Reelowkayteeng

I've moved.

Seriously.

It took a lot of effort on my part, but it's now done.

Now you need to make some effort on your part.

Just a few clicks, that's all. Don't be shy.

Do it. You know you want to.

You can see me here from now on.

Though I'll probably be back to pick up on you stragglers, because I'm just that nice.


And for you people with private blogs, if you could please send me an email so I can resubscribe to your site, I would be very appreciative.

keli dot clayton at gmail dot com

In The Doghouse

We went camping up in Wisconsin. Again. I love it up there. The green everywhere, the lakes everywhere, the rednecks everywhere, it's like home sweet home.

Friday was beautiful. We spent the afternoon on the sandy shores of Lake Wisconsin, letting the little ones frolic in the shallows. After a picnic lunch, getting sunburned like no other, and a quick nap for Gretta, we headed back to the trailer to start dinner.

We had a few hours to kill before we needed to eat, so Noel and I decided to hit the Ho-Chunk casino. I do like myself a chunky ho, and a casino to boot!

I lost $20.

Noel won $300.

She sucks. Now I'm not paying her back the $1 I owe her.

Saturday it rained. All day. And it was freezing. We spent the better part of the day in the trailer, though we did catch Night At The Museum 2 at the local theater. It was adorable. I love Amy Adams, and her hair is so dang cute in the movie.

Afterward, we headed back to the trailer to settle in for the night. By 10:00 we had the kids tucked in tight, and were just mellowing into a game of Apples to Apples when I heard the sound every mother fears.

Not the puking sound.

Not the fighting sibling sound.

The sound of a dog biting. Hard.

And instantly I knew we were headed to the ER.


Here's G just moments after arriving at the ER. She's guzzling down some Diet Coke. She was thirsty, okay?



Here you can see the cut above her lip. There is also a nick inside her left nostril, and 2 more little spots on the right side of her lip. The middle one is the only one that needed stitches.



And here she is post-stitch. 4 to be exact. She fought the doctor the entire time, even after a dose of Versed.

We finally returned back to the campground just after 4:30AM on Sunday. We were pooped.

As for Bebe, she is in the doghouse in a major way. She had to stay in Wisconsin for a mandatory 24 hour hold, or until they could get her Vet contacted and get her shot records. She checked out fine, thanks to her recent Uterine infection that not only cost us a fortune, but also our money to go on a cruise. I'm really starting to resent this dog.

So yesterday I had to drive all the way back to the Dells to pick her up. 3 hours. Each way, mind you. She is now on home quarantine for the next 10 days, or until we decide what to do with her. She has never bitten before. She'll growl and nip if the kids are teasing her, and I don't blame her for that, but biting is totally different. I'm sure she just nipped and caught G's lip on accident, but do I dare chance it?

What would you do? Should I keep the dog and hope it doesn't happen again? Do I get rid of her on Craigslist, hoping some loving couple with no children will take her? Do we just euthanize her? I can't really decide, although I'm leaning toward one of those options.

Gretta is fine, she hardly notices the stitches at all. They come out on Friday. Hopefully there won't be a big scar.

I Haz Issues

I'm not an "in charge" kind of person. I like being told what to do. I don't deal well with authority figures, and I second guess myself a lot when it comes to reporting to people above me.

Surprising, I know.

I think it stems from my inability to be serious about anything. Ever. Authority figures seem to take my sarcastic tone in a bad way. Why on earth would they do that?

I digress.

I was put in charge of a decision making process that no one else seemed to want to take charge of. Should I be flattered by that? No, I'm not. So I took charge. I did the best I could. At least with what information I had been, or hadn't been given, as the case may be.

I have since found out that my decision wasn't the best one, or at least not the way others had imagined it should be. Although even though they had all the information, they didn't or wouldn't take it upon themselves to make the decision.

Does this make any sense at all? Clear as mud, right? Right-O then.

I wish I could just come right out and say what I mean, but for once I'm not an open book. I just get so frustrated.

People, if you want help from others, be specific! Don't assume they can read your mind. It is just too frustrating for all parties involved.

End of issues. For now.

No One Always Or Never Does Anything

Last night was a big deal around here.

In our married life we've often done things we swore we'd never do. Owned a minivan, dressed our kids in cartoon character clothes, gone to bed angry, and other things along those same lines.

We also said we would never, ever take our kids back to Chuck-E-Cheese. We took Emma once when she was like 2, and it was a miserable experience.

But last night we wanted to do something special for Maggie, to celebrate her graduating from Speech. She sees the CEC commercials, and begs us to take her. We always refuse. So Sugar Daddy gets this idea that we surprise her with a trip to CEC to celebrate.

We did it.

We went to Chuck-E-Cheese with all 3 kids.

It wasn't as bad as I remembered. We arrived just before 5, and it was practically empty. By the time we left at 7, it was getting packed, and more and more obnoxious. I think the timing was perfect, because I couldn't have lasted much longer in the chaos.

We came home with 3 toys purchased with our 400 tickets, and 3 very happy exhausted kids.

But I swear, I'll never do that again.

Fun For Friday

Does anyone see a problem here?


I guess it's good they teach speech there, and not reading.


Happy Friday!

Shake Your Booty

Maggie had her dance recital on Thursday night. She was so excited to wear her costume, and to wear make-up. She did an awesome job, so without further ado, I give you the review.

They each got trophies with their names on them. So adorable.

Striking a pose in her "Perfect Day" routine.

The group shot.

And the picture before she sweated off her make up and her piggies fell out.

On another note, we had been growing her hair out for months for this big night. She really wanted to do two pig tails for her recital. So we grew it and grew it, much to the dismay of her overly sensitive head. She hates washing, conditioning, or combing her hair ever, so with her thick mane, and the long locks, it was a total nightmare. I told her we'd cut her hair as soon as her recital was over. The very next day, we were getting the trailer ready to go, and she got a big wad of gum stuck in her hair. Perfect excuse to cut it! So it all came off into a cute A-line bob. She looks adorable, and now she doesn't cry nearly as much when we have to do it, which makes me a happy mom.

Before I Forget

This was also a bittersweet Memorial Day. Normally I spend the afternoon at the cemetery for the Veterans tribute, and then meet up for lunch at Julie's house. I wasn't there last year, and it didn't really faze me.

This year I would have had a better reason to visit. Here are some shots of the headstone that I totally jacked from my sisters blog. Thanks, Jill.

The headstone is granite, and it was carved in Belgium. My mom would be pissed that it's so big. Not her style at all. But that temple engraving is so gorgeous, she would forget all about the size issue.


I love how it says "Pokey". She would get such a laugh over that. I wish I could hear her laugh just one more time. And her smile was always so sincere. She deserves the beauty of this headstone, and so much more.

I miss you, mom. I love you.

Happy Campers

So we went camping this last weekend. And by "we" I mean 6 adults and 6 kids, all crammed into our trailer. Headed up to Wisconsin, near Madison. It was beautiful.

'Cept we stayed at the ghettoest trailer park ev.er.

They had a golf cart parade. Which would be awesome, had we been staying anywhere near a golf course. But the people driving these carts were toothless and drunk, and pretty belligerent, even for toothless rednecks.

People smoked in the pool.

And little kids had mullets.

Luckily we didn't spend a whole lotta time around them, we mostly kept to ourselves.

Boys biked, girls chatted, kids played, I kayaked, and we ate yummy food and too many crap snack foods.

I need some Activia.

I took a total of 0 pictures.

Kelley has some on her blog, but it's private, so just imagine me looking like my hot self sitting in a trailer park.

Beauty.

It was nice. I love the trailer. The kids had a blast, and I think the adults had a good enough time, too. Kelley is due to birth any day now, so she's not invited to our next adventure, down to Nauvoo. I'm sure it will be a great time, as well!