If you hover over the pics you can get a title to pop up.  We have been so busy…camping, fishing, fairs, museums, ocean, trails, first day of school, soccer, tball, girl scouts and on and on and on.  Life is good.

Oh, and I quit my job.  Eeeeek!  It’s all good though.  So far, it’s working out wonderfully.

I can’t believe it’s not butter!  And I can’t believe I have not posted since May.  I’m so sorry!!!  It has been very busy since then.  We went on our mini-vacay down to the ocean, changed career paths, started school (3rd grade and Kindergarden), fell madly in love with our spouse, learned of two-faced people around us and who knows what else?  There’s so much to say and so much to talk about!

I promise to make an effort to get some pics up this weekend and talk a little bit about what we’ve missed.  It’s important because one day I’ll want to look back on this blog as precious memories.  And we all know that my memory is fading fast!  I can hardly put a sentence together without having to stop and think about what I’m saying and I put the Fritos in the freezer the other day!  Eeeek!

I prefer Tretorns over Punky Brewster shoes.  I always have.  Even when I was a sophomore in high school I loved Tretorns.  They were the perfect pair of ‘everyday’ shoe.  They went with jeans, capris, shorts — you name it.

It’s a wonderful thing, this internet.  It’s been a long time since my highschool days but thanks to Google, I was able to locate some Tretorns.  White with navy blue.  Thank you, shoes.com. 

I will say the laces seem a lot cheaper and thinner.  The outer lining seems cheaper as well.  However, after a few days of breaking them in I couldn’t be happier.  Aaaah.  Now if I could just find some suspenders and a Blossom hat. 

JKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

When I picked daughter up from school today she said the greatest thing in the world happened to her today.

Then she shoved her finger in my face and said, “Smell this mom!”

She was so excited; grinning from ear to ear.

I have a five year old BOY so I have learned a strong lesson about smelling things randomly offered to my nose.  No matter how cute and delicate she is, I politely refused.

“Please mom!  Just smell it!  It’s important!”

So I take a little sniff only to find that I don’t smell anything except the ordinary smell an elementary school aged child holds after a long day with other stinky kids and a cafeteria and a gymnasium and a playground. 

Don’t make that face — you know the smell.

She finally lets me in on the secret that she finally stinks and is therefore ready to wear deodorant!   I haven’t seen her happier in weeks!

“Honey, it smells fine.  I’m very sorry to say this but baby you don’t stink yet.”

She informed me that I was wrooooonnnnngggg!  BUT! She knew that I would try to ruin her life so she had safeguards in place because see she first let her BFF smell her finger (that had been in her pit) and she confirmed the stench.

She knew that wouldn’t be enough for me so she then took the finger with the alledged smell to her ‘almost’ bff, a.k.a. ‘bff in training’ and this girl too confirmed it was not a pretty smell.

If I don’t believe her I can just, ‘call her friends’.  They will tell me the truth.

“But daughter, why do I need to call them when I can clearly see you smell only like clean laundry?”

Tears.  Pain.  Agony.

“Mom,” sniffle sniffle sob sob “I really don’t need your sarcasm right now.  Please.  This is hard enough without you making jokes.”  cry cry cry cry  “Can’t you see I’m becoming a woman?  It’s a trying time for me.”

WHAT????????  WHAT THE HAY??????????  WHO?  THE WAHT?DKJS:LK*#&%^% $#$)(^*#$

oy.

Son was sitting at the dining room table enjoying his breakfast.  I was in my bedroom drying my hair and getting ready for work. 

I notice his clean unnie wear sitting on my bed so I yell in to ask him if he remembered to change his unnie wear.  Lately, he has just been putting his new unnie wear on top of his old unnie wear without actually changing.  Then he tries to see how long he can go before anyone notices he has on two (or more) pair of unnie wear on at the same time.  It’s a regular riot at our house.  I’ll tell ya!

So anyway –  I see him peek down his britches to see if he’s wearing any shorts under his shorts.  His eyes get really big and he makes an, “OH!  NO!” face.  He undoubtedly just realized that he wasn’t wearing any underwear!

My son though…doesn’t skip a beat.

He quickly yells back in to me,

“What mom?”

chomp, chomp on the breakfast as if nothing is going on

“Are you there??”

another bite…

“I can’t hear you mom!  You’re breaking up!”

everytime I try to cut in and say something he replies with something like,

“Can you hear me now?”

Finally I just bust out laughing because I’m peeking at him and can see that he has a straight face the whole time as if he really was on the phone with me.

At last he says, “I’m sorry mom.  I’m going to have to call you back.  I can’t hear you at all now.”

Then he quietly finished his breakfast as I  rolled around on the floor laughing hysterically.

He ended up going to daycare with NO unnie wear on.

Sheez. 

Had to add how awesome it would be to take my Jeep to Tybee Island and chill at the cean to the O…  Right?  Right.

Don’t let me do it.  Not a wise decision.

We are in a recession.  I could lose my job any day now.

BUT on the drive down I could see my peeps.  Heck!  Maybe I could even have a few follow me down to the each to the B.  Right?  Right!

No.  Don’t let me.

Vroooom!

Remind me later to post some pics of my kids riding their new bikes.  They can both ride now and it is awesome!  We ride our bikes to the park and to the trail and wherever else we feel like riding.  I’m so glad winter is over.  We needed some sunshine!

We are back to being crazy busy but it’s worth it.  Everyone’s happy.  Life is great.

Thinking of buying a Jeep…  Oh yeah!  One of my little lifelong dreams… It’s so tempting this time of year when they’re all sitting out bright and shiny and new.  Maybe I’ll do some test drives this weekend but hopefully I’ll be strong enough to not buy my own Mother’s Day gift.  That would be wrong.  Right?  Tell me that would be wrong.  Don’t let me do it.  Talk me out of it.

Navy blue or White???

Beep Beep!  Who got the keys to the Jeep?  Vrooooom!!

This is Mai Diva. She requires sunglasses, even in the rain. She is beautiful and not nearly as diva as I make it sound but I like to give her a hard time about it. And she likes to be called, Mai Diva.

This pic is how she looks in the morning when I take her to school. Once we arrive, her diva party awaits her. She has a dedicated fan base of four who patiently stand grouped together at the fence until Mai Diva arrives. Once they see our car pull up, they start jumping up and down and screaming. The whole play yard pauses for a moment to see, Mai Diva, step out of the car and, you know, Arrive.

One day we got there a little early and I told her she should let the other girls know how good it feels to have a posse waiting. She said, “Nah.”

Diva!

The end.

When did my daughter stop admiring me for everything I am and everything I know? When did she begin thinking I know nothing unless SHE taught ME?

When?

My very young daughter flashed a peace sign the other day with her fingers. We were walking out of the daycare building and the daycare owner waved goodbye to us as we walked out. Daughter, instead of waving goodbye, flashed a peace sign.

When I looked down at her confused as to WHY SHE WAS FLASHING A PEACE SIGN she said, “What?”

I still kept looking.

She said, “It’s a Peace sign. For peace. You know.”

“Yeah! I know.”

“What?! It’s a P-E-A-C-E sign!”

“Yeah! I know.”

“It’s cool mom. You know…”

“YEAH! I know.”

“It means peace mom. It’s a good thing.”

“YEAH! I KNOW.”

Lately, she feels the need to explain EVERYTHING to me. She thinks I don’t know anything. How did we get here from there??

Yep! It’s that time of year again! Put a fire in the pit. Put the kids in the yard with a popsicle or on the trampoline with their shoes off.

Put the grown-ups in comfy chairs around a fire and hand them all a weiner to roast.

Thank you for such a wonderful thing.

Marshmallows…beware. I don’t really care to eat you but you’re fun to roast!

“You want funder?! I’ll give you funder!”

Those were the words of my five year old son this morning as he firmly held both fists up, boxer style, in an effort to be more ‘manly’.

I’ve shared lots of stories about my dad to my children and they cling on to them for dear life. I knew my son was referring to how my dad used to jokingly show us two fists — one ‘thunder’ and the other ‘lightening’.

He would flash his muscles and we would tell him they were as big as bowling balls. It was a barrel of fun and I really miss those days.

Sometimes I would tell my dad his muscles were as big as baseballs just to watch him continue to flex until I agreed that on second thought they were much more bowling ball-esque.

I still get to talk to my dad on the phone and make random trips for quick visits but it’s not the same. We’re all older and always in a hurry. I’m too big to hang from his bowlilng ball arms like a monkey.

BUT! It’s so much fun to watch my kids grow up with some of my memories. They hang on their daddy’s arms they same way I did. Son tries to bring the “funder” and daughter is forever reminding me of my life as a 2nd grader.

I’ll take that Funder anytime. And! Bring on all the 2nd grade girlie drama. I’m all over it! BUT! I miss my daddy.

Almost forgot to tell you we went to the City Museum last weekend.

http://www.citymuseum.org/phototour.html

WE LOVE IT THERE. There is so much to do. If you’re ever in the St Louis area, you must go. I will try to remember to post pics later.

We love St Louis in general. I have been considering a move in that direction. Luckily we both still have our jobs but I think that would be all it takes to tip us to a huge life change.

Daughter is gone to the cousin’s house tonight. Last night was boy’s night. Tonight is for the girls. I miss her already!

Although, it is nice to not constantly be cringing to the sound of her flipping up the stairs. Yep. That’s what she does. She flips UP the stairs. It’s really neat to watch. She’s very talented!

However, as a mother, I cringe. I think about broken bones and all the pressure on her joints. I’m a dork, I know. It’s my job to worry though…right?

She is growing up so fast. She is so mature and responsible. You can count on her to help you out, make you laugh, be a buddy or whatever. She is wise beyond her years and I’m so proud and lucky to have her as my daughter.

Don’t tell her I said that!

Son just told me I’m not the bad guy. I’m a rainbow. Made my day!!! It’s good to have him home after losing him to the cousins for a night!

The other morning I was making some sausage and pancakes for breakfast before school, work and daycare. He looked at what I was cooking and then looked at me and said, “I don’t want any of that sissy breakfast, mom.” He was using the deepest voice he possibly could come up with.

“What?!”

“Yeah mom, I’m a real man now. I need real food to build my anchor muscles.”

“For really though?”

“Yeah mom, you know that.” He had his face all scrunched up in an effort to pronounce his manliness.

“Okay, so, want some oatmeal?”

“No mom. Real food only. Sugar ain’t for me.”

“Okay…then what?”

“Chicken and stuff.”

“For really though??”

“Yeah mom. Can you make me some chicken for breakfast?”

“Um, er…sure thing, bud.”

Luckily I had some leftover chicken veggies and rice from the night before and I just warmed it up for him. It was hilarious. SO CUTE!

THEN! HE! ASKED! FOR! WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE!

I put some on the side of his plate but he said real ‘mans’ don’t dip or dunk. “Please put it on top, mom.”

He’s just a little ole thing but he’s all about being a man…like daddy. He will eat gross food that he doesn’t like as long as you tell him it’s healthy for him and will build muscle. Boy eats broccoli like no tomorrow… LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!

“Do You Ever Wonder”
Blue October

“All things are poison and nothing is without poison, only the dose permits something not to be poisonous.” — Paracelsus

So I can tell that I’m getting a lot of hits on my blog for it just to be a personal, private blog but I don’t know who you are.

Won’t you please leave me a little comment or something to give me an idea of who is lurking?

Daughter was sneaking a read over my shoulder the other day. I could hear her mouthing the words to a letter I was writing but she thought she was sneaking.

I kept hearing, “blah, blah, blah…equals Pee.”

“…double dot, D…”

“blah, blah, blah…equals Pee.”

“…double dot, D…”

Finally I had to ask her what that was all about…

= p
: D

So not too long ago I made an impromtu trip down home to visit my ailing mother. She’s not well.

I was able to make it out to the mall while we were there. The kids were surprised to be in a mall that actually had activity and real stores. There were things to do in the mall besides shop. I took for granted living 5-10 minutes away from civilization.

They could ride a train or pet the animals. They could get into a human slingshot and hurl to the moon. That’s what they chose by the way. Scary but so fun! They bounced and flew. I’ll try to posts pics later.

It was just the kids and I that went on this trip. We went for a couple/few nights. The kids didn’t understand the sadness going on — or at least they didn’t seem to. That was good. I think. All they knew was that it was a fun little vacation.

So here’s the scoop…my mom still pisses me off (but I guess I love her), my dad still touches my heart (always a daddy’s girl), I still wish Lou lived right next door to me, Pookie saddens me (because she grew up so quickly I’m surprised by her caring heart and intelligent conversation (not because she never had it — just because she’s more mature now…grown. I have immense guilt for letting those years slip by.), Homey Attitude still has an attitude — not always a bad thing, Teeney Winks is still the best big sister I could ever ask for, Bare Bare is just plain precious, Red Sweat Pants is still my bro, My bro is still , Jeep bro is still solid and my three sis-n-laws will never know how much I adore them.

It was easier to leave than usual because I was so emotional I felt like I was suffocating. It was very difficult for me to control my emotions and not explode or have a meltdown. It was obvious and I am sorry for that.

I’m very sorry for that. I wish I could take it back — my daring attitude, frigid persona, cold shoulder. I’m so full of anger towards the situation. I’m angry and I don’t want to be. I’m scared and I’m sad. I’m always the one that knows how to delegate things into place but I’m afraid that even if I had rights or an idea of where to start — it is too late. It’s too late.

So I need to move past the anger but so far I don’t know how. I need to find compassion but I’m afraid I don’t have any…no, not any. I should. I want to. I don’t.

I’m thinking it is a blessing and a curse that you will always know what’s on my mind.

I have a lot to share about my recent road trips and life. I’m just out of time. I promise to update soon on things such as Pookie all grown up!Southern Slang! Perfect Kids! Spring! Sad. Happy! Mad. Etc.

Lylas,
Me

Tonight I’m going to do our taxes. It may be a very long night…
Hmmmmm…

While we wait for the rest of my pictures to show up…

I hope she had a wonderful birthday. I told her we were going to have to start scaling things down a bit. Afterall, we are in a recession! So we agreed to have a small family get together in the basement of the restaurant like we did for son.

She asked to invite her best friend and that was completely fine with me.

So then I realized she meant her bff from our town and her bff that moved out of our town.

Two friends.

“But mommy, we need to let my almost bff come too so we can do the cheer I wanted to show you.”

Three friends.

“But mommy she’s like my sister and I’ll feel so bad if I have to tell her she can’t come. She already knows my bff’s are coming. And can we get some invitations, pu-leeeeeeeeeeeez?”

Four friends.

“Since there are some invitations left, can I invite one more?”

Five friends.

“My friend saw me inviting my other friend and asked why she can’t come. I told her my mom said she can’t come. She was sad.”

Six Friends.

“How about just the rest of the girls in my class? There’s only a couple left.”

Stopped Counting how many friends.

“But mommy, she always invites me to her parties. I’m out of invitations.”

Please, don’t let that stop you.

So people were RSVPing that didn’t even get an invitation. People were showing up that didn’t RSVP. It was quite comical. We didn’t know when the kids were going to stop coming into our nonparty.

There was one little boy in a sea of girls. That poor kid! They would not leave him alone. They’re at that age. Poor boy. Actually I think he rather enjoyed being the star and it was cute.

I’m glad they all came. We really had a blast. The only thing was that we were a little unprepared and now a bunch of kids are wondering why they weren’t invited when so many other kids were invited. I should have simply handled it better. Hopefully nobody got their feelings hurt.

What am I supposed to do without my celllll phone? My baby girl got a cell phone for her bday. How sad is that? It’s mostly for emergency use but I’ve had a lot of mom’s give me, ‘that look’ about it. Sorry ladies but in this crazy world I always want my daughter to have a way to reach me. Smooches!

(and besides…it was much cheaper than another American Girl doll)