He's making a list and checking it twice

Tiger and I were going through the drive-thru at McDonald's  yesterday when he noticed that someone had thrown their cup into the buses.

Tiger:  Uh-oh.  That person's going to be on the naughty list.  He's going to get a lump of coal.

Can you tell we've watched a few Christmas specials lately?

Suggestions

What on earth should I do with this space that currently houses a few sad pictures and my dust garden?

Friends

Today I am thankful for friends.  You see, today I had lunch with one of my oldest friends.  Now, when I say oldest I don't mean that she is old (unless you consider myself to be old, which I am now starting to do), I mean that she has known me for a very long time.  We have been through a lot together.  Good, bad, ugly, and even a bit of the illegal.  I love this friend.  I love that we can just be ourselves, in all of our good and bad glory, and that we can still be friends.  The fact that we had lunch together today is really not important or unusual, it's just that the conversation was extra fun today and it was the conversation that got me thinking about this friend of mine and friendship in general.  I am very thankful for the friends of mine who have lasted the test of time.  I am quite a bit to take and because of that friends come and friends go and I am thankful to have friends who have stuck around.  Today's friend is not the only enduring one that I have, I have quite a few of them all over the country, and I am thankful for each and everyone of them.  They have each come into my life at different times and places and the beauty of these friends is that I don't have to talk to them all the time or see them on a regular basis, but I know that they are there when I need them and I am here for them as well.  So, here's to you my friends, Merry Christmas!!

Some Little Known Facts

1.  I am always cold.  Always.  Even in the summer, because everywhere I go people have their air conditioners cranked up, which makes me cold.

2.  After years of keeping my house at the very efficient and respectable 68 degrees (during the day), I have decided that I am sick and tired of being cold in my own home and since winter is really quite rough for me as it is, I am throwing efficiency to the wind and cranking my heat up.  Yes I am, and no one can stop me.  This winter I am going to bask in the glory of 70-72 degrees (but only during the day because I am all about it being nice and cold at night so that I can snuggle deeply into my down comforter).  However, if you find that my house is too warm when you visit, then I suggest you wear a t-shirt to my house, because I probably have to wear a sweater to your house in the summer.

3.  I am not sending out Christmas cards this year.  I love you all, but I just can't bring myself to do it, and besides, I don't really have anything exciting to report anyway.  Instead, let's all cross our fingers that at some point during this next year I get to send out change of address cards instead.

4.  I think that I have eaten my weight in cookies over the past week.

A Conversation

Tiger:  What is a dinosaur?  (silly boy is always asking questions to which he already knows the answers)

Me:  A giant prehistoric lizard

Me:  What's a Tigersaurus?

Tiger:  He eats Paleontologists . . . . . . and apples.

A holiday love affair

He is now one happy boy.

An argument and a resolution

After missing in action for a few months, we recently found the beloved Lego Indiana Jones underneath our couch on our less than dusted floor.  This of course has made Tiger's day and has also enabled us to have the following argument (again).

Me:  Oh look, we found Indiana.
Tiger:  Indian
Me:  What?  His name is Indiana.
Tiger:  No, his name is Indian.
Me:  Indiana
Tiger:  Indian
Me:  Indiana
Tiger:  Indian
Me:  Indiana
Tiger:  No, his name is actually Junior.

And the personas continue

Allow me to introduce Dr. Jones.  As you all know, Indiana Jones has a beard (or really, just stubble), and when he is a professor, his hair is slicked over to the side.  The hair style was requested before we left for church and was much more slicked down before he started messing it up.  Then, when we got to church he asked for some stickers.  Of course I gave them to him and he sat quietly beside me for quite some time.  Finally, during the rest hymn, I looked down at him and this is what I saw.  Dr. Jones with a beard.  What a goofy kid. 

One thing I love about this girl

Really, there are so very many things that I love about this girl.  I could just go on and on, but lucky for all of you my head hurts far too bad to sit here and type all of them out.  I recently had my parent/teacher conference with this girl's teacher.  Aside from her notorious disaster of a desk (so bad in fact that her teacher will occasionally email pictures of her desk to me), the report was positively glowing.  You know the whole, she's a total delight and a wonderful student blah, blah, blah.  What really made me proud was the fact that this sweet girl has taken it upon herself to become a special helper and friend to a girl in her class who has Down Syndrome.  I have heard KK talk about this girl on several occasions, but I didn't realize the depth to which their friendship ran.  I believe that KK truly loves this girl and as a result of that she is able to reach her on more of  peer level that her teacher and assistants are unable to reach her.  In fact, KK can get this girl to do many things that her teacher and assistants are unable to get her to do and KK has done this all out of friendship.  My girl has no prejudices and has the ability to see the good in everyone.  She also lacks a lot of the drama that seems to come with girls.  You know, the whole backbiting, mean spirited kind of friends with you one day, but hate you the next day kind of stuff.  She is perfectly content to be herself and also to be by herself.  Her happiness is not tied into who she is or isn't friends with.  It is these qualities that make her a great friend and a great person and it will serve her well as she grows up.  Sheesh, I just love this girl.

Another thing I love about this boy

There is no such thing as a simple explanation with this kid.  Credit his scientific mind, but the kid can't just say, "Oh man, I fell down."  Instead, he would say something to the effect of, "I was running and due to my increasing speed, a rock leaped off of the road and when my foot hit the jagged side of the rock, the trajectory in which it threw me to the ground caused my knee to be violently wrenched to the side so that when I slammed down on the pavement my knee became bruised in several locations."  Oh, and he might be a bit dramatic as well.

Up next, what I love about my girl.

The word "need" is subjective

Tiger:  Momma, I neeeed you!
Me:  What?  What is it that you need?
Tiger:  Food.

Side note:  Do you know how hard it is to feed a boy who is going through a growth spurt and who, for the past two days, seems to be constantly hungry, but who eats virtually nothing and so after the third "I'm hungry" all of the usual options have been exhausted and he doesn't want anything that he has already eaten nor does he want any of the new suggestions that are being offered?  Do you?

Today

1.  I am feeling very grateful for those who fight all over the world for our freedom.

2.  The desire to cook has completely left my body.  Not that it was that strong to begin with, but I really just feel like leaving bowls of cereal out for everyone and telling them to fend for themselves.  Alas, since my family will frown upon this after a while, I will continue to cook.  Dang this whole needing to eat business.

3.  It has yet to snow here this fall, for which I am very grateful, but I found myself thinking about snow and how much I used to love to go out and play in the snow when I was little.  I lived in Colorado until I was 13 and there were quite a few blizzards during the winters of my youth.  I remember one in particular when I was about 7 years old.  The year was 1982 and the blizzard was a big one.  My brother and I got all dressed up from head to toe in our snow gear and headed out into the peak of the storm to play in our yard.  It was incredibly windy and incredibly snowy and we loved every minute of it.  When the storm passed, there were snow drifts clear up the side of our house and the snow was as deep as our fence in some places.  If we thought playing in the snow during the storm was fun, playing in the snow afterwards was even better!  Oh the snow tunnels we dug.  It was a child's snowy wonderland.  I thought about this storm for several reasons.  First I was thinking about how fun it was to be a child and how much I loved playing in the snow, and about the fact that my view of winter is so much different now then it was when I was a child and how I need to find a bit more of that winter joy that I once felt.  I also thought about how it is such a pain to get kids all dressed up to go out into the snow and how I really need to be a better mom about my willingness to do this for my kids.  Note to self:  Kids love to play in the snow.  Finally, I thought about a mug that my Dad had that year.  It was a white mug and on the side of it was the phrase, "1982, a very good year."  I remember my Dad agreeing with that statement.  I have no idea what was going on in my parent's adult world at that time, but I remember talking about that mug and about the fact that it was going to be a good year.  Back to the here and now, I haven't really felt like this past year has been super great.  It hasn't been particularly bad, but it hasn't been great and a lot of that probably has to do with my attitude.  So, I have decided that I am going to take a lesson from that mug of my youth and declare that 2012 is going to be a very good year.  And if I declare it, than it shall be.

One reason why I love this boy

Every morning when I quietly sneak into his room to wake him up for school, I gently touch his head, he breathes deeply, gives his body a good stretch, throws the covers off and happily heads out of the bedroom to start his day.  No moaning, no whining, no trying to ignore the fact that I am waking him up, he is just happy and ready to wake up.  He is the only one like this in this family of mine (including myself) and I love him for it every day.  It is a gift that will serve him well in life.

Two Zombies and a Pirate

Ah yes, another successful Halloween has come and gone and now we are all laying around in candy comas, at least until I confiscate all of the candy tomorrow.  This year I informed Sparky and Woo that I would not be buying them costumes and that they had to come up with something from what we had at home. Woo was having a hard time and didn't like any of my suggestions and Sparky didn't really want to dress up at all. So, voila, Zombies. Easy for me, fun for them.

This boy was so funny. He gagged and gagged and almost threw up as I was putting on the white make-up. Just one more reason he probably won't do well in drama. 

 This girl owned her Zombieness

 When little Tiger saw me making the Zombie costumes he wanted to be a Zombie so bad. For two days he kept talking about how we needed to make his Zombie costume, but then he saw the other two getting make-up on and informed me that he was not going to wear make-up. "Sorry kiddo," I said, "no make-up, no Zombie costume." That made the decision pretty easy. Captain Jack Sparrow at your service. Of course it's the whiskers that make this a Halloween costume versus everyday wear.  That, and the smirk.  For some reason the whiskers bring out the smirk. 

My other favorite of the night: instead of saying "Trick-or Treat" like all of the other kids, Tiger said, "Trick-or-Treasure."  I love a boy who fully commits to his persona.



Pumpkins

Tiger just wanted an angry vampire.

 Sparky picked his from a pattern.

 The Woo wanted to do it all by herself and she did awesome!

 Voila!  Presenting Mr. Crabs, complete with crabby patties drawn down below.  Quite humorous considering I don't even let them watch Sponge Bob.

Happy Halloween!!

Determination

There is a website my kids like to play on called Poptropica.  Sadly, my poor little Tiger cannot for the life of him pronounce this word.  It usually comes out as Pop-poptrica.  Wrong, but totally adorable.  This is how he has pronounced this word for the last year or so.  Well, for some reason he has got it into his head that he is going to learn how to say this word.  What this really means is that he has been going around the house for the last three days saying this word over and over and over and over again in all sorts of variations, but rarely in its proper form.  I tell you though, his determination has paid off and with a little help he has actually pronounced the word "Poptropica" correctly quite a few times today.  Go little man, go.

Contemplations

If there's one thing I've learned about myself, it's that I just can't keep things inside. I am a sharer. If I don't share, then I find myself feeling extra cranky, extra emotional, and seriously lacking in patience. The side affects are very physical for me. With Doug gone so much these days (although technically this week has been better, but that will end again next week) and with my headache securely in place (sadly, I don't think this baby is going away anytime soon), I have had quite a bit of time to sit and contemplate this fact about myself. Since my head hurts so bad, I don't feel like doing anything but sitting in a dark room. Ohio has helped me out with this by ensuring that the days have, for the most part, been cloudy, dark, and rainy. Since I have been sitting around quite a bit in a dark room, I have had a lot of time to think. Usually Doug is my sounding board and gets to hear all about everything that is going on in this crazy head of mine (he loves it I'm sure), but since he hasn't been around much, a lot of that crazy has been trapped inside my person, desperately wanting to be released. This has once again led me to contemplate my need to share. Lucky for the two of you reading this, I am not going to unleash all of the crazy right now, but a little more here and there might start popping up. I just wanted to give you fair warning.
The crazy in my head today:
I have completely forgotten how to be a fun person. I feel like it started when I had kids and has just been slowly slipping away for the past 11 years. This is not helped by the fact that a lot of time I really just want to be left alone. Anyway, my goal is to figure out what I really like to do for fun. I think this is research that I can get behind.

Today

1.  It looks like my annual fall headache has settled in.  Blah!  I really thought that I was getting out of it this year.  No such luck.

2.  I was right.  My poor Sparky has walking pneumonia.  Microplasma Pneumonia to be exact.  It turns out that it is really going around right now and quite a few kids have it in his grade and in the school.  We still can't get his fever to go away and so he is still home from school.  He's also lost at least two pounds which is a huge amount for him.  He was already skin and bones to begin with.

3.  Sparky is quite bummed because I am making him do homework.  Sheesh.  The kid has already missed 6 days of school.

4.  I am quite bugged because my personal chef and maid have not shown up yet. 

5.  Little Tiger has an extremely sensitive gag reflex and has for several years.  I know it must be pretty miserable for the little guy, but it is frankly driving me crazy.  I can hardly get him to wear clothes since he was sick a couple of weeks ago because he feels like he is being choked.

6.  Tiger is totally adorable running around in his little unders.

Today

1.  I may have mentioned this a time or two before, but I love love love to be in my bed.  It is by far my most favorite place to be.  My ideal day would include being served every meal in bed along with a variety of movies and my computer.  Sadly, our winters are long and dark and so I am often found in my bed more frequently than I should be.  But today, the sun is shining a bit, the window is open allowing a lovely cool breeze to waft through my room, and I am snuggled up in my bed desperately wishing that my headache would go away.  I even have some new sheets on my bed, making it extra snuggly.  Aside from my headache, this is a perfect afternoon.

2.  I thought that I had avoided my yearly fall headache fest, but I may not be that lucky.  It has been three days of one painful head but I am hoping I can break it.  If not, I will definitely be spending more time in this snuggly bed of mine.  My family is all hoping that is not the case.

3.  My poor little Sparky has had a fever for a good solid week.  He also has one nasty cough and an ear infection.  I think he is working on a walking pneumonia.  Perhaps not, but I am pretty sure he is.  I am crossing my fingers that his fever breaks today because I just want him to feel better (and to be able to go back to school).  Also, I would love for his cough to go away.  Not just for his sake, but frankly, I am exhausted because his sad cough keeps me up all night long.  On the flip side, I am totally amazed that Tiger has been able to sleep through the coughing each night.  Kids are truly amazing.

4.  My love has been working so incredibly hard for quite a while and especially this month and we haven't seen him much.  This has just solidified the fact that I don't do well when he isn't around.  It just makes me grateful that he has never had to travel much.  The kids may go days and days without seeing him, but just knowing that he is coming home at night makes it much easier on me.

5.  I love Netflix.  That's all.

A picture I found

This summer when we were up in some Amish country we ventured into a general store that had hundreds of different kinds of sodas.  As soon as I saw this root beer, I knew my boy had to have it.  The best part was that the root beer was actually really good.

We've had a bit of illness around here

School has started and with that has come a lovely selection of illnesses.  Fortunately nothing too horrible, but unpleasant nonetheless.  First Tiger was down for a week with a fever and bronchitis and he is still coughing (dang those coughs last forever).  Now poor Sparky has been down for a week with a fever, bronchitis, and now an ear infection.  Yay for antibiotics.  Sadly nothing is helping with his cough, but he's a tough boy (insert snicker here) and seems to be hanging in there.  I have also been hit with a cold.  Fortunately it has been nothing like what the boys have had, but it has still taken everything out of me and had left me feeling like a bit of a zombie.  All I know is that Moms really should not be allowed to get sick.  Also, my love has been working lots of insane hours the past month or so and I miss him.  I know he misses us too and so that's OK.  Sometimes life is a little harder than you want it to be, but it could always be worse and so I'll take what I've got.

Lots of pictures featuring apple picking

It is no secret that this is the time of year when I start dreading winter, however one thing I do love about Fall is picking apples and lucky for us our cousins came up to pick apples with us as well.  Once again we had ourselves a fabulous time and the weather could not have been better.  Here are two boy cousins.  Can you tell which one is mine and is used to being told to smile for the camera?  Tanner was having none of my picture taking on this day.

Tiger left the pirate costume at home and seemed to bring the weird with him instead.

A kid pose

My girl and I

Captain weirdo and myself

A Sarah in a tree

Next to the apple trees was a pumpkin patch, I don't know if we were really allowed to pick the pumpkins, but that didn't stop this girl from picking one and boy was she proud to show off her treasure.

What trip to the orchard would be complete without the throwing of  rotting apples?  Truly a sport for boys.

And here we have what I like to call "The Sleeping Series".  These two crack me up!  Here we have Tiger and Mary "sleeping."

Still "sleeping"

Oh my, it appears as if sweet Mary has arisen from her blissful slumber.  I wonder, pray tell, will Tiger soon follow?

"Tiger.  Tiger.  Wake up."

Sorry Mary, no dice.  Although you gave it a good try.  You might as well just give in and join him once again in his make believe trip to dreamland.  You see, when Tiger commits to a pretend situation, he REALLY commits.

Finally, with "naps" and picking aside, it was time to get out a bit more energy and what is better for that then running up and down a big hill?  Or, in Tanner's case, rolling down a big hill.

Outside of the little market was an Amish woman selling various goods.  I believe this was probably her buggy, but I can't be sure.  Little Mary could hardly resist climbing inside and since no one said anything, I decided to get a picture of it. 

Here's a full picture of the buggy.

It really was a great day and we were quite sad that it had to come to an end.  Thank you cousins for driving up to spend the day with us.  We loved every minute and are already planning on inviting ourselves down to your neck of the woods soon!

I remember a time long, long ago

There was a time in my life when I could sleep.  All. Night. Long.  I would lay down, close my little eyes and drift off to dream land.  I wouldn't even move because I was so asleep.  Occasionally I would turn over, but very rarely would I have a night when I would toss and turn, or heaven forbid, not sleep.  I miss those days.  However, I wouldn't go back to those days because those were also the days when I did not have a husband or kids and those additions have made my present life so much better.  But every now and then, when I find myself totally exhausted and wanting nothing more than to sleep, I remember those days and think about how nice they were.

For my neice and nephews

We miss you!!!!

A little bit of rain

You know the saying, "When it rains, it pours"?  Well, it's been raining here for a little bit.  Nothing life threatening or tragic or anything, but just very annoying and inconvenient and it has put me into a bit of a funk.  Hence the reason for no blog posts.  Hopefully my desire to be somewhat clever and witty will return again soon (at least to the point that I had it before).

How else would a pirate dress for baseball?

In case you're wondering, the backpack across his body is his satchel.  Duh.

Boys are just gross

Tiger and I were walking down the street when he started digging around in his pocket.

Tiger:  Hey, what's in my pocket?
Me:  I don't know.  What do you have in there?
Tiger:  Oh, it's just boogers.

Flying Tiger

"Mom, when I'm a flying Peregrine Falcon and I dive down I won't even throw up."

The ridiculous story of the pirate costume

This boy and I were walking through Costco when he spied the Halloween costumes, and most particularly, this Pirates of the Caribbean Captain Jack Sparrow pirate costume.  The moment he saw it, he knew it had to be his and so he threw the appropriate tantrum to let me know that he had to have it.  Sadly, I totally gave in to the tantrum.  It was actually kind of cute and he had been so good overall during our very long shopping trip and so really, he deserved to have the costume.  Right?  So, we bring the costume home and as we are walking in the door he is desperately trying to open the bag to get the costume out.  I start getting him dressed up when I notice that the costume pants are missing.  So, I drag the boy back to Costco, half dressed in the costume, to get a pair of costume pants.  I must say that he was quite a sight to behold.  He was totally in his element dressed as a pirate and he made it his duty to acknowledge every person that we passed.  It's not every day that you see a little pirate walking through Costco you know.  Lucky for us there was one costume left and so after consulting with the customer service people we grab the pants and head out the door.  Finally!  But no!  As we were driving down the road back to our house Tiger informs me that one of the belts is broken.  Sheesh!  So, we head back to Costco again to swap out the broken belt shirt with the shirt from the other costume.  Finally, with all costume pieces in tact and accounted for, we head home.  As exhausting as that day was, it was worth it.  He has worn this costume every day since we bought it.  Of course now he says he wants to be a zombie for Halloween.  Whatever, as long as he is a pirate zombie. 

We fish

Now, when I say "we fish" what I actually mean is that Doug takes the kids fishing and I come along and sit in a chair and read a book and sometimes take pictures.  You know, family bonding time stuff.  Plus, there is no way that I am going to touch one of those fish or take it off of the hook or anything.  That's just smelly.  Fortunately Doug has no problem taking care of the smelly business.  There are many places that Doug takes the kids to fish, but this past Labor Day we chose a little pond just a bit north of us and the kids were each determined to catch a fish.  Goal accomplished (many times over).

 Tiger's first fish

 Tiger's super sad face after he got so excited that he decided he wanted to touch the fish before it was thrown back and the fish's dorsal fins totally poked a couple of holes in his little hand.  Needless to say he had no interest in touching the fish after that.

 Sparky's first fish.  This kid was reeling them in one after the other.

Woo's first fish.  My little fisher girl worked hard for this fish and boy was she proud.

Lovely

I was lying down on my bed this morning when Tiger came up and jumped on my back.

"Mom, you're the hippo and I'm the pig who can't swim."

Today it was his turn

Here he is on the first day of his last year of preschool.  It was old hat for us today and this little man was more than happy to start the routine again.  Of course it helps that he has the same teachers this year that he has had for the last two years.  Next year, when he starts Kindergarten, will be a lot different for him and much harder for me.  But we don't have to think about that now.  This year is going to be great!

We had a birthday last week (Miles, these pictures are for you)

Last week my little boy turned 11!  I guess that I really shouldn't call him my little boy anymore, but I am in denial that he is getting older.  We had a low-key birthday since it fell on the second day of school and we were busy, busy, busy.  Still, I think he had a good day.  (Sorry the pictures are so bad.  Between the horrible lighting in my dining area and the color of the walls, pictures don't stand a chance.)

 Giant birthday cupcake, which he was unfortunately too stuffed to even eat.  That's what I get for making a super tasty dinner with all of this boy's favorite things.  And when you never eat and can live off of a thimble full of food, it doesn't take much to fill your tummy.

 "Really, Mom?  It's a jar of pickles you say?  Alright!"

 Just kidding.  It's a card from the cousins.  Oh, how we miss the cousins.  Thanks guys!

 More Pokemon cards.  Apparently the love of Pokemon will never die.  No matter how badly I wish it would.

This boy just loves gum and his sister knows it.  She also just loves her brother, and her love is strong.  Happy 11 big guy.

First day of school

Fifth Grade and Third Grade

Love

Was this really 15 years ago?  It seems like yesterday.



I'm glad I married you my love.

In the backyard

The kids built a tepee