i hate jillian

Another ACTUAL conversation this morning in my home.

Hubby and I were doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred.  Our little turkey walks in.  The homeschooler?  Yah, that one.

Armchair critic: HAHA.  MOM'S using the TWO POUND WEIGHTS!  HAHAHA!

Me: Oh yah?  What weights are you using?  Oh!  ZERO POUNDS?  Yah, hush up.

Turkey: Really mom?  OK, why don't you go do some suicides and then tell me how hard it is.

Me: OH!  OK!  Why don't you go run 13.1 miles and tell ME how hard it is!

Husband (the cooler head grunting, yet prevailing): OK you two.  Gavin, stop talking to your mother that way.

Me (in my head): yah, so THERE!

Gavin, the Elf

So we just got back from our spring break trip to New York City.  There was a lot of walking.  Lot of walking.... But we had the best time discovering the city and stumbling upon the coolest things we weren't even setting out to see.  I'll share some pictures here, but first, a story.

Surely you remember this iconic scene from Elf? It's one of our favorite movies. And apparently our son has a little "Buddy" in him.

You see, my husband LOVES Trip Advisor. He won't eat out in a city if he hasn't checked out every restaurant in 4 square miles.  He spent a LOT of time "researching" while we were in NYC. And one of the places he had been dying to go since before we even got there, was the Levain Bakery. It's a tiny little bake shop with a giant cookie. You literally squeeze in the door, and then walk out with a huge cookie that is warm and gooey. They literally look like muffin tops. They are LARGE.

There are three locations, but the one we went to was west of Central Park. It was our next to last day in New York and we were finally reaching the mecca of cookies. Do you see how small it is? We couldn't even get it in the picture. Well, that is MOSTLY because of the young lady who WOULD NOT MOVE off the bench for us to take a picture.  Like we might steal her spot.  Whatever.  New Yorkers.

After we snapped the photo, we SQUEEZED (and I mean LITERALLY) down the 5 steps into the bottom of the brownstone where the bakery is located. Do you see the lady's face through the grates of the bench?  Yah, she's underground.

And there, like the heavens opening and the angels singing hallelujah, were the cookies we came for.

Those, right there, my friends, are a little chunk of heaven.  And the sweet girls working the counter?  ADORABLE. Spunky and fun. Those skinny things tried to convince us that they eat 2-3 of these everyday. I'm calling bull.

And right about this time, while we're chatting it up with these uncommonly friendly cookie sellers, my son blurts out in a loud voice:

CONGRATULATIONS!  You're NUMBER ONE on TRIP ADVISOR!

BUDDY Gavin. Because you have to eat the Levain cookie on a brownstone stoop or you're not really experiencing New York.

I'm movin'!

Friends, I have started a new blog.  It's mainly for the new house.  Go check it out if you want to see our new home come together!  But stick around here if you want funny stories about kids and family.

www.mrsfrakes.blogspot.com

Much love,
Kim

come inside!

oooookay. We got our issues worked out. Looks like we'll be closing in 2 weeks! Yippee!

So let's start with the entry. When I was looking on pinterest, I found a picture that looks almost exactly like the entry of our new house. Here's the entry, in it's current state. These folks have not moved out completely yet. In fact, their stuff is stacked up everywhere. Hence the boxes you see here.

And here is the inspiration for my new entryway:

Can't you see the POTENTIAL?? I'm in entry love. And the first thing that will lay in that space is this beauty, because it MUST BE IN MY HOUSE.

Picture it, if you will. With this light fixture hanging above:

Or THIS beauty:

OR even this one:

But sadly, NOT this one. Because let's face it. I'm not paying $1400 for one light fixture.

Stay Tuned!

plans delayed.

We interrupt this home remodel with an inspection report that requires a lot of money to repair. We will return to regular programming when the details get hammered out.

So, today.

Today we met with our daughter's spine doctor. The sweet and mild mannered Dr. P. He's awesome. And smart. Super smart.

We totally trust his judgement, because he is, after all, the head of the pediatric spine department in OKC. We love Dr. P.

But today, when I had really figured in my mind that we'd come to a crossroads and see some decisions being made, it just didn't happen.

It's not the doctor's fault. And it's not even sweet Abby's fault.

Honestly, we were hoping that God would answer our prayers for a daughter whose curvy back just keeps curving. She had stopped growing in height! But her curve? No. In fact, today we learned that it grew another 10 degrees in BOTH directions.

So will she have surgery? Not any time soon. But eventually? Still a possibility.

(Humph.) Big sigh.

Here's her x-ray. I could tell the moment it was on the screen that her curvature had grown.

*Bless.
So between now and November, we are trusting and praying that God's plan for my daughter will unfold exactly as it should. In His time, not mine.

on the road again...

The Man and I have owned 6 houses. In fact, we moved into the sixth house before our 9 year anniversary. We were known by friends as "serial movers". I liked to say that we were beautifying Norman, one house at a time.

Every time we moved we had a good reason. It was always a remodel here, a new build there. More square footage, downsizing so I wouldn't have to work. Upsizing because we couldn't stand how close the walls felt when we had less room. Always a good and perfectly reasonable excuse.

And then we landed here. At little ol' 1725. It was a downsize in the scheme of things. It was the house where we landed when my husband lost his job. It was the house that sustained us when he spent a year looking for a new one. It was the little house that built us. For 7 LONG years.

For 7 years we have laid down roots. We've settled in, built dust bunnies (this doesn't happen when you move once a year, by the way), and watched our kids grow. And yet the whole time we've lived here, we've been dreaming. Itching and dreaming for seven long years. I have pinterest boards that have thousands of pins. And we've waited.

courtesy of the amazing Lindsi Niebur

Last week we saw a "fixer upper" online. It was so bad, it didn't even have pictures. So we went to see it and lo and behold, there it was! The house we could finally see ourselves buying.

We are never afraid of a good remodel. But every house we had seen in the last 7 years had contained a "fatal flaw" as we like to call it. Maybe it was an amazing house, but out in the boonies. Or maybe it had the master on the top floor (The Man's hangup). Or perhaps it just required SO much remodeling that it was not cost effective. But this one? Nothing. No fatal flaw. No sick stomach as I stood inside. Just a house that needs a good coat of paint, some new granite, and some elbow grease!

So here we go! Come along for the ride. It's going to be fun!

Here are some inspirations from my pinterest board....

courtesy of lovewhereyouliveblog.com

from visualcomfortblog.com

courtesy of thisphotographerslife.com

the circle of life

My son got grounded on Friday. We're having trouble with him listening, so when he skipped the shower in favor of a 30 minute ESPN show, I took the itouch away.

This morning he was whining about not having his itouch. WHINING. Like, sitting at the table with me, head down on his arm, pretending to cry.

I'm not sure if he thought, the more I whine, the more likely I am to get my itouch back in a hurry, OR WHAT. But good grief, these kind of moments with my children show me something very important about life.

It's called THE CIRCLE OF LIFE.

Don't we all swear we will NEVER say things to our kids that our parents said to us? Yah, when that first comment comes out of our mouths, we realize WE ARE NOT IMMUNE. So here's what I actually said to my son just now... (very calmly, I might add)

"Son, stop crying. You're in 5th grade. If you can't stop crying about an itouch, then I will spank you and you'll really have something to cry about."

WOW. I AM my dad. And before you tell me I'm a bad parent for spanking a 5th grader, don't worry, he hasn't had a spanking in YEARS.

In conclusion, I'd like to defend parents everywhere. It's not our fault. Some of those lines really were good.

back to school!

Today was our first day back to school. I thoroughly enjoyed myself because..... well..... I got to spend time with my 13 little muses. And they did not disappoint in giving me blog material. OH NO.... THEY DID NOT.

We use a spelling curriculum that has sentences for each word. Many of these sentences have biblical references. And some use language that is from another century.

Like today.

Here's the sentence I read aloud for the spelling word sir:

Sir, a title of honor, was given to loin of beef by an English king in a fit of good humor.

((DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS))

And then this quip from a sweetie in the front row: A FIT OF GOOD HUMOR??? WHO EVEN COMES UP WITH THESE SENTENCES????

Cue ME, laughing a "head back, holding my tummy, belly laugh" that may or may not have echoed through the halls of our great establishment. It was surprisingly quiet in my little classroom. So much so that when I sat back up to catch a deep breath and opened my eyes, the whole class was staring at me. And maybe even at each other, wondering if their teacher had just lost it....

I obviously HADN'T lost it. But I might have peed my pants a little.

office supplies

My son has the flu.

Have you ever used Tamiflu? Because I am here to tell you that it is a WONDER DRUG. I could not be more thankful for the makers of that awesome drug. Because my puny boy went from laying in bed ALL DAY on New Years Eve (cancelled plans, anyone?) to bouncing around my house like a whirling dervish in just two doses.

Amen! Thank you Jesus! Except could you make him slow down a little now?? Haha, I kid. Mostly.

Anyway, today, I was desperate for a new planner. I like to get my ducks in a row and I like to get them there early. I'm probably a little compulsive about my planning. But I like to think it makes for a better Kim.

So Mr. Mister took me to the Office supply store. He has known me for 16 years (plus) but I'm not sure he REALLY knew that when he took me in there with no price cap, I would be a kid in a candy store! He bought me a new set of Bic Flair pens (you'll thank me later), and some new folders (to keep all the crap together, of course!), along with the ALL IMPORTANT planner refill.

But what happened while we were standing there in the planner aisle, him OH SO PATIENTLY, and me, touching, looking, scheming, and salivating, was the BEST part of the trip. And there's not much that makes me more giddy than a trip to the office supply store.

It was this set of texts that came in from my children. First was THIS.

OH SNAP. Don't bother the beast, son. And DON'T, WHATEVER YOU DO, SEND HER THE TEXT YOU MEANT FOR ME.

I was standing there with my husband LAUGHING (head tilted back, belly laugh exploding), and I got THIS, from the cranky girl herself.

WOW. He was no joke! She really is cranky. And crazy. Did she really think I wanted to wear her JANDALS when I could be wearing my Ugg boots in this freezing cold weather???

WOW.

he's got gas

I had duty yesterday. (I know, I said duty.) (and just so you know, this post is filled with words that have a double meaning relating to bowels)

My job was to pick up both second grade classes from PE and walk them back to our classrooms.

As we were walking back, an unnamed boy who frequently speaks with no brain filter (I can totally relate to this, by the way) says to me:

"Most of my gas is almost out."

8I (thank you?)

me: Um, excuse me?

boy: I said most of my gas is almost out.

me: oooooookay! I'm not sure what you mean by that, but I'm okay with you not explaining it.