The Potty Train Has Left The Station

I admit the potty train left the station roughly 2 and half 3 years ago, this doesn't mean the memories have left.
I have had my share of brown packages left in random places in the house; sadly they were not tied with string, nor were they one of my favorite things. I have also had my share of racing down the aisles using the shopping cart as a skateboard, to get from one end of ginormous box store to the other, to get a kid to the potty on time.
I have also had a kid or three baptize the tires of my car while frantically stopped on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. I can't imagine what you would do for little girls, squat in the grass maybe?

Gameboy the oldest was probably my most difficult challenge, albeit I was just as new to the potty training as he was. I never read any how to manuals. I just winged it and knew heavy bribing would be involved. I also knew that he would "get it" eventually, as it's not like you see college age boys wetting themselves everyday -drunken frat boys don't count.
By the time Bossy Boy the baby came along, the potty train was easy breezy. I say all this now looking back, as I'm pretty sure I wasn't thinking that then. He was a stubborn little cuss, much harder to break than his brothers. I did have one ace up my sleeve for this one, daycare.
If ever one decides to wave the white flag of despair when it comes to potty training, sign your youngster up immediately for daycare. They'll have him broken in no time.

All this potty talk about potty training is courtesy of the Parent Bloggers Network and The Potty Project.

Erma Should Be Crowned Queen Of Clean

I'd love to tell you guys that I love to clean and would iron clothes and mop floors all the day long if I could, but this would be a lie as I'd almost rather exercise. Notice I said almost.

Here's a basic break down of how I clean through out the week. Prepare for mediocre underachievement in new and improved bulletined formatting. (Spoken in my Donna Reed voice with gleaming smile and crisp ironed apron...ahem)

Mondays- I'm completely uninspired to do anything productive when it comes to cleaning. As long as dishes are kept up with and any necessary laundry that needs done is done. I don't strive for anything remarkable unless my fancy strikes me.

Tuesdays- I have a little bit of incentive, it's library day and that means scrounging up the books from every corner of the house. Usually I'm picking up dirty clothes or whatever else I find from under and behind the boys beds, all the while finding library books. I like to think of it as my own Temple of Doom or the search for the Holy Grail. One must make de-cluttering an adventure or one becomes disheartened. Martha may have said this once...maybe not.

Wednesdays- I've usually got more momentum and will find some random project that needs done. This week it was changing out the winter clothes to the spring/summer clothes. Since I have ADD tendencies when cleaning; I ended up heading to the kitchen for a garbage bag to pack up old clothes that did not fit. I never made it back to the bedroom, as I decided in that moment to clean out the fridge. I never pass up these moments of inspiration, otherwise it will be put off until the next blue moon of inspiration. Those clothes are still sitting in the middle of my boys' floor. See Saturday and Sunday for further instruction.

Thursdays- This is my main "cleaning" day. Where cleaning equals cleaning the bathroom, de-cluttering, and vacuuming. If I'm feeling really spontaneous I may even mop the kitchen and bathroom floors.

Fridays- I'm a laundry doing fool. I will do an occasional load all week as to not be to overwhelmed, but I've come to the realization that the laundry will never be "done" and I've learned to live with that. I must have the MP3 player on at all times this is a requirement. It really helps rid me of the dreaded tedious feeling I get when folding underwear. I also must have my tunes while pulling weeds to relieve the same tedious feeling.

Saturday and Sunday is catch up day. Whatever happened to be neglected during the week due to my ADD tendencies possibly gets done on the weekend, though I never make any guarantees on that.

I keep thinking that my routine seriously needs to change and it has yet to happen. I've thought of keeping a list of 10 or so things for the day and making a goal to mark off at least half of them. So far it's a no go.
I try to put the kids to work as often as possible when it comes to cleaning their room and de-cluttering the living room. It's their stuff in the LR 99% of the time anyway. Wii incentive is always the dangling carrot.
When the youngest is in the bath tub I try to wipe down the bathroom with wipes. If you have 3 boys who are still not the greatest bulls eye when hitting their target, you know that one must keep up with this or your bathroom will end up always smelling like a barnyard. I do have some standards you know.
One last little cleaning tidbit I learned; splurging on a new cleaning type item makes for new cleaning inspiration. One never realizes how fun cleaning can be when using something nifty and new to clean with.

Erma Bombeck has become my inspiration when it comes to house cleaning: "My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one else cares. Why should you?"
Erma Bombeck


The Parent Bloggers Network and Pledge Multi Surface spray is inspiring me to clean up my act.

It's A Ruff Life

This week's posts seems to be all about the dog(s). The Parent Bloggers Network couldn't have timed the blog blast for this week any better. They are teaming up with Pledge who is having a sweepstakes to Show Off Your Shedder.
Oh do I have a shedder!
One would not think that a black haired dog with course short hair would shed that much or at least it wouldn't show that much but gah it does!

When the hubs and I first started dating, his dog Wisdom was his girl and she was spoiled rotten..in other words she was allowed on the couch and slept in the bed with him. I was never raised with dogs that were allowed in the house much less to sleep in the bed with you. Once we were married the rules changed and Wisdom was no longer allowed on the couch or in the bed period.
The hubs and I would actually get into arguments about this. His excuse was always "but she's always been allowed and to suddenly not let her isn't fair." He eventually relented and the rule remained.
Fast forward 10 years and the tables have turned. Anakin who was supposed to be the hubs dog to replace our beloved Wisdom, somehow became my dog. I'm still not really sure how that happened, possibly because I'm the hand that feeds him, so to speak. I'm pretty sure that's how that works.
Anakin who is now my dog and pretty much my 4th kid or 5th if you count the hubs, is secretly allowed on the couch. In fact as I type this he is right here snoozing away getting a belly rub from the 4 year old. It's a ruff life.
I'm not proud to admit that I relented. That I now see and understand hub's feelings for allowing Wisdom on the couch. He's part of the family gosh darn it. Sadly hub's feelings and understanding have changed too. Suddenly he's "Mr. Rules have changed" and the dog is not allowed on the couch. Yeah, so I break the rules on occasion. In my defense the dog is not allowed on the bed at night, especially for that brief period of time when the hubs has left for work and I get out of bed.
Thank goodness I have dark colored furniture that hides any incriminating evidence.

I'm Married To Mr. Scrooge

I like to think of myself as the thrifty minded shopper when it comes to the holidays. I have these ideals in my head of shopping early, trying to catch great deals, and setting a budget. Having the notion I wouldn't have to deal with all the stress at the last minute. This never happens. I'd like to say it's going to happen this year but all my Christmas shopping is depended on when Mr. Scrooge gives the green light. We're still at a red light as of today. Overwhelmed? Not me, it's tradition. I've learned to just go with the flow.

Here's how the typical scenario breaks out. Every year starting at Thanksgiving I ask the hubs "What's the plan this year for Christmas?" Every year he looks at me as if I just shaved my head and tatooed it. "What do you mean what's the plan?" he'll ask, "Christmas Bah Humbug!" Every year I'll roll my eyes and sigh.

He doesn't like to shop. I take that back, he likes to shop (a lot), he just knows when he goes he'll go crazy and spend much o money. Therefore he bans all Christmas shopping of any kind for both of us until further notice, turns off the heat for us, and sits and counts the money he's saving. Maybe not the last two but sometimes it feels that way. This drives me crazy. Needless to say I've been known to secret shop randomly here and there.

Then just like in A Christmas Carol something comes over him. He's ready and the spirit of Christmas hits him like a brick and he starts handing out his money to anyone that will take it and singing from the rooftops. Though it could be just the pressure that Santa hasn't done his shopping yet and it's two days before Christmas. I like to pretend it's the first idea.

Once the Christmas spirit has started, there's no stopping him. He is strolling up and down the aisles throwing anything and everything he can find in the cart. This has caused many a knock down drag out fight between us, right in the middle of the action figures aisle. He's throwing stuff in that he'd like to play with and not anything even remotely close to what the kids have on their list. Don't get me started on the aircraft carrier he wanted for the boys in '05. Last I checked my kids had no clue what a aircraft carrier was. He still wants that stupid carrier..for the boys of course.

This year, I'm pretty sure we'll be living like the Cratchits and just feel blessed to be working, have food on the table, and maybe a few smaller presents under the tree. At least I think so in my little Christmas Carol mind. Hubs may have other plans but I think he realizes that with a new job, things could change on a dime. We also aren't expecting any kind of bonus from the real Mr. Scrooge like years before.
This is a new situation for us that we're not used to. I think a lot of Americans are kind of in the same boat for one reason or the other. We'll take it in stride. Spend only what we know we can spend. We've always paid for Christmas with only money we had on hand and not a lot on credit. We've never still been paying off Christmas in July. That I think has always been our best plan. This year we may not get to go near as hog wild but I think that is actually a good thing.
..And God Bless Us Everyone!

The Parent Bloggers Network are up the their old tricks again and couldn't resist sneaking in one last blast of the year. Their partnered with FFDA a not for profit company geared to help parents deal with overwhelming times, not just through the holidays but all year long.

Reasonable & Reachable- The Plan For '09

This weeks Parent Bloggers Network blast who is in cahoots with Big Tent, asks how we're(me) going to get our(my) act together for success in 2009? This seems like a fantastic question since I hadn't really thought about it too much yet.

I always believe in striving for reasonable not unreachable goals for anything; whether it be New Years resolutions, work improvement, home improvement and health habits. Why set yourself up for failure, when mediocrity can make you feel successful?

My first main goal is to try and lead as a better example for the kids. When the kids see that I'm eating carrot sticks and celery instead of chips; I hope they will then want to follow in my example. The phrase "Do as I say not as I do" comes to mind on this. Why force your kids to eat their vegetables when you don't eat them yourself? I really think it's a very reachable goal and could be used in so many different ways.
I think the main focus will be healthy eating habit examples and drinking more water. This could be done as easy as having those carrots and celery with easy access to me and the kids, and the chips in not such easy access. Drinking more water would involve everyone having their own water bottle filled at all times and kept chilled in the fridge for yet more easy access.
Also just cooking with better ingredients with not so much processed food along with sneaking in some veggies in the food is doable.
This does not say I would be depriving myself of foods/drink I like. I would never give up Dr. Pepper for anything, but I can cut back on the two a day I do drink by drinking 1 can and halfing it to trick my brain to thinking I'm having two. Reasonable and reachable I think.

Another philosophy I have, since all of a sudden I've become some kind of knowledge minded Buddha about setting goals, is not setting to many goals. 5-10 goals in my book sets you(me) up for failure, unless your some kind of goal setting freak and you live for it, go for it. That's not me. The less goals I have the more better focused I can be on those imperative goals I feel I need to work on most. Because let's face reality- Goals = Work in my brain and I'm kind of lazy sometimes.
All this to say my next goal would be focusing on what's best for me and my family. This may seem like a strange goal but at this moment it's not. The past 3-4 months has been a big ginormous transition for me. I went from full time 40 hours a week working momma to full time 24 hours a day mom. I'm still trying to figure out how to "manage" my time. Some days I feel downright productive and others I look at the clock and it's already lunch time and I haven't done a darn thing but waste valuable brain cells on Scooby Doo and cat naps.
In the next 6 months my main focus is to get Bossyboy on a continuous home pre-school regiment. So far we're doing pretty good. Though I always feel there's need for improvement in one area or the other. Since I'm probably not your average run of the mill homeschool mom, I feel I can do the best with what I've got. I'm just always fearful that somehow we're going to fall to the wayside. Normal concerns I suppose.
I also have to think about whats next for me once all the boys start back in school next fall? Do I sit at home and blog twiddle my thumbs all day? There's only so much blogging cleaning and cooking a person can do. I realize this is a long term goal and things could change on a dime, like say I'm forced to have to go back to work (knock on wood I don't anytime soon) for whatever reason, but it is something I have to think about.
Finally,I would love to go back to school, even if it meant at first doing online classes. Yet I know I have to be reasonable as far as if it's in the budget and feasible.
My goals may seem a bit hefty but in (my) reality I think their pretty reasonable and obtainable, which is the main goal after all.

P.S. Big Tent is a web hosting platform that hosts parent based group websites like PTA's, playgroups, mom groups ect. They are offering great deals and services for new parent groups that want to transfer hosts or set up a new website. The More You Know...

The Buddha Say: Less Is Best For 2009

This weeks Parent Bloggers Network blast who is in cahoots with Big Tent, asks how we're(me) going to get our(my) act together for success in 2009? This seems like a fantastic question since I hadn't really thought about it too much yet.

I always believe in striving for reasonable not unreachable goals for anything; whether it be New Years resolutions, work improvement, home improvement and health habits. Why set yourself up for failure, when mediocrity can make you feel successful?

My first main goal is to try and lead as a better example for the kids. When the kids see that I'm eating carrot sticks and celery instead of chips; I hope they will then want to follow in my example. The phrase "Do as I say not as I do" comes to mind on this. Why force your kids to eat their vegetables when you don't eat them yourself? I really think it's a very reachable goal and could be used in so many different ways.
I think the main focus will be healthy eating habit examples and drinking more water. This could be done as easy as having those carrots and celery with easy access to me and the kids, and the chips in not such easy access. Drinking more water would involve everyone having their own water bottle filled at all times and kept chilled in the fridge for yet more easy access.
Also just cooking with better ingredients with not so much processed food along with sneaking in some veggies in the food is doable.
This does not say I would be depriving myself of foods/drink I like. I would never give up Dr. Pepper for anything, but I can cut back on the two a day I do drink by drinking 1 can and halfing it to trick my brain to thinking I'm having two. Reasonable and reachable I think.

Another philosophy I have, since all of a sudden I've become some kind of knowledge minded Buddha about setting goals, is not setting to many goals. 5-10 goals in my book sets you(me) up for failure, unless your some kind of goal setting freak and you live for it, go for it. That's not me. The less goals I have the more better focused I can be on those imperative goals I feel I need to work on most. Because let's face reality- Goals = Work in my brain and I'm kind of lazy sometimes.
All this to say my next goal would be focusing on what's best for me and my family. This may seem like a strange goal but at this moment it's not. The past 3-4 months has been a big ginormous transition for me. I went from full time 40 hours a week working momma to full time 24 hours a day mom. I'm still trying to figure out how to "manage" my time. Some days I feel downright productive and others I look at the clock and it's already lunch time and I haven't done a darn thing but waste valuable brain cells on Scooby Doo and cat naps.
In the next 6 months my main focus is to get Bossyboy on a continuous home pre-school regiment. So far we're doing pretty good. Though I always feel there's need for improvement in one area or the other. Since I'm probably not your average run of the mill homeschool mom, I feel I can do the best with what I've got. I'm just always fearful that somehow we're going to fall to the wayside. Normal concerns I suppose.
I also have to think about whats next for me once all the boys start back in school next fall? Do I sit at home and blog twiddle my thumbs all day? There's only so much blogging cleaning and cooking a person can do. I realize this is a long term goal and things could change on a dime, like say I'm forced to have to go back to work (knock on wood I don't anytime soon) for whatever reason, but it is something I have to think about.
Finally,I would love to go back to school, even if it meant at first doing online classes. Yet I know I have to be reasonable as far as if it's in the budget and feasible.
My goals may seem a bit hefty but in (my) reality I think their pretty reasonable and obtainable, which is the main goal after all.

P.S. Big Tent is a web hosting platform that hosts parent based group websites like PTA's, playgroups, mom groups ect. They are offering great deals and services for new parent groups that want to transfer hosts or set up a new website. The More You Know...

You Will Not Monopolize Me.

Family gatherings usually entail the regular game of bones or pitch, depending on who's side of the family we're visiting. Normally we have to drag the men from one football game or the other to play. Once they get playing there's no stopping the competitiveness.
One game that hubs and I primarily play against each other is Monopoly. I honestly will admit that I despise the way my hubs plays Monopoly. The whole take over the whole board concept ticks me off. Who cares that this is the way you play the game. It is my duty when playing to be sure to knock out his monopoly. That's my only strategy to prevent him from monopolizing the game.

When it comes toward the end and he's buying everything in sight to purchase houses and hotels there's always those few other properties that he can't purchase houses on because I own the other property. He hates this. No amount of bargaining, trading or bribing will convince me to sell him the property he needs.

It doesn't matter to me how much in debt I go landing on his other hotels as long as he cant get the others he really wants. I don't even care if I lose, because I feel I have won when I play my strategy. Maybe it's my wifely duty to tick the hubs off during board games. I think I read it in the marriage license somewhere.

Parent Bloggers Network and EA wants to know what games do you play with your family?

Pumpkin Pie A La Yucko

Like most normal families, we all have one or two disaster Thanksgiving dinner stories. My family is no exception.
I can remember when I was very young, my grandmother was going to be alone on Thanksgiving, as I guess the rest of the family decided to dine with their own families. I'm not really sure what the back ground story was on that but just remember that it was just my family and grandma.
My mother decided that since it was just the five of us, she would just order one of those Thanksgiving boxed meals at the grocery store. I can remember not being overly thrilled that there would be no turkey cooking for hours in the oven or the smell of pumpkin pies baking. I just knew it wasn't going to be the same.

We opened the box of goods and warmed it up and within minutes, viola a Thanksgiving meal fit for a fast food drive-thru.
I can't remember which parts of the meal were the most unappealing. Possibly the dry turkey or the over seasoned stuffing. Those things I could deal with. The pumpkin pie the creme De la creme of Thanksgiving, was the only hope of saving the meal.

I've tasted my share of pumpkin pies, I feel even at the age of 7 or 8 that I was a connoisseur of the PP. PP in my humble opinion, is not that hard to screw up. I was wrong. I had never tasted something so bland in all my short years. Did they even add nutmeg or pumpkin spice to the recipe or did they just open a can of pumpkin pie filling and pour it in a pie crust and call it a day? Not all the Cool Whip in the world could have saved that pie.

I made a solemn promise to myself that day. I would never ever order a boxed Thanksgiving meal for my future family. No matter what the circumstances, a home cooked Thanksgiving meal would be made. A store bought pumpkin pie is never to step it's crusty shell in my mouth ever again, this rule excludes eating at the in-laws. Somethings are just beyond my control.


"This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Butterball."

I'd Like You To Meet My 4th Son...The Dog

I've always been a dog person probably not by choice per say. I think it comes inherited. My parents always had just a dog and that was that.

I had two dogs through out my childhood, Inkey and Penny. Inkey lived for a little over 15 years and then Penny lived a good 10 years after.

I found this pic of me with Penny. Love this pic as I'm wearing my jean jacket with my NKOTB button. So 1989 I was.

When I got married I became Wisdom's step mom. Hub's dog. Once Wisdom passed, it was only inevitable that we get another dog.

Anakin somehow adopted me as his, even though he was supposed to be C's dog. Funny how it always seems to work that way. The pet claims you, whether you choose them as yours or not.
He is my boxer malamute mix more boxer than malamute. He's my constant companion whether I want him to be or not. He absolutely cannot stand for me to be out of his sight. If I move from the couch to the recliner he also must get up and move with me.

His needs are rather simple; food, water, belly itch, and a daily toss of the ball. He's actually very vocal about his needs to a comical extent. When he needs a back or belly rub he lifts my legs up to rub against his back. He will do this several times and then roll on his back for a rub.
No matter what it is that I'm doing, his ball is more important. Ball time is anytime that I happen to be engaged in something else. Story time is ball time. Blog time is ball time. Fixing dinner would also be ball time. It almost becomes habit to not even think twice about my multi-tasking ability of throwing a ball in the middle of typing a post or reading a blog. I try to throw it hard enough so it goes a fair distance without breaking a window or something. He's always back with in seconds for me to throw it again though. If he can't find a ball he always finds a substitute; the boys stuffed animals, an action figure with it's arm chewed off (wonder who the culprit is on that?), or even a rock if he's lucky.
My favorite quirk about my dog is the process he buries his bones. I've found chew bones in my shoe piles in the closet, bones in the laundry basket, bones behind the T.V. and the couch. He chews up everything else, but bones those he buries. I haven't figured it out.
He's the sweetest dog ever and would never hurt a fly, except when it comes to the vacuum cleaner. His nemesis. I've never seen a dog bark and attack a vacuum like he does. At least I know I'm safe from any attack vacuums.
I love him like a 4th son and I'm pretty sure he believes he is the 4th son in our family. I'm not sure what I would do with out his constant companionship and protection against the evil vacuum.
Here's Annie after first arriving to our new house.

“This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Burger King Corp.”

Zoo Hours Of Operation

Keeping a zoo of any kind is a 7 day a week 24 hours a day process. My own personal zoo operates the same way.

The morning starts between 6 and 7 am when the ferocious lion roars outside my window. After roaming the streets all night he's ready to come in for breakfast and start his 12 plus hour nap. The ferocious lion and wussy wolf are then fed.


The zoo keeper than arises to shower and dress to begin her day. She than must wake up the 3 wild monkeys to get them ready for their brain enrichment exercises to help keep them occupied so they don't feel so caged up in their habitat.

Normally at this point the zoo keeper would then be off to her real job so she could feed and clothe and cage these beasts, now she leaves that up to the zoo CFO. The zoo keeper is now a full time volunteer. Since she loves these zoo animals so much she doesn't mind doing it for no pay.. at least for now, we'll see how her sanity holds up.
During the day the zoo keeper now cleans out the zoo cages (those monkeys can sure make a mess of things) prepares their dinner and at this point in time has been packing up this zoo to move to a new one. She also tries to entertain the baby monkey who pretty much entertains himself.

3PM time to tame the wild animals in the car pool line, just to pick up the other two monkeys.
The monkeys are pretty crazy at this point and ready to swing from the rafters after having brain enrichment all day. We try to get outside and let them swing from the trees or whatever else they can monkey around on.



Feeding time at our zoo is pretty hectic. The frenzy begins and it's every monkey for himself as they fear their next main meal may not be until breakfast.

Between 6-8PM more brain enrichment for 1 wild monkey which also means brain enrichment for the zookeeper too.

8-30 Time to wrangle some monkeys for a bath and bed. The keeper closes them up in their cage for the night.

9PM Time to let the ferocious lion out for his evening roam.

10PM Zoo is closed.

This has been blog blast brought to you by the fine folks at Parent Bloggers Network and they are partnering with The San Diego Zoo to promote their new product IKnow Animals Letters & Sounds.

How I Scored My Wii

In pursuit of the coveted Wii for my birthday last year, I was prepared and did all my homework before setting out on a quest for the holy grail..the Wii.

No I wasn't one of the first standing in line at midgnight waiting for a desired number to stand in line again in hopes that I would get one. Instead I played it smart. I waited until the initial craze died down, but was not about to make an attempt at getting one during Christmas. The funny thing was I wasn't pursing this coveted gaming machine for my sons, but for ME. I'm not saying they didn't want a Wii, I'm just saying that I wanted it just as much as them if not more. I was willing to get it for them me.

It was the weekend after my birthday. We got in the know and found out that all shipments of the Wii come in Sunday mornings. That Sunday morning hubs gave me the nod to go on my quest for the coveted Wii. I had my game face on and I was ready to hit every big box store in the city in hopes of acquiring my prize. Like Rocky all trained up I was ready for a fight..well maybe just a scowling look on my face.

I hit BB first. I was easily expecting not to find it at the first store. That would have been too easy. I eased on down the Wii aisle trying to be non chalant and hoping to the wii gods that I wasn't gonna have to fight someone if in fact it was there.
I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for as I had never actually seen a store have one in stock. I gazed up and down the aisle assuming it would be in a largesqe box that said Wii. You know because that sounds logical.
Then the heavens opened and a shining light shone down, the angels were singing, the trumpets were blaring. I didn't know what to do at first. I looked all around believing that someone else would also be hearing the sweet wii angels singing. I really didn't have the gall to fight someone over it, yet it remained there for that .27 seconds that I gazed upon it. I grabbed it and hugged it tightly, I began to cower around it just in case someone were going to tackle me to the ground. Yet there was not a single soul that Sunday morning in the Wii aisle at BB. It was the last and only one there that morning.
It was unbelievably to easy. I hurridly made one additional purchase -Wii Play (it had the extra remote and the game..score) I scurried to the check out. The dude made the snide remark; "lucky you, you got a Wii." "Yep it was the last one." I said hurridly. "Wow, they barely lasted an hour this time." he said. Sweet! Perfect timing on my part.
When I brought the holy grail home, hubs was shocked, he didn't actually think 1. that I would find one and 2. that I would find it that quick. It helps to do your homework.
Scoring my Wii Guitar Hero III at Christmas was just as easy. It's like my Wii and Me were meant to be.

This has been a blog blast brought to you today by the Parent Bloggers Network and by Hasbro Toys. This post has also been brought to you by the mom blogger Jean. Adios!

I'm Not One To Brag, Unless Of Course You Ask Me To

Like any other parent, I totally look for any opportunity to brag on how spectacularly awesome my kids are. Since I have three, I have three times the bragging rights. Right? Of course I do. Parent Blogger Network is demanding requesting that I brag on my kids. I agreed after a bit of twisting of the arm with a chance to win the book Your Child's Strengths by Jennifer Fox.

Since the middle child always seems to be over looked on everything and it appears to be Wonderboy's week. I decided to brag on Wonderboy for this post.
WB is the comedian of the family. He always has a quick one liner for everything from bodily functions to falling down and scraping his knee. His timing is always perfect. I can definitely foresee him being in the television industry.

WB knows no stranger, if you happen to be within his vicinity for more than 5 minutes he's going to already know your name and you know his. Most likely you wont ever forget him as somehow he always leaves a lasting impression with everyone. I think this is one of the many reasons why everyone from the students to the janitor at school knows who WB is.

Not only is he known for his comedic side, but also his memory is such of that of an elephant. We used to quiz him on random things like what T.V. shows were on what channel. He can quote obscure ad slogans on just about any product you can think of. He also knows random phone numbers to different places. He usually gets them from the radio. One time the radio station had a topic of interest that hubs wanted to call in on and he didn't know the phone number. WB blurbed out the phone number as if it was his own. He was 4 at the time.

He never fails to surprise us in his random knowledge of things of "how did he know?" Last week GB was practicing his spelling words. Since he had them all pretty well down pat we like to throw in some random more difficult word for him to try and spell. Wonderboy decided he had a word for his older brother "preparation". Where he got it from I'll never know. His older brother was stumped and so we had to turn the tables back on WB. He spelled it pretty well only missing that pesky a in the middle. As usual we were caught off guard by his randomness.

I'm proud of my WB. He's come a long way baby from being a 28 week old preemie who was in the NICU for 3 months and then in and out of the hospital for the first year of his life with pnuemonia and breathing problems. He's now a healthy little twig of a 7 year old. He is living life to the fullest and will continue to do so for a very long time.

The Gift of Wonder

I'm the type of person that doesn't like surprises. I just have to know what my gifts are. I can't stand to leave them to sit all packaged awaiting days if not weeks to be opened. I think my family caught on to this as they learned to never set anything wrapped out until the exact minute I was to open it. This goes the same for hubs. The suspense just kills me. Even hiding my gifts was not a great idea as I always knew where the hiding places were and checked them daily up until Christmas. This was a time when I had my speculations of Santa and had to find out the truth. I was bad, I think I liked the challenge of the hunt and the sneakiness.

Since I had to know everything and anything about all the gifts, I also knew the wrapping paper. Anything outside of the norm was suspicious and there for was inspected whether it was for me or not. Except one year my parents snuck some by on me one Christmas morning.

Santa never wrapped his presents, so on Christmas morning after getting a fantastic ten speed bike and a couple of Cabbage Patch dolls (a few years after the craze). One fairly large mysterious wrapped gift remained. It had no gift tag and was shoved in the very back of the tree. After finally being prompted to go ahead and open it. I got my coveted keyboard, that I hadn't even really asked for, yet I really wanted to take piano lessons. I demanded to know who it came from, and mom just simply stated that they came from Santa. This was not a good enough answer as I know Santa and he doesn't have time to wrap the presents. Yet I never really got a clear answer. Yes I even searched the house high and low for that wrapping paper with no luck. It started to make me re think this Santa fellow and that he just might really exist.
A couple years later when the confirmation of Santa was pretty well clear and my parents pretty much gave up on trying to hide things, I asked mom about the mysterious packages from a few years earlier, and she still convinced me that they came from Santa. I believe my parents really tried to bring back to me the mystery and wonder of Christmas that year, and that was one of my most memorable gifts of all.
This has been a blog blast for the ParentBloggersNetwork and Excitations who bring "A Unique Gift Experience for Any Occasion."

Beauty School Dropout, Go Back To Highschool.

Parent Bloggers Network and the sponsors of the new book Beauty Confidential want to hear your beauty blunder story. They obviously don't realize I'm walking beauty blunder everyday.
I'm probably the last person to be blogging about my beauty blunders as I am not by any means a beauty connoisseur. I'm far from it. I have had some ridiculous poodle perms in the early 90's and a wild blond streak I went through in my early twenties. All of which I never considered a blunder until looking back on old photos, none of which I plan to share with the internets.


I do remember one blunder that does stand out,(fade to blurry screen and eerie flash back music). I was in high school probably 16 maybe 17 a friend of mine was staying the night at my house and we were bored. What do you do when it's the middle of the night and both of you aren't tired yet? You let your 16 year old friend cut your hair. Not just a trim, an actual cut.

I think it took her maybe 2 or 3 hours to cut it. It took her forever to even it out on both sides. She went through the right motions of parting my hair and clipping it up to only cut it in sections. She honestly did a pretty good job. There were no major crooked sides and overall there was no major screw ups despite the fact that it was cut shorter than anticipated.

When we actually told people at school that C. cut my hair, they were in shock that I would actually let her cut my hair. She was notorious for the crazy do it-yourself hair colors. For whatever reason I totally trusted that she could do it and figured what do I have to lose but my dignity? Besides it would grow out.

I look back on this now and it probably wasn't the greatest idea in the world, but how do you know until you try? I'm sure the greatest hairstylists in the world had to experiment on some poor soul and I'm gonna guess that it didn't turn out spectacular.

How Far Would You Go For Your Kids?

How Far Would You Go For Your Children? Is the topic of discussion this week at Parent Bloggers Network.

This is a pretty deep and interesting question, as I think most parents would do absolutely anything and everything possible for their kid as that's what a parent should do and does. How far do you go and what circumstances curtail you not to go too far?

I know I would try and go as far as humanly possible as you could go, depending of course on the circumstances. If any of my sons are in need of some kind of health related sacrifice for our kid's health, whether it blood or kidney or whatever, you needs to know that I would do it, in fact hubs and I would probably have to thumb wrestle each other down on who would do it first.

When Wonderboy was in his critical stage of life when we really didn't know one day from the other if he would actually make it through, there were several times he was in need of blood transfusions. If I would have been in any kind of state of health to donate my own blood I would have. Luckily enough my mother was more than willing to be the next in line to be a direct blood donor and did so.

When it comes to something materialistic such as Gameboy wanting a DS dooma hickie from that company that created Mario Brothers, he's not gonna get it anytime soon. We really don't go to a crazy extent to make our kids happy by providing materialistic items unless it's somehow required for their well being. Wonderboy's glasses and all the boys shoes are pretty much always a top priority. We will stop at almost no cost to provide those items no matter what obstacle we have we'll get them. There was one school morning when some how Gameboy's shoes had gotten into such a decrepit shape that the sole was pulling away from the shoe and he was flopping around like some kind of Hobo. Hubs took the boy to the "House of Wal" to get him new shoes. Even though it did require him to get a tardy, Hubs would not let his son go to school with holes in his shoes.

One thing hubs and I will not pull out the stops for is if a son of ours calls up from jail(hopefully never in the near future) to come bail them out for DUI, DWI. We feel the kid "deserves" a night in jail to think about the consequences they have caused to their own self and to others around them. We will fight for them at all costs if they are innocent or framed or something similar. There's just certain things that we feel they need to learn a lesson on their own for whatever the reason.

Getting Active With The Kids

The blogblast this week from The Parent Bloggers Network is how do you get up and moving with the kids? At first I didn't think I really had anything to offer as I'm not as active as I should be, except for going up and down the stairs a few dozen times a day with or without a 50 pound laundry basket full of clothes. Then it dawned on me our weekly walks races to the convenience store.

Just about once or twice a week the oldest son and I take an evening jaunt to the convenience store for our weekly gamble on the lottery. The store is about a quarter of a mile from the house. Not to far but close enough to give us a destination for a walk. When we round the corner from our house to the main street there's a stretch of empty parking lot that Gameboy and I race each other on foot. Some days I'll let him win if I'm not feeling to energetic. Other times I try to beat him with full force. He's always up for a rematch no matter who wins. This little race gives me just enough boost for my heart without to much exertion. We then get our purchase race back to the other side and walk the rest of the way home.

When he first started asking me to race him I had the typical mom mindset. No that's dangerous or it may have just been my subconsciousness of other people seeing me run, which probably looks like a featherless chicken flailing everywhere. I finally gave in to my competitive spirit and glad I did.

That my friends is my weekly workout session with my kid. We enjoy it and it really does a heart good. Join The Parent Bloggers Network and Ryka who is giving away not only some awesome shoes but an outfit to go with it.