ChitChatMoms Blog Page

They Really DO Love Each Other!

2008-10-20T19:42:00.001-07:00

Now that I have my own children, I am truly grateful for my parents' ability to raise highly independent people. My siblings and I are all great problem solvers, go-getters, and have the ability to make confident decisions. In an attempt to follow in their footsteps, I made a decision to give my daughter a dollar on the days I drop her off at dance class. I used to send a snack with her since she has two classes in a row, but I decided some early financial lessons would be good.

The first day I gave her two dollars. I told her she could use one dollar in the juice machine and the other in the snack machine. After class she was excited to tell me about her healthy choices! She also moved to give me her change. I told her she could keep the change. I got an excited thank-you-mommy, and we went home.

The next week I only gave her one dollar. It was cute to watch her try and figure out why she was only given one.

"I don't get two dollars? I can't get a snack with my drink?"
"You can choose to get a drink out of the machine, but the dance studio does have a water fountain. If you drink water you can save your money and get a snack. You get to decide."
"If I get a drink I won't have any change, but sometimes I am thirsty for something better than water."
"You decide. It's okay to pick the drink if you want it. It is one of those decisions that is just a choice."

She wasn't thrilled with the idea of a choice, but she said thank you and off she went. I was excited to find she was choosing to buy snacks. I was even MORE proud the day she came back to the car after class with both a juice and a granola bar.

"Both? How did you manage to get both?"
"When I get pop tarts I only get 15 cents in change. When I get granola bars I get 40 cents change. I have been saving my change and today I had enough for both a drink AND a snack. Granola bars are healthier anyway."

My 8 year old is a genius!

But the best day ever? Hip hop class. Normally I don't send snack money on Hip hop day. Ryan makes breakfast on Saturdays so their tummies are usually plenty full. However one day we were rushed through breakfast to get out the door. I sent one dollar with each kid and went to run an errand. As I pulled away I could hear my daughter teaching her brother - " . . . but if you choose to drink water from the fountain . . . "

When the kids got back in the car I got a full report - my daughter picked her granola bar; my son picked what he thought were peanut butter crackers. What he ended up with - cheese on cheese crackers. He loathes cheese on cheese. I can only imagine the melt down that could have happened.

"I told him not to be upset. I gave him my change and told him to use his change and he would have enough to pick something else."
"Yeah mom, she gave me her change and so I got a chocolate bar."
"And since I gave him my change, he shared his candy with me mom!"
"Don't worry, I didn't waste the crackers. I kept them. Do you want me to give them to the babies?"

THEY DO LOVE EACH OTHER! THEY EVEN LOVE THEIR LITTLE SIBLINGS!

It was such a great mommy moment. I should call and tell my mom . . .

-Sara

Lesson in Politics

2008-10-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

Wow. I didn't think I would be having these conversations so early. My third grade daughter is running for student council. I have never seen my child work this hard at anything. She spent hours writing a speech, transferring it to note cards, editing, and reciting it.

She has had the following realizations:

"It's not fair! Everyone is going to vote for their friends! They should be voting for the best person for the job! I would listen to every one's ideas, not just my friends." -- aww, an idealist just like her mommy!

"All of the boys are going to vote for 'A.' The girls are going to vote for me and 'S.' That means 'A' is going to win. That isn't really fair!" -- yay, my baby girl is a stats geek like mommy too!

"Wouldn't it be more polite to vote for someone other than yourself? 'A' and 'S' said they are going to vote for themselves. What should I do? It seems selfish to vote for yourself." -- and she has heart! Man I love my kid.

Wow, it's going to suck when she loses . . .

She asked me what happens if she wins - I told her I would be happy for her.
She asked me what happens if she loses - I told her I would be proud of her for working so hard.
She asked me what happens if she ties - I told her I would say, "now what?"

She cracks me up!

-Sara

A Pirate Says ARRRRRRRRGH!

2008-09-22T14:23:00.000-07:00

My poor baby! Not only is he blind - farsighted with a prescription of +3 and +4 - now he needs to wear a patch over his right eye for two weeks. It seems if you are extremely farsighted and refuse to wear your glasses because you have hit the terrible twos, AND you hide them in the recliner where they break and you go without glasses for two weeks waiting for them to be repaired, you develop a lazy eye.

It seems his brain shut off his weak eye in order to see better out of the dominate eye. The solution - patch the good eye. Sounds simple enough, unless you are the pregnant mother of said child. I was traumatized!

My kids are usually fighters in the doctor offices. If someone is messing with them in some fashion in which they don't approve, they cry, scream, kick, wiggle, and my oldest even bit one of her nurses attempting to administer a vaccination. Now that a few of them are older and can ask questions before freaking out, I am not so embarrassed by the younger ones. I even slightly admire their strong wills.

When the patch hit my son's eye, however, he didn't fit or fuss or fight. He was confused. After two or three minutes of silence he began to whimper. He was blind. His brain had no idea what was happening. It was the worst mommy moment ever. I was helpless. I couldn't fix it for him.

The next step was zombie mode. It was almost like his brain was rebooting, trying to figure out how to turn on the lazy eye. When we finally got home he began to wander around. He helped me pick up the giant checkers and put them away. Whew, I knew he was okay.

The only fun part of the event - seeing first hand how completely different two parents handle the same situation. Being the parent with eyeglasses, Ryan went with me to the appointment.

I am in the office near tears.
Ryan is joking with the doctor and asking important questions.

Ryan pulls him out of the car and expects him to walk by himself.
I yell, "HE'S BLIND!! PICK MY BABY UP!!!"

I gently coax him into picking up big, bright objects off the floor.
Ryan starts throwing WEEBLES at him to catch!

I understand why there is a balance of two parents, but man alive those guys are weird.

-Sara

Hubby made a Funny

2008-09-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

My three year old was trying very hard to snuggle with me tonight on the couch but she couldn't get comfy. Anytime she did settle into one spot I had to move her. I was trying to explain there is a baby in my tummy which is why my lap is shrinking.

She said, "Oh, I sorry mommy."

My husband shouts from the other room, "That is how I felt when I heard about it too darling."

Men . . .

-Sara

We're Back!! More Lessons from Sara!!

2008-09-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

I won't go into boring, whining details about downed servers, misaligned schedules or who had morning sickness because the important issue at hand . . . We are back :)

My very first blog on the Chit Chat Moms' site was "Lessons." I thought it would be fitting if I wrote some more of them. Once again, the following is completely factual with no exaggeration needed. With a household of four biological kids, three babysitting kids, and a niece, things tend to get crazy at times~!

Lessons From Summer 2008 -

Eyeglasses for your 2yr old with scratch resistant lenses and "bounce back" frames will still break in half if they fall into the recliner and someone slams the footrest down.
Full warranties on child eyeglasses are WONDERFUL.

Don't always assume the water at the base of your refrigerator came from three 3yr olds playing with the water dispenser.
Don't always assume the light in the refrigerator working means the entire appliance is working.
If your SingleBFF yells the phrase, "Why is your ice cream the consistency of soup?" don't assume she is a moron (even if she usually is).

Some refrigerators have a cold-colder-coldest dial with the option to TURN THE FRIDGE OFF!!! No really, some do.
Don't assume the dial, which might be located above the highest shelf inside the fridge, is high enough to be out of the reach of 3yr olds.

If your fridge has been turned off without you noticing for FOUR DAYS, don't try to save anything.
If your fridge has been turned off without you noticing for four days, maybe you feed your kids fast food too often when the hubby is out of town on business.

Before kids go to preschool it IS a good idea to let them practice their cutting skills.
Before kids go to preschool it IS NOT a good idea to let them practice their cutting skills on their twin sister's hair.
A blunt-bob to the chin is a SUPER cute look on a three year old even if her mother had never cut her hair before.

It might seem like a good idea to tell a preschooler to run if anyone ever tries to cut her hair again, but it might come back to bite you when you take her into a hair salon to get her hair fixed.
If you have already told a preschooler to run if anyone ever tries to cut their hair again, bring a camera to catch the look on the preschooler's face when the stylist asks if she can cut her hair.

Three year olds who insist on being naked nearly 80% of the time ARE capable of keeping their clothes on to attend preschool.
Three year olds who keep their clothing on to attend preschool might, to the disappointment of their mother, still insist on being naked 80% of the time they are home.

Some eight year olds still believe in the tooth fairy.
It is hard to believe in the tooth fairy if the tooth fairy forgets to pick up your tooth three days in a row.
If the tooth fairy forgets to pick up a tooth three days in a row, writing a letter to go along with the tooth helps.

Seven year old boys make really interesting faces when you ask them if they want to take ballet.
Some seven year old boys don't mind taking hip hop class with 18 other girls.

Eight year old girls do not need help changing their dance shoes.
Eight year old girls get mortified when their mother assumes they need help changing their dance shoes.
Mothers of eight year old girls might cry when they aren't needed for shoe help anymore.

It doesn't matter how many years of experience you have teaching dance, even if you have countless trophies, choreography awards, and numerous national titles, once you become the mother of a dancer you know NOTHING!

If your 2nd grader son brings home district "Priority Spelling Words" the first week of school after having aced these lists in previous years, don't assume they are 2nd grader words.
If you have already abrasively interrogated your 2nd grader about why he didn't get his Priority Spelling Word correct, and he enlightens you they are from the 3rd and 4th grade Priority lists, the polite thing to do is apologize immediately.
If you have to apologize for getting worked up over spelling words, mellow out.

If you find the same list of Priority Spelling Words the second week of school, don't assume your 2nd grader missed them all on his previous test.
If you assume these are your 2nd grader's words, and they are actually your 3rd grader's words, they figure out the younger one is a more talented speller.
It might be an issue for a few days, so simply remind your kids they are all different and special in their own ways :)
If you have to apologize twice in two weeks for getting worked up over spelling words, it might be a good idea to take a chill pill.

If you are asked to water your MomBFFs flowers while they are out of town for nine days, and it rains every other day, it is a good idea to go water them anyway.
If you don't go water them until the seventh day of their vacation, and you can't get the hose to work, but you hear water running somewhere, it might be a bigger problem than your first instincts indicate.

If you decide to skip the hose and go inside the house to get a watering can, and when you do the house smells like a swimming pool - this is bad.
If you find your MomBFF's basement under 10 inches of water with their pipes GUSHING water, don't call the utilities company - they aren't much help - first call your husband (or any other handy sort of man you know) instead.
If you try to turn the water off by yourself because you simply cannot stand to sit and wait without doing anything, not only are you going to get soaked to the bone, but you probably won't be able to get the shut off valve to budge.

A flooded basement isn't ALL bad - you might get a newly organized craft room out of the deal.
Make sure to stay on your MomBFFs good side so you can go sew in her newly organized craft room :)

And finally -

Don't make blanket statements, they truly bite you in the buns.

"I don't care how much money you make, I won't let you travel anymore!"
Your husband might step down from traveling only to get an amazing offer to travel with a new company.

"I will never threaten punishment to toilet train my kids!"
One small moment of frustration and the words - one more accident and you will have to have a time out - might eliminate accidents from stubborn child to date.

AND
"I will not get pregnant! I can feel when I ovulate"
That is all I've got to say about that.

-Sara

GUESS WHO!!!!!!

2008-04-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

Random Blog-by

2008-04-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

SO much to say, SO little time. I'll hit a few of them, save the bigger ones . . .

My kids are on spring break which means at any given moment I have 4 - 8 kids roaming my house. It has been going good. Today the MomBFF and I are attempting to take everyone to a movie. I'll let you know how that goes!

My youngest has an eye doctor appointment. Lately I have been noticing his left eye turns in at times. I thought for sure it was a lazy eye until the family doctor said sometimes kids who are near sighted will go cross-eyed in an attempt to focus. Does anyone know how they test eye sight in kids that young? He is almost twenty months old. I am sure I will find out soon enough.

We rented a dumpster for spring cleaning. It is entirely full and I still have one more room to go through - my craft room. It feels nice not to be a pack rat anymore! It was the best $120 bucks I ever spent!

-Sara

Tips on Broken Fingers

2008-04-04T08:01:00.000-07:00

It is a bit scary when your 8 year old daughter has had a broken arm, stitches in her knee, and most recently, a broken pinkie finger, and still isn't the record holder for ER/Urgent care visits in the family.

My 6 year old son is the winner in that category with staples to the head, stitches to the head, a massive sliver, and a crushed hand in a minivan sliding door.

These kids . . .

My oldest two were picking up the family room and as they got close to finishing, some horsing around began. While running across the room, she tripped over her own feet and landed on her hand. Her fingers were bent way back when she fell.

I knew by her cry she was really hurt, but she was able to move each finger, nothing was swollen and all her knuckles seemed to be in place. I sent her to sit down on the couch with some ice and reminded her, "This is why moms tell kids not to run in the house!" Two hours later, and as dinner was nearly ready, she was still sniffling. I asked to see her hand again and this time her pinkie was getting fat. She refused to bend her fingers so I told her to get in the car.

I didn't really think it was broken, but I had flashback of my sister's broken arm. It was four days before they took her to see a doctor. My poor mom, "But it never swelled up!" My sister is still bitter . . . okay not really, but it is a great one to bring up when you want to jab a tad at Mom.

We get there and sure enough - hairline fracture of the middle joint in her right hand pinkie. It was splinted, taped, wrapped to the other two fingers diagnosed as severely strained, and sent home. I was even given a "good job mom" compliment from the doctor who showed my daughter her crooked finger and told her, "My mom wasn't as nice as yours. She didn't bring me to a doctor." I am thankful my inner mom voice spoke up or I might not have.

Broken Finger Advice -

1 - Buy extra tape and sticky wrap stuff. The nurse told me we could reuse the wrap until it gets "nasty," but honestly, if your child was active enough to break their finger, they are probably active enough to need a new wrap almost everyday.

2 - If the broken digit is on their dominate hand, unwrap it at dinner time. If the fracture is near a growth plate and you are told to "be cautious" and keep it splinted, having it wrapped becomes a false sense of security for a young child. With the hand still taped to the split, but the wrap taken off, it forced my daughter to eat left handed instead of struggling with her wrapped hand and risking further injury.

3 - Remember to take both motrin and tylenol to the school nurse. I sent motrin to be taken at 11:00 AM, but by the time 3:30 PM rolled around she was in pain and couldn't have more. If I had brought tylenol, she could have had some of it later in the day.

4 - If your child tends to get warm at night, turn on a fan. I checked on her hand before I went to bed. She had yanked off the wrap in her sleep.

5 - Send them to school in elastic waist band pants. It will save them some embarrassment when using the restroom.

and finally - Don't laugh Mom! It's NOT funny!

-Sara

PMS or Overreaction?

2008-04-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

Blog has been neglected long enough. Life tends to get busy this time of year, but sheesh!

We have had a death in the extended family, a broken finger, the jeep died, the van finally came back after a month in the shop and has to go right back in for more work, not to mention our attempts at spring cleaning. We got a dumpster and everything!

Life has been crazy and it is time to vent it out.

Ryan and I had our first public fight. It has been four years; I guess we were due.

We were at the funeral for his step-grandma who lost her battle with cancer. It was a very hard on Ryan's family, but since she was someone my kids had only met a handful of times, I didn't pull the older two out of school for the funeral. In hindsight, it was probably not the best decision, but one we made as a couple.

At the luncheon after the funeral, Ryan came up to me and told me I was wanted for a family picture. He made the comment, "Now that we are officially married you are expected to be in it." He was kidding, but immediately I went into mama bear mode and told him I was going to sit this one out.

He calmly explained it was his great-aunt who wanted the pictures and it would be no big deal, but I just smiled and said, "Since half my family isn't here, I will not be in the picture. I don't mind if you and the babies join."

I am ultra sensitive to my blended family. There is a divide in kids, but I want to acknowledge it as little as possible. An extended family picture that is possibly going to end up on the mantle at Grandma's house is not something I want my older kids to see and wonder why they aren't in the extended-family photo.

He tried to make it better and say it wasn't a real family picture. The woman simply wanted photos of the family members at the luncheon. I snapped back, "That is easily fixed. I can leave."

Ryan got a big snippy with me and said, "It is no big deal, just get in the picture."

Here is where I started to get back in his face. You can't have it both ways. Either it really is no big deal - in which case no one will mind if I sit out - OR it IS a big deal - in which case I am definitely not getting in the picture without my other two kids. I asked him, "Which is it?"

He started to walk off . . . INFURIATING . . . I yelled after him and made him talk to me. In the end, he promised the only one with a copy would be a woman in another state and "please just get in the photo, play nice this once."

I was really upset for a few days. It wasn't about the photo anymore. He wasn't sticking up for me. Most of the time he is WONDERFUL at having my back on my idiosyncrasies, but this time I felt thrown under the bus. When I was calm enough to hear his side, I began to understand. He was already on the $h1t list with his mother for other silly issues. He had said we would be in the photo before he asked me and didn't want to make a scene after agreeing. Ryan promises it won't happen again.

I need some opinions. Was this a serious case of PMS or was I justified in flipping out?

-SaraMae

Think People Think

2008-03-21T07:11:00.000-07:00

I don't understand restaurants. A local restaurant, and a favorite in our family, includes a bite sized rice crispie treat with the children's dinner. It is nice to have a dessert included with your meal, but why in the world would you bring it out on the plate along side the kid's meal.

The extra touch is enjoyable - not a huge dessert, not an overload of sugar - but it annoys the beejeebees out of me! While six and eight year olds are capable of understanding the dessert-is-last concept, two and a half year olds aren't as mentally equipped. They know what is inside the metallic blue wrapper. True, mom can grab them off the plates, but sometimes mom's arms aren't fast enough especially when reaching for two. It seems eighteen month olds also whine for the packages that crinkle. Only good stuff comes in packages that crinkle.

Dessert on the meal plate is a recipe for tantrums. Next time I have to remember to ask the waitress to skip the treats. Funniest part? They also have suckers in a fishbowl at the front door. One treat is sufficient in my book.

-Sara

La La La Laundry

2008-03-20T15:47:00.001-07:00

It only took me four years of living with Ryan to come up with an efficient method of doing laundry. We are very excited!

I am not one to be good about remembering when to switch the loads. Anytime I get started I wind up getting sidetracked.

I can't stand it when Ryan does the laundry. He simply grabs whatever he finds and throws it in all together. I freak out!

I do enjoy folding and hanging up clothes, but I LOATHE putting it away. It winds up sitting on my formal dining room table until a baby or four show up and yank it onto the floor.

Not anymore!! We figured it out. I sort. Ryan runs and cycles it in the machines. I fold and hang. Kids and Ryan are in charge of hanging up and putting away in drawers. Ahhhhh. It sounds simple and obvious enough, but I was too much of a control freak to ever split up the chore.

Now that I am finally on top of the laundry, I can focus on switching out the clothes to match the season and start consigning!

-Sara

Good Morning Sunshine

2008-03-18T05:57:00.000-07:00

I am finally awakening from my blog slumber. It wasn't a fun few weeks. I thought I was doing pretty well by blogging through the four weeks of nearly full time training, but the end of the whole process threw me for a loop.

It all started with a few incidents between my children and the MomBFFs children. It sparked a . . . I wouldn't call it a fight, because we didn't yell or argue . . . I would say it was a few discussions that ended by having to agree to disagree. Feelings were hurt.

The end result was a decision to take a week off from each other until we could figure out the next step. I didn't realize how that would affect me. I am assuming most friends taking a break wouldn't be a major ordeal, but we are extremely close families. Many people think we are polygamists we are together so often. For us, a break meant no school carpool, no twins over on Monday and Tuesday, no trips to the gym, no thrift shopping, no sewing, no crafting, and no hanging out to watch our Wednesday shows. I was truly heartbroken even though it was I who suggested the break.

I felt like a failure as a mother and a friend. Thank the Lord the break was just what we needed. The following Sunday MomBFF said, "Can my kids come back tomorrow or should I find actual daycare." I immediately told her to bring them over. I was elated. I missed them terribly. Crazy right? Missing Twin B - or Elle as she is called after the fabulous movie Legally Blonde - was understandable. Who wouldn't miss a prissy toddler who puts her toys away and looks oh so adorable doing so with her pink purse slung over her shoulder? Missing Twin A - or Jack as we call him . . . after a donkey - was the surprising part. He is a mischievous monkey who starts all the trouble. Okay, not all, but he is a handful. I missed him the most! He is so sweet and lovable you forget all his antics.

After getting the other half of my family back, I went into a slight depression of other sorts. I wasn't feeling like a woman. I was so engrossed in motherhood, stepping it up as a babysitter, and repairing a wounded friendship I began to feel like I was letting myself go again.

A night at work changed my perception. If you have never heard of the five love languages, go check it out. If you are a personality quiz junkie, this one is a good one. Anyhow, my top love language is words of affirmation. I need to hear how amazing people think I am. I know, big shocker. Two customers I dealt with last weekend were able to pull me out of my depression with a few phrases.

The first customer was a big flirt. We played the game well, including an exchange of such phrases as "If you weren't married I would totally hit on you" and "If I wasn't married I would totally take you up on it." He validated me as a woman!

The second customer was an older gentleman. I love old guys, especially ones that carry themselves with pride. He asked me, "Are you new here?" When I told him it was my third day he said, "Your knowledge and accuracy is spot on." I went home on cloud nine.

They were both being polite customers, but I doubt they know the full extent of what they did. They pulled a middle aged woman out of a sluggish mood. Here is a shout out to John and Patrick. You made my night :)

-Sara

New results

2008-03-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

Poll Results!

When is bed time for the little ones?

18% - before 7:30
45% - 8:00
18% - 8:30
18% - 9:00

I have to admit, I was surprised no one picked the "It varies" choice. My oldest daughter was a night owl who woke up at the crack of dawn no matter how late she went down. It took me three years of school to finally get her down before 9:00 on a consistant basis!

-Sara

Little Eavesdropping Moment

2008-03-04T11:22:00.001-08:00

So I was at Taco Bell today, having lunch with a co-worker when I heard the most amazing thing come out of the mouth of a little boy that was having lunch with his mom a couple of tables away. Now, I don't make it a habit to listen in to every one's conversations, but since becoming a mother, I seem to have this knack of being able to hear and understand the words of children more now than I used to...at least I seem to catch myself noticing kids more in public than I used to. Anyway, as I was taking a bite of my soft taco (delicious...btw) I hear this boy of approximately 6 years of age say to his mom, "Mom, this is the best day of my life!" He said it with such gusto and excitement. It really got my attention. The mom asked him what made this day so great, and he replied with yet another attention grabbing statement that I think would grab the heart of any mother. "Because you made it the best day, mom." I'm not kidding. That's what he said. I then caught the two of them sharing a quick peck. It's those little moments that make parenting worth all the work. How many of us get the pleasure of hearing our children tell us that their day is the best just because we're in it with them? My warm fuzzy "mom" moment was shattered when I realized that she probably didn't have many more years left where simply taking her son to Taco Bell for lunch would qualify as one of the "best days of his life". How soon is he going to want to stop kissing her in public, yet alone talk to her when there are other people around. Kids, they grow so fast. I hope all of us can have a special "Taco Bell" moment before our kids find something or someone else to give them the "best day of their lives".

-Marie

February Fall Outs

2008-03-02T21:04:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. Karma has been kicking my pants. I am hoping with the arrival of March things will turn around again. I really never thought I would come across a February as horrible as the last year, but this year came damn close.

The job stuff is going great, just busy. Everyone is relatively fine. Just stuff. Will have to get back to everyone when I have more time to let the thoughts dribble out.

-Sara

Ford Minivan Vs. Jeep Wrangler

2008-02-27T07:39:00.001-08:00

Yeah, my minivan lost that battle. On my way home from work I was hit. I was waiting in the turn lane for my green arrow. I always watch for cars trying to beat a yellow light, or ones that look like they aren't going to stop. Last night was no different, everyone was stopped when the light changed. I was almost through the eight laned intersection when I saw the jeep out of the corner of my eye. He rammed right into me.

I was the only one in my car, and was fine. The driver of the jeep was fine. A wonderful woman waited to be a witness. Jeep driver was cited.

He said he was a bit distracted and when he looked up, he saw a green light and assumed it was his. Unfortunately the light he saw was the one for the turn lanes, not his. He had to have gunned it because he hit me pretty hard. I didn't even see him until it was too late. I was too busy keeping my eye on the PT Cruiser that was in the right hand turn lane across from me.

Here comes the funny part. His jeep was fine. Barely a scratch on it. My car?

Head light gone
One third of the bumper gone
Windshield wiper fluid container ripped in half
Front corner panel all messed up
Dent near the rear of the van where the jeep landed after he bounced off of me

And don't get me wrong, when I say gone, I don't mean crunched. I mean it is no longer attached to my car. It was sitting in the middle of the road.

Why did this have to happen the one week I took a swing shift for training and Ryan is out of town? I will tell you why, because we just paid it off.

When I told Ryan I was able to drive it home he response was, "Oh bummer, I was hoping for a new one." men . . .

-Sara

Oh Brother

2008-02-26T11:14:00.000-08:00

Oh man, my poor brother.

I put him down as a reference on my job application. I am not a full time employee, but I do get paid to do data entry for him as well as monthly reports. Normally I don't list the work I do for the family businessses on my employment history (I have always been the number/computer geek for both my mother's and my brother's salons since they opened), but I threw one of them on anyway to avoid the two year gap in my job history - which is a whole other topic I shouldn't get on my soap box about. Staying at home with your kids for a few years shouldn't make you unemployable.

The job I almost have involves a few different steps in the application process. Yesterday I filled out yet another job history. This form didn't have a spot for what my position was, just what type of business. I didn't call him to give him a heads up because it wasn't like I made up a story and needed to fill him in on everything. I was confident he would tell them the truth. Yes, she's my sister, she runs my reports.

My new employer calls my brother (keep in mind we share a very uncommon last name) and asks him to verify my employment. He says yes, she works for me. Then he was asked to verify I was working as a hair stylist. No, no, no, no. Me as a cosmetologist is absurd. Instead of saying, no, she does data entry, he froze up. He knew it was unlikely I was claiming to be a full time stylist, but he didn't want to rat me out if for some reason I had. He told my employer that he would need to call the manager of the salon because he couldn't verify that part.

ACK!!!!!

He calls and yells at me! No dude, I simply said it was a hair salon, not that I was a stylist. Sheesh. If I just went through three weeks of unpaid training and I get denied over my brother trying to cover me, I am going to FREAK OUT! I guess it is my karma getting me gain for asking my baby brother to be my alibi all those teenage years.

Another lesson learned. Give the guy a heads up.

-Sara

Traveling Man

2008-02-25T07:43:00.001-08:00

How you know your man travels too much.

In the beginning you asked for detailed itineraries including flight numbers, hotel information, and nightly activities.
After awhile you simply marked trips on the calendar by writing the destination city and a thick arrow through the week.
Now you find yourself asking questions such as "Oh, you are leaving tomorrow?" and instant messaging your spouse "Are you in Toledo? - No, I am in Toronto, Canada - Oh, I knew it started with T."

In the beginning the kids gave long goodbyes and well wishes. They asked to call Daddy at least once a night.
After awhile a short hug became a sufficient farewell and phone calls were reserved for nights mommy said, "Do I need to call your father about this?"
Now the kids wander the house spouting phrases such as "Wow, you are home still? Cool."

In the beginning you continued to cook fabulous meals from scratch and ended up with way too many leftovers because you forgot you only needed to make dinner for yourself and the small army of children who don't appreciate lemon pepper chicken with asparagus.
After awhile you got the hang of preparing smaller more kid based meals (such as mac n cheese, spaghetti and hamburger surprise). You only ran out of the vegetable a few times on nights he was in town.
Now you get asked, "What are we having for dinner tonight? - Oh, the kids and I already ate cold cereal and hot dogs, you have to fend for yourself."

And finally
In the beginning you slept many nights downstairs on the couch because you couldn't bare to be all alone in your king sized bed.
After awhile you began to appreciate the extra stretching space.
Now you whine "Move OVER!" anytime he is occupying more than a quarter of the bed.

-Sara

It Would Be Fun!

2008-02-25T00:21:00.001-08:00

Last night I was in bed next to my wonderful husband. We started talking about our sweet kids. They only came up because we had spent the evening away from them. After picking them up from the sitter's we had the chore of carrying each sleeping child into the house. There is something completely adorable about sleeping kids. They are so warm and cuddly!

In the middle of our conversation, he started accusing me of having a favorite. I started smiling. My favorite is usually the one in my lap. This time, however, he was talking about my third child. It isn't that she is THE favorite, I have a different bond with each, but she is my child I never thought I would have the opportunity to have. I was a divorced woman for crying out loud. I didn't think I could find another man, let alone one who would marry me and produce MORE children. It sparked a conversation about the hospital stays for each pregnancy. That's when he said it.

"It truly would be fun to do again."

My heart skipped a beat. Did he say what I think he said? Did he mean it would be fun to have another baby? He has always said no more babies. But he just said . . . then he clarified -

"It would be interesting to see if you freak out about the epidural again."

That is my man. Another baby? No. Guessing whether his strong, confident woman would LOSE it again? Yes, that would be fun times. Thanks babe. I love you too.

-Sara

Boys Being Boys

2008-02-22T09:55:00.000-08:00

My son rummaged through his Valentines and was excited to find six temporary tatoos. One of them was an image of a Bratz doll. He handed it to me and said -

"Can you save this for me? I want to use it someday, but not right now, maybe this weekend." Then, he added in a whisper, "Because I like Bratz too, but please don't tell anyone."

Gender rolls - looks like we are in the girl-stuff-is-icky phase. Poor thing. He lives in a family where you are allowed to like whatever you like. Ryan's favorite color is purple, Grandpa used to take dance lessons, and Uncle is a stylist/salon owner (I should probably add - straight). My son himself used to be in a competitive dance duo. Too bad the rest world isn't always as accepting.

-Sara

Lunar or Looney?

2008-02-21T21:46:00.001-08:00

SingleBFF wants everyone to know that she isn't really a moron.

Now that I have added the disclaimer I can tell you about last night.

SingleBFF came over to watch AIdol and the lunar eclipse. She was going on and on about having never seen one before. When I took her to grab some food (it was a non-cooking sorta night), she reminded me every ten minutes that we had to look outside at 8:28 PM.

In the middle of watching our shows, I decided I better find out exactly what time it was to start. Past experiences told me to verify her information. My instincts were right, she had seen the start time in Eastern - we are Central. I rushed outside to find the shadow was already halfway across the moon.

"Hurry, get out here!" I called to her, but when she got outside her excitement deflated.

"This isn't it. It is suppose to be really bright flashing lights."

I gave her my standard what-are-you-talking-about looks. I frequently hand them out to her.

"An eclipse isn't bright lights." You would think after three years of hanging out she would come to realize I am always right, but no, she argued with me

"Yes, I saw it on the news. Flashing lights, it is supposed to flash."

I couldn't contain myself. It was hard to laugh in zero degree weather. She immediately went into defense mode and launched into countless reasons how she knew what she was talking about. It took me three interruptions and a SHUT UP FOR A MINUTE before she would listen to me.

Eclipse - shadow - moon, earth, sun alignment - she looked like a deer in headlights. She didn't really care about a shadow. She sat at my window the rest of the night waiting for flashing. What a gooberhead. She still swears she saw flashing lights on the news. My best guess is they showed a clip of a time elapsed eclipse. When I approached her with the theory her flashing lights were merely glitches in a recording of an eclipse, she blew me off.

Teenagers! LOL, I wonder what her excuse will be when she hits twenty . . .

-Sara

Guilt be Gone

2008-02-20T07:40:00.000-08:00

The vote is closed. 91% would rather have their husband out of town for a week on business than having them at home all week sick.

When the doctor told Ryan it would take rest to get better or the next step would be a hospital visit and an IV, I got excited to keep him home for the week. Then reality set as I remembered how much of a pain in the buns a sick husband can be. I sorta felt quilty for wishing he was simply out of town. Nice to know I am not alone :)

Check out the new poll on toilet paper.

-Sara

Spoiled by Technology

2008-02-19T19:45:00.000-08:00

I was leaving job training and clicked my unlock button for the car on my key ring. Nothing happened.

I clicked it again. The lock didn't pop up. Weird, maybe the battery in the remote is dead.

Now I start to panic . . . my car won't unlock . . . HOW AM I GOING TO GET IN MY CAR!!!!

After about three seconds I felt like a complete moron. I have a KEY on the key ring! For Pete's sake. As I jammed the key into my car, I realized it was a motion I haven't done in over eight years! No wonder I nearly freaked out. Thank the Lord above I didn't rush to someone for help. That could have been completely mortifying.

I jumped in my car and went to start it.

Click, click, click. Great, battery was dead. The locks should have been the first clue.

But . . . TA DA!!!! . . . technology to the rescue! Ryan bought me a portable car jumping kit. Okay, okay, maybe most people don't need one of these contraptions, but I do. Maybe I have a wee slight problem turning my lights off. Sure, they turn themselves off after a few minutes, but it adds up if you have kids in and out of the car looking for the crap they left in it. Then there is the teeny tiny problem with having a door cracked and the inside lights stay lit. Hey, if you had two babies in your arms in zero degree weather and you have to get behind the door and kick it on the far edge just right to get it to shut (most of the time it's impressive, you should see me do it on a thin layer of ice), you might have this problem too!

But back to my amazing contraption - I never knew these jumper thingers exsisted, but I am SO glad I had it. Totally worked. About the size of a kid's lunch box it fits under my seat (ooo, speaking of lunch boxes, I had the most ultra-knarly smurf one in second grade). It being extremely light, I just whipped it out, hooked it up, turned it on, and 60 seconds later my engine roared! Ahhh, I love being independent.

What have we learned?
1. My next van needs automatic doors
2. I love technology, even if it spoils me rotten

-Sara

Seriously . . .

2008-02-17T19:23:00.000-08:00

Completely true -

SingleBFF has never stepped foot in a public library. Her reason? Her mother told her it was expensive.

My mother named me and my sister after songs. When I did a search for the lyrics, we found out my sister's song was about a dog. She should listen to the words more often.

Before my oldest daughter could talk, she could sing the theme song to Star Wars using baby talk.

I have four children. I was adamant about getting to hold them first. Even with my position on the topic clear, I only got to hold one of my babies before anyone else. Each of them were held for the first time by a separate person. Those other three people are on my $h1t list.

I didn't drink until I was 21.

MomBFF had twins three weeks before I had my third child. Not only did each of her babies outweigh my singleton, but she had the nerve to show up in my hospital room looking skinny. I instantly hated her (this was before we started hanging out).

SingleBFF was my dance student years before we became friends. She was an eight year old on one of my first competitive dance teams. Later she became a coworker assisting me in choreography. One day I explained how to line up the dancers in order to hide the crappiest ones. A few years later we had become true BFFs and were watching the old dance videos. Guess where SingleBFF was standing? In every single one of the spots I had mentioned . . . busted.

-Sara

Family Fibs and Fun

2008-02-16T21:22:00.000-08:00

I got chewed out yesterday for not having my phone charged. Seems everyone was trying to get a hold of me about a family get together planned for tonight. Here is the thing - today is the one year anniversary of my father's death. Call me crazy, but I am not that interested in turning the 16th into a holiday. As a huge number geek I usually notice, but I refuse to attach negative emotions with a day of the month. I was hoping for an uneventful day of cleaning and laundry. I can celebrate my dad on his birthday next month.

Here is how it went down - my sister caught me on instant messenger late last night. She was whining about my phone and then told me to call my brother. She claimed everyone was concerned about MomL, and we needed to have a hangout night to keep her from being alone. The hiccup was MomL didn't want to play hostess, and my brother didn't want it at his house unless I could come.

WHAT? I mean I am AMAZING, but really? This whole plan hinges on me? Is anyone else buying this crap? I don't think so. I tried explaining I was not interested in having a tribute night, but if it was important to the rest of them, I would go. Lastly I had to tell my sister fourteenth times that I would call bro, and I knew she still didn't believe me, but I signed off the instant messenger anyway.

Not five minutes pass and my brother calls me via Ryan's cell phone. Either he is the smart one in the family, or my sister tag teamed and gave him the heads up I was home.

He says the hangout night is all for my sister's sake. She is the one that gives us a call every 16th of the month making sure we realize what day it is. My brother confesses he told her it was about MomL so my sister would come, and fed her the line about it only being at his house if I go as a ploy to make sure someone contacted me since he wasn't having any luck.

Sheesh. Do all families work undercover?

In the end I went - kid free even, woohoo! - and had a good time. We talked so long about our bizarre idiosyncrasies, MomL was feeling normal and left out. My sister pointed out that anyone who would see the signs and still choose to marry into our world is crazy in their own right. She felt better.

And it didn't end up being a tribute night. Dad only came up a few times and no tears were involved. If I had known it was going to be that simple I wouldn't have put up a fuss. Oh well, lesson learned. Make the fuss afterward, not beforehand :)

-Sara

Toast I can Trust

2008-02-14T08:18:00.001-08:00

All I want is a good toaster. I am tired of struggling with the temperamental machine all morning. When I moved in with Ryan, he didn't even have a toaster. Mine didn't survive the move. I mentioned to him my kids were warm breakfast lovers, and within the next few days, he brought one home after work.

This little thing was great for the first few months, but for some reason the outside coils stopped working. I was constantly flipping toast all morning until both sides were golden. Infuriating. I begged for a four slice toaster.

Once again, he came home with a new toaster. Once again, it was fabulous . . . for the first few months. The four slice machine truly looked like an upgrade. We have the intensity dial as well as three buttons including a setting for bagels, frozen items, and a cancel button. I was a toast making fiend!

Now, however, I am ready to chuck the thing through the wall. This time it is the inside coils that are going out (which renders the bagel setting completely useless) and the outside coils take forever to warm up. I have become the flipping fool again. It wouldn't be so bad, but on totally random days, it works just fine. Those days produce black toast.

HELP ME I AM GOING CRAZY!!!! Who out there has a great four slice toaster? I am even willing to spend some serious clams if it will make my mornings less complicated. My MomBFF swears by her toaster oven. Anyone use one of these? I am a creature of habit which makes me skeptical. Drop me a line, let me know if you have the same issues. Guess I better start reading the reviews on Amazon.com, ugh.

-Sara

Karma Will Getcha

2008-02-13T09:09:00.000-08:00

If you are trying to conceive do me a favor, stay away from September through January. These months will produce babies born June through October. Trust me, you don't want to be big and pregnant during those scorching summer months. You will melt no matter where you are.

So if you are like me, and during your winter pregnancy you made fun of your mother by calling her "not so bright" for being pregnant all summer with your sister and karma repaid you by giving you two babies in July which caused a huge apology to said mother and THEN got slammed with a late August baby to boot, then this blog is for you.

I am highly concerned about parenting three kids who will be on young side of their class. For my daughter, I worry about her being a just-turned-fourteen-year-old taking classes and mingling with 18 year old boys. Lord help me. She is my kid that refuses to wear her clothes more than five minutes at a time. I hope that ceases by high school!

My boys are tiny, especially the baby. He sporadically falls off the weight chart at the doctor's office. Our doctor started to lecture me, but I reminded him I am only 5'4" and Ryan isn't much taller. Being small, I worry about bullies and even more so if they are the young ones. As it stands the baby will be a few weeks away from his fifth birthday on the first day of kindergarten.

On the bright side - at least I don't have to worry about kids wanting to drive to school until their junior year.

-Sara

Discipline Poll

2008-02-12T19:36:00.000-08:00

The first poll was such a great hit, I thought I would see if I can turn it into a running gag. This time around the question was "What method of discipline do you use with your children under the age of three?" More than one answer was accepted.

Time Outs - 66%
Spanking - 33%
Reasoning - 33%
Distraction - 66%
None, they need to express themselves - 16%

Hrm . . . I think I am picking up a second running gag . . . JM was that your vote?

Make sure you vote in the new poll concerning husbands :)

-Sara

Sweets and Smells

2008-02-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

Sometimes this man of mine really makes me swoon ~ even if I giggle a few moments later.

Ryan came home from Germany bearing gifts. Last time he brought back T-shirts. This time it was something way more practical - chocolate!!!! Good stuff too. After he finished handing out small bites of candy to tiny hands, he told me there was one more present and to consider it an early Valentine.

It was a very large bottle of expensive perfume. He explained it was the only stuff he found that wasn't available in the United States. It smells wonderful! Then he made the mistake of looking it up on the internet. It is scheduled to be sold in the States by mid-March. I told him it was still special and I love him!

But dang it, now I can't send him those ruby ring links I have been gathering . . . although my birthday will be around the corner soon . . .

-Sara

Not Enough Time

2008-02-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

I was going to write a blog about the severe crush I have on my ex-karate instructor, but I have to clean the family room before I hit training. This job is seriously cutting into my blog time!

Maybe I should just do a quick milestone blog.

My 7 year old - wait, she turned 8 last week - just hit the multiplication tables at school.
My 6 year old is reading chapter books.
My 2 1/2 year old is starting to memorize board books.
My 18 month old is talking like crazy! We are up to - mama, dada, papa, uh-oh, spongebob (bumbah), up, help me (hep me), nuh-uh, oh no, sippy (ippy), butt, eyes, and block (bock)

I have never had an early talker. If you don't consider this early, please don't tell me. Let me live in my ignorance. My other kids didn't talk until after the age of two!

OH!!!! And I have lost 7 lbs! Not as much as I hoped, but I am excited because I went off the diet while Ryan was in Germany and fully expected to gain some weight. When I went back to the routine, I found I had lost 1 pound without trying! Woohoo! I guess I really am shifting the lifestyle. Very excited.

-Sara

Friday Freak Out

2008-02-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

It was Friday. Ryan was on his way home from Germany. I had started a blog about my father's accident. MomBFF invited me to the gym with her and a male coworker of hers, we will call him John.

I decided working out was far better for my emotional state before heading to work training than obsessing over a blog about a plane crash especially since Ryan would be on a few of them all day. I left the blog half done and headed for the gym.

I had lifted weights and was finishing up my workout on the elliptical machine when one of the TVs in the room caught my eye. It wasn't the soap opera playing; it was the crawl underneath -

"BREAKING NEWS"

I only caught a few words the first time it went past - evacuated . . . emergency vehicles . . . other planes still landing and taking off.

I yelled, "WHAT!?!" and stopped pedaling. MomBFF kept going and looked at me like I was crazy. My heart jumped into my throat as I tried to process what I saw while waiting for the crawl to start over.

- Its a local news crawl
- They mean our airport
- Calm down, wait for it, wait for it

After what seemed like an eternity of "stay tuned from more coverage" and "breaking news live at noon" advertisements in the crawl, it came across again.

"A plane landed at Epply (our local airport) after reports of a fire . . . "

MomBFF watched my heart attack come on and mentioned, "Landed sweetie, it says landed, everyone is fine." But I didn't really hear her.

"Surrounded by emergency vehicles, the United Airlines plane has not yet been evacuated. . ."

Severe panic mode - Ryan flies United.

I now understand panic attacks. They suck arse. It was a full tense body, stomach on the floor, heart in your throat, ears ringing, feeling of running in circles sort of thing.

THANK GOD FOR MOMBFF - "Chicago, his plane hasn't even reached Chicago yet. He flies into Omaha later tonight, remember?"

The freak out was over. I was left feeling sick to my stomach and the tears welled up. I kept composure until I hit the locker room where I sat letting those silent tears run their course. I came back out to find John yelling at me to quit slacking. I told him to stuff it as MomBFF filled him in on the drama.

"So? That's nothing to freak out about," he insisted. Men, they are morons, but he did make me feel better. Yelling at someone feels good when you have pent up adreneline.

What have I learned? (I always have to figure out what I learned) Even though I have come to terms with the accident that caused my father's death, I guess I am always going to be overly sensitive when I see the word "plane" on TV.

-Sara

PS Ryan landed at 7ish later that night and made it home fine :)

Almost a Year

2008-02-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

****Warning - sensitive material, may not want to read if you are hormonal today, or extra emotional****

After my father died, I found myself poring over memories and experiences. It amazes me how many moments aligned themselves at the end of his life.

We didn't discuss death often, but when it came up there were a few issues that were clear. The first was his adamant stance on open casket. He would NOT have an open casket funeral. When he was young he went to his grandfather's funeral. The image of his dead grandfather lying in the casket haunted him. He did not want any of us to have the image of him after he passed away. One time I told him, "Oh, we will have an open casket. You will be dead. You won't know the difference."

Not a single one of us had to see him after he died. The plane crash made an open casket completely out of the question. Since I make everything all about me, I am sure it was God's way of making sure I kept my father's request.

My father also worried about arguments over his possessions. When my great-grandmother passed away, there was a mad rush over to her house to clear it out. She didn't have anything of great value, but some relatives who got there first seemed to grab items just to grab them. My dad was appalled.

He later asked my siblings and me if there was anything of sentimental significance that we wanted when he died. None of us could think of anything we HAD to HAVE if he were to die. He laughed and said, "I thought for sure you would all say my ring." He was referring to a black hills gold ring with an eagle on the front. Immediately all three of us were spouting - Well yes, we will fight over the RING!!!

Once again, the plane wreck made this point moot. They never recovered his eagle or his wedding ring. My MomL told the funeral director she only wanted the rings if they showed no signs of damage due to the accident. During the wake, I pulled him aside and made sure he knew I wanted the rings even if they were simply a pool of melted gold.

He took me into an office and explained the plane went down around 9:45 PM, he arrived on the scene around 2 AM and the wreckage was still burning. There was nothing left.

I can't decide if everything lining up was fate, or if it is simply me being a pattern geek finding every possible lined up connection. Guess I will never know.

-Sara

Let it Snow, Let it Snow

2008-02-07T07:41:00.000-08:00

I love snow. I think it is beautiful. Howevah ~ enough is enough. Since the middle of December we have had a yard full of the white stuff.

First of all, I am annoyed I still have Christmas lights still on the house. Yes, we are THOSE neighbors. I will admit, there were two windows of opportunity to get them down when the roof had finally become dry, but both were work days and Ryan always said it could wait until the weekend. The weekend always brought more snow.

At least I got the pop-up Santa out of our yard as well as the lights off the little tree and the rope lights down from our entryway. Those were the only power cords I could free from the layers of ice during our one day of 50 degree weather. The blow-up snow man and penguin are still out there, but thankfully the snow has them buried. The two spiral Christmas trees are still visible, but I tried. Their cords won't budge.

Sigh, I will have to wait yet another week. If it hits March I will really have to hang my head. I have noticed that the other people in the neighborhood don't have theirs down either, but we were the only ones on our street that decorated this year. We look like the sore thumb.

Secondly, why does it snow EVERYTIME Ryan goes out of town? Shoveling really sucks arse. Thank the LORD for Bill. I love Bill. He is our retired neighbor. He was forced into early retirement due to a back injury and is chronically bored to tears. His favorite winter hobby? Attaching his snow blower with extra large blade attachment to the front of his riding lawn mower and obsessively plowing our street. He claims he only does it so HE can get out of the neighborhood, but he can't fool me. He does my driveway as well as five other neighbors. He's a sweetheart.

OH and ONE more snow story. My family cracks me up.

My brother answers a phone call from my mother:
"Hello"
"I am an AMAZING driver, do you know why? I almost got into a car accident."

How he kept a straight face is beyond me.

"What happened?"
"I was on the interstate" - she drives a very expensive, fast, non-snow friendly car, and she drives like the little old lady from Pasadena (for those who don't listen to 60s music, that is really, really fast)

"And the guy in front of me slammed on his brakes. I hit my brakes and they DIDN'T WORK!" - someone should really tell her that ice can do that when you are going 60 mph.

"There was a wall to the left of me and a car to the right of me. I started sliding all over the place and even sideways down the road, but I didn't hit anyone!!! Aren't you glad I am a GREAT driver?"

My brother politely ended the conversation without taking any shots at her. What a great son he is. He turned to me (the only part of the phone call I heard was his random yas and uh huhs) and said -

"Mom says becareful. The roads are really bad."

Thats my family. They keep me laughing endlessly.

-Sara

Stop the Ride, I wanna Get OFF!

2008-02-05T00:32:00.000-08:00

Do you ever have one of those days? The kind of day that leaves you feeling like you have ridden the rollercoaster one too many times and then got on the tilt-a-whirl? And now you are stuck knowing you would feel much better if you just puked up the corn dog and funnel cake, but ew, you don't want to end your experience with dry heaves?

I had one of those today. It is why I am sitting here blogging at 2:30 AM when I should be in the middle of a great dream.

The day started out wonderful. The rollercoaster was treating me well. I got the big kids to school okay. The four babies were angels. I did dishes, laundry, swept, and vacuumed. Next I get the crew all down for naps by the time my sister came to watch them.

Training went well. I am amazing :) I was on cloud nine by the time I headed to school to grab the big kids. Then the tide turned.

Grabbed the big kids, raced home, rushed my son into his wrestling clothes, jumped back in the car, got him to practice with two minutes to spare, went to the bank, got there five minutes after they closed, stopped at MomBFF for cash, grabbed dinner on the run, picked up my boy, came home, fed the babies, tended to so many kid problems my food got cold, took a phone call from my mother asking about lunch with my daughter tomorrow, realized I didn't pick up cupcakes for her birthday, read a book to one kid while trying to change a diaper, enforce a time out, and inspect brushed teeth, THEN after I get three kids in bed, my sister needs help getting insurance quotes, oh now SingleBFF needs help figuring out her maximum GPA capabilities this semester, I find a moment to eat between IMs and after struggling for a half hour to get the fourth child in bed, I get a moment to breath. (I have no idea how you working mothers do it, seriously)

Of course what do I decide to do to wind down? I made the mistake of watching some emotional TV programming. Tears. Tried to go to bed but couldn't sleep. Looked at the clock and decided to grab the laptop. It is 9:30 AM in Germany. Good thing Ryan loves me enough to talk me down.

I have decided the lesson for today is - Don't make a huge life change while your husband is out of the country. If you do, at least turn off the phone, send the kids to bed early, don't answer IMs, and stick to sitcoms.

-Sara

Today is the Big Day

2008-02-04T08:31:00.000-08:00

I start training today!! I am super excited. It feels like the first day of school. I am slightly disappointed about the dress code. They told me jeans and t-shirts are fine. I was hoping for an excuse to dress up! I am still going to wear my slacks and button down. And my new shoes! I NEEDED new shoes. Don't we all?

Wish me luck!

-Sara

Quick Update

2008-02-02T12:32:00.001-08:00

Turns out I had strep throat. Ryan made me a doctor appointment yesterday after I woke up with pain in my left ear. He said enough is enough and go in to see someone. I did, and now I am on meds. Both babies are on meds as well. They had swollen glands and since I tested positive for strep, they didn't bother testing the babies.

It was adorable. They checked the baby's ears and nose and eyes and throat and sufficiently ticked him off. Then when they went to check me over, he started yelling and swatting at the doctor! He was trying to protect me. So sweet! I love that little guy.

Ryan left for Germany today. I start training for my job on Monday.

It is going to get busy around here! Hope everyone has a great weekend. I have to get back to chores.

We are playing the laundry roll playing game. I am MaryLou from Louisiana, and my babies are BettySue and HenryLee. The older two are Jenna and John. We are getting ready for a week long treasure hunt so we HAVE to get all the laundry done before we can pack. It is hilarious to hear them attempt southern accents.

-Sara

But I'm feeling MUCH better now

2008-01-31T11:35:00.000-08:00

Date night was fun! Ryan pulled into the driveway right in time to pack up the kids for grandma's house and head out to the show. The drive downtown wasn't the greatest. I was getting over being sick and hadn't eaten much that day. I will admit, I was hoping for a nice dinner beforehand, but knew we were cutting it too close. Weird phenomenon - my body became queasy at the mention of fast food. It didn't even want a healthy sub shop.

So there we were, driving to our first Broadway show since our fateful, love-sparking show we saw nearly four years ago, and I am stuck in a bitter mood.

I literally went from a mature thirty-one year old, married with four kids woman, into a jilted, spoiled, Disney princess brat in two seconds flat. I huffed and whimpered as I drove. I hate driving on date night. It's the boy's job. Of course Ryan had offered to drive, but we were pressed for time and he drives like a little old lady. I wasn't handing over the keys to that slow poke.

He tried asking me what was wrong. I kept saying a woman standard, "Nothing, I am just starving." Ryan came up with some great food suggestions, but it wasn't about food anymore. I couldn't have my dinner out, and I was refusing to accept less. However, I did stick to woman etiquette. I lied about what was bugging me. I told him thanks but my stomach wouldn't let me eat. Half true I suppose. He didn't need to know I was in the middle of a stubborn fit. If he was any sort of REAL man, he would KNOW how to fix me without having to ASK me! Duh.

Then he kept making it worse, "We will find you something. You will be fine." I didn't WANT to be fine. Men, sheesh.

At one point I literally said, "I don't know where your new positive take on life is coming from, but it is starting to seriously piss me off!" Wow, yeah, I am glad I was driving and didn't have to see his face. He was probably holding back a chuckle. He always laughs at me when I get pouty. I am sure you can guess how much laughing helps my mood.

Once we got downtown everything took a turn for the better. We found a spot on the street right in front of the theater. We saved eight bucks in parking! Ryan bought me a three dollar cookie and a five dollar vodka/cranberry drink. It lightened me up quite a bit. Thank goodness he has enough man skills to ignore me at times. Date night could have gone horribly wrong.

The show was amazing and I had a great time.

Well, except for the scene where Christine sings to her dead father. Yeah, no one warned me. I became a mess, but I snapped out of it by the next scene. I called my sister and yelled at her for not giving me the heads up since she is a Phantom fanatic.

"You didn't KNOW!"
"NO!!!"
"You used to listen to the CDs with me all the TIME! How could you not know?!?"
"I dunno"
"You really don't pay attention do you?"
"um, yeah, not so much."

Oh well, it was still amazing. Next show on my list: Les Miserables. I have seen it, but Ryan hasn't. It is my second favorite. Maybe next time I can be a grown up for the whole night!

-Sara

Mommy's Okay, Mostly

2008-01-30T06:55:00.000-08:00

I hate being sick. I get whiny. I loathe being sick when Ryan is out of town. There is no one to listen to my whining. I guess I can whine here . . .

My glands are swollen, my temp won't go lower than 100.4, my body aches every time I cough, and it is really hard to stick to my diet when my throat is killing me. I keep eating those calories, however, because I know if i don't I am just going to pay for it later.

The two year old is my entertainment. She lines up her toys and talks to them dramatically. Yesterday was a performance of "where'd the crabby patty go?" It was very suspenseful.

The baby is my cuddle monkey. He plays nicely for a while, then climbs into my lap to make sure I am still alive. He pokes at my nose and eyes and says, "k? k?" I answer, "Yes, mommy's okay," and he promptly gets down to play again.

My oldest has been my savior! She cooked diner for me last night. She carefully read the directions on the frozen diners and nuked four of them. Then she handed them out to each kid, warned them they were hot and even got sippies for the two little ones. She got big cuddles from me later. She begged me to let her cook noodles or scrambled eggs, but I told her no stove by herself until she is eight. "Mom, I turn eight next week!" Crap. I told her I meant ten :)

My other child, he has become the disappearing boy. I went looking for him last night after getting that weird mommy vibe since he was gone a long time and very quiet. He was up in his room playing nicely with some toys and books. I guess being sick has thrown off the mommy-dar.

I am surviving, but it sucks arse! Ryan comes home tonight. We have tickets to see a show, but I have to admit I would much rather curl up with a good book, my mp3 player and seven pillows. I'll let you know who wins.

-Sara

I can stop freaking out about weight!

2008-01-28T06:59:00.000-08:00

I have been dying to get below the ex-husband weight. Today I am officially there! Four pounds gone forever and only 49 to go! This week I can stop calling myself Jolly Sara.

Now the task becomes losing baby#4 weight. I am hoping to accomplish this in two weeks, but I know it is healthier to hit the mark in three. What I want to know, is why, if it is only healthy to lose two pounds a week, do the contestants on biggest loser go for double digits? Is it because they have doctors on staff? Maybe I should get my own team. The interview process might be fun . . .

-Sara

Thanks Babe! I Love You Too!

2008-01-27T20:18:00.000-08:00

Husbands drive me nuts when they are trying to be helpful. I was sick on Saturday. He was very thoughtful and sent me to take a four hour nap. That part was wonderful. In the meantime, my mother called to have my older son come spend the night. I wake up to find him gone. No problem yet.

The next morning, however, I meet up with her at church. My son is wearing extremely worn jeans and a t-shirt two sizes too big. Turns out my lovely husband let him pack his own bag for the overnight. Thank goodness he brought a toothbrush! I had to listen to my mother mention, "I think it is great that you are going to the gym every other day now, but don't you think you should make laundry a priority? He said he couldn't find any clean clothes."

Mortified. That boy had clean clothes. Sheesh!

Oh, and while I am on a husband rant. He needs to stop telling people I am going back to work for goofy reasons. He told one set of people I got a job so I can get a new minivan that has seats which turn to face the rear. Yes, I would love one of those, but I am happy with my current paid off van thank you very much.

He told another set of people that I am getting a job because I am turning into my mother. Which to him means I want gobs of money for shopping. LMAO!!! While it is true I would LOVE to have extra money so I don't have to say, "honey . . ." everytime there is a craft sale, in reality I spend less money on shopping than any other woman I know. What is he talking about?

Tonight I mentioned to my mother-in-law that my younger daughter is signed up for the 2008-2009 school year for half day preschool. Ryan made an off the cuff comment about, "Well, this is assuming she keeps her job and can afford it." UGH!!! Don't make it sound like I need to work. Preschool was in the budget before I talked about this job.

Men - weirdos. I assume it is his way of making conversation with people while keeping our personal stuff private. I should start piping up with some nonsense of my own -

"I have to build up my Just-In-Case-I-Decide-To-Leave-Ryan fund."

"The deal is I work for a year, then I get to conceive twins."

"Ryan is making me pay for my own boob job."

"I'm not really getting a job. It's my cover for the affair."

-Sara

The Results are in . . .

2008-01-26T15:58:00.001-08:00

I have the results of the polling! No, I am not talking about Hilary and Barack. I mean the baby question! The question I asked the blog readers was "Should Sara have another baby?" This was your response:

Yes absolutely, she should have a few more - 35%
Sure, she has four, what is one more - 35%
No, four is a good even number - 21%
ABSOLUTELY NOT! She has too many already - 7%

I wasn't going to show Ryan the poll, but unfortunately he caught a glimpse of it a few days ago when he was walking past my computer.

"Do your readers HATE me or something?" He wasn't impressed.

BUT I WAS!!!! I was extremely excited to see that over 2/3rds voted on my side! More babies! Thanks so much to those of you who voted. I will have to put another poll up soon. It was fun!

- Sara

oh, and PS - to the person who voted the fourth option . . . I know who you are, I know where you live, and don't worry, when I have another kid I will still watch yours too :)

Watch Out, Sara's in a Mood

2008-01-24T19:50:00.000-08:00

I don't remember PMS being this horrible before the second set of kids. Ryan might remember differently, but this time around I am snapping at everyone in the house!

I probably would not have even noticed it, but I caught myself yelling at the baby. My older two shot each other a look that seemed to say, "we better get outta here, she is even yelling at her favorite kid!" and they took off.

Lately I have been watching my cycle like a hawk . . . refer to ChitChatMoms episode #34. Anyone else out there with a long cycle? I am sitting at 31-32 days. While I don't mind waiting an extra few days for the mood swings, the bloating, the having to mess with strange contraptions, etc, it does feel like hormones are simply BURSTING by the time we get to it.

Last night I went from happy to angry to sad to enraged to indifferent to adoring to bitchy to giggly to exhausted in roughly 45 minutes. Maybe I should head back to the gym today and work off some hormones.

- Sara

Why we love SingleBFF

2008-01-23T21:30:00.001-08:00

Just a typical night watching Project Runway

SingleBFF - Why am I SO RETARDED!?!?!
MomBFF - Ooooo! Oooooo! (raising her hand)
Me - We ask ourselves that EVERYDAY
SingleBFF - I hate my life, shut up
MomBFF - that's why it is a bad idea when cousins marry
SingleBFF - what?
MomBFF - forget it
Me - she said, "that's why it is a bad idea when cousins marry"
SingleBFF - who are cousins?
MomBFF - your PARENTS
Single - my parents? are cous . . . no they aren't

By now we were laughing hysterically
SingleBFF - I don't understand
Me - What are you doing that makes you retarded?
SingleBFF - I can't figure out Oregon Trail
Hysterical laughter starts up
MomBFF - what's more retarded, that you are trying to play Oregon Trail, or that you can't figure it out?

While MomBFF and I tried to figure this out, SingleBFF answered for us:
"Geezuz, why isn't this working?"

And we still don't understand why she was playing Oregon Trail.

-Sara

No School Today, Yay . . .

2008-01-21T08:36:00.001-08:00

These sentences literally came out of my mouth today, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, while eight kids roamed my house.

"Get that block of cheese out of your mouth! We slice it first!" - spoken to the 16 month old

"Who taught the baby how to open the fridge???"

"We have 47 weebles, are you really going to freak out because you can't find the yellow knight?" - spoken to the first and second graders

Through a door - "You will have to wait. I can't get the mp3 player away from the baby until I am done in the potty."

"In this house we don't draw initials into our peanut buttered toast. Sorry, it is just one of my rules."

"Absolutely no moon sand while babies are awake!"

"Nap time . . . . alright alright alright . . . bust out the moon sand"

"Yeah, you are right, not enough moon sand for four people, go grab the play doh too" - they were in heaven

"What do you mean your underwear got sucked down the toilet" - my poor niece had a meltdown, I promised her we would get her new ones (she was changing clothes in the bathroom).

- Sara

Ignorance is Bliss

2008-01-20T15:16:00.000-08:00

WOW, I am HUGE!!! I knew I wasn't skinny anymore. Skinny ended LONG ago, which is why I joined a fitness center. At the gym yesterday I decided I might as well step on the scale and get a good starting reference. I think my eyeballs nearly popped out of the socket! No wonder my son calls me big mama! Great, now I have to break up with SingleBFF. I can't be seen with that skinny bitch anymore. Sheesh. Why didn't anyone TELL me I was growing at an enormous rate?

I suppose my mother has tried. She slips it in from time to time. Not outright, no, she is sneaky. She says things like, "I bought these pants for you, I THINK they will fit" or "Look at this picture of you in junior high, man you looked good." Unfortunately I never listen to my mom about size or weight. She is 4' 11" and 110 lbs soaking wet. She enjoys my junior high looks because that is the last time I was her size. Guess how much she weighed on the day she delivered me. 120! I only know because when I went to the doctor my junior year of high school and stepped on the scale I heard her say, "WOW, I wasn't even that big when I was nine months pregnant with you!" Thanks Mom!

I grew up not caring about my weight. I knew I was active, taught dance and although I am a sucker for sweets and fast food, I generally ate healthy. In my early twenties I was a full time dance teacher, and while not smoking hot skinny, I was adorable. Marriage added ten lovely pounds. When I got pregnant with baby #1 I didn't care how much weight I gained as long as I didn't hit my husband's weight, forty more. Thankfully I didn't, and six weeks after delivery I was back down to pre-pregnancy size. Teaching dance 20 hours a week helped. I wasn't so lucky after baby #2. He added ten pounds. Baby #3, ten pounds. Baby #4, you guessed it, another ten.

I was still okay, ten pounds under my worst fear. Then I stepped on that scale yesterday. I am THIRTEEN pounds heavier than I thought. Three pounds over the dreaded ex-husband weight.

For those who aren't number geeks - I have 53 pounds to lose to attain a healthy fit body. Sigh. That is how much my oldest weighs. I'll keep you posted.

- Jolly Sara

Newly Amended House Rules

2008-01-19T09:52:00.000-08:00

For those of you with young children under the age of three, here are some rules you can look forward to possibly implementing!

1. The previous rule "If someone says 'please stop,' the person has to stop" is now amended to the following - If it involves your body, ex: hitting, tickling, poking your nose, splashing you, etc., you may tell them in a nice voice to please stop and they have to stop. If someone's words or singing or other goofiness is bothering you, you are allowed to ASK them to please stop. If they don't, please ignore them or move to another room. It is unacceptable to yell, "please stop, Please Stop, PLEASE STOP!" or "please stop telling me to please stop."

2. The previous rule "Respond to the parents with either yes sir or yes ma'am" is now amended to the following - You must respond with yes ma'am/sir when given a direction. This phrase needs to be spoken clearly and at a level audible to human beings. This phrase will be followed by actually completing the direction and coming back to confirm the task was completed. It is unacceptable to yell, "I SAAAID yes MA'AM!!!" or, "Yes ma'am, BUT . . ."

3. If you don't flush the toilet, you owe mommy a quarter.

4. If you leave the front door open, you own daddy a quarter.

5. The previous rule "Change your underwear every morning" is now amended to - Change into CLEAN underwear every morning and after showers.

6. The previous rule "Put your seat belt on when you first get into the car" is now amended to - Get in the car, shut the door, sit with your buns against the back of the seat, buckle your seat belt, leave the shoulder belt on your shoulder, stay facing forward with your back against the seat, do not play with the headrest in front of you.

And most importantly -

7. All booger picking and playing with your privates must be done in your bedroom. No one wants to see it!!!!

- Sara

Ho Hum, Fitness Fun

2008-01-18T11:08:00.001-08:00

So I walk into a fitness center with my sister, a facility my brother highly recommended. She wants to get more flexible. I want to get my energy levels back to keep up with the kids. Okay, I'll be honest. Sex was WAY more fun when I had my dance teacher energy. The baby is out of the bedroom. It is time to recapture the moments like drunken pacman night. But anyway - My sister and I figured it would be an uneventful trip to find out details on the membership plans. We were wrong.

My stereotyped vision of fitness centers is a building full of overly upbeat individuals ready to sign you up for the world as well as pushy trainers who hound you to get personal circuit routines. "We want to pump (clap) you up!" That is not what we encountered.

We walked in and were practically ignored. Me, ignored!?! After a few minutes of us hanging back trying to figure out if we were suppose to approach the woman behind the desk, who was already talking to a young couple, or head to the young lean man behind the counter trying desperately to find something to make him look busy, he finally made eye contact with us. No greeting, no can I help you, just a look on his face that told me he was half hoping we weren't expecting him to talk to us.

My sister and I exchanged looks and walked over to the counter as he finally uttered with a forced friendliness, "Do you need something?" We clearly looked like we had never entered this building before, "We were hoping someone could show us around."

Now he showed even less interest in us. He explained he was only the personal trainer, but the woman at the desk would be able to help us soon. We figured we would help him be helpful, "Tell us about the personal training." His response - "I do it." We gave up on him.

When the desk lady was done a few moments later, she approached us and began her exciting tour. She stayed about two steps ahead of us, which made hearing her above the hum of machines next to impossible as she pointed out areas along the way. It consisted of, here are these, here are those, over here is the stretch area. Thanks lady, we would have NEVER figured that one out with a big sign that said, "stretch area."

Although she did turn around and face us as she mentioned the tanning bed. Yes darling, we can tell this is where you spend your time. You look like you have cow hide underneath that inch layer of makeup. "oh, but that is a separate charge." Lady, do I look like I am going tanning anytime soon? I am neon white with enough love handles to render the tanning bed incapable of an even tan. Really, just keep walking.

"Do you have kids?" ROFLMAO. Do I have kids? Do you see this post-pregnancy belly that I haven't gotten rid of in 16 months? Of course you don't see it, you don't make much eye contact. You probably don't know what a post pregnancy belly looks like. I forgave her.

"Yes, lots of them." It was the first time she cracked a smile. It was the first time I had to look serious so she could understand I was being literal.

As we sat down at the desk she pulled out a price sheet, but she only covered the month to month rate. She went on to discuss hours of operation and offered us a free trial week. When my sister mentioned she was leaving town for a week, the lady said she would have to talk to her manager about delaying her week until she got back. "oh, is he here?" her response - "no, he doesn't come in until noon. He makes me work the 4am - 12pm shift, it definitely isn't the one I wanted, but what are you going to do. I needed the job." Was this girl for real?

We didn't have many questions at this point but as we were getting ready to leave she said, "I know you probably don't want to pay this, but my boss says I have to mention this other option . . . " and she went into a quick spiel about the year up front rate. HELLO, this is your idea of customer service? Do we look broke or something? We are the perfect people to talk to about this option. We pay for our car insurance a year at a time to knock a hundred bucks off the policy. We crunch our budgets to pay off our cars within the first two years to avoid interest, and that is only if we didn't have the cash to pay up front. We exchanged glances again, shook her hand, and exited the building.

After we laughed our way to the car we realized this is exactly why our brother joined this gym. They obviously don't bother you, don't up sell you, and leave you to work out in peace.

. . . We are going back next week to sign up :)

- Sara

Dads Do it Differently

2008-01-17T11:12:00.001-08:00

I can't blog long because I have to get to the store while the baby is napping (don't worry, Ryan is home), but I wanted to drop a line about my frustrations with my oldest daughter.

She has been struggling to get school works done on time. It is irritating for me since these works can't be completed at home as they use Montessori materials to do them. Every week I talk to her about work ethic, learning to work through distractions, how to be less OCD, etc. Yeah, no big changes.

Then RYAN opens the work plan (comes home for parent signatures and keeps track of such items) and says, "unacceptable, get caught up, or you are grounded, stay caught up or no skiing on our Colorado trip," and now she is a working fool.

Not fair!

. . . and why didn't I have him do that six months ago . . .

- Sara

Surpise, It Works

2008-01-15T12:38:00.001-08:00

My furnace went out yesterday. 28 degrees was the high and my furnace goes out. Great.

In the morning I noticed it was slightly colder in the house, but I figured Ryan turned it down. At noon I put the baby down for a nap, and when he woke up an hour earlier than usual, I started to suspect something was up. The poor baby was freezing. I picked him up and went to check the thermostat.

Even though it was set at 68, it was showing the house at 65. I am guessing the boys room was down into the 50s. We immediately called a heater repair person, but we would have to wait until 5:30.

After I picked up the big kids from school, it was getting frigid. I forced two layers on all seven kids and asked Ryan to attempt a fire in the family room fireplace. We have been in this house for nearly two years and have yet to light anything in either fireplace. Our excuse? Bats.

Our first spring we heard the strangest screeches coming from the fireplace. We thought for sure we would have to call someone out to remove a nest before we tried it out. We decided to risk it and lit a few logs since we didn't hear anything last spring. Ta Da! It worked. I love a good fire. Too bad we didn't have marshmallows.

I guess it was a blessing in disguise. Fixed the furnace for under $200 and found out our fireplace works just fine!

- Sara

Socks Suck!

2008-01-14T08:38:00.000-08:00

I am so tired of socks. I have a friend who swears by a sock crate. She doesn't sort them. Instead she has the family members rummage through them on their own each morning for matches. As wonderful as that sounds, with six of us, I am imagining socks strewn everywhere and daily arguments over whose turn it is to find socks. I have enough of that problem during teeth brushing time.

Socks and towels used to be my favorite part of laundry. Mindless folding of towels and matching socks brought me peace. That was when there was just three of us in the family. It was easy: big ones - mine, pink toes - daughter, green toes - son.

But now, ugh! Green stripe on toe, yellow stripe on toe, grey bottoms, grey toe and heel, all white, all white with yellow stripe on inside of ankle, pink brand name on toe, blue brand name on toe, green brand name on toe, purple brand name on toe, ankle length, crew length, no-show length. Now that my oldest has hit the stage where she and I can share socks, you think it would get easier, but no. Now I have every size known to man hiding in this house - newborn through mens.

I am almost ready to throw them all out and buy up one brand, two bags of every size.

Then again, it is only four months until sandals and flip flops come back. This family doesn't wear socks from May through September. I suppose I should wait until the end of sock season to toss them out.

I will keep you updated.

- Sara

I'm not weird, right?

2008-01-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

Grocery shopping is like a mini vacation. With Ryan in town for nearly a month straight, I have been able to go all by myself. Ahhhhh, those trips have been wonderful.

After Christmas shopping is a true addiction. Anyone need any extension cords? I bought out a local craft store and Ryan laughed at me. Hey, they were thirty cents a piece! With all the gadgets in this house I figured they would come in handy.

I sleep with my mp3 player in my ears. I need something to help turn my brain off. Ryan is upset I won't stick it in the docking station to listen to it at night. It isn't the same. Right?

I use pencil cases as my wipes containers. Those flimsy flip top containers they come in are always falling apart. When they aren't falling apart, they are being ripped apart by two year olds. They attract toddlers! But the pencil cases I bought for fourteen cents a piece on clearance, now THOSE are awesome. Takes the babies longer to get into them, they are way more durable, and since they are bright neon colors, I can spot them across the room.

I save egg cartons. They make the BEST acrylic paint holders. Cut them in half, squirt a bit of each color into them. TA DA, you have a color pallet!

Oh, and my newest addiction, mis-tinted paint. I have gotten some fabulous colors of top of the line paint for five bucks a gallon. Now if I could just get Ryan to pull out the tape . . . (I hate taping)

-Sara

Gingerbread Fun

2008-01-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

YUMMY! My kids had a blast. We will definitely have to do this again sometime.

We took grahm crackers, frosting, sprinkles, and some candy we had lying in the house and made gingerbread houses.

The first one was my 7 year olds house. The roof is rotated a bit because she kept knocking the whole thing over. Next time I will have to "glue" the house together with frosting a few hours before we start so it will be a little more durable.

the second one was my 6 year olds house. My favorite part of his house is the tootsie roll chimney.

When we were done we let the kids take pictures and start snacking. Not the healthiest snack, but we had super fun.

- Sara

Shhh!!!! It's a secret!!

2008-01-10T19:42:00.000-08:00

I might as well confess here first.

Here it is -

I can't believe I am going down this road.

But . . .

I applied for a job. No really, I did. I had my second interview this morning at 8:30 AM.

If I get the job and tell my friends and family, they are going to be shocked. It has been my goal to become a stay at home mom for as long as I can remember. However, the circumstances seem right to reenter the work force. The stars are lined up and pointing me in that direction.

The decision was made mostly because it won't be a huge change for the household. Believe it or not I found a job where I can work a 24 hour work week and still be with my kids nearly as much as I am currently with them.

It is a graveyard shift Thursday through Saturday nights. It means I can't sleep with my babies anymore, but the time was right to move on to the bedroom stage. Last Sunday we moved the baby into his brother's room. The transition went so smoothly I cried when he didn't put up more of a fuss for me. Next I had to worry about how and when to get my sleep. Since MomBFF already watches the babies one school day while I volunteer, she has agreed to switch to watching them on Fridays so I can sleep during the school day. This does mean I will either have to give up the volunteering or add another morning away from my babies. I wouldn't be starting work until the end of February, so I have a while to decide. The other con is finding time to sleep during the weekend, but with Ryan home during those times, I don't mind sleeping in or taking a cat nap while he gets more dad time.

I am super excited. I have been tossing around the idea of this particular job since summer, but didn't see it as a possibility until now. As weird as it may sound, the motivation isn't even the money. I am not crazy - the extra money is going to be wonderful. I plan on throwing half my paycheck at the mortgage and using the other half towards kid activities and my shopping habit. My motivation is getting out of a rut.

Even though I have considered myself a stay at home mom for over three years, technically, I have always worked a few hours a week. I was teaching dance a few hours a week during the last two pregnancies. After I hung up the dance shoes, I began babysitting two days a week for mad money. I am considering this my new "non-mommy" adventure. I hope it works out.

-Sara

Push Through

2008-01-09T18:02:00.000-08:00

When life seems to be too much, like today, I like to view this picture of my daughter. It Reminds me to push through! I wish I would have been able to grab the camera faster. She was pushing it all by herself. Inch by inch, she made it to the elevator. We were cracking up the entire time as she grunted and took each step. Thanks Darling for giving me inspiration.

- Sara

Sarcasm Backfired Badly . . . Twice

2008-01-08T15:49:00.000-08:00

I haven't talked much about my father's death on the blog. With the first anniversary around the corner I am guessing it is going to start popping up in many of my daily vents. It was the single most shocking moment of my life.

There are many moments of sadness, but I love my friends and my family so much for attaching the hysterical memories throughout the experience. Here was the first one that STILL makes me laugh every time it comes into conversation. I will never live it down.

Let me set the stage.

It was an extremely cold morning in February. My father's plane had gone down a mere twelve hours earlier. Ryan was suppose to be leaving for Germany in a few days, but thankfully the trip was put off for another two weeks. He would be leaving the beginning of March instead. After only an hour and a half of sleep, I was sitting on the couch watching news casts I had recorded. All of them talking about the small plane that had crashed. The victims names hadn't been released yet. Exhausted, but wide awake, I decided to log onto the computer like I did every Saturday morning and talk to the BFFs. I had to tell them soon so they didn't find out second hand. I had tried calling MomBFF at 2AM right after I heard the news, but she hadn't answered.

The MomBFF works weekends, so I knew I could talk to her for sure. This was our conversation word for word:

Sara: are you there?
JM: you ok?
JM: you called me three times last night and I saw it this morning and it freaked me out
JM: no ones dead are they?

Now, had I been thinking straight, I would have realized that she was being her sarcastic self like usual. Howevah . . . I wasn't. When I read the line "I saw it this morning" I figured she was referring to the news casts about the crash. She was always glued to her internet news. Surely she was putting two and two together about the crash and my phone calls in the middle of the night. So I took her question literal and I answered with the information I had . . .

Sara: plane exploded on impact
JM: what
JM: WHAT
Sara: he's gone
JM: Stop it

On my end, I really thought I was doing a good job of breaking it to her. I was just glad she knew a bit about it before talking to me. I was horribly wrong. From her end, she had a heart attack. Her first impulse was to think I was talking about Ryan. But then she remembered he wasn't on a plane yet, he wasn't leaving for another two weeks. Then she decided I was kidding.

This is where it gets weird. I kept sending her messages. I started venting about no one from the airport calling my MomL to let her know Dad's plane never arrived. It was the protocol my father always assured us would happen if his plane ever went down. But for some reason, she didn't get any of those messages. She was left thinking I was messing with her, and now ignoring her.

She told a coworker that I was a brat for responding with "plane exploded on impact." The coworker was the one who gave her the news that a plane had indeed gone down over night. That is when her second heart attack hit.

She tried to get me to message her again by IMing "Sara!" which I got in the middle of my rant, but she still wasn't getting my long winded responses. Her coworker agreed to cover for her while she ran to my house to check on me.

On my end of things, I was still venting. A few minutes passed and I was beginning to feel bad that she wasn't responding to me.

Sara: say something please, you are starting to make me feel bad cause i know you are over there not knowing what to say
Sara: hello?
Sara: I will bbiaf

As I got off the couch, devastated my friend wasn't talking to me anymore, I noticed her face in my front window. A huge smile spread across my face. I was so relieved she came to talk to me. She bounced through the door, and immediately said, "Oh thank GOD, I thought you were serious!"

Still smiling, I answered, "I was. It was my dad's plane."

Immediately she burst into tears and I had to comfort her. I hugged her and told her it was okay. I later found out it was a gesture and saying I would have to perform over and over in the coming week.

It wasn't that funny at the time, but now, we laugh all the time. "Plane exploded on impact" is quoted heavily around here, mostly poking fun at me. I have to defend myself - I WASN'T THINKING STRAIGHT I AM SORRY!!!

Of course it wasn't as bad as what I pulled on the SingleBFF. I broke it to her way more gently, but gave her a heart attack the next day.

My daughter had her last cheerleading competition the Sunday following my dad's death. I didn't want to break the news to her until afterward. I asked SingleBFF to come with me for support. We woke up at 6 AM to get everything ready and make the 45 minute drive to the competition in Lincoln. We couldn't find her hair bows and SingleBFF reminded me we were going to be late if we didn't hurry.

I was exhausted. I hadn't slept more than five hours in three days. I didn't really CARE if we were late. So I yelled out a phrase that will forever be dear to my heart -

"My dad crashed and BURNED!!! I am allowed to be late!"

BFF was stunned. She just stood there with her mouth hanging open, not knowing what to say or do. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, I said softly, "um, that was suppose to be funny."

"OMG!! Don't DO that to me!" she said, finally breathing again. We both laughed hard. It was the first good laugh I got in three days. Normally I am laughing all day long. I was able to use that as my excuse for a long time with the BFFs. I forgot to call you back? Well my dad crashed and burned, I'm allowed. I was rude because I didn't invite you over? Well C and B.

Finally MomBFF said, "Darling, that was five months ago, you can't USE that excuse anymore."

Oh well, It worked for awhile ;)

- Sara

Sara's 2007 Year in Review

2008-01-07T07:19:00.000-08:00

January set the tone. My brother got pulled over for a DUI on the military base here in town. Moron. He has no idea why he was in that area of town much less why he was trying to get on base.

February was a dismal month. Not only did my daughter lose her privilege of a friend oriented birthday party, my husband had to be halfway around the world from us, and we had two separate ER visits, but the incident I very affectionately termed "crash and burn" happened.

March is a blur. Cheerleading was winding down, karate was picking up, and the post funeral era hit.

April took a turn for the better. Consignment sale season hit as well as the opening of our pool! So what if the water was still 50 degrees and we couldn't put a toe in longer than two seconds, it was nice to look at blue water instead of a nasty green tarp.

May the excitement mounted. School was almost out. My birthday and talks of a Vegas wedding began. I joined karate which sparked my competitive nature again.

The summer was a blast. Days filled with bike rides and weeks filled with BFFs in my pool. We even took a trip to Chicago with Ryan. I hit a milestone with my niece. We potty trained! YAY! But most importantly, I joined the very fun and exciting Chit Chat Moms. :) :)

August was a fun fight as well. I love a good challenge. My brother put me in charge of getting his daughter enrolled in the Montessori program which my kids attend. It was a roller coaster ride, but just days before school was to start, she got the call! She was in!!!!

September brought after school sales and more consigning! I had my first experience with volunteering for a sale and found the deals were more unbelievable when you shop very FIRST. I will never go back to public day again! Oh, did I forget to mention I got married too?

October was a sewing race of costumes.

November was a crocheting race.

December was a blur.

And here we are at 2008.

Last thoughts on 2007?

The Good
My brother sobered up
My sister moved back to Omaha for a spell
My other sister passed math for the last time ever!
I got married
I got an ipod
I got a new craft room
I attained purple belt status

The Bad
Crash and Burn
Mom flipped out
Brother's ended a business partnership
The mall incident
Daughters stitches
Ryan's toe catastrophe
(wow, I should post some blogs about these, I forgot about them until now)

The Ugly
The IM conversations with BFFs telling them about my Dad
My spills down the stairs
My ex-husband's most wanted moment
My drinking night
(yeah, blogs to come about those!)

- Sara

Silent Tears on Belated Christmas

2008-01-06T20:04:00.001-08:00

Sometimes it is the small stuff that restores my faith to full force.

I could go into great detail about the first Christmas without my father. We all know I am excellent at the long winded blogs. However, it was mostly story free. Christmas Eve was spent with his extended family like usual. In the past ten years we only got him every other year at this function, so it wasn't too painful to not see him at Aunt B's. Christmas Day is always spent with Mom. Easy again to think of Dad as not there this year.

Early or Belated Christmas with Dad was special because we would have it anywhere between December 15th and January 5th. I thought I made it through the holiday season without a freak out moment, but it was a false hope. My Mom-L (a term we coined because Step-Mom just doesn't sound nice) tried to have us over last weekend, but she was ill and rain-checked until today.

Still I had it under control. We hung out for a few hours at the house. No gifts this year. We were to eat hot wings and watch the kids do crafts.

Then she pulled out unwrapped "gifts." We were mad at her until we figured out they weren't gifts at all, they were three bags of Dad's stuff. He was a pack rat. The bags were filled with random items that she drug out of a closet. I almost lost it, but I still held it together. I even fought back the tears as I came to a photo album filled with pictures of my dad with my kids at various ages. I had to fight the tears harder when I reached the spiral notebook filled with his college aviation notes. His handwriting was amazing. Left-handed block print so small it looked perfect.

But what got me was the song on the radio driving home - one of our songs. Four kids in the car, Ryan at home sick, and I was bawling in the front. The type of crying that has no noise. My face wasn't even horribly pinched, just an overwhelming amount of tears sliding down my cheeks faster than I could discreetly wipe them away.

I pulled into the gas station near Dad's house and did my best to look put together before walking into the store. This is the moment I will remember forever.

A very nice looking guy (for those who remember the 90s, think Color Me Badd's Bryan Adams, yes I am a sucker for a guy with a goatee) behind the counter rung up my soda and even though I thought I was masking my dismay fairly well, he said, "Oh darling, don't cry, it will get better."

I lost it. Again, no noise, no scrunched face, just tears streaming down. As he took my debit card he did a good job of trying to ignore the tears since he noticed I was trying my best to keep them at bay. He read my last name aloud and said it was familiar. Since he pronounced it correctly, unlike most, I knew he must know one of us. My tears stopped as he mentioned my aunt's name and I confirmed I was related to her. As I signed my debit card receipt, he told me again things will look up. At that point I felt I should say something about my sorrow. I didn't want him thinking I was a battered woman or victim of some crime. In a near whisper I said, "It's the first year without my dad."

Immediately his face changed and said, "Oh honey, I am in the same boat. My brother died last February." What is it with February? His brother died on the 18th; my father died on the 16th. He was so sweet. He didn't have to talk to the crazy crying lady, but he did. It was enough to make me feel a little less alone and I only cried half as hard the rest of the way home.

It sort of makes me wonder why I didn't just grab an extra Dr. Pepper out of the fridge at Dad's house. Or why I didn't go the short way home past the other gas station. Or why turned on the music radio station instead of my usual talk radio or mp3 of Harry Potter. I guess somethings happen for a reason.

-Sara

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

2008-01-05T07:22:00.000-08:00

Here it is. My lovely tree as it stood on Christmas day at 3:00 AM. When we first put the tree up it had beautiful gold bows all lined up in a corner about three feet off the ground care of my oldest. There were also dozens of mismatched ornaments scattered by kid hands. Those lasted about three days. A Monday hit and a group of two year olds had fun pulling them off and sorting them into buckets. When our angel was placed at the top, she stood up straight and proud. About two weeks later while I was plating lunch, the "triplets" tried to use the top of the toy box as a sled. They propped it up against the tree and tried to climb aboard. It didn't work so well. Ryan wanted to fix her, but I asked him not to touch her. Although slightly crooked, she seemed to be looking down on the kids as they played.

Notice that small red bag near the top? Yeah, I didn't either. It wasn't until I told the kids I saw something in the tree (referring to their MP3 players I hid in it) that my oldest spotted the red bag for Mommy. Sometimes that man of mine tears me up!

This beautiful tree was sent to us by our loyal listener Shawn. The gate cracks me up! The last time I used a gate was to keep three 11 months old in my family room. It wasn't long before the triplets figured out they could use their combined weight pry it from its spot. Next I tried using furniture to help reinforce the gate. It wasn't long before they were scaling it! That was the end of our gate phase.

I have to mention Shawn, I am super jealous of your gorgeous fireplace and red wall! I really do need to pull out some paint around here and have fun. Oh, and I dig the blue tree skirt. I love blue :)

And on to my FAVORITE tree this year! Andrea from Minnesota sends us this picture, and I have to admit, at first it confused me. It was one of those days where I was only half paying attention to the screen, but then it hit me - it's her tree! I will let her tell the story herself as she is the self proclaimed reigning champ of pathetic Christmas trees:

"I came to know my first pathetic Christmas tree when I was 19 years old. I had finally taken the plunge into true adulthood by leaving home and becoming roommates with my very best friend who was renting a 1 bedroom apartment. My friend and had both just been laid off from our jobs and had absolutely no money for Christmas that year. In an effort to be creative and different my friend and I took a tall house plant that I had gotten as a house warming gift when I first moved in, and attempted to decorate it. Unfortunately the only thing we could use as decorations was tinsel. When we tried to put anything heavier than that on our "Christmas Plant" The poor thing would tip over spilling dirt on the table it was placed on.

My next encounter with the pathetic tree happened in 2002. I had been in my own place with my daughter for a little over a year. I had just met and began dating my husband that fall, and this was our first Christmas together. We were given a tree by uncle. He had gotten the tree as a hand me down from one of his neighbors. We knew the tree was fairly old but nothing prepared us for what happened when got it set up and ready to decorate. The some of the plastic pine needles would fall off every time we place and ornament on it. Pine needles falling off is something I would expect from a live Christmas tree not from a fake tree. My uncle was not kidding when he said the tree was old. This tree was ancient. To add to the "antique" charm of this tree were the hand me down ornaments that were without hooks to hang them with. My husband, the creative man that he is, ran out and bought a couple boxes of paper clips and we used those as hooks for the ornaments.

Now we come to the lovely tree that you see in the photos. Once again we were given a hand me down tree. This time our tree came complete with missing parts for the tree stand. My mom tried to rectify the situation by purchasing a tree stand from a local thrift store. Unfortunately the stand she purchased was intended for the wide trunk of a live tree. No matter how hard we tried we could not get the skinny trunk or our imitation tree to fit. My daughter was totally heartbroken and had fears that without a tree Santa would not be stopping at our home on Christmas Eve night. The mom in shot straight into action. While my kids were in my daughter's room watching a movie and my husband was out getting more tape to wrap gifts, I got out all the construction paper we owned and got to work. When my husband came home and saw what I was doing and how hard I was working at it. He hugged me, called me creative and proclaimed my paper tree the best Christmas tree he has ever had.

I call all my unique Christmas trees pathetic purely for the humor factor. In all honestly there is something beautiful about each pathetic tree that I have had. The first symbolized my independence as an adult on her own. The second is a symbol of the first and many more Christmases to come with my husband. The last tree shows that a mother will do just about anything to ensure that their child/children have the happiest holiday possible."

I LOVE it! Thanks to the listeners for sharing their tree pictures!

- Sara

I AM READY!!! ~ almost . . .

2007-12-20T10:33:00.000-08:00

This is the most prepared for Christmas I have EVER been five days before the big day. With that being said, I still need two gifts for Ryan's side of the family (we did another drawing, don't get me started on drawings . . . ), my mother, my stepmom, the white elephant gift for the extended family party and a few gifts to even out the oldest two kids. That isn't too bad.

Although I also need to get the stocking staples: underwear, socks, toothbrush, hairbrush, toothpaste, earrings for one, matchbox cars for the other, and candy. I already covered the carebears, the lipsmackers, the quarters, makeup, and superballs. I am doing good.

Then again, I should go grab something for the BFFs. I haven't gotten them anything in three Christmases. Sounds horrible, but I prefer to give gifts when the moment hits me. Don't feel sorry for them. They get gifts about eight times a year. So I am still okay.

And Ryan, ugh. Buying him a gift is the hardest thing in the world. Some people are hard to buy for because they have everything. This isn't Ryan. Some people are hard to buy for because they are picky. That isn't Ryan. What makes him hard is he comes up with GREAT ideas. He will go on and on about what he wants. Then, he goes out and periodically buys everything on his list for himself. Ugh.

I guess this means I don't look prepared at all, but really, I swear I am. The two babies are done (assuming their ebay purchase gets here Friday like scheduled), the top of Santa's wish list is covered, 12 out of 14 blankets are completed, and my gift is done.

And really, aren't those the important ones :)

- Sara

TSO Tradition

2007-12-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

Ryan and I have a Christmas tradition. For the past three years he has taken me to the TSO concert when it comes to town. The first year was hard. My baby daughter was only four months old and I didn't want to leave her. The only reason I went is because Ryan seemed so excited to go AND since I had left her a few weeks earlier to go to the Paul McCartney concert, I couldn't really pull out the "I can't leave the baby" card. (Hey, he's a BEATLE!!!! It's different) We went and it was amazing. Had I known lasers and shooting fire were involved, I wouldn't have whined so much.

When we went for the second time last year, my baby boy was even younger, but I knew how fun the show was going to be, so I went without one complaint. There were even MORE lasers and lights. Super fun.

This year I was looking forward to the Christmas concert, but I had already seen it twice, and thought it might be fun to take the older two kids. Ryan wasn't sure if they would sit through a three hour show on a school night, but he bought the tickets. It was my turn to be the overly excited one for the concert. It nearly broke my heart when my oldest was being a brat. She didn't WAAAAANT to go. She would be BOOOOOOORED. My defenses went up. "Fine," I told her. "If you don't like it and you are bored, next year your sister can go instead." This seemed to be a fair deal to her and she got in the car.

I am pretty sure the sight of the auditorium is the moment my kids began to realize this trip might be fun. They had only gone to events at the older and smaller auditorium in town. This one is much bigger. As we were headed to our seats, we ran into my ex-in-laws - small world!

Now the kids were extremely excited. They got popcorn and our seats, although a tad high up and further toward the back, were front row in our section. The kids wouldn't have to miss any moment behind some tall person's head.

The lights dimmed and the first song began. The instant the lasers hit, my kids let out a scream of amazement. It was the best!

Three hours was a bit long. Ryan even bought them some cotton candy midway to perk them up a bit. I told him it was horrible, but he wanted to make sure they got to see the finale. At one point, as my son began to drift out during a slower song, I put him in my lap. I began to tear up. It was the first time in a LONG time I got to snuggle with him. Before the second set of rugrats came along, he was my cuddle baby. I missed it. I took a moment to enjoy the moment and file the memory and hoped it wouldn't be the last time he crawled into my lap. Of course two songs later my daughter asked for a turn. Man, she is nearly as big as I am at this point, but I made it work.

All in all it was a great night. During the finale I asked my daughter, "Are you bored?" She looked at me with wide eyes and shook her head no.

I can't wait for next year.

- Sara

Blanket update

2007-12-17T06:52:00.000-08:00

Ten blankets down, four to go!

Now I am trying to figure out what order to do them in case I run out of time. I could keep the new baby blanket last and claim I didn't know someone was pregnant (in our family, this happens a bunch). But at the same time, a newborn would benefit most from a baby blanket!

I suppose I will finish the baby one today sometime and work on the 10, 11, and 12 year old blankets next. I will keep you posted :)

- Sara

Shopping with Quads

2007-12-13T16:32:00.000-08:00

And while we are talking shopping, we had another rude comment lady that put a twist on our pet peeve. MomBFF was shopping in the mall for a cocktail dress for her husband's company's holiday party. Since it was only two days after the shooting, she asked for BFF support to come with her. It was near lunch time, but since we all had hair appointments to make, we pushed through!

I was super excited they all were being behaved. I had my daughter in my mei tai sling (thank goodness she is still under 30 pounds) and the other three were sitting in a nice little bunch in between the racks MomBFF was browsing. A lovely sales associate came over to see if we needed help and said something to the effect of, "I remember those day, wow that takes me back," but then she said one of those things that can come off harsh, "Don't worry, it will get better."

Okay lady
1. These aren't my only kids. I have already done "this part" with two others. I don't need you telling me "it will get better" since I am already an expert at the near future!
2. Get better? What needs to get better? We have three two year olds and one 15 month old sitting quietly in an upscale store.

Why does EVERYONE assume that four kids at this age are hard? They aren't! Maybe, just maybe ***WARNING, rant coming*** if you don't spend all day with your children and shove them in a daycare for 12 hours at a time and then pick them up only to feed them fast food in the car drive home and set them in front of a TV until bed time and send them to grandma or even "dad's house" for the weekend and don't KNOW you children very well, then MAYBE THEN you would think four toddlers are hard. But for me and my friend, we have it covered.

-whew- I feel better. I don't really think anyone parents that way. And I get that for many people four kids would be something they want to get through to the "better." I just wish they could recognize that for some of us out there, this is the best part!

Oh, and she, unlike most people, did come back and make it better. She sensed my annoyance when I answered her with, "Oh I don't know, I think this part is really good." She said she only meant that she and her brother where terrors at that age, as well as her own children. Then she complimented how wonderful they were being.

Of course if the lady at our second store had made the comment, I would have understood. By the time we hit the next store it was past nap time and the kids had had enough. One was running circles around a rack, one was attempting to make snow angels on the tiled floor, one was trying to escape the mei tai, and I was playing tug of war with a scarf and the fourth one hoping it would keep her from taking off.

That particular sales associate simply said, "Oh wow! Are they quads? They look like so much fun!" Go figure :)

- Sara

Crap Shoot Comment

2007-12-12T06:53:00.000-08:00

So I am in a store looking for extension cords since our yard needed three more to become a complete Christmas wonderland. I had my MomBFF with me and all four of our toddlers. She took the boys in her cart while I took the girls. I chose the wrong gender! My daughter wasn't particularly happy about being stuck in a cart that morning and refused to stop screaming her fool head off.

I did my best to distract her, which worked for minutes at a time. I tried holding her. I even thought letting her walk for a spell would calm her down, but she was in a mood that wouldn't quit. The only way to keep her quiet was to half hug her while she sat in the front of the cart. This made navigating through the store a tad difficult, but hey, you do what you have to do.

It's funny how I mother differently the more children I have. If it had been my oldest having a rough toddler moment, I would have been mortified and left the store. By the time I had my second child, an endless mood would have been dealt with by waiting it out in a deserted part of the store until I could calmly finish my shopping.

By the time you have a third and fourth child, you don't have time to put off most shopping trips. You don't even have enough time to wait out tantrums in the parking lot or bathrooms. Suddenly, and maybe it isn't so much having four kids, just school aged children as well as toddlers, you are always on a time crunch when it comes to errands.

At least I don't have so many kids that I deal with fits by completely ignoring them. I still have a soft heart and hate having my child miserable, but I did the best I could. Things were going okay until I found the extension cords. I had to let her go to fill the cart. I knew my only option was to grab them fast!

That is when the rude comment hit. It wasn't even made in my earshot. It was made to my MomBFF. As she was making her way to my area of the store, a woman who must have been annoyed by my daughter, noticed our sons being good in her cart and said, "Aren't you glad that isn't YOUR kid?"

This is why I love her, she answered, "That IS my kid." The lady looked confused so she clarified, "yes, I have triplets, she is one of them." MomBFF told me she didn't quite apologize, but muttered something about not realizing we were together and hurrying off.

Serves her right. It is one thing to make gossipy comment about other people's kids to your BFF while you shop. I see women do it to us all the time. Mouths gaping at the fact we have seven of them around us. I will admit it too. More than once I have whispered to my friend to look at what the kid in the next cart is doing. It's called people watching and it's fun. But when you try and do it with strangers, now it feels more like an insult. Yes? And really, like in this woman's case, it can be a crap shoot.

Thanks JM for sticking up for me and my daughter!

- Sara

From Babies to College

2007-12-10T08:42:00.000-08:00

I have come up with a solution to my baby addiction. Reborn dolls. Have you seen these things? You need to go to ebay and search reborn ooak (one of a kind). Artists take dolls and repaint them, add hair, add eyelashes, open up the nose to look more real, give them manicures, give them pedicures, add magnets behind the mouth to add a pacifier for when they get "fussy," and even weight them down with sand or pellets to get them up to 4 - 6 pounds. Unbelievable!

They freak Ryan out, but I would LOVE to have one sitting on the couch and throw a party. I know I could fool at least a few of my friends. Maybe when my baby hits school I will start a collection. Instead of making the real thing I can display a few of their doll counterparts. Of course if I start bringing them to bed or trying to nurse them, Ryan may commit me. :)

The more I think about having more kids, the more confused I get about whether or not I want more. I love kids. I love being with them 24 hours a day. With the exception of more laundry and more food on my kitchen floor, I love everything about them. I even love watching them grown up.

Yesterday I was sitting at the computer working on a spreadsheet for my brother's business as my oldest daughter played with my hair. She was giving my ponytails and complaining that short hair wasn't as fun to design. At the same time I was having a conversation through IM with Ryan who was sitting ten feet away in the family room.

Discussing how funny she was about my hair turned into a conversation about college vs. hair school. That conversation led to a discussion about our second source of income, our rental houses. I was trying to figure out how many houses we need to pay for college and retirement, and how long it would take to pay them off using the profits they generate. Then it hit me:

College is only ten and a half years away.

Wow, not a long time when you are trying to build equity. Then I have one more in college the year after she goes. Once we get the first two out, we have two more going back to back. I guess retirement will have to wait until we are 50.

As much as I would love to have another baby to hold 24 hours a day, I am looking forward to the next stage of life. The one where the whole family gets to be on the mountain skiing instead of me at the condo playing with toddlers. The one where I get to run the oldest to gymnastics, then next one to wrestling, the next one to dance class, and the baby to swim lessons. As it stands we have already left the breastfeeding stage. I have forgotten how much it zaps your energy. My hyper nature is coming back and I love it.

Enough rambling, I need to get back to those blankets. I am behind on my schedule, tsk, tsk.

- Sara

Cute Costumes~!

2007-12-07T07:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Jennifer in Arkansas for sharing this adorable photo of her Annies on Halloween. She gets an award for most detailed outfits. Those are authentic Sandy dogs, red wig, and although you can't see them, Annie lockets. WAY TO GO JENNIFER! Don't worry, I already yelled at her for not going as Grace.

I have tried for the past four years to get Ryan to dress up with me. I was spoiled with a father who did. Can you believe my mother made those? I will have to ask my mom her secret. Maybe instead of asking Ryan to dress up, I should make him an outfit and cry about how important it is to me if he refuses . . . . man I am evil.

- Sara

Sara's Santa Story

2007-12-06T14:15:00.000-08:00

And speaking of Santa . . . I don't know why more adults don't simply commit. I understand having trouble committing to relationships. The divorce rate is so high it is scary. I even understand the problems committing to a car. Shiny new models can easily turn very resonable people away from the idea of using a car until it won't run anymore - I get it.

But Santa? We can't commit to Santa? Santa is real and I am beginning to feel like I am the only adult out there defending him.

I vividly remember Christmas Eve when I was five or six years old. My older cousin, who was the smartest girl I knew, wanted to tell me a big secret. She led me into the entry way of my Grandparents house and told me Santa was really her parents. I couldn't wrap my brain around the concept. I wondered how my aunt and uncle could be Santa when they clearly didn't live at the north pole and were way too skinny! She tried to clear it up by saying she had seen them wrapping presents and my parents did the same thing. I didn't believe her. I knew MY parents didn't do such things.

Maybe it was the same year, or possibly the next Christmas, Santa came early. We had been at the Christmas Eve pageant at school followed by Grandmas house. When we got home, Santa had already come! We were able to open our presents before leaving for out of town. It COULDN'T have been my parents. They were with me all night.

As I got older, I am sure I had my doubts, but even by the age of 11 I still had a 6 year old brother who needed assurance that Santa would come to our house. There were a few years of trying the snoop method at Christmas, but I always came up short. He seemed real. He always brought the gifts my mother SWORE she would never get us. Nintendo was banned in my household, that is until Santa brought one.

In high school I was ready to get confirmation from the one person who always told me the truth. My brother, sister and I went to our mother to force the truth out of her. "Come on mom, we know about Santa, you can tell us. Seriously, admit it."

But she wouldn't budge. Finally she looked at the three of us very seriously and said, "Santa is real. He is the spirit of giving. Without him, no one would get presents. If you choose not to believe, I guess he will stop coming." That was all it took for me. I BELIEVE! My mother wasn't like my best friend's mom and dad. They got toys from the store all year round. In my house, presents and toys were only received on birthdays and from Santa. Since Santa was so generous, we never even got gifts from mom on Christmas. I BELIEVE! I know he is real because he hasn't stop coming. I still get presents under my moms tree.

Nearly 15 years later, after a serious conversation about school work, my daughter continued to linger around me with a weird smile on her face. I asked her if she had a question for me. "Is Santa really real?"

I grabbed both her hands and looked her straight in the eyes, "Yes, he's really real."

We went on to talk about how he is one of the few magical beings in this world. I was surprised at how little it took to assure her. Kids want to believe, and who wouldn't.

Do I feel guilty? Absolutely not. I have heard horror stories of kids scarred for life when they walked in on mom and dad. There were kids who hated their parents when they fessed up the truth. I even knew a girl in elementary school whose parents never had Santa visit. They didn't feel it was right to lie under any circumstances. I can respect that ideal.

What irks me to the core is the ones in the middle. Santa is so special, but he takes effort. Even my kids understand how busy Santa must be. He needs his helpers like the ones in the mall. That is where the commitment comes into play. Last year Santa's helpers weren't as careful as they should have been. A few gifts would have blown their cover, so they had to go back. I suppose next year Santa's workshop will have to move to Grandma's house to make sure his magic stays magical.

I know one thing that IS true across the board. When you stop believing, he stops coming. Since I don't get my kids presents on Christmas, I am guessing they will believe as long as I have.

And thanks Mom, for keeping the magic alive. In hind sight, the commitment was noticed. And it was greatly appreciated.

- Sara

Dear Santa, 2007

2007-12-05T07:50:00.000-08:00

This is the first year my son has been able to write a Christmas list. I love Love LOVE how writings reflect the child. This is straight from his word document -

Dear Santa,

I would like Spy gear.
An I pod.
Moonsand.
A webkinz that is a monkey.
wood shop motor shop.
Electric guitar
Tommy 20
A car that has three wheels that can drive almost anywhere.
A phone.
A truck and you haft to pack be for it pops.
A trap that goes in your room.
A toothbrush that can make music in your head.
A reel snake.

Personally, I enjoy all the periods at the ends of the "sentences." It made me giggle when he was whining about his misspellings. I tried to tell him that Santa will know what he means, but he was still upset. "There are still words with wavy red lines! That means they aren't RIGHT!" He is a little perfectionist just like the rest of the family.

And literal! I love that he added "drive almost anywhere." Don't say it if you don't mean it. You can't drive it on the ceiling! The last line is also classic. With half the family allergic to pet dander, we have the rule - No pets with fur. I was trying to leave it open for fish. No, my child finds the lizard and reptile loop hole. I should have made the rule - nothing that breathes air.

It amazes me how high tech the lists are getting. Ipod, electric guitar and a phone? Seriously? A six year old? My seven year old daughter's list was simply - Ipod, camera, phone, video camera, and computer. I was waiting for her to ask for a car. I remember my parents saying things like - "kids these days grow up too fast," but this is ridiculous.

And what is with the stupid toys this year. A game where you have to pack the trunk of the SUV before the timer runs out? Sounds more like 2 AM as we are leaving for Colorado, not a game.

Color streaks for your hair? I understand the appeal, but really? You are going to sell a tube of colored hair gel along with a cheap plastic straightener type object? Yes, because that will get the results they show on the TV! Let's not leave out the bedazzeler for your hair. Save yourself some money and go get the hair jewels that have velcro on the back. You don't need a special contraption to attach them, and they slide right out.

Thank the LORD above they recalled the Aqua Dots. I was not looking forward to those all over my house. I am going to have a wonderful time as it is with the moon sand and play doh.

Or my all time favorite this year. A puppy who, over a few days, becomes a full grown dog. It also responds to the name you give him as well as yours. Okay, cute idea, but who is the moron who came up with the name for this toy? Puppy Grows and Knows Your Name. Trying to find it on google, yes, it works out, but come on! You are toy makers for crying out loud. Be creative!

"What are you going to name your baby?"
"Baby Sleeps and Nurses and Poops and will Eventually Hate You for Raising Him Wrong"

"Is this your husband?"
"Yes, his name is Big Tech Geek Who Pays the Bills and Keeps the Mamma Happy. This is our daughter Girl Eats Alot and Stays Up Late and Asks Too Many Questions. Our son Tiny Boy Who Doesn't Stop Talking and Thinks He's Sneaky."

Yes, this toy had me laughing for hours one slap happy night. Ryan was ignoring me, but I had my self so amused I had tears running down my face.

Okay, enough nonsense. I better go email Santa.

- Sara

New Shoes Blues

2007-12-04T07:17:00.000-08:00

I love my husband with every ounce of my being, and at 16 ounces per pound, that is a massive amount! As much as I love him, he is banned from shoe shopping for the kids. I know you are probably asking, "Sara! Why in the world did you send a man to buy shoes?" That is the best part. I didn't. This sweet man decided to go all by himself.

It must have been sparked by the fact that neither had snow boots. The pink pair were missing, and my son was walking on tip toes to fit in his favorite blue pair. My daughter, who has jumped from a size 1 this summer to a size 3 currently, was also lacking in the tennis shoe area. She was content to wear her black loafers and pink crocks to school. I guess the lack of weather appropriate foot wear drove him insane enough to take action. What he didn't know is I was waiting for the grandmas to help out in this area for Christmas. We put a limit on the toys we are willing to accept into our already crowded playroom. Shoes and boots were a perfect substitute. I guess I forgot to mention this to my husband, but seriously, how many men out there bother to notice what the kids have on their feet?

After a lazy Sunday afternoon he announces he is going to hit the store and the big two should come with him. I stayed at home with the littler pair of kids, who were happy to play with blocks while mommy crocheted. Then I got a phone call.

"Why can't I find size 4 boots?"

I don't blame him for that one. Not too many people know that girls sizes are a bit weird when you hit the size four mark. A size four in girls is the same size as a six in womens. I don't know why, but I know I enjoy being able to say I can fit in a four. As I hung up the phone, the feeling of . . . oh no, what sweet thing has he done now that will end up annoying the crap out of me . . . set into my stomach.

Trust me, I know how bratty I am acting. Some women would love to have a man who goes shopping with the kids, but I am a control freak, and to be honest, a completely spoiled rotten brat. I admit it. I do my best to act splendidly happy when the three of them come home to surprise me with stange and unusual gifts. My favorite is the 12" blue ceramic tree frog they knew I would love. And I do, but do you really want those three individuals in charge of daily foot wear?

The kids came home excited to show me their new buys. I tried very hard not to look annoyed.

1 - Light up tennis shoes, do I have to say more? They drive me nuts. Okay, it is slightly adorable to watch a two year old stomping around bent over as they admire their pretty shoes, but on a six year old, not so cute.
2 - White tennis shoes, shoot me now. These are going to look ragged after a week. I suppose some 7 year old girls could handle all white tennis shoes, but my daughter runs the mud puddles with the best of them.
3 - White boots. Can't complain too much here. They were only $4.00 on clearance. Don't they make black ones anymore?
4 - Not quite sized right. Each shoe is nearly two fingers too big. I understand kids grow fast, but they are going to wear them out before they fit.

Of course I didn't complain, and I won't take them back. He was proud of himself and said it made him feel like a "real dad" doing an important errand with the kids. I will admit I should give up some control in the kid department. Even though I am being a good mom taking care of everything, I am robbing him of having his own parent experiences. Maybe I will let go of some of them . . . but from now on, not shoes . . .

- Sara

Blankets Keep Blogger Busy

2007-12-03T06:59:00.000-08:00

I am in the middle of a blanket marathon. My father's side of the family is fairly large - seven brothers and sisters. With that many aunts and uncles, there are 18 cousins. The next generation of cousins is growing every year as well. We are up to 17 with one on the way.

About four months ago I found myself in the midst of a dilemma. I was at my favorite craft store, standing in the middle of the yarn department knowing I was banned from buying more yarn until I had utilized more of my reserves at home. It was HORRIBLE! Skeins of super cute yarn were marked down to 99 cents. What is a crafter to do!? I simply needed a good reason to buy the fabulous yarn. Ta Da! The blankets for cousins plan was hatched.

I was able to buy enough colors for all the cousins under the age of four (including the one on the way): pink, light pink, blue, light blue, purple, light purple, yellow and peach. It was hard to keep the blankets a secret at Thanksgiving dinner, and I could have done it except for one minor detail - DJ. My cut off line was perfect, but he is pretty close. I asked my aunt if he would like a blanket.

Stay with me, this is how my mind works. If I make one for DJ, then I will also need to do one for his 11 year old sister. If I make one for her, then that only leaves my older cousin's kids, that is three more. Now I am up to 13 blankets. Who is missing? My four, they already have blankets . . . MY NIECE! I can't very well give all my second cousins blankets and leave out my niece. I made her one when she was an infant, but surely she doesn't remember. I went to my second favorite craft store on Black Friday to pick up more yarn.

Yes. I am trying to crochet 14 blankets. I picked a baby blanket pattern that takes four 3.5 oz skeins per blanket. Cross your fingers for me. Yesterday I hit the halfway mark. I am done with five baby blankets and two of the bigger kid ones. As long as I do one skein a day from now until Christmas (with a few days of two skeins thrown in there) I am perfectly on track.

I promise to bump up the blogging as my fingers heal :)

-Sara

Real Pain in the...

2007-11-29T14:55:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, we did what thousands of other families do the weekend after Thanksgiving. (no, we didn't sleep off our turkey hangovers with our hands in the waistband of our pants while snoring on the couch watching football...) We put up our Christmas decorations. Our little Jelly Bean was quite fascinated with the whole process. She thought the multicolored lights were "really pretty", the glass balls were "really shiny", the snowman that I put around the house were "really sparkly"...I think you get the picture. Any-who, as we were assembling the Christmas tree, which by the was "really scratchy" I tried to get her to work on one of her wooden puzzles that usually keep her occupied for a few minutes at a time, allowing her dad and I to get something quick finished up without her underfoot. She was working on one that had shapes on it. It included a hexagon and an octagon, which when put back into the wooden board in the exact way they were cut out, fit quite nicely, but if you happen to get them turned around a little, you have a tough time wedging the little suckers in. (The puzzle maker didn't make all the sides exact) The conversation we have while I'm putting up the tree goes something like this...

her: "Mommy, this puzzle isn't playing nice"
me: "It isn't? Keep trying, you'll get it figured out"
her: "(some kind of moaning groaning sound and a big sigh)"
me: "Are you getting it?"
her: "This is a pain in the butt, Mommy."
me: (after trying not to laugh out loud) "Who did you hear say that?"
her: "Me. I said it. Silly Mommy..."
me: (directed to the hubby) "We really need to start being careful what we say. That could have very easily been a little worse."
him: "Heh, yeah, but at least she used it in the right context."

Proud papa, all the way. Way to go Jelly Bean!

Ew, Ew, Poo-Poo

2007-11-27T08:17:00.000-08:00

WARNING - This isn't for the weak stomached individuals. That being said, I HAVE to talk about diaper contents. You would think after having four babies I would have seen it all, but no. I have recently been shocked, once again by diaper contents. After being grossed out I realized, what a great opportunity! I should document them! Not only can I mortify my children when they bring home prom dates, I can also save some new parents a heart attack or two.

I have been freeked out by the best of them:

brand new baby first poo - takes at least ten wipes to clean off that black tar mess
breastfed baby poo - yellow/orange seedy looking gook that, in my opinion, smells like funky buttered popcorn, ew
formula fed poo - not as weird to look at as the breastfed poo, but way stenchier
raisins that end up looking like grapes poo - yeah, that was freaky, and completely disgusting
jello that stays intact poo - don't let your baby get ahold of red jello, but if they do, let dad change it. Ryan flipped out that his baby girl was menstrating. I laughed a very long time about that one (but only after we figured out the culprit)
lime green crayon bits poo - once again daddy changed this one, and even though I figured this one out in seconds, it was still gross all the same.
gritty due to pears poo - I would have swore she ate sand since it took almost as many wipes as a newborn poo!
saved up for seven days poo - ugh, I don't want to ever go through that again. Poor baby
and my favorite bright green due to fruit loops poo - nuff said.

Yes I have seen it all!

Or so i think, anyone else have poo experiences we should share with the new moms? I think I heard Marie mention an asparagus episode on a previous podcast . . . Marie? :)

- Sara

Don't get your "panties" in a bunch...

2007-11-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

Something funny happened in Marie's household over the last couple of evenings. We have been working on potty training with little Jelly Bean for what feels like forever, so there's been a lot of talk about diapers, poop, tinkle, panties, big girl underwear, etc. So Sunday night I was doing some laundry and putting clothes away in our bedroom. Jelly Bean was on the bed watching TV and playing. She and I were just talking about whatever it is that two year old's want to talk about when she reached into my underwear drawer and pulled out a pair of my underwear. She said they were hers, and she was going to put them on. So she gets them on (sideways) and is jumping on the bed saying she's wearing mommy's big girl panties. I thought it was cute so I called the hubby up so he could see what she was doing. He thought she was being pretty silly, and mentioned that having her do that when we had company could be entertaining. That was pretty much the end of that for that night. Then last night I was folding a basket of laundry and pulled out a pair of the hubby's underwear to fold. Jelly Bean saw them and said "Those are daddy's panties!!" I had to explain to her that girls wear panties, and boys wear underwear. So they were daddy's underwear. She acted like that made sense and repeated the word "underwear" to me. About 10 minutes after that, the hubby walked in the door. I figured I'd test her memory to see if she could tell me what they were again, so in front of him I held up another pair and asked her what they were. She said "those are daddy's panties!" again. For some reason, the hubby didn't find it as cute as I did. So next time he's in a mood, I'm going to tell him not to get his "panties" in a bunch....Do you think he’ll shoot me?

-Marie

Second Honeymoon

2007-11-16T20:01:00.000-08:00

Not many get the chance to visit their honeymoon site on their two month anniversary. I was fortunate enough to get the chance. Ryan was sent to a computer geek convention to run a booth for his company, and I decided to join him for the weekend.

It was the first trip we took without any children in three and a half years. It was well worth the wait. I truly thought the weekend would be filled with gambling, drinking and . . . you know, but let me tell you what we did instead.

Rode the New York, New York rollercoaster - Ryan had never ridden it before. It isn't a long ride, but it is longer than you might expect looking at it from the strip. It is simply one of those things you have to be able to say you have done.

Went to the top of the Stratosphere - It is an amazing view. I suggest going right before sunset since the view is stunning in both the daylight and at night.

Played Forty dollars in the crane/claw machines - It sounds ridiculous, but hear me out. My sister and I are suckers for the crane machines. I have turned Ryan into an addict as well. I only wanted a squishy ball, but all we had was a twenty. After winning two squishy balls in three tries, we moved on to the stuffed animals. We were hooked! When our quarters were gone, and we walked away with 13 items, Ryan looked at me and said, "That was more fun than slot machines!" It totally was. I know, we are major geeks. We had so much fun, we blew another twenty the next day. We ended up winning 20 items. After subtracting the money we blew on the giant crane game (yeah, two bucks a shot and it sucked) and the quarters wasted trying to get me a bear with a charm bracelet (it wasn't budging) we figured we won one out of three tries. Not too shabby!

Watched two fountain shows, the pirate ship sink, and the volcano erupt on the strip - My favorite is the fountain.

Walked the entire length of the strip twice - my legs weren't happy with me, but it was fun. Don't look at the people clicking the business cards. They aren't family friendly pictures.

Went to see Ka - AMAZING! Ryan completely surprised me with tickets. I love that man.

Played about a half hour of black jack at Hooters - walked up to the table with a c-note and walked away with a black chip. Even ain't so bad. Our dealer was gorgeous. They had to be fake.

Won a twenty-three dollar jackpot on a nickel slot - Ryan gave me four bucks to blow while he was picking up our show tickets. Three pulls later I hit it. He called me a lucky brat and immediately lost it on a dollar slot machine.

Ate at the Harley Davidson restaurant - yummy.

Played a Star Wars slot machine in the airport - couldn't resist. I told you I was a geek.

Slept in - way in! And no children crawled into it in the middle of the night. It was WONDERFUL!

Found the nightmare hallway that never ends - It is in the MGM's West Wing. Seriously. It is so long you can barely see the end of it, but when you finally reach the end, you find it changes from yellows and golds to blues and greys and it goes on MORE! It was freaky.

Drank my margarita in a blue 18 inch cup - I never got it on the wedding trip. It was heavier than I thought it would be. Strawberrylicious.

I think that covers it. It was the perfect lenghth for my first trip away from my babies. Two and a half days and no tears. It was so weird to be able to walk down a street without strollers to push or babies to sling or little hands to hold. It was so nice to get a table at a restaurant without shifting the condiments out of reach or repositioning everything to make room for high chairs. We were able to walk through stores without having to say - don't touch that - no you can't have that - can you hold it - settle down.

We have vowed to get away at least once a year. As a married mom with four kids, two of which came into the relationship with me, I began to wonder if we would be great together even long after the kids were grown and gone. This trip reminded me how compatible we truly are. I love him. He is a blast.

And finally, I survived the first plane ride since February. I love you Dad.

- Sara

Father Knows Best?

2007-11-07T17:19:00.003-08:00

My oldest figured it out the hard way. Let me start by explaining our neighborhood.

I love my neighborhood. It was built about thirty years ago and the majority of the residents are original owners. However, there are a handful of houses that were sold in the past five years to younger families. With the neighborhood in a transitional state, it makes for a quiet neighborhood with some playmates around. On our street there are four households that ride bikes and play together. The ages are 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 8, 7, 6, 2, and 1. As a number geek, I think it is awesome. As the mother of the bottom four, it causes challenges.

My seven year old daughter plays with the only other girl - the twelve year old. For the most part, she is wonderful. She does a great job of watching out for my daughter and only picks on her on the days she is annoying. Recently, a boy from the next neighborhood over has been joining the two girls to play. He is very sweet and polite. Mostly quiet, I haven't figured out for sure he is dating the 12 year old, but they are having fun hanging out.

I had the opportunity to meet his mother on Halloween. It was the cutest thing ever. My daughter begged to go trick or treating with the neighbors. Since I usually go with my BFF #2 and her three kids, this posed a dilemma. When Halloween arrived, and my youngest two were still fussy from immunizations, I decided to go in our neighborhood (and I was super excited the BFF came over too!). I was surprised to see another mother. She had come because her son had announced he was trick or treating in our neighborhood with "some new friends." She imagined a group of young teenagers out to pick on little kids and cause trouble. She was SHOCKED to arrive and find the "friends" were ages 6-12. That had to have been a shining mommy moment for her.

But ANYWAY, this young man has a trick bicycle. It is the kind with pegs sticking out the middle of each wheel for optimum trick capabilities. Since my neighbor girl rides on these pegs, my daughter thought she was allowed. Ryan nipped that in the bud by explaining bikes are made for one person, not two. For an entire week my child BEGGED to ride on these pegs. We stood our ground, but she was persistent. Then yesterday happened - she came inside bawling with her hand to her mouth.

"Is my nose broke?!?!?!" Ever since she broke her arm two summers ago, the first thing we hear - is it broken?

It wasn't broken, but her upper lip was so fat she looked like Donald Duck! She explained SHE wasn't riding on the pegs. The teens were trying so hard to include her, that they put a set of pegs on HER bike. The extra weight of the neighbor girl was enough to cause an accident. Through my daughters tears I explained why parents make rules. Even though you don't understand why, they are there to keep you safe.

I don't think she will be messing with pegs for a while now! Man, sometimes they just have to learn the hard way.

- Sara

Sandal Days Gone

2007-11-07T17:18:00.003-08:00

It was a fun day at the craft store. I had my youngest while BFF #1 had the "triplets" and my niece. I simply had to pull out the camera for this sweet moment. I sometimes forget to capture and treasure life's regular moments!

Of course now, three months later, I am going to miss nice days like those! Soon we will have to navigate through ice covered parking lots and pot holes full of slush. Snowsuits, boots, gloves, hats, socks, and sniffles. I am mentally preparing!

-Sara

PS Now seriously, that doesn't look like a handful. It is a choo choo train full of fun! Right?

Marie's Martha Moment

2007-11-07T17:18:00.001-08:00

Ok. So, I (Marie) got a little creative. It was either that, or Martha Stewart secretly took over my mind and body and made me do this....

Ok, so I was responsible for bringing dessert to a Halloween gathering involving children. What better dessert than cupcakes? I had to share my triumph! Good luck to all of you hosting parties of your own! Happy Halloween!!!

-Marie

Bittersweet Baby Talk

2007-11-07T17:17:00.001-08:00

My fourth child finally said mamma. I didn't even get to enjoy it. The little buggar knows it too.

We were on our way home from a weekend trip to Chicago. The drive home was going great with 75% of my children sleeping, but the 14 month old wasn't happy. He was whimpering. I tried giving him a sippy, tried the glow worm toy, even gave him a potato chip. They were all thrown to the ground. He wanted held. I couldn't change his mind. That's when he played his trump card.

"Mmmmmmahhhhhmmmmmaahhhh!!!"

I immediately asked Ryan, "did he just say mamma?" Of course he was no help. He was using his male tuning out system. All I got was a, "huh?" But then clear as day, through a few more sobs, I heard it again.

"Mammmmmmma!"

Great. First time he calls for me I can't get him. Dang seatbelt laws! I asked the baby the next day if he remembered saying mamma. Buggar just smiled at me. I think he enjoys pushing my buttons, and why wouldn't he. The other three love it just as much.

Oh well, at least he said mamma. I have to remember it will be no time before I will be wishing he couldn't say it! :)

- Sara

A Gas Station Realization

2007-11-07T17:16:00.003-08:00

I did it. I completely altered my son's view of the world.

He went from seeing the world as a place where everything is always okay and everyone can attain what they need, to finding out money is essential in the world. It happened in two minutes flat.

We were on our way to pick up some dinner. You know the type of evening. Karate practice ran late. The sun snuck its way under the horizon before I knew it. The freezer was full of items that would take way too much effort to turn into a scrumptious meal, and the fridge was nearly bare. The older two were STARVING and beginning to make those whiny noises that sound so pathetic you begin to think maybe they are slightly malnourished. When they heard "fast food night" there were cheers and praises. However the primitive whining noises began again, when I reminded them, for the fourth time, we HAD to stop for gas before the car sputtered to a stop. There would be absolutely NO FOOD until we got gas. So when I stopped at the pump but pulled away realizing space cadet mom had struck again and my purse was left in the entry way at home, my oldest son immediately noticed something wasn't right.

"Where are we going?"
"Home. I accidentally left my purse at home."
"I thought we were getting some food."
"We have to get gas first, remember?"
"Why didn't we get gas?"

I should have seen it coming, but I was too annoyed at myself for such a bonehead moment, I was in teacher-autopilot mode - answering questions with short, accurate answers which are the easiest for young ones to digest and learn.

"Because my money is in my purse."
"But mom, you don't need money, just use that pump thing."

That's when the floodgates opened up. We talked about debit cards and credit cards and how they transfer funds. We approached money in its infancy stage as a bartering system. I thought the conversation was over and I enjoyed the few moments of silence that we as mothers rarely receive. It was so quite I could almost hear the words swimming in his brain. He looked longingly out his window and said, almost to himself, "Wow, you need money for almost everything. That is so disappointing."

The gravity of what had happened in his head hit me like a swift punch in the stomach. My heart sank as I realized I had crushed his perception of a perfect world. A place where those who need gas in their cars, drive up to a pump and fill it. A place where hungry people can drive up to a window and order food. A society where you can walk into a dojo and learn karate or find a studio and take up dance. A city where you live in a home and turn on the lights and get air conditioning or heat whenever you need it. I wanted to live in his world. It sounded wonderful. But no, I had taken him by the hand and flung him into my world.

I have always talked to my children as real people. Kids can handle more truth than we think. However in that moment, I wished I had blown off his questions. Why didn't I just use the standard, "just because," or "don't worry about it, we will get gas in a minute after a quick detour."

I wish he could have lived in that world longer.

- Sara

Swoosher Girl All the Way!!!

2007-11-07T17:16:00.001-08:00

Have you ever heard the expression, "Remember, he puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone else."? It usually comes into conversation to prove everyone is human. But what about us women? Some of us don't even wear pants all the time. What should our saying be? We can't even say, "Well just remember, Britney Spears puts her panties on one leg at a time just like the rest of us." Yes, you know what I mean . . .

What about bras?

My bra saying journey began when my ex-MIL (mother in law) had surgery on her shoulder. She came out fully recovered with one slight drawback. She is no longer able to lift her arm as high as she once could. Her biggest complaint? She could no longer fasten her bra. WHAT!?! How ridiculous! You put your bra on by placing the cups in back, upside down, so you can clasp it in front of you. Then you swoosh it around, pull it up nicely to secure those lovely boulders, and finally take special care to make sure each is positioned for maximum effect. EVERYONE knows that!

Right?

As it turns out, NO! I know, pick your jaw up off the keyboard. I was completely shocked as well. My eyes were opened to an entire world of "behind the back"ers. These ladies are quite talented. They throw that puppy right on the front and do a two handed clasping feat behind their own back. Yes, they seriously do! Who ever knew? I was so excited about my new found knowledge, I simply had to share it with anyone who would listen. Turns out, they are more prominent in society than anyone could have ever guessed. Some of these individuals were even MORE shocked to hear there was a less strenuous method. I converted quite a few of those poor souls who had suffered years of sprained wrists and pulled shoulder ligaments.

You might think it stops there, but it gets even BETTER! There is yet another group of chicks who leave the thing clasped and pull it right over their head like a common tank top maneuver. After much research on this particular method, and nearly fatally injuring my precious resources, I have realized this option should be left to the smaller chested, like my #1 BFF :)

Now that I feel like a brassiere connoisseur, I have a question for you. Are you a swoosher, a behind the backer, or an over the topper? Or do you have a method all your own? Let the world know, it makes us special.

Aren't you glad we aren't like those silly men? Only one way to put on a jock strap . . . one leg at a time . . . just like all the rest.

- Sara

Home Life at Sara's House

2007-11-07T17:15:00.001-08:00

As the newer Chit Chat Mom, I want to share some of my blogs to help you get to know me. The following is completely factual with no exaggeration needed. Most events happened during a two week business trip my husband went on soon after my father passed away. It began as a venting session during a night full of wallowing and missing the two most important men in my life. It ended with a realization I finally attained what I had always dreamed of having - a house full of kids and never a dull moment. I will admit, my home life doesn't always look this crazy, but it is close!

So, take a quick trip with me into the recent past take a glimpse of my world.

- Sara

Lessons I have learned in the past two weeks. 3-8-2007

Spare diapers that end up in the washing machine are BAD.
After breaking a washing machine with seven spare diapers, your first thought might be, "dang it, that was two dollars worth of diapers!"
The sanitize cycle fixes a washing machine that recently lost a battle with spare diapers.

You can completely shut a van door even if there are five year old fingers in the way.
Five year olds get wagon rides to the x-ray room at the children's hospital ER in Omaha.
Fingers that have been shut all the way in a sliding van door don't necessarily break, but they do turn purple.

It takes almost two full minutes to sweep up an entire box of spilled cheerios on a kitchen floor.
It takes under two full minutes for three 20 month olds to scatter 400 napkins across a living room.
When picking up and sorting 400 napkins, you wonder if it wouldn't be easier to spend few dollars and just replace them.

You can get purple marker off of ceramic tile way faster than you can get it off of skin.
You can't get black sharpie off of wall paper.

Strawberry toothpaste does not make good hair gel.
Strawberry toothpaste does make a good excuse to bath three 20 month olds.
Three 20 month olds fit in my kitchen sink.

Twelve inches of snow is enough to stop two days of school.
Twelve inches of snow is not enough to stop a woman on a mission in a 4x4 jeep.
After two days of being cooped up in a house, seven kids can drive a woman insane.

Five diapered children can go through up to 16 diapers in an average work day.
Diaper genies can only fit about 20 diapers.
It is possible to change five diapers in under 60 seconds.
If you are trying to break a diaper record, it helps to have Cheerios so you don't waste time chasing people.
If you are trying to break a diaper record, and you hit a messy one, concede.

20 month olds don't like to share toys, but they are willing to share granola bars and fruit loops.
6 month olds don't like granola bars, but they sort of enjoy fruit loops.

Hobby Lobby is great therapy.
When at Hobby Lobby with your best friend and eight kids under the age of eight, expect a few strangers to shake their heads at you.
The best response to, "wow, you have your hands full" is "not a hand full, just a heart full," even if you really want to say, "shut the $%^& up."

20 month olds like green olives.
You only have to drop an olive jar once to break it open.

There is a seven hour time difference between Omaha and Germany.
You have to dial 13 numbers to call Germany.
Germans expect you to understand German.
Some Germans understand you when you say, "okay," but they don't comprehend "gotcha."
If your man is in Germany, and you can't sleep, just log on to the computer at 1:00 am.
He will be able to say good morning and I love you.

When getting four sleeping children out of a minivan in below-freezing weather, start by moving the heavy sleepers first.
If you move light sleepers out of a minivan in below-freezing weather first, they will wake up, and by the time you get to the heavy sleepers, they are awake.
Four kids recently woken up by being carried in the cold prefer to sleep in mom and dad's bed.
Five out of six people can sleep comfortably in a king sized bed.
There are men out there that are willing to sleep uncomfortable.

7 year olds are the best help at the grocery store.
5 year olds help remind you what the speed limit is.
20 month old kisses are adorable when they master the smacking noise at the end of them.
6 month olds can hold conversations with the ceiling.

And in conclusion -
My oldest daughter doesn't care that I couldn't pause live TV, didn't have a remote, and had to "hold it" until commercials.
My oldset son's alien mom who is about an inch tall is STILL way nicer than I am.
My youngest daughter can climb onto the diaper changing table and jump onto the couch, but won't walk to the car by herself.
My youngest son can't crawl, but can scooch on his back, head first.
My man doesn't like German food
. . . . . and I love my life.

-Sara

Testing out the blog page...

2007-11-07T09:22:00.000-08:00

Hopefully this will make checking for episodes and checking for blogs a bit easier. Let us know what you think!!

-Marie & Sara