karen m.'s view from home

moving...

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 07:45:00 +0000

i have combined my two blogs into one:

http://www.polkadothouse.blogspot.com

i'll still have this one and my old creative blog, but all the new additions will be to

'life at the polka dot house'

(can't figure out how to migrate all the posts--not sure if you can anyway)...

won't you come visit me at the new house?

video

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 07:09:00 +0000

scared baby...walking baby...

(no children were harmed during the making of this video)

what a crew! hope to get our chrismtas morning video up soon.

Some pics from Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 05:05:00 +0000

i hope to have some video up soon...but you know how that goes! i got more video than pictures of Christmas morning. and the pics i did get are either blurry or red-eye...too much excitment i guess.

hope everyone had a great one!

waiting in line for Santa on the 23rd...what were we thinking?

it really wasn't that bad though. we made it last in line before they shut it down for lunch.

they won't let you take pics anymore, even if you buy one...mike had to sneak this one from outside the gate. a little blurry, hon...
i'll try to scan the one we purchase and post it

sleeping so soundly, knowing that his big brother asked Santa to bring a Fisher-Price Tool Bench just for him watching Scooby-Doo...only one more day 'til Santa comes!

What? Santa is coming tonight???

is this a scooter? why is it so small?

a little disgusted at first thinking it was just some plain old clothes. i missed the big, "oh cool" look when he found out it was a Dallas Cowboys fleece jacket.

a little cheetah friend for the gomes to go with the little lion he stole from my roommate like eight years ago...

cleaning up after a Pig-Ear breakfast...

We spent the day with Mike's family at his Mom and Dad's house..they got owen a rocking horse. he seems to love it!!!

Michael cheers on his cousins as they Wii beat-each-other-up. it was so worth Mike standing outside Target at 4am last Christmas to get this silly game console. if you don't have one, you really need to figure out a way to get one.

Ma!!! I can't put my arms down!

just plain funny...

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 21:44:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 00:35:00 +0000

Michael's Christmas party was today at school. They all had such a good time from the looks of things. they made a reindeer craft and an ornament, had a book exchange and then they ate Chick-Fil-A nuggets and fruit. well, mich didn't eat any fruit. it was mrs. c.'s last day as his teacher, too. so that was kind of sad. the new teacher seems pretty nice though. i hope she just doesn't try to change their routines in the middle of the year. anyway, it was all very cute! and the best part is each table, all on their own before they started eating, held each other's hands and bowed their heads. they didn't have anyone tell them to do it. and, even though they're all excited about getting presents, now i know that they all do really know what it's all about! what an amazing bunch of 5 and 6 year olds!

some more pics from today and one of our baby-tortured tree:

ooops...

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:02:00 +0000

can't find my camera! mike is going to kill me! it's probably somewhere stupid like under the pile of papers on the counter or in owen's toy box.

and i really want it right now because mich and owen and playing in the kitchen togther throwing a whiffle ball back and forth. and then michael put it in the back of a little truck and pushed the truck to owen and then owen takes the ball out and puts it back in and tries to push the truck back to michael. soooo cute!!!

our house hunting did not go too well this past weekend. granted, we only looked at three houses. but that was enough to tell us that we want a brand new home. one that looks something like this:

or this (a 4 bedroom, so i can have a scrapbook room without the boys having to share a room--yes, if we only get a 3 bedroom, the boys will share a room. i will have a scrapbook room if we get a house.) forgive me...i'm a tad bit excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and the gomes...

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 23:13:00 +0000

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1437395708

why nnot the whole gang this time?

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 23:09:00 +0000

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1437201591

Go Elf Yourself!

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 23:01:00 +0000

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1436719247

on the way home from school...

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 22:18:00 +0000

michael got in the car from school today and he said that he found a dollar in his coat pocket...

me: "Wonder how long that's been there. Where did it come from?"

mich: "I don't know. It was just in there. O-N-E spells 'one' D-O-L-L-A-R spells 'dollar'. And this is George Washington on here. He was our very, very first first President."

me: "Yup. From 1789-1797"

mich: "Why is his hair so funny looking? Did he die because he had white hair?

me: "They all wore wigs then and that was the style."

mich: "Was this dollar made in China?

Video of Owen walking with his little push-cart lion coming soon...

FYI...

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:49:00 +0000

the Christmas photos aren't real, people! i'm silly but not as silly as you for thinking we actually paid for those photos with the santa hats. and with Gomey. although i would like to have a family photo with the Gomes. that would be cute. no santa hats and no lampshades.

sillies... :)

My Boy...

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 20:36:00 +0000

is in a local magazine! Parker County Kids Magazine is a freebie that i picked up a few months ago and i sent mich's picture in. it's also online but the december issue is not up yet. so, i took a picture to show you guys...

not even Darth Vader can beat Chuck Norris

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 03:54:00 +0000

at bowling...see? i love Wii.

sorry, chuck i know you can bowl a 300 with no ball (and not even be at a bowling alley) but there's something about your mii character that makes this an impossible feat. i think it's the lack of a cool, tight-fitting black tank or tee?

Family Christmas Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:36:00 +0000

we went back to the store and had our family photos re-taken for Christmas. I think they came out pretty well. and we got gomey in the picture as well this time.

found this from another blog

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 03:02:00 +0000

i guess i suck!

You Are a Losing Lottery Ticket!

Full of hope and promise.
But in the end, a cheap letdown.

What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?

i thought that was kind of funny.

anyway, speaking of lottery tickets. i bought one today. my dad would have been 68 today, so i played some numbers i can associate with him. as i was thinking about him while tending to my mums, i saw a ladybug. weird. anyway, miss you dad. wish you could hang out with these little grandsons of yours. i know they'd adore you and you them...

got this in an email...

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:09:00 +0000

and i like it! very cute!

We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box .

that's about all for today. i moved some items around in the kitchen today so that owen can now play in there. gave him the bottom drawer with some bowls, etc. he is just banging away but gets very mad when one of the bowls get upside down b/c he can't pick it back up.

have some updating to do on some websites then i want to make more tags for etsy, since the last set i made was gone in less than 5 minutes!

later!

what's it been?

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 05:16:00 +0000

like a week? i guess i could look at the date on the previous post. whatever. anyway, long week, short weekend. as usual. been busy with the etsy shop. mike thinks i'm nuts. we were discussing and he said, "why do they want to buy your stuff?" nice. thanks, hon! he didn't mean it that way but when he first said it, it was pretty funny.

michael had a cold this weekend. i think he is ok to go to school tomorrow. i hope. i can't deal with his whiney butt tomorrow all day. did i make him that way? i really don't know. he is sooo dramatic. mom, shut up! i know exactly what you're saying. how's that painting going?

i finished up my Christmas gifts. just a few last touches and i should be ready to go. i just have to make cards (hopefully tomorrow) and get to work using my zutter. do laundry. clean up messes, again.

pretty much done with Christmas shopping for the boys. except for Owen. so i guess i'm not. but what do i get him? spray for his butt. he stinks. poor little fella. smells like the hot-room in micro lab. i miss that smell :( too much fun. i felt so cool with my white coat on. oh well. owen needs to get big a little bit.

no more LSD...that stands for Lamp Shade Dog. Gomey is finally free of his lamp shade!!! after about 6 months. poor thing. i've decided that it has made him compeltely insane. he chewed for a bit, but he didn't go completely nuts, so we left it off. we figured he's got to make up for some of that lost time at least. he went right to work chewing his toe-nails. claws. whatever. silly, fluffy friend. what a dog!

i took the pics during my weekly lunch with mich at school. where we eat curly fries at 10:30 in the morning. have a good week peeps!

Mom!!!

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 03:18:00 +0000

Michael: "Mom, I'm hungry."

me: "OK, what do you want?"

Michael: "I can't get this thing to work." (don't know what he was doing here.)

Michael (about 10 minutes later): "Mom, I'm hungry. PLEASE FEED ME!!!. I want bacon and eggs."

me: "OK, just a minute."

Michael (about 10 mintues later): "Mom, I'm so hungry! I'm going to die CUZ YOU DON'T EVER FEED ME!!!"

I love that child. He is so gosh darn funny and weird and just completely out there. guess he takes after his momma.

here's another example:

the box is always more fun!

mich also bowled a 247 on Wii today. and, while he played quite a bit this weekend with the rest of the crew, he really doesn't play it all that much. 5 strikes in a row, 8 total.

amateur baking at its finest...

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:17:00 +0000

i made my first apple pie from scratch this morning. i didn't push down on the top crush enough because it's beginning to deflate. but it still looks pretty and smells delicious. can't wait to try some with some breyer's french vanilla. thanks, momma, for the instructions!

Happy Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 05:56:00 +0000

this was a video of Adam Sandler singing the turkey song...but it kept looping and i grew really tired of it.

today...well, yesterday

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 07:22:00 +0000

i was busy today. took mich to school (his last day before the long weekend), came back home, walked the gomes, fed owen his rice cereal with apples and blueberries--super yum, btw, hit the gym with owen (he works out with me, didn't you know?), went to wally world to get shewee a filing cabinet and some folders, stopped by and cleaned up all day until 3pm when it was time to get mich.

i ate oreos today. that was it. until dinner. mike's mom got bbq. so, i had sliced brisket and 5 oreos today. nice. good thing i went to the gym? i really need to start eating better. that 'eat clean' thing isn't working b/c nobody else wants to eat clean and i don't want to cook and clean up 3 different meals. sucky. today was bad though. usually i bring a nuke meal with me or have one at home. those green giant veggies rock. and i have tuna and a yogurt with it. i didn't bring all that today b/c i hit walmart and didn't want runny yogurt.

anyway, who cares, right? something is in the works over at polka dots. i have to hit hobby lobby tomorrow and get a punch and some 8x11 paper. 25cents a sheet this week. punches are 1/2 off. can't beat that with a stick. speaking of sticks...shewee, if you're wondering why i left a rather large one on your kitchen counter today, it's b/c one of the kiddoes left it in a pocket and i washed it. it was a thick stick, not long. it scared me b/c when i saw it laying in the washer i thought it was a big terd. and i got to thinking, wow, how did that not dissolve! gross! anyway, it was a stick. it smelled good though when it came out. like tide. funny.

anywho, time to hit the hay. owen is stopped up tonight. don't know how much hay hitting i'll actually get done.

Why Dogs Hate Halloween:

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 02:35:00 +0000

i received like 20 pictures total in an email, but these made us laugh the most.

why am i still up?

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 05:17:00 +0000

owen and mich are asleep and i know as soon i lay down and doze, owen will wake up wanting a bottle...come on kid! you're almost one year old and still not sleeping through the night! is it still OK to give them whiskey? not that i've ever done that (or ever will), but it has to be much safer than anything from a drug store these days, right?

mike had to go to alcon on weds and i just dressed mich up in his purty blue sweater. had to get a pic. i noticed when picking up mich from school, one of the 1st grade teachers was talking to him and she touched his sweater. when he got in the car, i asked if anyone told him how handsome he looked today. he sighed, "i really don't want to talk about it." the response comes only one day after a conversation about running speeds:

"I can run a lot faster than Dakota, mom."

"Are you having a race with her?"

"NO! SHE'S ALWAYS CHASING ME!!!"

anywho, ratatouille for the fourth time this weekend. mich keeps dozing off and i sit there and watch it. we played marathon disney monopoly last night. i landed on all the transports and bought all 4. mich would land on one every side of the board, without fail. and when he didn't he'd land on 'go to jail'. i started to feel bad b/c he was getting low on funds. then i just started giving him extra change, $400 instead of $200 for passing go, etc...by the end, the kid had an Al's Toy Barn on Al's Toy Barn ($1150 rent) and he owned the 'park place' props as well as the monster's, inc. ones. he whooped my hiney. cheater.

we had fun though. and i like that he can figure out the dice/counting. OH, how could i forget!!! the little bugger is reading! he gets a reading bag sent home and they have these little books about animals and go-karts, etc...and he can read them like he's been reading them for 30 years! so cute!

he was so sweet today. it's just been the 3 of us this wknd, mike returns from hunting tomorrow. so mich had his final soccer game this afternoon. we hit wal-mart on the way to get more tape for the camera (yes, i said tape). i told him he could get something. and he just kept saying that today was the best day ever, he loved my eggs i made for breakfast, they were the best eggs ever, 'i really love it when you make me these eggs, mom...i really love it when...you do this, that, etc...this is the best day ever mom..........you know why, mom? because my toenail finally came off.

ok. if you say so.

it was still very sweet and i can tell when he says things like that, he truly means it. you can just see it in his eyes. so sweet. and he can't lie. and that's so great that i can tell when he's fibbing. he almost starts to cry when i ask if he's sure about something he did or didn't do. not that i like to make him cry, i just like to know that he won't be a very good liar. like his momma. jk.

soccer trophy today. even after a crushing defeat from 'BANAMEX PUMITAS'. it's funny, i thought all the teams were part of the WSA? why do they get to wear do-rags and have different uniforms than everyone else? we did well up until half time. in fact, we were up 1-0. they re-grouped though and killed up in the 2nd half. oh well. all the boys had a good season. he's looking forward to playing again in jan. even though he didn't want to go to his last practice or his last game of this season.

fyi...

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 00:32:00 +0000

this one rocks!!!

family portraits

noreply@blogger.com (karen elizabeth mataraza) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 23:02:00 +0000

i won a freebie at wal-mart, so why not? the last family pics we had done were when michael was like 2...