St*ff My Kids Say, 1st Ed.

Since this is a family joint, I'll refrain from the foul language and call this "St*ff My Kids Say".  (The asterisk is just for effect, people!)

I think we are all in agreement that kids say some crazy stuff!  I need to keep a journal of it, Sherry-style, but I'm not so good at having a pen/paper around, even when I need it.  So, Facebook and my iPhone do the trick, in a pinch. 

And because I need to record it someplace else besides Facebook (in case I just get fed up with all the political garbage people spew on it daily and delete my account...seriously, why can't we all just post cute pictures and funny e-cards and be done with it?!) the blog wins the "back-up" spot.

So without further adieu, here is "St*ff My Kids Say, 1st Ed."

And in case you are new, K is the 4 year old girl, B is the 2 year old boy.  No, I'm not hiding their names, it is just easier to type.  :)  Laziness at its finest.

At the fabric store with the kids and I just asked for a yard of fabric:
K: what's a yard?
Me: it is a unit of measure
K: is it a non-standard unit of measure?
Me: a what?
K: non-standard unit of measure. You know like when you measure something with something that is not a ruler.
(seriously, are we raising a kid-genius?  A doogie-ette? Nah, they probably watch too much tv)



Me: Hey, were you two in the bathroom?
K: Yup
Me: What were you BOTH doing in there?
B: Oh, you know. Just dwinking chocwate milk and stuff. 

What's stuff? Turns out, it was sneaking binkies and coloring with markers on the bathroom stool.  

Brian: Ben, let me teach you something. Women are crazy and hormonal. Ben, what are they?
B: hippos. 
Brian: NO. Never say that. They are?
B: cwazy and homonal.
K: I'm a woman.  Womans are girls.

Brian: That's right.  And you know what you guys are?  Crazy and...

B: homonal

K: (crying) I don't like that! That is not fun and not nice!!
(yes, I know that is a terrible thing for my husband to get my son to say, but dang it if it wasn't hilarious at the time.)


K: Ben, do you know what? When I get bigger, I am going to ride a school bus.
B: when I get bigger, I'm going to ride one, too. And you know what, I am even going to drive it.
K: no you're not.
B: well, when I am really bigger.
K: actually no. You aren't.

My daughter, the dream crusher.


I am scrubbing my face with one of those microderm abrasion scrubber things before church on Sunday, while Kaylynn watches. She's watching me in the bathroom more and more, asking about my flat iron and make-up. Not sure I like it. 
K: what are you doing that for?
Me: I'm scrubbing my face.
K: why
Me: It makes me feel like my face looks better. Takes the dead skin off.
K: do you have to do that now because you are old?
Me: Yup. Mama's old.
K: well, you don't look old to me.
Me: I love you! You can tell me that every day. How old do you think I am?
K: umm, let's count (she starts at my feet and moves towards my head...) 1, 2, 3, ...15. You're 15 years old.
I am so glad she has no concept of age. I love her little innocent mind.

K started telling me how when she moves out, I'll need another little girl at home. "Because I'll be far away, but you know, I'll come spend the night with you sometimes." So I asked if she thought she needed another little brother or sister. She said, we'd probably need one of each (Brian asked me later - why are you talking to her about this?!) Anywho, so I asked her, if she had another sibling, what she'd name it. She said her sister needed a cute name, something like "Katelyn". I told her that it was a little too close to her name, so she said, "Rose" is cute, too. So I asked about a brother, and she said, "well, what do you think?" I said, "I asked you what you thought." She sat in silence for a second and said, "Star Rocket would be a great name for a little brother. Don't you think that's perfect?" I said, "Kaylynn, that is the best name ever." She said, "well, when I was a kid (?????) daddy used to take me outside to see the stars every night and when he didn't, I would freak out."

I don't know how she moved from Rose to Star Rocket, but IF we ever have another little boy around here, don't be surprised if his nickname is Star Rocket. 


B: "but I already brushed my teeth, daddy."
Brian: "no, you were eating toothpaste, that is not the same thing."

And I'll end on a sweet one...

As she's walking out the door to go to school - "Bye mom! Don't forget to eat lunch! And don't forget that I love you!"

Fun with Boxes

Why do we waste all this money on cute, eco-friendly (and some not-so-eco-friendly) toys?  They have been in the play room for well over half an hour, just chillin' in the boxes.

That's all I got today, folks. Happy Monday!

Traveling with Kids

We're traveling folk here at the House of Frink. Kaylynn took her first plane ride at 9 weeks and we've pretty much been going ever since. Before the age of 4, she flew to Cleveland, Portland OR, Virginia, Seattle, Santa Fe, and Portland ME. I tried like the dickens to get her overseas with us, but Brian put his foot down. Ben hasn't been quite so lucky, only making it to Santa Fe & Maine, but he's definitely clocked up some hours in the car. Traveling with kids is not always the most fun, or the easiest, but I think in the long run, it is worth it. Here's a few tips that I've amassed through the past (almost) 5 years of kid trips. For flying: 1. Pick your flight times to coincide with either naps or eating. Let's face it, I'm happiest when eating or sleeping, so why wouldn't our little ones be the same. This also helps with babies, as the swallowing action will help prevent ear clogging. If you just don't have the luxury of picking your flight times (the cheapest flights are always at weird times, right?!) pack a binky for the babes or have a sippy of water on standby. 2. iPads or in-flight sat. tv can be your best friend. Yes, I know, too much screen time is not good, but honestly, on airplanes you are in tight quarters, no one wants the kids there to begin with - they are just worth it. You can call be a terrible mom if you want, but I swear by them! Also, United lets you buy DirecTV for $6.00 on some flights - money well spent in my mind, even for the adults. My money-tight husband is quick to whip out the credit card to make it a better flight. 3. In tight situations, don't forget to consult the SkyMall magazine. Not for shopping, though. Tear those pages out and turn it into seat-back basketball. No joke, when Ben was like 14 months old, we spent 45 minutes on a plane letting him throw a piece of paper into the seat-back pocket. Cheapest. entertainment. EVER. For cars: 1. If you're planning on driving, I'd say knock out as much as you can on day 1. Wake up early and hit the road running. On our trip to Colorado a few weeks ago, we left at 4am. While this may have sucked at the time our alarm went off, our kids fell back asleep in the car, waking up in time for breakfast. We plowed through 16 hours in one day and our kids were champs! 2. Section out your trip into "toy time", "screen-time", and "nap-time". Maybe our kids have driven with us enough to know our schedule, but we typically say no to screens (iPads, dvd's, etc.) until 10-11am. In the meantime, we encourage them to color, look at books, look for animals out the window, or just chill. I always go buy a few new colors, color books, or reading books. They LOVE these Melissa & Doug water coloring tablets - and they are reusable! Score! Sometime around 10:30-11, we allow screens until lunch. Previously, we would travel in my mom's car, which has an entertainment system in it. This go around, we have a new ride (sans entertainment system) and bought an iPad holder for the seat-back. It. Was. Awesome. Finally, no fighting over who gets to hold the iPad!! Pair them with bluetooth headphones (or corded ones like we did) and mom and dad can listen to music in peace! After lunch comes quiet time. They typically don't sleep too well in the car. So if we get an hour out of each of them, I consider it a success. But for some reason, after naps, they are pretty content to just "be" for a while. We'll take it. 3. Take breaks. Not only for them, but for you. Even if it's just to get a candy bar or a cup coffee, it's worth it. 4. Treats are good. I'm the first to admit that when it comes to candy/junk, I'm kinda mean about it. Do our kids get it - of course! But they'd take it every day and I'm not into that. However, when it comes to car rides, sometimes you just need it! Case in point, while heading to Breck, we stopped at a Starbucks in Pueblo for a last resort potty and caffeine break before hitting the mountains. We treated the kids to cake pops from there and I think they were pretty excited about that. Cake pops are something that are typically reserved for birthdays or preschool celebrations around these parts. Did they keep the "are we there yet's?" away? Nope, but they broke up the day, nicely. These aren't the be-all, end-all tips for traveling, and we are by no means experts, but I do think that we've been around the block a time or two and kinda know what we're doing by now.

Let's Run Away...

...and never come back.  At least that's what we were telling ourselves after a wonderful trip to Colorado at the end of July.  Thanks to some very generous family friends and some continuing education classes for the hubster, we had a great little family/friend vacation to Breckenridge (with a couple day stopover in Denver).

First of all, let's just say that all of our kiddos are traveling rockstars!!  We left ETex at 4:00am.  Yup, that's right.  In the morning.  After going to bed at like midnight (us, not the kids), waking up to start driving 16-17 hours was difficult.  Met up with the rest of the crew for lunch in Amarillo [side bar: it's probably just me, but I can't think of Amarillo without singing George Strait's Amarillo By Morning.  Perhaps that's a side effect of growing up in Texas.]

(this iPad holder is awesome.  It'd be more awesome if I wanted to shell out the cash for bluetooth headphones, but I didn't.  These corded, ear protecting ones will work just fine)

(probably can't tell, but this is a giant wind turbine propeller.  It was ginormous!)

When we finally rolled into Breck - I think we fell in love with the weather instantly.  Something about going from 100 degrees to 65 degrees in 16 hours will do that to ya.

Each day was glorious.  We could take walks in the evening without sweating!

Even mundane things like eating at Chipotle are better in the mountains.

Picnicking by the river. Water was freezing.  But we braved it for a family photo.  First one since Christmas, I presume.

We braved the rec center for swim lessons.  Kaylynn had 4 good days - Ben had 2.  Every other day he flipped out.  Not sure why.

One day, we had to take him in a white t-shirt and a diaper.  He was not thrilled.  But he got in the pool.  Have I mentioned that I'm a sucker for little boys in white t-shirts.  Or this little boy in a white t-shirt.  Probably because it reminds me of his dad, who wears white t-shirts.

We headed up the Gondie (gondola) or as my kids called it, the "oval gondowa" to the fun park.  Still not sure what this place was called, but the Alpine Slide and coaster were awesome!

Ben took naps on the chair lifts. Did a little fishing. Or rock throwing. Or picture taking in the mountains. OH, and geocaching! And we fed chipmunks organic cheerios. They weren't fans. They were jealous of chocolate sprinkled donuts. :) And then we made it to Denver for class, where we saw awesome urban gardens and ate sushi. Denver's not bad, I tell you. We were all bummed to head back to Texas. If we could just run away and hide out without no one knowing where we were - we'd do it. So if we ever go missing - look for us out west.

New to the Shop!!!

Y'all - I'm obsessed with these!  Like OBSESSED!!  Hands down, the best hair tie I've ever encountered.  One of my pals gave me a couple for my 30th birthday (over a year ago...) and I still have those same 2 original ones that she gave me.  And have purchased a couple more since then myself, but I had to start making them because Anthropologie (as much as I love the place) would make me go broke buying these guys!

They don't pull out my entire head of hair when I take them down.  If wrap them loosely, they don't crease my hair (which I just hate, I know you do, too!)

If you're looking for these hair ties at an AFFORDABLE rate (or I can make them head band size) head on over to my shop (or click above) and pick up a set today.  If you don't like the color combinations I have going on there, send me a message and I'll hook you up with whatever colors your like!

Thanks and gig'em!  :)