small battles

two nights ago, ellie went to bed with not one but two diapers on.  don't judge.  friday, jack went all day with his jammie shorts on underneath his regular shorts. 

just one of the things that happens when you tell  your son "put on your shorts" but neglect to remind him to "take off your jammies". 

you know you've heard the phrase "pick your battles"?  i swear to you, i could battle ALL DAY with my mitchletts.  they both have a ferocious fire inside that will serve them well.... one day.  so i've learned to pick and choose which ones i will battle. 

"yes, you can have a corn dog for breakfast."

"no.  we cannot leave your sister at target.  she needs to come home with us and besides, she would destroy the store by nightfall."

"fine. you can wear your dad's shorts on your body and your own shorts on your head but you need to dress like a normal person when people come over."

there are battle i will fight and battles i will let slide.  but this one will not stand. 

ellie has this pair of sandals that STINK.  and i mean it's bad.  like a stench that could kill a man.  she took her shoes off at dinner the other night IN A RESTAURANT and i thought we would be asked to remove our disgusting stank baby.  this girl lives up to her nickname "The Stink" like no other.  anywho... she loves these sandals.  she loves that she can put them on all by herself and still run around like a maniac.  thank god feet grow though, right?  they're getting a little small.... and i may have hidden them in the garage so she couldn't find them yesterday....  you would have done it too.  don't judge.  i'm going to give them a run in the washer to see what happens and if they smell like normal shoes again, great.  if i can't get rid of the zombie morning breath smell, then so help me they WILL disappear for good. 

camping. and.... why i will never be naked in front of jack again.

go camping!  whew!  we just got back from a couple days up in yosemite!!  i say a couple with a twinge of sadness because really, i could spend a LOT more time up there but, alas, my sweet hubby is not the camping enthusiast i am and i also have two small mitchletts. i swear we would get up, ellie would take two steps out of the tent and immediately turn around with a huge dirt beard and several blacked out teeth.  ellie went on a hike in the ergo with matt and i to the bottom of yosemite falls while jack stayed with the rest of the group and headed up almost to the top!  jack and i did a little bike riding in a rental with a caboose.  we saw lots of deer and some ballsy squirrels.

so, if you have kids, they've probably seen you naked.  i know, shocker.  but if you think it's not true... it is.  in all fairness, you see them naked all the time.  it was bound to happen.  well, my kids see me naked on a regular basis but i was starting to feel bad about it and wondered, "when do i need to stop being naked in front of jack?"  i read a bunch of snobby insightful parenting blogs and articles and each one told me, "you'll know when it's time".

"but when?!"

saturday morning, june 22, 2013,  we were getting ready to head out for our day in yosemite.  jack and ellie were dressed, matt was in the bathroom, and i was trying to get dressed so we could get out of the tent together.  as i lift my shirt over my head i hear hysterical laughter (never a good sign).  i knew matt wasn't that dumb so i look up to see jack pointing at me, "what are THOSE!?!" he almost screams for all of the valley to hear.

ahhhh.....  when.  that was the time.  never again, son.  never.  again.

overall, i think i can safely say (write?) that the mitches had a great time and can't wait to go camping again this summer next summer sometime soon eventually!!  right, hubby?!? 

go camping!

cowboy baba

i can't really speak to what my grandpa was like before 1981....  i wasn't around then.  and i've heard that i'm not the best person to ask about that first year either.  my grandma used to tell me that i would cry hysterically any time i even sensed my grandfather's presence in a room.  but once we got past our differences (it was me... not him), he quickly became one of the most important people in my life.

my sister and i used to go out to my grandparents' house in lakeside on a regular basis.  i would wake up early in the morning and creep out to the living room where my grandpa was reading the paper in front of their wood burning stove and the morning news (channel 8, i believe).  i would crawl into his lap, snuggle against his strong chest, listen to his rhythmic breathing and absorb the latest breaking news from carol lebeau.  my grandma would get up to make us warm waffles and fresh squeezed orange juice.  we would pour Cairo syrup into all the little waffle square compartments and my grandpa would offer me a cup of coffee.  i declined every time but he would try to convince me to drink it anyway...

"it'll put hair on your chest!"

after my mom passed away, my grandparents were there a lot to pick us up from school or watch us when my dad went out of town.  i'll never forget the day before my 16th birthday.  grandma asked me to back the car out of their carport.  grandpa moved his truck first and i backed the oldsmobile out... right through the side of the mobile home.  i dragged the kitchen stairs (along with the back of the newly painted car) straight into where the dining room was.  grandpa came running up the street thinking a bomb had gone off.  grandma opened the kitchen door (thank God she didn't try to step out!) thinking the big california earthquake had finally struck.  my sister ran around the side of the house...

"sam!  what did you do?!?!"

but grandpa just shrugged the accident off.  said it must run in the family (my mom ran a car through the living room when she was 16).  he pulled out a hammer and pounded the house back into shape like it was no big deal.

even after my grandma passed away in 2004, grandpa still managed to make the time to support me and my sister.  he was there at my wedding.  he sat with me for hours at the hospital while we waited for jack to be born (still not sure how grandpa got to the hospital).  he was there at my sister's wedding.   he came to the hospital when ellie was born.  he always made it to all the important events.

though he's gone now, we know he's happy in heaven reunited with those we've lost already.  we will miss you cowboy baba. 

having lemon slices together with jack...  another thing that will put hair on your chest

tickles with cowboy baba

meeting ellie at the hospital

hanging out at grandpa's apartment

time for a snack.. thanks, cowboy baba!

what's that smell?

life has been pretty crazy these days at the mitches but i will spare you all (really it's just jill reading though) the drama.  school is back in session and i'm avoiding inputting my dra scores onto a google doc as i type this. 

i was over at bunco the other night (where i CLEANED UP) and got called out for not posting enough...  so here is the boring post to kick off my weekly postings.  i set alarms to remind me of most things in my life and so i set an alarm to remind me to "write something on the blogs!" too.  it's that bad. 

anyhoo, here's my story of the day... 

i was washing the dishes and loading the dishwasher (like you do) and fending off attacks from the tank ellie.  seriously, that girl hears the sink start up and she comes running to grab the nearest ceramic plate, serving bowl, or butcher knife to carry out her evil plans against the rest of us.  but i digress.

so i moseyed up to the sink when i was assaulted by the god-awful smell of something like dead ass.  sorry to be crude but it was out of control.  i immediately recoiled and shooed the boy (my puker) out of the room in hopes that he had not caught a whiff yet.  i guess i should have done the dishes earlier....  gag.  i had to battle through the cups, plates, and silverware when i finally caught up to a cutting board that looked (or smelled) pretty guilty.  i seriously had no idea that cutting boards had expiration dates!  have i been too naive?  well, it got the boot and i finished the swamp dishes from hell without further incident.  however, tonight i was getting dinner set up and i swear the smell is coming from the disposal now!  ahhhh!!  it lives!! 

well, i found this post tonight as i was avoiding more school work browsing through my blogs and i think i'm gonna try it out tomorrow.  it's actually how to unclog a sink but some of the comments say that it will get rid of god-awful dead ass smells too!  i'm pretty sure they used those exact words....  just gotta get to the store to pick up the supplies and then give it a whirl!  i'll let you know how it went.  hopefully next week when my alarm goes off.... or in a few months...  =)

i'll end this post with a couple pics of the mitchletts just for kicks... 

look, mommy!  i'm a knight!

cheese!  (i swear she puts herself in the cage... i just take the pictures)

"a trip to wal-mart" or "to hell and back"

sunday we were getting ready to go to a birthday party and i mentioned to hubby

"you know, we really should get the kid something...."

so i went to my go to spot for cute gift ideas and came up with this!  super cute for a dinosaur party, right!?  problem was... i needed a hooded sweatshirt... in june... in southern california... during a heat wave.  damn.  hubby says

"well, let's just go over to wal-mart.  they'll have everything you need all in one place."

gasp!

"you know how i feel about that place",  i muttered.

"i know i know.... but it's on the way home.  it'll be fine."

famous last words.

as we pulled into the unholy ground parking lot, the kids immediately started melting down.

"see!  they can sense it!", i hissed.

we dragged them into the store - jack started arguing with EVER-Y-THING i said and chris farley ellie was a hot mess already.  of course.... no hooded sweatshirts.

of.  course.  hubby tried to make it all better

"just pick out some clothes while i distract the kids in the toy section and then we can get out of here"

i'm sorry if you are a wal-mart shopper.  i truly am.  especially if you buy their clothes.  they're cheap.  they're ugly.  and your poor children are going to go up in flames if they are anywhere near a candle or heat source.  ALSO.  they make their labels so that you either see the price ($3.87) or the dreaded store name. and you can't take it off or else you look like you raided your closet for presents.  and you can't leave them on because everyone will know you shopped at whiskey tangoville wal-mart!  gah!!!

so i finally just grabbed some cheap-ass-zero-quality clothes and sprinted to the front of the store.  we purchased our crap gift and as we're leaving realize that the boy should probably make a pit stop.

cue the screaming demon.

"i don't want to go pee-pee!!  i hate pee-pee!  it's not my favorite!  i. don't. want. to. go. pee. pee!!"

allllllllll the way into the restroom, into the stall, onto the potty.  as i'm holding him down on the potty he suddenly looks at me and says

"fine.  i go pee pee all by myself."

i grabbed that kid, yanked up his shorts, and made a mad dash for the front door.  we got to the car and he fell asleep almost instantly.

the power of christ compels you! ohthankgoditsover.

by the way.  i made a beeline for target once the kids were home with the mister and bought a super cute little outfit.  returned those damned clothes the next day.

mark my words....  never.  again.

the stink turns one

worst.  blogger.  ever. 

that being said....  my baby girl turned one about a month ago recently!  i know it's super cliche to say, "they grow up so fast" but seriously... they kinda do!  i remember the dark days - aka those first 6-8 weeks and thinking to myself, "this madness is never going to end!"  anyway, we had a lovely "hungry caterpillar" party for our sweet chunk and she had no problem digging right into her cupcake (that's kinda cliche too, right?)  happy birthday, ellie! 

a story by jack

jack and pepe and greco were running.  and there was a lot of big humungous ice.  and then pepe and greco falled down.  but angel grandma bring medicine and picked pepe up.  then jack and pepe and greco were running again.

oh man, i love this boy.  he finished his story by asking me, "what do sea monsters eat?"

"probably sea monster food", i said.

"ohhhhh... the pirates feed them?  they are babies and then the pirates feed them and they get bigger bigger bigger?"

"yes, that's exactly right."

we miss you, big dog.