Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!

Well, it's that time again! I think Halloween is becoming more and more like Christmas, except for the grotesque excess present buying. There are parties in every classroom, lots of decorations, plans to make for the evening, costumes to buy, etc.

The boys have "Storybook Character Day," which means they are supposed to dress as a character from a favorite book. Every year, I make them follow the rules. Every year they come home and tell me about all the kids whose parents were nice enough to ignore the rules and send their kid in as Darth Vader. I stick with Harry Potter, Sir Lancelot (an especially inspired idea), etc. This year, they are Prince Caspian and High King Peter from The Chronicles of Narnia. This is a good compromise because Dubya is happy to be a knight of any kind, and Big D is actually reading these books now.

As Dubya's room mom, I have been putting together the party, which had me up until 1 am cutting out clothing for popsicle stick scarecrows. I have to admit they are pretty cute, though.

Baby J has no costume, and I guess she won't be getting one. I couldn't find anything I liked, so now I'm stuck with nothing. She'll be going as the cutest girl in the family. Easy enough. The boys' costumes actually look pretty cool, too. We tested the fog machine and strobe light out front last night, and it looked awesome. Once again we will succeed in making the kids work through their irrational fears to get their candy. I consider it neighborhood therapy.....

Hope to have pictures to post later.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

T is Sick! I am Tired!


T came home early from work last night with a fever. He looked like hell and sounded worse. He crawled into bed and tried to get some sleep. Of course, Dubya crawled into our bed later and slept the night there. I assume he'll have a fever by the weekend.

I finally waved the white flag.... I have someone coming to clean my house today. My greatest fear is that she will walk in, take one look, and just turn right around and leave. I know I want to sometimes.

Ahh, Princess Poopie Pants - she's messy, but she's cute!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

It's Early and I'm Already Annoyed

In my role as The Decider, I am also tasked with getting everyone up in the morning and getting them all ready for wherever they need to go. I am tired of this job. My mornings usually go like this:

  • I wake up at 6ish - hoping to take care of some personal hygiene before the minions get up.
  • Poopie Pants awakes shortly thereafter, thereby shortening any bathroom visit I may have been attempting.
  • She gets her hygiene taken care of and breakfast served to her. (How nice.)
  • I begin the process of making coffee and waking up the boys. At least one will need to be physically removed from the bed. Much whining ensues - and not always by me.
  • I make their breakfast - after they change their minds five times about what they want.
  • I pick out their clothes; they complain; I pick out more clothes. I dress the Princess. She is, in fact the only one who should need dressing. (It's important to note that the boys wear UNIFORMS to school!)
  • I pack their school bags with anything they need, including snacks, lunches, homework.
  • I scream at them to brush their teeth and put on their shoes and socks.
  • I find their shoes.
  • If I am lucky, they make it out the door as the bus is pulling up.
  • If not, I throw on some clothes and drive them to school or to catch up with the bus.
  • Princess and I come home.
  • I collapse on the couch while we watch Sesame Street.
  • I finally brush my teeth.
  • I wonder again why it's so hard to get all this done.
  • I feel guilty about all of the yelling and threatening.
  • It is about 9am, and it's all gotta be uphill from here......
It never happens like this on Supernanny.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Fall is Here

Yippee!

It's actually chilly outside! I absolutely love it! The only downside is that I have no idea what the munchkins are going to wear since they seem bound and determined to keep growing every year, thus making all of last year's warm clothes useless. I have already added a wardrobe's worth of sweatshirts and pants to the giveaway pile. It appears that W, the world's tallest 5 year old, has actually grown considerably since being the world's tallest 4 yr old. It looks like he now needs a size 7 pants - maybe an eight. He also refuses to wear pants that button - only snaps or elastic. Dressing him reminds me of Meg Ryan ordering food in When Harry Met Sally. "No buttons, please. These don't feel good. Not enough pockets. I need to put my pants on BEFORE my shirt. No long sleeves under a sweatshirt - that doesn't FEEL GOOD." He's just a little particular.

Well - Princess Poopie is waking up, so it's time to run. More later.....

UPDATE:
It seems, as is so often the case with me, everyone had the same idea. I spent most of my day searching in vain for long khaki pants in little boy sizes. I kept running into other moms - some I knew, some I didn't - who were all doing the same thing. We compared notes and came to the conclusion there were none to be found. Let me tell you, Target could have made a killing on khakis today - as could Old Navy. I did manage to find a few things for the Princess, including some new shoes she was thrilled with. So, at least only 2/3 of my children will be inappropriately dressed for the fall/winter - as brief as it may be.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

It's SATURDAY

OH, how I love Saturday! The weather is beautiful. No one is rushing to get anywhere. Hubby is usually home to help watch a kid or two. And, if I am really lucky, I can accomplish something.

Today, I hope to do some cleaning, get a shower (what a radical idea), and go to J's little friend's birthday party.

I was looking at D today - all 8 years of him, and was completely fascinated with how truly beautiful he is. He is all dark brown curls and huge brown eyes and such a sweet and happy heart. I love his long slender fingers and those eyelashes! I see my kids everyday, but other days I really LOOK at them and am amazed at the little people they are growing into. I can't help but think about how proud my mother would be if she could see him now. WOW, how she loved that child! She would just love to meet all of them.

Things I am thinking about today:

  • I miss my parents - it's just a fact, but I deal with it much better than I used to.
  • I want to go back to work at a job that pays.
  • I need to get a lot more done for W's school party.
  • I can't wait until the election is over.
  • I want a haircut, but don't love my stylist anymore and am afraid to "break up" with her.
  • Christmas is coming and I still really don't like Christmas - I know that makes me somehow un-American. It's just such a hassle!
I'm sure there are more, but I have 5 seconds to get something done, so I need to add more later.

It also occurred to me today that I could probably feed my family on the contents of my vacuum cleaner alone. I vacuum up so many bits of food - including, but certainly not limited to - Cocoa Puffs, Apple Jacks, crackers, bits of hardened cheese, dog food, cat food, dried noodles, smashed Doritos - the list goes on and on. Maybe next time they ask for a snack I should make them go digging in the vacuum bag for whatever they dropped the day before.....

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Things I Love Today

  • Chicken Piccata from CNO's - BOY, was that good! Artichokes, capers, cream sauce. Yum!
  • My DVR - which is currently playing Sesame Street.
  • Pandora on my iPod - which streams my favorite music to me -FREE- all day.
  • Febreze - which goes a long way to making my house SEEM clean, even when it's not!
  • LEGO Batman for Wii - which is a LOT more fun than I thought it would be. I love having little boys!
  • Going out to eat - which saves me from cooking and cleaning up afterwards - worth it!
  • Buying a birthday present for under $10 - which we will take to the very 1st party J has been invited to.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Early Voting

Well, I tried to vote early yesterday, but the line was too long for a toddler to manage. We decided to try again another day. The news just said the lines were even longer today! Well, since Election Day is a school holiday, I REALLY need to vote early. I'm sure we'll work it out.

Kitten Abby came home from the vet today, and she seems to be doing fine. Her little belly is shaved, and it's kind of pitiful, actually. J is happy to have a kitten to chase around again, and Cody can't seem to stop sniffing her.

All in all, not a bad day. T is sleeping. I still have to clean the kitchen and fold laundry. OH, and I MUST have a shower. Motherhood has really done a job on my personal hygiene.

Song That's Been in My Head Today:
Sand and Water by Beth Nielsen Chapman. Just a beautiful song. "Solid stone is just sand and water, baby. Sand and water, and a million years gone by...."

Yesterday

Yesterday was an interesting and frustrating day. I didn't get enough sleep and hubby had to work late, SO... I was so tired by the evening, the kids were working my nerves in a big bad way. Baby J had refused to nap, so she was a major crankenstein. Big D couldn't seem to concentrate on his homework. And all Dubya wanted to do was go outside to play.

I finally put the baby to bed after she refused to eat. Naturally, she started to cry and scream like a banshee. Then, of course, she threw up all over her bed. Yippee! So, while D and W ate (or didn't eat) a perfectly good dinner, I power bathed J, changed her sheets and pjs and put her back to bed. At least this time she went to sleep. W took a shower on his own like a big boy. D allegedly finished his homework. And, of course, T came home just in time to see everything already done. Just typing it all made me tired!

So, today is better already - phew!

People I admire today:

  • Cloris Leachman, who, while annoying, is one hell of a woman at 82! (Imanaged to sneak in some TV last night.)
  • My 5 yr old, who helped out and took a shower all by himself last night.
  • My 8 yr old, who came down and asked for another interesting book to read because he'd already finished all the others!
  • Colin Powell for speaking his mind about the GOP campaign with truthfulness and honor, even though he knew he'd catch hell from his own party.