Something to do

This post will be a bit random, but I just got some negative "comments" on my Indy blog, so I need to go to a "happy place." That happens to be here. Oh the comments aren't too bad - just two, which is actually quite a good ratio in comparison to how much I've written in the past few months. I also have quite a few readers and fellow bloggers who "have my back." But it doesn't mean it doesn't sting - which it does or that I don't want to write some really negative, bitchy response because I do. In any event- I took the higher ground and thanked him for his comment and decided to turn it around into a blog post - last time I did that - let's just say I haven't heard from that driver of the bitter bus.

I felt a bit like this...

I wanted to add another random things my kids say - so I was taking to Jon a couple of weeks ago because I've gotten wind from some of the other moms that some of the kids have "girlfriends" or "boyfriends." I find this comical because of the nature of their relationships. I remember my first "boyfriend" Mike - I chased him around the playground and tried to kick him in the crotch - that's what we all did. Kind of disturbing. We also held hands at the bi-annual rollerskating night at the local roller rink (am I showing my age). Nothing spells love like holding hands on quads. That was the extent of our affair and frankly it was the least stressful relationship I was in for the next 12 years of my life. I digress... So I decided to see if Jon in fact had a girlfriend - fortunately he still is at the age where he tells me everything - he is also my most honest child. Drew could place an for a mail order bride and have her delivered in the time it would take Jon to lie well to me. I asked him point blank - "Hey do you have a girlfriend?" His response with a disgusted look, "Noooo!" I then said "Good - you're too young and girls are high maintenance." He did say that they (he and his friends) chase girls on the playground at recess. I asked," why?" He shrugged his shoulders and responded in his typical no bones about it manner, "it's something to do." Yep, it certainly is.

So I received a forward from my dear friend Brooke - she, like me is a bit of a fan of the Twilight series. She sent me a link to a blog that she found. It is done by this woman who has authored quite a few books - see Brooke and I are also in a book club together - this month is "Bitter is the new Black," by the same author. So I thought I would check it out. I cried and laughed so much that I couldn't breath. Drew actually asked if I was okay (I think for fear that I would die or pass out BEFORE lunch was made, but he had concern no less). I will share it with you and highly recommend you take a look - especially if you mock the whole Twilight hysteria - you will also find this very, very funny.

Okay - I have a TON of Christmas stuff to put out - cleaning, laundry and all the domestic goddess deeds that have been shelved for my few days away. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, a good few days off and are ready for December. I know I'm not.

Take care and thanks!!!

the things my kids say

I bet you are saying, "I think she's chewing on wheat grass" and you know what? You would be right!

So I keep a journal, I have since Jon was about 15 months old, it started off so I could chronicle the cute things he did and inevitably the crappy things too -like biting. That sucked. Since then, it has evolved into something more. It was my place to vent when I was angry or sad or jealous or happy. I was able in detail to describe caring for my mom and ultimately her last days and losing her. On a happier note, it also has been a place to record my kids achievements, good things in my life, exciting moments and things I am proud of. Sometimes life is a bit hectic, so I don't write in it everyday. When those times happen, I try to, at least once a month recap. It has also become commonplace for Ryan or I to say - "that needs to go in the journal" when the kids say or do something particularly hilarious. I thought I would share some of those with you. Surprise, surprise, Drew seems to be the king of commentary these days. He really does have wit beyond his years. His latest and best as far as I'm concerned was earlier last week. It was a warm day outside and he was playing in the driveway with Penny. I was not busy in the kitchen and was paying complete attention to his and her every move. It was then that he called in and asked for a popsicle. I yelled out to him that I didn't have any popsicle and that I would get some next time at the store. His response was, "C'mon Woman!" in a very impatient tone. Now I find this particularly funny because normally my children say things that are direct copies of what I normally say. But this one, this one is all Ryan's. As you can imagine I am a goddess of a wife, but on occasion, a rare one, I may frustrate him a tad. His response is a usual "Woman!" I don't take insult to this at all because frankly he's been calling me that for over 15 years now, so it's almost like my name. The best part of this story is that I was on the phone with Ryan when he did it - I think Ryan might have fallen out of his desk chair from laughter.

The next installment is my darling Jon. Jon has had some humdingers in his short life, this one is a recent reply after a particularly long and hard swim practice. My son tried out and made the swim club and they work this boy hard! The good news his he is improving like you wouldn't believe, the bad news, this is all very new so while his freestyle and backstroke and even his breaststroke are improving, at this point his butterfly looks more like a seizure than an actual swim stroke. I have to admit, that at first I sat near the sheppard's hook, "just to be safe." Fortunately we've never needed it and after swimming for two months on the team, he really is getting it and doing well. Which brings me back to our tough practice. Jon has a tendency to be a bit gloomy if things don't go as he's planned. So when I said, "hey buddy, you did great, you are improving so much! don't worry about your butterfly, you'll get it." his reply was, "that's a bunch of crap mom." Yeah, that ones all mine. I would love to tell you that I am not the mom yelling at the top of my lungs to "pick your crappy toys", unfortunately on my worst days I am. I should know better, I should, because while I'm saying "pick up your crappy toys" all my boys hear is "crap, crap, crap, crappy, crap." They just have a knack for honing in on the one totally inappropriate thing you've said. We all have our thing - crap is mine. And now Jon's apparently. As a good parent, I stifled my laughter and explained that while I may say that word, he can't, ever, or he'll go to the bad boys home. Which is a whole other post. That threat seemed sufficient and we've haven't had a "crappy" incident since.

While Penny is beginning to talk, it's the looks she gives that are far better. If looks could kill, I'd be a goner and so would her brothers. I am in Trouble with a capital "T" and it might rhyme with "P", but it doesn't spell Pool. (Like that old school movie reference?) But while she isn't mouthing off - she does have some pretty cute mispronunciations, like - Oh my dosh. Which is pretty obvious - but it doesn't stop me from asking her to say it a few times each day for a pick me up. Who doesn't like a little hit of "Oh my dosh?"

She might look like this...

but she has a tendency to act more like this...

See I know there are more, but I can't remember them all. My mind is a fog of useless information right now - thank goodness for my journal!

Thanks!

For What It's Worth

Thanks again Ryan for humoring me and surprising me with my shirt!

All the ladies - minus me

I sit here Monday night, tired, anxiously awaiting my fourth load of laundry to finish in the dryer so that I can fold it, put it away and then bring it out again tomorrow to pack for our Thanksgiving trip to Tennessee. I was reflecting this morning to Ryan that I couldn't believe it was the end of November. That Christmas is one month away. That when we get back from our short trip south, we'll be decorating for Christmas. Seriously where has this fall gone? I got Jon's second report card on Friday, it didn't seem that nine weeks have separated them. Was Halloween seriously three + weeks ago? I might as well get my party hats and blowers out, it will be 2010 before I know it.

I can't put my finger on why I am so tired, but my calendar tells me otherwise. I have a million irons in the fire, and not doing many of them the justice they deserve. Is it bad that I all I can think about is April in Florida?

Not to be all doom and gloom, I had a fun, fun Friday night - I can't believe it's come and gone. If you live in a hole you wouldn't know that I am a huge Twilight fan - not a Twi-hard because I think that name is gay. I am a fan, I loved the books, and I've enjoyed now both movies.

Melissa: a fellow fan

There are several people out there that don't like the books or movies for whatever reasons. Some I think just don't like them because they want to be cool and off the bandwagon - Miley Cyrus comes to mind there are a few less famous sorts as well. Sure it was crazy- interviews, specials, etc. I don't care, I ate them up. With all the crap going on in the world with our politics, wars, economy, global warming - I find delight in something so mindless and NOT earth shattering. I mean I've read some Pulitzer prize winning books and authors - they're great - but they generally require me to think, which when I am reading for recreation I prefer not to have to do. Same thing with movies. Sure I love me a good Oscar worthy performance, but generally speaking if you can entertain me for two hours, I'm a pretty happy girl. I just have simple taste - don't make me work too hard to be entertained.

You can't see them well, but I had red velvet cupcakes with "Edward" and "Jacob" and apples and flowers and well you get the point. I was a cake decorating fool!

Yes we had New Moon plates and napkins - thanks Ang!

That being said, I too rode the wave of hysteria and hosted my own New Moon party. I invited some of my closest girlfriends and encouraged them to bring more friends to join in on the fun. I had 18 ladies here, a few had to bail last minute because the tickets sold out (lessons learned for Eclipse!), but 18 was a great number. In typical Indiana fashion, everyone brought something because you can't show up empty handed, which I appreciated to no end! The food was great, the drinks were deliciously deceptive with their alcohol and best of all everyone was in high spirits to have a wonderful time. I, being my mothers daughter, decorated, complete with candles and balloons and kudos goes to my dear friend Brooke for her mad poster and plotting skills. While Twilight was on in the background we played Twilight trivia, where my lovely friend Lisa school everyone in facts. Then it was on to pin the tattoo on Jacob, because lets be honest, we're all thirty and forty somethings with silly shirts on, giddy as all get out to see a tween heart-throb movie, why not throw in squirrely games! It was hilarious and made for some great pictures!

Some ladies got a bit sassy with their tattoos!

prepping Holly for her spin at Jacob!

As the time approached to leave, my girls mobilized and the place was blown out, picked up, packed away and refrigerated before you could say Edward Cullen. We left - arriving at the theater with our pre-sold tickets and hour and a half early. This is one of those times when the early bird catches the worm - we got awesome seats, and for the most part all sat together.

I about peed my pants with Leslie's shirt! Seriously.

The movie exceeded my expectations. Sure it isn't going to win an Oscar (the CGI should though), but I was entertained for the entire movie and could have kept going. Are the actors phenomenal? No, Edward is a bit over acted at times, Bella is a bit too moody for even a teenage girl and Jacob is too young to really "feel" the emotion he is trying to show, let alone act it out. But with that - I never went into this or even Twilight for that matter expecting earth moving acting - I wanted to be entertained and that I was. It was an excellent translation of the book - one of the best I have seen yet. Edward is has handsome as ever and since I don't know any 108 year old vampires, my vote is that he did a good job and Jacob - well it's hard not to feel like a perv when I think of him and his "transformation." The audience at the showing I went to erupted in applause when he removed his shirt. I admit, I clapped. Drew's preschool teacher erupted into "oh my god!" Which brought on a case of the giggles from most of the middle-aged audience.

The night was just about as perfect as it could be - I had fun and I think most everyone else did too! I will be hosting an Eclipse party in June - when it is released. I will have plenty of time to think about how to make our evening even more fun that before. If you didn't attend, I recommend you get on my email list - it is good fun - for an evening you can be a giddy teen again and fill your head with fantasy fodder, who doesn't love that?!?!?

I love boys who sparkle too!

I will admit too, that I went on Sunday, by myself to see the movie for a second time. Yep, still loved it. I will own it, yes I will.

Have a great Thanksgiving and I'll be back next week! Take care and Thanks!

photographing friends

So I had the opportunity this weekend to take a few pictures of my girlfriend Mel's girls. She called me a week ago looking for a tripod, she wanted to get some pictures of her girls for a Christmas card. Having three kids of my own, all similar ages to her girls, I immediately saw the flaw in her plan. There are some out there, who can corral their kids, get them cooperate and smile on command and then snap pictures of them. God bless you is all I am going to say if you are one of those people. Knowing her darling littlest is a runner, this would have been a challenge under the best of circumstances. Sometimes its just nice to let someone else entertain and you just get to encourage the smiles. So because I love my friends, I offered to help out and go on Saturday morning to take some pictures of her gorgeous girls at the park. There is a pretty narrow window when it comes to photographing kids (my only experience is my own) so I figured this wouldn't be a tremendous time commitment either.

I was right, we got our little session done in about 30 minutes, the girls were more than cooperative and the day was just plain perfect. I want to add a disclaimer here that I am in no way a photographer, I have a decent camera that takes some decent pictures and I am grateful for easy subjects. I wanted to share because this is something I HAVE been up to and it isn't my own kids and frankly I'm happy with the result. Enjoy!

Boog - otherwise known as Amelia

How can you not play in the leaves?

Okay so I wish that blogger didn't kill the saturation of pictures - this is so fun in real life.

How can you not smile with all those happy faces? Enjoy and thanks!

Drewski's 5!!

Sometimes it is easy for me to look at Drew and know he's five, other times I see the happy baby and can't believe it. Five years ago today, my little Drewski was born, we named him after a very close friend that we had lost so there is something even more special about him and his start in life. It was a happy time, we lived in our little blue house, my mom hadn't yet been diagnosed with cancer, and I was fairly acclimated to staying home with Jon. He's always been a content, happy kid, from day one. He nursed well, slept well, played well and was a healthy as can be, still is. I've always joked that he is a bit like Santa Claus, generally always happy and with a big grin on his face, even when he's in trouble. I've heard on more than one occasion, "How do you discipline him, he would make me laugh too much." I can assure you, he gets disciplined with or without the grin, but sometimes it is like giving a lecture to Santa and on more than one occasion I have had to leave the room before I talked to him, not because I am mad but because my laughter would kind of kill the impact of my delivery.

I sometimes feel bad because so much of his little life was bouncing between our house and my mom's because of her treatments. But he was the perfect child to have during that time because he was content, no matter where he was and he brought a LOT of joy.

I feel like he's grown so much faster than Jon, not just physically, but since he and Jon are fairly close in age, he bypassed a lot of the baby stuff and moved into the big boy toy world. I think too, that he gets a bum rap sometimes because people expect him to act like an 8 year old, when he's still just a brand new five.

I will say that he is a gem at school, for all the frustrations I've had with Jon and school, Drew couldn't be more opposite. Jon is zero trouble at home, he generally is my listener, empathetic and quiet. At school, let's just say he's his mother's child. Drew on the other hand is my pistol, he challenges me, pushes my buttons and takes me to the brink - but then he always pulls back, gives me the grin and apologizes. He reminds me of my mom, she had frustrating me down to an art! When he is at school, he is a delight, follows instructions, a leader and joy! I suppose I should be grateful that his antics are typically behind our household door - I pray one of these days he'll throw me a bone.

He does have quite the empathetic heart -we had a gourmet McDonald's lunch this last weekend and he got a cookie as a treat. He promptly split in thirds for himself, Jon and Penny, without any prompting. He will generally defer to Jon if there is an argument or a fit over something. He is kind beyond measure with his baby sister and will easily play dolls with her if that's what she wants. He is also famous for just running up to you and giving you a hug and kiss, just because.

He also is one of the wittiest people I know. His quick on his feet responses, leave me speechless and in stitches. Jon is a bit of nervous kid, getting lost is one of his phobias, Drew looks at it as an adventure. So if we, on the rare occasion, lose our bearings, Jon will be the one begging for us to turn back and go home, while Drew sits next to him taunting, "We'll never find home Jon, we'll be lost forever." Or one of my favorites is when Jon came home with his booty from birthday gift card purchases. Our rule is, you get one day and you don't have to share, after that, normal house rules apply. Jon was taking this rule to the letter. Drew's response to Jon's hoarding was, "you only have two hands, Jon, you can't play with it all."

Drew is also a fierce protector and friend. If he loves you, he will do everything in his power to make you happy. This is the first year that he and his friend Paige are not in class together. It has been sad since they have been in class together since they were 18 months old. The only trouble that he ever got into at school was getting toys for or defending Paige. Now that he is getting older, his preferences are leaning more toward playing with his fellow boy classmates, but his loyalty remains. He has an amazing imagination and confidence beyond his years. He's not afraid to be himself and for that, I admire him to no end.

In closing I want to wish my baby boy a very happy fifth birthday, I love you Drewski (my mom coined that name - she felt it fit him and it would be a good football nickname) my Great Dane puppy boy - have a happy, happy day!

oxoxoxo-Mom

Thanks!

Happy Halloween

Well here I sit - staring at my calendar in my kitchen realizing I need to update it to reflect my November schedule. Where did October go? I'm going to be traveling to Tennessee before I know it for Thanksgiving. It is crazy to me that 2009 is coming to a close. That being said there are some upsides - first up I subscribe to a strong theory that you can officially start to listen to Christmas music starting November 1st. I am in the process of downloading new ringback and ringtones for my phone to reflect my love of holiday music. If you call me, you'll be getting a little bit of Christmas every time. That isn't so bad!

Back to October - so while last year I was super mom and I sewed both of the boys costumes, this year I opted out - they wanted to be characters from Harry Potter and frankly, while I could probably have made their costumes - it was so much easier to just hit the "Buy" button on the Harry Potter costume website. Either way they looked cute and they loved their costumes so it was a win-win. Penny has continued her path of being a new Disney Princess each year -this year her heart was set on being the Little Mermaid. I don't know why she became so infatuated, but she did. Right from the start she wanted to be a mermaid, while I was pushing Tinkerbell and her wings. I mean you can only pull off being a fairy for so long. But we'll give it a try next year, the window might be narrowing, but it isn't closed yet.

Harry Potter

His best friend Ron Weasley

The Little Mermaid

Ryan, as I've mentioned before isn't so much the fan of Halloween, but he takes the kids trick or treating and he likes to dress up with them. This year he dressed as Sirius Black from the Azkaban prison. I bought the goods, he made it happen - complete with no shaving for two weeks and rolling in dirt.

We decided instead of being holed up in our houses that myself and my neighbor Mandy would hang in the driveway with a fire pit and some snacks and beer - we'd get to hang out and visit and enjoy all the kids and their costumes. It was such a good time, I believe this might need to become a regular event. Being the hostess with the mostess - I enjoyed being able to accommodate some of the parents with a beer to warm up and a chance to hang while their kids loaded up on candy. As it got dark, our neighbors brought over their telescope and as a bonus the kids got candy AND got to see the surface of the moon and Jupiter and its moons - it was very, very cool - a full service stop if you will.

The kids have more candy than they know what to do with and I was the one with the stomach ache Saturday night. I'm a sucker for candy - my favorite are the runts and the Twizzlers, but I won't turn down a Kit Kat or a Charleston Chew.

It was another successful year - the kids are already planning their next costumes and I am hiding candy around the house so we can ration it out. We celebrated Drew's birthday on Sunday with my family - but his actual birthday is Thursday - so we'll save it for then. Until then - thanks for popping by - I hope every ones Halloween was fun and sugar filled - Thanks!