Dill Pickles

It's unbelievable to me, but my baby boy turns 13 today. It's hard to believe that 13 years ago from this moment, I wasn't even a mom yet. I was in the hospital getting ready to become one, but the difference in who I was at that moment and who I was when he was born were so drastic. From the minute he was put in my arms, it was like I was born too. He defined me. It was because of him, that I became a mom, that I learned what real love is.

He's an amazing kid. He's so smart, it blows my mind sometimes. It comes so easily for him too. He doesn't even have to try. He's compassionate. He holds so much love in his heart for everyone he cares about. Don't cross him or anyone he loves, or he'll never forgive you. You don't get second chances with Dylan. He wears his heart on his sleeve.

What makes me sad about the fact that he's turning 13 is that I know how fast he teen years go and how much changes is such a short amount of time. He's going to go from being my little man to being a real man in such a blink of an eye. I am trying to take more time to cherish moments with him because it won't belong before those moments are so few and far between that I will miss them more than ever.

He's such a great kid, and I wish I could take more credit in how well he's turning out, but to be honest I'm baffled by it. He's smart, well-behaved, polite, caring, honest to a fault, imaginative, and creative. He's also moody, mouthy, messy, and obsessive - all traits inherited by yours truly. So, how can I fault him for that?

Happy birthday Dylan David Rogers!!

More useless knowledge

You know you spend hours wondering about me and what kind of a person I am. Well, probably not, but here is some more useless knowledge about me that you will never need to know (and I will probably someday wish I had never told you. Yes, I mean you.)

• I have read way too many true crime books and seen too many crime shows, because I now have an irrational fear of being accused of a crime I did not commit. Every time I hear sirens my heart pounds for a few seconds before I remind myself that I have not committed any felons recently (I hope).
• I'm 5'5" which is technically considered "average" for a girl, however, I am taller than almost every girl I know, so I do not feel "average." I feel tall. I wish I were shorter.
• I can't sleep without clothes on (too much information?). No matter how hot it is, I have to wear at least a T-shirt. This comes from the fear of 1) One of my kids coming in my room and being traumatized. 2) A fire. I'm not running out into the street naked, and since my kids are my first priority, and getting dressed is not, I think the sight of their naked mother running out of a burning home is more traumatizing than a little discomfort on my part. T-Shirt. Always.
• I have a really bad potty mouth. I have stopped apologizing for it.
• I frequently apply for other jobs, even though I have a great job, because you never know when the perfect one will come along. Plus I love being offered a job and then turning it down. Feels good for at least a minute to be wanted.
• I pretty much love all foods, except there are a certain few things I do not like. Ham. Baked potatoes. Corn. Sausage. I'm not saying I won't eat them, but I don't enjoy them as much.
• I am not a sweet-eater. Again, I will eat them, but I don't enjoy them as much as say.....salty foods, cheeses, or spicy foods.
• 9 days out of 10 I will wake up between 5:55 and 5:59 a.m. It's a weird phenomenon that I have just started noticing the last few months.
• Mosquitoes love me. A lot. However, it's a more recent thing. I've decided that we either have developed some monster nuclear mosquitoes or I've developed a sensitivity to them. When they bite me it gets angry red and hard and irritated. So much for a little itch. More like a pain in the butt. I do not love mosquitoes.
• I look everything up. If I'm reading or watching TV and I don't understand something, I'll look it up. Google is my friend.
• My favorite time of the day when I read to the kids before bed. They're old enough to read to me, but for 10 minutes they indulge me and let me read to them. Dylan is almost TOO old, so 50% of the time he would rather just do his own thing, but sometimes he crawls up with us and sits back and listens. Only if it's convenient for him, of course.

Boring jibber jabber

It's been a strange weekend. Dylan went to a dance on Friday and came home all hyped up on sugar and Mountain Dew. Shocking, I know. For Friday Night Movie Night we watched RV with Robin Williams. We've seen it before, but we love it so we watched it again. Maddie didn't remember the movie, so she was loving it.

Saturday was Old Mill Days in Port Gamble. My dad took his classic cars down for the show early and took my kids. They spent the whole day at the fair. Dylan has not been feeling well, but he trucked on through just fine. Although he got a bracelet, he didn't go on too many rides. By the time we got there it was about 2:30 and I bought myself a bracelet and took Maddie on some rides. I don't know why I think it's a good idea to go on spinning rides at my age. While Maddie is screeching in hysterics I'm trying my hardest to hold down my lunch. I was nauseous for the rest of the day and even woke up in the middle of the night still feeling blech. I took her on one ride where she was pretty much flying out of her seat. I had to hold on tight or she would have been flying out into outer space. So on top of concentrating on not vomiting, I had to concentrate on not losing Maddie. Good times.

Dylan woke up feeling a little better. He wants perfect attendance this year, so it would take something pretty major to get him to stay home from school.

Today we are babysitting Marin all day while her mom and dad go to the Seahawk game for Dennis's birthday. Maddie has been bouncing off the walls since she woke up this morning. It will be nice to have someone for her to play with today.

A sad story

As you have probably been noticing, I'm trying to blog a little more often, even if it's boring as hell, which unfortunately (or fortunately) my life is at times.

If you know me, you know I hate animals. Big, little, small, furry, cuddly, stinky, slimy, I don't care. I am not an animal fan.

My kids claim to love dogs and cats, but when it comes down to it, they both have a slight fear of dogs and Maddie has a slight fear of cats that she doesn't know.

Joel loves dogs and would love to own one, but instead he chose to marry me. Maybe his second wife will allow him to have one.

But, I have a confession to make. I cried over an animal the other day. Remember a few posts ago when I said I was more emotional than I used to be. Well, I cried over a squirrel. Yes, A SQUIRREL. Joel would not be pleased about this.

I was driving Dylan to school and I noticed something strange going across the street. It had a tail like a squirrel, but it was moving too slowly and too low to the ground. I think you know where I am going with this.

As my car got closer, I slowed down to get a better look. His back legs had been ran over and were broken and he was dragging himself across the street with his front legs. Crying yet? Me too. I waited until he was all the way across the street so he wouldn't get hit again (although, it might have been a blessing, poor creature - it's not like they have Squirrel Hospitals or anything). I forgot about it until later that day (yea, so I wasn't THAT upset, so shoot me) when I was taking the kids back from school and they reminded me of that little fella, and as we neared where he was when we last saw him, I noticed he was still there. That poor guy had to die all alone on the side of the road after some idiot ran over his back legs and kept on trucking.

Dylan was convinced it was his dad who ran over that squirrel, because he'll swerve at those things every chance he gets. He claims it was not, but nobody will ever know for sure. Except that poor little dead squirrel.

School

The kids have been in school for 3 weeks today. I can't believe that. Three weeks already?

Anyway, I thought I'd update on how they're doing.

Dylan loves school, or at least he seems to. He really enjoys his classes and his teachers and I get to hear all the stories every day of the 7th grade drama between girls and boys. I remember the age, so I just sit back and smile. He's getting straight A's of course. With Dylan it's always the same. Good grades, good behavior. I no longer have to even remind him to do his homework, because it always just gets done.

Maddie loves school some days and some days she hates it. One day she told me that she loves her teacher because of the way that she says her name. When I asked her what she means, she said "because she calls me Maddie and not Madelyn." She said she doesn't like to be called Madelyn anymore, because when people call her that it's when she is in trouble. Can't argue that logic. Despite how she feels about school, she actually is really doing well this year. She struggled so much through 1st grade. She really struggled in every part of it - reading, writing, math, everything. This year she's flying through the books. I love sitting and listening to her read. What I love even more is walking into a room and finding her sitting on the couch reading a book all by herself. Brings a tear to this mama's eye. She has homework every single day, which I thought was going to be a problem for her, but she really seems to be enjoying the routine of it. Every day she sits down after dinner and does it. 99% of the time, she just flies through the homework and says "that was easy." Every once in awhile I have to sit down and help her with something. She seems to be catching on quickly though, and I love it.

I commended both of the kids this morning on how well they're doing and how proud I am. Dylan was like "yea, yea, whatever." Maddie smiled and said "nobody has ever been proud of me for my school work before!" and then she hugged me. I guess that means I'll call her Maddie for the rest of the day.

Winning and Losing and whatever comes in the middle

We love to play games here in our house as a family. It's no secret. We're a very competitive family. Maddie is a sore loser though. If she doesn't win, she acts like a 2-year-old. Awesome. Dylan was never a really sore loser (of course, I could have a very selective memory, but I can't recall Dylan acting like a 2-year-old while playing games even when he was a 2-year-old playing games). The only time she doesn't act like this is when it is just her and Dylan playing because she knows he will NEVER play with her again, and she loves her Dylan time.

The sportsmanship thing is a work in progress. She's getting a little better, but I think she learned something recently that I didn't teach her.

If you always win, you don't have to be a good loser.

Somewhere along the line, she got really good at playing games. I am not the kind of mom that lets my kids win, but sometimes if the game is really close, I'll do something that will cause me to lose and them to win, but I won't blatantly throw the game in their favor. That doesn't really teach them anything.

I realized just last night that the last couple of times I played games with the kids, I lost. What is wrong with this picture? Fortunately, most of the games we play are luck games (War, Chutes and Ladders, Yahtzee Jr., Hi Ho Cherry Oh), but some of them require at some level of skill (Battleship, Guess Who, Go Fish (sort of) and Sequence). I can't win at any of them anymore. So, either my game playing ability has gone way downhill, or my kids just stepped theirs up. Because I hate to be the one to lose, I'll just say that my kids are taking after me - becoming a great winner - because it takes the emphasis off the fact that I am the loser. See, I'm not a sore loser at all.

Sucky Sunday

/begin rant

I'll make this short and sucky. Ryan is opening for Train today in Redmond. I can't be there for multiple reasons, but I'm there in spirit. I know this because I am most certainly not here in spirit typing up other people's problems for 8 hours.

/end rant

You can't triple stamp a double stamp

Our Friday Night Movie dilemma was solved yesterday. We decided to watch Dumb and Dumber, but I couldn't find it yesterday, and then at Wal Mart I found a Jim Carrey DVD with 4 Jim Carrey movies, including Dumb and Dumber, all for $10.

I know it's rated PG-13, but in my recollection I couldn't think of anything *that* bad in it, besides a few swear words, which is like Tuesday in our house. Joel and I have both seen that movie so many times that we found ourselves repeating it. So, when we knew something was coming that was a mite bit inappropriate for Maddie we would distract her for a second. That seemed to work, until she blurts out later "I desperately want to make love to a school boy" and then burst into hysterics. It was funny to her because it was funny to us, but she has no idea what that means. I hope.

Anyway, it was a good choice because the kids both loved the humor in it, and it's a classic favorite of mine. Now I have to begin my search for next Friday's movie. Oy

Movie Madness

We've been doing Friday Night Movie Night for quite awhile. It's something everyone in our house looks forward to. Hollywood Video was my favorite place in the world. Whether we wanted something that came out yesterday, or Back To The Future, I could get it. A few months ago Hollywood Video in our town went out of business. Gone. *sniff* We tried Netflix for awhile. That works well for older movies, but the newer ones have a delay on them. Redbox is great for newer movies, but not older ones, and ever since Hollywood went out of business, all the Redbox kiosks in town are drained of the new releases every weekend. Lovely.

Hollywood Video, I miss you. I want you back.

The case of the missing night light. A day in the life...

We keep a night light in the upstairs bathroom. Truthfully, it's not just for the kids. I have horrible night vision. I absolutely cannot see in the dark at all. No joke. Also, Maddie gets up to go to the bathroom about 2 million times a night, and I don't want her running into walls, because I figure if I can't see in the dark, neither can she.

A few nights ago I went to bed and it was uncomfortably dark as I was walking up the stairs. It took at few minutes of dysequilibrium and confusion to realize that the night light wasn't plugged in. I unplug it when I'm blow drying my hair, but I almost always plug it back in, but sometimes I forget (imagine that). So, I figured that's what happened. When I finally fumbled my way to the bathroom and got the light on, the night light was nowhere to be found. How weird. Yes, I can be forgetful at times, but I certainly would never "lose" a night light...would I?

I checked the kids bedrooms; I thought perhaps one of them was all of a sudden afraid of the dark and took it to their room. Nope. No night light. I asked Joel. You never know. He gave me the look that says "what the hell are you talking about?" He's ruled out. I was NOT going to bed without that night light plugged in. Injuries have occurred in the past because I could not see.

So I started searching.

I finally found it in the towel closet. Um....okay. Weird. So I plugged it back in and went to bed.

I forgot about it until the next night when I had a little deja vu. Repeat of the night before. Can't see going up the stairs, night light missing. First place I looked was the towel closet. It was there again, but this time it was buried in a pile of towels. Ghosts? Doubtful.

I remembered to ask the kids about it. Maddie started crying instantly. Turns out she decided to touch the night light (I don't even know....the kid is odd) and discovered it is warm, which prompted her to assume that it's going to catch on fire (so burying a hot night light in a stack of towels ought to help, right?)

We had a little chat about how the night light is not going to catch our house on fire. Joel used the word "impossible" which caused her to get angry, because "nothing is impossible" as she says. So I had to then explain to her that sometimes when people say "impossible" they actually mean "improbable." Then came the discussion about things that are "impossible" and things that are "improbable."

Here are Maddie's impossibilities:

It is impossible for rainbows to shoot out of my ears.

It is impossible for a bear to come into the house and sit down and have tea and discuss the weather.

It is impossible for poop to come out of your nose.

At least I got her distracted off the night light, although I'm pretty sure I didn't change her mind about anything. I decided to personally hide the night light until I go to bed, which solves the problem of me having to search for it right before bed, unless of course I am a really good hider. But that would be an "improbable."

Fun Facts for Ya

• Eating cold pasta salad and cold meat gives me the hiccups.
• I clip my fingernails outside.
• I keep my silverware segregated in the dishwasher (that's why those holes are there, right?).
• I do two loads of laundry every day.
• I rely very heavily on an alarm clock multiple times a day, because I have been known to be forgetful and leave a load of laundry in the washing machine all day. I have yet to forget to pick my children up from school, but better safe than sorry right?
• I am a much more emotional person now since I've had children than I was before. I cry on a regular basis over stupid things, happy, sad, mad, frustrated, silly. My tear ducts have gotten a workout.
• I carry the automatic assumption that someone does not like me. It has come from many personal experiences of assuming they do, when they do not. It hurts. I've been there.
• I put Goldfish crackers in my tomato soup. I like to watch them swim around.

Now, don't say I never told you anything.

Ryan Star Concert Review 09/13/2010 Seattle

All we'll ever need is here, Right Now

The day had finally arrived. Four years in the making. Ryan Star finally made his way back to Seattle. The similarities were there, intimate setting, acoustic guitar, fantastic rock star - but that's where they end. I am in no way saying anything bad about the first time I saw Ryan in concert four years ago - it was amazing - but the difference between that concert and this concert are light years.

Ryan has grown into himself. He has become an artist to be reckoned with. If you love Ryan, like Ryan, or even if you don't, seeing him in concert is an absolute must. Every song that he sings he puts every piece of himself into, his heart, his soul, and most definitely his body. He has extremely high energy on the stage that is infectious. Ryan also has great interaction with the audience, he keeps them laughing, clapping, and singing along. Most of all, he keeps them watching and listening for what comes next.

Ryan came out mellow, sat down at the keyboard and played We Might Fall. Next he brought the energy up for Brand New Day and Right Now. Then he played a haunting version of Last Train Home. Last Train Home has never been my "favorite" of his songs, but this version gave me chills. It's funny how a song you've heard a million times can somehow sound different all of a sudden. That's how Ryan sings. He ended that song by breaking into a portion of Meatloaf's I Would Do Anything For Love. Most of the audience probably weren't even born when that song came out. Then he broke out a cover song. I'm always up for a cover song when it comes to Ryan because he sings anything well, and he sang one of my favorite songs of all time - In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel. I've heard him sing that before, I think it was on a video chat thing, but it's never the same as it is live three feet from your face. The next song was Breathe, which seemed to be an audience favorite for obvious reasons. Next up, he brought it old school with Take a Ride with Me. I have seen him sing this one live before and I knew it was going to be awesome, and I was not wrong. The energy was through the roof. He ended his set with two of my favorites, Start a Fire and Back of Your Car. Start a Fire was played in a more mellow fashion than what is on his CD, but was possibly even more powerful and passionate that way. He also threw in a little Airplanes during Back of Your Car.

I was trying to come up with proper English words to describe how intensely awesome this concert was, but I am at a loss for true words. I've been a fan for a very long time, and last night I felt such an amazing sense of pride for him. He's come a long way and he has such a bright future ahead of him. Wherever this ride takes him next, I'll be there cheering him on.

1426 Days

It's been 1426 days since I've seen a Ryan Star concert. Tomorrow will put an end to that disgusting streak. What kind of a groupie am I? It's not completely my fault. Sure, I could spend every penny I have traveling the country and seeing every one of his shows, but my kids have to eat, right?

As expected, my husband would rather swim in shark infested waters with his leg cut off than come with me to the show and rather than go alone, my dearest friend Rachel has sacrificed herself to come along. Is she a Ryan Star fan? No. But she is a Karla fan :)

I'm trying not to geek out on everyone, but I am REALLY excited about this.

Remembering

09/11/2001 is a day nobody will forget. It's a day in my life that stands out in strange ways. I can remember details about the day that you normally forget. What Dylan was wearing. I remember the look in people's eyes, the look that was a wild combination of fear and sadness. I think being in Washington State during 9/11 was both a blessing and a curse. I was not personally connected to anyone who died that day, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Those people, their stories, the images became ingrained in your soul. I remember laying in bed that night wondering, what comes next? There was also a sense of connection to every other American during that time. For a brief time we were just Americans, regardless of our race, religion, or political affiliation. We were all mourning the same loss and all fearing the same evil. Since that time our country has lost that sense of oneness, and in all reality has probably drifted even farther from it than before. But for today, no matter who you are or where you are, you'll remember that day and remember how you felt, because 9/11 affected everyone in some way.

Oh yea, that's right

I was so enraptured with the idea of the kids being gone for 6 hours a day at school that I forgot about the reasons why I dislike school.

1. School supplies. Why the freak do I have to buy Kleenex for the whole school? How about we pack those little trial size thingies in their back packs if they need it and if someone forgets....well they they get to be the one with snot all over their desk. Oh, wait. Never mind. I'll pack several boxes.

2. School clothes. My kids are a little picky when it comes to clothes. Dylan is picky as far as he would rather wear the same thing over and over again then wear something new. He still has clothes in his closet from last September that he wore, like, once. Maybe. Maddie's clothes have to be perfect. Not too tight. Not too loose. Not plaid. Not too long. Not too short. They can't even remotely hint at a wedgie. They have to ride just right - not too low and never ever ever above her belly button. The sleeves have to fit right - not too tight, not too loose, not too long and certainly not too short. The shoes can't be too tight, but they can't be so loose that they fall off either.

3. Homework. Dylan pretty much does his homework at school or after school while waiting for Maddie, so he's not the problem. I'll give you one guess who the problem is. Yes. Maddie. She hates homework and lucky for her, her teacher is planning on giving homework every day. Every.Day. Something that should take 20 minutes MAXIMUM takes an hour because she spends 20 mintues off and on whining about having to do it in the first place and another 20 minutes redoing it because she whipped through it so fast I couldn't even read it.

4. The after school crabbiness. For 20-30 minutes after my kids get home, it's crank time. It doesn't matter if they had the greatest day at school of their entire lives and the sky rained down Skittles, the first 20-30 minutes after they get home is filled with arguments - with each other, with me, even with themselves. Maddie usually spends a great deal of time after school in her room having some quiet time. You'd think she'd learn. Not so much.

5. The bus. I had every intention of making my kids ride the bus this year. At least TO school. The ride home is an hour long. We live 2 miles from the school. It takes me less time to walk to the school AND back than it does to ride the freaking bus. Maddie does not tolerate car rides well, even just to Wal Mart and that is only 5 minutes with traffic. The ride to school is only 5 minutes, but the downside is that they are the last stop. This means that the bus is already full because of budget cuts. Last year they were sitting 3 in a seat. I don't find that safe. Maddie fell off her seat several times last year because she was sitting on the edge. Not to mention the episode last year of getting punched by that little punk. He's lucky he can still walk. So, we're back to driving to school and back. At least it's only 2 miles, right?

6. Waking up. I didn't sleep in too much this summer anyway, no later than 7:30 or 8:00, but it's a lot different than 6:45. A LOT.

Only 6! Amazing. All of these things are fairly tolerable considering the fact that they are back in school and I'm a happy Mama :P

Happy First Day of School to MEEEEEE

Dylan is starting 7th grade today. Yes, that's right 7th. I don't know how the hell that happened. He's not amused about starting school. He's going to have video game withdrawals. He loved school last year and he'll love it again this year, he's just being a butthead because he can. and will. He refused to even wear new school clothes. I get frustrated with this boy, but I can't lie. He's exactly like me.

...and then there is this one. She was so excited to start 2nd grade she was bouncing off the walls all morning. She even only ate one breakfast! She couldn't wait to get dressed. She couldn't wait to get to school. The traffic was a bear on the way to school and I thought her head was going to burst. Her 2nd grade teacher is the same one her dad and her Auntie Jen had for 2nd grade. Crazy!

So Tara and I celebrated this joyous day with lunch at Wok on Fire, which is only one of many, many lunches we will enjoy this school year.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the public school district for taking my children for 6 hours a day 5 days a week and I would like to thoroughly apologize in advance for any problems they cause. That will be your punishment for giving them 2.5 months off in the summer to get in my way.

Mom's vacation starts.....NOW