Upper Classman

Our little HL is now an "upper classman" at preschool. Talk about a mixed bag of emotions- he's doing very well in school, acting more grown up, and helping out more around the house which, of course, makes me very proud. But then again, he's doing very well in his second year of school, acting more grown up, and helping out more around the house which, of course, makes me miss my little baby. There are times when I literally swing from one emotion to the next in a matter of mere moments. And I've heard that motherhood tends to remain in this teetering emotional state for the duration. The thought of it makes me want another baby. I figure if I just keep having babies, then I'll never have to give up my baby/cuddle time. I could have a baby every other year until my oldest gives me a grandbaby. That should only be another, say, 18 to 20 years or 9 to 10 babies. I could do that. No problem. Okay, that obviously is not the answer. I know I may sound greedy about baby time, but really I'm just tremendously grateful to have my two incredible sons. It took us several years and just as many miscarriages to get our first and it served to make me that much more in awe of the miracles I was given. Thank you, God, for my (growing up) babies.

New bloggers- yeah!

Another friend of ours joined the blogging club and we're very happy to have them on board! Please take a moment to get to the know Davy and Andy.

And here is AW, wanting so desperately to go wherever big brother goes. He heard us talking about school and ran to get his own little backpack. Even opened and filled it with books by himself and posed for a first-day photo. Oh, how it hurt to have to leave him home on this day.... UPDATE: Hubby tells me that AW grabs his backpack every time they either take or pick up HL from school.....

First day of school!

Here's our oldest all ready for his first day of preschool for the year. He's now an "upper classman" and seems to take that role rather seriously from what he tells me. This year's first-day photo is a striking contrast to last year's....... ...which leaves me with no doubt that he enjoys going. We were very fortunate in that his preschool teacher is a friend of ours who teaches preschool in her basement. HL has grown quite attached to her and obviously respects her. All this makes me it very easy for me to drop him off for school in the morning. Thanks, SS!!

Political Quiz Part 2

Yes, I took the test too. I landed just about where I thought I would. I was sorely tempted to select maybe all the way down. In absolute terms it was hard to agree or disagree with any of the statements. For instance this question: End "corporate welfare." No government handouts to business I agree; large bail-outs for mismanaged corporations is bad policy and I am not a big fan of subsidies, no-bid contracts, nepotism, cronyism or any other ism that applies to wasteful spending by my government. BUT... "Handouts" to help people start a small bushiness is not necessarily a bad thing. So... Agree? yes. Well... no. Maybe????? So I selected maybe all the way down reflecting my subtle understanding about shades of grey. I am a dead center centrist... I am also a Statist, Centrist or Libertarian depending on which convictions I deemed black or white. Hmm. So where does that leave me? I'll go with the results from my first go at it and say I'm moderate libritarian. What really struck me about this test were the results from everyone else: 33.07% Centrist, 32.83% Libritarian, 17.57% Liberal, 8.62% Conservative and 7.9% Statist. Why do I find this intresting? Our two party system represents a paltry 26.19% of us. Further, I find it odd that 32.83% are Centrist and 32.83% are libritarian. Does that represent the middle of the road American? It represents 65.9% of the people who took the test...

"Daddy", "Mommy" No More

The boys like to play different scenarios and assign each person (and sometimes even the dog!) in the family a different character. For instance, when HL wants to play Star Wars, the character assignments are (usually) as follows: Mom = Princess Leia Dad = Chewbacca HL = Luke Skywalker AW = Yoda Or Superheroes: All three boys choose differently day to day, but Mom is always Wonder Woman. So, AW, in his infinite cuteness, has taken to calling Daddy "Chewbaca" quite often- whether playing Star Wars or not. And Mommy? He calls me Wonder Woman- only all he says is "Woman". "Woman?" "More milk please, Woman." "Carry me, Woman." I love it. I mean, what loving mother wants to be called "Mommy", anyway? Not me. No, I would much rather answer to "woman" any day. Un-huh. Yessiree.

Let's Say Thanks

Let us say thanks, indeed. Thanks to all the troops who have put their own lives on hold to better the lives of perfect strangers. Thanks to our military for enduring miserable environs to keep our comfortable homes here in America safe. I am overwhlemed by gratitude when I stop to think of all that our military troops have done, and continue to do, for us! So, I am spreading the word about www.letssaythanks.com. This website allows you to choose a postcard design (drawn by children) and message, then they will print your card and send it to someone serving in The War On Terror. It takes just a moment and means so much to those who are serving our country! I'd like to end with a quote from my 2 year old... "Yeah, America!!"

Political Quiz

Turns out, I'm a Libertarian (according to this quiz, anyway). I scored just above Centrist, slightly to the right of center (this will make sense once you take the quiz). Here is their definition of a Libertarian: LIBERTARIANS support maximum liberty in both personal and economic matters. They advocate a much smaller government; one that is limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence. Libertarians tend to embrace individual responsibility, oppose government bureaucracy and taxes, promote private charity, tolerate diverse lifestyles, support the free market, and defend civil liberties. I would say I agree, for the most part, with this statement. So now I guess I have an official title: Libertarian. What's yours? Hat tip: Planet Jules

Food dilemma

Alright. Having an issue with HL that I welcome all suggestions/ comments on...... Please. HL is an extremely picky eater. He talks about wanting to be "Healthy Eater Man" and turns down some sweets because they're "not healthy for you", but still refuses to eat anything other than the standard mac-n-cheese, peanut butter and cheese sandwich, cheese-only quesadilla, etc. (No worries about him getting enough calcium, eh?) But in the last several months he's been teasing us with "I want to try a ____" or "I'll eat ____". In the past we've fallen for it- made what he requested, fought with him, and ultimately wasted a lot of food. So, we decided that if he convinces us to make something special, he has to at least try one bite before getting anything else. We started this yesterday when he fixed himself a "burrito" of cheese, a tiny bit of beans, and lettuce. He did finally try a single bite. After the shock wore off, we were very proud that he finally tried something new! That is, until he swallowed, gagged and spit it all out. Not quite the result we were hoping for. Then we enforced our rule again today with a raw carrot. Certainly an innocuous little raw carrot wouldn't produce the same results, would it? It didn't. It actually made him vomit this time. Shiny. The list of things we can't do: -Ignore his requests- just in case he's earnest someday -Make whatever he requests and waste food away -Force him to try things and make him vomit -Allow him to never try anything new The list of things we can do: -(Any ideas?!?)

Muppet Test

Just a bit o' fun..... You Are Kermit Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies! The Muppet Personality Test

Pleasantries

Had a perfectly splendid trip to Albertson's just the other day. The employees were helpful; the man ahead of me in line (who took a lot of time) was sincerely apologetic and offered his Albertson's card when I didn't have mine; and then I got to my car, emptied my cart, and a nice gentleman took my cart back to the store for me! When I shop at the other discount grocery stores, I end up stressed, rushed, and generally irritated at the entire shopping world. I realize that Albertson's can sometimes have higher prices, but it is completely worth it to me to be able to shop in a more relaxed, peaceful atmosphere. Now if only everyone would realize that niceness begets niceness- what a wonderful world this would be.

Fun in the mountains

Spent a weekend camping with my sister and her friends. We all had a terrific time! I could type for days on this trip, so I'll limit myself to some highlights: As you probably saw already, AW spent all the time he could by the lake- as did his brother. And, HL actually caught a trout! A good size trout. With the weight and all on his string, he wasn't tall enough to cast it himself, so Matt helped him out.... The hook was cast for the very first time, the pole was set down, and the boys waited- but not for long. They soon got a nibble, MAtt grabbed the pole, handed it to HL and told him to reel in his fish. He did. It was, oh, maybe, twelve inches long! Matt got the fish out of the water and tried to get HL to pose with it- "No way!" was his response. Then, HL talked and talked about how we were going to cook up his fish and eat it- only he didn't even try it. But, both his parents, aunt and uncle all did! And not a one of us likes lake fish. It wasn't bad, it really wasn't. I ended up eating it all- apparently the fact that my son caught the fish, made it go down easy. "Fire Control". That was HL's title for the weekend. Everyone was gracious enough to allow HL to (at least believe) that he was in control of that camp fire. Joe had him help "chop" the wood, build the log cabin, add small pieces of wood, and even stoke the fire. He was in heaven. You see, he seems to be as fire-addicted as his father. Thank goodness he's so intent on being safe! When AW wasn't at the lake, he was climbing Rick's camp chair and playing hide and seek with Jacob- who was excellent with my boys. In fact, all of the older boys were great with our kids. I was impressed and grateful. Late at night we had a doe visit us a couple times. She came rather close to us, drank the dog's water- wasn't even scared off by the flashlight shining on her. Strange. But peaceful. And we can't forget the poor little chipmunk who chose to live under the corner of the tent pad, not three feet from the fire pit. My kids tried to feed it, catch it, play with it.... Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving my family such a great weekend!!! (Here are some more photos of the weekend)

Billy the Kid and his Fishin' Poe

Am I doin' this right? With all the practice Brother got up in the mountains when we went camping last week he got pretty handy at casting his fishing pole. He can consistently toss it out there and we only occasionally have to remind him to watch his neighbors. Our Youngest picked up on it too. He watched closely and with very little guidance from me, his non-fishing father, he began practicing away. He loved to try and cast out his line and soon we couldn't keep him from the lake or his "fishin poe". If he wasn't down by the lake he was asking to be taken there. If he didn't have his "fishin poe", he was asking for it. It was always in his hands unless we hid it and distracted him. If he ever caught eye of it or another pole, back down to the lake we went. We had to take shifts... Towards the end of the trip he got pretty good. He had decided to flip the pole over to use his left hand; this made it easier to reel in. It made casting easier too, I would guess he got the timing right one out five times. Those times the plastic red fish landed out ten feet directly in front of him with a neat splash. The other four times? The fish dropped straight to the ground. Exclaiming "bummer", Dasher would reach down and toss the fish out into the pond to reel back in, more often than not entangling himself in the process.

Dream, Stranger than Strange

I won't bore you with all the details at the beginning of this dream except to say that I was in a library/book store browsing around. To my right, a window broke as a cat burst through it. The cat came to me, crying. Being allergic, I generally ignore cats, but this one was very persistent. At one point, I remember looking into it's eyes as though mesmerized. The eyes were the exact color of mine. Finally, I relented and followed the cat back out through the window. It led me to it's nest of tiny kittens. (Now this is where it gets extremely weird) To say the kittens were strange is quite the understatement- I'll do my best to describe them. They were tiny, the size of a baseball; stood on just their hind legs with their front arms tucked in to their sides (the posture made me think of baby chicks); and their coloring was that of Dory (Royal Blue Tang) in Finding Nemo- yellow on the sides and all! Now, I can almost always decipher the meaning of my dreams by focusing not only on what the content was, but also on how I felt. But here, I'm stumped. Completely stumped. I can't even get to my feelings- the strangeness of it all grabs me and I get lost in it. Any ideas? Input? Wanna tell me what a weirdo I am? I welcome all comments on this one!

The depth of our minds

"one.....doo......twee......fo......fi......sits......seben" AW counted to seven yesterday evening! We were reading a bedtime story and decided to count the bugs. I started with "one", he went on with "two". I repeated "two", he continued with "three", and so on. I would love to brag that my youngest is a prodigy, but the thing is, is that he can't repeat the feat. He knows how to count, but doesn't know that he knows it. I've seen it a LOT watching my boys grow up- their little brains soak up info, but won't release it for some time yet. Makes me wonder what info is secretly stored in my brain. Unfortunately at my age, I will likely never see it released- whatever it may be. It's a shame that we're not able to recall all the info our brains are able to hold. Just think what we could accomplish..... PS And even though he can't do it again yet, I'm still darn proud of him!

Unity08

Here is a little something I have been reading about that I find very interesting. I know I am not happy about what's going on in Washington... Unity 08 A little something from their beliefs, goals and why they will succeed: What We Believe Unity08 believes that neither of today’s major parties reflects the aspirations, fears or will of the majority of Americans. Both have polarized and alienated the people. Both are unduly influenced by single-issue groups. Both are excessively dominated by money. For most of the 20th Century, the contest for the U.S. presidency was waged over those “in the middle.” Recent Presidential elections, however, have not been focused on the middle but on the turnout of each party’s special interest groups – with each party’s “base” representing barely ten percent of the American people. We believe that, while the leaders of both major parties are well intentioned people, they are trapped in a flawed system – and that the two major parties are today simply neither relevant to the issues and challenges of the 21st Century nor effective in addressing them. As a result, most Americans have not been enthusiastic about the choices for President in recent elections, the key issues they ran on, or the manner in which the campaigns were conducted. Therefore Unity08 will act to assure that an alternative ticket is presented to the American voters in 2008. It will be interesting to see how they work all the issues out.

My new word

Here's a new word for you: Sesquipedalian Definition: "a long word" (Discovered by playing the Match Up game on the right of our blog)

Superheroes

"Hey mommy, wanna play Superheroes?" HL implores. "No, honey. Right now I'm clearing the table for dinner." "But mom, you can be Cleaney Clean-Up Girl- she keeps the world clean!" And you know what? He's right. There is absolutely no reason why I have to just be me, clearing the table, when I can be "Cleaney Clean-Up Girl". This is one example of why being around kids is so great- they can take the mundane and create a game out of it. Wouldn't it be great to see life through the eyes of a child again?

Buddies

I am a proud and happy mama right now. My two boys have been getting along so well- it actually does look promising that they will be great buddies. They have their spats, wrestle and whimper and it does sometimes seem as though they aren't getting along the greatest. But it's in the small things I notice that I see promise; things such as the one I witnessed two nights ago. HL and I were laying in his bed, while AW was in his crib across the room. AW was messing around, playing quietly when he discovered a baby doll in his crib. I could hear him rocking back and forth while happily exclaiming "baby! baby! baby!...." HL felt a little left out and started trying to persuade me that he should the baby. "But mommy, the baby might cry if he's not in my bed with me" and "I just love that baby sooo much!" I steeled myself for a fight, a possible meltdown; completely not prepared for what happened next. AW stood up, dropped the baby out of his crib and said "here, brudda." How sweet. Even though he was so excited to have that baby doll, when he overheard HL's sadness over being without it, he willingly and happily handed it over. "Thank you, AW." By the look on his face, I could tell HL realized the scope of AW's kindness as well.

Full Service Computer Guru

The most knowledgeable computer guru I know is pimping his services. If you have a computer question you can't answer, and the support tech you have spent hours with can't answer, he's your man. If Techosaurus Rex can't answer your question, no one can. Might as well take it out back and put a bullet in it. While I do not condone shooting your computer up, hard drives do make marvelous targets...

Water Fun

Just cause it was sooo funny I'll treat you to another shot. And here are a few more pictures from Brothers birthday party Filling the pool. Of course we didn't make the pool set up on time, so we filled it and slathered the kids up at the same time. I foolishly chose to try and fill the pool with my small portable air compressor not thinking about the volume of air that was required. I had to run home and get the portable inflater I had thought about bringing but decided against. Bummer. Take that! Jack be nimble Jack be quick. Here are more water fun pictures from brother's birthday. Here's the slideshow.