Are You Kidding Me????????

Dinner At Drew's Apartment

2011-07-26T23:00:00.002-04:00

Last night we hopped in the van with all the makings for a pizza party and headed to Richmond. It was me, Alex, Hannah, and Shauna. Luke had to work and we invited Gramma, but she had to work at 5:30 am both Saturday and Sunday, so she couldn't join us. Mikey had stayed in DC to help a friend move, so he drove down and met us at Drew's place.

Drew

Drew and Julian cleaned the kitchen before I got there, which I appreciated, since pizza making takes up a lot of room! I pre-made the crusts and mixed the sauce at home, but even the assembly/cooking process uses a lot of space. They had some fresh pineapple, which was so good on the pineapple/bacon pizza. I normally like canned pineapple better, but in this case, fresh was so much better.

Drew in his clean kitchen

I was very impressed by Drew's room and bathroom. They were neat and clean! What??? Is this the same kid whose room had to be cleaned by me and my now infamous snow shovel??? When he moved out of his bedroom (or was forced out by me!), it was a room worthy of any Hoarders television show. He isn't a hoarder because he has no problem parting with things, he was just too lazy to actually get rid of them. Anyway, his room was spotless. I checked the closet since I thought he might have shoved everything in there, but it was perfect. Clothes were hanging neatly there was a cat carrier on the floor and a couple of things on the shelf. It was probably the neatest closet I've ever seen! I asked one of his roommates, Julian, if he cleaned for days before we came and he said no, Drew always keeps his room like that! Julian is well acquainted with Drew's old room, so he is just as surprised as we were. I talked to Drew about it and he said he just never let it get messy. Just like his mom! (Shut up, Denise!)

Hannah, Shauna, and Alex, enjoying Drew's front porch

Anyway, the weather was absolutely perfect and we enjoyed our pizza and conversation out on their front deck. The kids, especially Alex, were very impressed with the active and interesting area that they live in. It is called The Fan district of Richmond and they are right on a main road, so people are constantly walking/jogging/skateboarding/roller blading by. It is a prime people watching spot. I still can't get over how gorgeous it was, between the perfect weather and the beauty of the area. The street is all large, old houses and the median is lined with crape myrtles, which are in full bloom. It was very relaxing and we had lots of fun conversation. Besides Julian and Drew, their other roommate, Mario, stopped by for a little while. We hadn't met him, yet, so it was nice to finally put a face to the name. Hannah thought he was cute, speaking of his face! One of their neighbors, Ryan, joined us, also, as well as two of Mario's longtime friends. Everyone enjoyed the pizza and Julian gave me the ultimate compliment when he told me this was the first time he has actually felt full in longer than he can remember. It was so good to meet everyone and spend time with Drew and Julian. Julian was a regular at our house for many, many years before they moved to Richmond. Have I ever blogged about the time Julian scared the crap out of my by climbing up to the second story porch and coming in that way?

Me and the sign that used to hang in the cafe at the rink

Living Room wall and cool neon artwork. That door leads to the front porch.

Alex had been having trouble falling asleep Friday night, so he baked a cake at 4:00 am! Shauna was his partner, although it sounds like she mainly cleaned up his mess! The cake was awesome. Since he didn't have access to my frosting recipes (they are on my computer, which is password protected), he looked a recipe up on his ipod. It was really delicious and he had decorated it to look like the beach. He used graham cracker crumbs mixed with cinnamon (which I thought was going to taste horrible on a cake, but it was so good!) for the sand. Then he used medium blue sprinkles for the ocean and light blue for the sky. It really looked like the beach, it was amazing. He tinted the frosting the perfect blue. I was impressed.

At the end of the night, we had to part with Mike, as it didn't make sense for him to come all the way home for a little over 12 hours. He headed back up north and we headed to Drew's Walgreens to pick up a DVD of my 2nd birthday party. We got to see the wild cats that live there, that Drew has been telling me about. We saw 5 or 6, including one with no tail. The clerk at Walgreens was super sweet and so excited about meeting "Drew's Mommy", as she called me. I'm working on uploading the video to You Tube, but Jack has to reformat it for me, so I had to send it to him. Hopefully, I will be able to get it up by tomorrow. I have to say that Jack was very patient with me, giving me detailed instructions on how to decrypt the birthday DVD and send him the information he needs to make it You Tube ready for me. His phone was acting up so he couldn't call me and mine kept going into roaming and was taking forever to send and receive texts. He didn't even yell at me once! I think it took almost an hour start to finish.

Speaking of my infamous snow shovel, keep an eye out for a rebuttal post to the above highlighted link from Denise! The Hotel Cinderella posts are in the works, as well. I just need some more time and energy in the day to get it all done.

I Got In Trouble! Hotel Cinderella Apology!

2011-07-24T15:06:00.004-04:00

On Friday, Mike and I went out to lunch, since we had been apart (other than the few hours at Drew's last weekend) for almost two weeks. On the way, he told me that my blog post about Denise and Hotel Cinderella was MEAN. He thought it sounded terrible and he thinks that Denise is probably mad and not speaking to me. Wow! He might be right, since I haven't heard from her since I posted that, but I know what she is going through right now and thought nothing of it.

I apologize if anyone took this in a way it was not meant. I am not a snotty, bi*ch who complains about everything (shut up, Mike!) . That post was meant to poke fun at our time together and was in no way meant to offend or be mean or disrespectful to Denise. I think Denise will agree that we had a wonderful time together. We laughed our way through the week.
Okay, please read this very carefully!

1. Everything that I said in that post actually happened.

2. Everything I did at the Hotel C. was done out of love and caring. NOT because Denise was "demanding" it!

3. Denise said everything I said she did. However, everything she said was said in jest. She didn't force me to do anything.

4. Denise and I have a back-and-forth joking, kidding, silly relationship.

Here is an example of what I mean. I did spend forever and day, chopping veggies and making the stir fry. Denise did complain (jokingly) about the fork, as well as other things. She did lecture me about the fork. All in a joking manner!!! I did not mind making the stir fry, nor was I forced to. Get it????
ALL POSTS ABOUT THE HOTEL CINDERELLA ARE TRUE, BUT MUST BE TAKEN IN THE TONGUE IN CHEEK MANNER IN WHICH THEY HAPPENED AND WERE WRITTEN ABOUT!

Hotel Cinderella 2011, Chapter One-Arrival

2011-07-18T14:35:00.004-04:00

**Edited** Please read this post before you read this.

I awoke to my blaring alarm at 5:00 am. I had to get the rest of the car loaded and get ready for work. Alex helped me load the car and I made it to work on time, at 8:30. I was already tired!

I got off at 1:30 and Luke brought the kids to my office so we could jump on the interstate from there. It was 2:00 before we got everyone situated in the van and got on the road. We made great time, even stopping for dinner at Steak 'N' Shake and stopping for gas. I had told Denise that we would be there at 9:00 pm, at the earliest. We arrived at exactly 9:00! I don't remember if we knocked, probably not because the Hotel Cinderella just isn't a formal, knocking kind of place. We walked in and were greeted by...wait for it...no one! Yup, after 7 long hours on the road, no one was there. We called out a couple of times and then finally heard an angry voice from upstairs, complaining that we had arrived early and our room was not ready. Are you kidding me???? Good thing I am so attached to the staff at this hotel or I would have skipped check in and driven straight back to Williamsburg.

The kids and Denise eventually made their way downstairs, along with a therapist. After some hugging, Denise informed me that she was planning to have a stir fry for dinner, but her friend, Chris, was supposed to make it, but wasn't able to. I volunteered to make it, even though I've only made a stir fry once and had no idea what I was doing. I sort of had to make it, anyway, because the stir fry ingredients were taking up a ton of room in the fridge and I needed to put things in there. The package of spinach was so huge it almost took an entire shelf! (I think this was when I found some moldy, black bananas in the fridge, but I didn't keep any notes about it, so I can't be sure.) Denise told me to cook anything that was green, so I did. First I had to cut it all, though. So...after what seemed like at least two hours, I had everything cut and in the wok. Had I known that I was going to be going into a sweat lodge so quickly after arrival, I would have worn my bathing suit. It was really, really hot and humid with that wok going! Remember, I've only made a stir fry once and I don't even remember much about it. I kept asking Denise when it was done and she kept saying, "maybe another minute". There were a lot of "minutes" involved. I don't think I did a very good job because she didn't finish it all and didn't eat the leftovers! She said it was good and although she doesn't spare my feelings often, she did this time.

So, I serve the Queen her stir fry and she says, "Oh no, this isn't the fork I like. I can't use this one." She then proceeds to show me which forks (among the million and ten in the drawer) she can and cannot use. By this time I was pretty much wrung out, but I do remember something about flat ends and forks that had been through the garbage disposal. I just can't remember if she likes flat ends or doesn't like them. Then a few seconds after the fork lecture, I hear her say to Alex, "I don't want to be a bother." Are you kidding me????

Lest anyone get the wrong idea, Denise is not that ungrateful! After I was done cooking and she was sort of eating it, she said, "Thanks for making this. You really didn't have to." Oh, I almost forgot this part, when I finally finish cooking and am wiping the sweat from my brow, she says, "I'm so tired." Are you kidding me???? I was thinking, "I've only been here 1 hour and 37 minutes and I'm ready to go home!"

J, Alex, Hannah, Shauna, GracieGirl, and E
July 2, 2011

My Rebuttal Blog

2011-07-17T14:54:00.003-04:00

This is what Denise blogged about, just before my visit. She has most of these things correct, but there are a couple of items that I need to correct or clarify. :) Here is a link to her actual post, in case you want to follow any of her links.Denise's words will appear in blue and mine will be green.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Michelle's Upcoming Visit

Michelle is coming for a visit. She sweetly posted on her blog, wondering why she was looking forward to this visit, when I am officially the world's worst host. So, I'm going to explain why.

I met Michelle online around 12 years ago, on her transracial adoption group. She and I first met in person 10 years ago. We were vacationing in Virginia with my parents, celebrating J's first birthday. We'd agreed to meet, but she kept telling us how "busy" she was. We finally went to her house, literally after we'd checked out of our timeshare and were leaving to go home.

I might have been hurt by that, but I learned that she's as socially awkward as I am. Besides, her husband convinced her that I was an axe murderer. Okay, this is true, I did put her off until the last day. I'm not sure if I've even told Denise the whole truth about this, so she may be surprised, but here it is. Mike did think they might be axe murderers and that it wasn't safe to meet anyone in person, after meeting them on the internet. I felt that I knew Denise pretty well, though, and most people don't adopt different race kids just to be able to get involved in an internet group so they could meet people to murder! I am very socially awkward and was very nervous about meeting them. However, and here is the part I don't think I've told Denise or Nick, I was terrified that they would be annoying weirdos and if I met with them at the beginning of their trip, they would bug me the entire time they were in Williamsburg! As it turned out, we got along great and I would have loved to spend more time with them.

Here's an account of our first visit, and here are some pictures of my kids from that trip (E insists that the top pic is him!). When I saw that picture, I thought it looked like E, too!

Since then, she's come to visit here several times, and we've gone to visit her. She named our house the Hotel Cinderella, implying that it's an awful place to stay. It is, but at least we let her stay in our hotel. Every time we go to Virginia, she makes us stay in a timeshare! And when we visit, she doesn't let us go upstairs or into her bedroom because she says that they're a mess. One time, she let me venture upstairs to the kids' bedrooms. Um yeah, she wasn't exaggerating. And there really were snow shovels propped against the walls for cleaning! The Hotel Cinderella is the best awful place I've ever stayed! However, I do not make them stay in a timeshare. They are always welcome to stay with us and we would prefer that, but they have allergies and we have 8 cats and a dog. Oh, and when my kids were little, we were a lot overwhelmed by issues, issues, and more issues. Their rooms were horrible! Keeping them even semi-clean was not a priority as we struggled minute by minute just to get through each day. Surprisingly, they have grown out of that and now keep very neat and clean rooms. No snow shovels necessary for quite a while now! The game room has been the exception, but they are even keeping that cleaner now. This last statement does not include Luke. You will probably see him on a future Hoarder's show.

We've also vacationed together in Ohio, Lancaster County, Orlando, the beach, and in the worst timeshare on the planet in Basye, Virginia. There are probably more places, but my memory cells have been destroyed. Michelle, on the other hand, can undoubtedly tell you where we went, when we went, how long we stayed, and how much the price of gas was then. That's where she and I differ. LOL! I do remember things that Denise does not, but she also refreshes my memory on a lot of things, so we work together perfectly.

I let Michelle stay at our luxury hotel because I can be myself with her. No matter how much of a mess I am, I can just be a mess; I don't have to pretend that I've got it all (or any of it) under control. My house is trashed, and that's just the way it is. The rugs are stained, the furniture torn, there are holes in the walls, and I can't walk through the yard without humming the theme to Sanford & Son (yes, I'm that old). True, I never judge people on housekeeping or what they own or don't own.

This is from a person who still attempts to alphabetize her spices, who used to have her clothes arranged by color and length in the closet, who never had a single weed in her garden, and who once was shocked when she visited a friend and saw dust on a table! There will be a mention of the spice alphabetization in one of my upcoming Hotel Cinderella blogs.

Yes, I've been humbled.

I never, ever thought I'd live like this, but there's no use fighting it. I'm learning lots of lessons in acceptance. This is my life right now. The destruction is inevitable, I physically can't fix it, and Nick only has time to focus on the major issues. The cosmetic stuff just has to wait. AMEN!

I digress.

Even though I am stressing just a bit because Michelle recently posted a really clean picture of her house and said that she turned over a new leaf, I'm still letting her see things as they are here. If she really has found the secret to keeping a clean house with destructive kids, I'm hoping she'll show up with her snow shovel and a dumpster and fill me in! This is where Denise outed me. I have been a closet snow shovel cleaner for many years and, apparently, I failed to tell her that it was a secret!

Anyway, I'm so excited that she's coming up, and I can't wait to laugh (even if it is at my expense!). And then we can go to the mall, and get our nails done, and get into all of the latest celebrity gossip...Oh, wait! She doesn't do any of that. No wonder we get along so well! LOL! We did laugh, a ton! While much of the laughter was at Denise's expense, much was also at mine. Do wooden spoons ring any bells, Denise? No mall, although I visited Giant and Home Depot, sans Denise.

I could go on and on, but E just dumped a cup of water on me because he thought I wanted to take a shower.

Give me strength.

I guess my computer time is over.

Oh, and Michelle, my pizza cutter broke, so could you please bring yours? I still have your pizza pan from last time!

;)

P.S. Nick informed me that the ice maker isn't broken. How's that for enticement? Maybe you'll even show up early! I forgot that you said this! As will be evidenced in future blog posts, I showed up on time and got in trouble!

One Hour and Forty Five Minutes Left...

2011-06-28T18:15:00.003-04:00

...To get ready for Hotel Cinderella. I only have a minute, but wanted to get this down while fresh in my mind.

1. Accidentally left Rebel out on porch when changing Hummingbird water. Got delayed in the house and heard knocking on the front door. Yes, knocking. The dog even barked. Opened the door and there was Rebel with her two front paws on the doorstep!

2. Texted a teenager:

Me: Where are you?
Teen: At the park with So and So.
Teen: (30 seconds later) If my mom texts you, tell her I'm with you.
Teen: (20 seconds later) JK
Me: BUSTED!!!!!

Must finish packing, loading car and making dinner. Now have one hour and 40 minutes left!

***Edited to add: Told Luke the story about Rebel.

Luke: "I'd be more impressed if she rang the doorbell."
Me: "Me, too, since the doorbell is broken."

Denise is washing the Bob the Builder towels!!!

2011-06-23T17:23:00.001-04:00

Denise is preparing for my visit next week! By prepare, I mean she is on the computer blogging about it. There is no actual preparation. I still can't figure out why I'm looking forward to this trip!

So I Don't Get In Trouble!

2011-06-21T19:31:00.004-04:00

I don't have much time, but I wanted to do a quick post before I start getting yelled at by my only two fans! Not to mention any names, but they would be Denise and Mikey.

Speaking of Denise, we are heading to the Hotel Cinderella next Wednesday. Yay! I'm really looking forward to it, even though it is called the Hotel Cinderella for a very good reason!

Luke is now working at Walgreens. Someone robbed the pharmacy the other night, when Luke was working. Ugh! There have been a rash of robberies here, even though this is not a high crime town. At least it hasn't been a high crime town in the past! Several banks have been robbed in the last few months and several pharmacies. Two McDonald's were robbed within days of each other a few days ago. On my way home from work, I pass a bank and it had crime scene tape all around it. The police had the driveway blocked with squad cars and I saw a police officer entering the front door. He stopped to put gloves on before touching the door. I'm assuming it was robbed, but haven't seen anything on the internet yet. I hope they catch these criminal(s) soon, it is getting scary!

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday and Drew was over, so we all went over to celebrate. We brought strawberry shortcake and had a great time.

The mom of one of Hannah's friends died on Sunday and Hannah is attending the funeral tomorrow. I'm not sure how she died, but she was a year younger than me. I spent an hour or hour and a half with her about 6 weeks ago and she was depressed because her husband was divorcing her and she didn't want the divorce. I know she was an alcoholic, so I'm not sure if that had something to do with it. Hannah said she had been in and out of the hospital recently. It is very sad. Her daughter is a very nice girl, but already has some anger issues. She punched another girl in the face (the same night I talked to her mom) because they liked the same boy. Anytime is a bad time to lose a parent, but I think the teenage years are the worst. Nothing like making a difficult time even more difficult!

We went to the beach last Friday, as I was off. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun, except for the fact that Hannah was going through a rough time (euphemism for manic) and was cranky and uncooperative. I don't feel like going into all the details, but she had been starting to go downhill as the last week of school approached. She stayed out until 11:00 on a school night last week (and only came home then because I went out and tracked her down). She was at the park behind our house (which closes at night) with two boys. They weren't doing anything but standing around and talking, but still. Alex went with me and we spied on them, so I know there was no funny business going on. We grounded her, of course, and she went out the next two days anyway. (She can never understand why she is grounded because, after all, she "only stayed out until 11:00 and she wasn't doing anything bad. It was OUR park, right behind the house!) We went and brought her home the first day, which she was not happy about. The second day, we went to find her again and this time she hid in a friend's house, the brother insisted she wasn't there. Boy did he manage to find her really quickly when I told him that I had reported her as a runaway and the police would probably be stopping by to look for her. Suddenly, he said, "well, um, maybe...just a minute...maybe she...(he looks behind the door while I hear a female voice telling him something-not Hannah), she isn't hear, but I will tell her to call you if she comes here." Within a minute or two, she called. Surprise, surprise! She refused to come home at first and her friend was furiously texting me to please not send the police to her house. She finally came home after I assured her that the police were not going to pick her up on the way and put her in the squad car. When she got home, she started to rage. She didn't destroy anything or hurt anyone, thank goodness. We put the dog on the lease when it started and went out to the front of the house. She is much less likely to rage if neighbors can see her. She yelled a bit, but ultimately went inside and watched tv for the rest of the night. That was on Friday, the first day off school for summer. She was better on Saturday, although she was very giddy, which is usually a sign she is ending her manic phase. She was quite good on Sunday and did abide by the grounding for the whole weekend, which is very difficult for her! It has been, however, a very stressful week for me!

I hope that all makes sense, as I was typing quickly and don't want to think about it anymore, so I'm not going to proofread!

Hannah's Eighth Grade Graduation and Dance

2011-06-12T17:23:00.004-04:00

Hannah ready for the 8th Grade Formal

Mommy, Daddy, and the Girls at the Graduation. Well, the Reflections Ceremony, to be specific! AKA a stepping up ceremony.

Gramma and Hannah

Hannah's flowers

Another Dance Photo

Former Blogger...My You-Know-What!

2011-06-12T17:16:00.003-04:00

Someone, not to mention any names, (Denise) stated in this blog post that I am a former blogger. I beg to differ. I am a lazy and busy blogger, not a former blogger! Yes, there is a difference, not much of a difference, but a difference non-the-less.

I tried to comment on Denise's post, but blogger wouldn't let me, so Denise, here is part of my comment. The rest of my comment will follow when I am there, in person, to discuss it all with you!

Don't worry, I'm bringing my snow shovel when I check into the Hotel Cinderella on the 29th!
I've turned over a new leaf with my house. Just hoping that I don't turn it back the other way anytime soon. WWACPD? is my new motto. Will fill you in on that when I see you in two weeks. Hang in there until then!!!
From the Former Blogger!

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-15T16:16:00.002-04:00

We had a wonderful Mother's Day this year. We went with my Mom, my sister, brother-in-law, and two of my nieces to pick strawberries. We took the ferry across the James River and got really lucky to get right on, considering the two largest ferries are both out of commission. It was a beautiful day to pick strawberries! Not too hot and a bit overcast, so we were very comfortable. Strawberry picking in Virginia can get really hot! The picking wasn't perfect because Friday and Saturday were very busy days at the farm and we had to look pretty hard for strawberries that were totally red, but we managed just fine. Sydnee and Hannah were especially good at finding really red ones.

Mike, Me, Tricia
Shauna, Hannah, Gramma, Tatum, Sydnee

After we had over-filled our baskets, we headed off to the barn to pay for them and get some homemade strawberry ice cream cones. The ice cream was incredible! We had a ton of fun, with lots of laughing and joking round. My Mom suggested that we make this a Mother's Day tradition, so I hope the weather cooperates next year.

I asked Tatum if I could take a picture of her with her basket. She refused until I told her that it was for Wrigley and she ran right over to do it! She and Wrigley have become best buddies.

Shauna, Hannah, Gramma, Tatum, Sydnee

The only down side to the day was that when I got out of the van upon arriving home, I could barely walk. I have Plantar Faciitis and it was acting up, big time. This is the worst I've ever had it and I had to use a crutch to get from my bed to bathroom (about 10 feet) that night. In the morning, I was forced to call work and tell them I couldn't come in. This was my first sick day and I hated it! I wanted to go to work, but there was just no way I could possible carry the baby around and do the things I need to do for her. Luckily, by the next day, the pain had eased up quite a bit and I was able to go back. My bosses are the greatest! They offered me the use of a wheelchair, which I, in complete Denise-style stubbornness, refused. I did agree to take it easy, though. I was off on Friday, as they were going to a conference, and I started having quite a bit of pain, again, that afternoon. As of today, it is better, but still painful at times. I really need to get new shoes and some good arch supports. I plan to do that this week before we go camping next weekend. More on that later.

Hannah and Shauna

Tim and the Girls

Quotes of the Day

2011-05-13T16:22:00.002-04:00

These are both Stephen B. quotes of the day, I seem to get quite a lot of these.

Stephen: "Mrs. S., look at my fly, it's broken."
Me: "That is a sentence I never want to hear again."

Me: "Drive carefully and don't speed."
Stephen: "I won't. I promise I'll go zero miles per hour on the ferry."

Ice Cream, Anyone?

2011-05-13T16:07:00.002-04:00

Shauna was texting a friend. She asked, "Is it Baskin in Robins or Basket of Robins?" I was laughing too hard to answer, but after a minute or two, Alex was able to get out, "Neither, it's Baskin-Robbins!"

Hmm, I guess we need to go out for ice cream more often. I wonder if Basket of Robins has an early bird special?

The BIRDS are so annoying this yearrr! Ugh

2011-05-10T07:53:00.002-04:00

The title of this post comes straight from Alex's Facebook status. He posted that a couple of days ago and after doing a bit of talking back and forth, Alex, Shauna, and I realized just why the birds are driving him crazy. It seems that some woodpeckers have pecked a hole in our house, in the eaves, right between Alex and Shauna's windows. They have, apparently, pecked completely through and are now residing in one of our attics. Mikey will be thrilled to read this, as I haven't told him about this yet. We just figured it out last night.

Shauna texted me this morning, telling me that she didn't need me to wake her up, since the woodpeckers had already done so. We talked about it this morning and Shauna's ideas were: 1. Call Animal Control. When I explained that Animal Control wouldn't come out to remove woodpeckers from our attic, she said, "well, what the heck are they there for, then?" (Good question, as there is a lot they won't do!) 2. "Dad can go in the attic and close up the hole. He can just swat at the birds if they try to attack him. Maybe he should use a pillow for head protection."

I'm thinking that Alex's ideas for getting rid of the woodpeckers might include poison and BB guns, seeing as he is losing quite a bit of sleep. As a teenager who can never get enough sleep, they are really making him suffer!

A post about Mother's Day and why I took my first sick day from work yesterday to follow.

And the Capitals lose...

2011-05-05T15:24:00.002-04:00

Mike had tickets for the Capitals playoff game this Saturday. However, they had to win at least one of four games in order for the game to happen. Unfortunately, they lost all four games! That means instead of spending a romantic weekend with my husband in DC and enjoying a fun Caps game, I will be staying in Williamsburg and doing projects around the house. Ugh! The bright spots are that I will save the gas money I would have spent driving to DC and I will get to spend Mother's Day with the kids. We are going to take the ferry across the river and go strawberry picking with my sister, her husband and kids, and my mom. Should be a fun day, unless it rains!

Luke has been getting very few hours at work lately, since his store decided to hire way more cashiers than they need. He is interviewing at a different store today. Hopefully, he will get the job and more hours.

More Birthday Party Pictures

2011-05-05T15:10:00.004-04:00

Mikey, Janine, Jack

Luke, Drew, and Jack, enjoying their stuffed pizza. Andrea is in the background, hiding from the camera!

Mike and Michelle

Drew and Luke

"The Twins" Jack and Mike

The Family Room and Kitchen

Shauna, Hannah, Sydnee, and Tatum

Another view of the decorated family room

Please don't faint!

2011-05-04T08:31:00.003-04:00

What a great weekend we had! Mikey had his 50th birthday on the 25th, but he was in DC that day. Jack, Janine, and Andrea were coming down for the weekend, so we planned a surprise party for him on the 28th. Although he had some suspicions, he had forgotten about them by the time he walked in the house on Friday. We decorated the house and six of the kids were there, plus my mom, sister and her kids. I ordered pizza from Giordano's in Chicago and that was a huge hit. Pizza from Chicago is the absolute best, no matter what is said about New York pizza! While I would have loved some delicious thin crust, as well, stuffed is the only kind that can be delivered and it was delicious. We also had a delicious yellow cake with milk chocolate frosting which is Mikey's favorite, thanks to Janine. I made Jenni's Cherry Cheesecake (if you're reading this Jen, I make this quite often and everyone loves it!), although we had strawberries and blueberries on the side, instead of the cherries. We all pitched in a bought an ipod, docking station, and itunes card for Mike. Unfortunately, the ipod went through China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Alaska, and New Jersey before finally arriving in Williamsburg four days after the party. I will post pictures that our official birthday photographer, Janine, took for us.

My job is going great. I cannot express how much I LOVE it! I take care of a now-15 month old baby girl and she is awesome! I had a feeling I would like this job, but I had no idea that I would fall completely in love with this little girl and that she would become like part of my family. Her parents are fantastic, kind, and wonderful. They are so understanding of my family issues and so considerate of my needs. Whenever I need time off, I can have it. Whenever I need to schedule around doctor, orthodontist, or other appointments, they find a way to accommodate me. I could not ask for a better place to work. The best part is when the baby, L, practically jumps into my arms when she sees me and puts her head on my shoulder and gives me a giant hug each day! No matter how much stress I am going through at home, I can walk into work and have an instant stress reliever in my arms.

We also do fun things at the office. There are three other women who work there. They are all very nice. The doctors bring lunch in once a month and take us out to a nice restaurant for special occasions, such as some one's six year anniversary working there and Administrative Assistant's Day. We have also begun doing holiday exchanges. Normally, I would hate that. It is so stressful, trying to find things for someone you work with when you don't really know their preferences too well. However, our exchanges have fun rules. We have done Valentine's Day so far and today is our Easter Exchange. We pull names and then pick a date for at least a week after the holiday. The rules are that the gifts cannot cost more than $6 and they have to be purchased on clearance, after the holiday. They must also include at least some candy. It is so much fun to shop around and find the bargains!

The kids are doing well. Drew moved to an apartment, with two friends, in Richmond about three months ago. We miss him, but he is doing great and loving living on his own. I have to admit that although I miss him, things are a lot less stressful, for me, now that he is gone. It is really hard to have an adult child living in the house. They want to do their own thing and make their own rules, which don't always mesh with my rules.

Jack is loving his job in Philly and has been there almost a year now. Janine is set to graduate from Radiology School in August and then start a mammogram program.

Steven is still in jail (not sure if I ever blogged about that!). He has been in since June 23rd and is doing fantastic! It was amazing to watch his transformation, as his brain slowly began to clear, the longer he was away from drugs and alcohol. He has been in the "good behavior pod" since early September and has been working 6 days a week in the kitchen. He just got approved for work release last week, which means he will be allowed to go out and work at a regular job every day, returning to jail when he is done. He has a couple possible jobs in mind, we are just working on the details at this point. When he is released, which will be either in the beginning of August or the beginning of September, he will go straight to a long-term rehab program. He will be there for 14-18 months. He hates it when I say this, but getting sent to jail is the best thing that has happened to him.

Alex is still very busy with his drama. He just finished the high school play and is involved in two more productions at the moment. He is almost ready to get his driver's license and is taking Spanish and American Sign Language at school.

Hannah's behavior has improved in many ways. Her rages are becoming much further apart, instead of daily, as they used to be. She is slowly (very slowly) learning how to control herself and monitor her own behavior. We have a lot of ups and downs, but she is more and more often showing us mature, rational behavior. She will never be "normal", but I will take as close as we can get!

Shauna is as sweet as always. She has been having issues with severe abdominal pain and missed three days of school last week. She was diagnosed with a reflux disorder and has been doing better since being on medication. She is also a teenager and has her moments of talking back and getting mad at us, but she is still on the low end of "the teenage moodiness" scale. She has a ton of friends at school and has really started to go out a lot more to hang out with them. For those who know her, I have often had to put a few sticks of dynamite under the couch, just to get her to actually move off of it!

Time to get ready for work now. (Smile!) Did anyone notice that I didn't mention how I haven't blogged in forever???? Yeah, just thought I would jump right back in and pretend that I blogged yesterday.

Super Quickey

2010-08-02T20:52:00.002-04:00

The job is great, the baby is awesome! It was a fun, relaxing day. The woman who has been taking care of her stayed with me today and will do so again tomorrow. She is so nice and we got along very well and had plenty to talk about, so it wasn't awkward at all. That was nice since we were sitting in the same small room for five hours. She told me that the doctors I work for are fantastic, which I had gathered from my experience with them, but it was nice to have it confirmed. I'm looking forward to tomorrow!

For the Hotel Cinderella fans, don't despair, a post is in the works!

New Job

2010-08-01T17:49:00.002-04:00

I am starting my new job tomorrow. I can't wait. The only bad thing is that I don't have my schedule for Friday and I might miss Alex's end of Shakespeare Camp performance. I will be working either from 8:30-1:30 or 11:30-4:30 each day. If I get morning duty on Friday, I will be fine, but if I get afternoon, I will miss his play. At least I now have a video camera and can have someone record it for me, since my mom gave me one for Christmas.

Since Drew and Luke are in Chicago until Tuesday night, I have to coordinate rides when I'm at work. Luckily, a neighbor is attending, also, so we are going to car pool. Thank goodness!

Can't wait to spend the day with my new baby tomorrow!

Packing

2010-07-22T20:58:00.002-04:00

Well, I am leaving for the Hotel Cinderella in less than 24 hours. I don't have one thing packed or even ready to be packed. And you know how the HC works, you have to bring your own food and other supplies, so I still have that to do. Then I get home from being at Alex's play performances all day and find that Denise has finally decided to read my blog and comment on posts that are from so long ago I had to read them again to refresh my memory! Does she think I really have time to read and publish all of her comments when I am supposed to be dressing in my rags and packing up my cooking and cleaning supplies? Ugh! That isn't too high maintenance, is it??? The comments were pretty funny, though, so I guess I will let her slide this time!

For Mikey

2010-07-21T15:45:00.005-04:00

So...Mikey has been bugging me about not posting. Well, more like bugging me to post! Here is a quicky. Alex has been in a theater camp for the past three weeks. He is playing Aladdin in their production of Aladdin on Thursday. The last day of camp is Friday and we will be heading up to Philadelphia to visit Nick and Denise, as well as Jack and Janine. We can only stay for a few days because we have to be back on Tuesday because Drew and Luke are going to Chicago and we can't leave the dog at home alone. It will be a quick trip, but I'm sure we will have a great time! Who wouldn't have a great time at the famous Hotel Cinderella???????

I have to take Luke and Stephen B. to register for college on Friday. Ugh, that should be fun, as anyone who has ever spent time with Luke and Stephen B. should know. Today Stephen B. asked me how they make a penis for people who have sex change operations! Oy. They just left here, after arguing with me for an hour about getting up early on Friday to be at the school by 8:00 am.

I quit my job! Yes, the job that I loved. Yes, I really did love it, but I also hated some things about it. I loved the work and the babies and loved, loved, loved my co-worker, Nelma. We are now the best of friends. The problem was that I was gone from home for 50 hours per week. Another issue was that when I was hired, the director assured me that getting time off for trips with Mike, family trips, IEP meetings, and doctor appointments for me and the kids wasn't going to be a problem. At first it wasn't, but then she decided that she didn't want people taking time off. I was very sick with bronchitis and missed three days of work because I was not only too sick to work, but also contagious. The director and owner were mad at me for that. It didn't matter that I would have gotten the babies sick or passed out while carrying one of them, they still wanted me there. They have plenty of substitutes, so that isn't the problem. In the 5 months that I was working there, 10 out of 12 people left. Does that tell you anything?

The good news is that I found a way better job! I will be making a lot more money and babysitting for one little girl (instead of up to 13 babies at once!). She is 5 months old and has Down syndrome. I am so excited and can't wait to start on August 2nd. Plus it is only for 4-5 hours per day, so I have plenty of time for appointments and other things I need to get done. The baby is adorable and I know I'm going to love caring for her.

Quote of the day

2010-07-16T10:50:00.002-04:00

"So...how is that zit on your boob?"--Alex, to his friend, Naomi

Quote of the day

2010-06-26T18:07:00.002-04:00

Me: "Someone said she looks like Mary Tyler Moore. Have you ever seen 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'? She's the wife on that show."

Stephen B: "Ha, Dick Van Dyke. I like that, dick and dyke in the same sentence."

(Only from the mouth of a teenager!)

Luke's Graduation Pictures

2010-06-26T13:20:00.005-04:00

The Family

Mommy and Lukey

Daddy and Lukey

The Family and Gramma

Best friends since third grade, Luke and Stephen B.

Just jumping right back in here! Luke graduated from high school last weekend. We had a wonderful family weekend, with Jack and Janine coming in from Philly. Everyone got the day off work and we all attended the graduation. My mom went, as well as a friend from Illinois, Adam. We went to Sal's for a delicious Italian dinner after the graduation. Janine took more pictures with her camera. I will post those once she sends them to me. (Hint, hint, Janine!) I know she is a bit busy, since her Godson was born a few hours ago. Congratulations to Janine. Can't wait to see pictures!

Las Vegas!

2010-05-05T16:58:00.002-04:00

Mike and I are in Las Vegas, again! Mike is doing work at The Venetian and has to stay for three weeks. We decided that I would come out to spend eight days with him. I arrived Saturday, at about 10:00 am. We had a wonderful time on Saturday and Sunday. The weather was gorgeous, too. After he picked me up at the airport, we headed straight to our favorite Chicago restaurant, Aurelio's. The pizza was delicious and we split an Italian beef sandwich, but that wasn't quite as good, since they way overcooked the beef. True Chicago Italian beef is not cooked within an inch of it's life!

After Aurelio's, we came back to the room to drop off my suitcase. The room is awesome! Mike made me wait in the hall, while he went in and "prepared" the room for me. He turned on all the cool lights. They have a long table in the bedroom that has a transparent slab of marble on it, that lights up. It is really pretty and he knows how much I love light up things! There are also some really cool lights next to and above the bed, as well as some pretty sconces in the bathroom that are on a dimmer switch.

This hotel is an all suites hotel. The entry is large and so is the bathroom. Actually the bathroom is really large. They both have beautiful marble floors that have an inlaid pattern. There is a roomy tub and large shower, as well as a double sink vanity and a make-up vanity with a lighted mirror. Talk about luxury! The bedroom is also large, with a super comfortable king size bed. Next to the bedroom, there is a sunken living room with an L-shaped couch, desk area, and a dining table. All of the room have their own television. We have a decent view, as we are able to see mountains all around and some of the strip. We have a great view of the volcano show at The Mirage, which is right across the street.

Back to Saturday. We took a nap, after returning to the room, since neither of us had gotten much sleep the night before. I had to get up at 2:00 am Virginia time (11:00 pm Vegas time), in order to get to the airport for my 5:40 am flight. Saturday night, we met with two of Mike's co-workers and went to dinner in a nice restaurant, The Grand Lux, in the hotel. After dinner, we headed down the hall to see Jersey Boys. It was excellent! Mikey and I both loved it! I felt fine until after the show, when I suddenly started feeling completely exhausted. I then realized that other than the nap I had taken earlier in the day, I had been up for 24 hours. I am thankful that the bed is so comfortable because that helped me get a great nights sleep.

On Sunday, we went for a walk on the strip and Mike took me to see some pretty fountains. They were turned down, though, due to very high winds here. We walked through The Mirage atrium, which is absolutely gorgeous. The flower arrangements there are spectacular. We went to the laundromat to do Mike's laundry for the week and did some shopping. I needed some bandages for my finger and a few other necessities. For dinner we decided to get some gyros, since we can't get them in Virginia, but the place we went to was closed on Sundays. We headed back to the hotel and got carry out from the same restaurant that we went to on Saturday. They make a BLT that is so delicious, I could eat one every day!

On Monday, our day sort of sucked. Mike had to work from 8:00 am until 9:30 pm. We met at lunchtime, but only had about 45 minutes together. It was a pretty boring day for me, but also relaxing. I missed Mikey, though.

Tuesday was a bit better, as Mikey got off work at around 8:00. We met three of his co-workers for dinner at First Food and Bar. The restaurant was very interesting and probably not one that Mike and I would have ventured into on our own. It turned out to be very good and we both enjoyed it. I got fish and chips, which is weird for me, but it was so good. They served soft pretzels with fancy dipping sauces instead of rolls. We had a nice time. Mike's co-workers are fun to be with and made me feel very comfortable, even though I don't work with them.

Today Mike has a break between classes/meetings, so we went outside and checked out the hotel pools. WOW! The pool area is gorgeous. The landscaping is breathtaking and the jasmine is blooming and it smells heavenly. I think I will go sit out there and read a book when Mike leaves later this afternoon to go to a meeting. I will take pictures and post them later. We went and picked up another delicious lunch from one of the hotel restaurants and brought it to our room to eat. The fresh strawberries here are really delicious. Speaking of strawberries, I wonder if mine at home are setting fruit yet. Hopefully, the dog hasn't eaten them all!

The kids seem to be doing great at home without me. That is good because I was a bit worried about being gone for so long. The longest I have gone away for before was about five days.

Medical Woes

2010-05-05T16:56:00.000-04:00

I have a staph infection in my finger. I have no idea how I got it, just that I first noticed it at work. I went to the doctor about a week after it started, as it has started to get itchy and grow larger and I had a bunch of puss filled pockets. Yuck! The doctor lanced the pockets and squeezed out as much infection as he could. Yuck, again, and Ouch! He put me on medication to treat MRSA, as he thinks that my infection could be MRSA. I am still waiting for the biopsy results. MRSA or not, this thing is painful and itchy and annoying.

On a good medical note, I finally went to the doctor. I am a doctor-phobic person so I avoid the doctor whenever possible. I haven't had a pelvic exam or pap smear since 2001, which was also the time of my last physical. I did go to the doctor when I had a kidney/bladder infection, back spasms, and the torn hamstring. I feel so much better now that I have made myself go. I had to get a TB test for work, but I could have gone to the local health clinic and just gotten that done. I decided that this would be a good reason for me to go to the doctor for a full exam, instead. Everything checked out so far, except for my high blood pressure. He put me on a sample medication and I go back in three weeks to see how that is working.

Washington DC

2010-04-11T15:40:00.002-04:00

I was able to get Friday off work and Mike and I took the three youngest to Washington DC for the weekend. What a great time we had! They picked me up at work on Thursday evening and all came in to wait with me, for a mom who was late. Turned out she fell asleep and forgot to pick her baby up! Ugh. We finally got out of there and stopped a little over halfway to DC for dinner. We ate at Golden Corral and we all had a delicious dinner. Alex started with his smart mouth, so that part sucked, but most of the dinner was fun. I don't know why that boy can never shut his mouth when he needs to. He is, for the most part, a great kid, but the smart mouth is killing us!

We ended up arriving in DC around 10ish, I think. We unpacked, watched a little tv and hung out with Mike's work friend, Anet, who was also staying at the townhouse that night. We got to bed a little later than we wanted to, so we slept in a bit on Friday morning. We had been expecting rain and thunderstorms all day, but woke to a cool, sunny day. We decided to take the Metro train into DC, instead of driving, since it is really hard to find a place to park or van. The parking garages don't accommodate vehicles with the height of our van. It was fun to take the train. We started out at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, which I thought was pretty interesting. Although the kids said they liked it afterwards, it was sort of hard to tell while we were there, as they whined, moaned, complained and talked back most of the time. Alex was in his prime with the back talk and got his phone taken away for a good, long time. I really wanted to slap his face several times, but didn't want to get arrested! Oh, well, I got to see Julia Child's kitchen, so the annoyance was worth it!

After that museum, the kids decided they wanted to go to more. Go figure. Anyway, by then it was after 5:30, the time the other museums close. So we decided to abandon our idea of looking at cherry blossoms and having a picnic on Saturday and we spent another day at the museums instead. Good thing, since the cherry blossoms are gone! We drove in on Saturday, hoping for a street spot, which we found plenty of, but they were all two hour parking only. We drove around for awhile and then ended up driving out to the waterfront, near the marina where we found an above ground lot for only $10 a day. We parked there and took the bus to the National Mall, where all the Smithsonian museums are. We went to the Native American Museum, which had a wonderful show and gift store, the Air and Space Museum and The Museum of Natural History. The last museum had a cool butterfly habitat, which Hannah and I loved. I tried to get her to go in with me, even though it cost $6 per person, but she was afraid of the butterflies, since they land on people. When she was little, we took her into a bird habitat at Busch Gardens and they were landing on her and she freaked out. We settled for looking through the window and saved $12, but we both were longing to be in there, so we could see all of the butterflies. The view through the window was very limited, but we still saw some beauties.

We went to bed early last night, since we had to drop Mike off at the Richmond airport for a flight to Ohio. All in all, in spite of Alex's behavior and a bit of whining from the girls, it was a great trip!

Glorious Day, Part Two

2010-04-05T17:23:00.002-04:00

This afternoon, Mike and I went to the library. I can't remember if I blogged about this before, but I was extremely excited when Mike was listening to the same book on CD that I was reading. Well, I wasn't actually reading it until I found out he was listening to it, but it was on my shelf, waiting to be read. I have had this long time fantasy that Mike (who hates to read anything other than websites, magazines and newspapers) would learn to love the books that I love. It was fun to be reading the same book at the same time. So, today we headed to the library with the idea of him picking out some CD's to listen to on the way to and from work and for me to get the same in book form. We ended up with Columbine. That isn't the type of book I normally read, but it looks really good. I was hoping to talk Mike into getting at least one John Sandford book, but he picked several others, instead. Hopefully, he will try one of those in the future because I think he will really like them. There are at least 18 books in the Prey series and I think I have read them all at least once, but I would still love to see if he likes them. They are, in my opinion, even better than "Killer View" by Ridley Pearson, which is the one we just finished.

After coming out of the library, we sat in the shade, under the wisteria arbor, next to the fountain. Our library has a beautiful area with chairs and short walls to sit on and the wisteria was in bloom and smelled wonderful! I found some Birds and Blooms magazines in the used book area for only .25 each. I thumbed through those while Mike read the information booklet from one of his books on CD. It was so nice and relaxing, sitting there in the breeze with the smell of wisteria in the air. I think I have a new appreciation for little things like that, now that I am gone from home so many hours for work.

Alex had a good time filming his movie today. The movie, called "The Bill of Rights" is supposed to be on PBS in November. He is looking forward to doing it, again, tomorrow. Time to go grill the chicken and pork chops that have been marinating all day!

Glorious Day!

2010-04-05T10:40:00.002-04:00

What a glorious day! It is beautiful outside and I have the day off. The daycare center is closed for the day, to celebrate Easter. I haven't been there long enough for it to be a paid holiday, but I really don't even care. Mike is home for the week, to keep an eye on the kids during Spring Break.

Mike and I got up at my regular working-day time today and took Alex to Colonial Williamsburg, where he is an extra in a movie. He is excited because this is his first movie and he gets paid $12 an hour to do something that is tons of fun. They also serve them snacks and lunch. He will do it today and tomorrow and should make about $120. We then tried to go to the library, only to find out that it doesn't open until 10:00. So we headed to Walgreens, where Jack and Drew were both working, and bought some Easter stuff at 50% off. We decided not to do baskets this year, as the kids said they would prefer to just get some new clothes. Shauna, however, wasn't a part of that conversation and I found out on Saturday that she still wanted a basket. She was more than happy to get a big bowl of candy (for the whole family, not just Shauna!) on Easter and wait a few more days for a basket with some goodies. I still have a couple more things to pick up for her, but when we tried to go to the hair care store to get them, they didn't open until 11:30. What is with these stores?

On Saturday morning, just as I was about to step into the shower, I got a text that my mom was being taken from work to the hospital by ambulance. I went to the hospital and, luckily, she was doing pretty well. It turned out that she had been at the cardiologist on Thursday, to get a stress test because she had an abnormal EKG. During the stress test, they had to stop because her blood pressure shot up super high. She was put on a beta-blocker drug and it slowed her heart rate drastically. That caused her to feel light headed and otherwise horrible. She was released after a few hours, after being given the option of staying until they got the meds regulated or going home to do it. Hopefully, she will be able to find a good combination of meds that keeps the blood pressure down and doesn't cause her heart rate to slow so much.

I am officially ready for the return of my beloved hummingbirds! I have one feeder out in front and Mike just helped me put a new one on the sun room window. I was at Walmart a couple of weeks ago and decided to buy Alex the hummingbird feeder that he had been asking for last year. While I was getting it, I saw that they had some hangers that could be attached to a window with heavy duty suction cups. I bought one, as well as a small feeder to go on it. I was so excited because we will be able to sit in the air conditioned sun room and still see the hummingbirds! Our front porch faces southwest, so it is usually too sunny and hot to sit out there in the evenings. Since I will be at work in the mornings, when I would usually hang out there to see my birdies, this will work out perfectly! Another plus is that the hummingbirds will have more shade because the window feeder is on the northeast side of the house. I still have two more feeders to prepare, but I am soaking those in bleach water to kill any mold. Now all I need is for the hummingbirds to migrate back up here.

Has it been a month already?

2010-03-21T19:06:00.002-04:00

Well, I think this may be the longest I have gone without posting. One full month. I have a very good excuse, of course, but I thought I would jump on and do a quick one before I head to bed. I have been working for five weeks now. I still love the job. The only hitch is that I have fifty fewer hours at home every week. Fifty hours. That is a lot of time and it is so hard to get everything done in the time that I am home, but I am getting better at it.

Last week we went to a birthday party for my work friend's son. She rented out a small bowling alley for cosmic bowling and Mike and I took Alex, Hannah, and Shauna. It was a lot of fun! My friend's family is very nice and were very friendly and welcoming to us. She has three bio daughters, all adults with kids of their own, and three adopted sons, ages 13, 14 & 15. Her son Josh, is doing drama classes and plays with Alex.

This weekend, we concentrated on cleaning out our sun room, which we have been using as a storage area. We are not done yet, and won't be until Steven moves out and takes his stuff, but we made a huge difference and I'd say we have about 20% still to go. I'm hoping to finish it next weekend, although I have to go to a CPR class on Saturday for five hours, and we really need to get some gardening done, so I will have to see.

After two days of sun room cleaning, Mike and I took the kids out for ice cream. That is a pretty rare treat for us and we all enjoyed it. It was a beautiful day in Colonial Williamsburg today! We brought Luke a sundae because he was having allergy problems all day at work and didn't feel like going with us. One of the drawbacks of living here is the allergies! However, living in a place where spring weather begins long before spring on the calendar is a big, big bonus! After an exceptionally snowy winter, we were all happy to see the trees and daffodils start to bloom.

I put my hummingbird feeders back out today! I'm not sure when we will see the first birds. I've done some research and have seen everything from mid-March to mid-May for the first Williamsburg hummingbird sightings.

On a sad note, we found out that our next door neighbors are moving. We really like them and will be sad to see them go. Please pray that we get nice ones, again! Wrigley will really miss them because whenever they make meat with good dog bones, they give them to him. Jerry made beef short ribs and put the bones in his freezer and has been giving him one every day. Wrigley has been in heaven!

Off to make my daily gallon of iced tea for tomorrow and some pound cake before I get to sleepy to accomplish anything! I hope I still have a few readers after my long absence!

Valentine's Day

2010-02-21T10:21:00.002-05:00

I almost forgot about Valentine's Day, but was reading Denise's blog and she reminded me! Alex had a performance that day. It had been scheduled for earlier in the month, but due to snow, it was changed to the 14th. He was performing at a beautiful theater in Colonial Williamsburg. We got there early for rehearsal, dropped Alex off, and Mike and I went off to find a parking space. As we walked to the theater, Mike steered me towards a candy shop. I told him that wasn't the theater and he told me to just go in. It is no secret that I'm addicted to chocolate, so I normally stay away from candy stores. I had never been in this one, even though we have lived here for ten years. It was delightful! I was told I could pick anything I wanted. I sent straight for the sale racks, as all Valentine's stuff was on sale for 30% off. It looked good, but not great. Then I saw the fresh candy counters and found my favorite of all favorites, creams!!!! I asked the girl if the orange creams had any hard pieces in them, which I don't usually like, and she offered me one to taste. It was absolutely delicious! Almost as good as Fannie May. I ended up getting a pound of orange, vanilla, chocolate and raspberry creams. They are so yummy! Mikey got some chocolate covered cashews that were on a bogo sale and we headed over to the theater.

Alex's performance was great and he got a lot of compliments from his instructor and the audience. I am hoping to post a video of it, but I'm waiting for Jack to get it off the video camera for me. Hint, hint!

My wonderful gifts! (Sorry Nick!)

2010-02-21T09:56:00.004-05:00

(Sorry Nick, but you aren't going to like this "bar raising" post at all!!!)

When I got home on Friday, Mikey was already home from work. He had washed the dishes, which was a wonderful gift in itself! He also had a gift and card waiting for me. The card congratulated me on my first week at work. The gift is the cutest statue of a mom/angel cuddling with a baby. I was so impressed that he not only thought about getting me something, but that the gift was so well thought out and perfect!

Another gift I got this week was from the kids. On Wednesday, which just happens to be the hardest day of the week at work, I came home and was shocked to see a completely clean family room and kitchen. When I left for work that morning, there were piles of clean, but not folded clothes covering both couches, plus other miscellaneous stuff on the counters and floors. The kids each do their own laundry, but they put it on the couch and I fold it. I guess they figured out when there wasn't anywhere left to sit, that I was at work and the laundry wasn't going to fold itself! Anyway, apparently Steven took charge and gave each kid their assignments. Shauna said, "Mom, Steven was you, but in a good way." I'm wasn't quite sure how to take that, but she assured me that she just meant that he told coordinated the "family clean-up" the way I usually do. It was SO nice to walk into a clean house!

I didn't quit yet!

2010-02-16T19:15:00.005-05:00

This will be a very quick update, just to let everyone know how things are going with my new job. Thanks to all of you who commented with such encouraging messages! I really appreciated them. Yesterday was my first day and it was a slow day, kid-wise, because it was President's Day and a lot of the parents were off. That worked out perfectly for me because I was able to really ease into things. I felt a little awkward at first, not knowing the routine, but by the end of the day, I was doing pretty well. By the end of today, I had really fallen into the rhythm of things! The two ladies in the infant room with me are very nice and we all mesh really well. I was a little worried about fitting in with them, since they've known each other for a while, but it has been great.

So, the ladies and babies were great, but I was EXHAUSTED when I got home the first day. I take that back, I was EXHAUSTED for the last hour and a half of work. I'm not talking about regular exhaustion here (hence the capital letters!). I am talking absolute bone-aching exhaustion! My feet were killing me, I was getting cramps throughout my feet, toes, and legs. My back was sore and my hamstrings were hurting. I was barely able to lift myself into my van!

The rest of the week was a bit better. I was still sore on Friday, but a lot less. Who thought working full time would be a good idea for me??? I love the job, but it is much, much, much harder than I thought it would be. The job is harder than I thought it would be, but manageable. The part I'm having the hardest time with is being away from the house for 10 hours a day. When I get home, I am so tired that I can't even think straight. I fall asleep an hour or two after I get home, so I really don't get to spend much time with the kids at all. I keep telling myself that things will get better, once I'm used to everything and have been doing it for a while. I hope I am right! I just never expected to have such a hard time with this, emotionally.

A new chapter

2010-02-14T20:28:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is a huge day for me. I am nervous and excited. This will be the first time I have worked full time, out of the home, since August of 1983! I still don't know how I am going to handle this, but I am excited about meeting my babies tomorrow. I'm going to really miss being home with the kids. Several of them still need hands on parenting, but I cannot afford to stay home any longer, so I just need to suck it up, I guess.

I am praying that Hannah's great behavior continues and she doesn't revert to tantruming. I don't know if I will be able to continue working if she does. I won't be able to leave her home with the other kids, without me to intervene. If you've noticed, there haven't been any rage posts because there haven't been any rages! Well, a minor one here and there, but she hasn't hit or kicked me or damaged anything in about 5 or 6 months. That is a HUGE accomplishment for her.

I have tomorrow's dinner all ready to go into the crock pot in the morning. I also prepared several dinner items for the week. I got everything that could be made ahead done, so I can just put things together and cook when I get home from work. Tomorrow we are having Ravioli and Red Lobster Copycat Garlic Cheddar Biscuits. Yum! I wonder how long I will be able to stay this organized? Now I'm off to get to bed early, I will need all the strength and energy I can get tomorrow!

More Blizzard Pictures

2010-02-12T20:54:00.003-05:00

The neighbors digging out

Mikey digging my van out of the driveway

Alex, Shauna, and Hannah playing and helping

Hannah's turn to shovel. She is a great shoveler!

Part of the kitchen of the new townhome

Alex and Shauna, braving the huge snow pile at the end of the street

The top of my van in front and the buried cars in the background. We could only see the side-view mirrors and the windshield wipers that had been pulled out so they wouldn't freeze.

Alex and I made Denise's mashed potatoes with spinach and corn. We were being silly and pretending we were plating it for Iron Chef! Too bad I'm the only one who thought it was really delicious.

The neighbors helping Mike get the van unstuck from the middle of the street

Shauna, pretending to be me. I did not appreciate the extra padding in the stomach area!

YESSSSSS! I GOT A JOB!

2010-02-12T14:21:00.002-05:00

I am so excited, I just found out that I got a job that I had applied for and wanted to get so badly!!! I can't wait to start on Monday. I'm going to be an infant teacher at a small daycare center. I love the people I have met there, so far, and I love the way they run the center. It is very family oriented and doesn't have the cold atmosphere that so many daycare centers have.

Of course, starting next week is the worst possible time, since Jack is leaving for Philly on Monday and Drew is leaving for Chicago on the same day. The kids are also off that day, so they will be home alone for the entire day, unless Mike can stay home that day.

Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to swing working and being a single-during-the-week mom at the same time. Getting everyone where they need to be is going to be the hardest thing, next to meal preparation. The hours I will be working are a lot later than I was hoping for, but I will just have to find a way to make that work.

Snow adventure

2010-02-12T14:16:00.004-05:00

That poor little thing on the right is a (formerly) tall evergreen. In the middle of the night before this picture was taken, I looked out my bedroom window and that evergreen and several others were just starting to hunch over and they were slowly swaying side to side in the wind. They looked like they had monk's robes on and their heads were bent forward. It was weird and creepy.

Last weekend, we got tickets for a Capitals game in DC. We decided that Mike would just stay there for the weekend and I would drive up on Friday with Alex, Hannah and Shauna, to go to the game. We heard about the big snow they were expecting and rather than cancel the trip and just have Mike come home before the snow started, we did the smart thing and headed up a day earlier than planned! We left after school on Thursday and got there in the late evening. The snow started in the morning on Friday and didn't stop for a long time! We ended up deciding that driving to the game wasn't worth the risk, so we stayed at the townhouse and watched it on television. Too bad we couldn't have gone, since the game was great. We had fun watching it on tv, while checking the snowfall totals frequently. We ended up with at least 25 inches.

Alex, Hannah, and Shauna had never experienced that much snow, so they had a blast! Mike was shoveling every few hours and they did some helping with that. Alex and Hannah did the most shoveling. Shauna tends to take after me and she doesn't really get into the physical stuff! The really enjoyed climbing the big snow hills and sliding down. It was a little rough on them since we don't own snow pants or boots anymore. Poor Alex had on a pair of thin canvas shoes and would have probably gotten frost bite, were it not for the plastic Walmart bags we made him put on his feet. The girls had boots, but they are more fashion boots than snow boots. They still had a wonderful time and I got some good video of the event. I will try to post pictures, but right now Mike is figuring out how to get them off his Blackberry. I had my digital camera with me, but a certain son, who shall remain nameless, but did go on the trip with us, had taken my card out and not returned it.

Being snowed in was fun. We brought plenty of food and the kids even pitched in with the preparation. They got bored several times, but I think it was good for them. We played some board games and I was reminded about why we don't do that much at home. They are freaking annoying to play with!! They can't count spaces on Monopoly or Sorry. They get mad if I try to tell them a better strategy for winning. They take forever to remember that it is their turn. They quit in the middle of a game because they are bored. There was more to annoy me, but I can't remember everything now. I was wishing Denise was there, she is a good game companion!
We also played dominoes and Mike joined in. That was semi-annoying but still fun. Mike wasn't annoying, just the kids!

Mike just came in and handed me 5 mini Reese's peanut butter cups and said, "Happy Valentine's Day". Wow, I'm sure he only did it to throw me off, since he really plans to give me a dozen roses, a box of Fannie May, and a diamond ring! Who says there is no romance after 27 years of marriage????

Back to the snow weekend. I had planned to leave DC (actually Northern VA, but DC is easier) on Sunday afternoon, so the kids would only miss one day of school. However, the roads were still really bad and when Mike pulled the van out of the driveway to shovel around it, it got stuck in the middle of the street and three neighbors had to help get it back in, so I decided going home was out of the question. We ended up leaving at 1:00 pm on Monday, which was a bit iffy. If I wasn't so concerned about school, I would have stayed one more day because the highways weren't all that great. In the left and right lanes, it was fairly clear, wet, but clear, until suddenly a huge pile of snow would pop up right in front of the car! The middle lane was clear in a few spots, but in most areas, it had several inches of thick ice. I had a small panic when my windows got dirty from the salty snow spray from trucks and it turned out my blue stuff wasn't coming out. I'm sure there is a proper name for the blue stuff, like windshield cleaner, but we always call it blue stuff! I stopped as soon as I could to go to a gas station. The roads off the highway were even worse and I was terrified that I would get stuck. Alex got a squeegee and cleaned the windshield, while the girls and I tried to figure out how to open the hood. Shauna finally figured it out, just when I was going to look for the manual. After breaking all the thick ice under the wipers, thinking that might be covering the exit hole for the blue stuff, realized that that wasn't the problem. We headed into the gas station to buy some blue stuff and got there just in time, as they had just figured out that they couldn't sell anymore gas and were getting ready to close. I don't know why they couldn't' sell gas, they still had power, but the owner came in all in a panic to say they had to put signs on the pumps. Maybe they were out of gas, I'm not sure, as most of the conversation was in Chinese. When we finally got the hood open (turns out you still have to maneuver another latch under the hood, as well as inside the van) and located the blue stuff container, I realized that it already had blue stuff in it! I suppressed my panic and put my fingers in, pulling out chunks of ice that had formed inside. I topped it off with the new stuff and was thrilled when it actually worked!!!! The kids were sweet, too, as they worried about my fingers getting frost bite and even offered to do it for me!

After getting back on the road and getting a bit further south, the roads got much better and it was smooth sailing from Fredericksburg all the way home. The kids were excellent in the car, even though the converter isn't working, so they couldn't watch television. I was happy because I got to listen to some great music! We arrived home in one piece and Wrigley was very happy to see us! All in all, it was a great trip and I look forward to the next one!

The front window. It got really windy and the wet snow just froze as it hit the screen

Street view before the cars across the street were completely covered with snow
The table on the back deck, as the snow kept piling up

Out to lunch

2010-02-12T14:11:00.002-05:00

I've guess I've been "out to lunch" on blogging lately and I went out to lunch today. Jack took me to a yummy Chinese buffet and Drew joined us. It was a delicious lunch, which I really enjoyed because I haven't been to this restaurant in a couple of years. They had changed the layout of the buffet a bit, but the food was better than ever. They even had brown rice. That made me happy because, after many years of not being willing to even try brown rice, I now love it. I always thought it was a health food and must taste awful. Other than some of the conversation being a little inappropriate for a public place, I enjoyed having lunch with my two oldest babies!

Quote of the day

2010-01-23T14:53:00.001-05:00

"Tell Luke the "moist" brownies are ready. I'm calling them "moist" instead of raw in the middle."--Alex

Cold

2010-01-09T15:08:00.002-05:00

Alex wanted me to take him shopping today. I told him I wasn't leaving the house today because it is too cold. He told me that this is the coldest month of the year, so I better get used to it. I have now decided that I am not leaving the house for the entire rest of the month! Some kids are going to have to learn how to drive!

Stupid Dog!

2010-01-08T20:03:00.002-05:00

It has been really cold here. In the 20's at night. We even got another half inch of snow last night. I mean we got .06 inches of snow last night (sorry CUP!). I decided that since Mikey is coming home from cold, snowy Boston tonight, I would make something warm and delicious for dinner. I put a new recipe in the crock pot this morning, Steak and Ravioli Soup, and it has been smelling yummy all day. Just before I drove Alex to his drama class/play rehearsal, I put two loaves of Cheddar Bread in the oven. When I got home, I took them out and put them on a rack to cool. (Can you see where this is going?) I then went into my bedroom to vacuum. Bad idea. Good for the carpet, bad for the bread! I had set a timer to put the pasta into the crock pot and I heard it going off. As I came out of the bedroom, I saw Wrigley dash to his cage in a quick hurry. There on the counter, stood one lone loaf of cheddar bread! Stupid dog! Luckily, I had just enough time to throw another batch together and pop them in the oven, but Mr. Wrigley is going to spend the evening in his cage. He had eaten almost the entire loaf before I caught him. He usually doesn't take anything off the counter, but I guess the bread must have smelled too good to resist.

Quote of the day

2009-12-24T14:35:00.002-05:00

"I can feel my ovaries starting to clog from eating all those eggs."--Alex

Update: Alex wants to make sure everyone knows that he was just kidding, he does know it is arteries, not ovaries!

Teenage Drama Update

2009-12-23T15:13:00.002-05:00

The one with the attitude and the one who had the cell phone taken away for the turn in violation are both cleaning their rooms, without being told! One came down with four bags of trash (Walmart size, not trash size!) and the other came down for a bucket of soapy water to wash the bedroom floor! Yay!

The one who needs the dermatologist is still looking in the mirror and now "needs a frickin' haircut soooooooooooooo badly"!

Oh, by the way, none of the teenagers have any problem eating all the Christmas goodies I have been slaving over!

More teenage drama

2009-12-23T15:09:00.003-05:00

Two confiscated cell phones. One taken away for not turning it in at 8:00 pm, as required. One taken away for wearing brother's jeans without permission and then lying about it. Caught in the act when the jean pockets were checked and an excused absence slip from the school office, complete with the date and the name!

Add one who refuses to do his household chores before he goes to work, one who thinks I am a maid service, and one who has an attitude about everything. How I love being the mother of five teenagers!

The drama of teenagers

2009-12-23T15:06:00.002-05:00

"I need a frickin' dermatologist!"
"I thought you were cleaning the bathroom, where does the dermatologist come in?"
"There is a mirror in there and I can't stop looking at myself!"

Baking Day

2009-12-21T07:45:00.003-05:00

I was exhausted last night. I spent about 12 hours baking. I made 11 loaves of Portuguese Sweet Bread, 6 dozen hand-dipped truffles, two batches of cream cheese pastry, and two batches of refrigerator cookies and 5 pounds of fudge. When I write it out like this, it seems like so little, yet it was so much work and so time consuming! I actually made the fudge and refrigerator cookies on Saturday.

It was so much work, but also fun and worth the effort because the goodies are such an important part of the traditions that my kids love so much. They really hate it when anything changes about the holidays. There is no such thing; in my eyes, as saying, if I don't have time or money, I just won't bake this year. It is too special to my kids and makes them so happy, I just won't compromise on that. I've seen how much deviation from the norm upsets them. Last year, my mom stopped her annual tradition of giving each kid a personalized Christmas ornament on Thanksgiving. My kids were devastated! They were upset again this year, although not as upset as last year, since they had been hoping she only took one year off, but no such luck. I remember how much I loved the holiday traditions when I was a kid, like getting a Life Saver's Christmas Book every year. I guess since the kids of this generation are being raised in such a scary and tumultuous world, keeping things the same is more important than ever.

Last Weekend

2009-12-21T07:41:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, Hannah, Shauna and I went up to Northern VA for Mike's work Christmas party. We had a great time! The party was so much fun and the food was delicious. I've never had upscale catering before and it was wonderful. I'm used to pulled pork, fried chicken and beef sandwiches! Not that those aren't all delicious, this was just a bit different for a change.

We spent the weekend there, doing a little shopping and a fun tacky Christmas light tour. We saw some really pretty houses. The girls and I left on Sunday afternoon and Mike just stayed, since driving home that night and driving right back Monday morning would have been silly!

Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree

2009-12-13T13:35:00.002-05:00

There are still SEVEN children with no sponsors! Please, if you can, sponsor one of them. It would be great to see all of the children have at least one sponsor. I believe that THIRTY kids have found new homes, since this year's Angel Tree started! Yay!

http://www.reecesrainbow.com/angeltree2009sponsorpage.html

Please put this on your blog

2009-12-07T11:27:00.003-05:00

You might have noticed the new button on my blog. We are helping to raise money to save four year old Tonya from going to a mental institution in her country. Please put this button on your blog and help pass the word!

Thank you!

Socks

2009-12-03T16:34:00.002-05:00

I just had to search through our 'sock crate'. This is actually one side of a huge coffee table/trunk that opens for storage. It is full to the brim with unmatched socks. I was looking for Hannah's choir stockings. Luckily for me, they are black. I searched through a sea of mostly white socks. Still could not find both of them. I found a fork.

*Update: Found the other one on attempt two! I was hoping for a spoon, as well.

Birthday Central

2009-12-01T13:08:00.002-05:00

Six out of nine of us have birthdays between September 29th and December 1st. Today is the last one. Yay! It gets expensive and time consuming, with a lot of baking going on. CUP's is September 29th, Shauna's is October 13th. Then we have three in November, Hannah on the 11th, me on the 25th and Drew on the 30th. Alex was thoughtful enough to be born 5 hours into December, so I wouldn't have three November birthstones on my Mother's necklace!

So, happy birthday, Alex! I can't believe he is 15 already. Drew was hanging out with friends for most of the day on his birthday, so his birthday dinner & dessert is scheduled for Wednesday. I will have to try to find some baby pictures to post!

Now that the birthdays are almost over, I can start concentrating on Christmas. Alex already decorated for me, with some help from Shauna. We have two small trees, instead of one large, because our cats climb the large ones and wreck them. The small ones can be put in the sun room at night, so they can't get at them. Last year, I just put the small green tree with blue lights in the sunroom, fully decorated. Now we just have to remember to bring it out every day! This year we put the white tree on top of my computer desk. For some reason, the cats never go up there and so far they haven't bothered it. Last year we folded it up and put it away in the box, but left the ornaments on. It still needs to be fluffed and I would like to get some garland for it, but it is almost ready to go. We are having some issues with the electricity where my computer is, so I now have a lovely orange extension cord running across the floor between the family room and kitchen. Mike fixed it a few days ago, but apparently putting in a new outlet wasn't enough because it went out again yesterday. We now have no light or ceiling fan above the kitchen table. Our outside outlets in the front and back stopped working several years ago. Our house really seems to be a lemon!

Quote of the day

2009-11-28T22:30:00.001-05:00

"Alex, you have man-legs."--Hannah

"That's because I'm a man."--Alex

"You're a boy. You're not a man until you get your period."--Shauna

Quote of the day

2009-11-27T19:41:00.001-05:00

"They should make a candle called Italian Dinner."--Alex

Hannah's Field Hockey Picture

2009-11-24T19:44:00.002-05:00

Quote of the day

2009-11-24T17:12:00.002-05:00

Me: "What about sweet potatoes?"

My sister: "Oh, I forgot about those. I have some regular potatoes, but I don't know if we can use them to make sweet potatoes."

Me: (Laughing hysterically!) "Um, that is like saying you have a box of macaroni and cheese mix and you are going to make brownies with it!"

Ahhh, the joys of the holidays!!!!

14 orphans have found families! Yay!

2009-11-23T13:04:00.003-05:00

Or should I say 14 families have found their orphans? This is from Andrea at Reece's Rainbow.

"Incredible response this year, 14 children from our Angel Tree have already found families with the help of your donations! Please continue sharing, we still have a full 7 weeks to go!"

Tonya

2009-11-20T23:41:00.004-05:00

I meant to mention this yesterday and just forgot. Thank you, Denise, for commenting on it and reminding me! Tonya is now featured on the home page of Reece's Rainbow! You are right, Denise, she is really cute and I bet she does have a great personality! Here are a couple of pictures of her that have been posted on the site in the past.

Roses

2009-11-20T20:59:00.002-05:00

This is one of the things that makes me love Virginia so much! Roses blooming in November! When I think back to how cold and even snowy it could be in November in Chicago, I can't believe how lucky I am to now live in a place with such beautiful weather. We have had a couple of chilly days, but I could count them on one hand. Mostly it has been in the 60's & 70's every day. Of course, we had that huge nor'easter/tropical storm last week, but even though it rained for 4 days straight, it was warm.

Hannah has gotten over being sick. She came home from school on Monday with a low grade fever and ran a fever all day on Tuesday. By Wednesday, she was fever free and she returned to school on Thursday. It is hard to tell what she had, but it might have been H1N1. It is always hard to tell with Hannah because she doesn't get sick like typical people. When everyone else in the house has a high fever, cough, sore throat, body aches for a week or ten days, she will have a medium fever and body aches for a couple of days. That is just the way she is. Same things with colds, she will be sick for a day or two and then she's fine. Weird. She went back to school just in time to get her H1N1 vaccination on Thursday! The school finally got them in. Alex and Luke get theirs next Monday.

Alex had his first performance as Daddy Warbucks today. He was awesome! It was a really cute show. He will have another one tomorrow and then one more in December. I will try to post some video, but I didn't take any tonight.

I've been keeping a secret!

2009-11-16T16:42:00.003-05:00

Yep, I have been keeping a secret, since last February, February 18, 2009, to be exact. On that day, I came across a website called Reece's Rainbow. Reece's Rainbow is a non-profit adoption ministry. They help find homes for orphans with Down syndrome and some with other disabilities. Most of the orphans are in Eastern European countries. In those countries, children with Down syndrome are routinely placed in orphanages, as there are no services available to their families. At the age of 5, or thereabouts, they are transferred from their "baby house" to a mental institution. Most of the children die within the first year of their transfer. They receive little or no medical care, attention, or love and are often strapped to their beds. In the United States, children with Down syndrome are treasured and there is a long waiting list of families who want to adopt the few that become available. With the many services and medical treatments available in the U.S., these kids can grow up to be happy, productive members of society. Many even learn to drive, get married, and live independently.

As I browsed through the children's pictures, I fell in love with a little girl named Tonya. I really felt that we would be a wonderful family for her, even though we hadn't planned on adopting any more children. I kept it to myself for a couple of months, thinking that the feeling would pass. It didn't. More and more, I felt that I had been directed to the website and Tonya's picture for a reason. I talked to Mike about it, and while he wasn't against actually adopting her, he expressed a lot of concern about the financial aspects. I don't blame him for that, it isn't like I hadn't thought of that, a lot. I guess where we differ, though, is that I feel very strongly that we would find a way to come up with the adoption and travel fees, if we committed to Tonya and put our minds to it. Mike doesn't quite have the faith that I do, however.

Adoptions in Tonya's country cost about $24,000, which includes travel costs and lodging. Since it doesn't seem to be an option for us (although, I have to admit that I am still hoping and praying that it will work out, somehow!), I have committed to helping raise money for Tonya to be adopted. Even though it would break my heart to find out that another family had decided to adopt her, I would be incredibly happy that she was going to be getting a family and her life will not be lost or damaged forever in a mental institution.

We had a garage sale last spring, which I blogged about, and we raised a bit of money from that. Since our hockey rink was closed, we decided to disband our non-profit hockey organization. Since we had a 501-(3)c status, one of the requirements for disbanding is that we must donate any remaining bank balance to another non-profit organization. A few months ago, I approached the rest of the board with the idea of donating it to Reece's Rainbow. They voted, unanimously, to do it and that money is now a part of her adoption grant. While it is still only a drop in the bucket, if you go here, to the Reece's Rainbow Blog, you can see that Tonya's grant is beginning to grow.

I am blogging about this now because I would like to spread the word about Tonya and the other beautiful children at Reece's Rainbow. They all deserve homes and loving families. There are a lot of families out there, like mine, who would be willing to take them in and love them, but cannot because they just don't have enough money for the adoption expenses. Please take a few minutes to look at these children and see if you can find a way to help them with a financial donation or by becoming a prayer warrior. Right now, they have an Angel Tree and if you send a $35 donation, they will send you a porcelain Christmas ornament with a picture of your sponsored child. Just click on the ornament on the side of my blog for more information.

Quote of the day

2009-11-10T19:18:00.001-05:00

"Mom, you should get a job. You don't know what it's like to work. All you do is a half hour of cleaning a day. You have no idea about working."--Steven

On my way...

2009-10-22T07:27:00.001-04:00

On my way to Las Vegas! Hannah scored a goal in field hockey yesterday. She has only been playing for a month. Yay, Hannah!

How's that for a blog entry???

Bargain weekend

2009-10-11T18:37:00.002-04:00

I got ten 4 ounce Wheat Thins for only 25 cents, total! I also got 4 dozen eggs for only 7 cents, total! I love a good bargain.

I just finished making apple spice muffins and chocolate chip muffins for school this week and I'm off to make pizza. This is taking WAY longer than I planned. Blogging probably made it take a little longer!

No major news this weekend.

Is this still good?

2009-10-09T18:41:00.002-04:00

Luke found this coupon in a rarely used kitchen drawer. It expired on September 30, 2000. I guess I should throw it away!

Quickie

2009-09-28T17:53:00.001-04:00

Jack's car almost fixed.
Front porch and stairs, spotless. Only took two days of pressure washing. I'm sore.
Recent emails still not answered.
Blog entry on my awesome weekend, now two weekends ago, still not done.

Strawberries

2009-09-26T11:19:00.002-04:00

My wonderful husband brought me a treat from Las Vegas today! He surprised me with some chocolate covered strawberries. Two are dipped in white chocolate and dark chocolate and two are covered in chocolate and toffee pieces. Yummy!

Chocolate yogurt recipe

2009-09-24T23:05:00.002-04:00

Chocolate Yogurt or Drinkable Chocolate Yogurt

2 cups plain fat free yogurt (You can get 32 oz. for only $1.57 at Walmart)
4T Cocoa Powder
sweetener to taste, I use half sugar and half splenda
1 tsp. vanilla

No milk or a Tablespoon or so of milk for consistency if you are making regular yogurt. If you want drinkable yogurt, add about a cup of milk or as much as you need to make it a chocolate milk consistency.

We mix this in the blender, but you can probably mix it by hand, as well, as long as you can get the cocoa powder to dissolve completely.

I'm going to try adding a little flax seed next time and see if anyone notices! I added it to my homemade granola bars tonight and they taste exactly the same, so I'm sure the kids won't even know.

Jen, we also flavor this plain fat free yogurt with dry jello mix and a little sweetener. It is so much cheaper than the little cups of flavored yogurt and delicious with some homemade granola.

Are you kidding me????????

2009-09-24T22:37:00.002-04:00

If anyone has ever wondered why I named my blog "Are You Kidding Me????????", you will have no doubt, after reading this entry.

Hannah and Shauna were on their way up to bed. As they passed through the foyer, they smelled smoke. A big thunderstorm with lots of lightning was just beginning to subside, so I immediately thought that our house might have been struck and there was a fire in the attic. I hurried in there and smelled it myself. It was very strong. I opened the front door, no smoke smell. I opened the living room door, no smoke smell. I sent the kids upstairs to sniff, no smoke smell. I opened the door to the garage, strong smoke smell! I turned on the light and couldn't see any fire. I closed the door and checked the backyard to see if I could smell it or see fire, thinking maybe a tree had gotten struck, no smoke smell. I went back to the garage and it was still really strong. Just as I was about to turn the light on, I saw what looked like a flashlight beam, moving over the front windshield of Steven's car. He hasn't been able to afford to have the transmission repaired, so it has been sitting in the garage for many months. I turned the light on and didn't see anyone outside the side door. I turned the light off, again, to see if I could see it, nothing. I turned the light on once more and looked around, still nothing. Then I really started getting scared because I knew that a human was attached to that light I had seen.

I went upstairs to get Jack and Drew to come down and help me check it out. I wasn't sure what was going on, but my theories were that there was an attic fire (one of our attics is directly above the garage) and a neighbor was checking it out with a flashlight or there was a fire somewhere outside of my garage, maybe in the garbage cans, or there was someone out there with a flashlight, trying to burn my house down!

While I was upstairs, getting Jack and Drew, Alex and the girls had gone down and Alex opened the door to the garage, but didn't turn on the light. As I came down, he turned to me and said, "It's Steven, smoking in there." I didn't think it was because I had looked in there numerous times and no one was there. So, I looked out there and saw what looked like a lighter flickering, just inside the side door, right next to Steven's car. I turned the light on and saw one of Steven's friends standing there. He sort of stared at me, like a deer caught in the headlights and I yelled, "Who else is out there?" and heard Steven answer from the car. Out climbs a kid I've never seen before and Steven. I, of course, freak out and really start yelling. "What the hell are you doing smoking pot in my garage? Of course, Steven replies that they aren't smoking pot, just sitting in his car smoking cigarettes and talking. My reply to that was, "Bull f-ing sh*t!" I ask why they are sneaking around, then. He says they weren't sneaking around (Now is where the first are you kidding me???????? comes in!!) . According to them, they were just sitting in the car because it was storming out. The boy I don't know is standing completely turned away from me the whole time I'm talking, so I can't see his face. I tell him to turn around and look at me when I'm talking. He did and then I told them that they would have been welcome to sit on my covered porch and smoke cigarettes during the storm, but if they ever bring drugs or alcohol onto my property or sneak around my property, I will call the police and have them all arrested (including Steven). Steven mutters a few more things about not smoking pot, not sneaking, etc. and then says, "You don't have to be such a bitch about it." (Again, I say, are you kidding me????????)

Stuff

2009-09-24T18:03:00.003-04:00

I'm still working on the post I promised about what happened Saturday night, that I have been waiting 15 years for! It is going to be a very long one, so it is taking a while. I only get to go on the computer for bits and pieces of time and it is too much to do all at once.

I'm also still working on my list of things to blog, so here are a few things I can cross off. This is just a bunch of miscellaneous stuff.

Aurora (one of the cats) fell or jumped out the kitchen window the other day and disappeared. I had opened the windows because it was a nice day. I knew that one of the screens was ripped on the bottom because Paint had fallen out a couple of weeks ago. That was really funny because he fell out, panicked and ran to the door, which is right next to the window and scrambled back into the house! Anyway, I was hoping that no one would get out because I really wanted the fresh air in the house. The ripped screen is on the cat's favorite window, the one that looks out on the back hummingbird feeder (see even my cats love the hummingbirds!!!), so there are usually at least two cats on that windowsill when the window is open. So, Aurora got out and when Alex opened the door to get her back in, while she was still on the deck and wanting to come in, the stupid dog ran out and scared her away. She took off, around the house and disappeared. We tried to find her, but figured she would come back at some point, so we let it go. A few hours later, the girls were out in front with their friend, Shannon. I went out to ask Hannah something and I asked them if they had seen Aurora. The answer was no, but they had been looking for her. As I said, "Okay, keep looking.", I started to hear a frantic meowing right below me. I was on the porch, leaning out. I looked down at the bushes and couldn't see her, but it was clear she was panicking and wanting some attention. The girls ran to her, but she was under a rose bush and they couldn't reach in to get her. Shannon ran home for some cat treats to try to lure her out with. That got her a little closer to the front, but not close enough to grab. Luke went out and was able to show her a path out, that didn't have thorns and he brought her in. Boy, was she happy to be back home!

Alex made some delicious chocolate yogurt the other day. I love Stony Field Farms Chocolate Underground yogurt, but it is really expensive. I had a recipe for chocolate yogurt and I haven't made it for a long time. Alex made a batch and it was delicious! I don't know why more companies don't make chocolate yogurt. When Jack and Drew were little, we used to eat it all the time. I can't remember which company made it, but it was so good. We were all disappointed when they stopped making it. Yoplait makes a chocolate whipped yogurt, but I don't like that one. I love it when Alex makes yummy things! I'm so lucky to have a son who loves to cook.

I was watching the news from Chicago, since we get WGN on our cable. I heard them say that Kiddieland was closing! WHAT? Kiddieland has been there forever, it can't close. I never went there as a kid because we had a kid's amusement part near us. I think it was also a Kiddieland, but when I was about 10 or 12, they tore it down and put in a Venture, which eventually became a Target. However, when Jack and Drew were little, we used to go every year. They loved it there.

A teacher in the family?

2009-09-24T12:48:00.003-04:00

Luke has been having a hard time deciding what he wants to do with his life. He knows he wants to go to college, but that is as far as he could get. For the past year or so, I've been sending him articles I see on line, about different careers. Some sounded good to him, such as computer science, but didn't feel like a perfect fit. Last night he told me that he thinking he might want to be a teacher. I can't believe I never thought of that for him! At first I was kind of shocked, but after asking him what he wanted to teach and hearing his answer of history, it made so much sense. This boy loves history. He also loves to help his siblings with stuff they don't understand. He has a great sense of humor and can inject silliness and jokes into almost any situation, so he would be able to keep the kid's attention. This is the kid who will, suddenly, for no apparent reason, just take on the persona of a Family Guy character and have everyone in the room laughing hysterically. He would make a great teacher. I just wish they made more money, seeing as I was counting on him to help support us in our old age!!!!

Quotes of the day

2009-09-23T20:20:00.001-04:00

Alex: "Mom is like Steven with weed, except with books."

Luke: "Once you get your license, you can swear."

Funnies of the day

2009-09-23T20:08:00.003-04:00

Funny number one: Alex, Hannah and I were looking for canola oil in the pantry. I figure out that Steven must have used the last of it and say, "Well, you either can't make brownies or you will have to use olive oil, which might give them a funny taste." Alex replies, "Why don't we just use some from Hannah's head?" It takes me a few seconds to "get it"! We had just finished a conversation about how much hair oil she had used.

Funny number two: I told Alex, Hannah and Shauna to do their chores. I hear them talking amongst themselves.

Alex: "My leg is broken."
Shauna: "My arm is broken."
Hannah: Runs to the stairs and pretends to fall down. They all laugh. She comes into the kitchen saying "Ouch" and showing me the rug burn she got on her arm from 'pretending' to fall down the stairs and get hurt!

For the record

2009-09-23T07:55:00.002-04:00

Just for the record (Denise!), I was just kidding about the hummingbird saying goodbye! I am NOT turning into my Dad, for those who are concerned!!!!

Great link for special needs parents

2009-09-22T14:01:00.003-04:00

Claudia is a mom of 12 and while I love all of her posts, this one was extra amazing and true and I had to share. Click here to see Claudia's blog post about grieving.

Hummingbirds

2009-09-22T13:32:00.002-04:00

I haven't seen any hummingbirds in a whole week. I am so sad. I really miss them. I still check the feeders regularly, hoping to see at least one who is passing through on it's way to somewhere warm, but no such luck. It is still pretty warm here, I haven't had to wear a jacket yet, so I expected them to be here longer. I can't help but wonder if Black Meanie is terrorizing other hummingbirds in Mexico right now! I also wonder if the same birds come back every year. I haven't been able to find any information about that, so I'm guessing not.

I found this awesome hummingbird website that has a bunch of videos on it. My favorites are the ones called Hummingbird Haven. Now that is a role model for me!

I'm not sure of the exact date, but it was about one week ago that I saw the last two hummingbirds. One of the gray and black ones fed, and then came to hover about a foot in front of me. It actually peed and I checked my foot to see if it had peed on my foot because it was so close. It hovered for quite a while, then moved a little to my left and hovered for awhile more, staring at me the whole time. I think it was saying goodbye! Black Meanie was there, as well, chasing it away a couple of times, but it seemed like he was more interested in feeding himself than chasing the other one. They must have been filling up for their long trip because they were both pudgier than usual and the next day, they were both gone. I can't wait until spring!

Tons to blog about

2009-09-22T07:06:00.003-04:00

I have so many things to blog about, most of which have popped up over the last few days. I have been keeping a list on my computer so I don't forget anything. This is way too much to blog all at once, so I will be adding posts throughout the day today and probably tomorrow.

CUP is in PA, visiting Janine. He left last Wednesday and will be home tomorrow, although I have no idea what time. Janine, if you are reading this, will you please let me know what time his train gets here? Thanks. I will have to wait until Janine blogs to find out what she and CUP did in PA, since he never tells me anything! Although, I have been getting a few glimpses into their activities on Facebook. Janine started school and while I think she is still stressed out, at least she isn't in a panic anymore, so that is good news! She tweeted a great story about school. For one of her teachers, this is her first teaching experience. She got overwhelmed and broke down in front of the class. Janine said no one else said anything, so she just blurted out, "Well if it makes you feel better, this is the only class I get!" Everyone, including the teacher, started to laugh. I thought that was really sweet of Janine, since I know that teacher had to be totally humiliated and I'm sure she will always remember the student who rescued her!

The kids and I had a very relaxing day on Sunday. First of all, Mike was only home for 32 hours this weekend. He got home from Ohio at midnight on Friday and left for Las Vegas at 8:00 am on Sunday. The parts of the weekend he was actually here for where nice, though. Anyway, when I got home from the airport, I was thinking about making some homemade donuts as a treat for the kids. I had thought about buying some on the way home from the airport because I haven't gotten them donuts in probably at least two years. Then I thought about how expensive they are and changed my mind! I was looking around on the internet for recipes and trying to decide if I wanted to go to that much work, when Alex came down and started rummaging through the fridge. He found a pound of bacon and asked if we could make it. I didn't even remember that we had a pound of bacon in there! I said yes and decided that as long as we would be making a mess with bacon, we might as well do the donuts, too. I actually made a Native American flat bread recipe and then Alex made a vanilla glaze and a cinnamon-sugar topping. They were delicious! He even put some of my precious Boston jimmies on some of them. Yum! It was a fun time that morning. All the younger kids pitched in to help with the breakfast and it was actually peaceful and relaxing. They even pitched in to help clean up the kitchen, which was a nice surprise!

More on our weekend, specifically, our wonderful experience on Saturday night, later! Just for a teaser, we did something that I've been longing for for the past 15 years and it was awesome. Then more awesomeness happened last night, as a direct result of the awesomeness on Saturday night!

Yay!

2009-09-16T21:25:00.002-04:00

Alex tried out for his first high school play and got a part! I forget the name, some foreign thing and I have no idea what it is about or what part he got. I think he is the only freshman who got a part. They only have 4 or 5 weeks to rehearse and I think there is some sort of competition between the three area high schools. I believe it is only a one act play. He is also joining the International Thespian Society Club at his school. I'm not sure about he details for that, but I know they earn points for every play they are in, beginning in middle school, so he already has a lot of points. At least that is what he thinks, so it will be interesting to get more information about that.

Did she make the team or not????

2009-09-16T15:55:00.002-04:00

I wanted to title this post, "A day in the life of a child with multiple, invisible disabilities", but decided that was a bit too long. It does fit, though.

Hannah tried out for the field hockey team at her middle school this week. First she went to a week of pre-conditioning, then three days of try-outs. I felt pretty confident that she would make the team because she is an awesome athlete. However, she is only a 7th grader and has never played field hockey at all, so it would depend on how many 8th graders were returning to the team and how many 7th graders have more experience than she does. I had heard that several 7th graders have done field hockey camps and rec leagues, so they would at least know the basic rules, which Hannah does not. She has played tons of roller hockey, since she was four, but field hockey is a lot different.

Let's go back to the second day of try-outs. Hannah was supposed to stay after school and go straight to the try-outs. Lo and behold, she walks in the front door with Shauna. Ugh, is my first thought. Turns out she has been feeling nauseous since lunch and didn't know what to do, so she came home. She told her friend, Shannon, to tell the coach that she was going home because she was sick. Usually, when Hannah feels sick like that, she just needs to eat, so I made her eat and lie down for a few minutes. After about 30 minutes, she felt much better and I took her to the try-out. The coach was surprised to see her and said she thought that Hannah had changed her mind about trying out. I explained the situation. Apparently, Shannon hadn't told the coach that Hannah was sick. Not much of a surprise there. Although Hannah and Shannon are friends and have been for 9 years, Shannon is very competitive in sports and since Hannah is a natural athlete, she always tends to outshine Shannon a little. Not too much, since Shannon is also a very good athlete. Hannah is not competitive at all and will slow down in both track and swimming, to let a friend catch up, even during meets, but it is important to Shannon to be the best. All during the try-outs, Shannon kept telling Hannah that she couldn't afford field hockey and she wouldn't like it, so she should try out for cheer leading instead. Since Hannah had thought about trying out for cheer, this was confusing for her. It made for a confusing week of conditioning, as Hannah waffled back and forth between field hockey and cheer. She ultimately decided to try out for field hockey and do cheer next semester.

Anyway, at the end of the third day of try-outs, she called me to come pick her up and told me she hadn't made the team. When she got home, we discussed it and she said that the coach had called her over and told her that someone had told her that Hannah wanted to try out for cheer. Hannah told her that she had wanted to try out for cheer (meaning that she HAD wanted to, but decided not to). According to Hannah, the coach said, "Well, if you want to cheer, go cheer." I had a feeling there was more to it, that Hannah didn't remember (not surprising :)!). I wasn't sure what to do. Should I call the coach (who is a neighbor and I have known for a long time, but not real well)? Or should I just let it be? Hannah was disappointed and mad because Shannon had obviously told the coach that Hannah didn't really want to play field hockey, which wasn't the way it was. I decided to wait until the next day and see if the coach called me.

That all happened on Friday and on Saturday, Hannah and her friend walked up to Rite Aid (a different friend, not Shannon). At Rite Aid, they saw the coach. The coach told Hannah that she missed her at practice that morning and that they were practicing on Monday, if she would like to come. HUH? Hannah told me that she was really confused about why coach would say that when she hadn't made the team. Now what do I do? Do I call the coach and try to explain that my perfect physical specimen of a child has a bunch of hidden disabilities and she has no idea if she made the team or not? Do you know how hard it is to explain hidden disabilities and how they affect thinking, when you barely can grasp it yourself? Plus, it is extra hard because many of the disabilities Hannah has are related to birth mom's drug and alcohol abuse, as well as her mental health, all things that I would like to keep as private as possible, at least around the neighborhood! Ugh.

I thought about it for a few hours and finally decided to send the coach an email, which I had planned to do anyway, thanking her for giving up her time for the conditioning, etc. I told her that I appreciated the conditioning and it was so good for Hannah to get that level of exercise after a relatively lazy summer and so on. I also said that even though Hannah hadn't made the team this year, she would try to get to some of the games to watch how the game is played and try out again next year. Here is part of her reply:

Did she not tell you? I saw her on Saturday and asked if she missed hockey and she said yes. So I told her to be there on Monday from 3:30-5:30 and she said yes. I almost called you but I figured she’d tell you. I sat her down during Friday’s horrible cuts and asked if she wanted to play hockey or Cheerleading. I heard she wanted to cheer. I told her she is an incredible athlete and would be great at anything she put her mind to. She said she really wanted to do cheer. So I told her to do what made her happiest; but I would always take her back. Then I saw her Saturday and she said she wanted to play hockey. So I am expecting to see her on Monday!

Hannah was really happy to find out she had actually made the team and so was the rest of the family! Then on Monday, she brought home a note that said they would have practice on Wednesday from 3:30-5:30, a scrimmage game on Thursday and no practice on Friday. I took this to mean they would have no practice on Tuesday, since it wasn't mentioned. So, Hannah didn't take her hockey stuff, per my instruction, yesterday and came home after school. Later in the evening, the coach called me to find out why Hannah hadn't been at practice. I explained the situation and she said that a bunch of kids told her that they told Hannah there was practice. I asked Hannah after I hung up and she said that one girl had told her, but that girl has lied to her before, so she didn't believe her. Of course, by the time she got home, she forgot to mention it to me. I would have driven her over there, if I knew.

Talk about getting off to a great start! How the heck am I supposed to explain this to the coach and let her know that Hannah was not trying to get out of practice (she loves it), but her brain works differently than most and this is what happens sometimes? This is the first time, other than doing a competitive cheer team when she was 5 & 6, that she had been in a sport, where I haven't been the coach or director, so I haven't had to deal with this. When she was in cheer, she was very little and I was always there with her, so this wasn't an issue. Luckily, the coach is very nice and wasn't mad about it, but I am sure I didn't do the greatest job explaining everything to her and she probably thinks we are all nuts here!

What a way to start the day

2009-09-16T10:34:00.004-04:00

I woke up at 5:50, as always, now that school has started. That is the time that I need to wake Alex up, since he has alarm clock issues. More on that in a minute. I felt around for my glasses, on my nightstand, where I always leave them. No glasses. I woke Alex up and told him that if he had any extra time, since today is an early release day and he didn't have to make a lunch, would he please come help me look for the glasses, since I can't see a darn thing. I kept looking for the glasses, with no results. Alex came and spent a little time, actually looking, not just feeling around like I was. No glasses. Luke heard about the problem and he came and looked. No glasses. They both go off to school and the girls come to help me look. Hannah looks, no glasses. Shauna looks, no glasses. Shauna looks, again, still no glasses. Hannah looks again, still no glasses. By now, I am very close to getting hysterical. I cannot function without my glasses. Well, I would be able to read and use the computer, but that is it! I was getting more and more panicked as it got closer to the time that I have to drive Jack to the train station because he is going to visit Janine this week. I even sent Jack a text at work and told him to get home asap, to help look for my glasses. As soon as the girls left for school, I decided to do one more search, before I started the hysterics. Still no luck in any of the usual places they might have fallen, like under the nightstand, under the bed, etc. By this time, I had already prayed to St. Anthony several times. I prayed one more time and for the third time, decided to search my blanket and Mike's blanket. I did that and still no glasses. I guess at this point, St. Anthony had decided that I had learned my lesson about taking better care of my glasses, and he decided to have pity on me. I wasn't even thinking about it because I knew that the glasses were not on the bed or in the blanket, but I picked the blanket up, held it over the floor and shook it gently. Then I heard one of the most perfect sounds I have ever heard...the tinkling of the arms of my glasses hitting against each other, as they tumbled to the floor! WHEW, thank you, St. Anthony! That left me with just enough time to shower, dry my hair and get Jack to the train station on time. Then I saw an Illinois car on the way to the station, which was the icing on the cake because Janine and Mike have been beating me lately and I am usually the Queen of Illinois cars.

I think I have figured out how my glasses got tangled in my blanket. Sometime during the night, I woke up and noticed that Hannah and Shauna's cell phone had fallen off of the book that I had left it on. My phone was still up there. I had four books stacked up on my nightstand and my glasses and the phones had all been put on the top book when I went to sleep. I guess my blanket must have swept across at some point and knocked the phone off the book and knocked the glasses on itself. Needless to say, I'm going to clear off my night stand today!

As I mentioned, Alex has alarm clock issues. He has no problem setting it for the right time, turning it on, making sure am and pm are correct and turning up the volume so he can hear it go off. The problem he has is doing all of those things at the same time, so the alarm actually goes off correctly and wakes him up!

As I also mentioned, today is an early release day. Since Luke gets off early every day, it was an early, early release for him and at 10:25, he and Stephen B. came bursting through the front door! Well, actually they tried to burst through the door, but sort of just thudded against it, since I had locked it when I came home from the train station. Since they brought both empty recycling bins up for me, I forgave them for crashing into my door! What a day so far!

Quote of the day

2009-09-15T23:07:00.001-04:00

"I'm going to blog about this."--Luke

First day of school

2009-09-08T18:44:00.002-04:00

The kids were really anxious to start school this year, which was a good thing. Usually they aren't so excited, with the exception of Hannah, who loves school. Even Luke was looking forward to it this year. I guess that is because he is a senior and has early release every day! Alex started high school and likes it so far. Hannah came home with a big smile on her face. I wish that could happen every day! Shauna is the only one who came home upset. She said that it was confusing. She thinks that some of her classrooms have changed places since the orientation last week. I doubt that, I think she just got mixed up on where she was. She also said that the teacher was explaining things and going too fast and she was listening, but couldn't get it all. I told her things will get better and easier, but she doesn't agree!

Quote of the day

2009-09-05T18:57:00.001-04:00

"I had a hummingbird experience."--Luke

(A hummingbird flew up to him, sniffed him (his words, not mine) and then flew away. He was wearing a red shirt.)

27 years ago today...

2009-09-04T13:40:00.005-04:00

Mike and I were married 27 years ago today. As I sat in the doctor's office with two kids this morning, I realized that at exactly the same time, 27 years ago, I was having pictures taken with the girls in my wedding, at my mom's house. Outside, the boys were gathering and drinking beer in front of the house, although I didn't find that out until later. The wedding was at 10:30 am, so this was pretty early in the morning for beer drinking! Luckily, my husband had the sense to only have a little. Had he shown up drunk to the wedding, I wouldn't be blogging about our anniversary right now! One of the groomsmen wasn't quite so intelligent, though, and passed out on the altar. I didn't even notice!

Anyway, it doesn't seem like 27 years ago at all. We are planning to go out to dinner tonight, thanks to a gift from my mom. We were going to go out by ourselves, but then we remembered that we had purchased a gift certificate to the restaurant where Steven works and we decided to go there and bring some of the kids. I ordered the certificate in February, so I guess it is about time to use it! We don't mind bringing the kids since they are a lot of fun.

The rest of the day will be spent cleaning, not exactly what I was imagining 27 years ago, today! Oh, by the way, I was only 12 when I got married. :)

Peace and Benadryl

2009-08-31T22:34:00.003-04:00

It is quiet and peaceful in my house. School starts next week and my kids have been staying up until all crazy hours, long after I'm asleep. Last week, Shauna even went with Janine to visit Jack at work when he took his 4:00 am break! So, we got some melatonin today and I gave them a dose of Benadryl and as far as I can tell, they are all asleep! Alex has his ninth grade orientation from 9-2 tomorrow, so he really needed to get to sleep early.

I felt really crappy this weekend and I am heading to bed myself, hoping for a better week than weekend!

My duh

2009-08-30T12:05:00.001-04:00

In this post, I said that Alex thought they were supposed to look for pots. He corrected me last night and told me it was pans, which of course, is close to pads and makes a whole lot more sense! Duh for me!

Interesting...

2009-08-29T00:05:00.003-04:00

So, Janine and I were talking about why Mike changed his Facebook profile to say that he is married, but he took off the part that said he was married to me. Alex pipes up with, "Well, he is in Vegas!"

Duh of the day

2009-08-28T00:15:00.003-04:00

"Please go get pads and Equate anti-diarrheal."--Me (to Alex and Hannah, at Walmart)

After being gone for a very long time:

"Alex made us look at pans for a really long time because he thought you said pans, not pads."--Hannah

"I couldn't find the anti-direl (sic) pans. Then Hannah told me you said pads."--Alex

"Yeah, but that was after we were looking at the pans for 5 or 6 minutes! Then I remembered that you said pads."--Hannah

"We saw one of the neighbors when we were looking at the pans. Good thing I didn't ask her if she knew which ones were the anti-direl ones!"--Alex

Ugh, these were the same two kids who had told me only minutes earlier that the gravy wasn't in the aisle that has the big gravy sign on it. When I pointed the gravy out, Alex said, "Oh, that's on the bottom shelf. We didn't look there." I can't wait to take those two shopping again!

***Edited to read pans, instead of pots!***

Quote of the day

2009-08-28T00:14:00.001-04:00

"Hannah, did you throw that hammer?"--Me

"Underhand."--Hannah

Home

2009-08-24T17:53:00.001-04:00

We are home from vacation. Tired. More later.

The best laid plans...

2009-08-22T01:20:00.003-04:00

Didn't I say we were going to the aquarium and to see Lucy the Elephant today? Well, things didn't go exactly according to plan. We didn't do either. It also never rained like it was supposed to.

Some of the kids went to the beach a time or two. Actually, all of ours, except Hannah did. They also went crabbing with the Dads and had a great time. They are hoping to go again at least once before we leave on Monday. A threatening storm sent them home early from crabbing, but the storm passed us right by.

We drove to Toms River, NJ, about an hour away from Atlantic City, just to eat dinner at White Castle. Yum! Some of us then had ice cream at Mentos in Ventnor, just a few blocks from the house. Nick's cousin arrived tonight, along with two of her kids.

We are hoping to get some beach time in tomorrow, if the beach isn't closed due to high waves and riptides.

Quote of the day

2009-08-21T15:21:00.001-04:00

"Nick was born with a mustache"--Denise

Mom's Day Out

2009-08-21T00:51:00.002-04:00

We had a Mom's Day Out today. Denise, Lucille, Judith, and I went to see the movie, Julie and Julia (or is it Julia and Julie?). It was really, really good. Then we went to the Goodwill store and shopped. I found 6 really nice silver picture frames for the kid's rooms and some other storage/decorative items for their rooms. I also got myself a book or two. Nothing incredibly exciting, but nice. After Goodwill, we stopped for a quick bite to eat at McDonald's. The yogurt parfait was yummy and the iced mocha coffee was delicious.

Hannah and Brittany went for a long walk down the boardwalk today. Mike followed them, just to be sure they were safe! Then Judith took them shopping. Hannah found a pair of colored jeans for only $10.

Steven, Stephen B. and Luke went for a long walk, after dark. They walked six miles there and back, plus however far they walked while inside the different buildings they went in. They checked out some stores and casinos.

We played some dominoes tonight and, in keeping with my tradition, I was the biggest loser!

Tomorrow we are planning to go to the aquarium and to see an elephant named Lucy. Not sure what that is all about! It is supposed to rain, hence the indoor plans. We are also supposed to have huge waves this weekend, due to the hurricane. I hope they don't close the beach!

Quotes of the day

2009-08-21T00:41:00.003-04:00

"You can't use flip flops as a reliable source of walking around."--Steven, commenting on the fact that Stephen B's mom told him he didn't need to bring gym shoes on a beach vacation.

"I smell a cat fight coming on. I'm allergic to cats, so please go in the basement."--JJ's comment to Denise and I when we were "arguing" during a game of dominoes.

"I don't have ADD, I'm just always multi-tasking."--Nick (who was apparently multi-tasking when he forgot to make us the promised and eagerly awaited bruschetta.)

Quote of the day

2009-08-20T17:53:00.000-04:00

"Blogging is for Blosers."--Stephen B.

Quote of the day

2009-08-18T22:56:00.001-04:00

"Cool my bottom off, please."--Denise to Nick when she was sitting in the passenger seat of a car with air conditioned seats.

Flashback

2009-08-18T09:20:00.002-04:00

This was the morning we were leaving. I kept notes. We were parked in front of the house, car fully packed with belongings and kids. Mike wanted to take a shower after loading the car, so he went back into the house. We are not moving, just sitting there in front of the house.

5:58 am: "Luke's touching me!"--Stephen B.

6:02 am: "Mom, Stephen's touching things that don't belong to him!"--Luke

6:03 am: "Stop touching my butt! I'm getting the heebie-jeebies from sitting next to Luke."--Stephen B.

6:05 am: "I have a really good bladder."--Stephen B.

Good thing they were doing this on purpose, just to annoy me and stopped when Mike got in the car, or we would have arrived with two fewer children!

Atlantic City, Day Four

2009-08-18T00:23:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, the family with four boys left for home. The kids were missing them today and Shauna asked me if they were returning! Last night, Lucille's friend, Judith and her granddaughter, Brittany, arrived.

Today we sort of just chilled around the house. Well, I'm not sure chilled is the right word to use here, since the heat index was around 100 today! Nick and I went on a date to the hair store to get african american hair supplies. I was shopping for sturdy combs when I heard a crash, followed by, "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!" I glanced around the corner and saw Nick putting things back on the bottom shelf with his foot, so I just pretended not to know him!

After the hair store, we snuck to a homemade candy store. We only got a couple pieces because we had to eat it before we got home and before it melted in the heat! It was good, but Fannie May is a million times better.

After our quick chocolate fix, we headed to Wawa for ice. I was wondering what was taking Nick so long, as I waited in the car. I kept seeing people walking in and walking back out and still no Nick. Then Denise called to see what was taking us so long. I tried to convince her that Nick and I were at a motel, but she knew it wasn't true because I didn't have my "hot shirt" on! She probably also figured that I'm still too traumatized from the mooning incident, back in December, to even think about Nick and motels in the same sentence! Anyway, I explained how it was taking him forever and she said, "I know exactly what is going on. He's in there, getting some fancy iced coffee drinks for you and him." No sooner had she finished saying that and out walks Nick with a bag of ice and two iced coffees! Wow, does she know her husband, or what? The iced coffee was delicious, by the way, and much appreciated.

Back on the subject of candy, Nick and I thought that we had thrown away all the evidence after our candy-finding mission and gotten off scott free, but Detective Denise spotted the note with the candy store address written on it, which had inadvertently been left in the car, and we got busted! We got quite a dirty look and I was left to wonder if she would have been happier if we really had been at a motel!!!! (Joking, Everyone, in case it isn't obvious!)

After returning home, Angela (Nick's sister) and I made an attempt to comb and braid GracieGirl's hair. We succeeded in only making her sob, not once, but several times. So, we moved on to Shauna's hair. It was way past time to take out her extensions. I have decided that I am taking Angela home with me! She pitched right in and removed at least half of the braids, while I did the other side and combed and rebraided her head into four french braids. It was SO much quicker with a helper! It came out really cute and should last for at least a few days.

Angela took the kids out for ice cream and they surprised me by bringing back some mint chocolate chip in a waffle cone. It was so yummy. I haven't had really good ice cream in a long time, so it was a great treat. Good thing it has been too hot for me to eat much at meal time, since I had two sweet treats today!

After braiding and a quick sandwich for dinner, we played Dominos. I have never played before, although my mother has been telling me I needed to learn. I didn't think I would like it, but I really did. I came in dead last (by about a hundred points, I think!), out of 6 players, but I still had fun. I'm beginning to understand the strategy, although some of the train things still confuse me a bit. I'm sure if I play a few more times, I will have it down.

Tomorrow, the three youngest kids are heading out to go on a Dolphin Cruise. Mike and I and the older boys are going to skip that since the cost is really high for adults. Nick, Angela, and Judith are all going, so there will plenty of supervision. Mike and I need to drop the kids off at the cruise, so we are going to take Stephen B. and Luke and do a little sight seeing around Atlantic City.

Another quote of the day

2009-08-16T17:34:00.003-04:00

"I already got my exercise for the day. I walked into and back out of the house."--Denise, when I told her that her Mother-In-Law had suggested we go on a bike ride. She was offered a hoveround, by the way, so the only actual exercise involved was walking down the stairs.

Quote of the day

2009-08-16T17:31:00.002-04:00

"I always check mug shots on Friday. Friday is Mug-Shot-O-Rama."--Mike

The Hotel Paradise

2009-08-16T13:15:00.003-04:00

I was wondering, out loud, what the polar opposite of The Hotel Cinderella would be and Alex suggested The Hotel Paradise. I think that is the perfect name for the beautiful home we are staying in, here in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Nick's parents, Angelo and Lucille live in a huge, gorgeous home, built in the very early 1900's and for some reason, they allowed us all to come visit! In addition to Nick, Denise and their 4 kids, we are here with 4 of ours (one more to come next Wednesday), plus Stephen B. Nick's sister, Angela, is here with her son and friends of hers, with their 4 sons. Later today, a friend of Lucille's is arriving with two 15 year old girls, but Angela's friend's family is leaving today. Whew! I think I got everyone. However, because this house is so large and has a huge front porch and back decks, there is plenty of room for everyone. We even have our own floor!

Read here, if you haven't heard about The Hotel Cinderella. Here is what happens at The Hotel Paradise. Lucille told me to put away everything I had brought with, like toilet paper, paper towels, and food and use theirs. She told me that if we ran out she would buy more and she wants us to take everything we brought with us back home! She is so sweet. I won't do that, of course, I have been sneaking our stuff in when she isn't looking! Now, we have never met Lucille and Angelo, so it is amazing how generous they are. Now, please don't take this the wrong way. Nick and Denise are very generous, as well, and all of this is said in jest!

Last night, Lucille had all of the kids playing a nice, long game of Bingo. It was awesome, she bought all kinds of little prizes for them and they had a wonderful time.

More to come...

More vacation pictures

2009-08-16T13:07:00.002-04:00

Ready to go!

"The Hotel Paradise"

Awesome front porch on "The Hotel Paradise"

Atlantic City Vacation!

2009-08-16T12:59:00.003-04:00

Atlantic City Beach

Janine and Danny came to visit on Saturday!

E

Alex and Hannah on the first night we arrived. We got yelled at by two fishermen to be quiet! The funny thing was that we WERE being quiet. Good thing they don't live with us!

Alex, Luke, Stephen B. (back)

Nate, Hannah, Shauna (front)