Girl hair?

So at some point along the way a decision has to be made by every parent of a girl what to do with their hair. Well, being the mom of three boys (and basically being given free "hair reign" up until this point) I am at a total loss. This is how we've solved hair problems in the past:

But somehow I'm thinking that this won't fly with Lucy. She's...well...she's a girl and I'm pretty sure that I shouldn't go anywhere near her with those clippers. But BOWS? Well, OF COURSE! I'm from Texas after all, you know, land of the big hair and even bigger bows? Well, maybe my upbringing in Texas should have something to do with Lucy's hair - and maybe the bigger the better. Well, yeah, maybe not today - big Texas hair is not the "in thing" right now. So back to the question - what the heck DO you do with a beautiful baby girl's curly curly head of hair???!!!???

Drool...drool...

Cute purple shirt, meet teething baby:

SNOW!!!

It came really late in the season, but we finally got some snow that stuck! Unfortunately it was really cold and overcast, and since the kid shave been sick so much this winter I didn't even consider letting them outside to play...and they were bummed. Not quite the worst mom even, but not letting your kiddos play in the soft fluffy whiteness? Yeah, not scoring any cool mom points there. Anyway, it was Lucy's first really snow as well, so the boys sat down with her to explain what was going on:

But now it's freezing rain, sleet, and snow that is coming down, which means that it's not only nasty out now, but it's also very dangerous. Hopefully school will be cancelled in the morning so we don't have to venture out, but if not we are parked at the TOP of the driveways, which has been shovelled off, and our wiper blades are UP! Hopefully though we will be able to sleep in in the morning and not wrapping up in all kinds of warm clothes and heading out. Keep your fingers crossed!

The FUNNIEST Version of Star Wars Yet

As told by some girl who has only seen bits and pieces:


Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

And you thought you knew who was in charge here

From the outside looking in, it would appear that the grown ups are in charge around here. But that's not the case. And no, it isn't the kids either. It's this little fellow:

Bunsen is the master of all things comfy, keeps tabs on everyone all of the time, and wants in on all of the action. Except of course when it's nap time. Then he finds the most comfy spot and makes it his - whatever that spot may be, and whomever it might actually belong to. Bunsen certainly THINKS he is in charge here, and he's so soft and snugly we'll let him keep thinking that.

Wreaking Havoc

Max got a very cool toy from Santa this past Xmas - an Air Hogs Helicopter. And one of the firs things he did was try to land it on his brothers. He managed to land it on Sam once, but he continued chasing Ian with it - and Ian loved every minute of it.





Never thought I'd have to tell a kid not to land his helicopter on his brother...we'll chalk that one up to having boys.

It's Here. It's Finally Here.

I can't believe that I am all of 10 miles away from this momentous occasion, yet I didn't think once of going into town because of all of the problems - freezing weather, closed bridges and roads from Virginia, only 5000 port a potties, a million of my closest friends. But I am beside myself excited that we are getting a new President tomorrow. And what a man we are getting. So instead of clinging to the idea that I'd get a peek of the newest President of the US on one of the giant TV screens that they'll have down on the Mall, I'll hang out with my kids and some friends enjoying the inauguration and the parade from the comfort of home. So all of you brave folks heading into town tomorrow - stay warm and stay safe. And do remember - everyone - that we are witnessing history in the making.

He Gets It

"Good thing that today is a holiday - Martin Luther King was a very important man." -Max

Little man, if you only knew how true that statement was...

So how did YOU find me?

One of my favorite bloggers wrote this great year's end summary in a slightly different way than I've seen it before. I thought I'd run with it out of curiosity and found a few interesting things about my own blog. Stimey summed up 2008 by looking at Google search terms that landed folks at her blog, and she found some doozies. So here's my list (and thanks Stimey for the idea!!!):

Special brownie recipe - Let's see, I found a funny joke, but not the kind of brownies that those folks were looking for, I'm pretty sure.

Brother sister confessions - Yeah, nice picture of kids hands - not really sure what these folks were shooting for here.

Two people were actually looking for me. Imagine that - stumbled across my blog (and also a few other websites that I show up on)

"cats are gross" - Well, that one's self explanatory...and true. Hope they enjoyed the cricket legs.

Toilet bowl building - Now why on earth would you be looking for THIS building on my website?

Accident cart down escalator bed bath and beyond - OOO. Sounds like it might hurt - but it really didn't happen here.

Confessions of a business woman - I guess this is more on the level...then again probably not.

Confessions of a call woman - A CALL WOMAN? Now come on...that's just strange.

Cornhole definition - Well, this one is plainly my fault. Now we all know what it means.

Gross cats - Yeah, they are still gross further down my list.

Mad croc - no, not an angry toothy green critter, but gum that came in a weird stay up all night pack for gamers.

I need someone to make a scripted phone call for me - Sorry. Can't help you there.

Pneumonia and vacation - Hope that you didn't have it while ON vacation, because one of my kids did have it and he took a mini-vacation that just wasn't any fun.

Santa is not a woman - Now, I'm not 100% sure, but I've been told my whole life that Santa isn't a woman. Not sure how this got them to my blog, but I'm glad to confirm their suspicions.

Smallest jar - My little bitty is full of mustard. What's your full of?

Stove fire - Yeah, that was all on me. And sadly there were three posts about it: 1, 2, and 3

Oxyclean was a favorite last year apparently. Folks were looking for oxyclean on the mattress, the oxyclean man, oxyclean blood (it really does work) and the odd oxyclean ceiling, and they all found me. Wonder what they have on their ceiling that they need to get down? We got dry erase out of carpet, and blood out of all kinds of stuff in the middle of the night. And for the person searching for oxyclean on the mattress? Well, it works on that too.

And of course folks looking for well behaved women, well behaved women buttons, and asking the question "i am so well behaved, i am not?"

When were woman first allowed at school - Why are you asking me and how on earth would I know?

Why cats are gross - I guess lots of other folks think cats are gross too.

And to those looking for ceiling art, a floppy hat, or the phrase born in a barn, well, they are all here too.

And last but not least, my favorite message from my computer - my old computer: You do not have permission to shut down and restart this computer. Yeah, my absolute favorite.

Having an older brother isn't all bad

Well, at least not right now. When she's 14 Lucy may think otherwise, but having three big brothers right now really keeps her entertained.



And makes mom smile...

Wow. Just wow.

The first headline reads: "All Safe After Jetliner Crashes" Amazing - simply amazing. Not only did the pilots manage to make a split second decision after they lost both engines, but they made a decision that saved the lives of all 150 people on board, plus countless numbers on the ground. They landed on the Hudson River.

Don't know who you are, but KUDOS to you for doing your job, and doing it well. You are a fine, fine pilot and should know that you are definitely appreciated.

And to all of those passengers who didn't panic - even when you were told to prepare for a "hard landing" - way to go. You are a smart bunch that contributed highly to your own well being here.

If you haven't already seen it on TV, take a minute to look at the pictures and you will be as amazed by this as I am. I'm not calling it a miracle, but I sure will heap praises upon everyone involved for the good jobs they did - from the crew to the passengers to the passing boats who helped to the FDNY.

Baby TV

It's like having your own cable channel full of people you know:

With your own comfy seat:

And they know all the right moves to crack you up:

Max's Violin

One of the cool things about going to a magnet school for arts and sciences is that the third graders get to learn to play the violin. After a full semester of learning all about the violin, learning how to take care of their violin, and learning the basics of reading music, the kids got to bring their violins home. Max was gracious enough to let me film him...



Sorry for the wiggles- I was serving as videographer as well as music stand. Guess we'll need to fix that second part. You'll notice that he's not using a bow yet. Sounds like the teacher wants to preserve her sanity and take things slowly. Then again she's like 11 months pregnant, so there may not be much of that left at this point. Anyway, not knowing anything about the violin I assume that they continue on with this until they get a decent feel for the strings and finger placement before they even introduce the bow. Hopefully we can maintain our own sanity when the bow comes home. As it is we have a violin AND a recorder at home that needs to be practiced every day...yeah..BOTH every day.

But, max is playing splendidly now, and we hope that he enjoys it. I think it's cool...but then again I'm his mom and pretty much everything he does is cool.

One little, two little, three little monsters!

I made these! Now pick you jaw up off the floor - I had a pattern, some directions, and a sewing machine. The first is for a friend who was under the weather, the second two are for Lucy and me, and the last three are for Sam, Ian, and Max. The boys got to pick out their own material, pick their teeth, tongue, horns, etc., and look what WILD monsters they have! The Wild Things certainly live here!

Happy Birthday Ma'am!

You are 6 months today and you couldn't be happier. We couldn't be happier that we are celebrating this milestone with you! Congrats on your first half year, and we look forward to spending many many more with you!

So instead of a cake, you decided to celebrate your birthday by sitting up on your own! You are still a little wobbly, but we'll count this as it was all you and it was completely unsupported! Happy Birthday Lady!

Pooping Glitter

If you are easily offended, then don't click through to read the rest of what The Blogess wrote about Disney. As a matter of fact, stop reading now, because it will quickly go downhill. I live with four boys and a baby now, so nothing, NOTHING really grosses me out these days.

Anyway, if you know me at all you know I simply adore Disney - all things Disney (although I've given up on the clothes recently realizing that they aren't very flattering, but that's a different discussion). I was recently reading some back posts from one of the many blogs I read, and one I particularly like - something about her blatant honesty and totally foul sense of reality that just rings true with me - and I ran across her wonderful idea:

"6. If I ran Disney World I’d make all the restaurants fill their hamburgers with glitter so later you’d actually poop glitter and it would be a magical surprise. "

It's so...Disney. I'm not sure what else to say than - WOW!

*Grin*
*Grin*

Oh, sweet day!

Texas rallies past Ohio State 24-21 in Fiesta

By ANDREW BAGNATO, AP College Football Writer 11 minutes ago

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP)—Colt McCoy hit Quan Cosby for a 26-yard touchdown with 16 seconds to play, lifting third-ranked Texas to a 24-21 Fiesta Bowl victory over No. 10 Ohio State on Monday night.
The Buckeyes nearly pulled off the upset behind quarterbacks Terrelle Pryor and Todd Boeckman but instead went down to another disappointing bowl loss.
McCoy, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, calmly led the Longhorns 78 yards in 11 plays and 1:42 without calling a timeout. On the touchdown, Cosby caught a short pass, slipped a tackle and sprinted toward the goal line before diving into the end zone.
The Longhorns (12-1) rebounded after Ohio State (10-3) had taken a 21-17 lead on a 15-yard run by Dan Herron with 2:05 to go.

Inauguration Tickets!

Said with the most serious look on his face:

"So we get front seats to the inauguration, right Mommy?" said Sam.

Nice to know that they think I can work miracles...if only they knew that getting those tickets and getting the family there were a miracle.

Terrible TERRIBLE Movie

And the worst part? We wasted a perfectly good evening watching this atrocity: The Day The Earth Stood Still. Trust me on this one - NOT WORTH YOUR TIME. I have a VERY high tolerance for bad or cheesy or terrible movies, and this one, well, don't go see it. Don't even bother renting it. It's like Battlefield Earth kinda bad. Well, that may be a bit harsh, but I can't convey to you how unimpressed we both were with this movie. (Tom wanted me to tell you that even if the lead actress shed some clothes it still wouldn't have improved the movie.) And to think there are all KINDS of good movies out that we could have seen instead. Or we could have stayed home and cleaned the toilets with our toothbrushes...OK harsh again. The movie was so bad I took the liberty of swearing as we drove out of the busy Friday night mall traffic filled parking lot. Oh well, we'll chalk this one up to...well, nothing. Let's walk away and pretend this didn't even happen.

I am NOT on Facebook

Someone asked me AGAIN the other day if I was on Facebook. At this point I've been invited by a bunch of friends, and told by many more people that I need to be on there. Yeah. I need to be on Facebook like I need another hole in my nose. Maybe an extra arm would be helpful, but not another hole in my nose. Anyway, I almost feel like I'm the last person on the planet who isn't on Facebook, but oh, well, thus is life. I'm chalking this one up to the fact that technology is really starting to pass me by. Guess my internet enabled phone, my wireless home network, or my TIVO just aren't enough any more. I carry a digital video camera in my purse, find directions to places on my cellphone, and am continually online, but Facebook just isn't for me. It's not that I don't want to catch up told friends - that would be great. But catching up to hundreds of old friends and making new ones in the process? Who has the time? I have four kids at home and fill my days with enough computer based things (this blog included) that I'm afraid my family would never see me if I joined Facebook. So, for now at least, and that may certainly change in the future, you won't find me on Facebook.

Happy New Year! Welcome 2009!

Tom just ran up two flights of stairs in his footed jammies

to give me a big old smooch! Can't beat that with a stick!!!