Best Present EVER! (or how to zombify your kids for car trips)

My kiddos are in the car a lot.  And by a lot I mean, Miss Thang spends six hours a week going to and from her mom’s house.  Every other week Meister and I go along for the ride and spend the day with my in-laws, it’s four hours round trip.  To top it all off, it’s usually dark out so no looking out the windows for them.  When we first started doing this we had one portable DVD player and a Nintendo DS.  It worked great.  Miss Thang was more than happy to watch Beauty and the Beast while Meister played his DS.  

Everything was just fine for quite a while until Meister decides he wanted to watch movies too.  We (the parents with infinite knowledge) decided to balance the lone DVD player on the center console of the car.   Let the bickering begin.  If you are parent you will appreciate the following conversation.

“I can’t see it.”
“Turn the DVD player, I can’t see it!” 
“MOOOOOM I can’t see the movie.”
I turn the DVD in Meisters direction.
“Now I can’t see the movie.” 
“Movie.  Movie. Movie. Mooooooviieeeeeee“
“Mom, I can’t see it again.”

It was effing horrible!  The constant fighting over who could see and not see was enough to make me cry, but add to that the soundtrack to the Chipmunks movie playing loud enough for both kids to hear while we are rolling down the interstate at 75 mph and it’s no wonder I developed migraines.

The Hubs had the brilliant idea of getting the kids dual DVD players for the car with headphones for Christmas.  I worried the kids didn’t really “want” this for a present and it was more for us.  I voiced said concerns to him.  His response?  “Damn right it’s for us!  Think of the silence.”  I did.  It was wonderful.  I told him to order those sweet sweet silence makers asap!  He kindly pointed out that it was July and we would have to wait till the end of December to enjoy the silence. 

The.  Wait.  Was.  Agony.

The wait is over folks.  I’m happy to report my kiddos are plugged in and happy as can be for their long car rides.  The silence is blissful.  There is no fighting.  No whining.  No hollering. 

Beauty and the Beast for the 9 millionth time.



He’s just so stinking happy.



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Race horses, kids, and Christmas

Long time no post=Random title
Since no one reads this blog I feel confident that I can treat it as a journal and not worry about my readers wondering where I’ve been over the last few weeks.  Seriously though, anyone out there?  crickets  Any who, the Christmas cookies were a success.  The kids enjoyed decorating them.  Meister thought it was hilarious to stick his face in the sprinkles and eat them.  Please see exhibit A…

…I don’t necessarily have to claim him as my own right?  I guess I will, he’s pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. 


Christmas was a success as well.  The kids got way too many presents.  The Hubs and I had said we were only getting them 3 things.  1 from us 2 from the jolly red elf.  We held true to that.  It was the Grampas and Grammas that showered them with gifts.  Here I go on a tangent…Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want them to get nothing at all, but the excess is what gets me.  Add to that, the Meisters bio-dad decided last minute he wouldn’t be taking the Meister over winter break and now all of his presents were being shipped to my house.  He had 20 plus presents to open from that side of the family alone.  Miss Thang did go to her mom’s after the holidays so we didn’t have hers to open.  Phew!  Tangent over.  In the end, the Hubs and I have decided that 1 big shared gift from us and 1 big thing from Santa is all they are getting next year.  We can control ourselves, but not our families.  And that’s OK.

She’s love the crap out of that pillow pet.

The Meister is eating me out of house and home and he’s only 6.  He is going through a growth spurt I’m sure of it.  This is what his meals consisted of on Sunday.  5 cinnamon rolls (the kind from a can), a bowl of cereal, 4 bowls of chicken noodle soup, half a grapefruit, and a crescent roll, one and a half chicken salad sandwiches and crackers.  I really hope he starts growing after he eats all this food.  He’s a shorty.  Like front row of school programs short.  and he’s skiiiiiiinnnnny!  He will be 7 next Wednesday and he’s still wearing size 5 pants.   Here’s to the growth spurt, lets just hope I can buy enough groceries!

My father in law is a race horse trainer.  I love him for it because I can get my horse fix without spending a fortune and scooping poop.  Every year I pick a favorite horse from his line up.  This year, it’s Love Tapper.  I picked him because he’s a pet.  Just a sweet sweet lover boy who wants you to scratch him.  So without further ado…

Love Tapper