History at its finest

I introduce you to the presidents of our great nation!

Today was the presidential wax museum for the third grade. And this is my little James Monroe.

She, as well as her other fabulous presidential friends, did a super fabulous job. It was hard to believe that I was sitting there- in a third grade presentation. The time has gone so quickly, she is growing so very fast. I glanced at Emily during the program, who will begin school here next year, and thought to myself "fasten your seatbelt, it's getting ready to start again".

I love seeing her grow and change. And the fact that she wrote and memorized her presentation is so impressive to me. Because 2 1/2 days ago I gave birth to her and she is just a newborn baby. Wow, how could the time go any faster?

I treasure the fact that I have gotten to be at home with her the majority of her life (despite working from home- at least she was still in my proximity : ) because everything is moving so quickly- at least I know I couldn't have slowed it down if I had tried. I do try- and it's useless- there is no way to squeeze more time from a day. And these little people just continue to grow and change. Despite their mommas tears and screaming.

So there it is. Allyson's big day. President Monroe. For me, more of a realization that we have just one more year in the elementary, and then we move on to intermediate. Yikes!

All I'm sayin' is..................

I tend to babble. Yep, surprise! I babble, about not much, most of the time. I can't help it. I think I have ADD. Not that I'm doing anything about that, it just helps to explain where I am coming from most of the time. Even in adult conversations, I find myself unable to do much except agree. I agree with everyone. Very rarely do I take a stand and disagree. It's because I'm easy to persuade, because I'm a Libra. And a Scorpio. That is if you believe that kind of stars and moons thing, which I'm not really sure I do. But I might, depends on what you think.

So anywho. Back to my thought of the day. I want to farm goats and sheep. Sheep because they are beautiful and they go baaaa and they are dumb as rocks. I like that. Goats because you can milk them and they eat grass and they wear bells on their necks. Then I am going to take the milk, which my children will have gotten from the goats while doing their 'farm work', and make beautiful home made soaps and cheeses. Yep. That's what I'm going to do. Wonder if the neighbors will mind???? I'll just give them some wool blankets and soaps and they won't care.

I think that farm children behave. So I suppose that is why I constantly crave farm life. My children don't behave, are short on respect and don't have any self discipline. If we were farmers, they would. And they wouldn't bicker either. They would be too dag gone tired. And they wouldn't poop on my carpets, spill their food all over the living room (where they are NOT supposed to have food), shove barbie shoes down the register vents or complain about dinner. They would not disassemble our furniture and they wouldn't leave their toys out everywhere. Because they wouldn't have toys. There would be no time for play. And when there is time for play, they would play with rotten tomatoes and the goats.

Ah hem.

I'm off to bath my children. My non- goat soap washin, sheep hearding, tomato harvesting children. Then I'm going to reassemble the furniture and find the can of carpet cleaner. Life in suburbia, ugh.

Prayer

I do believe that there is power in prayer. It shows our Lord that we trust Him, that we are obeying Him, and that we know we need Him. I pray, alot.

I found a note I wrote down on Dec 1, 2008. I overheard Emily's prayer. Like much other things in my life, I completely forgot about it until I found the note. It went like this:

"Dear God- thank you for this day, this great wonderful day. Thank you so much for such a nice day. It’s not often we get sausage for dinner, thank you. And not often we get carmel corn too, thank you for the carmel corn at the mall. Amen."

That pretty much sums it all up. It doesn't matter what you pray for, or how you pray it, it's just important that you pray. And who can honestly say they haven't prayed about carmel corn a time or two?????

This child makes the most inner parts of my soul giggle.And wiggle.
Lord have mercy.

A little somethin' somethin'

We've now unstacked the bunk beds- again. I am not a fan of this as the girls room is very small, and having two beds unstacked with the dresser, toybox, doll house, and the multitude of crap they dribble all over the floor makes the room just too tight in my opinion. But Emily was tired of sleeping in a tanning bed size slot- and with Allyson's broken foot it is probably better to have them unstacked. But I declare today that I HATE digging stuff out from underbeds, and mark my words- they will stuff 'stuff' under their beds. ughhh.

So with the open wall now above their beds, they needed a little something to hang on the walls. Shelves? no Stickers? NO Hooks? no Artwork? YES!

So we bought a set of canvases, some oil pants, and to town they went. They each got to paint whatever they wanted for over their beds. I put no restrictions, other than it needed to fill the canvas and not a lot of 'wordy expressions'. Not that emily can write, but ally can. And I didn't want 'I love taylor swift' in my face everytime I walked into their room. Because, much like hannah montana, I don't like taylor swift because she is turning our youth into two bit hussies. But that's a story for another day.

So all that aside- here they are in the thick of their creativeness. Just imagine these pictures above their beds- because I am purposely not posting a picture of their bedroom. Because I'd first have to tidy it up, and I just don't have the strength.

Good grief

I envy this dog. I mean- check him out. Totally sprawled out in the middle of complete chaos we call home, sound asleep. Decked out like a drunk. No worries, no cares, no nothing. He has a comfy sofa, a pillow and dreams of another meal in the near future.

And he didn't care that I was taking his picture, or that I'm posting it here. He doesn't care that he's on doggie weight watchers (and failing miserably I might add) or that I have captured his entire gut in this photo. Nope, he just doesn't care. Because he's sleeping in the middle of the afternoon, yup- I'm jealous.

I'm not the woman I thought I was- or whatever that means

So- today I'm at the grocery with two of my three. The grocery. yuck. All I needed was milk and creamer (because I have to have creamer with coffee, and I have to have coffee in the morning. the end). So of course I filled the cart and spent a fortune. Because that's what you do at the grocery, regardless of what you go in for.

I forgot bananas. I had patiently waited in the self check out lines as Emily diligently tried to scan our items and Sam continually climbed onto the scale- which required the service attendant to reset the 'alarm' every.single.time. Sam, get off the scale, Sam, get off the scale, Sam, get off the scale. I am like a broken freakin record. Uhggg. So bananas, not me- the fruit. Back we go.

It is there that a well meaning (I'm sure) old woman began to learn me about purchasing fruit. Whats a good deal, how to buy watermelon, who had blueberries on sale last week. Jee whiz lady, my kid is shoving lemons up his nose GET ON WITH IT. I'm 34 years old- I can pick out some produce by myself. But I just smiled and nodded and slowly inched my way back to the checkout stand.

So that's that, nothing huge, just normal grocery stuff and some woman who tested my will to not strangle a complete stranger.

So, now I'm at home cooking (aka- sent Dan for carryout, because I suck) and the doorbell rings. It's two neighbor girls. They are covered in mud and they look terrified. I open the door, prepared to hear some terrible tale about wild animals or a serial killer chasing them through the woods. I scream out 'what's wrong girls'.

See, they were riding their bikes in the mud, in the wintery mud, in sweatshirts, without coats- or gloves, and they got stuck. And now they are all cold. And they want warm water to wash with and a warm home to be in.

So I did what any mother would have done.

I sent their sorry butts packing. Heck, I can see their homes from my porch. No way in hell am I going to let them drag their sorry behinds all mud covered and gross into my house. I was personally rejoicing that my kid wasn't one of them.

GO HOME I said GO HOME. You live 3 doors away, go there and tear up your own house. It's not like we live on a prairie or something.

And as they left, crushed and surprised at my rudeness, I thought my reaction will be NOTHING to the one their mothers are going to give them. I'll be surprised to see them, or their mud encrusted bikes, for a very long time to come.

My new favoritest child

Of course- because I am a good mother, I don't declare favorites. But if I did...........

this would be the one. See her, see what she's doing? Washing my dishes.

Yup, she scrubbed them all and then loaded them into the dishwasher.

I overheard her tell Sam "Bub, if you do nice things for mom and dad, they'll give you money".

Strike her from the top of my favoritest list.

It all started with one man and one woman

Today we laid my Grandma Larsen to rest. Here is her family, my family. Just missing four in the photo-allyson (at school), a second cousin (in the bathroom), a granddaughter in law (working) and Grandma. Actually missing 5- my dad is not in the photo either.

Just think, one man and one woman- four children (one, my dad, already in heaven), eight grandchildren, and a whole montage of great grandchildren. Who knew. I bet she didn't when she began her life. Much like we don't imagine what our futures will hold.

At her funeral was her graduation picture. I wonder if mine will be out on display at my funeral? Will everyone comment about the size of my hair (it was the eighties people)? What 'items' will I have accumulated in my life- the special stuff you keep forever? Will I have had 3 children in my life or more? How many grandkids (dozens I hope- someone needs to pay these yahoos back)? I just wonder. That's all.

She had a full life, full of love, laughter and most importantly- faith.

I got to read one of the scriptures at her service. I'd never read it before. It comes from a book of the bible we prodestants don't keep in our copy. It came from Sirach- Chapter 25:1-11:

"There are three things in which I take delight- things that are beautiful to the Lord and human alike:
Brothers and sisters who get along with each other
Neighbors who are friends
And a married couple who are happy together.
Unless you learn what you can while you are young, you will never be wise when you reach old age. Sound judgement, good advice, and gray hair go together beautifully. Wisdom, understanding and sound counsel are appropriate to the aged and the respected. Elderly people wear the crown of long experience, and they can boast of nothing finer than their fear of the Lord.
I will tell you about the kinds of people that I feel fortunate to know, especially fortunate in the case of the last:
Someone who takes pride in their children,
A person fortunate enough to have an understanding spouse,
A married couple who are well matched,
A person who never speaks sinfully,
Someone fortunate enough to have a real friend,
A person that people are happy to listen to,
And the really great one: someone who is wise.
But the greatest one of all is the person who loves the Lord.
Such a person has no equal, because the love of the Lord is the most important thing in the world."

My grandma was wise and faithful. I will miss her more than I could express.

Remember

As we begin yet another crazy day, I am struggling with the thought that my dear friend Rebecca is on a cruise to many wonderful places that I can barely pronounce, let alone spell, but they are all warm and sunny and oceany. She's a brat.

Two bits, four bits.......................

A little bit that's my daughter!

She attended cheer clinic and learned

to stand up and hollar!

Goooooooooooooo Emily!

Emily got to attend a cheer clinic at the high school this morning.....................the pictures speak for themselves. It was sweet, she was thrilled, and now we all get to listen to her cookie monster and alligator cheers..................forever and ever and ever.

Might I just say......................

This week has turned out NOTHING like I planned.

For a week that started off with not much on the calendar, it sure has been a busy one. I feel like I am running in circles, with not much of a break in site.

Dan switched to nights the week. Yuck. But I am grateful for his job. So many are without work right now, that I feel guilty complaining.

But I will anyway.

Ally's broken foot has made a laid back week more busy. In fact, we are back to the cast clinic this morning because the cast is hurting her. Then when you tack in being a 'single mom', work, emily's school, and this crazy new medicine I'm on making me feel light a nutjob- well, let's just say AHHHAHAHAHHHHHHHGH!

I'm just tired I suppose. And I'm tired of picking up the same things 43 times a day, washing the same clothes twice a week, washing towels, cooking, it's all just regular stuff but this week it feels like too much. Plus I still have loads of stuff to take to the laundry mat, thanks to Sam and his uncontrollable puking and pooping. I just feel like a mess.

But it's Friday. There is always next week I suppose : )

My Lady Buckeye

Here she is, our little globe trotter. Sad to say, her basketball days are probably over for a while, thanks to her new broken foot. But regardless- here are some 'action' shots from last weeks game (taken by none other than Miss Emily):

Of course, when you surrender your camera to a 5 year old in an effort to entertain them, they can't all be of the game, or even anything really......................................

The ceiling

Fellow buckeye mom and friend (based on the 23 pictures emily took of her, probably a bit perturbed of a friend that my kid was constantly snapping her picture- I would guess)

Emily

Perturbed friends other kid

And yes- even Sam

Super Bowl!

Yup- that pretty much sums up last week. All of us ended up with the stomach flu, and spent a lot of time with our 'super bowl'. Then, the three snow days, well, let's just say I couldn't wait for a new week to start. Until today.................Allyson broke her foot. Yeah, happy days.