Kiersten’s Blog

I feel like I have been following Ashton everywhere with a wet rag today.  That kid doesn’t stop making messes!  I get one thing cleaned up and he’s on to the next.  And he does it on purpose too.  Today started out early.  Luckily Taylor was home until 11 so that helped a lot.  We were up and eating breakfast by 7:00.  That’s when Taylor noticed the ants.  I made sure to mop before I went to bed last night, but I rarely mop the whole floor.  You see, our whole bottom floor is wood laminate so mopping the whole thing is quite the job.  Instead, I try to keep up by consistently mopping the dining room (at least under the high chair) and spot mopping everywhere else.  Last night I missed one small crumb.  Sometimes that’s not a big deal.  Other times, like today, the ants swarm.  The crumb was between the dining and living rooms and not far from the patio door, but that’s not where the ants were coming in.  I still haven’t figured out where their trail began, but it went around the rug in the living room and there was a pile up on the crumb.  Out came the Raid.  Taylor sprayed them down, but I get a little nervous spraying Raid with kids around, for 2 reasons: Number 1, it’s like an oil slick wherever that stuff is down.  It could send one flying across the room.  Not to mention, I don’t want it tracked all over my carpet.  And number 2, it’s toxic!  I don’t want that around with kids who eat things off the floor.  Did I just say that?  Yes, I have a child who frequently eats off the floor.  In fact, after dinner today (after throwing his whole dinner on the floor) I got him out of his high chair and told him to eat the rest of his dinner.  From the floor.  That’s the kind of mom I am.  And that’s my point.  It’s impossible to keep this place clean with my little hurricane running around!  So back to the ants.  Taylor took the kids upstairs and I mopped the entire floor.  Not with a mop, but with a rag and a bucket on my hands and knees.  Then I proceeded to do the bathrooms.  I figured I might as well.  Then I noticed that my shower doors looked gross so I spent some time on them.  I was surprised to see that it was only 10 a.m. when I finally got in the shower after all that cleaning.  But later, after swimming and afternoon naps, Ashton was up again making messes.  He turns his cups upside down, just so they leak out all over the place.  While he was drinking his milk, I followed him around with a paper towel.  It doesn’t help to contain the kid in a high chair either.  When he’s finished with his drink, he promptly throws it on the floor.  Today, of course, the lid came off and spilled everywhere.  At least it was only water at this point.  But really, doesn’t he see that the floor is clean for once?  I guess I better stop rambling and go clean the floor.  Again.  I wouldn’t want ants.

I broke my camera.  This is the 2nd digital camera I have ever owned.  My first one broke one day at the beach.  It opened up and never closed or took a picture again.  I replaced it because, well, it did a fine job, but I wanted something a little better.  I did some extensive research and finally settled on the cute little point and shoot that I have.  Or had.  Until a couple of days ago.  I guess I still have it.  It just doesn’t work.  We took it to the beach on Thursday.  I took pictures.  It was great!  We had a fun time.  But on Friday when I tried to use it, I couldn’t.  The lens opened, and never closed, never letting me take another photo.  I love my camera!  How could it have pooped out on me in just 3 short years of usage?  I took it to a camera repair shop where they told me that I had sand in the lens.  Of course.  They also told me that it would cost $68 to fix and that the fix would take 2-3 weeks.  2-3 weeks?!  I don’t have that kind of time to live without a camera!  I take pictures daily!  In fact, I haven’t been able to use the thing for 2 whole days and I’m already going crazy!  I’m hoping that I can find a screwdriver that will allow me to take the thing apart and blow it out with some canned air.  Maybe, just maybe that will be the solution to all of my problems.  If it doesn’t fix the problem?  I have no idea.  Until then, I’m sad and camera-less.  I already missed the all-important first ballet recital.  What am I going to do next Monday on the first day of kindergarten with no way of photo documentation?  I hope all the thing needs is some pressured air to get back into working order.

I have 24 boxes of cereal.  They don’t all fit in my pantry so some of them have found a new home in the garage.  11 of those boxes are Rice Krispies.  And I bought them all on the same day.  They were a good deal.  How could I pass it up?  Plus, they have the codes on them to get free movie tickets.  I spent something like $15 on those 11 boxes of cereal and they will translate into two free movie tickets.  Plus I get to eat the cereal too!  I’m thinking I got a pretty good deal.  Then other cereal was on sale a week or two later at another store.  Again, the bargain was too good to pass up so I bought more.  Of course I made Rice Krispy treats the other day.  I think it’s time to make more.

I love this picture of my mom.  I’m guessing she was about London’s age.  It’s the perfect summer day and she was waiting, dime in hand, for the ice cream man.  It looks like she missed out on the ice cream that day.

I just spent the better part of an hour cutting up chicken.  I bought chicken today since it was on sale.  Usually when I buy fresh chicken, I open the package and freeze each breast individually in its own little ziplock baggie.  Today I decided while I was at it, I might as well cut up some of it for dinners I have on the menu for this week.  I only cut up 4 breasts.  It takes me so long because I’m so disgusted by the whole process.  I only ever buy boneless skinless chicken breasts since that’s about all I can handle.  One time we cooked a whole chicken and another time we cooked a turkey.  On each of those occasions, I made Taylor pull out all of the nasty guts.  And he used to be vegetarian.  It takes me forever to cut up the boneless skinless chicken breasts because I won’t touch them with my bare hands.  I use a fork and a knife and I’m very careful about the chicken not touching anything besides the cutting board and the fork and knife.  I don’t know why I’m so grossed out by it.  As I was cutting, I was thinking about this whole process that I do and started to wonder why I even eat meat at all.  I have had beef only once or twice in the last seven years, just because Taylor doesn’t eat it.  I remember making meat loaf once when I was a teenager and was totally grossed out, having to stick my hands in and mix up the ingredients.  Now I don’t eat it and I can’t even fathom why people like it.  We don’t eat a ton of meat, but we do have it and I think I would have a hard time going completely veg.  But then again, I would never have to cut up raw chicken again.  It might be worth it.

I think there must be a crazy gene that comes through the Henrie line.  I’m glad I didn’t get it.  Maybe I did and it just hasn’t surfaced yet.  I wrote about my dad’s crazy bike trip down the California coast with is brother.  While they were on their week-long trip, my cousin and his dad (my dad’s brother) were on their own crazy bike trip, except theirs was even more insane.  Wayne, my cousin, decided to ride his bicycle across the country and somehow he conned his dad into going with him.  Because of a really bad motorcycle accident a few years back, my uncle couldn’t ride a bicycle, so instead he rode a moped.  Either way, they were in for an adventure.  My uncle pulled a trailer with supplies and they typically biked around 100 miles every day.  They started in June and arrived in San Diego the third week of July.  That means they were riding through Arizona in 127 degree heat.  Did I mention that they’re crazy?  The nice thing about their ride was that they finished in San Diego.  That meant that we got to have company!  Not only did my cousin and uncle come, but my aunt, my cousin’s wife, and their baby (the same age as Ashton) also came!  Sharon and Jenna wanted to be there for them when they finished.  We had a nice visit with everybody and I was so glad they stayed with us!  Wayne, Jenna and Chase live in Barrow, Alaska and Curt and Sharon live in Calgary, Alberta so we don’t see any of them very often.  I wish we could have spent more time together but they were all leaving the next day, as were we.  I’m so glad we were here when they were so that we could visit a bit and I’m glad we have a place big enough to accommodate guests.

I think these two (2nd cousins) look more alike than London and Ashton! Chase wasn't so happy about the grass, but Ashton was just happy to be outside.

Ashton is finally a walker.  He was taking steps around Father’s day, but it wasn’t until a week or two after that when he actually started using his feet as his main form of transportation.  Now I can’t get him to slow down!  He even thinks he’s big enough to walk up and down the stairs!  While on vacation, he was walking around somewhere (maybe the beach) outside and stepped on something that got lodged into his fat little foot.  I didn’t think much of it and assumed it would find its way out soon enough.  It didn’t seem to bother him at all.  But Friday morning, I noticed a red line traveling from the wound up his foot.  Fearing blood poisoning, I scheduled a Dr. appointment.  The doc said it looked like it was infected, but of course didn’t want to slice the thing open and dig it out so she put him on antibiotics and told me to have him soak his feet twice a day, use an antibacterial ointment, put wart remover on it at night while he’s sleeping, and keep him out of beach water.  What?  It’s summer time and we live in San Diego!  Poor guy.  We went to the bay yesterday and he was pretty mad that he couldn’t go in the water.  Of course he HATES the antibiotics he’s taking.  In fact, I’m not sure if he even swallows any of it at all.  But it does look like it’s getting better.  At least the red line has gone away.  My favorite part of the whole prescription is the foot soaks.  It’s hilarious to watch my little boy soaking his feet every night.  I think it’s his favorite part too.

For some reason, London is obsessed with Spanish.  Maybe living in Southern California will do that to a kid.  We have a number of children’s books that have both English and Spanish text.  She constantly asks me how to say things in Spanish.  Of course I never know.  So she makes up words and tells me that’s how you say {enter random word or phrase here} in Spanish.  She never really remembers the word she makes up, but she has used one specific word (or it may be two words, I don’t know) consistently.  That word is “elenationkwokeemoncho.”  Apparently this word means just about anything.  It means, “I’m done pooping.  Please come wipe my bum.”  It means, “I’m hungry.”  It means, “Are we there yet?”  It means anything London wants it to mean.  Maybe she’ll be a linguist when she grows up.

With all of my vacation posting today, I almost forgot again about my Flashback.  Here it is.  I love summers at the cabin.

I'm the baby in this picture

This evening we discovered, while eating Rice Krispy Treats, that London has a loose tooth.  She’s four.  That’s right, my four-year-old daughter has a loose tooth.  Tonight she prayed that her tooth wouldn’t be loose anymore because she doesn’t want to grow up.  I guess she knows how good she has it being a little kid.  My poor baby is growing up.