The Hackworths

It’s been a while, no? I swear I get so caught up in making it from one day to the next and then before I know it, it’s been 10 days. Which is awesome for us, but not so awesome for y’all. It is now officially less than a month until The Mister returns and I am beyond stoked. I could totally tell you that it’s because Ryan has flushed more things down the toilet in the past couple of weeks than should be legal. Or it could be because he still won’t stay in his bed for more than 30 seconds at bedtime. It could also be because I can’t even go pee by myself (cute side note, Ryan waves and says, “Bye, bye pee pees!” when the potty gets flushed). But really, it’s because it feels like my best friend in the whole wide world who was forced to move 10,000 miles away with their family is moving back. It doesn’t get better than this.

Back to the toilet. So far this week, Ryan has tried to flush another toothbrush, some Littlest Pet Shop critters, a bunch of fake coins, several hair clips, makeup, sunglasses (mine of course), and a shampoo bottle. Thankfully (or not, depending on how you look at it) I managed to fish them all out before they actually went down. I bet my poor septic tank is scared of us.

In other news, Lauren is completely excited about being a first grader. I’m signing her up for more soccer tomorrow night and she’s got a playdate tomorrow afternoon with her “boyfriend”. Miss Kate finally got word about pre-school. She starts September 11. I’m so excited for her because I know she was really wanting to go.

I’m getting by. The days seem to blur into one another. It’s just endless cleaning and chasing of kids with the occasional trip to Target or Wally World. It’s too hot out for much else right now. Did I mention that it’s less than a month left?!

Welcome to Friday, y’all. Our visitors left this morning and are on their way back to Oklahoma. I’m surprised they aren’t a few passengers heavier. Everyone had a blast and Kate was determined to go home with Grandma.

I completely forgot to take Kate to her gymnastics class yesterday morning. I got out of bed at the same time class was supposed to start, but I’ve got an excuse. Ryan has been running a totally random fever for the past couple of days. I’m chalking it up to the 5 shots he got last week or his 2 year molars since there are absolutely no other symptoms. On the talking front, he was perfectly capable of saying “Grandma” moments after they arrived on Monday and proceeded to learn “Carla” and “Jaime” fairly quickly, and yet, he still insists on calling Lauren “Nay-nay”. I also caught him taking hits from the chocolate syrup in the fridge. No wonder he’s been begging for “chok-lit”.

We celebrated Lauren’s birthday a little early and went to Chuck E. Cheese last night. Awful pizza, but we all had a blast playing the games. Ryan was obsessed with the balls you throw up the lane and kept stealing them from other people.

Uhm… what else? I’ve been scrapbooking a whole lot lately. I’ve got soooo much to catch up on! I got to spend a couple of days this week out and about without the kiddos and I haven’t had to do any dishes since Sunday which is totally awesome. I got a much needed haircut for myself and even got to finally see POTC: Dead Man’s Chest. I have pictures. I’ll upload them to Flickr as soon as I get off my lazy rear and find the card reader. Also? Love the new Tea & Honey tarts from Yankee.

So, the past couple of days have been… interesting. Saturday afternoon, my darling son decided everyone’s toothbrushes were dirty. Either that, or he’s prepping for boot camp by practicing his Toilet Cleaning With a Toothbrush skills. Whatever the deal is, it’s gross, he flushed, and I had to stick my hand in toilet water. More than once. Other things he’s stuck in the toilet in the last week: cars, My Little Ponies, Barbie heads, and an entire roll of toilet paper. You’d think with this obvious fascination with the potty, he’d use it in the proper manner. Heck no, y’all. Heck. No.

Also, the following convo has taken place lots this week.

Me: Ryan, where’s Katie?
Ryan: Ovah der, dat’s Kay-tee.
Me: Where’s Lauren?
Ryan: Ovah der, by Kay-tee.
Me: I know she’s over by Katie. Can you say Lauren?
Ryan: No. By Kay-tee.
Me: Okay, where’s Katie?
Ryan: Ovah der. Kay-tee’s swayngin’. (He’s totally country.)
Me: Where’s Lauren?
Ryan: BY KAY-TEE!!! (I know he’s thinking, “You stupid woman, I just told you!”.)

While I find his refusal to say Lauren quite hilarious, I think Lauren is a little sad. He makes up for it, though by hugging her constantly and infecting us all with his completely hilarious gasping for breath laugh.

Justin’s mom and sisters will be here later today, so all will probably be quiet until they head home. Look for pictures over on Flickr, though.

Daily tasks take on a whole new meaning when The Spouse is deployed. Even if you’ve been there, done that every day brings some sort of new challenge. Yesterday we spent over 2 hours at the Naval Hospital. Ryan and Kate both had appointments and immunizations.

Most of our time was spent in the waiting room of death. Ryan isn’t old enough to be expected to behave on the loose, so he had to stay strapped into his stroller, also known as The World’s Greatest Toddler Torture Device. You’d think I was ripping his limbs off one by one instead of waiting in line to let him get stabbed in the legs 5 times. He threw his sippy cup at passing Marines screaming, “HELLLLOOOOO!” and when they didn’t answer he’d scream, “DANGIT!”. Needless to say I was begging people to just say hi to the kid. Oh yeah, he’s off the charts for everything. Especially his giant head.

After that fiasco, I decided I hadn’t had enough and we stopped at the mall. I needed to have my quarterly inspection and cleaning for my wedding rings and there are RIDES. I promised the girls we’d stop on our way out if they behaved. We visited the pet store, where the girls tried to convince me the kitties were way cute and needed to come home with us. Then we visited the bathroom 3 times. A quick stop in The Children’s Place, which is so new in our mall that they’re still stocking the shelves, and a stop in Bath & Body Works for some foaming hand soap and I was ready to duct tape the girls’ hands to Ryan’s Torture Device.

Needless to say, a stop at Taco Bell on the way home followed very quickly by bedtime was in order. I don’t think we’ll be leaving the house for a while.

Two days ago I managed to break the baby gate. The one that kept Ryan in the livingroom, except when he would launch himself at it, knock it down and take off down the hallway. So without the gate, I can’t keep the boy out of the fridge. He’s especially drawn to my deli ham. I found it in the livingroom floor last night (still in the baggie and still cold thankfully), then this morning I caught him carrying it around. Not sure what the obsession with cold cuts is, but I’m buying a fridge lock and a new baby gate today.

For the past couple of months Ryan has been saying a word that sounded a whole lot like “Bud Light”. I finally figured out this morning what he was saying when he dragged his mailbox in the room and started yelling, “BUFLY!”. Thank goodness my boy is not an alcoholic, he just likes butterflies.

Our holiday was fun. We got up and went in search of a barber shop to get the boy’s hair cut. That didn’t happen. Then we headed out for some supplies and then over to the base for the fireworks. The show was great and the girls enjoyed it, only mentioning wishing Dad was there 10 or 12 times each. Ryan was frightened at first, but had fallen asleep in my lap by the end.

My sister left for home this morning so for the next few days we’re just going to hang around and relax. The yard needs mowing and the house needs a bit of deep cleaning and I’m sad to say that there is plenty of laundry to be done.

Between taking Kate to gymnastics and watching more movies than you can imagine, we’ve managed to keep pretty busy. Since I last posted, Lauren has had a case of swimmer’s ear, Ryan has decided to make like that kid in Big Momma’s House 2 and jump off of EVERYTHING, and Kate has been walking on balance beams and doing flips like a pro. I’ve managed to stay relatively sane, although here it is barely 11am and I’m dying for the peace and quiet of naptime.

The main reason I’m posting today is to point you in the direction of a brand new website. If you would, take a minute to go read about Brandi and Shelton over at Baby or Bust. Brandi has been a faithful blog reader of mine for some time now, even though I’ve been super lousy at it lately. Even if you can’t send them a little cash to help with their IVF expenses, I know they would appreciate you passing their link around. So go on now and look for a super spectacular 4th of July post. On the 5th.