Skewed Version of Reality

Today my girls came back from daycare having completed a "project". The project was an "all about me" fact sheet. Ashley is too little to communicate her answers, but following is Katelyn's:

When I grow up I want to be:
A babysitter and a mom

I help others by:
Making Special Cookies

Favorite Food:
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

Favorite Animal:
Elephant

Favorite Book:
Bernstein Bears Grow Plants

Favorite Color:
FEALO

I am special because:
When mom and dad put me to bet, I fall right to sleep.

Now, the first few answers are cute and Kelly was happy that Katelyn wanted to be a mom....but we soon became aware of Katelyn's version of reality versus ours. By the animal question, we were beginning to wonder if we were sent a different kids answer sheet home. Katelyn is afraid of elephants. They squish things. Katelyn does like Bernstein Bears, but we don;t have that book. I am not sure what color FEALO is, but we know for a fact that her real favorite is pink or purple, and the last question is the funniest of all.

In the last 276 days, Katelyn has stayed in bed 4 times. Typically we put her to bed, and she moves into a number of reasons of why she needs to stay up later, ranging everywhere from "I already took a nap" to "I have to poop". This involves either screaming at the top of her lungs until we come back in the room, or simply getting out of bed and opening her door and walking out of her room.

So, the only conclusion we can come to is that Katelyn in fact knows that she never goes right to sleep, and therefore is tormenting us with her sarcasm.

Three and half years old, and sarcastic. I think we are venturing into that realm of "wait until you have kids" that I used to hear from my folks.....

Even though I now wonder if the really mean it when they say I am their best friend.....I love my girls....

Pugly

I love/hate my dog. Right now we are in the hate period.

Today my dog cost me $410. She is lucky to have come home. Apparently it costs more then $410 to put a dog to sleep.

Bailey, my pug, is almost 6 years old. Today we learned that she had a triple chronic ear infection. She was partly deaf because of it. Also, her anal glands had to be popped. I don't want to give more details, but being that "popping anal glands" is in a vet's job description... I am thankful that I am a recruiter.

To put this in perspective, my daughter got tubes put in both her ears. This procedure will cost us $83 more then the dog's vet visit. I am grateful that my daughter does not wake up with ear infections anymore, and would pay a small fortune for it. On the other hand, Bailey will be lucky to get $8 more out of the household budget the rest of the year.

So, today we learned that Bailey is in perfect health except for her ears, her face, and her butt.

For those of you pet lovers who think I am being mean....Want a pug?

Because they are worth any amount of money, I love my girls....

Where have we been......

To the many patient followers of this blog, let me apologize for the lack of posts. (Okay, I know there are really 9 people who read this total, but that intro makes me feel better).

Anyhow, I have been negligent in writing posts to catch you up on the Minnetrista Smiths as believe it or not I have been leading a jet-set life touring across the country for a mix of vacation and work. I am writing this while sitting in my hotel in Louisiana....and yes, I was here on St. Patrick's Day. Yes....they are crazy here on St. Patrick's Day.

But, first off my wife and I went to Mexico. We went to Cozumel. It was perfect. My mom and Dad graciously watched our little ones again, we owe them,,,but we spent five days in the tropical paradise. Nothing too much of consequence other then to tell you the East side of island closes after dark. We learned this the hard way while trying to drive to a restaurant we heard was good. They forgot to mention that it was good 'in the daytime" We made it back safe, but not before seeing a wild herd of cows. Yes, you read that correctly, and no, I did not think there were wild cows in Mexico either. Much less a herd of them crossing a road in the middle of the night trying to get to the beach....

Then we were home for a week before we left for Las Vegas. As most of you know, I have never been to this town. This is for an amplitude of reasons, but mostly because I have never really been good at "moderation". My wife and I have talked about going once or twice over the years, but the time finally arrived. I will dedicate a post solely to this trip....including handing out my awards. (for those of you curious, this list of awards will include "Best Toilet Paper")

Home for a week, and then I head to New Orleans. I am here for work, touring a couple of our Phos Acid and Sulfuric Acid Plants. I arrived last night. I watched a St. Patrick's day parade. I don't even know where to start. The parade lasted 2 hours and it was a "small one". I will dedicate a post to this trip as well.

But, wanted to give you a quick update as to why the lack of posts. I get back to the cities tomorrow, and do not have any travel plans for some time so you can once again get excited to read about the exciting life and times of the Minnetrista Smiths on a more regular basis.

Even though I feel like they are growing up to fast without me being there....I love my girls.