Monday, September 29, 2008

a conversation i never imagined having with my 9 year old daughter

"Who sings this?"

"Chris Brown. I think he's dating Rhianna."

"No, they broke up. He's with someone else now."

"Who?"

"Um, maybe Beyonce?"

"No, Beyonce is married to Jay-Z."

"Oh, well then not Beyonce, but someone else."

Friday, September 26, 2008

ewwww

I believe I have finally found the one thing that could stop me from eating ice cream.

While I believe PETA does some good work, I think this crosses the line just a bit, don't you?

Thursday, September 25, 2008

birthday


Ryan got home from school the other day and put this up on the refrigerator. His birthday wish list, in no particular order. He says he only had about 5 minutes to write it. Doug and I have already decided we are getting him #7.





Tuesday, September 23, 2008

an extra serving of jackson

I've been known to post amusing (to me anyway) things that Jackson says on here from time to time. But you have to believe me when I tell you that I don't post the half of it! That kid has me laughing so hard sometimes my cheeks hurt! So I've decided to serve up a some of my favorites from the past couple of days.

Sometimes what cracks me up is the way he views the world. It's very amusing, in a very sweet way. Like this morning, we had just dropped Emily off at school and were on our way to his school. It was a little breezy and he was just leaning back in his seat gazing out the window and then all of a sudden, "Oh look! The trees are dancing!"

And before that happened, we were at home eating breakfast. Emily had asked me to make pancakes and Jack decided that's what he would like too. So I fixed his plate - the pancakes cut up with syrup drizzled over them and some more syrup on the side of the plate. See, each of my kids eats pancakes differently. Jack eats them cut up. Ryan leaves his whole and dips each bite in syrup and Emily leaves them whole, slathers them with butter but no syrup. Anyway, he started to eat and I asked how everything was and he said:

"Fine. It's good that my pancakes aren't annoying me."
"Um, how do pancakes annoy you?" I asked. To which he replied, very matter-of-factly, "When the bottom falls off."

It took me a second to realize what he meant, and then it came to me as I watched him stab a piece of pancake with his fork, dip it into the pool of syrup on his plate, and then look to see if the bottom layer was still on his bite and not floating in the syrup before he put it in his mouth. I guess if half of my bite never made it to my mouth, I'd be pretty annoyed too!

I also love it when he channels me. Out of the blue the other day:

"Mom, allegro means fast. And adagio means slow. Seriously."

Of course some of the best ones come when he doesn't understand my meaning. Like this great one from Sunday afternoon. It was mid afternoon and he asked if he could have a snack. I asked what kind of a snack and he said he would like some toast. So then I tried to think of everything he had eaten that day and the only thing I could think of was toast! Toast for breakfast and toast for lunch. So I said, "Gee Jack, have you had anything but toast today?" And he looked at me with eyebrows raised and said, "Uh...I didn't say I wanted butt toast!" Which Ryan thought was h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s!** And so for the next couple of minutes he was all "butt toast" this and "butt toast" that. I was half tempted to ask him what he thought "butt toast" was, but then I realized I didn't really want to know.

**Ryan is all about the middle school humor these days. He couldn't wait to come home and tell me about how his math teacher was explaining the associative property and so he drew the parentheses and made them look like a butt. Get it? Associative property?? I guess those are the kind of jokes you can get away with telling when there aren't any girls in the class. I'm certainly not going to complain, though. Ryan's never been interested or excited about math before, so whatever works!!

I only wish I could be a fly on the wall in his classroom at school!

Friday, September 19, 2008

a list of some of the stuff that's junking up my brain and making it impossible for me to create a cohesive, non-rambling post

1.) Thank goodness the weather is starting to cool off a bit. Heat sucks all the fun out of soccer games and makes us all melting pools of grouchiness. And also, we are not even close to the equator...I should not have to apply SPF 70 in SEPTEMBER!!


2.) Things I am ready for (in no particular order):


a. The okay from the surgeon to remove Ainsley's arm immobilizers. I cannot tell you how many times I've been asked if both of her arms are broken. Or burned. And how many people look like they are just 2 seconds away from calling Child Protective Services to report me for breaking/burning my child's arms.


b. The okay from the surgeon to let Ainsley go back to eating anything she wants. Baby food is expensive...especially the amount of food she's plowing through! I think it's costing us as much as it was to buy formula! Yes, I could probably make my own cheaper, and I'm totally going to start doing that as soon as someone figures out a way to add a few more hours to a day!


c. Ainsley to grow some hair. So people will stop referring to her as "he" or "what a cute guy!" She does look a lot like Ryan did when he was a baby, but even then I had people who called him a girl. And this is what she was wearing at the post office yesterday when she was called a "sweet little boy." With these shoes! Does anything about that ensemble say boy to you? I didn't think so!

3.) Our beloved toaster oven bit the dust last week. We've had it almost 13 years, so I guess it was bound to happen, especially given that we use it for everything! So I've been making toast in the oven. Which I hate doing because it heats up the house. But toast is one of the three foods Jack is eating right now, so I make toast in the oven. And here's a tip for you. When you can smell the toast, it's too late. We seem to be going through a lot of bread these days.


4.) Overheard this morning:

Jackson: Ainsley! Why are you hitting me? That is not a good choice!


5.) Overheard yesterday:

Jackson: I opened this car...ALL. BY. MYSELF. I cannot believe I am such a big boy!


6.) I will never, ever discuss the sleeping habits of my youngest child again. You see, she started sleeping through the night about 2 weeks ago. And I didn't say anything because in the past, every time I've mentioned to someone that she slept through the night, that would be the end of it. So I finally decided that after 10 days of sleeping through the night, it would be okay to mention it. So I did and that night, she still slept through the night. She woke up a little earlier than usual, but I was already awake when she woke up, so it was okay. I got cocky. And I mentioned to someone yesterday that she was sleeping through the night and last night she woke up twice. So that's the end of that.


7.) The very reason that video cameras were invented and I didn't get it on tape:


After all the kids went to school yesterday, I was doing some things in the office and Ainsley was playing with her shape-sorting blocks. She stood up and walked to the bottom of the stairs and started calling for Ryan. Which sounds like "Ay-uh," but we know it's Ryan because she points to him and his pictures and that's what she says. So, she calls for Ryan 4 times and it finally becomes apparent to her that he's not going to answer or come down the stairs, so she turns around to face me and with her best scowl, she stomps her foot and says, "Hmpf!"



8.) I got a box in the mail today and Jack and Ainsley were interested in the box itself and the packing peanuts, so I let them play so I could write this post and now my office looks like this:




Friday, September 5, 2008

score another for the mother

The first week and a half of middle school was pretty much horrifying for Ryan. Now, I've been really excited for him to go to this school. I know it will be a challenge for him, but I think it's exactly what he needs. He's never really been pushed, academically speaking, and so I knew he would have some adjustments just going to middle school where he would have more responsibilities and more would be expected of him. And then an IB magnet where even more would be expected of him. And then some long bus rides on top of all that. Yes, I knew there would be some adjustment issues, but I wasn't really prepared for all the gloom and doom.

The bus ride is too long.
I have to carry my books and they are too heavy.
They have a great, big library, but we don't ever go!
I have to change my clothes for gym.
My planner is too big.
Did you know I have to do volunteer work?

Oh, you name it. Every day it was something new...some new reason to dislike this new school. I tried to explain to him that some of these complaints were not a product of this particular school, but middle school in general and that maybe he'd better just give the school a chance. I was sure he would find something to like. And then came Wednesday. When he finally got to go to the library! And he got to check out 3 books! Oh, and there is a book fair next week! Oh, and his volunteer work can be done at the animal shelter!

And then he said, "This is seriously the best school I've ever been to!"

Ah, sweet music.

when i tried to feed her something other than pudding


Wednesday, September 3, 2008

how i spent my summer vacation

I haven't written about our 3 week trip to the Midwest yet because quite frankly, I don't really know how to. I try to be a glass-half-full kind of girl and most of the time I am able to succeed, but this trip? Well, this trip knew how to push all of my buttons. Now, there were parts that were extremely fun and enjoyable. But the parts that were not fun were really, really not fun and I don't have enough distance from it all yet to talk about it and be able to spin it in a positive light. I will say this...other than the obscene amount of time in the car, the overnight hospital stay that turned into 4 overnights, and each of the kids being sick for days at a time (all at different times), it was good to get away for a bit and see our families and have some unseasonably cooler weather. That being said, man, it is so good to be home!!

Click here to see some of our fun adventures! The kids had many other great adventures that I wasn't able to take pictures of...Go carts with Grandma Mary & Grandpa Dennis, the State Fair with Uncle David, the Children's Museum with Grandma, the weekend with Grandpa Rick & Grandma Kay and more. Okay, fine, it was a fun trip. Hopefully by next summer we'll be ready to do it again!!

my new favorite wall in the house



I've been wanting to finish this project for months and months and finally, everything started to fall into place. I had the pictures, we finished painting the office, I found the frames I wanted and they were on sale! So I finally hung them up on Friday and I have spent so much time since then sitting in here. The blue on the walls is peaceful and I just love looking at these pictures.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

first day, part 2










Today was Jack's first day of school, and let me tell you how excited he was! He could finally wear his new shoes!! And take his new, orange backpack!! Dad took him this morning and I picked him up and he said he had a good time.



Me: Jack, what was the best part about your day?
Jack: Um, playing!

for those of you who worried she would lose weight


This is what 3 or 4 pudding cups a day will get you.