just when I thought it couldn't get worse . . .

Despite the fact that I seem to have a lesser strain of whatever the boys have, I decided to go to work today because I had things that needed to get done. I went out to the garage and my car was . . . GONE! Yep. Stolen. Apparently, Joe and I each thought the other had closed the garage door last night and it was open. Why someone would steal a minivan with two car seats in it is beyond me, but they did. I think the police are going to stop believing me when I call because it seems impossible that I could be the victim of two random crimes of opportunity so close together. (Maybe, I just give people too many opportunties). I don't know what will happen next, but I expect to the victim of a pickpocket or a home burglary in about two weeks. The library is also going to hate me, since I had a book on tape in there.

sick

Porter and Dallin are sick today (mostly Porter. Dallin has been pretending to throw up while Porter does). Between cleaning the diarreha and vomiting, all of our flooring has probably been scrubbed twice today. At least the house is getting its much needed wash down. Poor Porter is already suffering from his head scrape. He fell on the sidewalk while shuffle-running and went down face-first. His injuries seem to look worse everyday. I will put on pictures soon. I put some on my facebook site. He just can't seem to catch a break. It is hard when one kid is sick and the other is not really sick. Porter wants to lay down and watch movies. Dallin wants to watch movies too but he has too much energy. He kicks Porter, gets up and runs around, and generally causes trouble. Right now, he is getting his stool so that he can get onto the countertop and reach my can of Coke. (He is definitely my child, he has some sort of magnetic attraction to Coke. It doesn't make any sense. When I was pregnant with him, I couldn't drink Coke at all, it make me so sick and tasted just awful.) I tried taking them both outside. That was okay for about 20 minutes until Porter started feeling sick again.

As for my stolen identity, I had a weird letter in the mail the other day. The apartment manager of some (slummy) apartments in Taylorsville sent me a letter saying that they had found some of my lost items. I went to the complex and she had a little stack of cards for me that she said that someone had found in the parking lot. It was a couple of the store credit cards that I had already cancelled, my driver's license and my pass to the dinosaur museum. I am glad to have the museum pass back. I tried calling the police officer who filed the original report but he hasn't called me back.

Dallin has abandoned his efforts to get my Coke and now has gotten into the floss. He likes to hang it from his teeth and growl, pretending he is a floss monster.

hairy

This morning Porter told me that he had a lot of hair like Dad. I said, "huh?" and he held out his arm and said, "do you see that, that is hair. I am hairy like Dad. It means I am getting big. When I am five, I will be as big as Dad." I said that maybe he would be almost as big as Dad and he amended his statement to say that he would be almost as big as Dad.


On an unrelated topic, I still seem to have a job. No one has said anything and so I am operating under the assumption that I am not going to be fired. I hope that is true.

warm

It is finally warm enough to go outside. I took Porter and Dallin to the park on Saturday. Notice Porter's muscle tee. He insisted that he have it. He slept with it for three days until I let him wear it and then, when he put it on, he said, "this is a basketball shirt. I am not a basketball player, I am a soccer player."

Easter cont.

Here are some pictures from Easter. On Saturday, we had a nice little family party at Megan's house. The food was good, the kids had fun, the weather was decent; all in all, a good day. I was happy to see everyone, including Richard and Christina and their kids. On Sunday, Easter Bunny came to our house and the kids got more candy and gifts. Jacob came for dinner and wrestled with Porter and Dallin. There are pictures above. They seem to go in reverse order

stolen identity

Okay, this is not about Porter and Dallin but I wanted to vent for a few minutes. Today, when I was dropping Porter and Dallin off at daycare, someone apparently broke into my car and took my briefcase. It had my wallet, my phone, my ipod, a spare house key and other rubbish. It also had a file that I had taken home to work on. After noticing that it was gone, I drove home to search for it, thinking that I must have forgotten it. It wasn't at home. I went back to the daycare to search for, thinking I may have brought it inside with the boys' backpacks. It wasn't at daycare.

On my way back to the daycare, my fuel light went on and I started to cry because I had to no money, credit cards, etc. with which to fill my car with gas.

When it finally dawned on me what happened, I called the police, Joe, and work. The police officer came and filled out a report and told me that it was unlikely that my belongings will ever be recovered, unless I can remember the serial number for the Ipod or phone because they may turn up in a pawn shop. Joe came and took me to the gas station and gave me his debit card to use for the day. We then proceeded on to the bank to close all of our/my accounts.

I called to cancel my credit cards and discovered many of them had been used (of course) multiple times already. I tried to report the different usages of the cards and was told that those were separate crimes and I would need to contact each city's police department where the cards were used. I quickly gave up on that and decided that the credit card companies can do it if they would like, since they are not going to charge me and are the real victims.

I spoke with my boss about the stolen file. I asked what can be done, and I (half) jokingly said, "are you going to fire me?" She told me that she didn't know. Ugh!!! So now, I may lose my job for not properly securing the file that I took home with me (because, at least, I am authorized to take files when I telecommute). Hopefully, she and whoever is in charge will see that I wasn't completely negligent, leaving the briefcase for a matter of minutes to run my kids into daycare.

I called the social security office (because I am an idiot who carries her social security card with her) and they said that I need an id, like a driver's license, to get a new social security card. The DMV then said that I need a social security card to get a new driver's license. Hooray. I explained the circular dilemma that I was facing and the DMV said they would take a birth certificate instead, along with some other form of id. What other form?!? I have nothing else. I am a stupid little hermit who carries everything of value in that one briefcase. Now, I need to hunt down my birth certificate.

This is now my to do list for tommorrow: (1) put a check on my credit, (2) figure out where my birth certificate is and then (3) get a new driver's license and social security card, (4) get a new phone, and (5) get the locks changed at my house. After those things are accomplished, I can go about getting a new bar card and replacement membership cards for the places where I have memberships. Finally, I can pray that I don't get fired (maybe everyone else can do that for me too).

Also taken, 1 can of Coke (so I haven't had a Coke all day and it is contributing to my insanity), pictures of my kids, an incomplete job application, appointment cards for my next hair cut and dentist appointments, and my shiny blue wallet that the boys got me for my birthday. I may start to cry again.

easter highlights

Okay, so I will put pictures on later but I just wanted to post a couple of my favorite moments from Easter
(1) Joe and I woke up to the sound of something shaking. The noise got closer and closer until Dallin tapped me and said "I found eggs, Easter bunny comed." Then Dallin climbed into bed with us and ate jelly beans out of his Easter eggs. I told him we couldn't look for more until Porter woke up so he set half of his aside and said, "these fo Potor."

(2) the Easter Bunny gave Porter and Dallin pajamas. Porter's were Batman and Dallin's were Wall-e. Both were thrilled. Porter saw his and said, "how did Easter Bunny know that I love Batman?"

(3) Porter and Dallin got fish for Easter - betas. Dallin named his "goldfish." Porter named his "fish." While Porter was alone with his fish, he decided to feed it. He poured the whole bottle of fish food in. Later, he looked at his little fish and told me that the water was "soiled" and Fish didn't like it. We had to clean out the fish bowl then.

(4) I said something to Porter about the Easter bunny and he asked which one? I told him the Easter bunny and he asked "which one?" again. I asked him if he thought there was more than one Easter bunny. He said yes, the one at the museum was not the same as the one at the mall. They wore different shirts, had different colored eyes and ears, and one wore gloves. For a child who was too terrified of either Easter bunny to sit on its lap, he sure remembered a lot of details about them. I told them that the bunny at the museum was Peter Cottontail who lives with Easter Bunny and helps him out. Dallin called his stuffed bunny Peter Cottontail for the rest of the day.

(5) This isn't really Easter related, but it happened on Easter. While at church, Dallin decided to sing "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam" very loudly during the sacrament. We went out into the hallway and sat. Dallin played nicely with the other kids for a while. He even helped Hope Potter with her shapes puzzle. Near the end of the meeting, he got angry at me and laid on the floor and started calling me names. He used all the naughty names he is not supposed to call people, "stink butt," "poop butt," "penis butt," "butt butt," and "pee butt." (Anyone else notice a theme here?). He yelled them louder and louder as I carried him down the hall to sit on timeout. Hooray. One of the young men was sitting in foyer with us and couldn't stop laughing.

sleep cont. and other random events

I thought I had solved my sleeping dilemma. I put Dallin in Porter in bed together. Though it was more effort for me at the outset because I had to deal with the constant demands of two small boys for something to drink, blanket adjustment, etc., plus I needed to stay in Porter's room to shush Dallin repeatedly, once the boys were both asleep, my nighttime efforts seemed substantially lessened. Neither woke up as much because they had each other and didn't seem to get as scared. The first night, they didn't wake up until 6:30 am. They both came into my room and got me up. Joe tried to talk them into going back to bed but they wouldn't unless I came too. When we got there, Porter said he needed his nose blown. Dallin said he needed candy. Porter told Dallin to wait until morning and then they both fell back asleep for another hour or so. This didn't seem so bad. The past two nights though, it has gone back to being difficult. They both wake up repeatedly, wake each other up, and then come to get me. I end up sleeping on the floor in Porter's room now instead of in Dallin's room. Plus, since they are getting tucked in together, they fight about the books we are going to read. Hmm. . . I really thought I had this all figured out too.

Jacob came over the other day to collect his mail and Dallin was really excited to see him. Dallin went to his little pile of daycare artwork and pulled out a bunny he had made with cotton balls stuck to it. He said that he had made it for Uncle Jacob and then headed downstairs to bring it to him. I didn't want to intrude so I left Dallin on his own to give the picture to Jacob. I hope Jacob liked it. Later, Dallin, Porter and Jacob wrestled. Dallin called Jacob a "stink butt." (Dallin has been calling people butts lately and it is driving me crazy. The last time Jacob came over, Porter told me, "Jacob came over to tell us new stories." "What stories did he tell you?" I asked. Porter replied, "I don't know, he only talked to Dad."

Porter figured out how to write "Dad" and wrote it on top of a picture of Batman that he colored. The next morning, Porter found the picture and was worried that Joe wouldn't have it at work. He wanted me to drive him to Joe's office to bring it to him but then decided that Dad could just get it that night.

Finally, Dallin and Porter started their soccer lessons on Thursday. Porter liked it more than I expected he would. He did a pretty decent job with the little drills they were given. Dallin, on the other hand, didn't like it at all. He spent at least half the time standing around crying, refusing to kick the ball. I finally took him off to the side and blew his nose. Then I told him that he would have to decide if he wanted to sit on the ground and watch or go out and kick the ball. He said he was ready to behave and we went back to the lessons. He was fine after that. On the upside, Dallin was really well behaved in gymnastics. Last week, he was so difficult, I just packed him up and we left early, with him screaming the whole way out. I guess he remembered because he made an excellent effort to listen to the teacher and participate in class.