Cover your windshield wipers lately?

I saw this recently:

Can anyone tell me WHY you'd want to cover your rear windshield wiper in plastic? Just curious.

Run, Max RUN!

This past Friday night Max participated in his very first track meet - a Hershey's Track meet. It was just about the coolest thing I've ever seen. I was having flashbacks to my own short lived HS track career (somewhere along the way I realized that I wasn't built for running, but that basketball suited me just fine). While Max and his relay team didn't win their events, they did a fantastic job and accomplished all the goals that they set out to accomplish. For the relay team (yes, a relay team made up of 8 and 9 year olds) their goal was not to drop the baton, and not to step out of their lanes. They not only did that, but all the members of the team ran the fastest they've ever run. Max nearly run down the kiddo in front of him, but in 100 meters, there wasn't quite enough time to catch him. Anyway, they got 2nd place in their heat! In Max's other running event, the 400, he started out really strong - in the end too strong to finish up that fast. But, he ran a very good looking race, and considering he'd only run the 400 about 6 times total before that evening, and he certainly saw that with a little more prep next year he really can fly!The long jump - the standing long jump - was a different story. that one needs some work. But considering he never really practiced this one, it was a fun thing to participate in.But, all in all he had a fantastic time, and we are super proud of him for running in his first track meet!

There's an app for that

For the past two years I have groaned and complained about my phone service and my cell phone. You see, I don't get reception in my house. At all. Ever. On a good day I'll get a bar - one bar - but not enough to get a decent signal. And then about six months ago my phone started failing. Failing as in I'm going to shut down now even though I'm halfway done with charging just to make Suzie mad kind of failing. I replaced the battery about a year into the new phone and expected it to last as long as the original, but it didn't really come close at all. The phone itself was causing problems too (missed calls, missed messages, dropped calls, wonky internet access when it worked at all, etc.), so you can understand why I was counting the days until the end of my contact. At 30 days before it ended I called up and was told that it would cost me $60 to cancel at that point, plus $60 to cancel Tom's phone too. That means I would have spent $120 just because I wasn't patient.

So finally the day arrived. It was sunny out and the kids had just finished up their soccer games. I dragged everyone to the lovey and beautiful (and very nice and helpful) phone place, and got myself one of these:

And now I'm in love. I know that I've forsaken my husband for other bloggers, for food, and even for electronics in the past, but this one wins hands down. I'm still trying to figure out the ins and outs of it, but it really is cool. Super duper cool. I feel like I'm finally catching up to the tech wave that we used to ride but now chase after, and finally I can use my phone in the comfort of my own living room. And yes, there really is an app for that. And that. And that too.

My Kids' Teachers ROCK!

I have to get up early tomorrow - very early, so what am I doing up at 12:15 AM????!!! Well, I am sharing with you WHY I am getting up early - I appreciate my kids' teachers - more than you could ever know. My kids are happy - at home AND at school. Three of my kids can read (the fourth is only 10 months so we'll give her a pass on this part). My kids can count, in English AND in Spanish. And to be honest they can count up pretty darn far! (Again a pass for the little squirt - we'll just excuse her from the rest of this...even though she loves the boys' teachers too!)

Anyway, there folks spend a good chunk of time with my kids for a decent part of the year, and the kids are clearly well adjusted (well, except for the random comments), and are clearly happy. So it is definitely my pleasure to do what I can to show my appreciation for these teachers (and the rest of the staff to be honest) by helping set them up with food. And thus year, it's LOTS of food. We did breakfasts four days last week, and are doing a luncheon tomorrow along with gift baskets. Parents have really stepped up and are supplying a bunch of food, and they too are showing their appreciation by feeding the staff. But not all of them volunteered to be up early and show their appreciation at 7:45 am. But I shouldn't complain - my hubby - my dear sweet, doesn't function in the AM hubby was up at school last Friday at 6:30 cooking pancakes for the staff...

So now I can go to sleep. My kids' teachers really do rock, and I don't mind losing a few winks to share that with you.

Happy Mother's Day!!! I plan on sleeping in (check - hey, 9am counts now!), eating a fully cooked by someone else and WARM breakfast (check - McD's hotcakes to the rescue!) and hanging out all day with the family (still to do!)! Hope that your Mom's Dad is as happy as mine is!

Ian questions - they kill me.

Ian: "Mommy, can you make any more babies?"
Yeah, he really did ask that.
"No Ian, but we can always adopt more."
And Tom didn't even blink an eye.
Man has four kids and now nothing phases him.

Happy Star Wars Day!

May the 4th be with you!

Did you know?

Here are 13 things I bet you didn't know about me:

1. I get physically uncomfortable when the TV volume is on an odd number.
2. I make my kids order their own food at restaurants - and have since they could talk.
3. I have FIVE holes in my ears, which has nothing to do with the volume of the TV, so the odd number doesn't make me uncomfortable.
4. I clip my toenails to relieve stress.
5. I used to get my hair cut to relieve stress, then I got a few bad cuts and that stressed me out more than it helped, so I stopped.
6. I don't cook. I actually avoid cooking as much as possible because I dislike it that much.
7. When I was in college I made my Dad fly my dead (and frozen, of course) guinea pig back home to Texas to be buried next to my collection of other dead animals.
8. I am a night owl - a real night owl. If the world operated from 11am until about midnight (instead of this silly 7am to 6 pm) I'd be a much happier camper.
9. I love watching cheerleaders compete and perform.
10. I am afraid of scary, scary movies. I don't see them because they give me nightmares. I'm even afraid of sort of scary movies. Still.
11. I dislike Elvis, John Wayne, and hot dogs.
12. My husband calls me un-American because of the last item.
13. I have never worn makeup, with the exception of my 7th grade year when I wore eyeliner. Thick heavy black eyeliner. Oh yeah, and my wedding. I did wear make up at my wedding.

The Worst Yard!

A friend of mine, Beth, is trying to get the DIY folks to help her yard out. She has entered her own sad looking yard in a contest for them to come out and fix it up. After massive flooding, a tornado, and finally a septic system that went haywire, her yard is a big old mess, and she is trying to get them to come out and rehab the yard for their show - America's Most Desperate Landscape. Take a minute to check out her very sad looking yard (and her cute dog) and then vote for her (and leave a comment if you like). Her hubby is now deployed and she's really got a black thumb as she puts it, so she needs all the help she can get! Go HERE for the video when you have few minutes - she'd really appreciate the support!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

This ain't your mamma's Transformers (that sounded way cooler when I said it in my head!). Anywhoo, I am SOOOO pumped about this one - especially after seeing the third trailer out yesterday:

Take a minute to smell the flowers

Gotta love this one.

Thanks to Dan for this fantastic photo. For more, check out his Lego a Day For One Year Blog.

And we're trying to discourage childhood obesity?

Why don't you just scoop me out a bunch of those cheese balls...

Knock knock. Really, knock knock.

It's not bad enough that it's a Knock Knock joke, or that it's one of the two Knock Knock jokes that I actually know, or that the voices are Australian, or even that the critters are overly cute, but it's the combination of it all that struck me as funny. Watch my movie - it's only 18 seconds long - and then go make your own and see if the utter lack of creativity demon strikes you as you sit down to write the script:

Now go and write your own movie and use these cute little critters to cuss up a storm. I mean...to express themselves without profanity (that's really all that I could think of besides this inane joke, but I certainly didn't want to put that on my blog...well not until the kids are a bit older.).

Peeps Gone Bad

This is wrong in more ways than I can even imagine:

It's filed under "B"

Huh? Isn't it Quantum, with a "Q"? Go Blockbuster.

This is mine...

This beautiful Takamine guitar has been mine for the past 12 years:


And now, after eight weeks of lessons, I can finally play it. Now if I can just get my slightly uncoordinated fingers in shape...

All you really need is one

Nintendo DS - a great invention? YOU BETCHA!!!

How else can you get five boys to sit still for ten minutes?

Apparently all you really need is one.

Jesus...again.

On Easter Sunday Sam and his brothers opened up a new little radio that came with a shirt (that's a whole other story that I'll explain in a few days). He pops into my room when he hears me waking up and says

"Mommy - I just listened to a story about Jesus. I listened to the WHOLE THING. It was ALL ABOUT JESUS! It was FIVE minutes long too! I heard the WHOLE THING mommy!"

Yeeeaaaaah. We've talked about this before, but he's never really been old enough to sit and listen to a whole story about Jesus. Who knows what they were talking about, but he certainly did seem to enjoy the story. Guess the Easter season brings out all kinds of questions. Ian wants to buy a cross to wear around his neck (he digs the necklaces right now), Sam is listening to religious programming on the radio, and Max is asking all about being Jewish (he has friend who is Jewish). And this from a bunch of kids raised in a non-religious home. So, 'tis the season!

Patience

I think I'm in LOVE!

Well, don't tell Tom (yeah, he'll figure it out when her reads this though), but I think I'm in love with another. I have found a blogger that makes me smile - really smile:



Bakerella makes the most beautiful things:
And who can resist this cute little cupcake. Not me - that's for sure! She also makes every kind of baking thing on the planet that you can imagine! It's a beautiful blog, so go over and take a peek! And Tom, well, I'm not leaving you, but I might just have to get an over that holds it's temp a little better so that I can try out some of her really cool recipes!

Oh, and HAPPY EASTER too!

Falling off a log

Ian took his first tap class where he was one of the youngest, and he LOVED it! He managed to not only follow the teacher's instructions, but also master several steps. This kid can do a Jazz Square better than some adults I know, and as seen above, the Falling Off a Log without hitting the floor!

Tofu.Yes, Tofu.

Woman's tofu license plate curdles in Colo.
Wed Apr 8, 9:22 pm ET
DENVER – One Colorado woman's love for tofu has been judged X-rated by state officials. Kelly Coffman-Lee wanted to tell the world about her fondness for bean curd by picking certain letters for her SUV's license plate. Her suggestion for the plate: "ILVTOFU." But the Division of Motor Vehicles blocked her plan because they thought the combination of letters could be interpreted as profane.
Says Department of Revenue spokesman Mark Couch: "We don't allow 'FU' because some people could read that as street language for sex."
Officials meet periodically to ensure state plates stay free of letters that abbreviate gang slang, drug terms or obscene phrases.
The 38-year-old Coffman-Lee says tofu is a staple of her family's diet because they are vegan and that the DMV misinterpreted her message.


From: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090409/ap_on_fe_st/odd_tofu_snafu_5

Yeah, right. Tofu.

Cherry Blossom Festival

Here's what we saw during our trip to the Cherry Blossom Festival this past weekend:

Lots and lots of porta-pots:

Cool, cool kids:

And of course Cherry Blossoms:

Here's what we did:

We sat (for hand massages too!):

We posed:

We visited:

And we piled:

All in all a successful outing!

Maddie...

Today I spent the day with my four kids and some friends at the zoo. Sadly, one of my fellow bloggers was not able to spend the day with her precious daughter. Madeline Alice Spohr passed away yesterday, and she was only one and a half years old. So as I sit here listening to the quiet in my own home I am grieving for the parents of this beautiful little girl. She was definitely loved and she will be missed. I hope, Heather and Mike, that you can find some peace knowing how much she is still loved.

*Her parents are asking that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the March of Dimes in Maddie's name. Here's the link to her page if you would like to make a donation.

WE HAVE TEETH!!!

Two to be exact*:

*They popped up a few days ago but it was just this past weekend that I was able to grab a picture.

Daddy's worst fear has come to fruition!

Well, maybe not his worst - that probably has something to do with driving or eloping - but Daddy goes out of town and Lucy does something cool:

So there you go Daddy! Life on the changing table just became MUCH more complicated!

Lucy also decided that she would begin to scoot around - apparently sitting in one spot just wanted fun anymore... Once she figured out how to swing around she was off and running. She made it from here:

to here:

in a matter of minutes. Guess it's time to get those gates up!

Late Night Dinner Run

They are all camped out afte a slightly later than normal dinner

run. But you'll notice Miss Lucy is still wide awake wondering

what happened to all of her brothers!

Love my Magic Eraser

I've talked before about how special my Magic Eraser is (and if you haven't heard me say it out loud, I LOVE MY MAGIC ERASER - IT GETS EVERYTHING OFF!!!). The other night I used it in an off label use way, and survived to tell the tale. What are you supposed to do when you get primer all over your skin, and your newly manicured nails? When I say all over, I mean all over. It was in every crack and crevice on my hands (not to mention loads on my old jeans!). I had paint in places that haven't seen the light for years (on my hands). Anyway, after washing my hands three times in warm water, twice using soap, once just scrubbing with my fingers or nails, I was quite unsuccessful at removing a majority of the paint. So, I took the Magic Eraser into the shower with me and gently scrubbed the nails and skin and easily removed the paint - all of it. So to the folks who's kid supposedly burned themselves with a Magic Eraser, well, anyone who scrubs that hard with anything will get an abrasion - old or young. Anyway, it's been disproven, debunked, whatever, and that night I did my due diligence and used my Magic Eraser to removed paint from all over my hands.

Now I lay me down to sleep...on the cat.

And Bunsen doesn't even move a muscle. He loves this baby just like he loved the first three...

April Fools???!!!

"Today Sam came to school with poop on his shoe. He told me the story about the neighborhood dog and playing with a ball in the mud yesterday." -Sam's Teacher

April Fools, right?

No, unfortunately not. Bleh! Nasty gross, but she got it wiped off as much as she could at school, but oh what timing!

Happy April Fools - hope no one got you!

Bueno Sol!

Ever wonder what a bunch of kindergartners (plus a few older kids) sound like when singing songs about the sun? Well, here you go! Sam is off to the right in a blue sweatshirt, and Ian, and enthusiastic as he could be with his signs still can't quite be seen - but he's plopped right behind a kid in the middle of the stage. Both classes learned a few songs and performed then at the Fiesta del Sol at their school! Enjoy!

Kid #2 with Glasses!

Unfortunately for the kids, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. At barely six years old, Ian is the proud owner of a brand spanking new pair of glasses. Funny thing the way genetics works - he looks just like Max with his glasses on. He's a handsome dude regardless, but with his glasses Sam said that he looks like a science teacher. He he he...

Old Men - LEAVE ME ALONE

Oh, I hope you weren't coming here looking for something sordid, because that's certainly not where this is headed. But I do need to take a minute to apologize in advance to all those nice old men who AREN'T attempting to micomanage my life this week. You guys are great - smiles, frowns, whatever, as long as you aren't telling me what to do - we are kosher.

So not once but TWICE this week I've had an old man tell me what to do. The first time it was a grocery cart in the store. I had all the kids with me and we were getting muffins. You know, the big giant muffins that have those great tops on them that you just rip off and devour? Well, my family eats them like they are going out of style. So there we were, standing next to the muffins. At our grocery store they have the muffins displayed behind clear plastic doors - so you need to open the doors to get your muffins. And when we pick out muffins, we stand back from the muffins so we can see them all, and each kid tells me what kid to get as I grab them. But before we are grabbing our muffins we park against the freezer opposite the muffins so as not to block traffic (four kids and you do end up blocking traffic occasionally, so we do our best not to when we can). The little boys were debating which muffins were which and so we were all five standing there (Lucy in the cart) and basically minding our own business. So this old man come up behind us and and says to me "Are you really going to stand there in the passing lane?" Looking around to make sure that he's talking to me and not someone else, realizing the slight insanity of his statement - a passing lane in a grocery store aisle???!!!, and attempting not to just laugh at this guy in front of the kids, I simply said "Yes. We are going to stand here." He grumped at me and continued on past me in the NON-PASSING LANE, or whatever the heck you call the other half of the grocery aisle. That was my first micromanaging old man.

Today I ran across my second old micromanaging man - he was telling me how to drive. This time I was in the van, and it was barely drizzling. You know on the road (at a stoplight) when someone signals to roll down the window? Well, in my experience it's either because you've left the coffee cup or briefcase on the roof, or they are lost and need directions. Since I can't really reach the roof of the van, and I was minutes away from home I figured that I would easily be able to help this old guy get to where he was going. So I roll down the window and he says to me "It's illegal to drive without lights AND wipers on in the rain." HUH? After seeing that I'm a bit confused, and noticing that I had my wipers on, he yells at me "It's against the law to drive without lights on - and your van is NOT visible from the rear." "Uhm, OK thanks." I say, still not sure what just happened. It was drizzling out lightly and I did have my wipers on. But why on earth did he pick me, and why couldn't he have said that I should turn my lights on so I don't get a ticket or that if you have your wipers on VA requires that you have your lights on, or NOTHING AT ALL? If he was trying to warn me he could have done that so much more easily (and I would have caught on much quicker). But no, he basically accused me of a criminal act - an INTENTIONAL criminal act at that, and then drove off on his not so merry way. And did he stop at the next light, roll his window down and tell the driver in front of me to turn their lights on? No, he didn't. And he didn't seem to care about the other 11 drivers around me (I counted) that DIDN'T have their lights on. And who knows how many didn't have the lights and/or wipers on! His head must have exploded right then and there with all those non-compliant drivers.

And before you go and scold me for being mean to old men who are trying to be nice - it wasn't just what they were trying to do, but it was also the way in which they said it. Old men gets lots of leeway in my world - they are generally the folks that you look to for all kinds of cool stuff. I grew up with some very cool Grandpas, and in my mind old men are fantastic and great to have around. But when they tell me to turn my lights on or move my cart, BACK OFF BUDDY.

You are going to drive me nuts - and trust me - that's not something you ever really want to see. And you know what? Tomorrow I'm going to drive in the rain without my lights on, and I'm going to park my cart in the passing lane at the grocery store just for you two.

Polite Dinner Conversation? Nah...

In our house we rarely have polite dinner conversation. It usually revolves around things that any polite person wouldn't dare share at the table. Then again it was always three little boys. Now they spend their time split between the potty humor, and making their sister laugh:

"Gimme that Fish"

This commercial always cracks me right up:

And I'm not really sure why.

Total Self Indulgence

Everyone has their vices, and this one is mine:

For years Baskin Robbins has brought out my favorite ice cream flavor in the summer, but the rest of the year it was nowhere to be found. But now, much to my delight, I can find my favorite flavor in the aisle of my local grocery store. And the bubble gum pieces are just soft enough that you can eat them, but not the right consistency to actually chew them as gum. Just perfect. And mine - all mine.

If I were to leave

This is one of those weird little things that you never really think about. What happens to your online "life" after you die? I recently suffered a "loss of my family" as it were - the scrapbook company that I've worked for for the past four years went under, and our online message board was going dark hours after the announcement was made that they were shuttering the company. A plea went out to the higher ups, and fortunately they heard our call. They left the forums open for several more days (instead of five hours or so) and we were able to connect again elsewhere - where we could exchange offline contact info.

So what happens when you just up and disappear from your online life? Do your online friends hunt you up, or do they have a way of contacting you? For the most part mine don't. When I leave I left folks know, and when I return they welcome me back. But if I were to leave suddenly that would be it - I would just disappear into thin air. There would be no more online Suzie, and no way for folks to contact me. I would simply vanish. My husband doesn't know all of my passwords, but I'm sure he can figure a few out. But the bigger question is can he find out where I've been online - can he hunt up those sites that I regularly post at / participate in to let them know that I'm no longer going to? My mom had the benefit of knowing that she was going to pass away in advance of her actual death, so she let her online friends know and they all said their good-byes before she left. But aside from sharing your login info with a trusted friend, or registering for one of those sites that send out a message upon your death / when you haven't checked in / if you were to really disappear, how would your online world know that something happened to you?

"MOM!!!!! Sam said the P WORD!!!!!"

Good lord. I get this all the time now - really - all day - every day. They are testing boundaries big time. They complain about The P word, but also the S word, the D word and now the middle finger. Yes, the middle finger. But first let's talk about the P word. "Pee" - you know, the stuff that your body doesn't need - the pee that goes into the potty? Yes, for some reason my kids think that it's a bad word. So, today we talked about the difference between impolite words - pee, poop, etc. - and words that I never want to hear from their mouths. After briefly explaining the difference and getting some acknowledgement that they were not only listening but that they understood, Max says "So I saw in the dictionary - at least I think it was a dictionary. You know the one where it has the words with the same meanings?" "You mean a thesaurus?" "Yes, so it was right next to the word for donkey. And it starts with an A." "Well, Max, the only time I want to hear that it when we're at the zoo and a grown up is saying it. But never from you - coming out of your mouth - that's a bad word." We are supposed to hit up the zoo over Spring Break, and you wanna take bets on whether or not he tells his brothers what that word is?

Sigh...I'll tell you about the middle finger another day.

WAAAAY back in the 90's...

...I graduated from high school - 1990 to be exact. It was the year of big hair, cool music, Seindfeld, the Simpsons, NC-17, the Hubble, GoodFellas, $.025 stamps, and the end of Jim Henson, master of all things Muppets. It was also:



And now, we are approaching my 20 year reunion - the planning has begun. Weird. Twenty years out of high school. Does this mean I'm officially a grown up?

Let's Blow Someone Up

If you live in the Washington DC area you know how bad traffic can get. One of the ways that officials here have decide to ease those painful commutes is to create High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes. Over the next bazillion years they will be tearing up and moving/replacing/reconfiguring roads, bridges and overpasses, and ramps. They are also removing tress, shrubs, and other vegetation, but that's another story.


We were driving home from the bus stop - across one of these bridges that is now under construction (our bus stop is outside the beltway and we live inside the beltway). Ian, one of my 6 year olds, asked why they were doing construction. I explained about the new roads to ease traffic, the idea of the toll lanes, and explained how many folks you had to have in your car to not have to pay on those lanes. He piped up and said "What if you blow someone up in the car?" At first I thought he meant that he would blow folks up - you know - make them explode, and this concerned me greatly. So hoping that he meant something else completely I asked him - did you mean blow them up like a balloon? "Yes, if you had a blow up person then you could ride in the lanes for free." Ahhh..yeah. We immediately went on to discuss the ramifications of breaking the law and what not, but I really thought it was funny that at six years old he is already trying to find ways to break the rules...sigh...

No. He. Didn't.

"Can I take off my shirt and be dirty?"

No, this didn't come out of Tom's mouth (I know - shocking isn't it!). It came from...

wait for it...

Ian.

Yes, my six year old. And I have no idea what he meant. I didn't ask, and after I stopped laughing I told him no. As did his dad. And no - he wasn't allowed to take off his shirt and be dirty either if you were wondering.

Sad News

For a few years now I've been following the blog of a woman who was married to a man who has fought brain cancer for the past 12 years. Yesterday he lost that battle and left behind his wife, two young boys, plus loads of good memories. She took a few minutes to reach out to me when I wrote about the anniversary of my mom's death, so please take a minute to read some of their story here. And if you have some spare change lying around, click on the image below to contribute to the boys' college fund and help support Angie as she goes through this.

Teaching your little sister how to make zerberts

And about 20 seconds in all the boys' hard work comes to fruition:

How to make your sister laugh

Maniacal laughing from Sam apparently does the trick:

Little Miss Pigtails

Check out Little Miss Pigtails! She is sitting up, looks absolutely adorable, and even comes after the camera (then laughs as I almost drop it)! Smart kid - goes right for the electronics!

Ian the Soccer Monster

Indoor soccer is so very cool, and Ian is ROCKING it this year! He was all over the court and he loves every minute of it. He's all about defense in outdoor soccer, but he's really turned it up indoors and he has scored a few goals in these games! He's here in the green striped shirt - watch him take out their goalie who is a whole head taller than he is (I promise no opposing goalies were harmed in the filming of this video):

My new PINK website!

Well, the scrapbook company that I've been with for four years now has gone under (as have a bunch of others in these tough economic times). So, i took this as an opportunity to create a new, fresh website that's ALL ME! There are no longer any branding requirements, no rules or regulations on what content I have on there (or don't have on there), so I ran with it! Right now I'm in transition, so this is just a page that mainly has contact info, and it will be updated as I decide how to move forward, but here it is: ScrappersEdge

Take a peek and tell me if you like th style - it's all me!

It's the BLOB - and it's taking over my car!

Not really the blob - but it did take over my car! We got the boys three bright red bean bags, but we also had a van full of strollers, car seats, and family members, so the only place to PUT said bean bags was on top of our eldest! And you can see from the picture that he was suffering greatly:

And now the boys can sit/drape/plop/relax/lean/flop on the bean bags instead of the floor. But we did have to institute Bean Bag Rules:

1. No hitting your brother over the head with the bean bag.
2. No throwing the bean bag.
3. No smothering your brother with the bean bag.
4. No kicking the bean bag.

Otherwise, they are free to bean bag!

Baby Girl Hat Hair

Take one baby, add lots of curly hair, a cute winter hat, then take it off. What you end up with is this:

One happy little girl!

Lucy's Snow Angel

Go Charlie Brown!

Known around these parts as Sam, Sam, the Football Man:>

SNOW!!!!

IT SNOWED...and snowed...and snowed...and snowed...

Over the course of two days it snowed between 6-8 inches. All in our yard, of course. Seems like the rest of the world just fell off and disappeared. I love that feeling - it was beautiful, quiet, bright, and cold. And I was so excited that when I dragged out of bed that morning at 6:45 I couldn't go back to sleep. I took pictures, watched the trees bend under the weight, watched the plows run by, watched the snow fall silently on the landscape, and most of all just took it all in. There's something so peaceful about snow, and this is the most I've ever seen all in one spot as far as I can remember. I'm sure that at some point in my life I've seen more - as a kid visiting NY I did - but this was light-years cooler than any snow I've seen as a grownup. I just couldn't wait to take it all in. And neither could the kids:

The Great Stroller Chase

Right before Lucy joined our family, we received a lightweight stroller from a friend for free, and we were very thankful. I also have coveted one of those cool Jeep Strollers that has the steering wheel on it since when the little boys were born, but because there were two of them it just wasn't possible. So, I hunted one up on Craigslist and we were good to go - or so I thought. I have been using the big heavy Jeep stroller (it's almost a jogger but not really) because the strap on the lightweight stroller was so hard to undo that Tom wasn't able to get it unhooked. So he took a file to it and fixed that problem, and all was well again. But the first time I used it I ran into walls, took corners so badly the police came after me (and we were INSIDE the elementary school), and poor Lucy was jarred around so much that she even protested the stroller too. Seems that the way it was built was not conducive to a smooth ride, or even a slightly unbumpy ride - and that's on a flat surface like linoleum.

So our free stroller suddenly is a little less attractive (well, a LOT less for me but still holds something in Tom's mind - the free part is still there), and we are not on the hunt for a replacement stroller. But I can't just go out and BUY a new stroller - not after this score on the Jeep ($50 for a $120 stroller) and getting this little one for free. Oh, no, that's not true. I found the stroller I want, and I found it for a reasonable price (don't read that as good - it's just not free), and I'm getting it. But I still feel slightly guilty about the whole free stroller thing, so I'm going to pass it along, as it was passed along to me - for no cost. Maybe someone who isn't as picky as me will make good use of it. There's nothing wrong with the stroller itself - lots of folks have them, but I'm just a picky stroller mom I guess. So, I'm sending this stroller on to a better home. And over the next few days I need to decide if I want to pay $10 more for the cute animal print that is less likely to show dirt, or just to take one for the team and get the plain green and black version that I'm not particularly fond of (but costs $10 less). Sigh...big life decisions...

Drawing the parenting line

Do you catch yourself parenting other parent's kids? Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you are the only responsible adult in the area and feel an overwhelming need to correct another child? Well, I was. TWICE this past week, and a few assorted times over the past month (all at the same place). the first was when a little boy, maybe one or two, came up to my 7 month old and visited with her. Then he touched her shoe - cute with butterflies and all so I said "Those are butterflies," looked up and continued watching the soccer game. Ian and Sam were mid-game and I wanted to watch. Most kids get that message - after the grown up finishes polite time they wander off. But this kid chose instead to kick my daughter in the foot - an attempt to knock those butterflies off, perhaps, or an attempt to get my attention once again. I assume that the mom or dad of this critter would come over and apologize, but no. So I said "We don't kick babies. Do not kick my baby again." Not sure if he understood or even spoke English, but he got the message that the mommy of the baby wasn't happy and wandered off. Then a few minutes later a man came around with little critter in hand asking if I was his parent or if I knew where his parents were. Nice. Not even watching your 1-2 year old in a big huge indoor soccer facility. He was eventually returned to his folks and all was well. But it was my turn to parent him - no kicking babies.

The second incident was at the grocery store as I was walking out. There was a three year old little man climbing up the wall of water bottles at the front of the store as his mom was checking out. I had to walk past him to get out so I simple said to him "That's not a good idea." It wasn't loud, and it wasn't anything offensive, but ho chose to ignore me, freaked his mom right the heck out, and had the cashier walk away from her open cash drawer to make sure that he didn't hit the floor. In the span of the three or so seconds after I walked away, he climbed part way down and then all the way up. Seems that he did kind of listen and waited until I turned my head, then chose to head back on up because I was walking away. Should I have told the mom - she was about 8 feet away and I assume that she was paying attention to her kid, but no. I had to tell him - don't climb the big stack of water bottles.

The third incident that happened on and off over the past few weeks. One of the three year olds at the boys' gymnastics place has finally figured out how to open the door that leads out to the parking lot - all thanks to his six (or so) year old sister. She took the time one day to show him how to open the door, which was a very nice, thoughtful thing to do. The mom was right there when she did it and even complimented her on how nice she was being. Since then I have found one or both of them out in the parking lot of this gym about three times. Sometimes it's the little man all by himself, proud that he made it out there. Sometimes it's both of them standing or wandering around, the mom nowhere to be seen. So this time it's me telling the mom "I found your kids out int eh parking lot again." While she looks displeased, I'm not sure that she's taken any steps towards correcting this. The last time I saw the older sister outside I told her that she was not allowed outside without her mom, and that since she's older she needs to not let her brother out as well. She looked surprised by this info as if the mom never really mentioned to them that parking lots were dangerous. So it was my job to tell her - don't play in the parking lot.

At what point is it NOT my job to parent other people's kids? These were all safety related incidents, but I'm completely hands off on the politeness rules - that is unless I know you - then I demand it from you. None of these parents have gotten mad but it has happened in the past and at some point people need to stop being offended about other parents correcting their children - if someone sees my kids doing something unsafe I'd expect them to speak up. But I guess not everyone takes that approach. Oh, well, I was beginning to think that it did take a village, but apparently it's only a few folks in the village who need to be concerned - everyone else is on vacation.