Some family pictures

The world's cutest and bestest babysitter came over to take a picture of our family for her upcoming Evening of Excellence night.

( Note to self: Sitting further up on the couch than your husband is not a flattering position )

And why is it that they smile better when a sibling is taking the picture then if I do? These last few were taken by Lauren and Jack.

And this last one? Don't ask. I just really don't know...........

Wanna see some more pictures?

We worked on the faux pillars today and got this far:

This is on the living room archway:




This is from in the living room looking through the entry and into the dining room. The one on the left hasn't been painted yet. The one on the right is done:

This is the dining room archway:

And my very proud accomplishment.... I put trim on the bar all.by.myself. thank you very much!

What kind of acid trip.....

from the 1970s were the producers of this show on when they thought up this little number???







It's everything that I can't stand in a children's tv show all rolled into one.


It's teletubbies meets really bad Japanese animation meets Fat Albert meets mind-numbingly repetitive songs.


And so you know how I REALLY feel......I would rather poke out my right eye while gnawing on my left arm than watch this show.

Just trying to save one mom's sanity at a time by sparing them from wasting thirty minutes of their life they will never get back

Remembering September 11, 2001

I realized that I never wrote on my blog about what I was doing on September 11, 2001. So, I thought I'd share my thoughts and experience today.

It was a day whose video scenes and still picture images will be forever etched into my mind.

9/9/2001 My husband and I had just returned to Tampa from a one week cruise to the Caribbean and had planned to rent a car and drive to Orlando for a couple of days at DisneyWorld. We stood outside where we were supposed to pick up the shuttle to the car lot for a good hour before we got word that there had been a bomb threat at the Alamo location and no buses were allowed to go in or out until it was cleared up. We ended up waiting about three hours before we could get our car. We were pretty upset since we had little time to spend at DisneyWorld to begin with and this delay caused us to have even less time. It wasn't until a few months later when we learned that several of the hijackers lived and went to flights schools around the area and that one had flown within a day or so of the attacks from Florida. We can't help but think that whatever it was that happened at the car rental location that day might have been some precursor to the events of 9/11.


9/10/2001 Our American Airlines flight arrived around 11pm and we had decided to wait until the morning to go and pick up Lauren from my parent's house. Little did we know that just five short hours later, a living nightmare was about to begin.

9/11/2001 We were awakened by my husband's brother at about 6am asking if we had seen the news. We turned on the television in our room and I watched in horror as the first twin tower burned. At first, I thought a small plane had crashed into the building on accident. It wasn't two minutes later that I watched as the second plane crashed into the second tower. I stood speechless and numb. I decided to get ready and go pick up Lauren and right as I was about to leave, I had heard that another plane had crashed into the Pentagon. I kept thinking, "What's going on!?" We were at war and our enemy is using our own planes to kill us! It was unthinkable. Completely incomprehensible. By the time I pulled up to my parent's house, there was word that another plane had crashed in Pennsylvania. I was sick. I wanted to throw up.

I went across the street to get our mail that our neighbor had picked up for us. She opened the door with a blank stare as she told me her husband had just returned from a business trip to New York City and worked in a building right next to the towers.

She reminded me that I needed to check and make sure a former co-worker of mine who left to become a flight attendant for American Airlines was OK. I called the hot line number where you can give the name and they would let you know if they were listed as being on one of the flights or not. She wasn't. Thank heavens.

Another former co-worker's cousin on the other hand, wasn't as lucky. She worked at Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc at the World Trade Center. The last time I talked to my co-worker just a couple of months later, they still hadn't found her body. I don't know if they ever did.

Sadly, that was the anguish and torment that over 3000 other families were going through as well.

I sat glued to the television the rest of the day and for probably the next week. I watched the "lucky" ones tell about how they just happened to be late for work that day or decided to take their child to school first. They told of the remorse and guilt they felt for still being alive while their co-workers and friends perished. I was terrified every morning to wake up because I didn't want to hear of more attacks. After a week, I finally had to just turn the TV off. I was getting too anxious and paranoid. My fear lasted months as I was scared to go to places where I knew lots of people would be like a movie theater or mall. I thought they might be a target for terrorists. Lame, I know but it was real and I internalized it way too much. I still have a major fear of flying. Our house was in the flight path for planes landing at the Phoenix airport. When planes were grounded I remember thinking how quiet it was without hearing the planes overhead every once in a while. Then at night, I'd lay in bed and hear the sounds of the military jets as they circled the skies. Very eerie.

Since that day, I have never forgotten the immense feeling of unity and patriotism our nation experienced over the next few months. I remember seeing car after car after car with a symbol of our great Country proudly displayed. Yellow ribbons that adorned bumpers and flags that were sacredly flown day in and day out. The Anthems which were written proclaiming that we will be strong, we will not falter, we will prevail.

How I wish that we could still feel that sense of unity today. How sad that it has been just six short years since the worst attack our Nation has seen and we have forgotten those feelings of shock and resolve that we felt on that day.

I hear people saying we don't need this war.

I say there's some things worth fighting for.

What about our freedom and this piece of ground?

We didn't get to keep 'em by backing down.

Now they say we don't realize the mess we're getting in.

Before you start your preaching let me ask you this my friend.

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?

To see your homeland under fire

And her people blown away?

Have you forgotten when those towers fell?

We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell.

And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout Bin Laden.

Have you forgotten?

They took all the footage off my T.V.

Said it's too disturbing for you and me

It'll just breed anger that's what the experts say

If it was up to me I'd show it everyday.

Some say this country's just out looking for a fight.

Well after 9/11 man, I'd have to say that's right.

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?

To see your homeland under fire

And her people blown away?

Have you forgotten when those towers fell?

We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell.

And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout Bin Laden.

Have you forgotten?

Now I've been there with the soldiers

Who've gone away to war.

And you can bet that they remember

Just what they're fightin' for.

Have you forgotten all the people killed?

Some went down like heroes in that Pennsylvania field.

Have you forgotten about our Pentagon?

And all the loved ones that we lost and those left to carry on.?

Don't you tell me not to worry about Bin Laden.

Have you forgotten?

Lauren's new "secret"

Lauren came home and told me she was in a "secret" club at school. Curious, I asked who else is in your club? Does your club have a name? When does your club meet? Are there dues involved? Secret handshakes or hand jive? Will I need to supply yet another snack?

She mentioned three of her friends are in this "secret" club and that they meet during recess.


Then she went on to tell me the other "secret" things they do in this "secret" club.


Evidently, they have computers in this "secret" club complete with passwords so that they can email people. She couldn't remember who exactly they email just that they can if they wanted to. She asked me if I had computers in my secret clubs when I was her age. When I told her that the first IBM TRS80 computer didn't come out until I was about 10, she just stood there expressionless and said, "HUH?" Probably the same way I reacted when I asked my parents what an 8-track was back when I was about her age.

There is also a special rock "key" that they rotate around as to who is allowed the honor of taking the key home.


She hesitated a little, but decided she would share her "secret" password with me. After all, we were family and I suppose it would be okay to share her "secret" password with us. She started out with

"Girls love....." ( UH OH! You know that feeling you get when you first see that a cop is about to pull you over? Where your heart drops to your stomach and starts pounding and then all of the blood rushes to your head and you start to feel flushed? And don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about because you've never been pulled over by a cop before! )

"Cutie" ( NOOOOOooooo! Please don't say "Boys" please don't say "Boys"! You're far too young to start noticing boys!!!! )

"Cutie" ( At this point, time was practically standing still as I was hanging on to her every word..... )

"Cutie" ( It's a little sketchy but I think my eyes were probably closed and I was saying a little prayer )

"Animals".



PHEW! You have NO idea how relieved I was to hear that.


And whatever happened to a simple password like "Lauren2000" or "Lauren7"? I'm pretty sure that "Girlslovecutiecutiecutieanimals" wouldn't even fit if it were a "real" password. And even if it did, she'd still probably need a number somewhere in there anyways.

Of course, I started laughing and she kept asking what was so funny. I wasn't about to tell her the real reason since that would just open a whole can of worms that I didn't want to deal with right now since in my eyes, she's still sweet and innocent and I'd like to keep it that way for a little while longer.


So, her "secret" club has computers and they email each other and play some kind of computer game on it as well.



So much for "Hopscotch" or "tag"?

Edited to add:
I think I started typing this a couple of days too soon. Lauren mentioned to me yesterday that there are four boys who have a crush on her. This is NOT supposed to happen until she's like what? 20? Of course, my two year old isn't supposed to learn how to crawl out of his crib either but figured that one out this week too. Just a big old week of firsts around this place!

Gripes away!

I'm just having one of those &%$@! days.


1. Hey you. Yes you. Lady with the teenage kids and can't remember what it was like having a two year old, who keeps turning around during church and giving me the "why can't you keep your child quiet" look every five minutes. Why do you think we are sitting in the very last row to begin with? I'm doing my best but my boy has neither learned to use his "quiet" voice yet nor taken his afternoon nap and wrestling him and a five month old at the same time isn't all that easy. Instead, maybe you or your teenage daughters might offer to help take one of them next time.

2. This is for all of you who don't know what to do at a four way stop especially when it involves a school crosswalk. And as if one lane of traffic in each direction was bad enough, try adding an additional lane plus a turn lane each way. Those lanes were officially added recently probably because people were just making up the imaginary lanes anyways, but now it's "official". If two cars arrive at the stop at the same time, the driver to the right has the right of way. Or in the case of the four way stop that I frequent when I take my child to/from school, it's biggest construction truck goes first, followed by a driver talking on their cell phone not paying the least bit of attention as to who was at the stop first, then after they have gone, it's the cars that are turning right into the parent pick up lane who can turn whenever they want because the stop sign doesn't apply to them. Then it's basically just a "free-for-all" for everyone else.....like me who is left sitting at the stop flailing my arms around at everyone saying, "Oh no. Please. You go first. Be my guest. I'll just sit here while those ten other cars turn right and block me from crossing."

3. No, Pediatrician's office. Contrary to what you are being told, we do NOT have a deductible for well checks. Have you SEEN what we've paid for previous six well check visits we've done this year? Do you not see that we only pay the $15.00 copay and the rest is covered by our insurance? I do not owe you an additional $500.00 which not only bugs me that you can't "fix" your error, but it shows me just how much my Doctor is getting paid for my having to wait an hour beyond my scheduled appointment time with four kids right before lunchtime while he spends all of 15 minutes with my child which half of that time was spent by me changing two poopy diapers. And then has the nerve to reprimand one of them because they are scooting around on his rolling stool in the 40 square foot exam room.

4. Yes! I just LOVE paying almost $3.00/gallon for milk. All in the name of growing corn to make ethanol in order to save the planet from its catastrophic deterioration of the ozone layer that will save the Polar bears in the "melting" arctic rather than feeding the cow that produces the milk I need to sustain my family of six.

5. Hey whiny five month old.....Chill out! I know this might come as a shock to you but you really don't need to be held every waking minute of the day. You should be old enough by now to learn to entertain yourself long enough for me to use the bathroom or fold a load of laundry. Let me introduce you to Mr. Pacifier. It's just a phase.....It's just a phase......It's just a phase......

6. Yo neighbor kid. What's up with coming over and picking out all of the marshmallows from my box of Lucky Charms? That's MY job.

7. Kids.....filling a big tupperware container with water and Honey Combs then freezing it into a big block of ice is NOT a yummy "treat".

8. This next one is a "shout out" to our former renters who decided to break their two year lease after nine months. And for the nosy neighbor I have affectionately nicknamed "Gladys" across the street who convinced them they were paying too much rent for our size of house. Interesting that we never got a reference call from your current landlord. Now I realize why. How is it possible for two adults and a dog to do more damage to our house in nine months than a family of five could do in five years? How does one back in their truck creating a hole from their tow hitch in the garage? How were you able to knock out and break an outlet like that? How did the bedroom windowpane get a crack in it from the inside? Did you really need to pull off ALL of the towel holders in the bathroom and the back door knob? I appreciate the fact that you tried to fix the RV gate that you somehow managed to break, but I think the scrap wood "bandaid" you used looks a little....how shall I say it? Redneckish? Thanks for trying to clean the carpet where your "most well-trained" dog left his presents but we could have done without the bleach stains that were left behind causing us to have to replace more carpet than we really wanted to. Although the stains go very nicely with the red wine stains you left us as well. What was that? A whole bottle you poured onto the family room carpet? Silly me. And to think I was worried people would notice the small pee-stain my potty-training two year old left on the dining room rug. Thank you though for making me realize that there is a reason why people have to rent.

9. Nope. It doesn't bug me at ALL that my scale hasn't budged in the last two weeks. Those chocolate chip cookies were totally worth it.

What we did over Labor Day Weekend.

Some updated pictures of our remodeling project:

The family room:

The office/computer nook behind the family room:

Kitchen eating area:

And....the kitchen whose counters are a mess but this is so you can see what the cabinets look like with the new floors......

These are how we framed around the doors. We put new trim on the right and left sides and put a header on the top.

This is the living room. We still need to frame the window. We're making faux pillars to frame in our arches going into the living room and dining room as well as an arch in the family room.

So what we have accomplished the last few weeks?

Put in the new floors thanks to a friend of ours. Tiled the bathrooms. Framed a window. Framed around the doors. Painted. Started faux pillars. Set up bookcases and desk for computer area. Put on new baseboards.

Is that ALL? It is nice to see it all come together.

Flip Flops

No, this will not be a post about the upcoming Presidential election.



Instead, it will be about my daughter's 7th birthday. She said she wanted a cake that looked like a pair of flip flops.

I, on the other hand, had no idea the "flip flop" concept would end up meaning so much more.

About a week before her birthday, she informed me that she wanted a HUGE birthday party with all of her friends. Now for one thing, she hasn't figured out that I'm WAY too uptight and get myself far too stressed out over something like throwing a big birthday party.....in under a week.....for 20 kids. There's themes, party favors, games and creativity involved. Not to mention, there wouldn't be enough time to get a refill of valium. So, I talked to her a few times about how it would be better to wait until next year so we would have more time to think about it and plan. I even used it as a teaching opportunity by introducing her to words like "ettiquite" and "neurotic".


On Monday, she mentioned to me that she told her friend that it was her birthday on Wednesday. Her friend told her she HAD to have a party. They decided that each of them would go home and make 10 invitations to be handed out the next day.

Again I explained to her the proper ettiquite of party invitations and that one day's notice was simply not enough. She was still intent on making her own invitations and sat herself down at the table for the rest of the evening busy at work making her own invites. She had my husband write on the inside "Come to my party at 7 pm." He thought he was just humoring her. Surely she wasn't REALLY going to hand them out. She was so very proud of her finished product. I remember making a mental note that I needed to make sure to check her backpack so that they didn't end up at school the next day. Of course, that thought disappeared as fast as it came.



She came home from school and said that one of her friends said that she couldn't come unless she got a "real" invitation. Lauren, of course, got upset with me for not telling her about making "real" invitations in the first place. ( I am now banging my head against that same wall that I must have been talking to during my hundred conversations about this very thing ).



I had two moms call and inquire about "the party". That's when I think I realized this was not going to end well. No, there is no party. Yes, I would have sent out a "real" invitation that would say more than just "come to my party" and crayon pictures of flowers and hearts written on a torn out piece of spiral notebook paper. Those of you reading this who received one, maybe you could loan yours to me so that I can post a picture.



So Wednesday night came and so did this:

You should have seen my husband and I run into our bedroom wandering aimlessly saying things like, "Freak!/What the freak?/What are we supposed to do NOW?/What the heck?" How could we come up with a few extra kids on such short notice? I started thinking of the families I knew who had a bunch of kids. "Call the Seeleys. They have four. Then the Booths. They are just down the street and have a good 4-5 that I'm sure they would loan me for an hour or so. That would be enough to make it look legit, right?" I finally had to face the reality that it was just too late. The next door neighbor friend mentioned she even wore a shirt with flip flops on it. Somehow that just made it all even worse.

Lauren was all grins that someone showed up to her party and Jack said something like "I wonder who else is coming to our party?"


Great. I was already starting to take inventory to make sure I had enough clean forks in case some more unexpected guests showed up.

So, she got to hang out with us and a few grandparents. I sure know how to put the "flop" in flip flop. Thank heavens I don't have to do another birthday until next March.

What lesson did I learn? To never underestimate the determination of a child.

I would imagine

that the looptape of a two-year old's idea of a knock knock joke would go a little something like this:


2 year old: "knock knock"
me: "Who's there?"
2 year old: "nana"
me: "nana who?"
2 year old: "knock knock"
me: "Who's there?"
2 year old: "nana"
me: "nana who?"
2 year old: "knock knock"
me: "Who's there?"
2 year old: "orange"
me: "orange who?"
2 year old: "knock knock"
me: "Who's there?"
2 year old: "nana"
me: "nana who?"
2 year old: "knock knock"
me: "Who's there?"
2 year old: "Boo"
me: "Boo who?"
2 year old: "knock knock"
me: "Who's there?"
2 year old: "nana"
me: "nana who?"
2 year old: "knock knock"
me: "Who's there?"
2 year old: "knock knock"
me: "knock knock who?"
2 year old: "Who's there?"
me: "I don't know. Who's there?"
2 year old: "knock knock"

me: initiate distraction and redirection tactics

Funny for the day.....

I asked my little kindergartener if he has made any new friends yet at school. He said, "Yeah."

I said, "Well, what are their names?"

His reply? "I don't know. I can't read."

Ah.

But he can do super awesome cheer moves.

My current read....

Well "current" read is actually a little deceptive. That would imply that I get to read often and have a library of books at my disposal.

I honestly can't remember the last book I read. I used to read all of the time. Grisham, Clancy, Crichton, the newspaper.

And then I had kids.

I grew tired of reading and re-reading pages because I would go days in between chapters and forget what was going on. My short-term memory is shot. ( see my previous entry: http://lackrik.blogspot.com/2006/02/anyone-seen-brain-around-here.html#links )


My husband, on the other hand, has a book on his person at all times. Somehow he can tune out the chaos around him and read anything. And if it's not a book, it's the latest Popular Science or National Geographic magazine. He can disappear for 10-20 minutes at a time reading in you know where.......uninterrupted I might add.


So, I thought I'd try picking up a book again. I started to read a book that my dad gave my husband for father's day one year after we had boy #1 called "So you want to raise a boy?" by Cleon Skousen.

And of course, we continued the trend by having boy #2 and boy #3. I figured I could get some pearls of wisdom from the book myself. I grew up being the only girl with four brothers. You'd think I should know how to raise boys. I shouldn't be shocked to see them sit so quietly while their favorite tv show is on then instantly turn my family room into a WWF match when it goes to commercial. I should expect that I will be alternately used as a human rock wall or a trampoline. I shouldn't be at all surprised when I see rows and stacks of the most unlikely objects around my house. And I certainly shouldn't be alarmed at the constant state of the "boys" bathroom.

So I guess what I'm hoping to get out of this book is some reassurance that all boys are hyper, squirmy, rambunctious balls of energy. They are little experiments in the laws of physics. For example, I've learned a new meaning to the theory E=mc2. It really represents a child's energy level.
E (Energy) =m (mass) X c (curiosity) squared.

And I'm convinced that all boys contain the make up of both potential and kinetic energy. Potential energy in the form of "Look at me mom. I'm about to take your good dinner fork and go out to the sandbox and use it as a shovel".

Kinetic energy having to do with the mass and speed of an object ( the boy ) as they see how many times they can spin around before they get dizzy and smack each other on their way down to the ground. And of course there is spontaneous combustion. Not the literal bursting into flames kind of combustion, but the one minute I can sit still and the next minute I'm pretending to be a rocket ship kind of spontaneous combustion.....or think it's a good idea to wear milk boxes.

I'm only on chapter 5 where he talks about the two year old boy. And at my pace, I'll finish the book by the time they go on their missions.

More pictures as promised:

Here is the front.
We added black shutters on the 2 large windows and painted the popout on the right window black. Under that window is a wrought iron window box that looks like this:



It's hard to see but we put new light fixtures on the outside. There is a hanging wrought iron lantern on the porch and 2 wrought iron fixtures on the sides of the garage like these:



Just to the left of the front door is the formal dining room. I painted the top part of the walls the beige color. On the white parts will be wainscotting. We also put in a new chandelier. I really like it!







To the right of the front door is the living room. We'll put trim around the windows.

Straight ahead from the front door is the large family room. I still need to paint the red wall.......back behind that wall to the right of the french doors is a nook where we will put built in shelves and a corner desk.

This is looking into the family room and into the kitchen eating area from the hall. All of this space including the living room and dining room and down the hall will have the teak wood laminate floors.

House demo update:

We've taken out all of the tile and carpeting in the areas where we will be laying wood laminate floors. Tonight, I'll go over and start to paint.

We've also added shutters and a window box to the front and painted the front door. I'll post some more pictures later................

1st Day of School!

Jack started Kindergarten this week. I feel like a bad mommy because I wasn't as nervous or anxious about it like I was when Lauren started school for the first time. It could be that I've clued in to the fact that fewer kids at home = I can get things done.

Jack gets to ride the bus to school. Let me tell ya....I'm loving the bus idea. Not only does Jack think it's cool, but it saves me from living in my car during the day with school pick-ups and drop-offs. Oh and it also adds an extra hour that he is gone in the mornings. It's a win-win situation all around.

Lauren started 2nd grade this year. Her teacher is about to have a baby so it should be interesting to see how this year pans out. At dinner after her first day, she said to me, "Mom? Did you ever have an embarrassment when you were my age?"

I had to think about it and just responded something flipant like "I think so."

I noticed she was scooting her food around on her plate as if she was deep in thought. I realized there was something behind her question so I decided to dig a little further. I said, "Well. I remember when I was about your age, I accidently went into the boys bathroom instead of the girls bathroom! Luckily there were no boys in the bathroom at the time but I really felt silly! Why? Did something happen to you today at school?"

She said quietly, "Well.......you have to promise not to laugh. But after I went to the bathroom you know down the hall from the classroom.....I accidently went to my 1st grade classroom instead of my new one."

DOH!

I said, "What happened? Did your old teacher see you?"

Lauren timidly replied, "Yeah. She said, 'OH! Hi Lauren!' "

I tried but I couldn't hold back the laughter. Which was good because it helped her laugh about it too. I could tell she was really embarrassed about it.

So....that was her first day of school. One I'm sure she will remember.

And some random pictures of the other cute kids hanging out at the bus stop:

I stand corrected....

I spoke too soon when I said playing hangman with my 6 year old wasn't much fun.

That is until I went to "Meet the teacher" night at my daughter's school. On the board in her classroom I noticed a cute little sun with sunbeams sticking out from the center. On each of the sunbeams, a soon-to-be second grader could write what it was they liked to do.

I want to remember never to play hangman with the child who wrote this little gem:

"I lick too rid my bick"

Those darn silent "e"s.

I seriously can't stop giggling.......

Speaking of my "What were you like in High School" post:

I realized my 20 year High School reunion will be coming up next year. Holy Cow! 20 years??? I have friends my age who have kids graduating from High School this year.



As I was doing some cleaning the other week, I came across some oldies but goodies. I thought I'd share my keen '80's fashion style with you. Big hair, mullets and all........


Oh yeah....and you aren't allowed to laugh out loud.



First, I'll start out with my Sophomore year. This is me. I learned to play the marimba in the Marching Band. Yes. I was a band geek for a season. I had actually never played a marimba before in my life and one day, my twin brother came home from marching band practice and mentioned they needed a marimba player. So, me being the type who loves a challenge, I took home the music and made myself a "marimba" using folded up napkins on the dining room floor. I practiced my "marimba" all weekend and when Monday came, I showed up to practice after school and played along. With 2 mallets in each hand no less. I remember the two girls who played the bells next to me being totally jealous when I told them I learned to play over the weekend.



And here's me at my Junior Prom. Would you believe the guy I went with was 14? I was only 16 and two years in the whole scheme of things really isn't a huge deal. But he was cute and played football and that's all that really mattered back then.




Then we have my Senior year. This is me in our Madrigal choir group. My guy friends all had competitions our senior year to see who could grow their hair the longest by the end of the year. This picture was taken in May so as you can see, the hair growth is quite impressive in this picture. My Senior year boyfriend is they guy sitting on the right. He was a total preppy boy and drove a black Saab with a moonroof. I thought it was cool.



And.......here we are at the Senior Prom. Me and my Madonna-esque gloves.




20 year reunion? Bring it on!