It's been a while... again.

I sit her with my girls upstairs playing with a friend, and thinking, has it REALLY been 3 months since I have blogged last? It seems time just gets away from me lately, and what time I do have, I feel like doing absolutely nothing. See, the first of the year brings on a lot of stuff at our house. We have Kate's birthday party, Chris's birthday, our anniversary, valentines, and the DREADED "busy season" for Chris. Life has been pretty much a "slow-blur" if that makes sense. Like usual, when I skip a while blogging, I will give you in bullet form what's been going on in our lives:

*As I said, Kate's birthday was in January. My princess is 5!!! I can't believe it, and really don't WANT to believe it. She continues to have such a sweet heart and kind spirit. Although, she also has a little whiney streak, and sometimes even a 16 year old attitude. For example, this is a typical conversation that goes down with her (at bedtime):

Me: Kate, it's time to go to bed

Kate: *rolling her eyes* fine, mommy

We say prayers, get up to pee, and then she is told to stay in bed and STOP TALKING.

Kate: mommy... blah, blah, blah, blah, blah (this is what I hear since I'm downstairs and she is upstairs)

Me: kate GO TO SLEEP, I CAN'T HEAR YOU SO STOP TALKING!

Kate: I CAN'T STOP TALKING... MY BODY WON'T LET ME

Me: WELL, CLOSE THE MOUTH, AND IT WILL STOP THE PROBLEM!!

Kate: I CAAAAAAAAAAN'T

*by this time, I'm pretty frustrated. After all, the Bachel... I mean, the Discovery Channel is having a fascinating program on about sharks taking over the world. So, I go upstairs, making my steps REALLY deliberate on the stairs so she can hear me.

Me: Kate, I said to close the mouth and be quiet. It's time to sleep!

Kate: YOU HATE ME MOMMA, YOU JUST HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE ME. YOU NEVER WANT TO TALK TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me: uh, Kate, seriously??? I talk to you ALL the time, and you KNOW I love you, but it's time for BED so BE QUIET!!!!!!

Kate: See, you HATE me!

Me: goodnight Kate

See, typical 16 year old.. only 5. Lovely. But more often than not, she is wonderfully sweet, silly, and definitely entertaining. She has her first dance recital this may and I'm so looking forward to it!!!!

We had her 5 year party at Chuck E. Cheese, and in typical Surface form, it scared the *stuff* right out of her. Apparently, we like to initiate our children by taking them to CEC for a party, promising them Chuck E. won't come ANY where NEAR their party, and then laugh when Chuck E shows up (no, we really don't laugh), and the kid screams HYSTERICALLY while all the parents stare at you b/c you are THAT parent that made their kid endure a CEC party. Welcome to our family, little one!

*moving on...

Chris and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary this past week! We have been together almost 12 years, which seems unreal. No marriage is perfect, but we are blessed to have celebrated 9 years together, and 3 beautiful kids. He puts up with me, and I put up with him... Seems to be a formula that has worked thus far. Here's to another year!!! :) (* we aren't the mushy kind of couple, so if this bullet point sounds a little cold, there is love there.. promise!)

*Kara has decided that her hair product of choice is Vaseline. THAT GIRL! I had it in their room because Kate needed some that evening. The older two NEVER got in stuff like that (uh, excluding baby powder...but then again, that was MY brilliant idea for an art project.. but not the second time, that was because Kate wanted white floors.. anyways, back to what I was saying).. I hear kate scream MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!! I knew this couldn't be good!! Kara had decided to put the ENTIRE jar of Petroleum Jelly NASTINESS in her hair. If I ever see a jar of vaseline again, it will be too soon. That took 10 washing with Dawn and cornstarch mix to get out of her hair. Oh, the looks I got. I'm sure they were thinking something along the lines of:

Oh, my!!! Look at that 16 year old with those three kids. OH DEAR, look at that baby! Poor sweet girl, she has yogurt all over her face, and her hair doesn't look like it's been washed in YEARS!

To which, I thought back:

Listen all you judgers out there (yes, I use the word "judgers" in my thoughts.. because that is how my brain thinks... don't you be a judger, too!) At least YOGURT is on her face, and not icecream.. that's a little healthy, right???

So, after the vaseline scare/embarrassment is over, we are sitting on the couch one day eating popcorn. Kara was fishing in her nose, and I just thought it was a little "stuffed up". Then she blows her nose, and a popcorn piece comes flying out. She laughed so hard, picked it up, and ate it. ewwwww. Yes, my 2 year old daughter officially grossed out my 7 year old son. Didn't think that was possible, but if anyone could do it, it would be Kara!

*Noah is doing good, and kind of staying out of trouble lately!! wow... THAT my friends, is newsworthy! Good job, Noah-Balboa! He is ready for Spring Break, and of course SUMMER! He has many trips planned for us, but little does he know, that probably won't pan out. Look for a post with his reactions over the summer! :)

*Chris is in busy season, so I'm a single mom. So, if you drive by our house and hear screaming, don't judge. It's probably been a long day, Noah probably fought about homework, Kate probably had a "16 Year old" meltdown, and Kara probably got in to something... Feel free to HELP, just don't JUDGE!!! :)

So, that's it in a nutshell. I'm sure when I download pictures, I will find something else to blog about, but until then, this is a start. Here's to me TRYING to keep up a little better!