13 months

Longing

One of these days she'll be able to go grab the mail with her older brother Max, but until then she'll just have to hang onto that gate:

Max's 9th Birthday Party

What happens when you take 19 kids, one weather forecast of flash floods, and a party that's supposed to be outside in late August? Well, this:and of course this:But add in a slightly crazy but very clever Dad, and you get this:

this:

this:

and this:

Happy Birthday not so little Dude! It's great to see you turning 9!!!

Late Night Cons, Pt. 2

Not so much of a conversation, but more of a bunch of cons. This time they were flat out busted. Last night I wrote that I was listening to the boys talk until the wee hours of the night. As my dear sweet hubby lay sleeping and I caught up on e-mails that had piled up during the day, the stinky set decided that the middle of the night was a good time to talk, or so I thought. Well, I was wrong, and they were busted.

First off they slept until 10:45 this morning. Yes, the children in this house that wake up at the ungodly hour of 6am on a regular basis slept past 10am. We even had to make the 7am rule - don't come out and no talking or making noise before 7am (or your parents can't make it through the day) because they were getting up sometimes at 5 or 6am. They are generally pretty good about following the 7am rule now, and for the past few weeks have even been playing with their little sister in the mornings so that Tom and I can get some extra sleep. Between his broken arm and my pissed off back we really, really appreciate it. So them sleeping in didn't get them busted, but my mommy radar must be off because of the pain meds.

About 4pm today Max asked if they could play electronics. They get to play for 1/2 hour every day, and that's only when they don't lose the privilege (which is about every other week these days!). I said yes and they all went scurrying into their room. In and of itself not such a big thing, except that I keep the box full of their games and DS's in my bedroom. Suddenly the light went off. They were up all night playing Nintendos. So, that was the end of their electronics for the day. A bit later Max totally crashed out and Sam and Ian spent a chunk of time reading. Figures - they were up all night and didn't have any juice left that late in the afternoon. And when Tom found out he explained to them in a calm voice that if they were going to sneak stuff or misbehave that they needed to be smarter about it. Guess they'll get that part figured out eventually...or not.

Late Night Conversations

As I sit here at 11:36 on Thursday night, I'm listening to my three lovely, responsible, wonderful *choke, choke* boys TALK TO EACH OTHER IN BED. Can you imagine going to bed at 8:15 or so, then staying up quietly until 11:00 and THEN start talking (didn't hear hem before 11)? Or did one of them wake up a bit ago and wake the others up? What the heck are they thinking here? And yes, these are my children - staying up late has always been a problem of mine. But geez folks, you are 6 and 9 years old. GO TO BED ALREADY!

Sweet tea - will it be my downfall?

Is the fact that I'm really strongly drawn to sweet tea a good enough reason to drink caffeine after being off of it for about 10 years? Or does this desire speak more about my susceptibility to late night commercials? Damn you McDonalds and your sweet tea.

Tap class is killing me

I have really been enjoying tap class over the past eight weeks, but suddenly tap class isn't as fun. I say this because as I type I'm lying in bed basically incapacitated. My back (the one I would seriously like to replace) is so tied up in knots that I'm crooked...again. It's happened before but so far this tap class has been fine. But today I lie here in bed completely crippled, and yesterday we had a sub on class. Guess her amped up tap class isn't for me. Guess I need tap for seniors or low impact tap. Yikes. Glad our regular instructor will be back for the last class.

Oh, deer!

Deer in our back yard! Can't actually believe it, but these beauties showed up last week in our back yard. We have a sordid history with deer, but somehow this was different. There were three medium aged bucks out there chomping away on our grass and bushes. Ian wanted to keep them as pets (then again he asked to keep a wasp as a pet today) and Sam looked like he wanted to chase them down, but we just peered at them through a window. Lucy kept asking if they were kitty cats, and finally understood after a bit of explaining (I think) that they were deer. Anyway, hopefully they'll wander back by here again - it was nice to have them drop in!

Rips

One of the hazards of gymnastics is that you get blisters on your hands. Gymnasts call them rips, and they are so very proud when they get them. It's like battle scars or tattoos. Nice, right? And Max even wore his nasty stinky wrap for a while after he finished up.

Tom's Boo Boo

So this is how we ended our Sunday afternoon last week: Yes, that's Tom in an ER bed watching a bad Jessica Simpson movie (wait, they're all bad aren't they). Anyway, he was stoned out of his mind on Dilaudid at this point, but he had a stable fracture so they gave it to him for immediate pain relief since they didn't have to set it. He broke his arm playing soccer. You read that right - soccer. Seems that he went over a ball and fell, trying to catch himself so he didn't bust ass on the ground. Well, his arm took the brunt of it and he heard a pop. So it was off to the ER with us. The boys went to a friends house, and I have to applaud the folks at this particular ER - we were in and out in about 2.5 hours. Not bad for a Sunday afternoon. I would have preferred a movie, but hey, Tom chose this date so I was along for the ride. He's on the mend now and the pain seems to drop more each day, so hopefully he'll be back up and running here soon.
And no - you can't really do any housework or change any diapers when your arm is broken. It's hard enough to button your jeans let alone mop the floor or do the dishes. And yes - I'm trying desperately to get Lucy to say "Boo Boo" - how cute would that be?

Twilight, yes, me too

I'll admit it publicly - I'm a Twilight fan. And I've read New Moon too, but no farther yet. You see, I started the series thinkig it would be a light enough book to read during jury duty a fw months ago, then put it down. Well, I picked the first book up and couldn't put it down - even bought the second book in an airport on my way out of town. Now I need to hunt up the third book, and I hear there's a fourth as well. But now I've seen the trailer for the second movie, and man, that's it. I need to go see those movies. Might have to even hire a sitter and get myself in there ASAP. Somehting about the teenager in me is coming out with this - either that or it's been so long since I've read a book...any book...

You know you are from San Antonio when...

Saw this elsewhere and had to share!

You know you are from San Antonio when:

1.You know exactly how to get to the "Ghost Tracks" from anywhere in town.

2.You think "pro-choice" means flour or corn tortillas.

3.You've never been to the Alamo.

4.You think a health drink is a Margarita without salt.

5.You used to live in a neighborhood you wouldn't even drive through now.

6.You remember when Crossroads Mall used to be called Wonderland.

7.There has been a road crew on your street since before the Alamodome was built.

8.You're an expert with the brake pedal, but you have no idea what a blinker is.

9.You had breakfast tacos at Taco Cabana on Christmas morning.

10.You're elementary field trip was to the Butter Crust Bakery.

11. Your neighbors keeps Christmas ligts up all year round.

12. You think 100 is not too hot.

13. On Christmas Day the low is 68 and the high is 98.

Library Update

Apparently the library gods (or at least the kind librarian) felt that we needed some mercy. Since we are only about 2/3 unpacked, and it's highly likely that the book that we lost is in one of those boxes, we were given a pass on the fee. The book is currently "missing," and we will return it when we find it. So, if you happen to see our missing book when you are here, please, please just stick it in my purse and tell me that I need to take it back in! We don't want to mess with our library karma!

Max is officially 9!

Happy Birthday Dude!

A very ambitious squirrel

Apparently this squirrel was hungry! He found this dinner roll, absconded with it, and then ran for home (a tree across the parking lot). problem was, there was another squirrel and two crows tracking him. He eventually made it across the parking lot with a good chunk of his biscuit, but not before battling those evils birds for some bites!

ISTJ - Who knew!

Actually, I did. This simple online quiz is strikingly similar to the full Myers Briggs that I took in grad school. I'm loyal, dependable, and of course, offbeat. I'm also still a wee bit introverted, if you can believe that one! One site listed Darth Vader, George H. W. Bush, and Warren Buffet as similar personality types, but my guess is that none of those guys sat as squarely in the middle of all this as I do. Yeah, Darth Vader, he he he. And another site says that ISTJ is "Among the four highest in college GPA," and at the same time "One of two most overrepresented female types in a substance abuse program." Huh. Anyway, here I am (as of right now, today) if you are curious:

So what's your type?

Yes, we lost a library book.

All the angst and buildup that I had to call the librarian today, and I was told that the charge would be the book price plus $3. That means that the total charge for Max's lost library book is a whopping $8. Yes, %8. All the fear that those darn librarians instilled in me when I was a young 'en came rushing back - and the punishment for losing said book was less than what I pay to get my nails done. Shouldn't there be a much larger fine for my transgression? I assumed that since those librarians in school beat it into us that we weren't to lose our books that there would be a HUGE price to pay. But there's not. And life will now go in in the house that loves their books. After, of course, we pay or $8 at the library.

Take THAT Arlington!

We're moved!

After a very, very long month we are officially out of the old place and all into the new. More details when I get back in town, and I even promise pictures!

But for now you have to wait. I'm in the great state of Florida- land of sunshine and strip malls. Makes me very, very happy! I'm here with some friends and we hit the Craft and Hobby Association consumer show today. Can't believe how much cool scrapbook stuff is coming out!

Anyway, no more for now - it's late and I'm in need of some sleep.