Tooth Fairy Strikes Again

What can I say? I must have the touch.

Alyssa becomes toothless

That's number three for me. Anybody else?? Madelyn, your next!!!

Double Duty

It seemed like a regular day.

Sunday is church. Getting myself and 3 kids up to get there on time is always a chore. But this Sunday I had to get 6 kids up and out - that was a feat. But we made it and all 6 sat as still as church mice during the service. We took up an entire pew and placed adults strategically between the most disruptive children to ensure a peaceful worship service. After church, we got home, ate lunch and everybody just chilled for the afternoon. Before I knew it, dinner time came (pork roast on the grill and fresh corn from a roadside stand)and that was when this ordinary day turned into something special.

My older daughter announced that her tooth was loose. I did a tooth check and sure enough it was pretty loose. After we finished dinner, my sister, my cousin and I went out on the swingset to enjoy the cooling evening. Olivia came up to me to check her tooth out again and my innocent tooth check turned into a tooth removal. POP. Out it went! This is her third but her excitement was still new.

Within a few minutes of spreading the news, my youngest daughter came up to claim that she had a 'wiggly tooth'. My tooth check proved that she did and actually, it was pretty loose. That evening happened to also be a family party for my now 10 year old son. After the cake was served and the presents opened, Gabi announced again that she wanted me to do a tooth check. To my surprise it was much wigglier. Since we were leaving within the hour for a trip to NY, and I already had to play "tooth fairy" to one child while traveling, I was hoping this wiggly tooth would hold off until we got home. But my baby Foo insisted that she wanted her tooth out. I had bought 2 little Tooth Fairy bags at a boutique to hold teeth for the Tooth Fairy and up until this moment had only needed one. So I told Gabi that I had a special bag for her tooth to go in and went downstairs to get it. When I showed it to her she said, "Let's bring it to NY just in case my tooth comes out when I'm there." "No," I said, "the bag only goes with a tooth in it." Well, let me tell you that those were the right words to say to that little girl. She took me into the study, away from all the people in our house, and had me do some really strong pulls on that little tooth. After a few tears, she sucked up the pain and told me to just do it. I obeyed and pulled just enough so it was literally hanging there and she was able to do it herself.

Now my little baby doesn't look like a little baby anymore and my princess is just simply toothless! The sorrows and joys of parenthood.

Little Tooth Hangs On

Little Tooth Lost the Battle

Double Duty

Gabi Pulls out her Little Tooth

Pig Pieces

My nephew has come to stay with me for a few weeks in July since he was 4 years old. This summer he will be 13. Last summer was the first time we missed out on his visit because their family was going through a major move and we thought it best that he spend as much time in his old home as possible. There are things that we do every summer with him and have established many traditions. Since we moved and this is his first time spending time in our new home, most of the old traditions of Ohio have gone away. But there is one thing that has stayed the same. Pig pieces. To those who aren't familiar with this delicacy, you probably know them better as ribs. Tonite was Pig Pieces night.

Alyssa Loves Pig Pieces

Before dinner was served tonite, the kids all heard the very familiar tunes of the ice cream truck coming. They were all in the basement playing and all it took was one kid hearing that tune to alert the others of the trucks arrival. I too heard the truck and rushed from folding my laundry to flag her down - even in the pouring rain. The poor ice cream truck girl didn't think she'd get any business but when my flock of kids ran out after her, barefoot and umbrellas in hand, we made her day. (I apologize for the last part of the video where it is sideways, my video lady is a little crazy!)

Best Friends

Mutt and Jeff

Crazy Boys

As you can see, Anthony is much taller than his cousin. And yes, Jacob's hair is done up in a mohawk!! Both were posing as if going to jail for a line up! Don't look they look mean??

Happy 4th

Our Fourth just about got rained out but we still made the best of it and really tried to stick it out despite the bad weather. The vote was 10 to 4 in favor of staying at the celebration at Baker Park in Frederick. The guys went back to the car to get the blankets and tarps, the girls stayed and let the kids play at the park. By the time the guys got back, we got hammered again and the 4 people who had lost the original vote were now elated because we were going home. Oh, well, at least we had a huge bag of sparklers, poppers and other lightable paraphernalia to do at home.

The Cousins

The Girl Cousins

My Day Planner Says . . .

I can't believe I'm already saying this.

SLOW DOWN!

Why is it that summer has to go so fast? I'm in shock that the month of June is almost over. Our July month is usually so busy and come August and the start of football practice every day, that will fly by too.

So, what have I been up to?

Let me try and recap.{I even have to look at my day planner to actually see what I have done.} Oh, yeah, now I remember.

I feel like I have to pay homage first to Olivia's last gymnastic meet as a pre-team girl. It was on the same day as our New York trip. She really did a fabulous job and attacked her meet with such poise and grace, just like my princess is.

My day planner tells me that the next few weeks were spent running to the gym 3 times a week, baseball practices, baseball games several times a week, teeball practices, teeball games, working at Gymboree and finally to a fast 24 hour trip to Seattle. The Seattle trip was definitely the highlight of my June. It was great to spend 5 hours on an airplane just sitting. We had a wonderful time in Seattle and even better was that I got to see my lifelong friend/sister and spend some time with her and her little peanut.

The kids had to get up at 4:30 a.m. and I insisted that they take a nap on the plane. Of course, if you thought that we could take a 24 hour trip without any drama, you're sadly mistaken. Before we left the house at 5 a.m., Olivia started coughing and looked really beat. I didn't think anything of it considering it was so early, I just figured she was exhausted. That little cough turned into a full blown cold and let me tell you, it couldn't have come at a worse time. We had to buy her medicine at the airport and because it made her so sleepy, as soon as the meal was served on the plane, my little princess fell alseep. Believe it or not, Little Foo slept too, for almost 2 hours. That made the plane ride go much smoother for me! And Jake, well, let's just say, he refused a nap and boy did he pay for it later. As soon as our plane hit the ground in Seattle, we were off and running and didn't stop until 8 p.m. PST (do the math, that's 11 pm EST). Poor Olivia was exhausted and coughed out, Jake really regretted not taking a nap on the plane and believe it or not, Gabi was the best behaved that day because of her really long nap. This all leads up to why I am telling this little story because of the picture underneath. This is Jake, so exhausted from being dragged around Seattle, that he pulled some pillows that were for sale off of the rack at Nordstrom Rack and laid down!

The kids at Pike Place Market, riding a golden pig and wearing their new aprons

As soon as I got back, at 3 a.m. on a Wednesday, Jake had an appointment with his homeschool evaluator late that afternoon. Before we even left for Seattle, I had to have that major project finished. My day planner tells me that that took up a lot of my time in the weeks before our trip. That next weekend we went to spend Father's Day with my dad and then went to see a concert at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, VA. We had a lovely time and it was neat to see the kids soaking in the culture. From there we went to see my mom to spend some time with her for her birthday. Unfortunately, our visit was cut short because we had to get back home for Jake's championship baseball practice. Lucky for me, I didn't need to be home for the practice just for the all important game the next day for my son. So, I got to stay for an extra day and go galavanting with my mom. That was very enjoyable and we took every imagineable opportunity available to us and shopped, shopped, shopped as well as had a little duck at Duck Chang's to keep us nourished.

According to my day planner, ever since Jake lost his championship game last Wednesday, my schedule simply holds being at the gym 4 times a week now. Olivia has graduated to a competition level and according to her team handbook, missing practices is a big no-no. She has one girl in her class that will be taking the month of July off and has hired their coach to privately tutor her so she doesn't fall behind. Having her at practice 4 times a week is a big committment for us considering how much we like to travel. But, we'll do our best.

So, my day planner, what does the future hold?? Besides being at the gym 4 times a week, I think I'm going to schedule into my summer the opportunity to just sit, sit on the front porch and watch life go by, sit on the deck and watch the sun set, sit on the swingset with my kids and watch them be kids, try to stop sitting so much at my computer. Get out and enjoy this time because, according to my day planner, it is going to be over so soon.

Grow Up

The price of maturity.

My husband and I have talked about that issue so many times in our almost 13 years of marriage. Sometimes it's good to be an adult. And sometimes it just plain stinks. Sometimes we relish in the ability to be grown up and other times, we are forced to make decisions that hurt the ones we love. Sometimes setting boundaries and lowering expectations in a relationship can on one end of the spectrum push away the ones we love and on the other end enhance the quality of that relationship.

We often look back at our relationship and decisions that were made in our early years of marriage and we cringe. We cringe at how immature and stupid we were. And I'm sure that a decade from now we'll cringe at our decisions and how we handle relationships now. But for the mean time, we are learning from our mistakes and trying to steer our life and relationships to a place that is harmonious.

My sister and her husband, my family and I recently returned from a trip to visit family members in NY. It was for a very important 100th birthday party for my dad's aunt (which is my great aunt and my kid's great great aunt). This fantastic lady is basically my dad's mother figure since his mom passed when he was very young. I don't see this side of the family often and this celebration gave me the opportunity to make an attempt to reconnect. It still took me a little bit to try and remember all the names of the people present and how they were related to me. My oldest daughter was surprised that her Pop Pop (my dad) even had a sister and that she actually had "big" cousins. Her interest in getting to know these people and the reciprocated interest that her "big" cousins, aunts and uncles took in getting to know her (and her brother and sister) made me realize that I needed to pay more attention to cultivating a relationship with this side of the family.

And that, my friends, is where the theme of this post come in.

Any chance at being close with this side of the family was taken away when my parents divorced. I grew up differently then my cousins. Besides the fact that my parents were divorced, our parents held different norms and values. And because of that, we formed different opinions, mentalities, and ways of thinking. In order to cultivate this relationship, I have to maintain a mature attitude, to sort of grow up in a way. I have to move beyond the differences, not necessarily agreeing to disagree but realizing that not everyone has to be like me. And that's okay. I'm a big girl now.

Generations

Sisters

Uncles and Cousins

Princess Grad

Our homeschool group recently had a graduation ceremony for the Kindergarten, 8th and 12th grade classes. Gabi was our first to actually have a graduation ceremony. It was a neat experience to see that as our kids get older, this age old tradition of graduations will be carried out even though they aren't in the school system. For the senior class, they showed a slide show and had the parents come up with the child as they received their graduation certificate. My little "Princess Grad" had a few things to say too.

Our homeschool leader, kindly asked Gabi what her tiara said. Apparently, she had forgotten and had to remove it to see! And as you can tell, she made the entire audience laugh!! What a nut!

She also asked her what her favorite homeschool memory was, to which she responded, "Going to see Pioneer Tunnel." And then, "What was your favorite SELAH {our homeschool group} memory?", to which she responded, "Making the food!" {in kitchen chemistry class}. And her last big question, "What is your favorite thing to do?", and her reply, "Playing babies with my sister Livvy!"

Well, you might not be a public speaker but you might one day learn to make people laugh and do stand up comedy!

Congratulations my Little Foo! You did it! You've survived your first real year of homeschooling and your off to first grade! YIPPEE!

My Little Princess Grad

New Addiction

I have a new addiction and I'm not afraid to admit it. For years, I have been addicted to clothes from Gymboree for my kids. I specifically like their clothes for girls and all the matching accessories they have. Since the girls are getting older, I have found it harder to even branch out into another clothier for them because of the mainstream fashions. If you haven't noticed, our young girls are looking more and more like miniature runway divas. Hello, doesn't anybody stop to think about how those scantily clad 7, 8, 9 year old girls will want to dress when they are say . . . 15 and their bodies have now passed puberty and they are considered young ladies. Why would they want to change their ways of wearing mini skirts, sweatpants with words across their behinds, crop tops, high heels and off the shoulder shirts?? I'm sorry but I don't want my girls looking like that now OR when they are teenagers. I like them looking like little girls.

So, a friend of mine at work told me about a company that I had heard about but never thought I could afford. And since the company was all on the West Coast and in South Africa, I had never been in one of their stores. Well, hold on to your credit cards ladies, because not only is this store affordable but they have the cutest darn things for girls (and boys too). The store is called Naartjie. Now their website is very hard to use and it seems that most of the time, the size that you want is not in stock. But never fear, I've already spent enough time finding a way around that silly website and now passing my knowledge onto you. The best way to get what you want from Naartjie is to pick a store from their store locations list, any store, pick one that sounds nice to you. Click on their email address and compose a list of the things you want, including the SKU number, size and color. Send that email to that store. If that store doesn't have what you want, guess what, they'll find a store in their system that does. THEY'LL do all the donkey work of finding your list and then take care of getting it all sent to you under one shipping charge. Now, how nice is that! Talk about customer service! So, are you curious now?? Wanna see what Naartjie is all about. I took a photo shoot of the girls tonite in one of their outfits. Take a look!

So, what do you think??

P.S. I use the Glendale, CA store at the Glendale Galleria. They are very customer friendly and do a great job finding my endless list of matching Naartjie outfits for the girls!

Permission Slip

My sister and I were just discussing an adage and trying to figure it out. I even Googled it because I was sure there was another part to it but I was disappointed to find out that there wasn't. The adage is:

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

I was positive that there was a part about being fooled three times. So, I'll just stick to my Three strikes, you're out! adage. I use that adage mostly with disciplining my kids - I'll tell them once to quit a certain behavior, I'll tell them again what's going to happen if they don't listen to me and then I'll follow through with that consequence. I'm pretty good about follow through and find that has made such a difference in their behavior.

I guess I've never really thought about the need to extend the adage that I have adopted to other aspects and people in my life. Just as my sister feels she's the "Resident Doormat", you could probably call me the "Resident Scapegoat". I am usually put into that role only with my family. Whenever anything goes wrong, somehow, it's always my fault. Even when the situation doesn't even involve me, somehow, somewhere, it's my fault. A subtitle that falls under the "Resident Scapegoat" title is the "Resident Advocate". In our family unit, I think each of us at times plays this role. And I think it can be a good thing to sometimes offer another point of view if you have an issue with another. But at the present time, that subtitle is biting me in the butt.

So, here is what I have to say to that.

I hereby give myself permission to no longer be the 'Resident Scapegoat' for my family. I am adult enough to admit when I have wronged someone. I am mature enough to say 'I'm sorry' to that person - even though it might take me a while to collect my feelings and get my emotions under control. When it actually IS my fault, I'm mature enough to recognize it and proceed accordingly.

And as far as my role of being an advocate, I also hereby give myself permission to no longer take on that responsibility. I feel I need to do that because, One, Two, Three times I've been screwed and you know what,

YOU'RE OUT!!!!!

.

5 Minute Management Course

I've been meaning to post this and I'm tired of it sitting in my inbox so I'm going to do it now. This was an email sent to me by a friend.

Lesson 1:

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.

Before she says a word, Bob says, "I'll give you $800 to drop that towel. "

After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves.

The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, "Who was that?"

"It was Bob the next door neighbor," she replies.

"Great!" the husband says, "did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?"

Moral of the story :

If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2:

A priest offered a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.

The nun said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?" The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again.

The nun once again said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?"

The priest apologized "Sorry sister but the flesh is weak"

Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129.

It said, "Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory."

Moral of the story:

If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 3:

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out.
The Genie says, "I'll give each of you just one wish."
"Me first! Me first!" says the admin clerk. "I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world."

Puff! She's gone.

"Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life."

Puff! He's gone.

"OK, you're up," the Genie says to the manager.

The manager says, "I want those two back in the office after lunch."

Moral of the story:

Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 4:

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing?"

The eagle answered: "Sure , why not."

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story:

To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson 5:

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy."

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story:

BullShit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

Lesson 6:

A little bird was flying south for the Winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story:

(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.

(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.

(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

THIS ENDS THE 5-MINUTE MANAGEMENT COURSE

Toofless Again

It all started out as a regular day. Dh (short for darling husband) was home teaching school and what would I do with my free morning?? He had to go to work this afternoon and I really didn't have much to do except make myself stay in bed and wonder if there was anything I REALLY needed to do. As I sat there, I remembered that I wanted to call the dentist about Olivia. She has had a loose tooth for a while and about a week ago I noticed that her gum was swollen. Not the gum directly around her tooth but starting at the roof of her upper lip extending almost to the tooth line. She has employed me to wiggle her tooth every nite in an attempt to make it come out faster - I guess. The morning I noticed the swelling, I just figured that I had wiggled it to much the night before and that the swelling would go away. Much to my chagrin, the swelling stayed where it was and never went away. It even looked a little worse. I started to get concerned that it might be an abscess of some sort so I decided to give the dentist a call this morning. I actually thought that the swelling looked almost like her new tooth coming in but figured that it was way to high up in the gumline to be that. If it actually was her new tooth coming in, it was sure popping out of her mouth at a strange place!

So, that's how my day started. What was to be a relaxed morning doing things for myself and running my errands without any kids, basically turned out to be a morning with Olivia at the dentist. My suspicions were right, the swelling WAS actually her new tooth coming out. But what I hadn't prepared myself for this morning, was the fact that the dentist wanted to pull the baby tooth out since it was impeding on the new tooth coming in.

Oh, boy.

I don't know what it is with my kids and their teeth pulling antics!!

But here we go again!

My princess was a brave little trooper and I tried to help her relax by teaching her some imagery techniques. I had her close her eyes and picture the dock in Florida where she loves to sit and what the sunsets. To picture the 'coconut fish' in the water and feel the warm sunshine on her face. They gave her several shots of novicane and my princess just sat there and squeezed my hand as I gently talked to her about her favorite place in Florida. Before we knew it, that little baby tooth was out. The dentist reminded Olivia that she had a special pink phone that only dentists have to contact the tooth fairy about special feets of courage like Olivia demonstrated today. It was so amazing to watch my little girls face light up. She called her cousin tonite just to tell her all about that special pink phone.

So, her she is, toofless again.

Signs

My granny is a sign reader. When I was a little girl, wherever we went, she was always reading the signs. Street signs, billboards, advertisements, street names. If there was a sign on the road, she read it. I always thought this was a really funny trait and always made fun of her. As I grew up, especially during the time that I learned to drive, I found myself doing the same thing. And the funny thing is, as I read the signs in my head, I read them in my granny's voice. I found this trait in myself very intriguing and only in the past couple of years have I been truly thankful for the influence that my granny has left on me.

You see, reading these signs has not only added information to my brain at times but also humor. There are lots of times that I will be looking for a particular store or street name and I will say to myself, "I remember reading a sign for that!" Since I have a photographic memory, I can usually also picture that sign that I had read. Many a times, that sign reading granny has saved my hide and saved me from getting lost simply because I remember reading a sign.

And, at times, my sign reading abilities has made me laugh. Remember last July when I posted about the sign (and actually took a picture of it) that said:

Drive carefully and wear clean underwear just in case.

That was a hysterical sign and had so much significance to me.

Just a few days ago when I was at a doctors appointment, I noticed a white sign amongst a newly landscaped flower garden outside the office. As usual, I stopped to read the sign and had myself a fabulous laugh for the morning. It read:

Please don't discard cigarette butts here. The squirrels come out at nite and smoke them and we are trying to get them to quit.

Now, doesn't that just make you laugh??

BTW - answering that question in the COMMENTS section of this post, is perfectly acceptable. Not answering it is failure to be banned from reading my blog. I know who you are, so you better leave your opinion.

Keeping Up With the Jones'

. . . . well, not really but it could be taken that way. You see, we live in a "signature community". All the houses are brand new and most are the biggest models offered by the builders. So many of them have stone fronts, cosmetic dormers and three car garages. Both of our neighbors built in-ground pools last summer. Both also 'had to have' swingsets for their kids to play on.

And then there is our house. She has vinyl siding and just a 2 car garage, no stone front or cosmetic dormers and definitely, NO POOL. The community pool is just fine. I'll keep my backyard for playing soccer or baseball or to make huge snowmen in during the winter. So this summer, not to keep up with the Jones', but because I just wanted to do something for my kids, we bought them a swingset. Not one of those put together ones you buy at Home Depot or Wal-Mart or Sam's Club. Those you have to put together and my dh just isn't the handyman type. We bought a Rainbow Playsystems swingset instead. When I first decided I wanted to get a swingset for the kids, that name just popped up into my head. Thankfully they were having a huge sale so I was able to save a lot. It was delivered today and I think it's a hit!

Young Public Speaker

The kids were given a taste of what it feels like to do a little public speaking tonite. Our homeschool group hosted a Spring Speech Nite for grades K-12. Apparently, as Jake gets older, this will be a requirement for our homeschool program. So, to start him out on the right foot and give him a non-stress environment to hone is speech skills, I entered all three of the kids in the event. Jake read an excerpt from the book Black Beauty, Olivia wrote her own story and read that. And Gabi, well, she read a little book called Cats Wear Hats. They all did very well and I was very proud of them. Here is a short clip of Olivia reading her story. BTW - the parents watching the speeches were required to positively evaluate the kids on their performance. Olivia's comments had lots to say - one even commented on how beautiful her outfit was. Should I be ashamed that Olivia looked at the girl sitting next to her and exclaimed, "You're wearing that!!" The girl must not have taken much offense to it because by the end of the evening, they were best friends. Olivia must have felt sorry for her!!

Beaming

Today, Jake got his braces. I never had braces so I had no clue what it felt like. My dh (darlng husband) had braces and both my sisters had braces. They tried to explain what he would be going through and the discomfort he might feel during the procedure but mostly afterward and the days following. But me, I had no clue.

It surprised me how nervous I was before I took him to the orthodontist. My son has an issue with dealing with pain. I know I've explained before how awful it was during the times he was losing teeth and how when it got the part for them to need just a little tug it was like, well, pulling teeth to get it to come out. I had debated for weeks and dialogued with my most trusted third party, my sis, about the best course of action to take knowing his affinity to not handle pain well. It was decided it would be best to take a very relaxed attitude about the whole thing in hopes that he too would adopt that same attitude. And that is just what I did. But yesterday, the morning of our appointment, it was very hard for me to hide my concern. And what made it worse was when he walked into the study with red, swollen eyes. He had been doing his best to hide his tears but just couldn't hold it anymore. He was visibly upset and I just wanted to cry right along with him. But I didn't. I just assured him that I could go into the office with him or he could go by himself - whatever made him more comfortable. He sucked it up and decided he wanted to try it alone. And when we got to the office, I asked him one more time and he stuck to his guns and wanted to do it alone.

And he did.

And I am so proud of him. I hope this new found courage will help him get over his fear of pain as he learns to deal with it on his own and in his own way.

Yes, his braces are black and orange. He chose it to match the colors of his football team. Whatever makes him happy.

And by the way, his teeth aren't that yellowed because of lack of brushing or poor dental care. It is because of the massive antibiotic use he had when he was a baby. Those permanent teeth came out that way. When all of his teeth are in, when he's 16, they will bleach them back to white.

I Don't Wanna

I'm to tired to blog.

I have lots to say but I'm to tired to say it.

I've posted tons of times in my head - does that count??

Like my new blog design?? Thanks to Steph for creating such a beautiful page!

The dh(darling husband) has been gone for a while - in the last nine days, he's been home two. No wonder I'm exhausted. Count in a major snow storm of which I had to shovel the driveway myself. No thanks to the arrogant, self-centered, uppity neighbors walking around with their snowblowers WATCHING ME struggle with my little shovel. Assholes.

I wanna say more but am afraid to fall asleep. So, off to finish watching Spiderman 2. I hope I've paused the DVR machine long enough to be able to fast forward through some of the commercials.

I leave you with a picture.

That would be Gabi and her new pet, Rody. You know, the plastic ride on llama (that's what we call it) she got for Christmas. And yes, he is wearing socks on his ears. I went to put Olivia to bed tonite and she was very proud because she had lifted the llama's socks and put them on her feet. No wonder the poor animal was yelping because his ears were cold. He sleeps with her every night and insists on having the covers. Oh yeah, the chicken too.

Sista' Tagged Me

I don't get tagged often and I see it as a test to see if I'm keeping up with certain people's blogs.

Em, do I pass?

The task - coming up with 6 things that make me weird. Well Em, I agree with you, I don't think I'm weird, I think I'm pretty normal. It's the rest of you that are off your rocker.

Here we go -

1. If you tell me that we are having hot dogs and macaroni and cheese for lunch and I come to the table and you serve me chicken and macaroni and cheese, I can't eat it. You see there has already been a message sent from my brain to my stomach and there's no turning back.

2. I will only buy name brand clothes for my kids. Call me snobby, call me weird, call it a good investment for my eBay business. I just can't bring myself to walk into WalMart and buy my kids ANYTHING to wear - including underwear.

3. I'm pretty much the same way with my own clothes and shoes.

4. I love doing laundry. I always do the household laundry in a specific order. I do our laundry first, Jake's second and then the girls last. I love seeing them all cleaned and hung up neatly in the laundry room and then smelling them when I fold them to put them away.

5. I have a glass of orange juice every morning for breakfast. And most of the time, that's it. If someone makes me breakfast, I'll eat it. But not matter if I just have my orange juice or my juice and some breakfast, I am ALWAYS starving at the same time every morning. So, I see it as a waist of my time and calories to have anything but just my OJ to get my blood sugar up and running.

6. I hate sand anywhere but the bottom of my feet. Don't like it on my hands, don't like it on my legs, don't like it on my arms, don't like it on my face. And don't shake a blanket with sand on it around me. I just might have to kill you. I don't know how I've made it this far with 3 children who love to roll in the sand and then come hug me. YUCK! DON'T TOUCH ME!

Finally

Finally.

The cold has finally gone up north where it belongs.

I've been to two different outlet malls.

I've been to a swamp.

I've visited the Manatee Park and actually for the first time, actually seen a manatee. They only come to the park when it is cold.

I've worn all the cold weather clothes I brought with me. And even washed them once so I could wear them again.

My kids have worn every jacket, capri, pant and even long sleeved outfits that I have brought them. And they have been washed once and then worn again.

Olivia wore her winter hat, winter jacket and spring jacket to the Edison Festival on Saturday.

But it finally came. The warmth. I'm not saying it's roasting and to native Floridians, it's cold. But we can at least go to the beach to play without wearing our winter gear. The kids have been dying to dig and construct and that's just what we gave them today. Olivia has been dying to wear some of her summer digs and break out the sandals and flip flops. I'm glad I could finally oblige her.

Happy V Day

It's not snowing. There is no ice. I don't have to wear a jacket when I go outside. I don't have to climb into my car and freeze my buns off waiting for the seat warmer to kick in.

Did I say there is no snow??

We arrived safely after a 3 1/2 hr drive to my mom's on Monday (to outrun the storm) and then a 16 hour drive south on Tuesday.

Drive, I say, just drive.

And keep driving.

I watch the temperature gauge on the car go UP and not DOWN. I love that part.

And I love watching the barren, snow afflicted trees turn more tropical and gain green, green, green as we drive south, south, south.

It's good to be here.

The kids at South of the Border

The kitties on the drive down

Happy Football Day

I hate football.

I've hated it forever.

I haven't even attempted to try and like it.

Before we moved, football was never on in our house nor was the word even mentioned. But when we moved here, in an effort to plug my son into his new community as soon as possible, I reluctantly relented to allowing my son to play on the local community football team.

Ever since then, it's been like opening Pandora's Box.

There is football on now almost every Sunday during the season and both my son and my husband enjoying those male bonding moments.

But I still hate it.

And today, Super Bowl Sunday, it's no exception. I have no interest in the game and could care less who wins.

The only thing that's made it more tolerable is a long standing tradition. This tradition started before Jake was even born and now that I think about it has gone on just about every year since then. Our yearly visit with "The Bears" AKA the Michael's, has made this day much easier for me. It means I can hang out with a fellow partner in crime and instead of watching the game, enjoy a day of thrift or resale shopping, eat wings and watch a chick flick. I look forward to that. I can swallow this day much easier knowing that our tradition stands year after year, game after game.

Me and Char

Little Bear and Tom

The Kids (missing Baby Foo who was napping at the time)

So, merry football and happy Super Bowl. Enjoy!