Marshmallow Man

Something has been up at our house. S's best friend has been asking to play with T just about every day. Now, I didn't question this for quite some time. This best friend has always liked to play with T. Maybe she needed a brother. Anyway, it wasn't surprising the first few times.

But then she asked to play with him just about every day. That is not normal so I asked her mom about it. Luckily, she had been privy to the reason during their family dinner the night before. The problem was that she was sworn to secrecy by her three girls who all thought this was pretty fabulous and wanted things to continue on as they were.

My good friend made me guess. She just wouldn't spit it out. She did, however, use the word delicacy. This is not a shocker because we all know T was the one who ate a year supply of fruit snacks and fruit rolls in a week. I asked her if is was some kind of fruit snacky thing.

No.

Then she reinforced that he MADE it. That means cooking but heck, there is no stove in the basement. And really, if he is going to use a stove it should be to help with dinner.

I remembered finding some empty marshmallow bags in his room. I asked if it had to do with those.

BINGO.

I couldn't figure out how he could cook marshmallows on his air purifier. I was way off base. Then it came to me.

The light bulb.

BINGO again!

It's even one of those twisty cost saving light bulbs. How in the heck? This kid never ceases to make me laugh.

I should have been frustrated. I mean, really, this is a potential fire hazard. But instead I was grinning from ear to ear over his ingenuity. He's been playing chef T in the basement.

I thought about how I was going to have to have a stern face when I asked him about it. I decided to wait for dinner so I could at least shove some food in my mouth to keep me from giggling.

At dinner, the truth came out. In order to get them to melt he actually had to stick the marshmallows to the light bulb and then peel them off. (This explains the residue.)

We asked if the other kids new about it. The most funny (but not really) response was from D. His head shook no and then he said yes. It was like he was so used to denying everything that he went on autopilot. Luckily, his brain conquered and told him to tell the truth.

We have put an end to T's little kitchen in his room.

I didn't succeed in not smiling. But I told him that no one would be smiling if he were to start a fire in his room.

T has closed up shop. For now at least...............

A Concert

A friend at DH's work has a son with cancer. He either was born with it or it appeared shortly after he was born I can't remember which. The brain tumors caused him to lose his sight but luckily he went into remission. Well, the big bad cancer bug came back to get him and has done so with a vengeance.

A few weeks ago DH told me that a country music group (not a local one... one of those Nashville types) was doing a benefit concert for him. We ordered tickets that night. We really wanted to support his family.

There were a few complications. The first was the fact that our youth have their activities on Wednesday. That meant no babysitters were available. After a few days of trying I ended up enticing one of our girls with easy babysitting money (kids in bed makes for easy work) and she didn't do her craft project. And heck, just in case the craft instructor reads this I will add in that I tried girls even in surrounding areas, married people, etc. Hopefully I will be forgiven for this one.

But even harder than finding a babysitter was finding something to wear. You see, I'm just a frumpy mom. I don't really go and do anything snazzy and as a result I don't have a bunch of snazzy clothes. I called up my good friend and asked what in heck do you wear at a country concert. She jumped right in and brought over some accessories. She looked in my closet to see how much I didn't have to chose from... sorry, mom clothes. But the best part wasn't the silver belt (I don't know if it was really called a belt as it didn't go through and loops... some decorative waist thingy... did I say that, yes something around my waist). And it wasn't the fancy earrings. It was the boots. R, my friend, said I needed boots and she wasn't talking talking my high heeled everyday boots. She meant the cowboy kind. And so she dug deep and offered up her HUSBANDS... hopefully he didn't mind. Yes, I wore her husband's cowboy boots. I'm laughing at it as I type it (and S who is in trouble for getting into the peanut butter is asking what I am smiling about).

It was a good concert. If you take out the symphonies that I go to it now makes up 50% of my concerts. DH's friend's son opened with a song about what he would like to do to cancer. He and his school aide did a great job on it. He was so excited for the whole night. He's a musical little kid with this fabulous attitude. DH's friend took us backstage to meet his friend and we also ended up saying hi to a few of the people putting the concert on. We were lucky to participate in the night. (Add in a little fresh grumble from S here.)

Another scary thing happened yesterday. A new little boy in our neighborhood got lost. His mom came looking for him because she hadn't seen him for a little bit. He's only a first grader but he is tall like a third grader. I drove around for quite some time and couldn't find him. I felt really bad leaving for the concert when he hadn't been found. I just kept worrying that he had been taken like the 11 year old in our old neighborhood in AZ. Right before the concert a neighbor called me to let me know he had been found pretty far from our neighborhood. I was so relieved!

Let's see as for the kiddos....

M worked on her paper mache and then little cabins made of wood chips from the front yard. It was a big mess but she seemed happy about it. Today it's painting time for it.

T had a good day at school. The no wizards101 consequence seems to be a good one.

D broke part of S's scooter. I told him not to borrow it because he was responsible for it. And he came home without some of the pieces. Fortunately, he was looking to buy himself a new one as his disappeared when he didn't put it in the garage. Now he'll buy her a new one and get one missing a few parts.

S had a great day at school. Today is not starting out so great but she has yet to lose sugar so I am still counting things as good.

C has marker all over her face. It's not coming off easily. So right now she is wearing monkey jammies, wearing goggles, reading an M&M book. What a kid!

T again

What's up with this kiddo? He has been wild as can be and isn't settling down at school. I don't think he was too fond of copying a page on why art education is important for kids. Hmmm... how about you pay attention and not cause problems in your art class. That is way more fun. He pretty much also earned himself cleaning up after the dog for the week. D lucked out because we found out he had been shoving some of what he cleaned up under the hole in the fence. When DH asked him about it he lied the first few times. Then we finally got him to fess up. If the chore hadn't already been given to T for the week, D would have inherited it.

I think T really is bored in school. But it is no excuse for messing around or being disrespectful. I'm wondering if I should get him a book of mazes or something that he can work on when he is done. He loves those thing. He's so 'over' math right now. All he wants to do is stuff with negative numbers and that isn't in the second grade curriculum.

I emailed his teacher and said we were coming to her aid with a backup at home but that she should expect it to take a few times. That seems to be how it is with most kids. They'll try things a few times to make sure you really will continue to follow through.

And as for this week so far-

M really came to the conclusion that she is going to have to work hard to finish a big project due on Friday. She has yet to begin. This is the thing that happens as they get older. When you are pretty sharp you can fly by the seat of your pants for years. Then big things come and they take a bunch of time whether you are quick at learning or a little bit slower.

T, enough said!

D lost a tooth. He didn't know it. But when I asked him about it he said he remembers last week that he had a wiggly one during lunch and then there was a space. He ate it. We'll be celebrating the eaten tooth tonight.

S has been on a kick trying to sound out words. I need to sit down with her and just teach her to read. (She'll be doing it herself if I don't and then how in the heck will I be able to claim the victory?)

Well, and DH and I have both been in a tiny funk over this health care thing. It's so nice to know that if I wanted to try to eat really healthy, exercise, save my money to pay for out of pocket costs and then risk having something happen that could destroy me financially forever that I can't chose it. Sorry government, it's not your job to tell me what to do there. You are NOT my daddy!

I have a problem with big government. I coupon for those who don't know. There was recently an article in the Wall Street Journal about couponing and it said something like the average extreme couponer comes from an average income of 70 something thousand. I know people who coupon who are much lower than this and some that are most likely much higher. But my one good friend comments that at her grocery stores in AZ, the best ones to coupon at are in super low income areas. Either they don't know how to coupon, don't want to coupon, don't have papers, or maybe just don't want to coupon because they have someone else paying for a chunk of their food. It's great for my friend because they always have EVERY stinkin' thing in stock. But why aren't these people trying to get the best deals? Why don't we want to encourage people to be self sufficient. I think there is a time and a place for everything. Is there a time when people are down on their luck or have horrible things happen that just financially ruin them? Yep. And those are not the ones I am talking about. It's the people who just plan on living off the system. Hello folks, NOTHING is free! Someone always takes a hit. Sometimes, it's the companies that offer oh so sweet coupons for items. Sometimes it's the class mom that brings in treats. And sometimes it's your whole dang country. Let me spend my own money Mr. Obama. I promise you I know so many very kind and generous people. But I don't want you and your 4 trillion layers of government wasting my money. Me and some of my good sale watching friends could probably feed a small nation with what you waste.

And to end on something more positive... I went running last night. I was going to and called my friend when I realized it was raining. So we decided to not go and then DH told me which jacket is a good one to run in the rain with. It was actually really nice. And there were no cougars out either :)

S Got Sugar Back

She did it! This is a big accomplishment for her. She didn't hit us, kick us, bite us, or spit on us for a whole week. It may not sound amazing but it is. She enjoyed her Froot Loops this morning like no other kid could.

She started being a little stinker and I asked her if she really wanted to get herself worked up to the point where she might do something that would cause her to lose her sugar. She liked that sugar too dang much and just decided to stop being such a stinker.

She had a field trip today to a museum. On the way to preschool she told me that I told her the animals come alive at night. Oh five year old brain. It was a movie that told you that.

Saturday Report

DH did take S and M skiing today. S really liked it. D was amazed that she was able to go without her edgy wedgies (or whatever they are called) on her first day. He said it took him 3. Maybe we have found her calling :) She graduated from the first level. She was also THRILLED with the nachos she had for lunch. M had a good day skiing too. She hasn't been for a year and told DH that she wanted to go again this year. She stayed on easier runs but had a good time.

I just had the boys and C with me. So I did what all stinky mother do (or would do if they had the thought) and sat them down in front of Saturday morning cartoons and I took a bath. I only can squeeze one of those in every few months so it was a treat. And wouldn't you know, the kids were in the same places when I went to check on them after.

We headed out to run errands and to go see my mom at her booth for her lodge. I went to the music shop to get D a bridge and a new E and to get M her new books. The main string guy there told me it would be 90 dollars to do a new bridge for D's violin. WHAT? It's a tiny piece of wood. His violin has been well used and isn't worth a fortune anyway. Oh and they were out of the string I needed. So I got the books and left. It's a little stressful being in those shops with C anyway. They had a bunch of 3000 dollar violins laying around and she just wanted to touch everything. And if it wasn't a violin on her right, it was a harp on her left. I was thrilled to get out without owing them a chunk of change.

We ended up parking far away and then took a shuttle to the expo. (I actually was waiting for a spot and this lady drove up, looked at me, waited (from the other direction) and then STOLE the thing. GRRRRR.... I had been trying to get a spot for 20 minutes.

The kids were cranky and wiggly (and I only had 3 of them). C was mad she didn't get to hold a bear cub (sorry kid it was 15 bucks to interact with the cub and get a picture). My mom thought it would be fun for the kids to wander around but I think she realized that it's trickier than that when you have an entire herd. Her booth looked great though and I think she sold some trips to their Alaskan lodge while I was standing there. Heck, she even tried to do a sale on DH to come up (but his would be free except airfare). But even that is kind of spendy. I guess I am just not much of a nature person. And well, I hate flying. I'll do it because I have to but I would usually rather drive than fly just about anywhere. M stayed with my mom and had already earned herself a commission of an ice cream cone when I talked to her.

I though the bath was the highlight of the day. How could it not be? Boy was I wrong. DH and I were in different cars and he brought home a surprise. Yep, a new garbage can that has a motion sensor. I hated our old garbage can. Everyone in the family was thrilled. C was perhaps the most excited. She just kept talking and talking about the thing.

I'm low maintenance. Can't you tell? Some people need really fancy shmancy things to feel loved. I just need a good garbage can. :)

Parent Teacher Conferences

I didn't accomplish much this day. My good friend invited me and little C to go along with her while she looked at new bedding for her guest room. She was hoping I would buy new bedding which I really could use but don't exactly 'need'. But need is different to everyone. Need to me is having nothing on my bed. But the bedspread has a growing hole and it most likely needs to be tossed. I went along knowing I would not find anything because most stores don't carry California King bedding. I didn't find any bedding for me but I found the most adorable Laura Ashley monkey bedding that would work on C's bed if she ever gets moved out of her crib.

Anyway... now onto PTC's. DH met me there. D's was first. He is making big improvements. He's not fighting. He's still crying over some things but it's not turning into a massive blowup. The teacher is working on helping him deal with a few things. Have I not mentioned how fabulous his teacher is? She agreed, he's not ADHD (do you like how we think we are psychs?).

Then we went to T's. Academically he's great, super smart, etc. etc. He's also adorable. BUT

....Yep, there is the but which pretty much negates great, super smart, and adorable. He's just kind of wild. I was a little perplexed. Well, it wasn't about the wild thing. I can totally see that. He can't keep still for a minute. I told his cute teacher that I have been asking every day if he got a card pulled and he said he hadn't. That was true I guess. In reality she figured out that card pulling wasn't working for him and so she has been trying other things. From now on I'll be getting emails if he is being a turkey in class and we'll deal with him quickly at home. I can promise it'll take 3 times before he really believes that he has to always be good at school. Right now he is catching on because he doesn't get to go snowboarding tomorrow because he was off task so much. And of course, there was the shoe incident at school this very day. She (the teacher) said he was really pretty funny because he came back from recess with only one shoe one. It was a first in her teaching career. It was retrieved off the roof and he will not be taking his shoes off to run again at school even though he told her he was much faster without his shoes on. (This explains the holes in the socks.) I though his reasoning was pretty funny because DH is training with Vibram Five Fingers now and it's almost like running barefoot.

Then it was off to M's. It was the same as always. She is still funny, nice, well behaved... excels in everything. I asked if there was something in particular she should study this summer as the kids all get some summer work (mainly for structure and because school these days doesn't teach a heck of a whole lot anyway). She gave me a few ideas that might spare M from the Civil War workbook I found for a bargain.

Then today the kids were home. It really wasn't too bad. S had a pretty good day.

Wait, this deserves its own not so indented paragraph. S acted for the most part like a regular 5 year old today. She had a couple of stinker moments but they were normal 5 year old stinker moments. I made sure she overheard me praising her to other people. Maybe, just maybe, she'll jump out of her almost 3 month funk. Tomorrow DH might take her along skiing for a lesson to try to reinforce that it's more fun to be good. I would so love to see her have that glimmer in her eyes for more than one day.

As for the rest of the kiddos...

M had a great violin lesson. The teacher is having me get her Suzuki book 4. The violin player in me is thrilled about that because it's the first Suzuki book with concertos. She should be starting it next month. Along with that book I got a list of other new books she needs. But I don't care even if I pull it out of my 'slush fund' money. I love having her play the violin.

T struggled with doing things the first time I asked him. Maybe he'll figure out you don't have to do nearly as much stuff if you just obey the first time. And yes, dear T, I will make sure that your bed is really made. He did hang out with me and snuggle for a few minutes tonight. He's getting too big to really sit on my lap long but I love snuggling with him.

D had a harder day. He admitted later on that he still thinks he can get his way eventually with a good fit. I asked him if it has ever worked before and he said no. Maybe we need to introduce stats to him earlier than college. This morning he got frustrated and his violin ended up on the ground with a broken bridge. So he didn't have a lesson after all. I didn't even check his violin until tonight because I was worried the sound post would be broken. But it wasn't and I was thrilled that I didn't get super angry at him this morning. It doesn't help and I know it so I have to control my frustrations so his anxiety doesn't skyrocket.

C wanted grandma to curl her hair with hot rollers today. She thought that was pretty spiffy. She was thrilled to have the big kids home today.

I made a picnic for the kids today. It was freezing outside but they wanted to have lunch in the great outdoors. They didn't seem to cold even though it was 45 degrees. I let them enjoy their meals (with friends of course) and then D had one of his breakdowns and I had to go outside myself so he could lose his audience while he tantrumed. I pruned my lavender plants and pulled weeds until it was just too dang cold. By then, D was done with his fit and it was no big deal to go inside.

We played a game from a church magazine tonight. It was one long game. I couldn't believe the kids wanted to keep playing it. I think that games will help bond our family a bit more and told DH we need to play them more even if it's boring for us.

And off to bed I go. Grandma isn't back from the expo center but that's okay. She will be able to get herself settled for the night. I think she is only here for a few more days. The kids look forward to having a little more time with her.

Trip Review

I guess I should post a review of our oh so memorable trip to Arizona.

I had grand plans for being prepared for our trip. I had all the packing done except my stuff and socks two days before leaving. You may notice I used the word except. That pretty much means I wasn't done and it was going to come back to haunt me.

But we got out of here by 1:30 which for us was pretty good. It meant checking the kids out of school but I really doubt their teachers minded one single bit. I told T's teacher taking him out of school for a few days was our gift to her and she smiled.

The kids started asking for movies before we were even out of our neighborhood so instead they got to listen to Dr. Laura grouch at people. (On a side note, I actually really like Dr. Laura. I think she gives pretty good advice to people. Her delivery has just become a bit more abrasive lately. I'm not complaining though. If you are willing to tell her you are a long time listener and then ask her some stupid question you should know the answer to then you need a more abrasive approach I guess.) We managed to not stop all the way to our hotel. We did however have a little scare when a black bird hit our windshield. It was pretty dang freaky to have this big thing all of a sudden whop you on the window. The poor thing only left a feather.

We managed to get there in time to get the kiddos dinner and still get them to bed at a decent time. DH's friend happened to be moving back to Phoenix and was going the same route. DH met him and his brother for dinner before they moved on with their trailer.

The next day we got the kiddos up early and headed out. I couldn't believe how green the desert was. It was a bright Kelly green from the grass. I'm not a huge fan of the desert but it was gorgeous.

We arrived, said hi to grandma, let the kids stretch their limbs and then went to visit my friend Heather. The kids had a bunch of fun there. They had enough scooters and bikes for her three kids and my five. So we sat and watched them play until traffic had died down. While there M went with her oldest to feed a horse (took bravery on my part to let her ride a bike that far.... a first for me). D jumped out of a tree from quite high and was totally fine. C fell out of the tree and scratched up her arm a bit and also ripped the back of her shirt. And they all still had fun and asked the next day if we could go back.

The next morning we went to see DH's friend's new house. He picked a great time to move to Arizona as the house was gorgeous and came with a much better price tag than it would have two years ago. Once again, the kids were just thrilled to play. M was especially thrilled because they have a daughter about her age. The kids want to take them up on their invitation to come back when their pool is in.

We had baseball tickets to celebrate Joshua's birthday. The Cubs ended up winning the game. S didn't have a stellar time there. She decided to really act out when she didn't get her way and so she got to hang out on DH's lap most of the time. She was less than thrilled. T was also a little stinker. He kept hiding under the bench because it was so hot. Yeah, 70 degrees, oh it was so hot! (I kept waiting for someone to spill their beer and have it end up all over T.) M brought a book to keep herself busy and D stood there with his arm up trying to woo a ball over. Finally as the 8th inning was going to begin we left. It works to leave a little early because if not the traffic is horrible. The people watching was pretty good at the game. It is so different from what we are used to.

We had our favorite shaved ice at a new location. We have almost always gone to one in the hood but now they have a few in less scary locations. I was living it up a little with a sugar free one with cream. YUM! I can still taste the stuff. C ended up in a tee and pull up in there as her pants were wet. I thought she had peed her pants and instead she had spilled a bottle of water. Either way, she wasn't bothered to be pantless.

That night we did M's second favorite thing and went to Souper Salad. I don't know why she loves this place so much but it's one of her all time favorite things to do. It's not that I hate the place or anything. But hello kiddo, it's Arizona. Arizona is all about great enchiladas.

The next day we were going to visit DH's grandparents. Then we found out Granny was in our neck of the woods for a funeral. Our trips turned us into Barry Manilow's 'Two Ships that Passed in the Night.'

We still went to the cemetery. I'm a tad bit disappointed in our cemetery. We picked a city cemetery on purpose over a private one because supposedly you have a better chance of them being taken care of. Well, the grass in both sections is just about gone. I'm wondering how they managed to kill it all. My guess is that they didn't water it much last year. Plus, the tree that used to get the pretty purple flowers by Nikolas is dead. We picked that spot because of the tree. The family with a nearby kid used to put wind chimes in that tree with little messages on them. I guess they gave up and took them all down. I can understand there not being so much grass out by Joshua. They are still filling that part up. But Niko's section is supposed to be all purchased and well, that should mean it is full because most people don't prepay years in advance for the children's section. M was a little disappointed that I didn't turn into a blubbering idiot. She thinks it's my tradition :) With Niko, five years was a big milestone that really made me sad. It was one of those you'd be such a big boy now and would be going to K soon years. This year it didn't really phase me much. My plate is so full now that it's hard to imagine it any other way and I'm learning it's just not helpful to. But I know he would have been oh so dang cute because he was such an adorable baby. And I probably would have turned him into a monster because I would have spoiled him.

We went back to my parents' house and the kids played at the park. S was bummed because she had been a turkey and didn't get to play the first time at the park. I thought it was as pretty natural consequence though. If you throw things at Papa in an angry fit why would he want to watch you at the park. Later when DH's brother and his family came to visit us she got to play at the park and was happier. We were lucky they drove they drove the hour to see us. My niece was going to another aunt's house that was nearby and so they were able to sneak in a visit with us before dropping her off.

Then, on of my best friends from when I lived in AZ was able to come by. You know someone is a great friend when you can go years without talking and then have it feel like it did before. She went from being a great teacher to nurse extraordinaire. Okay, I'm just guessing on that one. She hasn't ever poked me ;)

And then it was off home. We drove without a stopover and made pretty good time. It always helps to leave early and to get out of town before the traffic.

And now we recover and try to undo what happens on every trip. We missed some icky weather when we were gone and came back to sunshine. I'm excited to get my garden started. I wasn't so excited to pull a few weeds yesterday. Oh, and I am not so thrilled that the kids are going to start getting stinky again. EWWW!

Oh, and I've gone running two days in a row now. I'm going to make it a third today. I just can't procrastinate this training for a half thing. How I would love to but it will kill me later if I don't prepare. I have a couple of people who are willing to run my speed with me and that really helps. It also helps that it hasn't been 20 degrees when I have been wanting to run. Last night when we were out we ended up on a street in a development with only one house. I'll fess up that I was more worried about cougars than scary people. What is it with me and giant cats?

Sneaky!

That's me. There really isn't a bunch to write today. It's late and I need to get to bed.

I have to have a sub for one of my church callings tomorrow. I decided to pick some songs that are actually a little harder for me to sing in front of people. I manage, of course, but I always get a little lump in my throat. So the ladies there won't even know that they are singing some of my boys' songs on Joshua's birthday.

It's sneaky but I don't think they would mind.

Today.....

M tried to convince me that being a good kid entitled her to a cell phone. Nice try kiddo!

T learned how to really wear his Heely's (or whatever they are called).

D had 3 fits and managed to get out of all of them without enormous tantrums. That was a huge victory. I'm not even worried about eliminating all the fits. This is great practice when he gets out of them.

S.... should I even say it? How about I just don't and say that she tried a banana pepper and it just about cured her from overeating her dinner. She wasn't too fond of the thing.

C ate shaved ice in a pull up because I thought she peed her pants when really she just spilled water and sat in it. Oops!

And as for DH and me... we got out for 20 minutes and went to get ice cream. Mine was sugar free/fat free and I will still pay the price for it. You would think that the fact DH took a pic of me and M today and I still looked chubby in it would have convinced me to ignore the ice cream but it didn't. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

A first for everything

When you are raising your first child.... (I have actually erased this sentence a bunch of times... I can't quite get it right. What I really mean is raising the first kid that gets to stick it out in your home.) you pay attention to firsts. Or at least you try. We documented all the doctor's visits, the teeth, the first real foods, etc. One first we never had came today for kiddo # I don't know. (Once again I have to confuse people. It all depends on the system. If you count all kiddos in the family when she was born she is number 5. If you count living kiddos when she was born, she is 3. If you count all kiddos now in the family she is 7. And if you count kiddos living in the house right now she is back to number 5. I can't really even say last because she wasn't the last to come in. How about youngest?)

Anyway... back to the story. Today I was scolding T for not following through on giving a kid back a ten dollar bill that he gave T. T supposedly 'forgot' (which may be true but who knows) but didn't want to get in trouble so he lied about it. It is too bad he didn't know that the little folded bill fell out of his pocket as he changed into his swimsuit. So I was giving him a thrashing (okay, that's exaggerated... I just got on his case about accepting money from people. NO you can't do that. I don't care if they want to give it to you.) While I was talking to him, D was making a leprechaun trap as was C. S was in her room throwing a big tantrum and M was at a church activity.

All of a sudden D tells me that C just cut her own hair. I resigned myself to something awful asked D to take the scissors and finished my sentence with T. Then I went to see the bad news and it wasn't too bad at all. She cut about 3 inches off but she left some wispy bangs.

Maybe she will be a hairdresser someday.

But now I have to keep the scissors out of her hands. We don't want to tempt fate on this one.

She was mad that I wouldn't let her continue to cut and make 'decowashuns' for her trap.

M is loving being a lunch worker today. Why does she love washing tables there so much but she hates doing it at home?

T didn't grumble at his second practice. He's addicted to Wizards101 and I think that it's going to have to stop. I guess he doesn't think the Leapster cuts it as a gaming system.

D said he got worked up at school a couple of times but it sounds like he got himself out of it. There were some tears it sounds like but no emails so it must not have been too bad. He was pretty dang happy with his leprechaun trap.

S... oh S. Let's see. S was really happy to go to breakfast today. She couldn't understand why she couldn't have more than 1/2 of my potatoes, a half an English muffin, eggs, and two pancakes.

C fell asleep watching T on the computer. We also went and looked at new car seats today but my coupon isn't good until tomorrow. She wasn't happy leaving the store without the butterfly car seat.

The Volcano

D's teacher sent him home with the perfect book for us to read. My Mouth is a Volcano by..... (some author that I should look up). I may just have to buy it.

We celebrated S's birthday. She was having a rough day (why do I write this when it doesn't seem to change..... it just seems so pessimistic to assume every day is rough). She loved her gifts and that her Grannie came down to spend time with her. We took her poster in to school with all of her pictures. I took pictures of course and she was angry earlier during the day. I showed her the pics and she didn't want me to keep them. She could see that it's hard to look pretty when you are feeling icky inside. Last night she had a little more joy with the present opening but then went to bed screaming commands at people. Oh well! We tried.

What else? T got his two fastest times at the swim meet (can't remember if I wrote this already). The one would have been faster had he not stopped when he turned for his second lap. But he did well for being a little turkey. He didn't, however, do well at his violin lesson this week and got double practices for the next two weeks from his teacher.

D is still on a good run at school. He pulled himself out of several fits. He lost it yesterday and hopped the fence but it still didn't take him too long to think clearly. This is HUGE for him.

M is doing her thing. She's going to be bummed if I ever get her room painted so she can move back in and start cleaning her stuff up. :)

C is the turkey of all turkeys. I actually buckled and put a quarter in the machine at the music store for her today. Just call me a sucker!

SUV Woes!

This isn't going to be some grumbly post. I'll save that for manana ;) or at least another post tonight.

But I did want to mention a little faux pas at the grocery store last night. M and I went there to buy a quick block of cheese (and no the cheese wasn't quick... just the trip to the store). Of course, we ended up buying just a couple of other things. We walked out and it was pretty chilly and windy. I walked up to our car and opened the front driver's door and thought it looked a little too clean to be our car. I went to sit down and someone in the backseat started talking to me.

I was getting in some other person's car. No wonder it looked so clean! And to think some girl was actually in the back seat!

Then, the girl points to my car which is just across from hers. It's the same car, same color, snowboard rack, just cleaner.

How embarrassing!

Chicken checked off the list

My friend and I finished the chicken today and I think we are both pretty glad to have it done. I think I have 30 something quarts.

I picked M up from school today and we went and played the violin for S's preschool class. One kid who is often in trouble raised his and after and told us it was really good (not his words... some other adjective). Then another raised his hand and said it was awesome. M played Dvorjak's Humoresque and then we played Twinkle Twinkle with M playing the harmony. I couldn't believe how still the kids were. S seemed glad we came as well.

What else? T got his card pulled a whopping 3 times today. It seems that he can't keep his behind in his seat and his hands to himself. So he did the baseboards in the basement. He can be such a good kid but it doesn't help to be a nice kid if you distract others nonstop.

S fell apart this evening. She turned into a screamer. I tried to give her a chance to play in the basement while I listened carefully. C was down there and so I had very alert ears. She was warned to keep her hands to herself. Then she threw the wooden cookies at the walls. I guess she isn't ready for really much trust at all. It's too bad. I kind of wanted it for her but I really wanted it for me. If I could trust her to play in the basement we would both be happier.

Oh well, I can't have her throwing things at the walls all the time. And from there it went downhill. Finally I gave her some dinner and put her to bed 30 minutes early. I was just too done to deal with it anymore.

The rundown for today

M got a little maturation talk from her friend who had the talk at school today. Luckily for me it was only on maturation and was from the point of view of another 10 year old.

T stands for trouble. T also lost his backpack and his homework yet again. What to do with this kid.

D didn't have problems at school (none since the visit to the police station). He freaked out over homework for a minute and then realized there was nothing to freak out about. It's amazing how much easier life can be if you listen.

S loved school of course. She didn't adore being home when she couldn't have her way.

C entertained herself while I did chicken. I was really lucky. She said the other day out of the blue, "Jesus was in a toon." Me: "Oh really." C: "Then Mary didn't know it was Jesus." (Actually that last one wasn't quite her verbage... hers was cuter but you get the gist.) I guess she is really learning in her class at church.

Still No Time to Blog

I type this as I have a gazillion things to do. But I just realized how long it has been since I blogged and figured I should write SOMETHING!

Today my friend J and I pressure canned chicken. The day didn't start out as planned. She called me to ask me a question and then there was a ton of screaming on the line. The safety valve thing had blown on one of the canners. I went over and checked it out, came home to get the kids off to school, and went back ready for more fun.

It took us a long time to get going on this because we were so darn scared of the canners. I made one call to the extension office asking questions and another to a place that repairs canners. Finally we gained our confidence. We ended up with 42 quarts of chicken and will be doing mine tomorrow.

Should I do the quick kid recap? I should as I have a ton of chicken in my kitchen that needs to be taken care of.

M was a big grouchy girl over the weekend. She had her violin graduation and did a great job. I can't believe how her playing is coming along. I wasn't thrilled, however with the stinker personality she had. She kept tormenting the boys. GRRRRR.....

T fought cleaning his room all weekend but was otherwise happy. He did get in trouble for taking the corn off his friend's corn dog and bopping her on the head with it. EWWWWWW..... (what the heck was that kid thinking?)

D had a few breakdowns but got himself out of them. He earned back a toy that I detest and I told him it's the first thing I will take away. That seems to be enough motivation at the moment. It doesn't solve all the problems but it does make them quieter.

S went on a date with DH to his work. They ate at the restaurant at work. She thought it was fabulous to meet him there for lunch. Lots of other rough times for miss curly Q..... I guess I have no control when she gets out of this 'episode.'

C wants to go on a date to DH's work now too. She destroyed her room again, got into nail polish, sprayed a bunch of hairspray on her rats nest of hair, cut baby Snow White's hair, and tried to go pull up less (grossed DH out as he was snuggling with her).