Love these boys

They even share their Italian Ices with their little sister:

(And she LOVES those Italian Ices!)

Hook 'Em Horns!

The day my world got smaller

It's an interesting day today. Not getting the paper and no longer watching the daily or nightly news I was only slightly aware of the date today. And this meant that I was completely unaware of the date's importance. I realized a short while ago that it was 9/11. And this only after reading the article about the Coast Guard storming down the Potomac and creating a stir in the DC area. In past years I've marked this day mostly by myself. Max was a wee one, and Ian and Sam weren't even born yet, so they can't really appreciate the sacrifices that were made by some that terrible day. nor do they really understand the implications of what happened. We drive past the Pentagon regularly, and we often talk about what happened there, but it isn't real to them.

To me it is still pretty frightening. Back in 2001 we didn't live in the DC area. We were solidly in Central Texas. Tom worked at UT Austin and I was a stay at home mom. But Tom travelled - to DC - pretty regularly. He was scheduled to fly to DC that very afternoon - 9/11. His boss was in the air when the terrorists struck and it took several hours for folks to hunt him up, and it took him a few days to get back home. I turned the TV on and saw the plane hit the tower - live - and I was completely beside myself. The I saw the towers fall, and my world got smaller. Tom was standing beside me safe and sound, but for me it instilled in me a fear of vulnerability. We have grown up in a country that is and has been basically free of war. War is something that happens elsewhere - not on our soil. Even though I grew up in the middle of a city with SEVEN military bases, I was never really struck by the idea that there were people dying for our country. It just wasn't real to me - even on Sept 10, 2001 it wasn't real. The hurricanes that hit South Texas, now those were scary. But terrorists? Not so much.

But early that morning my idea of safe came to a screeching halt. I suddenly felt vulnerable. I watched with terror as some unknown entity took control of these massive airplanes full of folks that I could have know, and turned them towards buildings full of people, some of whom I also might have known. I was gasping for an logic in this - but there was none. We were attacked by terrorists in our own front yard, and the world got a bit smaller for me. It wasn't me watching images of massacres in other countries. It wasn't me reading about genocide in a place that was thousands of miles away. It was me watching some people that hated us so much that they were determined to kill as many of us at home as possible. The fear that surfaced in me was a complete surprise. Later I would be able to process what had just happened, but at that exact moment I grabbed my one year old and held him tightly. I hunted up my husband, who was packing his bag to catch a plane to DC, and I begged him not only to no get on the plane, but also not to go to work. I was utterly freaked out. Tom held me close and of course, didn't go anywhere. It took me several weeks to even begin to process what had happened. Some people, especially those in the military and law enforcement, have a better grasp on the world outside their doors. I did not.

I'm finally in a place where looking back isn't so scary, and there's no daily fear that something terrible will happen. I carried that around with me for a very long time. I was nervous every time Tom got on a plane, which he did shortly after they opened up the skies again, and I waited for him to walk in the door every single time he flew. I couldn't imagine anything like that happening again, but I could never have imagined it happening in the first place.

So, thank you to all the men and women who gave their lives in 9/11. I hope that everyone who lost someone in 9/11 has been able to find some peace in their passing. Thank you to all of the thousands of people who stepped up to help after 9/11 in all kinds of capacities all over the country, and all over the world. And I hope that we never do forget what happened that day, but along with the tragedies, I want to remember the weeks and months after - the generosity, caring, and compassion that we saw from people from all walks of life.

Well, what did you expect would happen if you tossed it all out?

Lucy Style

Turning 37

So I completely glossed over the fact that I had a birthday and I turned one year older. But, in an attempt to age gracefully rather than fight it, I guess it's best to show you my cake and candles IN ALL THEIR BLAZING GLORY. Thanks dear, and thanks to you too Charity - I know you had to help Tom count candles...
And yes, Lucy does look a little worried there. She should be - do you SEE how many candles they put on there???!!!

Meeting the teachers

It's an annual ritual that we've jumped right into again this year. We met the boys' teachers today, and as it turns out two were married / changed their names over the summer so we know them already, one was new, and the last one we already knew. It's a good crop of teachers, and what's even more exciting is that it looks like it's a good crop of kids as well in all the classes. And that's a feat coming from a school that has tons of different class set ups. This year all three boys are in Spanish Immersion classes that are fanning out. This means that out of their English class (where they do reading, social studies, and something else I can't remember at the moment) seven kids go to their Spanish class. Then an additional seven kids come from another English class, and so on until the Spanish class is formed. (They do science and math in their Spanish class.) Anyway, looks like a banner year, and even after my big miscue, which will end up making more work for me, we're off to a good start. We actually don't start school until next Tuesday, but in my mind we are already there!

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.

Mobile Blogging

Well, not quite sure where the hang up is, but I've finally figured out how to post from my phone and the pictures aren't coming through. I'll get this figured out soon though. I still feel as if I'm being dragged kicking and screaming into a tech age that I know very little about. Anyway, cute pics soon enough.

Hiiiiiii!!!!!

How one occupies oneself while the rest of the family lugs boxes.

Reason #8539 not to let your kids wear your clothes

Nasty, isn't it? And it's been washed even.

Apologies, apologies

Sorry. Forgot to tell some folks that we were moving. Actually we still are moving and will be for another week or so. So, for now just listen closely and you'll hear the hold music for my blog. Seems that it is a bit harder to post when you are sleeping at one house and the Internet is at the other. Anyway, bigger house, lots of land, closer to school and work, and so far only minor moving itchies for everyone. More to come soon, I promise!

What a fantastic kitchen

O.K. So when you move, you discover things about yourself, your spouse, and anyone else living in your house. You know - you're digging through clothes, drawers, medicines, and who knows what else as you pack it up to move. Well, the thing that I discovered this evening is that we are fantastic cooks, or at least we appear to anyone looking through our stuff to be. Let me explain why this is a new discovery. You'll recall, I catch things on fire. I mean, when I cook I literally catch things on fire. I have no real desire to cook, nor do I feed my family in the traditional way. But we have a kitchen that is outfitted with all kinds of good cooking things. We have a load of fresh spices, several sets of good knives, and a ton of quality bakeware and pots and pans. While packing up the pantry where we keep extras out in the garage (cans and what not) I discovered that we also had all the good canned ingredients for the bases of many, many recipes - chicken broth, tomatoes of various kinds, all sorts of fruits to add flavor, and a whole host of other things that I have no idea how to use. When I see a can of pears, I open them up and eat them. I don't add them to a recipe. When I see ground up, pasty, or other types of canned tomatoes, I leave them alone (they've not lived a good life thus far but there's nothing more I can do for them).

So I guess that brings me back to the original point - I am not a cook, nor do I profess to be one. But apparently my kitchen speaks volumes to the contrary. While I can't make you dinner (at least not one using any ingredients found in our pantry), I can solve this little mystery for you. My father in law pops in periodically to visit, and he's a good cook. He's been stocking up my kitchen for years now - from utensils to nice pots and pans. So, even those days where I am attempting to burn my water, I am doing so in a decent pan.

New House Stuff

If you don't already know, we are currently mid-move. Crazy as it may seem, we are moving ourselves. But, so far, so good. Just a few minor run of the mill moving bugs along the way, but otherwise we're rolling along. One of the things about moving into someone else's house is that you never know what you might find:

For instance, I found this UGLY picture of my husband holding a lovely cornice. Well, actually the cornice is ugly and Tom's face, well, it's Tom's face (not so ugly!). More house pics to come as we take them - I promise!

Why WHY Wii?

Why on earth would they do THIS to a pregnant woman*? Come on now - diapers, baby clothes and a Wii? Yeah, nice. *Just wanted to add that we were in the baby store getting bottle liners - hard to find bottle liners - and I am NOT pregnant. Let the breathing resume.

Scary hair

This is what happens when you give a blow dryer to an

eight year old in desperate need of haircut:

Thankfully he got that haircut shortly after this picture was taken.

So MJ has passed away

If you have been anywhere near a phone, newspaper, or any other people over the past week you know that it was a rough week for the entertainment industry. For the older generation, we lost Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett. She was just before my time really, but she was definitely an icon I grew up with. I guess after Charlie's Angels she fell off my radar, but apparently she stayed on Tom's as he was a bit more concerned about her than the other death of the week - Michael Jackson. I wrote a piece for DC Metro Moms a few minutes after I heard about his death - the feelings were weird considering I don't' listen actively to his music, nor do I don the "Glove" that I coveted all those years ago. And it has been years. But I was sad at the loss - I really do consider him a genius. Anyway, take a peek HERE at my response to hearing that he had passed away.

What a week.

How to sneak up on a bunny

Tap tap everywhere!

Ian is our tap master, but this session his brothers and some friends are both joining him for tap class:



Not only are the boys excited, but the instructor is excited to have so many boys in her class. There are five boys and two girls. And Ian is the veteran in the class - he's been tapping for 10 weeks!

Bright Eyes

This is why Tom thinks he's in trouble:

I mean, who can say "No" to her.

Ponies? Sure! Cars? Absolutely!

Yeah, he's sunk.

Math worksheets anyone?

My kids, in the midst of summer break, have asked for some math worksheets. They have spent their days playing Pokemon, Bakugon, getting muddy, and inhaling various books (they are already halfway done with their summer reading lists for the library challenge!), yet they want more. About this time every year they have asked for some math workbooks, and up until last year I went out and hunted down the appropriate workbooks for each of them - at a great cost. Those cool workbooks don't come cheap. So I went online last summer and found a glorious, glorious site where you can print your own worksheets - and TONS of them. They break it out by grade, then by skill. It is certainly something to look into if you have kids of any age - it goes all the way up through elementary school, but then also has generate your own pages, equation editors, fraction calculators as well as separate sections for learning rounding and factoring. Simply the coolest math site that you'll see for elementary school aged kids. And best of all - it's FREE! So, when your kids holler that they are bored or want something quiet to sit down and do, check out: http://www.homeschoolmath.net/worksheets/

(And no - I'm not getting any kickbacks for this - I just wanted to share a very cool site with you! If it were a trip to the Bahamas, then maybe kickbacks would be good, but I'm not so much into doing product reviews for anything other than sharing with my friends!)

All summer, yep, all summer.

So somehow here I've signed up to hang around with four FOUR kids all summer. So far we've had fighting, yelling, stealing from each other, pouting, and loads of fun. Yes, absolute fun. The kids will eventually settle into the routine of summer and will get past all of the fighting and bickering, but for these first few weeks it's all about them getting into the swing of the summer routine. First off we need them to sleep in a bit. Staying up late doesn't help - that just makes them more cranky - and we don't want that. They are still getting up at about 6:30, and since we don't have to be anywhere at any particular time, that's way too early in my book. Also, they need to change up their diet a bit. They've been eating packaged lunch items for the duration of the school year because they take their lunches every day, and I'm hoping that we don't have to buy as much of those during the summer. (and heaven forbid they eat something healthy for once!) They also need to chill out and quiet down a bit as they are freaking their sister out at times. She's not used to having them home all the time, and they are definitely LOUD. So, if we can tackle those three things we're set for the summer. Until then it's a lot of me moderating, shushing, and sending them outside to get out their energy. But hey, it's the summer and I can sleep in...sort of.

OUCH! Awww...crap.

A few months ago I mentioned to my dentist that one of my molars ached a bit, but just occasionally. Nothing serious that was really bothering me, but since I mentioned it she took an x-ray and saw that a tiny edge of my crown (one of many crowns that I have) was a teeny bit loose. She said that it probably needed to be replaced. I took this as advice to keep tabs on it, but not that it needed to be taken care of immediately. That was four months ago. Well, this past weekend it not only acted up a bit, but it was really throbbing and aching a lot. I waited until Monday morning (this morning) to call and schedule an appointment, and I assumed that I would go in and she'd tell me that the crown needs to be replaced. Well, she not only said that, but she also said that the root was in bad shape and I needed a root canal. The only good news is that she said that this procedure would alleviate the pain, and at this point that's all I care about. So, about 10:30am tomorrow, think of me, smiling (happy gas), pain free (root canal), and relaxed (as much as one can be sitting in a dental chair). Hopefully this will be the last, but with as much dental work as I've had done over the years, I'm not holding my breath.

Blogcation

You've heard of vacations, even staycations, but have you ever heard of a blogcation? Well, I've been on one, so if you read my blog regularly you know that I've been MIA for a few (well, 10 actually) days. Anyway, those days weren't filled with naps and bons bons, but school activities, trips into DC, and family fun (Loads of family fun!). We also started tap classes, had a gymnastics show, participated in field day, finished up soccer, graduated into new grades, lost a cat, found a cat, and had eye exams (threw that one in more for the flow of the paragraph - but our eyes are in good shape if you really want to know!). So, I'll leave you with a few last day of school pictures, and will share more in the upcoming days!

Sam and Sra. Cordero

Max and Ms. Hall


Max and Sra. Wedekind

Ian and Sra. Wydeven

No more smack talking about the school phone calls - I promise

So here I was, a mere two days ago, bragging on the fact that the call I got from school, from the school clinic no less, was NOT that my kid was throwing up. Well, today I got that call. And it was so much worse than just throwing up. It was scrapes, throwing up, fainting, head bonks, and a low grade fever. Yikes. The caller said fainting, so I grabbed the girl and my lunch and motored in to school. Yeah, hadn't quite finished lunch before the call, and who knows when I would eat again. I got to school and Sam was still in the clinic, looking not so Sam colored. Sam was all scraped up after hitting the blacktop, and he was almost completely conked out after vomiting, then passing out in the clinic. And no, there was no clinic aide there today. Anyway, after a quick trip home, a brief nap, and a trip to the doctor, we learned that Sam has the same affliction that plagues his daddy - he passes out at inopportune times. For Tom it's when he's getting a shot or getting blood drawn. For Sam, apparently, it's when he's injured and there's blood. It's a sympathetic response - meaning he has no control over it and can't predict when it wills trike next (or in his case exactly what triggered it). So Sam is heading back to school tomorrow armed with a note saying he's not contagious so he can participate in field day, an I'm keeping my mouth shut as far as calls from the school go. If the school wants to call me, or not, feel free. I'll take whatever you have to send my way. I've learned my lesson on smack talking the school phone calls, and I'm so over it for the week. Yeah, done.

The dreaded phone call

Anyone who has school aged kids knows that when the school phone number pops up on caller ID that either A) your kid is in trouble, or B) your kid is sick. My calls all tend to be either sick kids, plus the occasional call from the administration about school/PTA stuff. Well, my call today was so off base that even the clinic aide was laughing when she called. Poor little Ian slept funny on his pillow last night and his back is sore today. I guess at some point he told his teacher and they sent him to the clinic. He then told the aide that he's been in there a lot so that she should know who he is (he's in kindergarten, folks), but in reality he's only been in there three or four times this year. Anyway, after hearing his story about his two pillows, she told him that he probably slept funny and that he would be O.K. He wanted to call me for reassurance, and I told him the same thing (after she told me what he said). So, in the end I get a phone call from school that one of my kids has a sore back. I told him to take it easy the rest of the day and he would be fine. Truth is, he also had gymnastics yesterday, so he might have pulled something there as well, but at least it wasn't a call about a kid throwing up at school...again.

I love goldfish

Well, not really love them, but LOVE them. And I don't mean the $.25 variety that you get at the church fair. I love the swimming around in a box with a big smiles kind of goldfish Goldfish. I pour big bowls of the stuff when I sit down for a snack. I demand that Tom get his own bowl when we are watching a movie (yes, I eat them instead of popcorn). I even request, respectfully of course, that he not come home until he has reloaded our stash.

There are several varieties of Goldfish, however, but I like just the one - Flavor Blasted. I like to suck the seasoning off the outside then crunch them down. And there's just something extra special about opening that new box of Goldfish (we get the biggest box that we can) - it's a fresher, crunchier, somehow more covered with seasonings goldfish that comes out of a newly opened box. Sigh...there must really be something wrong with me. No one should like Goldfish this much.

Someone at Boise State must be colorblind

Football season is a mere two months away and things like uniforms are starting to peak my interest. You see, those with the best uniforms win. Well, at least in those games that I either don't care about, or don't know anything about. Anyway, Boise State has really crossed the line this time - they are taking their crazy blue field thing on step too far:
The have introduced BLUE uniforms for the upcoming season - and it isn't their away uniforms that are blue - it's their HOME uniforms. You read that correctly - blue tops, blue bottoms, all on a blue field. And where the heck is their school name anyway?

Guess they are expecting some kind of advantage here...but geez folks. What colorblind person made this choice???!!!

SCREEEEEEEECHING!

I don't know if the boys never hit this stage, or if I have completely erased it from my memory, but Lucy screeches. And she's been screeching a lot lately. Every time she opens her sweet little mouth over the past few days, depending on the proximity to my ears, of course, out comes one of a variety of special noises - all of which are deafening. You know that feeling after a rock concert when everything sounds muted? That's a temporary threshold shift (Sounds fancy right? That's what you learn when you are married to someone who studies this stuff!). Lucy creates that exact feeling in my head about 20 times a day. It seems that the closer to my head she is, the louder the screech. I guess the good part is that she's starting to understand what the word NOOOOOOOOOO means. And I'm starting to understand that my daughter is going to be a lot more like me than I ever expected - I'm a loud talker and somehow this is probably all my fault.

Hurricane Cousins

Ever wonder what would happen if you stuffed eight kids into a small tube? Well, ever wonder what would happen if you stuffed eight kids into a small tube and turned on some hurricane force winds? Well, our kids and our nieces and nephews did, so they all piled into that small tube at the Orlando Science Center and well, stood there, danced, smiled, goofed, and enjoyed the fact that they were all there with their cousins.

Sleep disrupted

Max did it, so did Ian and Sam. And Lucy isn't going to be left behind. As she takes those first steps toward mobility, her sleep is disrupted. Often at night we hear her crying out then settling back in, and for several nights over the past week Tom and I have seen 3 or 4am. We thought we were in the clear with this kiddo since she was sleeping through the night from the get go, but no. Those developmental changes really are throwing her for a loop. Hopefully they will come and the sleep disruptions will go quickly - she's recovering fine but as we get older it's that much tougher to keep the eyes open mid-day after an all nighter!