10 on tuesday (err, thursday)

I don't usually do a pictureless post, but I've had these TT tidbits roaming around in my draft section for probably a month now. I need to just post it and be on my way. If you don't know the force that is my 2 year old, these tidbits might not be particularly funny to you, but trust me, if you could only be a fly on the wall... Plus, I'm really writing them down for me. I know they'll make me laugh all over again one day. :-)

Random TT tidbits:

1. How can you tell if a toddler has older brothers?
Example A: Only example needed:
When Esther (the green scallion) from Veggie Tales appears on the screen and your toddler cries out: "Yook ma! It's Princess No-Arms!"

(reeeeally don't think she came up with that on her own)

2. TT loves California rolls. Does your toddler eat sushi too?

3. I wasn't able to take Collin out for a little photo session for his 10th birthday. TT head-butted him minutes before his party and busted his lip open.

4. I was less mad when Livia hugged me tight around the neck and called me her "special heart friend." ♥

5. Livia tells me no less than 50 times a day (literally), "I like you mom." One day I got an added bonus: "Mom. You have a nice face."

6. Livia is also picking up nicely on "tween speak." Last week she says to me: "Do me a solid and give me a hug."
(Yeah, I don't get it either).

7. Things that make you go hmmmmm: When your toddler comes up to you with a big smile and says, "I did NOT throw an orange oval into the toilet, mom." (I never figured this one out, but since she was so forthcoming I can be sure an orange oval was indeed thrown into the toilet).

8. A couple days ago, Livia couldn't get one of her games to work on my iPad. I hear "Come ON you lousy fang!!" Further evidence of older brothers.

9. Favorite TT comment of the week:
TT: "Mom. I like it here."
Me: "Where?"
TT: "In this house."

{melt}

10. Have you seen that holiday lego commecial? You know, total Hallmark moment. Children playing together, parents beaming in the background, little sister walks in and sweetly embraces a lego.... As I was getting a little misty-eyed, TT says with disgust, "Dude. You just kissed a lego."

And so it goes in the Bonnie household.

Happy Thursday! :-)

10 on tuesday

1. This morning when I checked my iphone, it offered this warm greeting: "Welcome back, Collin Rulz!" {grrr}

2. I'm officially an uncool mom because I have no idea how to change it back.

3. It's hard to keep a straight face when your 2 year old gets all dressed up and proudly proclaims "Yook! I'm a booty queen!"


4. I love when people say: "My 2 year old never cooperates for pictures! Looks like Livia is always up for getting her picture taken." {chuckle chuckle}

Evidence to the contrary:


5. But my favorite photo sessions are the ones where she refuses to turn around.

6. Our 2011 baseball season is done! I had all these great ideas for capturing the little details, but in the 100+ degree heat, my energy and creativity seemed to wither. Snapshots to follow...




7. And now for Drew's team...



8. Just a few more...




9. Time for a coupon update! I purchased the products below from Walgreens, CVS and Super Target. Guess how much they cost me out of pocket??


Less than TEN DOLLARS! I was going to tell you the exact retail price of the products, but I can't hang on to a receipt to save my life. Do receipts have a way of escaping you too? I'm guessing the items would have cost around $65-$70.

10. Alrighty friends...that's #10 and I'm off for a pedicure!


Oh wait...before you go, just a couple more from a few minutes ago. (I had this post done yesterday, so the pictures below are in real time).

Waaaahhhhh! My boys started school this morning! :-(






We miss you already bubbies!!! ♥♥♥

10 on tuesday (and a mom sighting)

1. Favorite shot of the week:


2. I considered showing you my SOOC, but who doesn't love a little element of mystery, right? ;-)

3. You might be surprised to learn that (given her wild nature) TT doesn't try to climb out of her crib. We recently discovered that Drew is somehow able to drag her up and over the side of the crib. The first time he walked into the room declaring "we have a visitor!!" (read: Livia) my eyes nearly popped out of my head.

This has happened on several occasions, but I have not witnessed it with my own eyes. Livia is 30 pounds and Drew is 50. I can't imagine pulling something more than half my body weight up and over the side of a crib.

4. Goal of the week: to capture a picture of this feat of super-human strength (see #3) on the sly.






5. Worst idea of the week: cracking open a sunflower seed and giving TT the little morsel inside. I have now become a one-woman sunflower seed cracking machine. A little mom-sweatshop, if you will. My hours are from 9:00am to 9:00pm on demand, I don't get any breaks, and I can't eat any seeds myself. :-(
(Yes, I tried buying the already cracked open sunflower seeds. Those were immediately met with a frown and a wave of dismissal).


6. Remember how we've discussed that I don't have a creative bone in my body? And how I have such admiration for people that do? Enter: The Tiny Tornado. Recently she's begun naming her artwork. Some recent masterpieces include "Fox in the Grass," "Motorcycle and Fireworks," and "Two Guys Playing in the Garden and Trees." Is she the coolest???! (If you mix up all her artwork, she can even tell you which title goes with each picture!)

7. Some examples of her earlier work:


I totally see the leaf and the glasses, don't you? And the airplane........genius! :-)

8. Sweetest thing I heard all week:
TT: "Mama! I wanna hug you for a little minute."


9. Have I shocked you into unconsciousness with this rare appearance on my blog?


10. These pictures make me SMILE! And...... {drum roll please} another rare sighting by yours truly. Doron took these shots of us at Silver Dollar City last month with my new G12. I will now pause for you to congratulate me for stuffing my 5' 9 1/2" body into that tiny little caterpillar ride. The boys are usually more than happy to ride with Livia, but in this case they were off seeking out the biggest rides in the park with their cousins.


Well, that pretty much sums up our week! What have you all been up to?

Have a great one! ♥

10 on tuesday

1. If you were wondering why I recently took pictures of my 2-year old in a bucket...well I'm glad you asked. That wasn't my creative genius hard at work. {cough} The intention was to show off a super cute shirt that my friend made for TT. What you didn't see was the hour and a half prior to the bucket pictures: TT running though the park like a maniac calling out "Yook Mommy Daddy! Another paff!" (path)


At age 36 I no longer travel at the speed of light, so we pulled out the bucket for containment purposes. If you missed it, Livia was in the bucket for less than two minutes and I got these questionable shots.

Check this out. A "tiny tee" for my Tiny T. (get it?)


My sweet real-life friend has an Etsy shop called Twinspirations. I will do my best to get better pictures of TT wearing her other new shirt with an appliqued peace sign. So cute! ♥

2. Would you believe it if I told you I got a new camera this week?

3. That's right! The Canon G12 baby!!! I'm seriously as excited about this camera as I was when I got my big girl camera. Eeeeeek! This will be for vacations, amusement/water parks, etc. You can even purchase a housing for the G12 so you can take it underwater.


4. Most embarassing moment of the week: Livia yelling "Mommy's naked!!!" in the aisles of Super Target. Yes, that is aisles, plural.

5. Livia is quick to point out well-behaved children in the grocery store. We have this conversation daily as I keep stuffing her back in the seat of the shopping cart:
TT: "Yook mama! Baby boy seeting nice!"
Me: "That's right. And are YOU sitting nice?"
TT: "No." (insert mischevious, but extremely cute smile) "I stand UP."

6. I caught my reflection in the mirror of the merry-go-round at the mall this afternoon. One word to describe the way I look today? Haggard.

7. I feel I'm overwhelming you with my 10 on Tuesday posts. Perhaps a 5 on Friday?

8. From time to time I sense there is a bit of confusion over my name. You guys know my first name is Karli, right? Bonnie is our last name (not my middle name). No parent in their right mind would name someone Karli Bonnie Such-and-So. My middle name is Allison. :-)

9. Go Ritche Bros.!!


As of last week, Collin had the highest RBI's on his team. YAY! I took these photos with my 70-200mm f/2.8 IS L. It's a bit hard to shoot through the fence when your lens is the size of the Hubble telescope. (The G12 will be joining me at the next game).


10. When the kids are away...


...mom will


Happy Tuesday! ♥

10 on tuesday

1. Last week Doron's mom was visiting from Israel, so my parents took us all out to eat at our favorite Japanese steakhouse. It's one of those restaurants where everyone sits around a teppanyaki table and the chef cooks in front of you.

It's amazing how quicky fine dining can turn into a gag-fest when your 2-year old loudly announces "I FIND GUM!!!" and proceeds to pull a huge glob off the underneath side of the table.

2. After the chewing gum faux paux, the aforementioned two-year old is able to redeem herself by catching a shrimp in her mouth just like the guys. (No kidding).



3. I've become quite the couponer lately thanks to TLC's Extreme Couponing. I've always used coupons here and there, but I didn't realize there was a science to it. I've been studying various blogs to learn how to do it right. Check out one of my recent trips.


Guess how much I paid for all the products shown above?? $7.42 total!!! See those razors standing up on the right side? Those are $10.00 razors, and I paid 89 cents each for them! See the yellow boxes of fish oil in the back? Walgreens paid ME $2.00 for each box I took!

4. If you're curious how it's done, here's an example. See the 2 shampoos and 1 conditioner below? I paid 46 cents TOTAL for the three! (I should have used a lego man or something for scale. It's hard to tell, but these bottles are huge!)


Here's how I got all THREE for 46 cents:
Each bottle was $5.99, for a total of $18.00
I had 2 $3.00 coupons (printed from Target's website) and 2 $2.00 coupons (from the Sunday paper).
Now my total is 3 bottles for $8.00
Target had a promotion where if you buy three John Frieda products, you get a $5.00 gift card back.
Now my total is 3 bottles for $3.00 (Actually $3.46 after tax).
When I paid, the cash register generated a $3.00 coupon for my next John Frieda product which I will definitely use.
So the total for 3 bottles is $.46! Woot!

We only use organic bath products so this was a little out of my comfort zone, but it's reeeeally hard to pass up products at this price. I won't use these on the kids...just for me and Doron. (And yes, Doron is happily using his poisonous Nivea shaving gel pictured above).

5. Someone stop me now because I will go on for hours about how much money I saved on each particular item at each particular store.

Other family members have gotten on board.


6. I'd forgotten about this picture I took a couple weeks ago. I didn't post it because I was using my 50mm f/1.4 and my aperture was too wide causing my focus to be softer than I like.
Sometimes I do this while taking a picture to get TT to look at me:


Perhaps my pictures would be sharper if I wasn't holding my camera with one hand and bonking myself on the head with my lens cap with the other. Something to think about.

7. While I'm not opposed to dolls being anatomically correct, with 2 boys in the house I'm seriously re-considering my recent purchase of the little Disney princesses with interchangeable outfits. WOW.

8. Last week we took a trip to the Omaha Zoo. We're not avid zoo-goers, so it had been a year since our last visit. I asked TT what animal she was excited to see and she said a dragon. Yep, we better get her to a zoo pronto.

{A special thank you to the white-throated monitor who was an acceptable substitute for the much anticipated dragon).

9. I'm not sure the animals were ready for my tiny tornado whirling through the zoo like a maniac.


Many were caught off guard.


Some eyed her warily.


Some cowered in fear.




10. But others...


...just plain weren't impressed.


So those were our happenings for the week. What's new with you? :-)
Have a great Tuesday! ♥

10 on tuesday (photoless)

I've been debating all morning whether or not to even post this, because I'm not sure my weekly ramblings can stand on their own without pictures. But my camera has been sent off for repair, so this is all I have for the week.

1. Yesterday was the first day of summer vacation, and I slept in until 8:52am. (You're hating me, right?) I've trained my kids well. They know that rested mom = happy mom. :-)

2. I have a bone to pick with whoever came up with the phrase "it's just like riding a bike." Unbelievably bad information, since every Spring I have to re-learn how to ride my bike. (In my defense, I've never claimed to be coordinated, and I'm 5' 9 (and a half)" and 128 pounds...so pretty much just visualize a long gangly giraffe trying to pedal a bike. I will admit however, to providing my neighbors hours of comedic relief.

3. It seems Livia has recovered nicely from her fear of the "purple monster over dare on the carpet gonna get you mama"...and she's now able to play alone with her toys in the TV room. For a month we were attached at the hip. This now allows ample time for me and my cleaning supplies to get reaquainted.

4. Want to play a fun guessing game? OK, here's the first clue. Livia's middle name begins with "S" and ends with an "L"...but the L is silent. It's French. Any guesses?

5. Random request and purchase of the week: a dry erase board (for Drew). Random request and purchase for Collin? A cactus.

6. Conversation of the week:
Drew (the Kindergarter): "Did you know that 90x90 is eighty-one hundred?"
Me: "What?! How did you know that?"
Drew: I just figured it out in my bed.
(scary)

7. Want to hear my latest and greatest? So we've lived in our house for what, seven years now? In our master bathroom we have one of those oversized corner whirlpool tubs. I've only used the tub an handful of times... (like when do I have time for a whirlpool bath?) specifically while I was pregnant and so miserable that jets of water spewing into my back sounded more irritating than pleasant. The point: I've never used the jets. A few nights ago, Livia and I decided to have 'beach night' so I threw her in the whirlpool tub.
Fact: You have to have water covering those little blow hole things or your 2 year old will come sailing out of the tub on a tidal wave that rivals the one in the movie Deep Impact.

8. In the other room I hear Livia singing:
"Ring around the Rosey"
"Pocket full of Posey"
"Ashes, ashes"
"Fall down the car-pet and hurt the yeg." (leg)

9. an·noy·ing (adjective): when your husband finds the time to draw a rather detailed sketch in the dust on your armoire, but doesn't have the time to actually clean it.

10. OK, I have to retract #9. My husband is A-MAZING around the house and deserves a shout-out. Seriously...the best! Awesome at cleaning, wonderful at taking care of the kids, he'll run any errand for me at any time day or night, he cooks on the weekends, and he fixes me a snack in bed every single night. I know I've written this before, but it's still true: I'm usually in bed before he is, so I'll use the phone in our bedroom and call him downstairs on his cell phone in the kitchen. He'll answer "Doron's kitchen?" and I'll place my order. Awesome I tell ya!

Anyone still here?

My kids like to read about our "happenings" for the week, so I thought I'd do a little post for them, even though my camera is gone. If I find my house TP'd and egg'd tonight, I will take that as a sign that my photoless post was a thumbs down.

EDIT: I just got 2 emails from sweet friends saying my comments aren't working. Hmmmm....does anyone know how to fix that, or is it just a temporary Blogger issue? If you have any ideas, feel free to email me at karlibonnie@gmail.com

EDIT #2: I think it's fixed! (Thank you so much Skye)! If you're having a similar problem...check out the link I posted in my comment section. It fixed the issue I was having. :-)

Happy Tuesday everyone! ♥♥

10 on tuesday

1. Edit on July 15, 2011: The picture I posted here bugged me so much I finally removed it. It fell into the "what was I thinking" file.

2. Our flowering trees are saying Spring, while our rainy, windy, freezing cold weather and dark cloudy skies are saying otherwise. Oh, and did I mention I had to pull out our winter stuff again? Dislike!


I think I've seen blue skies twice in the past 2 weeks. I thought I better document the occasion.


I have a sweet blog friend that lives a few hours west of me. She'll email me and say "Karli! The sun peeked out for like three minutes! Keep your eyes peeled!"




3. So after being unhappily chained to my computer for the last few weeks, I am caught up on my scrapbooks! **pats self on back** If you had any idea how much I detest scrapbooking, you would know how great it feels to have this done! I had to go back as far as April 2010 (I will never get behind again, I will never get behind again) all the way through February 2011. I used MyPublisher and ended up ordering 3 100-page albums.


4. To the girl at the Sephora make-up counter: When you suggest a certain lipstick and I say "oh, I'm too old to wear dark lipstick," next time please feel free to disagree with me. Some acceptable responses could be "no way!" or "what? you're crazy!" or even "nuh-UH!" Saying "oh" and nodding your head... not an acceptable response.

5. BUSTED!!!


6. I hear the boys playing a new game they made up. It involves Justin Bieber meeting with some 'unfortunate circumstances'. Collin is usually Justin Bieber and Drew is the one inflicting bodily harm. Harsh.

7. Thank you big wavy slide that occupies my Tiny Tornado for hours.


7. I just took a few tubs of clothes to sell at a local consignment shop. I got back almost $200.00!!! Is that normal???

8. So it seems my feathered archenemy, the OWL, is back for the Spring. We've lived in our house for seven years, and he joins us every Spring and wears out his welcome through the Fall. I'm normally a pretty good-natured gal...but listening to his hooing every night as I'm trying to fall asleep and every morning as I'm trying to stay asleep is going to cause me to be institutionalized. I lay in bed getting angrier and angrier. Does anyone know of a good owl extermination relocation program?


9. Livia's musical potty chair is starting to freak me out. It plays its 'royal tune' all by itself, any hour of the day or night. Paranormal activity, anyone?

10. Speaking of paranormal activity, my husband is completely freaked out by ghosts. And by ghosts I mean little boys with hollow eyes that live in the attic or stand in your hallway and watch you sleep. You know the kind. So awhile back, I got some of Collin's clothes and stuffed them with rolled up towels. I blew up a balloon for the head and put a hat on it. Knowing Doron goes down into the basement with the lights off to watch man-TV (show with pyramids, space stations, antique car auctions (the WORST!!), history so boring you'll want to gouge your eyes out, pawn shops, etc)...I stood the little boy ghost behind the couch. My marital status nearly changed in two seconds flat.

I was going to re-create the little ghost boy person and take a picture for you, but I have been sucked into the show Extreme Couponing (awesome show!) and I have pages of coupons in the kitchen waiting to be clipped. Yes, I do live a wild and crazy life. Try not to be jealous.

Those are all the happenings around our house for the week. What's new with you?
Happy Tuesday! ♥