from us.  How could we make her cut her shopping short?  I've got it! Let's have a big crazy wrestle match and give Betsy a possible hairline fracture in her arm.  Perfect.   

*So after 19 seconds at Target, Julie and I turned around and met Zack and the kids at the ER.  Julie graciously took the big kids for fries and a movie in her van.  After a bit, Julie transported Zack and the kids home, while Betsy and I hung out in the ER.  After a couple of X-rays and goldfish it was determined it was either a really bad sprain or hairline fracture in her arm.  So now she is  experiencing "dead arm" syndrome.  She walks around with a limp arm hanging down, this requires lots of movies and dragging a pillow around to rest it on.  It hasn't really slowed her down much, just makes for some tricky maneuvering to get dressed and in the car seat.   

Just hanging out waiting on X-Rays.

* We will continue to wait and see how her arm feels in the next couple days, then possibly head for more X-rays to check out for sure if it was fractured.  Looks like I'll be doing more Christmas shopping online this year!

betsy is 4!

*Our favorite fireball had a birthday a couple days ago.  Betsy Kate turned 4 going on 15.  She decided on a unicorn party.  My friend Kelly made this fantastic cake, so Betsy wouldn't be stuck with the usual 9x13 pan of overly sprinkled cake that I can whip up.  I also found some "unicorn horns" on Halloween clearance (they may or may not have been devil horns....) Anyway, everyone was a good sport wearing (or taping them) to their heads. I did promise not to post those picks.  

Betsy is 4!

The awesome cake!

My favorite unicorn.

The fighting unicorns.  Which I think would be an amazing name for a band.

Just so you know, I got in on the action too. EllaKate snapped this pic while I was on the phone with the ocularist.  I am apparently a serious unicorn.

*Happy Birthday Betsy Kate. 

Betsy and friends.

* I'm a little late on this shout out blog post.  But really are you surprised? Did you see the last post about the almost 4 year wait on a haircut?  Anyway.  Let's discuss some pretty awesome people that we have met in this eye journey.  Todd Feeback is a pretty important guy to us.  He is the reporter/producer of the Kansas City Public Television program segment about  Bud and Betsy.  The segment was nominated for a 2014 Mid America Emmy Award this year.  I was so excited for Todd.  Seriously.  Unfortunately, it was beat out by a segment on the Rams.  C'mon judges.....football player vs Bud & Betsy, this really wasn't a tough choice. Anyway, this guy now has a forever spot in our lives, I don't think he will ever realize how important this was to us, me especially. Healing comes in all forms, this segment got me through some ugly stuff.  So thank you Todd.  For putting up with us, my crazy wooden eye comments and putting together something our family will cherish.

*A couple weeks ago, Betsy randomly pulled a book from the library shelf.  Poppie the One Eyed Pug.  I can't make this stuff up.  I sent an email to the author, telling her how excited Betsy was to read about a dog with one eye.  The author, Sharron Hopcus then mailed Betsy her entire series, plus a set to our local library.  We found out that Poppie is a real dog with one eye...who knew.  Thanks so much Sharron for bringing Poppie into our lives!

*I do not have a picture of Betsy and Todd together...yet :)