Friendly Confines

Though Tut looked alluring at the Field Museum and Leonardo was doing his best work at Science and Industry, and Navy Pier exuded energy, we went on to Mecca, oops I mean Wrigley Field. And miracle of miracles CUBS WIN!!

Now it's back to the baseball that predominates my regular life.

A place where all that natural competiveness and agression can do some good. Catch that ball and fire it to second!

The Sun Did Not Shine

It was too wet to play. Ok, actually it was only that way from 2pm on. The morning was nice but humid and hot. The afternoon though, Whew! It really blew. The neighbors' trees (3 in all) came down and we lost alot of shingles from the house and garage. Power was out for awhile too. E and L were at Girl Scout Day Camp. They had to move the girls to shelter. Of course dh was supposed to pick them up, and because he is a technophobe (Luddite actually) I couldn't reach him. He does have a cell phone, but doesn't turn it on. I've told him that makes it a paper weight, but I digress. At any rate that, and the fact that his car died, made him rather unpleasant last night. He has taken this coming week off. I hope his mood improves because I really don't need a week of grumpiness. I got on the roofs this morning and reshingled the bad spots so hopefully that will help. We aren't going anywhere but I'd like to take the kids to the community pool or the reservoir or something. Hopefully we're done with high winds.

Savoring the Moments

Friday I went to a professional conference. I left dh a schedule of where he needed to be with whom and when. It took a whole page of notebook paper. He was busy from 7-7. He seemed shocked. Bwahahaha! Welcome to my world.

Hail and baseball are a poor combination. At what point do we adults lose the thrill of "raining ice cubes" and refrain from dancing among the stinging pellets?

DS's comments after spending three days counseling at Cub Scout camp. "Geesh, those little kids really wear you out." Again, welcome to my world.

As a point of future reference, do not put my 5yo anywhere near a microphone. Especially in church. He will cradle it and sing into it like he's on American Idol.

Do not let oldest DD comment aloud on 5yo ds. "Thank you, thank you very much! He'll be here all week!"

Do not have a mother who finds them both amusing, it will only encourage them.

Huh?

"Such a mature girl."
"He is such a help, especially with the little boys."
"Definitely full of drive."

Who are these people and what have they done with my chilren? Where are the pods? E and S are helping with Girl Scout daycamp and Cub Scout daycamp respectively. C is just attending. Why can't they show these qualities at home? Because they know I HAVE to keep them, no matter what, that's why. They told me so.

Feels Good

It feels like we will finally be starting summer here this week. The kids have been playing baseball but frankly, we are one of those sort of hyper families that likes to have bunches going on. The really fun stuff starts this week. This week E is counseling at Girl Scout camp, Bible school is this week, we continue swim lessons, C will go to Cub Scout Day camp, S helps set up day camp today and tomorrow and we continue baseball (if it finally quits raining). Next week L goes to daycamp along with E. The week after that dh is taking off. I've scheduled a bunch of physicals the kids will need in the fall, so 3 MD appointments that week. It you wait until Aug there are no appointments to be had. That weekend before the 4th is our town festival so lots going on: parades, carnival games, water games, rodeo, demolition derby, etc. The week after that L goes to church camp and S goes to Boy Scout camp. Then I'll help them rush to get 4-H projects done. The following week is the fair and C and S go to church camp. That leaves two weeks until school starts and S and E will have summer band those two weeks. I'm sure we'll do other stuff too. We've gotta fit in some lightning bug catching, camping, trips to the pool, zoo, children's museum, etc., and I just got an e-mail that my class reunion will be going on in Aug. I'll have to decide if I want to go to that, we'll see. The only reason to go would be to see the about 10 people I liked in high school, LOL!

Better days here.

Jody, thank you for the kind comments.

kmom,Jody, and Chris, et. al. Congrats on *largerfamilies

*Congrats to *mabear on #12

*Rain today puts us at 4 games on Saturday. Of course now that the field is under water the sun is shining.

*While it was raining I was persuaded to play Go Fish (or Gold Fish as they call it). This was made even more tedium inducing by playing with a 5yo who doesn't know his numbers, a 7yo who insists on calling the 5yo moron, and a 2yo trying to climb on my head. The following game of Crazy Eights seemed enthralling by comparison.

One Of Those Days

Do you ever feel you have your own thunderstorm lurking over your family? Yesterday I did.
L and F were to begin swimming lessons. L loves the water, jumps off the diving board, etc. but for some reason she decided she did not want to go. I got her in the car screaming all the way. She had a Linda Blair worthy fit by the pool. No amount of calm was going to reach her. I took her out, with many eyes staring at me. She did not calm down. If anything she became more loud and unreasonable. Now, if it had just been her I would have left but F was still in the water. It was quite a show. And I admit right here, this is childish, but I hate the other parents staring at me with that "what an imcompetant mother" look in their eyes. It was a very long 45 minutes. Mel pointing and chanting "naughty, naughty" didn't help either. Dh came home in the early afternoon to report his car is stalling and he needs replacement fillings in two teeth. He was not what I would call cheery. The backdrop for all this was 12yo and his snarky attitude. I can only conclude he finds himself wry or dry witted. I mostly found him annoying. At least the 14 yo is pleasant. Of course you only see her for 15 minutes a day as the rest of her time is spent shut up in her room. I'm beginning to suspect vampirism. At 9pm I delcared it bedtime for all. I just couldn't be nice anymore. They needed to remove themselves or it was going to get UGLY.

Great Big Brownie Smile

Today was the end of the year Brownie meeting.

Singing in a Brownie Circle


Rare photo of me taken by E


Yesterday included three baseball games. Why do they try to make up rain outs? Picked up S from Boy Scout camping trip. Eeeew! They swam in the river and their clothes stunk! Along with the usual taking care of the yard and the pool and feeding the troops that was about it for the weekend. I've gotta win a sweepstakes to Paris or something!

Hot Fun in the Summertime

A real back seat driver


A day in the pool has almost gotten rid of all the marker tattoos so she no longer looks like a Maori tribesman. And it's more fun than a bath.

I Don't Even Really Like Green

You Are Teal Green

You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you. Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible. While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks. Your warm personality nicely counteracts and strange habits you may have.

What Color Green Are You?

Strang habits? Quirks? Say it ain't so

Happy Memorial Day

We've played too hard the past few days. I am tired. We've been to cookouts, birthday parties, and Minor League ball games,(just in case t-ball, coaches pitch, little league and girl's softball weren't enough). I've replaced roof shingles, set up the pool, been running with E, planted flowers and unbelievably bought myself a few clothes. I don't like to shop but even dh was noting the sad shape of my summer stuff. I remember buying stuff after C was born 9 years ago and not really since. I was pregnant three of those summers, some people gave me some stuff,etc. and I just never bought much. Probably a couple polo shirts and a pair of khakis for church but I went a little crazy on Saturday. I got a swimsuit, khaki skirt, khaki shorts, three tank tops and a purple peasant blousy thing. It was a good sale though, I thnk I only spent like $50. I hope it lasts nine more years, LOL! Today I'm going to drop the oldest three to see X-Men 3 and take the younger three to a park. A shady park. Yesterday's baseball game in 95 degree heat has left me a little wilted.

School's Out!!

*Whenever I say school's out, I sing that stupid Alice Cooper song in my head

*The kid's did really well.

*E graduated 8th grade with the highest GPA in the class. C got straight As. S got 3 As and 3Bs. His siblings are ridiculing him, lol!

*L in first grade gets numbers. She got 1s. Do they think kids can't equate 1s with As?

*Swimming can now count as a bath.

*It doesn't matter if we can find socks.

*They can wear the jeans that have the leg held on by a thread.

*If the baseball game goes on until 10:30 it's ok.

*They have plenty of time to get their chores done.

*I LOVE SUMMER!!

Dwarves

I thought I was living with children, but this weekend brought me to the realization that they are actually height challenged beings from a Disney movie (except only six live here, Bashsful undoubtedly stayed in Hollywood). We have Busy, Mouthy, Whiny, Twitchy, Grouchy and Spock (who has calculated exactly how many days of school are left until he graduates. He was quite put out when he tried to figure out his undergrad, Master's and Doctoral program and I explained it would vary.)

For Mom

Today would have been my mom's 79th birthday. She died 13 years ago when I was pregnant with S. My mom wasn't like all the other moms. She didn't sew, she didn't decorate, she didn't wear makeup. She worked a full time job my whole childhood. What she did do was teach me to throw a softball, hit a lay up and stand up for myself. She was a tomboy in the '30's when that was not a good thing. She and dad were married 14 years before I was born. It was the '60's when no one knew why some people just didn't conceive. Who knows why she suddenly got pregnant with me or my brother two years later and that was it. She was 35 when I was born, practically ancient back then. She always made me feel like I was a long awaited present and not some horrible suprise foisted on her. She knew how to not offer her advice unless asked and mop up the pieces when her advice would have helped me avoid a screw up. I still miss her.

Noah, Noah

Hurry up on that ark already! I am sick unto death of rain. It's been raining for 8 days. Yesterday it held off until 5:35. I of course had unloaded my kids at the park for a ball game at 5:30. Right now it is very dark and windy, another thunderstorm will probably hit at 1:00pm,since that is when the library opens.

E left for her 8th grade trip on yesterday morning at 6:30am. Tonight they are supposed to have dinner on a cruise on the Ohio river. I hope the weather their is better for them. This weekend should be really busy if it stops raining. Ball pics and practices, dance dress rehearsal, dance recital and brownie meeting. On the bright side Tuesday is the kids' last day of school. Yeah!! No more lunch packing, school events, meetings,etc. I'm looking forward to it as much as they are.

Cwush

Sometimes, kids just crack me up. Today's humorous observation concerned my 5yo's comments about 14yo dd's friend. Megan came in and gave F a big hug. He turned to me and said in earnest "She has a cwush on me. I wiw be gentwe with herw". Where did he hear that phrase? Later today he couldn't get his jacket zipped, he sighed and cursed "Oh, snickerdoodle!" Ah, at least it seems to be the worst word he knows right now.

Soggy Weekend Notes

Friday
* darn, ball games cancelled Friday night, I so wanted to sit in the rain on damp bleachers again

Saturday
* maybe I should have qualified that wish for rain
* Hoodwinked was just ok, glad we saw it at the free movie

Sunday
*still raining
*children express surprise that today is Mother's Day
*dh, aka gloomy gus, offers to take me out to eat, all restaurants are full, end up with a burrito
*do grocery shopping while I'm out

Monday
*enough of the rain already
*what kind of control freak am I, why should dh's mood effect mine? but it does darn it, quit griping already (yes, I see the irony there)

WWYD

So say it's a 40 degree, rainy day. Would you spend 3 1/2 hours sitting on damp wooden bleachers, hunched into your winter coat, watching your blue limbed youngster in tank top and shorts circle a track endlessy? Of course you would, because you are a parent.

Officially Beyond Redemption

Getting a mini-van was lowering, getting the 15 passenger van was a sure step towards geezerdom, but this proves my cool card is gone and I'm beyond coolness redemption


On the plus side, I no longer worry that A is going to launch herself sideways in the baby carrier seat and send us both to a bloody meeting with the road. It also has the added benefit of letting F ride along if, say, I want to get somewhere minus the minute by minute stops to observe something interesting or the stomach grabbing nausea when I wonder if he'll get braked before shooting out in front of a car.

Not much else going on here. I took F and A to the zoo Monday. They imitated the orangutangs, loudly, for a loooong time, all through the zoo. They had a wonderful time, but really, I think people were ready for us to leave. We ate sandwiches and gold fish at the park and they played. Amazing how nice it is when 1) some older child isn't rolling his/her eyes at the horror of being at the zoo or 2) pleading for ice cream/hot dogs/popcorn. because you know that is only good when overpriced. The same thing at home is just dull. Duh!

Bits & Pieces

Bits and pieces is what I feel like I have left after a hectic week. One more week of craziness and then things slow down.

* This may be the only graduation this one ever attends so let's enjoy the pic.

He is staring to the side because that was where the cookie table was located. I spent all day reminding him to sing loud and speak clearly. Big mistake! He shouted all the words. No problem hearing him. It's never good when afterwards people smile and tell you what a "character" your kid is.

* S survived three track meets this week and is spending the weekend camping with Scouts

* E survived three major school presentations and is going to an all night party both Friday and Saturday night

* L is invited to a skating birthday party on Saturday and a swimming one next week

* who are these people who throw elaborate parties for their kids?

* may a curse be upon all parents who take their dd to Build-A-Bear and pay $50 for a $3 stuffed animal and thus make your dd lust for same

*this weekend also includes three baseball practices and a brownie meeting

*how come I get so tired of running them around and listening to the bickering but it is TOO quiet when three are gone at once?