Floor Disaster

After the December Hawaii trip we were ready to come home, sleep in our own bed, and lock the kids back in their cages.

Our flight back home departed at 9:30pm so we didn't get home to Utah until 7am. We were tired.

Poor me. I was feeling sorry for myself after a long night of travel even though I had just spent a week in paradise.
That's when the universe slapped me in the face with some reality. Being sad about a plane ride when you just spent a week in Hawaii is a stupid thing to be sad about.

You know what is a good reason to be sad?
When your dishwasher leaked the whole time you were out of town and now you have water damage everywhere.

 Our wood floor was saturated and part of our carpet was soaked and black from mold.

We had to call in some disaster clean up crew to dry the floors out. Loud machines covered our floor for 4 days.

Ryan and Tyler thought all the machines were an obstacle course. They loved it until Ryan tripped and cut his upper lip.

Seig Heil Ryan.


It's not a total loss though. The floor looks fine, insurance paid for everything, and I get new carpet and a new floor.

So actually, thanks universe.

Worst Kid Ever

Cryin Ryan is actually a really nice kid.
He is friendly, kind, thoughtful, happy, helpful, and hilarious.

I rarely have to punish him, but when I do he takes it very seriously.
Usually I just have a quick logical talk with him and he understands why he's getting in trouble.
Sometimes I yell.

I only put him in time out about once every couple of months.
I really don't believe in hitting kids, so he never gets spanked.

Generally a  quick threat of "Do we need to have a talk?" is all he needs to modify his behavior.

(Titty Monkey Tyler is a whole different animal, that I don't like to think about.)

When Ryan knows he's done something wrong he hurries and does one of the following:

• Says "Sorry mom! I'll go to time out", and then sits in the corner until he realizes I didn't put him there and he can get out whenever he wants. 

• Tells me, "Sorry my prettiest sweetie precious mom! You are my best! You are the nicest mom I ever had in the entire universe!" Then I can't be mad at him because he's telling the truth. 

• He will fold his arms, bows his head, and says a quick prayer. "Dear God, please let mommy be nice and in a good mood so her does not get mad at me. Amen." Then he immediately asks me if I'm still mad. 

• Says, "Hey mom! I have a good idea! Let's all be happy and be friends and then you don't have to get mad at me! I will cuddle you!"

• Runs and hides behind the couch, in the closet, or under blankets on his bed. 

When none of his tricks work and he gets yelled at Ryan hates it. He can't handle anyone being mad at him.

He has a Kindle Fire and like to play a dinosaur game on it. He got mad at the game and threw his kindle in the trash can.
I got pretty mad at him and took the tablet away.
He ran to his room crying.

I heard him saying, "I'm so bad! I'm the worst kid ever! I make mistakes all the time! I am the worstest!"

My heart broke for him... so I video taped it and put it on my blog.

Kinda sad, but a lot funny.

Gosh, I adore that little kid.

He's the best.

Awesome Antique Shop

Dude.

 Anthony's Fine Art and Antiques 

This place is absolutely incredible.
I'm slightly obsessed with old houses and I drove by this awesome looking old mansion in downtown Salt Lake City.

Winters in Utah can get tedious and I don't do well sitting at home all day doing kid crafts. I jump at any opportunity to do something different as long as it doesn't involve the police or stripping. Anyway, I drove past the mansion and saw it was an antique shop so I immediately parked and skipped up to the door with my two kids in tow.

You have to ring the doorbell to get in. A portly yet distinguished looking man answers the door.
I pretended to be interested in antiques and asked him if he had any early American double-handed saw blades.

He said the shop carried much higher end pieces, not poor people saw blades.

I asked if I could creep around anyway. He looked at me a little weird and told me to watch my kids carefully.

The older man and another staff guy were actually amazingly nice, answered Ryan's questions and showed us some of the more interesting things they had in stock.


I will say that my kids are actually awesome in public. Ryan didn't touch anything and I hog-tied Tyler to my hip. 

I had to sneak and take pictures since no photography was allowed.

Initially I just wanted to see the inside of the mansion but THIS SHOP HAD SOME OF THE MOST AMAZING ANTIQUES I HAVE EVER SEEN. Real suits of armor, a gigantic wooden telescope, hand-carved grandfather clocks, real fossils from Morocco, and a lot of naked people statues.
And if there is one thing I love, it's naked people statues.
It's like porn for classy people.

It was like walking through a museum of amazing things you could get up close to, touch, and dream of being able to afford one day never.

Only a few pieces had price tags, and those that did were crazy. There was a  $125,000.00 Louis XV Style Piano from 1883. A silent film star's diamond earrings for $18,500.
They had huge stained glass windows made for a chapel in Belgium in 1850 for $400,000.

After seeing how expensive everything was I couldn't believe they let my kids in there.

I actually wrote them a Thank You card afterwards, because I'm sure they knew my tacky self would never buy something there, and it was a huge liability to let two runny nosed kids walk around.

Seriously though, if you live in Utah and you like free museums, you HAVE to go here..... and totally bring your kids.