Caitlin's new Dooo.....

So caitlin decides on monday to give herself a haircut. I was on the phone with a friend and she comes in all excited and says "Mom my hair grew short!!" I was speechless......








I asked her why she would do such and thing and her response was, "I wanted a haircut, can we go to the barbie car place now?" I immediately tell her no, and take her to supercuts, however that still wasn't much of a punishment she was in heaven getting her hair cut anyway. We made a deal that if she wants her hair cut she will come tell me and I will take her to kids kuts and have them do it. She agreed.




Her hair did turn out pretty cute, however I was still upset and tried everything I could to keep from crying.

A sick one

So last night while trying to enjoy a nice cuddle session with my husband in front of the fireplace, we hear our son crying. We make several trips into his room putting his pacifier back in his mouth. The last trip my husband goes on I hear this horrid sound. The sound of my little one throwing up. He was up four more times to throw up and settled down the rest of the night. I felt so bad for him, this is his first stomach flu with vomiting he's ever had. Today he seems much more chipper, nibbling on graham crackers and water. However he has the rankest gas I have ever smelled in my life and he keeps wanting to take off his diaper. So today we are all enjoying a snuggle in moms bed watching little einsteins. I think I might be getting sick ICK!!

Disneyland 2005

Disneyland 2005

funny things my daugher said

Talking about the cold swimming pool next to the hot tub
"Mom maybes thats a cold tub"

Talking to the story time guy at the castle
"excuse me, please tell Belle to find Cinderella for us ok? she went that way" pointing in the direction Belle was walking.

About the 3-D shows and some of the rides:
"Yea mom I don't like that ride, daddy and christian can go on those again ok?"
(there were very few she actually liked)


So we spent three days at disneyland. We were all excited to go and we were looking forward to all the excitement, California Adventure and the remodeled Disneyland. The last time I was at D-land it was 10 years ago and of course a lot has changed; Tom and the Kids have never been. And we can't forget that its D-lands 50th Anniversary.

The first Day was a bit overwhelming for us and the kids. I highly recommend you plan your days of what you want to see and stick to it. Makes for a much easier time :) especially with two small ones. Luckily we figured that out after the first day. Secondly, the hotel......oh brother did it leave something to be desired. After trying to get into the Dland resorts and failing miserably because everything was booked up for the weekend. We would some nights but they were all spread out and we wouldn't be able to stay for the whole weekend at one place. So I opted for the cheaper route. Well the cheaper route turned out to be the CHEAP CHEAP route. I figured we would only be sleeping there and anything on disneyland drive next to the park can't be that bad at all. *HAH* We stayed at the Super Tacky Super 8. Yes I know what your thinking. "Isn't it obvious what we were getting" No not really I knew it wouldn't be like staying at the hilton or at a holiday Inn. But remember it's right next to the park. Which we find out doesn't really matter. First of all when we get there the lobby looks really nice. They are remodeling, so that must be the look AFTER the remodel. So so far not to bad. We get to our room and its a huge room. Nice size for all of us and seems very clean. Tom had asked for a play yard or crib. NONE. They were out of them (kinda hard to imagine tho) so I ended up sleeping with both kids that night. The second night we call down for a crib again and they have one and its 6$ a night. It shoulda been free but it wasn't AND it was horrible. It was so wobbly that I was scared to death to put christian in it. I truly feared for my sons life. But Tom rigged it so it was safe. Our rooms were left with two towels. Yes You heard it two. You know how some hotels at least give you two in the shower and two outside where the sink area is. Nope, Nope Nope. Two. And they are so thin that they dont really dry you off. And if you call down to get more towels, you have to walk to the lobby to get them yourselves. Ok so these things aren't so bad. Things you can live with, well except for the crib. Then comes the beds and the bathroom. The beds were so uncomfortable I'm surprised we got any sleep at all. The bathroom..... The shower head stood all of 5'2" and when your 5'10 and 5'11 it makes it hard to actually wash your hair. Then when you look up around the top of the bathtub where the tub meets the wall, all along the top is mildew. And there was some unidentified matter caked on, and dangling from the bathroom fan. Overall the place gets NO stars from us.


Now for the highlight of our vacation, Disneyland and California Adventure. thank God it was so much nicer than the hotel. :) We had so much fun!! The first day was spent chasing after princesses and characters that Caitlin wanted autographs for. The third day we got early arrival to the park and it helped a lot because we got to ride at least 7 rides in a row without having to wait in long lines.

Rides we rode or attractions we went to :

Haunted Mansion - Catlin loved it
Roger Rabbit ride - Caitlin not fond of
Mr. Toads wild ride - Caitlin not fond of
Pinnochios daring journey - Caitlin not fond of
Dumbo Ride - She loved it
Storybook land Canal boats - Caitlin loved
Tarzans Treehouse - Caitlin looved
Many adventures of Winny the Pooh - Caitlins favorite
Its a small world - Caitlin loved
King Arthur Carrousel - Caitlin loved
Mad Tea Party - Caitlin loved
Buzz lightyears Astro Blasters - Caitlin loved it until Zurg popped out
Honey I shrunk the audience - she hated
Santas Beach Blast - caitlin loved
The ugly Bug Ball - She loved but the big heads bothered her
Block Party Bash - She loved, wouldn't dance tho
A chrimstas Fantasy Parade - she loved
Its hard to be a bug 3d - she loved
Disneyland Railroad - Christians favorite
Toontown
Frontierland shows
Aladdin and Jasmine Show

Restaurants

Cafe Orleans - great food
Plaza Inn - Great food
Ariels Gratto - we stopped chasing princesses and got their signatures here, Ariel spent 25 mintues playing dolls with Caitlin after she was done walking around with the other kids she came back just to play with her. Caitlin was in heaven.

Mr. Cleans Magic Eraser

Ok I swear by this thing!! and here is why:

my daughter has written on everything you can imagine, herself and her brother included. We've gotten her out of that phase or at least we thought. So today my son gets ahold of one my daughters markers and writes all over the bathroom door. I'm furious thinking theres no way the eraser is going to remove that. So I just sigh and walk away thinking I will have to repaint the door and throw out every marker, crayon pencil in our house. While making breakfast my daughter decides to write in pencil all over my dresser inside our closet. She had already scribbled on it with crayon. So off to time out she goes with a stern stern talking. I resign myself to getting out the eraser hoping it will get the marker off the door. I swipe it one time and the marker is gone!!! I almost wet myself I was so happy. The door is completely clean. So with a renewed optimism for my lil eraser I go into our bedroom to clean up the pencil and crayon, and it wiped away like it was magic. Its gone. Clean. Oh I'm so happy. I use it on our school table all the time. My kids do a lot of art projects and the table gets pretty messy. But I never thought that marker would come off the bathroom door. How does that thing work anyhow???

This testimonial as been brought to you by the Byrnes.

I think this is soo wrong

My pirate name is:

Dirty Jenny Rackham

You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Disneyland or Bust

So today we are off to disneyland! Caitlin is so super dooper excited. She keeps asking me if we are all packed and ready to go. We leave today at 1;30 after Tom comes home from work. I'm kind of excited myself. Its been 10 years since I've been to disneyland. And Tom has never been. So its a first for most of the family. I will post more later when we get back :)

Words Christian will say

So Christian talks much later than caitlin did. Once she started to talk we couldn't get her to stop, and it continues that way still now that shes four. She must take after me :) But christian understands more and conprehends direction much better than caitlin did. Its funny to see how two children are completely different developmentally. Anyway, heres the list of the words he says:

bob or ba = bob the builder

dat = that

tant chew = thank you

yeah = yeah

ud ewe = love you

ow ow = ouch

heelllll helllll = help

OOOHHH= usually means hey look

unnooo = dont know

sissy = caitlin

eet = eat

momma = self explanatory

Dadda = self explanatory

gack = mac the dog

ooose = nose

ear = ear

eyes = eyes

oooopppp = stop

nont = dont

uuh uhh = no


apparently I've forgotten a few:

yes = the sign for yes
please = the sign for please
ttt = train
uupp - up

What princess are you???

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Belle

You are bookish but incredibly pretty. Belle was first seen in Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Click Here to Take This Quiz
Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Lite Brite

How stinking cute is my son????

What is friendship

Today I looked up what friendship and sincerity mean. Why you ask? Because I wanted to make sure that I knew exactly what they mean. I also looked up some quotes on friendship. I've always had a fear in my life and that was that if I wasn't perfect in all ways, if I was human, that someone would give up on me. I've always worried about it being my husband. He was always the one I thought I would disappoint the most and one day he wouldn't be there. But he never has. Even tho many times we've had our battles of will, or we've had our differences. We've still come out of it better and more in tuned with each other than we were before. Thats a true friend. My friend Lani Said something today that really struck a cord with me, it summed up in one sentence what I feel.

"People I hope to never let down, at least not on purpose. And if I do let them down, I know that I am still worthy enough to them that they won't let me go. "

Friendship:
n. The quality or condition of being friends.
A friendly relationship: formed many new friendships over the summer.
Friendliness; good will: a policy of friendship toward other nations; the state of being friends


sincerity:
n 1: an earnest and sincere feeling 2: the quality of being open and truthful; not deceitful or hypocritical; "his sincerity inspired belief"; "they demanded some proof of my sincerity" 3: a quality of naturalness and simplicity; "the simple sincerity of folk songs"4: the trait of being serious; "a lack of solemnity is not necessarily a lack of seriousness"- Robert Rice

"A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway."
- Jerome Cummings

"Only your real friends tell you when your face is dirty."
- Sicilian Proverb

"A good friend remembers what we were and sees what we can be."
- Unknown

"The most beautiful discovery that true friends can make is that
they can grow separately without growing apart."
- Unknown

"Love is blind, but friendship closes its eyes."
-unknown

AND

My all time favorite

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."
-Dale Carnegie

Creative and very funny Byrne Clan

These are letter excerpts from out gift email forum for our family:

ROB:

To whom it may concern,

Trish has requested that I post the following items for her gift list.

11. Beef Jerky
That will be all.

On behalf of my lovely fiancé' this message has been brought to you by
your federal tax dollars (except for Tom and Kelly, there money is
going to bombs and other important things) as I am taking time out of work
to do this.

Rob
PS: A snoopy snow cone machine would also be appreciated.

Mom
Oh no! A snoopy snow cone machine! Rob- last Christmas was the one
for fulfilling longings from repressed childhoods when Tom finally
got Kelly her Easy-Bake oven! To my knowledge, Trish never asked for a snoopy snow cone
machine -(actually, we had one in Tillsonburg) .....could it be that
this was one of your own hidden desires?

Tom:
More to the sno-cone machine than meets the eye.
http://www.liebography.com/hed/SNOOPY.HTM

Mom
Hash brownies? They are on my list to make for the Christmas bake
exchange! Please send me the recipe Kelly. I'll see if there are any
ingredients in the playhouse! O Rob....... you never suspected that
we would see through your goody-two-shoes RCMP cover, did you! Come
clean! There's still time!

Kelly
LOL

People wonder why I've wanted one of those easy bakes
all along :) it looks very innocent from the outside
:)

Mim
Rob, don't listen to these guys! I have to wonder if it's actually mom writing these emails; crystal meth and hash brownies?! Mom? Mom is that you?
I mean, we all know about Kelly's habit...*cough* excuse me...habitS, but mom you raised us to be good people - jeez! what does this say to Rob.
I hope you are ashamed of yourselves!!!

Love Mim
Ps: I also would like a new Bong for Christmas. Cheers!

Life's to short to have a cow...........

So tonight has to be the worst night of my life. I'm sufffering from a lack of sleep foremost. But can deal with that as long as I get a nap, at least a small one. I'm typing blind because my son destroyed my glasses and I needed to take out my contacts. he also ripped all the keys off my husbands work laptop and lani and myself spent two hours putting them back on.

Let me give you a bit of background so that you can see where I'm coming from and why this is the worst night of my life. Starting on Aug 27th (my 5th wedding anniversary). My parents decide to break it to me that they are getting a divorce. Im shock and horrified, feeling as many kids do when their parents decide to take the splitso route with their marriage. Of course I can yell and scream and tell them how they have never tried and they are both being very stupid. But ultimately I'm still the kid and they are the parent. And they are going to do whatever it is they want anyway. So begins a very long and painful road of being tossed about to choose someones side and try to NOT feel uncomfortable when talking to either of them or feel like if you talk more to one then you love that one parent more. This is hard no matter what age you are dealing with it. Ultimately my parents are better off being divorced, but I took it so much harder than I have ever imagined I would. Aug Sept Oct were very rough months for me emotionally. While dealing with all of this I had to find a way to continue my normal life and still care for my family when all i really wanted to do was sit and cry most days. I was constantly being called and having to talk over the phone and rehashing the gorey details. Which in hindsight I should have put a screetching halt to to save my own sanity. But for fear of hurting either parent I did nothing but listen. So begins the tale of being emotionally vomited on. I'm the queen of taking others vomit. I'm to nice for my own good and I am always of the mind set, I can save the world. just give me a chance. One not so nice person once told me "Kelly you can't save the world no matter how hard you try, so give it up and stop being trying" I've never profest to being a martyr or ever wanting that job title. But whats wrong with trying to make the world a better place, one person at a time. Why else would god put us on this horrid earth to endure the crap of the world. But slowly cynicism is encroaching in on me and i'm feeling more like just that. I can't save the world even one person at a time. All that ever ends up happening to me is that I get emotionally ripped apart by people who become so involved in their own feelings and their own emotions that they wont even give you so much as the benefit of the doubt. During the time that I found out about my parents split, we moved into a larger home after selling our starter house and I began to homeschool. My life has taken on that whirlwind look and i can't seem to keep up with everything no matter how hard I try. I'm being sucked into this abyss of yuck. its a dark abyss with everyone tugging at me to do this or do that or want me for something even if its as small as going to the mall. Sorry for the rhyme. Even now as I'm typing my thoughts swirl in my head and I can't even get some organizational grasp on any of them. Tonight I found out that a friend whom I love with all my heart is going through something. What I dont know, but seems that she doesn't want to be my friend anymore. Shes taken the last few months to heart and feels that I am pushing her a way. That isn't the case. i feel that even tho the evidence might point to something other than innocent motives that she should at some point give me the benefit of the doubt and realize what kind of situation I myself have been going through. I can't seem to keep up with the 30+ phone calls a day that I get. My husband calls me from work or should I say IM's me from work to clean out the message box after only 2 days because no one can get a hold of me. After checking the now 50 voicemails I feel like I'm swirling in a drain like the water being let out of a bathub and I'm not going anywhere that I just keep swirling around and around. I figure heck if there are 50 today the same 50 will be ther tomorrow. In th midst of checking those voicemails, I'm writing out bills, changing poopy diapers, screaming at caitlin to stop chasing the dog around the house, and to stop stealing christians toys to make him scream, sending her to time out, all the while listening to her telling me how she wants a new family and that she doesn't like me anymore. Seems no one does...so why would i think any differently from her. ive even made my daughter mad. And I stop for that brief moment to think, I need some calgon. And I look around for someone anyone to rescue me. And yet there is no one, just me. Alone. No one to come take my kids or to fix dinner when I'm way to tired to do it, or just take the kids to the park so i can have a shower finally after three days. No one will ever know or imagine the complexities of being. Not only tonight did I have to deal with my daughter tantruming worse than she ever has or fearful that the cops would be called to find out if I'm killing her but to find that your husband feels that way about you and to find it out from another person is hurtful. Tonight my whole world came crashing down to a pile of rubble. My friend Lani, by the grace of God was here to rub my back as I sobbed. I cried for me for a change and grieved for myself and the circumstances of the CRAP going on inside my life. For the eargerness to escape the drama that seems never ending. All I want is to raise my kids, be happy, drink coffee, scrapbook, garden, read sark books, and take pictures. But I'm so busy trying to please everyone else in my life that I never EVER have time for me. CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!!!!!!

Lick Observatory

So Saturday we went on a field trip to see Lick Observatory It was a lot of fun and VERY cold. The drive up leaves something to be desired. Very narrow roads and winding. Apparently they are the original roads from when the observatory was first built. They had to make them so they weren't to steep for the horse and carriages. Pretty cool :)

Caitlin...the future Sandra Bullock

So tonight Caitlin was in her first commercial ever. Friends of ours own a hobby shop and asked us if we would be willing to allow our daughter to be in one of their holiday commercials. Of course we said yes. I did want to know what it would be like for her, as I didn't want it to be tramatic at all. So all week we've been talking to her about the commercial, showing her kids on tv. If she did the commercial without problems she would be paid a sum of money and could take the money and buy anything she wanted at toysrus. She was so excited about the whole thing up until the camera came on, however she snapped out of it pretty quick. And she did what she was asked and we couldn't get her away from it once she was there. However being the child that she is, she had to be the one choosing when to do what. She had fun. She was so cute I could have melted. Every know and then during a break in the filming she would look back at me and give me a thumbs up and sign I love you, and ice cream. After the shoot she got two prizes, a candyland game, and an art book, then we took her to toysrus and she bought a Princess magical talking Vanity set

Mining for Gemstones

On our vacation to Canada, I took a few days and wen tto Ohio for a wedding. On the way I stopped at Perry's Cave. I picked up bags of dirt so the kids could experience mining for gems. Here are the pictures. They loved it!!



The kids getting ready to mine for their gems.


Caitlin trying to outdo the boys and find her own gems


Zachary and Christian Looking for gems


Christian mining for his own gems


The kids in time out for throwing dirt at each other.



Identifying our gems.