Rudy Family Rukus~Parenting tips and humor meet in one big "rukus"

If you have kids you have pee stains I know it.  If you don't lucky you or you are a liar and in denial.  I have pee stains on more than one mattress.  I also have sweat stains on pillows because well I sweat a.lot .  It's a gift I know. I digress. Anyway I have tried many different ways to get urine/pee out of mattresses and I have been very unsuccessful so I did a google search and what do you know?  Another mom had pee stains too.  So I borrowed her recipe and it totally worked so I am sharing it with you. All you need are these few house-hold ingredients and a spray bottle.  I bought a really expensive one (NOT) I used one I had for my kids hair.  It worked great. You will need: 3 Tablespoons Baking Soda 8 ounces Hydrogen peroxide 1 drop dish soap Mix together well and use right away. My mom discovered that if it is not mixed well the baking soda will clog the sprayer.  You also can't store this apparently it doesn't last in t...

This year I wanted to make Valentines memorable.  I am not sure why.  It is not in my nature to go ALL out for holidays.  I am not THAT mom.  I am not a super decorator or celebrator I just don't love it.  This year I got a bug though and I decided Valentines Day was going to be LEGENDARY!!  I put it to my Facebook Friends and they did not disappoint with the suggestions.  I also went to Pinterest for ideas and also no disappointment although Pinterest does tend to make me feel inadequate on a good day. Those Pinterest guru's are super over-achieving crazies... ahem.  So I made my cool craft from Monday's post .  Then I decided to create some pretty great Valentine's boxes. And my cute friend Jane suggested a Valentines Cafe at home with my children as servers.  I LOVED this idea.  I went to the store and bought aprons and craft paint and made custom server outfits for each child to wear.  I made a family favorite for dinne...

We live in a snowy place and we have yet to do any sledding.  I know lame mommy!  Luckily Dad came to the rescue this week and built a tiny sledding hill Hooray for daddies!! Linking up with Lolli at Better in Bulk for Photo Story Friday. Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

How scary is it to be a parent today?  For me a lot scary.  Considering that when I was a child there was no internet, no computers, no cell phones, and you had to actually BUY porn.  You know from a store, not online, in the privacy of your own home or the privacy or your smart phone.  How do we raise our children to be safe contributing members of society and NOT heathens that are scared of everything around them?  If I were an expert I wouldn't be blogging as a mommy blogger that's for sure.  What I do know is what works for MY kids. Here are a few tips that might be helpful to other mothers of elementary age children. Open lines of communication-I want my kids to come to me with anything.  I want them to know that no matter what; I am happy to help them with problems, issues, concerns, and I will be loving and understanding. Start NOW- That means don't wait until your kids are tweens to start talking about sex, drugs, porn, and the boogie m...

You know the one I'm talking about.... the Birds and the Bee's, the "we don't have sex before we are married", the "no drugs and alcohol" talk.  The one that embarrasses the 10 year old and makes the 5 year old scratch her head and say things like what is sex?  I'm of the opinion that if I talk about these things like it doesn't bother me my children will feel more comfortable coming to me with questions about the aforementioned topics.   Today I brought this up while driving with all three children in the car.  I totally embarrassed my son and my daughters acted like I was CRAZY.  We had the discussion anyway.  I persevered. I yammered on feeling confident in my parenting role.   Then I went on a date with my husband and inhaled this. Overall, I think, after today I'm pretty much winning.  

In my effort to be more organized I employed my children for some inspiration.  In fact I turned it into a fun little FHE (family home evening) project.  FHE is LDS (or mormon) for family time. You can read more about that here . We have a lesson, read a scripture or two, spend time together and try to bond as a family. We discussed how to be more organized at our home.  And then we did a one month menu plan I figure if I get children input they will eat it right? I am excited to put it to work and we chose healthy easy meals because in my world organization and easy are basically the same thing...... We played a fun game tonight to help us learn our scriptures a little better.  There is going to be a learning curve it isn't very easy but fun and we bonded right. We played UNO attack last night and that was one crazy game.  I laughed and laughed until I cried.  Can't beat that for family fun.   As my kids get older we try to have as...

Are you sick of my snow pictures yet?  I hope not. This week was filled with some family time, more snow time and a full return to our crazy routine.  Much sooner than I wanted.  I truly enjoyed the Christmas Break this year mostly because my husband was here the entire time.  Bitter sweet since we didn't make it to a Bowl Game this year but oh so nice to have him here uninterrupted such a luxury for me this time of year.  Anyway enough blah, blah, blah here's the pictures Yes that is my watering can and a chair notice my previous post get more organized I realize I have a problem! It was around 10 degrees out but they wanted to play outside so bad I couldn't say no.  They had so much fun I'm glad I allowed it. Back to school and bundled for the bus.  The day after New Years seemed too soon to return to the crazed life but they were excited.  The house was so quiet after everyone left I had to leave too I couldn'...

My children on the other hand think it is the greatest thing ever.  And some of their comments during snow play really crack me up.  Kayton said "Mom my first snow angel, I didn't know I was that tall!!" I however know how tall she is getting and I don't LOVE that either..... This handsome dude has always gone straight outside in the snow and straight to his belly.  I'm pretty sure when he is a grown man he will still do this exact same thing.... And I'm certain her future will involve some sort of snow modeling because as her mother I will only allow her to model things that cover her the way winter clothes can.....  And I seriously hope she never loses her sense of adventure.... And I will always treasure the memories of these three going down this slide in the snow because they do it EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. it snows!!

I just thought this was a great video for mothers on Sunday.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  To see more videos like this go to the Mormon Channel on Youtube they have some great stuff but be sure you can reach your tissue box. I 

So people who know and LOVE me realize my intense competitive nature.  I'm not proud of it but it's true.  I want to win, I want to be the best at everything I try, and I put my all into MANY things at once and then usually don't finish any of them.  This tends to burn a person out.......So I was blogging away and I got discouraged because I wasn't the best; shoot I wasn't even close to the best.  I was trying to be all professional but I didn't really have a BRAND.  Well beside my red scarf I was just me, a mom trying to make it work.  I'm not saying this is a bad thing.  Actually it's a good thing.  I love being a mom and a nurse and a wife.  It's who I am, it's what I do best; it's me.   But I was tired of feeling like I wasn't AWESOME at everything so I broke up with my blog.  Now I feel bad I broke up with my blog.  I miss it, I miss my online friends, I miss the insight it gives me into my life, into motherhood, an...

So I have been trying to be "Mother of the Year"  and therefore I have apparently fallen off the face of the blogging world... ahem.... We've been up to a lot around here over the past few months and our summer got stretched out this year because we start "traditional school" instead of my favorite "year round"!  Oh well I am going with the "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit" motto.... again trying for Mother of the Year. Here are some great photos taken by the ever lovely Wendy Atkins .  She did a fantastic job as always! Wish I could take credit for these fabulous pictures.  I will however take credit for the materials(aka my children) in the photos. Oh and Mama Kat this is for you!

We went to Gardner Village today to feed the ducks.  The three here were the only ones there.  And there were about 6000 kids throwing bread.  It was pretty comedic anyway I thought so.  I haven't had the camera out in a WHILE obviously but I think I got some great shots! Linking up with Lolli over at Better in Bulk .  

My girls LOVE the camera and the other night they wanted me to snap away so I did...  Here's a few of my favorites  Not my finest work but the lighting in my kitchen is terrible at night!  That's ok I still think they are pretty cute silly little girls!

Many of you know we have LOTS of hair at our house.  It is long and curly and beautiful (if I do say so myself).  But it requires a LOT of work.  Lots of conditioning and combing out and wetting it down and trying to tame the wildness that abounds each time the weather changes.   I finally found products that work great.   Mixed Chicks is amazing but we still battle dryness in the cold, cold winter.   So when I happened to watch a random episode of The Doctors I was thrilled they were talking about things like dry hair and skin etc.....   I whipped up the dry hair potion and tried it on both girls.   It is just olive oil, 1/2 a banana, 1/2 an avocado, and an egg.  I painted it on their hair with a pastry brush and let it sit for 20 minutes.  Then I just shampooed and conditioned as normal.  I didn't notice a huge difference after one treatment but I plan to do this easy treatment once a week.  Who knew you could ge...

In an attempt to feed my children more balanced meals I added milk to Kayton's lunch the other day and I loved that she was WAY cuter than any of those other "Got Milk" ads so I thought I would post my own!

Seriously I survived I did but I wasn't sure that I would.  I wasn't planning on a natural birth, I didn't want it that way.  I wanted pain relief and that was my PLAN.  I have since learned that my plans are never the PLAN.  What I do know is that I did survive and my child survived and I even went on to have 2 more babies (un-naturally with successful epidurals).  The mind has a way of forgetting.  Thank goodness!!  And now I am so blessed to be the mother to this handsome little man.  Happy Birthday Dalton.  It was all worth it and I wouldn't trade it for anything!  I hope you have a fantastic day today!  Love you!

I have never been an early riser I don't care to know what the sun looks like coming up really.  Okay well that is a lie now but back then 8 years ago today I didn't get up early for anyone. (I clearly had much to learn)  But I did today.  Oh yes because I was awaken by the oddest pain I had ever felt.  It was different, it was new and it HURT.  At first I was annoyed but then I realized what was going on.  I got excited... another naive assumption on my part.  The pains weren't so painful I couldn't function but I could tell they had a mission, the mission I had longed for the previous day my actual due date.  I tried to rest for I knew that what was coming would not be easy.  I was too scared to sleep for too long.  We walked, we went to Home Depot (I don't know why but I know we did) I had to stop a few times to catch my breath and then we went on shopping and waiting and waiting and waiting..... and then about 8 pm it was more than i...

Eight years ago today I was expecting to become a mom.  I was ready, the baby was done, and the due date had arrived.  As a naive first time mom I figured that my body just knew that on the designated due date it would do what nature intended.  That meant get the baby OUT!  I was ready I had cleaned everything in site, mopped the floor on my hands and knees, pregnant belly dragging, organized the pantry twice cleaned all the showers and tubs and had the room prepped and ready for a baby.  And yet NOTHING..... absolutely NOTHING.  I was extremely disappointed to say the least.  I resulted to a few methods that proved awful.... castor oil is no good for anything as far as I am concerned except maybe greasing a squeaky hinge.   So I waited impatiently.  I must have been unbearable to live with.  I can only imagine.  My sweet husband was at the end of a football season which I can't even recall.  I do know he was coaching at a J...

As I signed into my google account and opened my blog I was afraid it might crash and burn it has been soooo long.  I just don't have the time I used to for blogging.  I regret it has fallen by the way-side.  I miss it.  I miss my bloggy friends.  One day I believe I will have more time so I will try to keep posting and keep updating and commenting.   Much has been going on around here.  Our team is doing very well.  Go Utes!!!  We had family pictures last week, they turned out fabulous thanks to one of our favorite people Wendy.  You can see more pictures from the shoot on her blog but here is a sneak peak of her fantastic work! The fall colors were amazing! We have been celebrating Halloween for a few weeks now and between church, school, dance, and the actual holiday I think we will have worn our costumes (by we I mean my children) 4 or 5 times.  Makes it totally worth it right!  I am not looking forward to the sugar hig...

Was reading some blogs last night and my awesome friend Cassi had this posted yesterday!  It made me cry and smile all at the same time. What would you have told yourself?