Confusion Never Stops

The best Mother's Day gifts

2011-05-08T18:41:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe this photo was taken almost 8 years ago,

just after I became a mom of 2.

Jewelery. Not the kind that the TV commercials tell you I want. I want the kind that is slaved over by a kid that has mismatched beads and a string tied so loosely together that it will probably fall apart in first few minutes of ownership, and I'm not talking about the Wal-Mart jewelery. Gold and diamonds do not tell me Happy Mother's Day, it tells me we spent too much money to say those words.

Cards. Not the kind you buy and sign and then I set on my dresser for 3 weeks debating how long until I can throw it away or even if I should, and if not where do I keep it? I want one that requires thought, scissors, markers, glue, and maybe even a clever little poem. Those have a special place in my drawer and in my heart.

Housework. Not done by me, silly goose. Just one day a year I'd like someone else to do what I do. And by someone else, I mean those children that I created.

Breakfast in bed. No, I don't want you to bring me burned toast and undercooked eggs so I can make a mess in my bed and then have to re-wash my sheets and then go do the dishes you left. I mean YOU go make and eat your own breakfast in the kitchen while I stay in bed and sleep.

Listening. I want children to hear what I say and do it. I'm not silly enough to expect that the other 364 days of the year. Just one. It's not too much, I swear. Just try it.

Silence. I'd like to read a whole chapter of a book without being interrupted. Don't laugh at me.

A closed complaint box. For one day I want to hear NOBODY complain about a freaking thing. I don't want to hear that your socks are too tight or that you don't like pork chops or that something isn't fair or that you're bored. Shut it.

A spa day. By spa day, I mean a 15 minute hot shower with the door locked.

Flowers. No roses. Nothing fancy. A couple of handpicked wildflowers makes me just as happy. Actually, happier, because they're free.

Chocolate. Not a big box of chocolates I have to share with everyone. A simple bag of Pretzel M&M's, like I bought for myself and scarfed down in the car when no one was looking today was the best.

A simple thank you.

Lucky for me, I have the best husband and kids in the world who know all these things and provide them for me. Well, except maybe 3, 5, 6, and 7, but we can't expect perfection, now can we?

The Not So Great Sock Debate

2011-04-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

If you know my Maddie, you know she's the queen of fads and phases. Lately we are dealing with socks. First of all, she hates them and would rather not wear them. Second, she will only wear her navy blue ones. Most of the reason is because she likes the way they "fit." She also just likes the color. I went to go buy more of that exact pair, but of course they only come in a variety pack of 10 and I am not paying $7 for a pack of socks that she's only going to wear one pair out of. I saw an open package and a pair missing. I had to laugh, because I can only assume someone else is having the same issue with their daughter. I won't lie, I considered piggybacking this idea for a half of a second and pulling out the blue pair, until I noticed the blue pair was the one that was missing. I am, however, trying to remember the last time I brought Maddie with me to Wal Mart and whether or not she was out of my sight at all. If I find another pair of navy blue socks hanging around somewhere, I'll know where they came from.

Ridiculous

2011-04-14T16:37:00.000-07:00

Today two of my favorite shows have been cancelled - All My Children and One Life to Live. I've watched these shows since I was a little girl. They have been on the air for over 40 years. Gone. Well, not yet. The last episodes will air in September (AMC) and January (OLTL). I watch these every day, along with General Hospital. Most people think this is pathetic, but not any more pathetic than shows like Jersey Shore or Real Housewives of Uranus or whatever that trash is. All I can hope for is that the shows go out with style. They bring back some old characters and mix some of the great old story lines in. I will definitely miss these shows.

Baby, you can drive my car

2011-04-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Dylan did his usual work at the wrecking yard. Only this week, my dad taught him how to drive the yard jeep. Now, Dylan is driving it all over the wrecking yard all.by.himself. Not only is this situation happening, he's become comfortable enough in it now that he's going crazy and doing donuts in it. Where's my Xanax? He's so excited about this. It will make working up there easier because he doesn't have to walk everywhere. Plus.....driving is fun when you are only 13, right? I wouldn't know.

I personally did not get to witness this crazy event, but I promised I'd come up and watch him this weekend when he works. He wants to give me a ride. There isn't enough Xanax for that yet.

Hiatus - DONE

2011-04-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

I think a two month hiatus is plenty of time away from the blog, correct? Honestly, I didn't really miss it. It's stressful to try to come up with witty information to share all the time that isn't boring. I don't want everyone to know if I'm on my period or if I'm having marital problems. Those are personal things. I can share funny things about my kids, but sometimes they're just not that funny. Not to mention, they're getting to the age where they get embarrassed if I share too much. Oh well, too bad. That's what you get for doing things that entertain people.

So, to recap the last two months.....

Actually, no. It's been a really boring two months. The kids are doing great in school. Dylan always does, but he still is. He loves middle school, loves the 7th grade. He isn't playing baseball this year, he's doing track, which he loves.

Maddie has improved dramatically at school. She started 2nd grade way below grade level and now is above grade level. I'm so proud of her and so is her teacher. Her school is phenomenal. They have really used every resource they had to help her out and it has definitely paid off. Maddie is in girl scouts now. She just started last week. She seems to enjoy it.

About 4-1/2 weeks ago I made the decision to make a change in myself. I wasn't happy with the state of my body, which was starting to effect my mind and my kids and my home. So, I went out and joined the gym. Now, 4-1/2 weeks later I have gone to the gym every single day (minus one day where we were in Seattle all day). I have lost 11 pounds. I feel better. I probably look better, but who knows. My goal is not primarily to lose weight, it's to get into better shape, I just hoped and assumed the weight would fall off as I'm doing that and I was right.

My dad is doing great. He recovered remarkably and he's back to work, much to his dismay.

Anyway, I promise to get back on the blog horse, but I can't promise to be witty. I probably won't be giving you daily recaps either because if I wanted you all to know everything I do every minute of every day, I'd ask you to move in with me. Obviously, that's not happening.

Blog block

2011-02-07T15:07:00.000-08:00

Today is my husband's birthday. He's 36 today. Joel is an amazing man. He does so much for our little family and I take him for granted all the time. I wish I could do more for him on his birthday, but he doesn't want nor expect much - he just wants a quiet evening with his family.

We had a great time yesterday. We had lots of friends over celebrating both his birthday and the Superbowl, as well as the birthday of other people who were celebrating within the next few days. It was a lot of fun. The kids, as always, had a blast.

My dad is doing great. He got a clean bill of health and much praise from the doctor today. I'm so proud of how well he's been doing. So much of it has to do with the fact that he was very healthy otherwise before having the surgery (besides his heart) and the fact that he is so determined to get the hell back to work and get out of that house, so he's willing to comply with everything. I think it's great and it's really showing my kids a great example of what a strong person he is and how you can overcome just about anything and come out stronger on the end.

I haven't been keeping up in my blog. It was one of my (actually my only) New Years Resolution. However, I am having a hard time with it. I come on here at least 3 times a week to say something and I come up blank. It's not that I don't have anything to say, if you spend enough time with my family you know we have plenty of action to report. Sometimes I actually get the whole thing typed out and then I delete it. I don't have a real reason for this. I'm having a hard time with the whole "oversharing" part of the internet. I feel like sometimes every single part of our lives is plastered all over the internet and everyone, even (especially) those you wish didn't, knows about it. I am guilty of this as well and I am trying to make myself more aware of it, but it's hard to not get sucked it. I am not one of those people who keeps track of who reads and doesn't read my blog. I have a tracker on it, but I forgot the password for the account and haven't checked it in years. I don't care who reads it, or even if anyone does at all. When I type a blog I try to invision NOBODY reading it and then I don't feel so bound in my communication, but that's becoming more and more difficult as of late. Maybe once I get over that I can post more often. Maybe I should see a therapist or something, but I don't think they have blogger block therapy sessions. Maybe I should start one.

Chasing the dream of sleep

2011-01-28T12:26:00.000-08:00

Sleep has always been an interesting thing in our house, because it rarely happens. Joel is a chronic insomniac. He rarely ever gets a good night sleep. I can and always could fall asleep at the drop of a hat, anywhere and anytime. Both of my kids were horrible sleepers as babies - Maddie worse than Dylan. I don't honestly know how I survived on such little sleep. Dylan as a child has not had much trouble with sleeping, other than he likes to get up early, but I do too so I don't blame him. Maddie, as she has gotten older has become a much better sleeper - sleeping at times 11-12 hours a night.

Lately though she's caught a case of the insomnia from Joel (yes, I know it's not contagious, don't lecture me). Once she falls asleep, she's good for the rest of the night, it's just that 1.5-2 hours after she goes to bed that she just tosses and turns. Makes for fun times for everyone. She cries too, because she IS tired, she just can't seem to fall asleep. All the usual tricks aren't working for her. At first I blamed it on accidentally drinkiing some soda with caffeine, but that was DAYS ago. The effect of caffeine doesn't last THAT long, even I know that. Hopefully this will all go away in a day or two, because it's getting old super fast.

Rules

2011-01-22T13:17:00.000-08:00

Sleeping pills and laxatives are not a good combination.
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often.
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
The lesser of two evils is often the least fun.
Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.
If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.
Bills travel faster than checks.
Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.
No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.
Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
Junk is something you keep for years until 3 weeks before you need it.
There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
Experience is what enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
By the time you get to the point that you can make ends meet, the ends move.
Thou shalt not weigh more than your refrigerator.
The jeans do not make your butt look fat. The jeans are innocent.
There is a fine line between hobby and mental illness.
People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want to hear yours.
Gossip is a more powerful tool than people realize.
Does anyone truly understand Daylight Savings Time?
The one thing that bad drivers and good drivers have in common is that they both think they're good drivers.

Just Breathe

2011-01-19T16:14:00.000-08:00

Today was a great day. I went to visit my dad and he looked awesome. He was in his pajamas, not some crazy nightgown, and he wasn't hooked up to any pain pumps, or any IVs, or any tubes, or catheters, or anything. When I got there he was walking around the halls completely unassisted - no walker or anything. He was practically running. He said he felt great and was loving the walking. He was completely cleared to go home today. I'm so happy about that. I really enjoyed hanging out with my dad at the hospital, but I am so happy to see him go home. It's all easy breezy from here :)

Dad update

2011-01-17T18:33:00.001-08:00

I should have done this days ago, but I've been pretty busy keeping the oil companies in business with my frequent trips to and from the hospital. Most everyone who is reading this probably already knows all this, so I'm pretty much being redundant, but what else do I have to do with my free time other than this? I couldn't even finish typing that without laughing. So many funny words, like free time.

Dad had his surgery Friday. It was a success with no complications. He has some inflammation around the heart after surgery, but it's not completely uncommon. He had a 4-vessel bypass. We expected a 2-vessel or a 3-vessel, but he needed 4. Once you're in there you might as well do as much as you can, right?

I got to see him right after surgery and he was awake, which I wasn't expecting. I was really happy to see that. He's recovering slowly but surely with only a few minor setbacks that one would expect. I've been spending all my time at the hospital, from the time I get up until Cheryll gets there. I'm trying to let my stepmom have as much time with him without me being there, and since she works during the day, it works out perfectly. It's been really nice spending all that time with him. He dozes off while I read my book. We watch TV together. We complain about the stupid physical therapist together. He hasn't been cranky at all other than when they forgot to plug in his pain pump and he was in serious pain. Amateurs.

I'm bringing the kids in to see him tomorrow. He wanted to wait until he was feeling a little better and we both felt tomorrow would be best. The kids are excited and he is really missing them. I had a talk with them tonight about what to expect. They saw their Papa in the hospital when he had his surgery, but this is a bit different. Grandpa is their superman. Heck, he's my superman. They're prepared for what they'll see tomorrow. I personally think he looks awesome, and they may think that too, but I wanted them prepared for something different. They're biggest concern was whether or not we will get to eat lunch in the hospital cafeteria. Sigh. I am so freaking sick of the hospital cafeteria food I could vomit.

Cinderdylan

2011-01-07T16:08:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful thing this is. I've never done chores for my kids because they don't really care about money, usually whatever they want - Grandpa will buy for them. So, when I put chores in place it usually lasts about a week. HOWEVER - when it's punishment, it must get done - no arguments. It is day 2 and not only have I not got even one single argument, he seems almost happy to be doing it. Typically, during my day I do at least 2 loads of laundry, fold, and put them away. I usually do at least one load in the dishwasher and put it away. I'll straighten up the house too. Now, I do the laundry, but I don't fold it. I start the dishwasher, but i don't put them away. My slave gets home and does it.

Now, he gets to experience what WEEKEND chores are. Hehehe. He's in for a super treat tomorrow. He asked to go hang out with some friends at the mall. I told Cinderella he could, but only if his chores are done. He knew better than to call me anything with "wicked" in front of it, although I saw the thought cross his mind.

Tonight we watch Despicable Me for Friday Night Movie Night. The kids have seen it, but we have not. Netflix doesn't have it until next week and of course it's going to be on "long wait", so it would probably be another week before we saw it, at least. I decided to just buy it. I already know the kids love it, and Maddie will probably watch it over and over and over again. It's time to return Beezus and Ramona to Netflix anyway, so she needs a new movie for her continuous rotation.

Joel's going to the Seahawk game tomorrow. He's pretty excited about it. I don't know how he's gonna sleep tonight. Dylan was disappointed he didn't get to go too, but the ticket was given by a friend and he only had one extra. Besides, Cinderella has some floors to wash.

Slavery reinstated? Maybe....

2011-01-06T13:55:00.000-08:00

My son is smart. Scary smart. Yet, sometimes he lacks the good old fashioned common sense.

He has a cell phone with unlimited texting, which he takes full advantage of, as most 13 year olds with cell phones do. Yet, that wasn't enough. Getting on the internet on his phone was something he couldn't stay away from. I'd warned him on multiple occasions, but it never got out of hand so I never turned it off or anything.

Then, came $170 worth of data charges on his cell phone. My.Head.Exploded. He's honestly really lucky he was at school when I found out. Like, REALLY lucky. It gave me a few hours to go from wanting to strangle him, to wanting to take his phone away permanently, to wanting to ground him for life, to wanting to scream until my voice gives out and he loses his hearing. I had a lot of time to think about what I was going to do and say. I never lost my cool (haha, seriously). I came up with what to do. First, his Internet on his phone is disabled. That was a no-brainer. Second, obviously, he was going to have to pay for this, there was no way around that. So, first thing I did was take away what he had left of his Christmas money, which wasn't much. Then....I declared him my slave. Whatever I need done, he's to do it - dishes, mopping, vacuming, folding laundry, dusting, even picking up his sister's toys for her. DONE. Whatever makes MY LIFE easier, he's going to do it. I figure about 3 weeks of this and he will have physically re-paid this debt to me and probably have seriously regretted the whole thing.

Now, the real question is, what to do with all this free time??

What are you waiting for?

2011-01-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

Our family has varying taste in music. Listening to music in the car is always interesting.

Joel likes old school country mostly - Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, etc. He also listens to 107.7 and all the nonsense that comes with that.

Dylan likes "rappy" stuff like Eminem and Usher and Bruno Mars. Things that make my ears bleed. Except Eminem - I have a soft spot for him.

My music rocks of course. Duh.

Maddie likes things like Lady Gaga, Kesha, and Katy Perry. I can't really fault her for that, though, because she got it from me :)

So, one of my favorite songs is Animal from Neon Trees. Maddie, who of course only listens to music when I do, loves it. I found out recently that Dylan loves it, which shocked me because there aren't any misspelled words in the title.

The other day Joel was taking Maddie to get her hair cut. When he got back he said "in the car I was listening to the radio and one of my favorite songs came on and Maddie was singing it and knew every word!!!" When I asked what song it was, he started singing "oh oh, I want some more..."

I said "YOU LIKE THAT SONG TOO?????"

Now Maddie calls it our "Family Song" because for the first time I think ever, we have a song that the whole family enjoys.

For your listening pleasure.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY--Yu4kzz0

2011 can bite me

2011-01-03T16:20:00.000-08:00

\

I absolutely cannot think of a worse way to start a new year than with the flu. Since the start of this craptastical year, I have had fevers, body aches, chills, diarrhea, nausea, and just overall exhaustion. It wasn't until about mid-day today that I have actually started to feel like a semi-human again. I still wouldn't say I'm 100% - maybe 50%.

Maddie was really worried about me. Today she said that she was worried that I was going to die. Poor girl :( Last night before bed, instead of me reading to her in her bed, she read a book to me in my bed. How sweet is she? Dylan offered to stay home today and take care of me, but his offer was less sweet and more of a ploy to try to get out of school. Put it back son, cause I ain't buying it.

My Ramona

2011-01-02T18:05:00.001-08:00

Maddie and I have read almost all of the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary. We LOVE them. I've always thought Ramona reminded me so much of Maddie in her personality, but the one time I mentioned it I thought she was going to lose her mind in anger. Kind of like the above picture.

We finally watched the live action movie, Ramona and Beezus last night. It totally cemented my thought that Maddie and Ramona were personality twins. Even Maddie could not deny it so much anymore, although she still did. If you haven't seen the movie, do it. Then you can see what it's like to live with My Ramona.

Sneezing in the New Year

2011-01-01T11:27:00.001-08:00

Our Annual New Years Eve Party at the Snelsons is over. It was so much fun, as usual. I got no sleep at all. Maybe an hour TOTAL. That means a minute or two here, a minute or two there. Part of the problem was the sleeping at someone else's house thing. I have a difficult time sleeping anywhere other than my own home. The other problem is that I am apparently catching a cold. Way to bring in the New Year, eh? Sometime around 9:30 or 10:00 last night I could feel it coming on. BARNACLES. Since I was only two drinks into the night anyway, I figured I would just stop and hope to feel at least partly human in the morning. Although I'm sure it "helped" for me to not feel like total garbage today, I still feel like someone is in my head pounding with hammers. Unfortunately, it's not because I had too much fun, it's because I'm freaking SICK. I know I'm going to someday regret saying this, but I think I'd rather be hungover. At least I know I would probably be 100% by the end of the day or at least tomorrow. I already hate 2011.

The girls took some pictures last night, but they're mostly of people's butts and chins and eyeballs up close. Awesome.

Warm and fuzzy

2010-12-28T08:41:00.000-08:00

You know what's nice about having my very own computer? The desktop wallpaper. When I turned on my computer this morning I got to stare at this:

What a way to start my day.

This morning I'm snuggling in my bed with my lap top. Maddie spent the night with mam so I don't have any real reason to get out of bed yet. Dylan is awake because I heard him banging around in his man cave. He did emerge long enough to play Jenga with me and Joel. We both beat him. That's a blow to the ole' ego. Not that it makes a dent. I do have to get up eventually because I didn't bring my power cord with me and the battery doesn't last forever....damn. Plus we have plans for lunch today and I'm excited about that. I guess that means a shower is in my immediate future.

It's almost New Years. I've been thinking about New Years resolutions. I always make them and never keep them. I make sarcastic ones and I don't keep those either. You wanna know why? Because I hate change. So there.

I am excited to spend New Years with my BFF again. I can't think of a better way to ring in a brand new year.

So, I just typed out a really boring blog, just because I don't want to get out of my warm, comfortable bed. Also, I'm watching VH1 Classic Totally 80s and I'm enjoying all the old videos that I haven't seen in like 20 years. Some of them are quite awkward and creepy.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-26T11:44:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas is over. Hard to believe. This whole entire year has gone by so fast I can't quite wrap my head around it.

Christmas was a success. The kids all seemed very pleased. Dylan got a dart board for his room, a bunch of new games, an IPOD, etc. Maddie got two American Girl dolls. They aren't "actually" American Girl dolls because those cost a FORTUNE, but they're knock offs and she doesn't know the difference and she loves them. She got a bunch of other cool stuff, but the dolls are definitely her favorite. Oh yea, and the Spongebob Snuggie.

Dylan has been holed up in his room for hours playing his video games. He comes down for food only. I told Joel if he keeps this up then one day he'll come down and we won't recognize him - he'll be 6 inches taller with a beard.

I was pleasantly suprised for Christmas. Joel and I don't normally buy things for each other. I did buy him new slippers and a new set of sweats, but he definitely needed those things. He bought me a laptop. I didn't even know what to say. It's all mine, not the family's. Nobody is allowed to touch it but me. I get to work on it. I get to play on it. I get to hug it. Okay, only sometimes do I hug it. Today is the first day I get to work on it. It took me a few hours and a little frustration, but I finally got it set up for the wireless and I got my work program installed. The work program was tricky because my laptop has Windows 7 and the program isn't compatible with Windows 7 yet. I had to do some research, but there are little tricks and loopholes you can utilize to help make it work. Today is my first day working on my laptop. I can't wait. I can work in bed. I can work on the couch with my feet up. I can work outside (not today, it's raining). I can work when we go on vacation! Not that I will, but you never know, right? I'm most excited for summertime when the sun is shining and I'm usually stuck inside at my desk. Not anymore!!!! Another nice thing is that when my dad has his surgery, I can come over to his house and work and keep an eye on him. My husband rocks. You should be jealous.

Anyway, Christmas was great, but now we're glad it's over. By we I mean me, of course. The kids wish Christmas was everyday, which would get boring, but they don't understand that.

Now we look forward to New Years and everything that 2011 brings us.

Maddie and The Santa Story

2010-12-17T12:48:00.001-08:00

Over the last two weeks we've had a developing story in our house. Maddie is a firm believer in Santa Claus. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I love her enthusiasm.

Here's the first part of the story. The kids and I were at Wal Mart, or as I like to call it during the Holidays - The Tenth Circle of Hell; Maddie was being a teensy bit of a pain, which is nothing new for a trip to Hell, but annoying nonetheless. Dylan rigged his phone up to look and sound like a text message came from Santa (that boy is so clever, I would never have thought of that) and it said to remind his sister to behave in the store and have a Merry Christmas. With her stanch Santa beliefs, I thought for sure we were going to have a tiny little angel on our hands. She burst into tears and cried and cried and cried. She was "scared." Holy Backfire Batman.

So Dylan, being the nice big brother that he is, started a little "text message conversation" with Santa, who proceeded to thank Maddie for being good and asking what she wanted for Christmas. She wanted to ask Santa to fill her mom and dad's stockings because she knows that he doesn't anymore. He told her he was too busy, but that she could do it for him.

A few hours later we were having pizza at Central Market and who should walk by.....SANTA. Her eyes were as big as saucers. She thought for sure he was following us.

The next day she told me I needed to take her to the store so she could buy stuff to put in our stockings. I said no. She cried again because Santa told her to do it and I won't let her. Sigh. Curse you Dylan.

Fast forward to last night. The kids went with Grandma and Grandpa to the Mall. Dylan has put his foot down about sitting on Santa's lap and Maddie, who does anything Dylan does, refuses as well. Santa was at the mall and at the last second, she insisted on sitting on his lap. No pictures. Just a chat. Grandpa said she sat there and chatted with him for about 5 minutes. I asked her what she talked about and she said she was testing him to see if he was the real one or if he talked to the real one. When I asked her how she did that she said "I was asking him things we asked Santa on the text and he was not answering the same, so he was totally fake."

Fast forward to this morning. She was sitting very thoughtful-like when she suddenly says "Mom, do you think Dylan is lying about texting Santa?"

Not wanting to be a snitch or a liar I said "What do you think?"

She said "of course he isn't lying, Dylan never lies."

A Maddie-ism!! or two

2010-12-07T16:38:00.001-08:00

It's been awhile since I've had a few of these on the blog, but she stayed home from school yesterday and other than drive me BAT CRAZY, she was funny at times. In her own little way.

She was watching TV and came in and said: "Mom, have you ever heard of a show called The Jasons?" I said no and came to make sure she wasn't watching porn or something. It was The Jetsons. So I told her what it was called and that I loved that show. She said "Oh, I guess I just produced it wrong." I said "You mean pronounced." She said "that too."

In staying home sick yesterday, she missed a field trip. Missing the field trip was actually the point of missing school because they were going to be outside for a bit and it was cold and she's sick, so I kept her home. Maddie has a serious love/hate relationship with her teacher. Some days she loves her, some days she hates her. Her teacher pushes her to do her best and that's not what Maddie wants. Anyway, the teacher called concerned that Maddie would be missing the field trip. I explained the situation and the teacher suggested I drive Maddie there so she wouldn't have to walk and then drive her home, just so she wouldn't have to miss the field trip. I declined, but I thought that was nice. When I told Maddie that she said "She hates me, she just did that so that you would think that she doesn't hate me."

Um...okay.

'Tis the Season....

2010-12-05T19:44:00.000-08:00

Christmas snuck up on me. Like, big time. December is always the busiest month of the year for us. Well, for anyone really. I am a really Bah Humbug girl. Really, I would love to be one of those people who is always prepared for Christmas and not shopping for presents the week before Christmas and buying just a bunch of crap that they don't even really want simply because I have to buy SOMETHING. Argh. One day I might be that girl. When I have grandkids. Or great grandkids.

The statement "'tis the season" confuses me. It's an incomplete sentence and you know how I love that. I correct grammar for a living. I am a walking, talking human spell checker/grammar monitor. I annoy people (Lezli). Speaking of which, my blogger spell checker is telling me that "snuck" is not a word. I just thought it was a liar, until I did some research. I found this debate about the words. I still chose to use snuck, because by saying "Christmas sneaked up on me" I sound like a hick. Warning: Unless reading articles debating verb tenses is enthralling to you, reading the entire article may cause a migraine. Just a hunch though. But hey, you learn something new everyday.

Back on topic: In light of my confusion about the statement, I decided to finish the sentence my own "Karla" way.

'Tis the season to park too close to me. For REAL. What the crap, people? Eleven months of the year, people park like grown ups. Then December comes and cars are all over the flipping parking lot like matchbox cars in a 4-year-old's bedroom.

'Tis the season to have so much to do that 24 hours is not enough time in the day. I start thinking about ways I can incorporate supposed sleeping hours into productive hours. This next weekend I have so much going on that I may explode. Pieces of me will be everywhere. At least I will be able to be everywhere at once, correct?

'Tis the season to irritate the CRAP out of me. We have two different sorts of people at the store. We have the overly-cheerful-Christmas-loving-freakazoid who can't wipe the grin off their face and has to WHISTLE Christmas carols as they shop for toilet paper and garbage bags (yes, I saw/heard that person). Then we have the cranks, who bump their carts into you, don't apologize, and then glare at you as if you were annoying person number one. Then there is me, who cowers in fear in the corner of Wal-Mart, praying for Christmas to end soon. Sometimes I run into people there and I help wipe their tears.

'Tis the season to struggle to find things to buy people for Christmas. New Rule: If I can't find something that you will really want, and not something I think you want - you lose out. Yea, like that would happen. How about, we each go shopping for ourselves, buy what we REALLY want, and be done. Merry Christmas to ALL.

'Tis the season to be sick. Did you know that for the last 3 Decembers Maddie has been sick. Guess what? It's December. She's sick. I do feel fortunate as this is the first time all school year that she has been sick, but it doesn't make it easier. Basketball started last week. We have something like 6 parties in the next two weeks. She going to have so much vitamin C in her she'll be orange. 'Tis the season to be an oompa lumpa.

I hope my Bah Humbug mood doesn't bring you down. But honestly, you can't say that sneaked up on you. You expected it, you know you did.

Two Different Children

2010-11-30T16:31:00.000-08:00

I have two kids. One Boy. One Girl. They are almost complete opposites in everything they do, say, need, want, and feel.

The biggest difference I've noticed, is school.

For Dylan, school has always been easy. He flies through his work, gets straight A's, gets glowing reports from his teachers, excels at tests, etc. You get the picture. Most days he doesn't have homework because he finishes it before class is over because he's already done with the class work. When he does have homework, it takes maybe 10 minutes tops.

Maddie struggles. A lot. She struggles with her homework. She struggles with her school work. She wants SO badly to do well, but she still struggles.

Today the MAP scores came in the mail. I read Maddie's first. They weren't bad. She was basically average for everything. I was impressed, actually. I commended her on a job well done.

Then came Dylan's. Just one glance at them and I knew to just put it away and praise him for it later, but he (and Maddie) wanted to know about it right NOW. Maddie said "I know Dylan's will be better than mine, that's okay." It wasn't okay. He scored high or high average for everything. She was mad. "Why is Dylan so much smarter than me?" I don't even know how to answer that. I tried to tell her it is because he works harder, but she's not an idiot, she knows he doesn't do squat.

I just continue to praise them both for doing as well as they can do and hope that one day she can appreciate all the good she can do, and not all the bad. It sucks though.

Broken Heart

2010-11-28T15:57:00.001-08:00

I know it's been a whole week since I blogged, but I have had a lot on my mind. I've debated back and forth whether to bring it to my blog or not, but now that all the important people know, I can do that.

My dad. He has a bad heart valve. He was most likely born with it and it progressed over time to what it is now, which is not good. Over the past few weeks to months he's been having shortness of breath and chest tightness and finally went to the doctor who discovered a murmur he never knew he had. We went to the cardiologist and had an echo where they discovered that his aortic valve is extremely tight. We met with the cardiologist and he's scheduled to have a cath tomorrow and we go from there. He will be having the valve replaced. My dad is hoping to wait until after the 1st of the year. I understand his desire to wait - he needs to come to grips with this in his own way (his own stubborn, pigheaded way) and it also has a lot to do with insurance, and wanting to be around for Christmas with the grandkids in full capacity, not recovering from major heart surgery. I do understand all of his reasons, and I'm keeping my mouth shut as much as it is humanly possible for me (ha), but the daughter in me wants him to have it now. Like right now. It's not a condition that will get better with time, only worse. The cardiologist indicated that waiting until the 1st of the year would be okay, but we won't know 100% until after tomorrow. I'm really glad he's allowing me to be a part of his medical decisions. If you know my dad, you know he's not really the warm, fuzzy type (wonder where I got that from...). He's also very private. So, for the most part I am simply providing him with as much emotional support as possible, while keeping my mouth shut. Who knew that was possible?

Anyway, moving on....Thanksgiving was last week. We were going to go to Tara's but at the last minute we decided to go to Dad's because of the above mentioned reason. I felt the grandkids needed to spend the holiday with him, not just for his sake, but theirs. Ever since hearing about Grandpa's heart problem he worried that they would worry too much, especially Dylan. Spending Thanksgiving with him and seeing that nothing has changed, definitely helped everyone.

Lessons Learned During an 8-Hour Power Outage

2010-11-21T18:06:00.001-08:00

I need to buy matches. Or a lighter. Or preferably, self-lighting candles. They don't make those yet, do they? Dern.
Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches are not a sufficient dinner.
When Domino's says 45 minutes and they come in 30, they deserve a bigger tip. Not that I gave them one, but they deserve one.
When the lights go out, my kids go CRAZY.
We can play every game in our house in about 2 hours. Even made up ones.
Puget Sound Energy are liars. At 4:00 they said "very soon", at 7:00 they said "2 hours", but mean FOUR.
My kids sleep in completely dark rooms at night, but when the power's out, they need a flashlight or a lantern in their rooms. Huh?
Dylan can't keep his hands off fire. This includes campfires and apparently now candles.
When it's dark and you've played all your games and ate all your food, there is nothing else left to do but go to bed. My head hasn't seen a pillow before 9:00 in years. It did last night.
It is impossible to NOT try to turn on the lights every time you walk in the bathroom.

Kitchen-can't-live-withouts

2010-11-16T18:01:00.000-08:00

My portable cutting boards. Plastic. Easy to clean. Light weight. SANITARY. Me love them long time.

Whoever invented these deserves a wet sloppy kiss from me. Depending on what they look like of course, but I was kind of hoping they looked something like this, because honestly, anyone who comes up with something this brilliant has to look like that, am I right? I love cooking in my crockpot, but I hate washing it. I even considered just tossing out the crockpot every time I use it and buy a new one, but that's not very cost effective, now is it? Thank you Bradley for inventing this. (please don't stomp on my dream).

My kids love apples. I love them to eat apples. My kids are not normal. They don't like to eat apples like humans - you know, grab, wash, bite, bite, bite, throw away the core. They like theirs cut up. Actually, they like them peeled too, but I draw the line at that. They're not oranges, people - they're APPLES. With EDIBLE PEELS. This little gadget makes my life easier.

Whoever invented these is a mother. One who was also once a kid (as if there is an alternative). One whose kid hated those crunchy chalk tasting Flinstone vitamins (no offense Fred and Wilma, but they suck). So, this lovely lady (not Carol Brady - I don't think anyway) mixed two wonderful ideas - candy and vitamins - and created something that makes my mornings easier. I now longer have to force vitamins down my kids throat and/or find them hiding in the bathroom garbage later.
What the heck is this gadget? It's for those of us that hate digging food out of our sink. I am not one of those people with a garbage disposal (except the kids). I find it gag-inducing to dig food out of my sink, so I bought these. Food goes in. I take the whole thing out, dump it in the garbage and throw it in the dishwasher. Loveliness.

I was not paid in the promotion of any of these items, but if you would like to I can give you my address. Or not, because more than likely you're a stalker and not a person who pays random people for promotions.

Ketchup and Mashed Potatoes

2010-11-14T19:17:00.000-08:00

I've been lazy with the blog posts lately so I thought I'd play with Ketchup (haha). Several (and I mean SEVERAL) people on my Facebook are doing daily thankful lists. Meh. I'm not mushy. I considered it, seriously. For a minute. I love lists, after all, but I don't like lying. Well, most of the time. Now, if you're thinking I'm a heartless communist, who has a heart of blackness, you clearly don't know me, because mostly everything I do and say is with a hint of sarcasm.

By the way, I truly am thankful for the obvious things like family (most of them), friends (pretty much all of them), my job (except Sundays), my kids (especially after 9:00 at night), my husband (he's reading this, right?), and the roof over my head (I don't have anything sarcastic to say about that). I don't feel it's necessary to say "I'm so thankful for my wonderfully well-behaved children" because people would think I traded them in. That's illegal. So far anyway, but we still have two more years of this presidency, anything is possible.

I really am thankful for Dylan. Without him, I might think I'm smart and cool and funny, which clearly I am not. Thanks for keeping it real, Dylan. Without Dylan I also would never know what I would look like as a boy.

I'm thankful for Maddie. Without her, I may never truly enjoy the rare moments of silence. I also may actually sleep 8 hours. Who needs that? It's for the birds and you know how much I love those beasts.

See, I can be sentimental and mushy. Like mashed potatoes laced with cyanide.

By the way, if ketchup tastes so good on french fries, why not mashed potatoes? Think about it.

Meet me at the end of my rope

2010-11-03T15:09:00.000-07:00

I'm beyond frustrated with Maddie right now. I'm at the point of losing my flipping mind. I keep having to remind myself that she's 7 years old. She's reverted back to her toddler years. She talks like a baby. She whines like a baby. She throws temper tantrums like a baby. In the morning I have to physically drag her out of bed and put clothes on her because she will.not.move. If she doesn't get her way she stomps her foot and pouts. She clings to me every waking hour that she's not in school. I literally weep tears of joy when I drop her off at the school, and then peel out of the parking lot like the cops are after me. Bedtime is a joyful time. I've given her excuses. She's not feeling well. She's just being jealous because Dylan is getting a lot of attention for his accomplishments in school. No more.

This is me being DONE.

She's going to get a chart. This chart is just a blank piece of paper. Every time her behavior is good, she gets a mark on the good side. Every time her behavior is bad, she gets a mark on the bad side. If, by the end of the week, she has more bad marks than good marks - she gets a privelidge taken away. If, by the end of the week, there are more good marks than bad marks - she gets a treat.

We've actually done this before and it worked AMAZINGLY. So well, that we ended up just forgetting about the chart because they were all good marks after awhile.

Then came this.

If this doesn't work, you can probably visit me every other Tuesday from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the visitors center of the nearest psychiatric ward. If I'm not on self-imposed isolation.

Announcements

2010-11-01T16:10:00.000-07:00

Today Dylan came home with a huge announcement. He was named 7th grade Student of the Month. I'm so proud of him. He completely deserves this nomination. Unfortunately, my first thought was "oh crap, what are we going to say to Maddie?" The girl has serious Jan Brady Syndrome. Anything that happens to Dylan that is good, is just worse for her. She can never be happy for him, just sad that nothing good ever happens to her. Never mind that I repeatedly remind her of all the good things that have happened to her. It's not the same.

Fortunately, she came home today with good news. Her class was chosen to have the fire fighters in her class room and an ice cream party for turning in the best fire escape plans. So she was not at all depressed about Dylan's student of the month award. God bless Dylan, because he made a big deal out of Maddie's exciting news, because he didn't want her to feel left out.

Grades, ailments, and tires

2010-10-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had parent/teacher conferences.

Maddie's went pretty well. As I suspected, she's below grade level, mostly with reading. She has made HUGE advances in 2nd grade so far, just in the two months she's been there, but it's not enough. She's going to be getting special help from a one on one reading tutor. She's also going to be seeing an occupational therapist about her penmanship. She's going to evaluate the left/right handed thing. The teacher thinks there is a possibility that she's left handed and we never noticed. She always reaches for things with her right hand, but it's possible she could write left handed. We'll find out. She may go to speech therapy too. She has a slight stutter, although it's more of a hesitation, and it's only every once in awhile. The teacher was also very pleased with Maddie's progress. Maddie shows a love of reading and a desire to learn, which is huge, especially when you are a little behind to begin with. It shows that she CAN catch up. I don't expect perfection from her. I just expect her to do her best and I'm very happy with the results.

I don't know why I bother going to Dylan's. It's just an ego boost for him. The teachers rave on and on about what a great kid he is. His math teacher is going to use him to help other kids who struggle with math. How much can you say about a kid whose short and long term goals are to get straight As, not A-'s? I don't expect perfection out of him either, he just has a higher level of expectations for himself. I wish he felt that way about his room.

I'm sick for the first time in a REALLY long time. It started about a week ago and it got better and now it feels like knives in my throat. ARGH. GO AWAY. Although, honestly, I'd rather be sick 365 days of the year than have my kids or Joel sick.

Joel had a flat tire two days ago after hunting and this morning he got rear ended. His truck is monstrous and the car was not, so his truck is just fine.

Halloween is Sunday. Maddie will be a lady bug and Dylan will be Dylan. Apparently 13 is the magic age of not dressing up anymore. It's become a tradition now for Joel to take the kids out and for me to hand out candy to the 3 people who show up at our door. This year, I have to work, and Dylan is staying home and handing out candy.

I once was lost....

2010-10-24T19:18:00.001-07:00

Today was one of those days as a mother you never want to see again. I've lost Dylan three times in his whole life.

The first time, he was 3. Joel, Dylan, and I were in Target looking at boys clothes. Because Dylan is a boy, and needed clothes. As a 3-year-old boy he had no interest in looking at such clothes so he was zipping in and out of clothing racks pretending to be a motorcycle or some other such Dylan-like situation. After awhile, I could no longer hear the vroom vroom of my son's engine. Joel and I called for him. Nothing. We searched. Nothing. He went one way, I RAN the other screaming his name. Over the sound of my mother screams I hear "Will Dylan's mother please come to customer service?" He wisely went to the front of the store and told him his name and that he was lost. He did the right thing. He learned it from Sesame Street.

The second time, he was about 7 or 8. It was after school. It was actually about 15 minutes after the bus was SUPPOSED to have dropped him off. I had Maddie here, who was a baby. I was hysterical that he was picked up by some stranger in a white van as soon as he got off the bus. It's not like the bus driver really cares. I called Joel freaking out. He was calm and told me to be calm. He was almost home so he said he would check the neighborhood. He got home. No Dylan. The phone rings. Strange number on the caller ID. My mother mind is thinking it's someone calling for Ransom or the police to tell me they found his body (although they did not even know he was missing). It was Dylan. He was at his friend's house down the street. He wanted a ride home. This time, he didn't learn this from Sesame Street. He did learn what "grounding" means though.

The third time was today. Here is the story.

Here's the back story. We have a large amount of forest behind our house. Dylan and his friends spend a lot of time there. He was really excited to show it to Jordan.

Jordan and Riley were spending the afternoon with us. It was wet, but not raining, so they went for their walk in the woods, just Dylan and Jordan. After awhile it started to rain. HARD. Like biblical rain. Get your Ark and paddle rain. I called his cell phone and said he needed to come back. A few minutes later he called and said "what's the worst thing I could say right now?" My heart sunk. It could be just about anything. He said he was not sure where they were. I had just started my shift at work and I had Maddie and Riley here playing. Thankfully, my neighbor was home so I shuttled the girls over there and her husband came with me out in the woods. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. They couldn't hear my yelling. I couldn't hear them. Joel got there and sat at the edge of the forest honking and they couldn't hear that. They were deep in the woods. They were getting scared. I was terrified. Thankfully, some clouds broke and showed some blue sky and we were able to direct them to walk with the patch of blue sky to their right, which would lead them south, which was the direction of home. They found a house finally and knocked on the door and found out where they were and Joel came to get them.

Scary is an understatement. As a mom, I was terrified. I knew that we would find them eventually. They were in a section of forest that was probably 5 square miles, but my biggest fear was that they would get hurt and we figured drawing them out would be easier than finding them where they were.

I'm very much ready for this day to be over.

Nothing and Nobody

2010-10-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

I recently switched my hours at work. This is my first week doing it, but so far I like it.

OLD SCHEDULE:

Sunday 1:00 to 9:00

Monday 1:00 to 6:00

Tuesday 1:00 to 5:00

Wednesday 1:00 to 5:00

Thursday 1:00 to 5:00

Friday and Saturday: OFF

NEW SCHEDULE:

Sunday 1:00 to 9:00

Monday 10:00 to 6:00

Tuesday 1:00 to 5:00

Wednesday 9:00 to 5:00

Thursday, Friday, Saturday: OFF

The reason I am doing this is because:

1. In an 8-hour period I tend to be far more productive than in a 4-hour period.

2. I pick Dylan up at 2:30 and Maddie up at 3:45, so my work is interrupted two times in a 4-hour period, which hinders production INTENSELY. Adding hours to the day makes it so I can be super-productive in the morning and pick up the kids without really causing a decrease in my production for the day.

3. I wanted a 3-day weekend.

4. If for some reason I want or need hours, I can work Thursdays and still have two days off. I'm trying to lessen the chance of me working Saturdays, which seems to be what I have been doing every Saturday.

Maddie is a total smart ass. This is nothing new, but it's now rolling over into school. The other day she came home with a piece of paper and a note that said she need to redo it with "more appropriate sentances." When I use the words "innappropriate" with Maddie it usualy means she's showing her butt or doing something nasty. I was scared. It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that good either.

She had to draw a picture of a squirrel. She had to fill out the questions.

What is the Squirrel's name?

What does the Squirrel like to do?

Who is the Squirrel's best friend.

Her answers were "No", "Nothing", and "Nobody".

Better than butt, pee, and poop. I guess.

For the birds...

2010-10-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

My family is the best. They sure do love me.

ahem

My fear of birds is well-known to everyone. This is true. My family like to use this to their advantage, like for instance...spending extra long amounts of time at the bird display at the fair....placing bird feeders in the backyard.

Here's a visual story for you. Picture it playing out in your head.

We're on the ferry. We are outside in the front waiting to get off. There is a bird just chilling on the railing. A seagull, to be specific. Joel starts walking really slowly towards the bird. I am not sure if he was trying to scare me or the bird, or a combination of the two. He got up right next to the bird and it did.not.move. He was literally inches from this beast. I was NOT amused. The kids were. Quite amused actually.

They slowly made their way over there too, so now my three (formerly) favorite people are hanging out with the enemy. Honestly, in retrospect, if I had not been frozen in terror it would have made a great photo. Good thing the bird did not attack, because I was NOT coming to anyone's rescue. They would have had to learn that lesson the hard way.

Cloudy with a chance of misfortune

2010-10-12T14:20:00.001-07:00

Yesterday the boys went to the WWE Monday Night Raw show. Gag me with a spoon. What a tool fest that is. It's just a soap opera with waxed, oily men in their underwear and trashy women. It's disgusting. Dylan took over 200 pictures last night.

Guess who had to weed through that garbage this morning? You're looking at a winner here.

Maddie has caught herself a little cold. That bites. So far I haven't had to keep her home from school, although if it hadn't been for Joel's dad this morning, she would have been staying home for other reasons. That reason was....

I woke up this morning with a flat tire. Double bite.

I have been working A LOT lately. Mostly just volunteering to work extra, but when you need the money, you gotta do what you gotta do, and so far my millionaire card hasn't been drawn so I'll just keep pounding the keys. I've actually been dreaming about work. That bites hard.

Don't you love posts filled with sunshine? Yea, me either. Keep moving.

Yada, Yada, Yada

2010-10-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

Today is Friday. It's my day off, yet I'm working. Yea, shocking, I know. I work so much that I considered actually just permanently going full time, but I kind of like the option of *not* working if I want.

Our movie for tonight is Karate Kid. We had a backup in case Redbox was out, which is not only a possibility, it's a probability; our backup was Teen Wolf, which we already have. Since last night was Thursday, which is Grandpa night, he took the kids to Wal Mart and got them a few things - one of which was Karate Kid. Awesome. Saves me a dollar. Now I can have lunch today.

Dylan got his 1st quarter progress report. It was all As. Actually, there was one B, which was supposed to be an A except there was a paper he turned in that the teacher didn't record in time so it was a B, but she said it should be read as an A.

This weekend will be a dull one full of lots of work, as usual. Joel and I both.

Monday is the WWE Raw in Seattle that Joel and Dylan are going to. Thank God I don't have to go to that barf-o-rama. What a nightmare.

Maddie's been really into Anne of Green Gables lately, so I introduced her to Little House on the Prairie. She didn't enjoy it as much as I thought and to be completely honest, I didn't really enjoy it much either. I guess memories do grow fonder with age. Or perhaps disappear altogether.

Job Description

2010-10-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

Being a grown up is hard. Everyone knows this. Except children. Being a child is easy. Everyone knows this. Except children.

My children have a good life. An easy life. I don't impose many chores, or any chores for that matter. I simply ask for a little common sense and respect among those who have to live in the house. The job description of a Rogers child is easy.

You wake up. If you're cranky - don't get out of bed until you can compose yourself like a person I'd like to talk to. (I'm talking to you Maddie).

You eat breakfast. In our house we have several (and I mean SEVERAL) choices of breakfast. When I was a kid we had cereal. Now we have hot pockets, toaster scrambles, toast, cereal, pop tarts, bacon, oatmeal, and even occasionally I throw in a day of hot pancakes or french toast, and on the exciting day, they have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (don't laugh, this is a TREAT for them...they love it). Anyway, back to the topic - with all of these options of breakfast, whining about not having anything to eat is ridiculous. So stop it. There are no other options unless you want to go outside and eat some grass. Enjoy yourself.

You get dressed for school. This means clean socks. This means clean underwear. This means clothes that match or at least do not hurt my eyeballs. This means clothes that are weather appropriate. Shorts in December is not. A sweater on a 75 degree day is not. A dress on PE day is not .

You go to school. Unless you're projectile vomiting or spiking a temperature there is no way out of it and arguing about it will only bring bad things to you. Trust me. There is nothing you can say to me to get you to stay home just because, so suck it up and go.

You come home. I realize being in school for 6 hours is a pain in the butt. I went to school. I hated it. However, you are home now. You should be happy about this situation instead of being a thorn in my side.

You do your homework. There is no way around this activity. Homework must be done. Putting it off, which is not allowed, only cuts into fun times like watching TV or playing with toys, which can't happen until homework is done anyway, so again....suck it up and do it. Also, doing it neatly and correctly the first time means you get done faster and can move onto other exciting things. I know it's fun to erase an entire math worksheet because you blew through it and didn't do it correctly or neatly, but we try to avoid this situation.

You eat your dinner. I don't care what it is. If it's on you're plate, it has a one way ticket to your belly. There are no free passes. There are no negotiations. I am not a bad cook, I know this because I eat my food too, so you eat your dinner and then you smile and say thank you. (ha)

You leave me alone. Sometimes, mom wants to sit down and read a book. Sometimes mom wants to use the potty without having a conversation through the door. Sometimes mom wants to fold laundry (not) without having to refold it after you dive bombed the bed.

You keep your room looking semi-normal. Dylan apparently hasn't grasped this concept yet, and as he gets older it gets worse. I went to clean it for him the other day and I was scared. I am pretty sure there is a family of 4 living under his bed.

You sleep. Hopefully, you sleep good. If not we start the day over again in a cranky fashion.

Seems reasonable, right?

Dill Pickles

2010-09-29T14:18:00.001-07:00

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

2010-09-27T15:59:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-19T15:28:00.000-07:00

/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

2010-09-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-09-16T09:52:00.001-07:00

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

2010-09-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-11T10:47:00.001-07:00

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

2010-09-03T11:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

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

Federal Offense

2010-08-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Maddie had a playdate with Lauren at our house. They were riding scooters in the cul-de-sac and I came down to check the mail. Maddie said "I already checked it, there wasn't any." So, I said good, and walked towards the house. Maddie said "we took everyone else's mail and delivered it for them." Sure enough, everyone had piles of mail in their driveway. I had to make them collect it and put it back. Future criminals!

Looney Tunes

2010-08-24T19:13:00.000-07:00

Maddie has discovered the hilarity that is Looney Tunes. Many kids in this generation don't get the humor. Maddie loves it. I don't think she quite understands it, but she loves it. I sat down the other day to watch it with her and I began to question a few things.

Why do so many of them have speech impediments? Maddie can hardly understand what they say. Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, even Foghorn Leghorn has a STUTTER for Pete's sake.

What's with all the attempted murder? People give Spongebob a bad rap for it's adult-laced humor, but how often do you see them try to kill each other (minus the episode where Squidward accidentally feeds Spongebob a pie-bomb).

Looney Tunes is chock full of racism and stereotypes. Did you know there is actually one called Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips. I'm not kidding. It means what you think it means, too. Then of course, there's Speedy Gonzales......

Then of course there is the drinking and smoking. You hardly ever see smoking at all on prime time TV nowadays and my daughter is watching it on cartoons?

Despite these numerous flaws, it's still the funniest cartoon out there. I think maybe some of today's cartoons should take a page out of the Looney Tunes book. Wouldn't Spongebob be a little funnier if instead of grumbling and griping about Spongebob, Squidward called up Acme and manufactured a bomb that he accidentally blew up in his own awkwardly drawn face? Or what if Max got fed up with Ruby not listening to him and tied her to a railroad track. Or Wanda got sick of Cosmo being stupid and so she drank all the time. Well, I guess that will never happen. We'll leave that to Merrie Melodies. Why do they call it that? There isn't anything Merrie about it.

The End of Summer

2010-08-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

Summer is coming to an end and I have been given an award. Worst Blogger EVER. I use this blog as a tool to go back and look at all the things that have happened to us and I will look back at the summer of 2010 as the most boring summer ever. BUT IT WASN'T. And here you thought I just used my blog to make snarky comments and complain. Shows what you know.

So, I'll get you caught up on the last 3 months. Some of which have already been mentioned in the blog and some haven't, but I am not going to be picky and choosy about what is blogged about in the next 10 minutes and neither are you.

We started our summer off with a family trip to Oregon. I already know I blogged about this so I'll keep it short. It was fun. End of story.

I turned 25 in July. Or was it 35? I lost count. Either way my AARP card is on it's way. Actually, funny story, I do get AARP stuff in the mail, but it's not for me, it's for my mother-in-law, who happens to share my exact name. I think she did it on purpose just to give me a mild heart attack when I see it in the mailbox. Or maybe it is for me. I'll stick with the first story. She doesn't argue it.

Maddie turned 7 in July. Although sometimes I think maybe it was 2. I don't know. I swear she throws more temper tantrums now than she did when she was 2. I put up with them A LOT less than I did when she was 2 though. You'd think she'd learn, but I think she has that short-term memory problem. The one where she chooses what she remembers and what she does not.

We played some incredible softball this summer. We gathered a team of old players and new players, and all in all we got a team of people who not only played well together but got along like peas and carrots. Or broccoli and cauliflower, only because I actually prefer that to peas and carrots.

We were given a really large pool this year by my dad for the kids to play in, which they utilized to the highest extent all summer. I'll admit to having dipped my tootsies in the pool once or twice on the hottest of days.

Joel decided to use his head at work, not in a good way, and got 7 staples and 6 stitches, which he decided would be fun to remove himself. This is me not amused by him.

We camped twice, once with the Snelsons and all the kids in Belfair and once with just grownups in Brinnon. Both were awesome. Neither time did we have good weather. The two weekends of bad weather all summer were our camping weekends. Oh well, camping in the Northwest wouldn't be the same without tarps.

So now the summer is coming to a close. Tomorrow is the first day of the last full week of summer vacation. Maddie is preparing to head off to 2nd grade and Dylan is preparing for 7th grade. I'm preparing for a Mommy Party. The one in which I sit down on the couch and cry tears of joy while listening to silence. I will be sad to not sleep in until 8:00 or 8:30 every day, but to be completely honest, I really only did that once or twice this entire summer. I would have done it more, but kids and husbands don't know how to let a woman sleep. They apparently didn't get the memo. I'll be sure to write it more clearly next summer.

Camping Grown-Up Style

2010-08-09T16:35:00.001-07:00

Alright, so we had an insane couple of days. We had planned an Adult-Only Camping Trip for this weekend. Joel and I, Tara and Brad, Dennis and Megan headed up on Thursday. Ironically, we had all planned to go up at different times but because of various complications we all ended up there within minutes of each other. Tara and I had originally gone up early to secure some campsites, which turned out to be a the best idea ever. Jay and Paul and Lezli came up on Friday night. We got oysters directly off the beach on Saturday. They were so good. We had the best time. Of course, there were some people that were invited that unfortunately could not make it, and we missed them, but we hope that next year when we do this again we will all be able to be there together. We brought home a lot of memories and shared a lot of laughs. It was a good bonding experience for everyone and I am really grateful for that time we had up there.

No, the dog is not sniffing my butt. I know that is what you're thinking.

Leaps and Bounds

2010-08-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

Maddie had saved up some money for her birthday and decided to buy a Leapster. Dylan used to have one but it broke (probably by the hands of Maddie the Toddler Tornado). I had tried to pursuade her against it because the age group is 4-8 and she just turned 7. I figured she'd be too old for it. Boy was I wrong. Most of the games are highly educational and she's LOVING them. As we know, she struggles a bit in the learning department and this little creature is helping her. Thank you Maddie for making the right choice, despite what your mama tells you.

Today is a great day to be me. My kids are having a day that I like to call "Make Mama Proud" days. Dylan is being patient with Maddie. Maddie is agreeing with everything Dylan says, no matter what it is. They are currently outside playing together. Yes, you read that right - TOGETHER. If I didn't know better I'd think they were doing it because they are going to be away from each other for almost 4 days and are going to miss each other like crazy. Nah, that's not it. Oh well, whatever it is, you know I'm enjoying every last minute.

Library Adventures and More

2010-08-02T12:06:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in my jangled brain in the past 15 years I had forgotten about the library. In my younger days I'd visit it quite often and check out books and read them. As I got older, I'd buy books, which is a silly waste of money considering the massive amounts of books I read.

I decided as something to do this summer we'd visit the library once a week. I'm trying to encourage my kids to read. Dylan is an awesome reader, but he hates to do it. Maddie struggles with her reading, but she loves to try.

Dylan likes books about sports and scary stories and Diary of a Wimpy kid. Maddie loves the Junie B. books and anything Dylan likes. She has high ambitions.

For me, I've just been loving the never ending supply of books they have. I love that if they don't have what I want, they can order it. It's like I'm a queen they are my servants. I have a large list of books I have been wanting to read and am slowly working my way through it.

Tomorrow is a special day. I could wait and post it tomorrow, but it's also a busy day and I might forget. Tomorrow is the official release of Ryan Star's album 11:59 in stores everywhere and on ITUNES. You can get a sneak peak by downloading one song, Breathe, from ITUNES for FREE this week only. Also, Breathe was #16 on the VH1 Top 20 Countdown this week. I'm so proud of him. What a journey it has been. Congrats Ryan :)

Checking in

2010-07-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, we have no word of the day today. Just lots of other words.

Joel had an accident at work the other day in which he suffered a concussion and needed 7 staples and 6 stitches in his head. He's uncomfortable a lot and won't admit it, but he stayed home today from work, which is exactly what he needed.

Softball is going excellent still. We are 10-1 right now. We've lost some good players due to vacation but hopefully we can make that up. We have 3 more games left, which is sad :(

I don't have much else to say right now, but I wanted to say something. Can't ever keep my mouth shut, right?

The word of the Day

2010-07-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

The word of the day today is

LOVE

I love it when people act like jackasses and prove that I am right.

I love the feel of my daughter's hand in mine. It's a feeling I won't feel forever.

I love apologies. I hate to give them, but sometimes it's necessary and it does feel good.

I love Big Brother.

I love impromptu midnight water fights with friends.

I love that Dominos delivers pizza in the middle of the night.

I love texting. The fact that you can communicate so instantly with people who are not right there with you is amazing.

I love when my son is tired because he stayed up too late reading a book.

I love that the sky is blue and the sun is shining.

I love that I have certain friends and family who I can count on no matter what and vice versa. They know who they are and they just smiled because I said this.

I love that I have friends that I can consider my family.

I love that I still have softball in my life. No matter how many times I say I am done, I can't let go and I'm glad that I have people who push me to continue. I don't know what I would do without that in my life.

I love that I know that I am strong enough to let toxic people go from my life and I feel better about it.

I love pasta.

I love a full tank of gas.

I love reading a book in which I can read a whole chapter without interruption.

The word of the day

2010-07-22T14:52:00.001-07:00

HATE

I know, it's an ugly word, but sometimes it's necessary.

I hate poor grammar. It really doesn't take much to double check what you wrote. Sometimes I make mistakes, but usually I try to fix them. Once in a blue moon doesn't kill me, but when people chronically make errors it makes me twitch.

I hate picking up small pieces of paper all over the house. *cough* MADDIE *cough*

I hate Zsu Zsu pets. Immensely.

I hate Maddie's Barbie house. When you open and close it, it makes a sound that is similar to a cross between a baby bear dying and nails on a chalkboard.

I hate cleaning the bathtub, which is why my kids take showers against their will. They (Maddie anyway) prefer baths.

I hate dogs. I hate dog barking.

I hate allergy season. My husband and my son have the worst allergies ever. This time of year is the worst.

I hate insomnia. When you can't sleep, you think. Thinking is bad. Thinking keeps you awake. Thinking causes insomnia and insomnia causes thinking. Sounds bad. Hate.

I hate shoes. Why can't we all go barefoot all the time.

I hate my knee.

I hate sticky floors.

I hate wet floors that make my socks wet.

I hate accidentally vacuuming up something, hearing it rattle around for a few minutes and wondering if it was important, then just giving up and hoping it wasn't.

I hate listening to my 12yo whine about his problems because I would give anything to go back to 12 and have to suffer through 12yo problems rather than 35yo problems.

Why

2010-07-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

Today is a day of questions one must ask oneself. These are mostly rhetorical questions, which are the kinds that keep me up at night. Amongst other things

Why does my daughter bark like a dog?

Why, when I cannot sleep at night, does my bed seem smaller than usual?

Why does it take two frozen pizzas to feed my children when it used to take one to feed the whole family?

Why do my kids insist on liking two different kinds of pizza?

Why does the garbage truck have to be so loud at 6:30 in the morning every Wednesday?

Why do I have so many single socks?

Why does my DVR fail during the best shows? How about we have signal failure in the middle of Hannah Montana, or TNA?

Why do they have school supplies out before we even get the list of what we need? Is it a scare tactic? It worked, I'm scared.

Why did the weather cool down just as we got our pool to be absolutely perfect? Why can't it be 90 degrees now?

Why are my feet so big? Why can't they make cute shoes for girls with size 11 feet?

The mysteries of the universe.......

Welcome to the Jungle

2010-07-15T08:19:00.001-07:00

I guess instead of daily blog posts, I'm down to weekly blog posts. I guess it's better than nothing, right?

We played one softball game Thursday night. We beat them 28-3. It wasn't pretty, but it was fun. I went 4-4. Well, pretty much everyone did, haha. The other team was completely clueless. Not to mention we are awesome. After the game we all went to DQ to celebrate Maddie's birthday and that was awesome!

Last Friday Tara took Dylan with her to Parker's 13th Birthday Party in Odessa. So it was just me and the little one. We had a girls day. First thing she wanted to do was try chinese food. Um...okay. So we went to Golden Lion. She loved the pork fried rice. She even loved the tea. She tried everything, which shocked me a little. She didn't so much like the chicken chow mein, which shocked me again. I thought she'd like it. We went to Barnes and Noble so she could spend some of her birthday money. She bought a few books and read some in the car on the way home. At B&N we ran into her preschool teacher. Only, I couldn't remember where I knew her from and neither did Maddie. So we sat there talking awkwardly for a few minutes. It wasn't until we were walking away that I remembered where the heck I knew her from. At that point it would have been weird to turn around and start talking to her again. Joel had a golf tournament that day so he wasn't going to be home until late. Maddie and I went out to dinner to Stella's, which is her favorite place (one of them anyway). When we got home it was still hot hot hot so we went in the pool. It started to cool down and the water was actually warmer than the air! LOL

Saturday Maddie had 3 parties to go to. One was for her two best friends, Lily and Georgia. The 2nd was for Lea's baby shower. The 3rd was for her. It was her final birthday celebration with Grammy and Grandpa (Joel's parents). Since Dylan wasn't there she was kind of in her element. She put on a talent show - herself being the only contestant; we had to vote on which of her talents was the best. It was fun. She was loving every minute of it.

Dylan came home late Saturday night and on Sunday he and Joel went to the Mariner/Yankee game. Maddie went to Mam's and I had to work.

So, as you can see, our lives are boring as usual. This time of year mostly is just work, softball, sleep. Not that I am complaining, it doesn't get any better than that. We have two more games tonight. So far our team is 3-0. I wonder how long we can keep up the undefeated status. We are a pretty good team and the teams we have been facing are....not so good. Go Yank-A-Part!

Happy birthday Madelyn!

2010-07-08T07:37:00.001-07:00

Seven years ago right now I was a miserable woman. I was FAT. My baby was 4 days late. I was supposed to be induced first thing in the morning but they were too "busy" and said call back later. So I waited 5 minutes. Then another 5 minutes. At one point I may have waited as long as 6 minutes because I had to use the potty.

Finally they were sick of hearing my whiny voice and said "come in at 11:00." I think we were there by 10:00, but I can't be certain. Joel wanted this kid out of me as much as I did.

Finally around 12:00 I was able to get into a bed and get the party started. I had strict instructions to my doctor that said "NEEDS DRUGS IMMEDIATELY." Well, the nurses may have been angry with me for calling 2 million times because they wouldn't let me have the drugs. Now, I wasn't actually in any pain unless you call having a gigantic child inside of you. Two hours into the labor, I was starting to feel some pain. The nurses were real close to feeling some pain too because they were still holding back the good stuff. Finally my doctor shows up at around 3:00. I knew she'd be on my side. She asked why I hadn't asked for the epidural yet. I told her the nurses were sadistic buttheads. I got the epidural. After the epidural kicked in the doctor came back and decided to break my water to get the show on the road since I was still only dilated to like 4 or something.

After the fun time of having your water being broken by a knitting needle or something to that equivelent, the doctor told me what to expect and that I would probably be in labor another 4-6 hours and that she was going to go have dinner and come back and check on me.

Now, I had the epidural, but it wasn't totally covering all the pain or the sensation and something didn't feel right at this point. I said I thought maybe she should check down there cause things suddenly felt different. She went in for another exam and guess whose little head was slinking on out?? DON'T PUSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wasn't pushing. I was simply breathing. DON'T BREATHE!!! Awkward. Now I get to see these nurses scramble to get the birth ready. I think it took like a half a sneeze to get her out. The doctor said "thank god your water didn't break at home cause she would have ended up on your kitchen floor."

So we had a 9 pound little girl born at 4:54 p.m. on July 8, 2003. She hasn't been the easiest kid to raise, but she's been a blessing all along the way. She brings us so much joy and happiness and laughter. She completed our family, and I didn't even know we were incomplete!

Drum Roll Please

2010-07-07T08:05:00.000-07:00

Today the brand spanking new Yank-A-Part softball team takes the field. My dad's wrecking yard business sponsored our team this year so we got those awesome new shirts you see above you.

This year Joel is doing most of the "captain" responsibilities because I didn't want to anymore. You can take the girl out of the captain position, but you can't take the captain out of the girl. I spent a great deal of time negotiating his "line-up" last night, but in the end I realized I needed to step back and let him handle this. He can be the one to listen to people complain (including myself, obviously).

I am really excited about the team this year. It's not about how good you are, it's about how much fun you have and how well you get along, and we definitely seem to have that in our favor. We got a lot of new players, but they all came from somebody who knew somebody already on the team, so it's not like they were strangers or anything.

I had requested the afternoon off today because Rachel has vacation this week and I wanted to spend at least one day of it with her. I got the whole day off and I'm pretty psyched about that. It's going to be 90 and the pool is all ready for my big butt to sit in it. Or near it. No bikini though, Rachel, sorry to disappoint. I've retired the big brown monster for the year.

Here comes the sun!

2010-07-06T09:39:00.000-07:00

After what seemed like the longest and coldest spring in history....summer is finally upon us. So we passed the 2 minute window in which Pacific Northwesterners stop complaining about the cold and the rain and start complaining about the heat. People all over the US call us big fat babies for whining about the heat, but one must remember that the average NW household does not have air conditioning. Myself included. I, however, will not complain about the heat. Here is why:

1. I love it.

2. It never lasts long. Probably in about 2 weeks we'll be back down to 65 and overcast for a few more weeks.

3. I love it.

The only reason I don't like it is because I have to listen to everyone else complain about it. The same people who a week ago were complaining about how cold it was.

The other reason is my son. Anytime the temperature gets above 75 degrees he gets sick. Not like a cold sick, but throw up sick, headache sick, gonna pass out sick. This is partly because he doesn't drink enough water (any). I used to be the same way as a kid, until I grew up and thinned out my blood a little.

Sure, at 10:00 tonight when my bedroom feels like a sauna and the sweat is making me stick to my sheets, I may utter a word of hatred towards summer, but I won't mean it, I swear.

Dan with a side of BEANS

2010-07-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

I'm just going to stop apologizing for not blogging. So this is me not apologizing.

I went and saw the midnight showing of Eclipse last Tuesday with Rachel. The movie was awesome! However, I am not so sure that a midnight show is in my blood anymore. Perhaps I could just wait until the next day to see the movie. It was a complete zoo. We got there at 10:00 (yes, 2 hours early) and it was already packed with people. When it was time to leave it took us almost 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot. I didn't get to bed until after 3:00 and then after watching such an awesome movie, who can sleep?

Friday was birthday. I turned 35, which seems a little high to me, but when I did the math it kept coming back at 35. Considering I will have a teenager in a few months, 35 isn't that bad, right? On Thursday we went to pizza with my dad and Cheryll and they gave me a new (much needed) printer for my birthday. We decided to mix Maddie's birthday in too, so she got some new clothes and the Ipod she's been wanting.

Friday was camping day. Dennis spent the night with us Thursday and I had lots of intentions to take the kids to see Eclipse, but I barely had time to do what I needed to do to get ready for camping.

Camping was fun. Last year we went to Dosewallips and this year we went to Belfair. Last year our campsite was so small you could barely move. This year it was much bigger. It was also much louder. So many people and SO MANY DOGS! I swear we were the only people without any dogs there. There was a little stage with seating between our campsite and the bathroom so the girls and Quinn made good use of that A LOT.

Saturday night Tara and Brad came out for dinner and brought me brownies and cookies and truffles for my birthday (thanks Tara!). Dan made a huge pot of beans, which he tortured the rest of us with for the rest of the night (hence the blog title post - Dan came up with that).

I have pictures on Facebook. I'll just leave you with my favorite.

A waste of brain matter

2010-06-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I bothered, but I did. I watched the Daytime Emmys last night. I am an admitted soap opera addict - All My Children, One Life To Life, and General Hospital. The Emmys confused me. At one point I thought maybe I was watching the Grammys. Then at another point I thought maybe I missed something and it was actually the Tonys. It was like giving out the actual awards was a nuisance to what they were really trying to do for the show, which I was never really certain of. None of my favorites ever win, but I watch anyway. Jule Marie Berman won Outstanding Younger Actress for Lulu on General Hospital, but really she should get an award for getting to make out with Dominic Zamprogna on a regular basis. Oh baby.

I guess overall it was a good way to help me fall asleep after a disastrous first day back from vacation. I swear they saved all of the worst dictators for me on my day back. It's a conspiracy, I know it.

For one brief moment this weekend I ditched my jeans and T-shirt and flip flops that make up my day to day uniform and got dressed up. As dressed up as you'll ever see me anyway. I wore heels. I haven't worn heels since before I was pregnant with Dylan 13 years ago. I wore a skirt. I haven't worn a skirt in so long. I don't even own a skirt. I do now. It's cute too, I may wear it again - with flip flops of course.

I was going to say that the next time you see me that dressed up will be in my coffin, but that is false; I want to be buried in my bikini. Just to embarrass my kids one last time.

Proud Mommy Moment

2010-06-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday in the mail were Dylan's grades, STRAIGHT A's!!!!!!!!!!

All year long he's had 5 A's and a B+; one semester the B+ was Math; one semester the B+ was Social Studies; he could never get it all quite coordinated, until now.

The kid is amazing, I tell you. This is all so effortless for him. I was a B/C student and I had to work for it. Sure, I could have worked harder and done better, but Dylan is naturally smart and it baffles me. I swear that kid was switched at the hospital or something, how did he come from Joel and I?

When we got the grades, we were congratulating him. Next thing I know Maddie is outside pouting because "you love Dylan more than me." When we tried to tell her she's wrong that we love them both the same she got mad and said we were "just like Matilda's parents." Note to self: She can't watch that movie anymore.

We're still proud of Dylan, even if Maddie isn't. She had her moment in the sun. She just can't remember it.

Vacation 2010 Recap

2010-06-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

So, I know I've neglected my blog for awhile, but I had good reason. We had a vacation planned. While the vacation was a secret only from the kids, I didn't want to put it on the world wide web for fear of all my crazy stalkers out there....haha. No seriously, this vacation took up the majority of my thoughts and life for the last few weeks so I decided to avoid speaking at all. Lucky Joel, right?

The trip we had planned was a family Road Trip. We waited until the last day of school on Friday to tell the kids. They were excited, but oddly enough they were more excited about the fact that we were leaving on MONDAY - in just 3 days.

We left bright and early Monday morning. Before coffee. Before we even got the eye boogers out.

Our original plan was to hit Mount St. Helens first, but it was pretty overcast and visibility was really limited, so we decided to completely reverse our trip, which put a huge damper on my directions, which I now had to read backwards, but may as well have thrown them right out the window. So our last stop, was now our first stop - The Oregon Zoo in Portland. I'm actually glad we did this first because I think on the way back we would have been way too tired and cranky. The kids enjoyed the zoo a lot. So did Joel and I. The animal exhibits were fantastic. By the end of the zoo we were all so hungry I thought lions were chasing us. Our tummys were rumbling! They had a nice little restaurant in the zoo, so we ate there. The first of many meals eaten out. Dylan ordered a plain bacon cheeseburger, which had mayo on it. I thought he was served a fried tarantula theway he freaked about it. We made him eat it anyway. He actually enjoyed it - not that he'll order mayo anytime soon.

After the zoo we headed straight for Seaside, where our condo was. The condo was magnificent. It was literally like staying in someone else's apartment for a few days. We had a dishwasher and a refrigerator and a washer and dryer and everything. The kids had to share a queen bed, but they had their own bedroom and bathroom and TV. We let them have the master bedroom. The sleeping arrangements went really well the first two nights. We let them stay up until 10:00 and then watch TV until they fell asleep, which was usually about 15 minutes. They both slept all night and woke up between 7:00 and 7:30. The last night....well....things got bad. Maddie didn't sleep well, which kept Dylan up. She tossed and turned a lot and kicked and hit and whined in her sleep. He was so angry in the morning. Funny thing is that neither of them woke me up for it, so I was oblivious until this morning. The only meals we ate in our condo was breakfast, which always consisted of instant oatmeal or donuts. This morning we had run out of options and had microwave popcorn. I was feeling too lazy to walk down the street to the donut shop. From our balcony we could see the ocean a little, but we could more so see the white trash neighbors next door. They were trashy in the trashiest sense of the word. I wish I could explain it better so that you could really grasp it. It was really nice having a washer and dryer. We could wash and dry our clothes and rewear them. If I had known that, I would have packed less clothes haha. We had a swimming pool. I didn't take any pictures of that because it was really humid in that room and I was terrified of ruining my camera. Maddie really was grasping the swimming thing. She was going underwater and everything. I was impressed. I had forgot my swimsuit at home so I went to buy a new one and the only one in my size was a bikini. Yikes. I haven't been able to wear a bikini since......well....never. I think it might even be illegal. Whoever thought to make a bikini over the size of 8 was clearly smoking crack of some kind. I got it anyway (it was only $9.99). I figured once I had burned the eyeballs of those around me I could burn the bikini. It was an uncomfortable experience for everyone around me when I wore that thing. My kids were horrified that I would even consider wearing it, let alone when I actually did. Funny thing is, it was the most comfortable swimsuit I've ever worn. I think it's because after the first five minutes I realized that the whole "suck and tuck" routine that I usually do when where a swimsuit was a moot point with this one because there was literally nowhere to hide. So there I was in all my glory. Eventually my children got over their complete and utter embarrassment at mom in a bikini and were happy that I got to swim with them. We got Maddie some arm floaties and taught her how to swim, well sort of. She did swim "a little" but every time she really was starting to get the hang of it....she'd bail on it. She wore goggles for the first time in her life and learned how to go underwater.

Okay, so onto the next adventure. Tuesday morning we got up and headed to Tillamook, Oregon, home of the best cheese and ice cream EVER....but not much else. We got to go on a little tour of how they make the cheese. Maddie said as she was watching the cheese (she herself could eat a pound of this a day if we let her, which we clearly do not) "someone hold me up, cause I think I'm gonna pass out." They're lucky they had a window barrier between us and them cause she would have attacked the workers. It was weird. It was like watching oompa loompas, only bigger and not orange faced. I was certain they were gonna sing and dance. We got to sample the various cheeses. I noticed Maddie had handfuls and I think she was planning on bringing some home, but I had to make her eat it there. Melted cheese in the truck....ew. They had an ice cream shop where we each got our favorite Tillamook Ice Cream on a waffle cone. Maddie got cookie dough; Joel and I got chocolate peanut butter; Dylan got chocolate chip mint. They were delicious. Way more so than at home. It was the experience.

After Tillamook, we headed up to Cannon Beach, Oregon to see Haystack Rock and play on the beach. Joel and Dylan brought a frisbee, but it was a little windy for that. Other than the wind, it was a gorgeous day. By the time we got back we had time to swim again, take a walk around Seaside, have dinner and play in the arcade a bit.

The next day was what we called "Seaside Day." It was also our last full day there. We went to the Family Fun Center, which we had drove past several times on our way in and out of town. We were hoping it was open because we had never seen anyone there. They had Mini-Golf, Go-Karts, and Bumper Boats. In the end, we opted out of the bumper boats because nobody really wanted to get wet. Well, the kids did, but we didn't want them to so that overruled. We played Mini-Golf and then went on the Go-Karts twice. I think we could have done the G0-Karts all day long. Dylan could drive himself, Maddie rode with me the first time and Joel the second. The whole time she was with me she kept screaming "FASTER GO FASTER!!!" The first time around Dylan was going too slow and he was all over the place and keeping me from passing him. The 2nd time around he got a little more daring. It was a blast.

We hit the arcade AGAIN. We hit this little shop where they dipped twinkies and other coma-inducing items like bacon and nutter butters and marshmallows and candy bars. Dylan had a chocolate banana dipped twinkie. Maddie had a giant chocolate dipped marshmallow. I had a peanut butter dipped twinkie. They were good but OMG were they sweet.

That night after dinner we decided to watch the sunset on the beach. It had been overcast most of the day, but the clouds were breaking on the coast and it showed itself to be a beautiful evening. We brought some towels and some popcorn. It was beautiful but the clouds seemed to settle on the horizon just before the sun did. It wasn't as beautiful as we had hoped, but it was a good experience. How often do you get to watch the sunset over the pacific ocean with your family? Never in our case.

Food is an important thing in our house so it deserves it's own paragraph. As I said earlier, we ate breakfast at the condo every day. It didn't make a lot of sense to eat out because Joel and I do not eat breakfast and Maddie and Dylan would rather eat instant oatmeal or a bowl of cereal than something at a restaurant. On our first night there we hit Pizza Hut - ohh yea, we're fancy people. We don't have a lot of those up here and Joel and I love Pizza Hut, and our kids love pizza. This was our first indication that Maddie was going to take full advantage of her vacation appetite. She ate four pieces of pizza and two breadsticks that night. She out ate us ALL. It was delicious pizza too.

The next day for lunch we ate at a little diner in Cannon Beach. I had a cobb salad, Joel had a club sandwich, Maddie had spaghetti, Dylan had fish and chips. Every one of us completely devoured our meals. Maddie's plate of spaghetti was just about the biggest I had seen and it came off the kids menu! She ate it all! That night for dinner we ate at a place called Pig'N Pancake, which was a cute little diner with pretty good food, except - poor Maddie: she ordered a french toast off the kids menu and it was one piece. As you recall, she brought her vacation appetite with her. One piece of french toast was not going to cut it for her. Luckily when we got home we had leftover pizza from the day before, which she devoured. The next day was of course, our last full day. We ate at Pizza Hut for lunch - they had an awesome all you can eat buffet. I got Maddie her first piece of pizza and she sat down and looked at it and said "how many pieces can I have?" I said "It's all you can eat." She started crying - which threw me for a major loop. Turns out she thought "all you can eat" meant "THAT is ALL you can eat - and no more." LMAO Once I explained to her the true meaning, she was unstoppable.

For dinner we ate at Bigfoots, which we had been eyeballing all week. I was thirsty when we got there. On normal days I drink either strawberry lemonade, Diet Coke (mostly), or water (rarely) all day long. On vacation, we rarely had time for a stop at a drinking fountain, so by the time we sat down for meals, I was THIRSTY. I drank three Sierra Mists before our dinner came. Yes, three. So, my prime rib was floating atop a sea of mist. Nice. I wasn't feeling so hot after that one.

That night was our last night in Seaside so we decided to head to the beach and watch the sunset. We didn't get to see anything fantastic, but it was a good bonding experience for sure.

The next day we took off early for home. Our first (and only) stop on the way back was Mount St. Helens. What a breathtaking site that was. The kids enjoyed it too and the history of it was interesting for them. Dylan knew quite a bit about it and was able to fill Maddie in.

Anyway, we're home. A lot of driving. A lot of fun. A LOT of good memories. We witnessed a gnarly bike crash. The sound of this guy hitting the pavement was one that nightmares are made of. People watching was one of the best parts of the trip. We saw a guy with his pants so far down his butt that you could see 75% of his butt. Disgusting! These are the things the kids will never forget, lol.

Not two minutes after we got home Maddie's nose started to run. I wondered aloud why she had a runny nose and she said "cause I got car sick." Doesn't quite work that way. Dylan on the other hand, was car sick. He threw up as soon as we got home. Thank God he waited that long.

I had a LOT of pictures that I uploaded into two albums on Facebook. That's the best you're gonna get. I changed the privacy setting on these two albums temporarily so that if you don't have a Facebook or you're not on my list you can still see the pictures, I think.

Album Number 1

Album Number 2

Crispy bacon

2010-06-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend we got a taste of summer! Yesterday we decided to fill up our beast of a pool. It's 15x3 and my dad estimated it should take about 11 hours to fill. He was right. I considered stealing the neighbors water, but my conscious got the better of me and so I just ran our own water bill up. I think it would be rather suspicious for a house with no tenants to suddenly have a huge water bill, but the neighbors have a full pool. Maddie's best friends from school came over and they played in the half full pool and played on the trampoline. Rachel came by and dropped off Marin and picked up Dylan and the four girls had a very good time together. They kept saying it was the best day ever.

After it was over, Dylan and Maddie went with Grandma Cheryll and Joel and I went out to dinner at Thai food and then finished buying some supplies for the pool. We tried to get the filter to work, but either we're doing something wrong or it's broken. Of course, my dad is the fixer of everything so he's going to come by today and take a look at it.

It's another beautiful day and Maddie's itching to get back out to the pool. It's not supposed to be that warm, 70 I think, but she doesn't care; all she needs is some sunshine. Today I will be a little more liberal with the sunscreen. Maddie and I both got fried to a crisp, me more than her.

Today we have softball practice at 4:00 so my work schedule is kind of strange. I am working 10-3:30 and then 6:30 to 9:00. Split schedules kind of screw me up, but it is nice to get a break. Not that softball practice is a break.

The end of the road

2010-06-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

Dylan's team lost last night. It was a little refreshing, I thought, because nobody seemed too upset about it. In the past Dylan has been on some pretty competitive teams, ones that were so upset at losing the tournament, but the kids were just as happy to be playing. I don't know how my kid ended up on a team like that, but it was good for him I guess to not have to focus on winning so much, and just having a good time.

Now, we get our lives back. No more practice 3 days a week. No more games 1-2 days a week. Hallelujah. Ballet is only taking up one day a week now, so that's nothing to complain about.

Today the sun is shining so I am truly excited about summer. I am even considering filling up our pool on Friday on my day off. I am sure that is a definite bad omen though. One that says "you just scared summer away." I don't want to be responsible for that, but I do want the pool up and ready to go when summer does decide to make it's presence known, albeit for the short time as per usual.

Breaking News

2010-06-07T13:24:00.000-07:00

Not really breaking news, but I always wanted to put that to freak people out. Didn't work, did it?

Ahh...so let's recap the weekend, which was exciting on so many levels (ha).

Friday was MOVIE NIGHT and of course we watched Alice in Wonderland. Maddie has a special love for this movie thanks to her ballet recital. We had popcorn and freshly baked cookies and gorged ourselves while we watched this fantastic movie.

Saturday Joel had to work, which he actually did all weekend. I had to work 3 hours on Saturday which gave the kid 3 hours to argue to their hearts' content, which they succeeded greatly at. At 11:00 we went running so they could burn off some energy. Maddie's been dying to go lately because she got new workout clothes and she just had to try them out. I think she ran 1 or 2 laps around the track before she decided she was bored with that. Dylan did 2 or 3 miles, I can't remember, or maybe he is fibbing, I don't know. I did 1.25 miles. Then we went to softball practice. We were going to do it at the middle school but there really isn't anything for Maddie to do there, so we went to the elementary school where she could play on the playground. Jay, Paul, and I were the only people who could make it on such short notice, but we got some good batting practice in and Jay only hit one ball over the fence.

After practice we went to the ball fields to catch some of Dennis's ball game. Dylan had wanted to stay there by himself, which I was fine with, but by the time I was ready to go so was he, so we all just went home. That night we had game night and played DVD Bingo, which was fun. I won :)

Yesterday I had to work 8 hours from 7:00 to 3:00 so that I could make Dylan's 3:30 game. That was miserable. By the time I got off at 3:00 I had to get ready for the game. I felt like I got nothing accomplished and with the kids all up in my face all day I really didn't get anything accomplished.

Dylan's team lost 5-0, which means they play tonight. If they lose tonight the season is over. If they win, they play on Wednesday again. I won't lie and say I'd be sad if they win. Honestly, this has been such a loooong season and I really am looking forward to some normalcy in our life for just a few days maybe. If they win, that's good for them though.

No more news to report today. Tomorrow I can report that we're moving on in the tournament, or that we are now free to spend our evenings at home. Oh the suspense!

A list to pass the time

2010-06-06T12:26:00.000-07:00

I couldn't think of anything special to write about today, so I decided to grace your presence with another of my lists.

Today's list is my 10 Favorite Movie Soundtracks.

1. The Doors.
2. Singles.
3. Romeo and Juliet (1996 version)
4. Grease.
5. Forrest Gump.
6. I am Sam.
7. P.S. I Love You.
8. Footloose.
9. Sound of Music.
10. Wizard of Oz.

Movies and listing

2010-06-04T08:22:00.000-07:00

Nothing new on the Rogers front to report. It's Friday which means Movie Night. We haven't had an actual Friday Night Movie Night in a long time thanks to Baseball and Ballet, but tonight that changes. We found out this week Dylan actually has a practice scheduled tonight, but we already scheduled FNMN and we were all looking forward to it, so he's playing practice hooky. We got Alice in Wonderland, the new release one. We saw in in 3-D in the theater, but we are all excited to see it again of course.

Speaking of 3-D, we saw Shrek Forever After in 3-D. I have to say I was extremely disappointed. Shrek is one of my favorite kids movies and this one fell way short. Even the 3-D graphics were disappointing. The kids loved it though, so that's all that matters. Thinking about this made me come up with another list (haha, so sorry for you).

My 10 Favorite Kids Movies (animated)
1. Aladdin.
2. Shrek 1, 2, and 3.
3. Toy Story 1.
4. Monsters, Inc.
5. Finding Nemo
6. Open Season
7. Ice Age 1, 2, and 3.
8. Kung Fu Panda
9. The Lion King.
10. Beauty and the Beast.

This list is based on the amount of times I have seen them and can still enjoy them. :)

A list of course

2010-06-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

Recently EW put out a list of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters. Of course, I disagree with their choices. Their list includes TV and Movies, which is absurd. It should be one or the other, not both together. Amateurs.

So I created my own list, which is TV characters ONLY.

1. Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. This character is a one of a kind original. He clearly has some sort of mental disorder, although his mother did have him tested.

2. Hank Moody from Californication. The man is smooth and could not care what anyone thinks of him. You can't help but root for him, even though he is a self-destructive hot mess.

3. Barney Stinson and Robin Scherbatsky from How I Met Your Mother. This is easily one of my favorite shows of all time and I couldn't pick just one. Barney is the obvious choice, but Robin is a good one too and Barney and Robin together are a dream come true. I'll always root for them as a couple, even they aren't.

4. Dwight Schrute from The Office. Really, Michael Scott is pretty awesome too, but Dwight IS The Office. Rainn Wilson does such a good job as this character that I can't help but wonder if there isn't a little Dwight in him too. There has to be, otherwise this man should have had an Oscar by now.

5. Cosmo Kramer from Seinfeld. Obviously this is self-explanatory.

6. The entire cast of LOST. I couldn't pick just one. Sorry. I know you were thinking I was going to pick Boone, but I couldn't. He wasn't on there long enough to pick him. That would have been silly.

7. Addison Montgomery from Private Practice. She was the ONLY reason I ever watched Grey's Anatomy and then I just had to follow her to PP. Shamefully I am so far behind on this show I have no idea what is going on.

8. Warrick Brown from CSI Las Vegas. He died. I refused to watch it again and I haven't.

9. Monica Gellar from Friends. Her OCD and neurosis were endearing qualities for me. Plus fat Monica was HILARIOUS.

10. Squidward Tentacles from Spongebob. Nobody said it had to be a real person, right?

So, there you have it. Karla's List. What's yours? It's not as easy as it looks.

Here she is, my dancing diva

2010-05-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

Maddie is the 2nd one from the left. Keep your eyes on her, she moves fast.

Tiny Dancer

2010-05-29T17:09:00.001-07:00

Last night was Maddie's very first ballet recital. She was a butterfly in Alice in Wonderland. It was so awesome. She was gorgeous. She was so excited to be a "star" and dance onstage. No stage fright for my girl, she was all smiles and happiness.

When I dropped her off I got her into her costume backstage and gave her a hug and a kiss and said good-bye and she said "aren't you forgetting to say something to me, like Good Luck?" Of course. Duh.

She is the second butterfly from the left and as you can see, she's the prettiest one.

Never too busy for a smile for the camera, though.

Her fans suprised her with lots and lots of flowers and gifts, which she was thrilled about. She was having a hard time carrying her loot and I offered to help her and she snapped NO at me. Soorrrrry. When we got home she was still smiling. She said "I'm trying not to smile, I just can't stop."

I was really proud seeing her up on that stage performing. Lucky me I get to see it again tonight. It's good that they have two nights cause I screwed up the video. Tonight, I will try to get the video. I hope. I think.

Mr. Mojo Risin

2010-05-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

When I was in high school I did a book report on a biography of Jim Morrison, which happened to be written by his bandmate and friend, John Densmore. This started what has turned into a life-long love of this band. I read all the books about them. I have all their music. I have seen the Doors movie so many times I have lost track. If I could have lived back in that time, I would have been a groupie. Not one of those groupies, just a music groupie, I swear.

Although I do love Jim Morrison, he has this gravitational pull about him that makes you both love him and feel a bit sorry for him all at once; what drew me more to The Doors was the band dynamic itself. Jim was a hot mess if there ever was one. Without the massive amount of drugs and alcohol, he probably wasn't all that talented. The rest of the band was insanely talented, both individually and as a whole. One of their biggest talents as a whole was the ability to keep up with Jim, who never could quite do things the right way.

Anyway, the reason today's post is about The Doors is because of the movie "When You're Strange", a new documentary about The Doors that was recently out in select theaters only; however, if you were lucky you could catch it on the PBS show American Masters, which I did. I loved the documentary. There were a few things about The Doors that I didn't know (where the name Mr. Mojo Risin' came from). There were also things that I had forgotten, but was glad to be reminded of again. Watching the documentary made me miss my old obsession. One that had been put to rest many years ago. So, I today set my I-pod playlist to "The Doors" and had myself a rock out session in honor of this band. Keep on risin'.

Welcome to the family, Buzzy

2010-05-22T19:23:00.001-07:00

The other day my dad took the kids to the Dollar Tree so they could pick out one item each. Maddie picked a Bug Catcher, which is odd and ironic since she's terrified of bugs. She wanted a "pet" and she thought that would be the best way to go about it since I am the anti-pet Mom AKA "worst mom ever."

After searching for less than 30 seconds this morning she was devastated about not being able to find a "pet." That's when big brother steps in to help. He caught her a fly. A house fly. One that has a lifespan less than a bladder infection.

She named him Buzzy. She carries that case all over and talks to him. She studies him and keep asking me to look up things about him like "why his arms get all tangled up" and "why his eyes are so big."

A life span of a house fly is usually only a few weeks at the most in the wild. In captivity, which isn't something a house fly sees often, it is less. I am sure we'll wake up in the morning to a dead Buzzy. Someone will be devastated, but I know who it won't be - me.

Many moons ago

2010-05-20T07:36:00.001-07:00

Today is the our 10th wedding anniversary. Go ahead, do the math; we did things backwards. I wouldn't change it for the world though. Maddie's old enough to do the math. We had to do some explaining to her. That was fun.

I thought I'd post some of our wedding pictures. The fanciest kind there is - taken on a disposable camera. HAHA. We ain't fancy folk, we just have love and it doesn't get any better than that. We got married in Las Vegas. No, Elvis didn't marry us, just some awkward nerdy dude. I couldn't imagine having a big wedding. I don't even like GOING to big weddings. What we had was perfect. It was us.

We're not really celebrating. Tonight we are celebrating another special occasion. Dylan is being inducted into the Honor Society in a ceremony at his school. We are so proud of him. That kid is smart beyond my understanding. He's a great kid and every day he blows me away with his mind and his compassion. He's growing up so fast and growing into a wonderful person. I'll probably cry tonight. I know it's not "that" big of a deal, but it is to me. Plus, I cry at everything lately.

Well, I hope you enjoy my anniversary :)

Oh, and there is some news on the Maddie front. She FINALLY lost that front tooth that was just hanging there. By lost I mean, we made her sit still while her dad pulled it out. It only took 3 tries and that sucker was out.

Dylan kept getting her to say words that have lots of "S's" in them. It was cute. Even she was laughing at her inability to form words properly. My baby is growing up.

10 Things Learned at Viking Fest

2010-05-15T08:35:00.001-07:00

1. Yesterday was the first really nice day of the year. Which would explain why all the girls between the ages 11-15 were wearing clothes wayyyyy too small for them; they didn't have time to go buy ones that fit. I'm going to stick with that and hope it's true.

2. My daughter is not allowed to leave the house after she turns 10. Ever.Again.

3. Maddie is going to be a daredevil carnie girl. If I ever let her out of the house.

5. I can go 364 days of the year and never see a single person in Poulsbo with no teeth and yet 1 day of Viking Fest and it's like I entered the land of the toothless.

6. It takes only two trips on the Gravitron and one on the Tilt-A-Whirl to make this mama sick.

7. It is definitely worth it to buy the bracelets. My kids got their money's worth on the Gravitron alone, not even counting the Tilt-A-Whirl, Twizzler, etc.

8. Dylan would much rather hang out with friends than family - even his grandpa! He had money and a bracelet and he was out.

9. Maddie would rather hang out with her brother than her family. During one of the many times in line for the Gravitron she saw two of her best friends from school and their mom asked who she was with and Maddie says "Just my brother." Seriously? I talked to the mom later and she told me that. Nice.

10. I will never again complain of my son's long shaggy hair again. In comparison to what I saw last night - his hair is perfect.

Dylan the Trickster

2010-05-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday after school he called me, as per the usual. Chatting about his day and then he says "oh, I have a test that you're supposed to look at tonight."

That sounds bad. Tests that parents have to look at usually mean you failed it. So I immediately got on him. He kept changing the subject and then hung up. I was prepared for the worst. When I picked him up I said "Okay, let me have it." He says "no, not until we get home."

So, of course first thing at home I said "Give it to me now, let's get this over with."

100% on a math test. The only kid in the class. He's such a trickster. He had me all riled up about a failed test when it was the opposite. I apologized for thinking the worst, but of course that was the point, right? He forgives me, I'm sure.

Jump for My Love

2010-05-10T12:55:00.000-07:00

No more celebrating mothers. We're done with sap until next month when we celebrate fathers. Oh, who am I kidding, we don't get sappy for that.

I didn't think I would mind working on Mothers Day. It's just another day, right? This is the truth, however, I was disappointed at working on Mothers Day, not because it was Mothers Day, but because my lazy behind wanted to lay on the couch and do nothing. I'll use the Mothers Day excuse for that, but truthfully it had nothing to do with that.

Dylan worked yesterday too, not that it mattered to him that it was Mothers Day. He didn't even get me a card or make me one or anything. To make up for it he found an old birthday card he made me and scratched out "birth" and put "mothers" Wow. Thoughtful.

We saw Iron Man 2, which was truly awesome. We let Maddie come cause she wanted to, but I think it was a little over her head. I think Iron Man, out of all the superhero movies, is more intellectual than the rest. If you could ever classify a superhero movie as being intellectual. The storyline and content are a little over the head of a 6-year-old. Heck, it was a little over my head at times. She handled it well, minus a little fidgeting. She LOVED Natasha (Scarlett Johansen). So did her father. In a different way, of course.

I think the only thing that kept her from screaming in boredom was the Twizzler twist and peel licorice I got her. Kept her occupied more than I expected.

I took this picture of Maddie Saturday on the Trampoline. I caught her mid-air, which was pretty cool. She looks like a superhero.

Mothers

2010-05-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

When you get a new job, you get trained for it and then put out there on your own after you are comfortable. If you do a good job, you get a raise, maybe even a promotion, and certainly a commendation from your boss. If you do a bad job, you get fired. If you don't like it, you quit.

When you become a mom you are given the job without any training whatsoever and are expected to learn as you go. When you make a mistake, it sucks, but you pull yourself up and move on. You can't quit. You can't get fired (no matter how many times your kids wish they could). When you do a good job, there is no real way of knowing. The kids could care less if you're doing a good job. If they have clothes on their back and food in their bellies, it's because they're supposed to, not because you're not a dismal failure at motherhood. And they'd be right about that.

When your kid comes home with a straight A report card, do you pat yourself on the back and say "what a great job I am doing, teaching my kid good study habits" or do you say "my kid is so smart"? I think we know the answer to that one; however, when your kid comes home with a bad grade, your first instinct isn't to be angry with them, but to look at yourself first and what you are doing wrong.

My point is, being a mother is a thankless job. One with benefits that are rarely seen or felt, but when they are it makes everything else worthwhile.

The wonderful thing about the job of a mother is that you have many coworkers. I have so many other mothers that I can turn to for advice when needed (which is all the time). I see other mothers doing such a fantastic job with their kids, raising well-behaved, polite children and I wonder how in the hell are they doing this? Then I see the kids who are bratty snotbuckets and I can't help but be grateful for what I do have.

My own mother had to put up with the mouthy teenager from hell (who, me?) and so I usually turn to her to complain about Dylan's sour mouth. The best advice I get from her is "HAHA I told ya." I can't argue with that though. What comes around definitely goes around and it's going round and round and round. I am sincerely sorry, Mom and Dad, for the many years of attitude I bestowed upon you. I now can curse Dylan. I hope he has twin Dylans. He deserves it.

I make many mistakes as a parent, my kids point them out to me on a daily basis. Someday they'll thank me, I hope, for doing the best that I can with what I have.

Thanks, mom, for putting up with me.

She's a superstar

2010-05-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

Spicy Chica

2010-05-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

My Maddie suprises me everyday. Like when she gets up in a good mood in the morning - shocking. Like when she cleans up her toys without being asked - another shocker.

Something that has consistently surprised me over the past few weeks is her growing love of spicy foods. Dylan is a bland food eater. The blander the better.

I make this dinner that has spaghetti noodles and chicken and tomatoes, chiles, green peppers and onions. Over time, my chiles have ranged from mild to hot to habenero. Even when it was mild I would let Maddie have just plain noodles with butter. That was when she was a baby. I usually make Dylan eat the regular version because he needs to toughen up his taste buds a bit - plus he hates plain spaghetti noodles. When I scoop up some plain noodles for Maddie, she gets angry. She wants to "real" stuff. She hates to be left out. I'd give her a little and mix it in with the plain noodles and she was pretty happy, but it wasn't the same. Lately, I've been making the habenaro version. I excuse Dylan from that one, because it even makes Joel and I sweat. The first time I absolutely refused to let either of them have the super hot version. This last time I finally gave in and gave Maddie some. She loved it. Like, really loved it. Dylan, not so much. You would have thought I tried to kill him with scorpion soup or something.

Also, the other day I bought Jalepano Hot Salsa sunflower seeds for Dylan's game. Maddie LOVED them. She ate most of them, I think. Then complained of her lips being sore, lol.

Spicy Doritos are another favorite of hers.

I'm glad she ventures into spicy territory. It makes me proud. It also expands my menu possibilities quite a bit :)

I'm crazy and I know it, clap your hands

2010-04-29T12:42:00.000-07:00

I promised I'd blog more often, so I will. Look at me! Two days in a row. Amazing.

Dylan's game was cancelled last night and I was only a little (a lot) excited. It was a 7:30 game. I hate those. They don't get over until after 9:30 and by then it is FREEEEEEEZING out. Maddie's tired. I'm tired. Dylan's tired. By the time we get home and settled down, it's after 10:30 before anyone gets to bed. That is senior suck-fest since we have to get up before 7:00 a.m. As you can tell, sleep is the number one priority here in our house. After food of course. Anyway, his game got rescheduled for May 23rd. Which happens to be the day Joel and I are going to the Mariner game. Great.

I never mentioned Dylan's grades. He got All As and a B+. Pretty awesome. Last time he had had 4 As and 2 Bs, so we were really happy with his progress.

Every year I promise the kids I will accompany ONE of their field trips. I am not, nor do I ever claim to be, an Alpha mom. I can't be the mom that goes on every field trip and goes to PTA meetings and helps out in the classrooms. By can't I mean, I don't want to. By don't want to, I mean I don't have the patience for kids other than my own. Don't laugh, sometimes I am patient with my own kids, like when they're sleeping or quietly reading a book. We have those moments. Anyway, we're nearing the end of the year and neither of the kids have had hardly any field trips. Now they both have one coming up. I signed up for Maddie's. It's a quick morning trip to the Auditorium to watch a play. Dylan's is an all day trip to the Seattle International District. Are you kidding me? I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I know, major mommy fail, but I told him that i promise to do something else with him. I don't know what yet, but it won't be that. I can't find the heart to be in charge of a group of 11/12yo kids for an entire day in downtown Seattle. I may try to sell one to a hobo for a penny. By sell I mean pay the hobo to take them away from me before I kill them.

We've had many issues with Maddie's name. She's Madelyn. We call her Maddie. She doesn't like to be called Madelyn because "that's what you call me when I'm in trouble." Fair enough. She once tried to change the spelling of Madelyn to Madylan. In both years of preschool her teachers called her Madelyn, which was confusing for her because she was Maddie 95% of the time for her first 3 years of life. In kindergarten she was Maddie because there was a Madelynn in her class. That was confusing too. This year, she chose to be Madelyn again. She is called Madelyn by everyone at school. She announced this morning that for 2nd grade she wants to be called "Madison." She doesn't understand that this isn't possible. But seriously, how could she not think this is possible? We've bounced from Maddie to Madelyn every year, what's a few more letters? I seriously regret ever giving this child a name that can be shortened. Or shortening it in the first place. She should have just been Madelyn and that's that.

Weekly Recap

2010-04-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

I can't seem to find time to blog. I'll try harder, I promise.

Anyway, I have a valid excuse for last week. Joel went out of town Thursday through Sunday and I didn't want to mention it online because I am a paranoid freak about stuff like that. Dylan had two games over the weekend and lost them both. He did good defensively.

On Saturday we had Rachel, Dennis and Marin over for dinner and to spend the night. That was a blast. We played games and laughed.

On Saturday Maddie got a piece of mechanical pencil lead in her eye. Don't ask. I got it out without a trip to the ER. Why is Joel always gone for this stuff. He's always calm as a cucumber while I'm panicking.

Joel got home super late Sunday and went to work Monday. He was pretty tired all day and he had a little accident at work. A 5-pound nail gun fell 10 feet onto his face. he had to have stitches. Good times. He wouldn't let me take a picture.

Maddie has a tooth that is literally hanging there but she won't let anyone pull it out. She's lost 3 teeth and the first two were trauma-free. Dylan pulled them out for her. The last one and this one she freaks out over the thought of taking them out. They are her front top two teeth and I think she's afraid she'll look stupid. Nothing I say changes her mind. Next I'm going to tell her that the tooth fairy is going to come check on her tooth in the middle of the night and yank it out for her. Never mind, then she'll never go to sleep.

Okay, that's all for this week. See ya next week. No, seriously, I'll try harder. I promise.

Buttons

2010-04-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

Yea, yea, yea, get off my back, I know I haven't blogged in 10 days.

Things have just been really busy. Seriously.

Dylan's baseball season is going good. He got a couple of hits and an RBI at the last game. They're 2-2, I think.

Maddie's "Alice in Wonderland" ballet recital is a little over a month away. I am pretty sure I am more excited than she is.

I really don't have anything witty or interesting to say, sorry. When things get hectic around here my brain becomes extremely disorganized and I can't really function and create a coherent sentence, let alone an interesting blog post.

There was a funny moment last night I was going to blog about, but when I got here and typed it out, it didn't come off as nearly as funny as I thought. It was one of those "had to been there" moments.

I'll tell you about it anyway. Joel is doing a golf tournament soon and so he decided to go through all his shorts to see which ones fit and which ones did not. He was doing a little "fashion show" of sorts. Well he found a pair that he clearly hasn't worn in at least 11-12 years, but he decided to try them on anyway....and found them to be a little...tight. The kids and I were already laughing about this when he says "watch your eyes cause the button could pop at any moment." He no sooner finished the sentence when the button came flying across the room. I thought Maddie and Dylan were going to pee their pants they were laughing so hard.

Like I said, you had to be there.

These are the moments

2010-04-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

Sometimes my life is funny. Sometimes it's really funny. I have had Maddie-isms. I have even had Dylan-isms (although rare). I have something for everyone today!!! Yes, even me.

First, we'll start with me, cause I'm the best. Plus it's not nearly as funny as the rest. I went running on Friday. No, that's not the funny part. The funny part is that I tripped while running. Seriously. I caught a toe and stumbled. Shockingly, I was able to remain upright - thank GOD. I thought you would just like to picture that in your head for a few seconds so you can laugh with me. Now erase it - thanks.

Next up....Joel. That's right, Joel gets a turn on the laugh track. Maddie and Joel were outside playing some basketball. I just happened to walk past the window and I see Maddie running after the ball in the cul-de-sac. Maddie doesn't really run very fast and our cul-de-sac is at the top of a very steep hill. So, you can see where I am going with this. Maddie gave up on the ball, and I don't blame her. However, someone had to get that ball as it gained momentum down the hill before it caused some damage. Guess who that was?? I was seriously in hysterics watching Joel run full speed down the hill after the ball. I was in the house so they couldn't see or hear me, but Maddie was outside and I could see her doubling over in laughter at this. Funny stuff I tell you.

Next is Dylan. He likes to brag himself up on how tough and cool and strong he is. He thinks he could beat wrestlers. He even said in a full on fight with me or his father - he'd win. Seriously?? Anyway, at Wal Mart today he even went as far as to say he thinks he could beat Chuck Norris. I just shake my head and laugh and say whatever. I bought each of them a juice at the store. We're on our way home and Dylan says "I can't open my juice, the lid is too tight." I almost drove off the road I was laughing so hard. He thinks he can beat Chuck Norris, but he can't open a bottle of juice??? LMAO

Finally, we have Maddie. This actually isn't very funny. I was singing a song yesterday, which annoys my children to death. Maddie says "Mom, seriously if you don't stop I am going to literally kill you." (That is a direct, word-for-word quote, by the way). I knew the whole "kill you" thing was just a figure of speech and she did not really "mean" it, but I thought I'd teach her a lesson about it. So I tell her that if she did kill me she would be very sad about it and that there wouldn't be anyone to cook for her or read her stories or put her hair in braids like she likes. Then I said "and you know that green shirt of mine that you like to sleep with because it smells like me? If I was dead it wouldn't smell like me anymore and never would again." Holy crap she freaked the heck out. She started crying hysterically and could not stop. She was hyperventilating she was crying so hard. I actually felt bad at this point and I had to calm her down and promise her that I wasn't going anywhere. I also had to make her promise not to say that anymore about killing people, because it's not nice. She felt bad about saying it (obviously).

So, the lesson for the day - Juice bottles are tougher than Chuck Norris, and if I ever die - you people better find a way to keep that green shirt smelling like me forever or you will be sorry.

Building a Mystery

2010-04-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

Where is the Mystery Machine when you need it? Scooby? Shaggy? I have snacks!

Seriously, it was quite a puzzler, let me tell you.

I walked into my bathroom and there was mascara smeared all over the bathroom counter and someone had taken my eyeliner and scribbled all over various parts of the bathroom. What an oddball thing to do. Being the scatterbrained mother than I am, I tickled my brain trying to remember if I did that. After a few moments of painful recollection, I realized it was of course, not me.

My first suspect was Madelyn. She has in the past gotten into my makeup and made a mess that you would have fainted over. Seriously. I was pretty sure she had learned her lesson on that one, but she was still suspect number one on my list. She's a sneaky one, but she's not a liar. In fact, she's painfully honest most times. So I summoned her to the scene of the crime. I pointed out the mess and she looked rather puzzled at me and said "I didn't do that mom, I swear." I looked into her eyes and I actually believed her. I can tell when Maddie is lying- Exhibit A: The leg shaving incident.

This lead to suspect number 2 - Dylan. Seems rather odd for a 12-year-old to not only get into his mother's makeup but also to make a mess with it. Now, I am not going to call Dylan a liar, but he is much more practiced at it than Maddie and I have a more difficult time telling whether he is telling a stretched truth or not. Since the pre-teen hormones have recently taken over the controls in his brain and I've seen him lately do things that really made me scratch my head in wonder, I figured it was entirely possible that he did it. So, I summoned suspect number 2 to the scene of the crime. Of course, he denied it.

Barring a lie detector test, I had no proof that either of them were actually guilty, but considering that I didn't do it, and it was fairly unlikely that Joel did it, it was clearly one of the two standing in front of me - both of whom were denying it.

So I decided to pull a switch on them. This is where it gets fun. I blamed their father. I figured if either of them had done it, they wouldn't want to see me get angry at their father for something that they did. HAHA, boy did I underestimate them both. They both just kind of shrugged their shoulders and walked away. I guess they figured Dad would be in less trouble than they would.

Just as mysteriously as the mess appeared - it disappeared. The culprit - whomever it was - cleaned up their own mess without so much as a word. So somewhere in my mission, my detective skills failed me, but my mother-guilt-issuing skills prevailed.

Of course, there is still the possibility that there is a ghost in the house that did it and then felt bad for getting the kids in trouble so they cleaned it up.

I wouldn't put money on that one though. My money's on Dylan. Especially since I found the washrag that was used to clean up the mess in his laundry basket this morning. At this point, if it were Maddie I would have to give her mad props for planting evidence in Dylan's room.

Either way, no one is in trouble. The mystery is solved (sort of) and the mess is cleaned up.

Caution - Patience Level is on Low - Proceed at Your Own Risk

2010-04-07T07:20:00.000-07:00

I have the absolute utmost respect for parents that homeschool. I don't know how you do it. I can't even fathom it. Yesterday both of my kids had homework and the drama that came from it was insane.

Dylan rarely has any anymore. He finds his lunch hour (or however long it is) to be a big waste of time, so he has an arrangement with one of his teachers that he can eat his lunch in her room and do his homework. Yes, I know this is strange.

Maddie brings home a packet of work on Mondays to be turned in by Thursday. Because of baseball and ballet and other activities, we usually have to cram it all into one night - this night was last night. I posted before about how she was struggling a bit in school. She wants to do her homework herself - which I would be happy to allow, if she actually did it right. Sometimes I let her go at it and make her erase the wrong answers and correct them. Sometimes I just make her do it right the first time. It's probably better for her to do it her way and then show her the right way, but I don't have the patience for that and neither does she. She was sent to her room for a time out twice during the course of a 3-page packet last night - once for eye rolling and once for pencil throwing.

Dylan just can't focus on one thing. He had a spelling list to correct. With no distractions it would take probably 5 minutes TOPS. It took 30. I catch him staring at the wall with the pencil on the desk.

Focus Dylan.

I am.

On the homework, not the wall.

Since I clearly was not in the most patient of moods last night, I probably should not have volunteered to play a board game with them last night. They choose Sorry. Huge mistake.

First off, we don't play board games with the regular rules. That's lame. We make up new rules to suit us. For instance, the game of Sorry takes forever if you only use the 1 and 2 to get out. So we use any card to get out and we use the Sorry card to put anyone back in their home, regardless of whether or not we have a piece in home or not. This is great for my kids unless the "new rules" start benefiting one more than the other. Then, it's called "cheating." *sigh*

Dylan had his first game on Monday, which they won 2-1. Sounds like a dull game right? Yes. Two great pitchers means very little hits for either team. Top that with sitting in the cold rain for two hours. Game over. He has another game on Friday, which I am really excited about. They play Dennis's team, which means Rachel and Marin will be there. Woot!

Eggs and Balls and Buses

2010-04-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

Interesting title, right?

We survived Spring Break and Easter weekend without any complications. Not that I was expecting any, but you never really know, now do you?

Friday night we watched the Blind Side. Maddie wasn't interested, which I kind of figured she wouldn't be. She watched Monsters, Inc. in the other room by herself. Saturday we had Easter at Mam's house. She has a ton of pictures. I don't have any of course because my camera bit the dust. Or should I say, bit the floor of the Key Arena.

Sunday morning was an early one - I had been able to split my hours to accommodate Easter this year. I got up at 5:30 thinking that I was going to give the big bunny a hand with the hiding of eggs. Only there were two problems - one was that it was a lot earlier than I expected and the second was that it was a lot darker than I had expected. I started work at 6:00 and then when the sun made it's appearance I snuck outside.

The kids did their egg hunt a little later and were happy with their baskets. I got off at 10:00 and we went to Joel's parents for another egg hunt and lunch. After that we came back home and I worked from 1:00 to 5:00 and then we went to dinner at my Dad's house. They had a present for the kids and my dad gave them a hint the other day. He said "it's huge." Guess what Dylan thought it was??? A BUS!! Are you freaking kidding me???

Anyway, it was a pool. 15 foot round pool that is 3.5 deep. It comes with a solar cover and a ladder and a filter and a net and all sorts of other gadgets. The intention is to set it up in the beginning of summer and leave it up all summer with the hopes that we'll have enough sun to allow them to play in it a lot. Hopefully we have a summer like last year!

Today is the start of baseball season!! Dylan has his first game tonight. He's still has his cold. He went from horrible sore throat to runny nose to a wicked cough. This is honestly the longest I've ever seen him sick. Even when he had the swine flu it seemed like a day or 2 maybe that he was truly sick. Poor guy, I hope he gets better soon, he's got some balls to hit.

It's been one week

2010-04-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't posted in a week. Actually, I can. I have been busy. That's not to say I haven't thought about it.

First of all.....we have this

Maddie lost her top front tooth finally. She looks like a totally different kid.

We got to watch New Moon this weekend for our Family Movie Night. Loved it. Of course, I had already seen it twice before, Dylan and Joel had both seen it once, but Maddie had not seen it. She loved it of course. She wants an Edward poster for her room. Me too, girlie. Me too.

Sunday the kids went to spend a couple of days with Mam. Maddie was coming down off of a cold and Dylan was on the cusp of one. Dylan came home Monday. He was partly bored, partly missing mom and partly not feeling good. Mostly missing mom though. Maddie stayed until Tuesday night. Despite spring break Dylan had 3 baseball practices this week. His tonsils were super swollen so I finally took him to the doctor yesterday and they said he just has a viral infection, which I suspected. Considering his first game is coming up Monday I figured I'd better have him checked.

When Maddie came home Tuesday night you could tell she totally missed me. She literally clung to my leg like a barnacle. We played games and had some fun.

This week is the first week of my new schedule. Working 6, 7, or 8 hours a day, depending on the day. I am finding that I don't mind it and it comes at a good time because my raise takes effect today so I should see a much needed increase on the paycheck real soon.

Nothing else special to write about. Hope your week was more eventful than ours :) or not, whichever you prefer.

What's up?

2010-03-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

I have a few updates. We got Dylan's baseball schedule yesterday. If anyone is interested in coming and watching a game let me know and I'll email you a schedule. I would rather not make it public, if you know what I mean. He's having a great time this year. Joel said he's hitting and fielding really well at practice.

I got to peek in and watch a bit of Maddie's ballet rehersal for her recital in May. It was amazing. She comes home from ballet and says she never learns anything, but what I witnessed showed me otherwise. It was beautiful.

Spring break starts this week. Maddie has that damn cold of course. She gave it to Joel. I have worried a lot about it turning into pneumonia again, but today is day 4 and she actually seems to be getting better (cross fingers).

Yesterday was Maddie's parent/teacher conference. It wasn't a bad conference. She had earned her self-manager badge by her good behavior and the teacher sang her praises for that. She's a little bit behind where she should be, but she's making really good progress and should be where she needs to be by the end of the year. The teacher was worried that she would lose some of it over the summer and suggested summer school, but I think we're going to go for some home tutoring. A little more flexible and I think (know) she will respond better to that. Especially if it is Dylan and I doing the tutoring (mostly Dylan). Joel and I are convinced that the only reason that she is a little behind is because she was sick for so long. She was sick pretty much from the beginning of December clear until the middle of February when she finally had the pneumonia and then got better. If you don't feel good your brain doesn't work at the level it should. I think that is how she fell behind a little. Poor girl. She's smart, that's for sure.

Today was Dylan's parent/teacher/student conference. He really wanted Maddie to come so he could show her his classrooms and locker and everything. She loved that. All of his teachers sang his praises as usual. He always seems a little embarrassed about that, which is funny. He should be used to it by now.

I had a job interview yesterday. I am always looking for something better and more ideal. When you think of working from home you think of flexibility in your schedule, but that's not the case at all. Almost always when I apply somewhere I get a job offer. It's hard to find a transcriptionist with as much experience as I have, so that does make me feel good. At my current job, my line rate is in the higher bracket so I have a difficult time find a job offer with an equal or greater line rate. I would love to find one with better hours, but that is near impossible as well. This current job offer was for full-time only. While I wouldn't mind working full time while the kids are in school, I can't do it over summer. The pay was equal to what I get now though, so it did mean more money. In the end, I turned it down. I have a really difficult time leaving my current job. The company is stable. In fact, the last place I was offered a job at went bankrupt and was bought out by my current company a week after I turned down their offer. The lure of full time on a temporary basis was tempting so I spoke with my current supervisor and asked to increase my hours by 8 every week. It's not full time, but it's 32 hours. This will last only until the kids get out of school and then I'll go back to my regular schedule. I feel a lot more comfortable with that. While she had me on the phone she told me what an awesome job I am doing. I had a minor HIPAA violation last month that turned out to be really nothing I could have done different to change anyway. All my audits are passing or within a half a point of passing. I never have any schedule noncompliance or complaints against me. It felt nice to have someone appreciate what I do.

Okay, this boring serious post is done. I got things to do.

Almost made it

2010-03-23T09:58:00.001-07:00

Just when the craziness of spring arrives what should happen.....SICKNESS. That's what happens.

Maddie is sick. At first I thought maybe allergies, but it seems to not be so. Sniffly, coughing, blech. We almost made it to spring break without any more colds. I let her stay home today. I know that I kind of have a double standard with my kids as far as the staying home thing goes, but I have good reasons. For Dylan he has to have a fever and/or puking to stay home. Maddie's standards are a lot lower. She's only in first grade so missing a day of school isn't going to harm her scholastic achievements. In middle school missing a day can be like missing a week. Considering all the homework they always have topped with all the schoolwork, getting behind is a nightmare. I should know, remember The Swine Flu week? Argh.

Dylan acts like a 4-year-old when he finds out Maddie gets to stay home and he doesn't. He doesn't have the sniffles or a cough or anything other than a headache when he got home from school yesterday, and yet he feels he deserves a day off. It's baseball season - sickness is not an option for anyone.

After the pneumonia problem we had with Maddie awhile back, I refuse to take chances with her colds. She will lay on that couch until she is better - no matter what.

Tomorrow is Maddie's Parent/Teacher conference. Thursday is Dylan's. Tomorrow is also the last day of school for spring break. Normally I dread spring break. I don't really need another reason for them to be all up in my face 24 hours a day, especially when I am supposed to be working, but I am looking forward to not having to get up at 6:45 and get Dylan motivated for school. I am looking forward to not having to make 3 trips to the school every day. Hopefully the weather is nice enough for them to hang outside for some of the days. Hopefully Maddie feels good enough to go to Mam's house for a few days. Hopefully I am not picked up by the men with white coats by the end of it.

Maddie's Story

2010-03-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

Maddie wrote a story. Here it goes:

"Hi. I am here to tell you about Leprechauns.
Leprechauns have a lot of hair.
They never cut their hair.
They have tiny hammers in their mouths.
I know all about Leprechauns because I went to Irish."

By Madelyn Rogers

Happy Spring!

2010-03-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of Spring!! WOO!! Winter is now in our rear view mirror. Not that I have anything to complain about. We have had one of the most mild winters I've ever seen. No snow. Not anything to spit at anyway. Loved it.

I decided to take running back up again. It's kind of like an addiction. I quit because my knees were giving me all sorts of trouble. I started just walking 4 miles a day and at first my knees were still hurting but they've felt better and better and lately I've been feeling the burn to run again. I started thinking more and more about it. There is a 5K being hosted in Poulsbo next month and ironically enough, its right near my house and the very loop that I run/walk. So it gave me some incentive to get back out there. I can train on the course! It doesn't get any better than that. I've been taking better care of my knees too - more icing of my knees and more ibuprofen. It's working because I haven't had any knee pain at all. This morning I ran with Amanda. I was really nervous because I have never run with anyone before except Dylan and running with him isn't the same because he runs so freaking fast. It was awesome to run with someone else. It is very motivational and holy hell was I proud of us. We really pushed it today. We're going to do it next Saturday too. I can't wait. By the time the 5K comes around we will definitely be running the whole thing. The only thing stopping us from running the whole thing today was this little thing called "holy crap that's a big hill." But, we ran halfway up it, which is a pretty amazing feat.

Hey, it's a book!

2010-03-18T08:06:00.001-07:00

Remember how much I love Jodi Picoult???? She's my favorite author ever.

This month she came out with her newest book...House Rules. It's about a boy with Aspergers.

I really want to say something about this book, but I can't. Rachel hasn't read it yet. I have to wait until she reads I don't ruin it for her.

So, it got me thinking about Jodi books and how much I love them. In the past I have made a list (ha! another list) of her books in order of how much I love them. I am going to do it again, this time including the newest book.

1. Change of Heart
2. Plain Truth
3. Nineteen Minutes
4. My Sisters Keeper
5. Perfect Match
6. The Pact
7. Handle with Care
8. House Rules
9. Vanishing Acts
10. Keeping Faith
11. The Tenth Circle
12. Second Glance
13. Salem Falls
14. Mercy
15. Harvesting the Heart
16. Picture Perfect
17. Songs of the Humpback Whale

Now, just because a book is towards the bottom of the list doesn't mean I didn't like it. Even #17, although not my favorite Jodi book by any means, is still 1000 times better than most of the other books I have read.

Jodi is coming to Seattle this weekend and for the 2nd year in a row I won't get to meet my author idol. She even has 2 dates scheduled. The problem is that the first one is Friday night. I don't drive well in the dark, especially in strange places. The second one is Saturday afternoon and unfortunately, I have to work that day.

Soooo, I'll miss her again.

We interrupt this schedule....

2010-03-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

Evening time is pretty structured in our house. I don't like disruption in it. Last night was disruption.

Here's our "typical" schedule.

Kids home: 3:50
After School Snack: 4:00
Dinnertime: 5:30
Snack time: 7:00
Quiet time: 8:00
Book time: 8:20
Bedtime: 8:30

With Dylan's baseball practice he doesn't get home until after 7:15 on practice nights. I know that some families like to eat dinner late, but our family does not. Dylan had practice and Maddie had ballet last night. So, I figured I would make dinner ready on the table at 7:00 so that when the boys got home, it would already be on the table ready for them. Seems logical, right?

Well, Maddie gets home from ballet at 5:45. Before last night, I always had dinner ready for her when she got home from ballet. Last night it wasn't even started yet. She was starving. While I was making dinner, I was chopping up some green peppers which she kept swiping from me. At 7:00 she and I sat down to eat. She ate FIVE HELPINGS of dinner before Joel and Dylan even got home. I started to worry that there wouldn't be enough left for them. Luckily they got home before Shrek Maddie ate all their dinner.

Obviously, since we were eating dinner after 7:00, snack was pushed back. At 8:00 p.m. I announced snack time and Maddie was freaking out about the time. "but, it's almost bedtime!!"

Obviously, bedtime was pushed back too.

Monday's are officially my least favorite day of the week.

Every year at baseball season I start off with good intentions about dinners. For practice days, we eat after practice. For game days, we eat before. By the end of the season, we're eating McDonald's or macaroni and cheese for dinner.

Now for some exciting news....Maddie got her Self-Manager badge yesterday! There are only a handful of kids in the class that have one. They have to earn it through good behavior, doing their work, etc. She has coveted one all year and yesterday was finally the day. Before the teacher handed it out to her she was telling the class about the "person" who was about to get it. I don't know all that she said, because Maddie couldn't remember everything, but she said "this person is someone who I never have to remind to stop talking." Good thing I wasn't there for this because I would have been like "whaaaat??? You have got the wrong kid here teacher."