Loose Ends

Click here to see Daniel pushing his little walker Grandma got him for Christmas. I caught sight of his first teeth today. 9 months and the bottom two have FINALLY broken through the gum.


Today is Friday and I was supposed to work my tail off on school work, house work, yard work, and any other constructive thing I could figure out to do. But, I didn't want to. No excuses, just no desire, either. I shopped at thrift stores and one little store that sells pallets of returns/overstocks. Then, I came home and put that stuff away and played with the kids. Ha, take that, chores. Lucas got his first pair of rollerblades and I helped him skate in the cul-de-sac a while. He fell, got up, fell, got up, fell, cried, got up. He started out all happy and excited and did a great job of taking it slowly to figure out how to keep his balance. By the end, he was just mad and wanted me to carry him into the house. We'll try again another day. If felt really good to just spend time with him, though. I wonder who taught him the big Loser "L" he is making on his forehead??










School is really taking off. I have articles to summarize, reactions to write, study guides to order, etc. All of my accounting classes refer to Enron or WorldCom no less than a zillion times per meeting. Recent accounting scandals have delivered new accounting students a prime market to enter. Ironicly, the confidence of the profession has been brutalized by accountants, which in turn, has created more jobs for accountants.

Speaking of accounting, that reminds me to tell you how I know the honeymoon is over with 3boyzdad. I had some extra time yesterday after a doctor appointment and before class started so I thought of all my options (including highly rated shopping) and decided to go steal him from his office to go eat with me. I thought we could just chat, hold hands, all that mushy stuff. The restaurant was slow, we talked, I finished eating with time left over. I thought we could drag out our little meeting with ice cream or wander around a store somewhere. He didn't seem too interested, so I asked if he would rather go home so he could have some time there to himself before he had to pick the kids up. Nope, didn't want to. He still didn't seem to be having any fun at all so I asked if he wanted to go back to work and his face lit up the whole block. Now, that's how you know the honeymoon is over: Me for stealing him to go EAT and him for preferring to go back to WORK! Turns out, I was forgetting that I was supposed to be in an Ethics meeting at school for extra credit. Total bust!

1st Blog of 2006

Long time no read!!! Lots to share, so I'll dive right in.

We drove to Florida starting the day after Christmas and returned home one day shy of two weeks later. The kids did great in the car, even the baby! 3boyzdad had to make the most pitstops until the last day of driving when I finally convinced him NOT to buy a coffee everytime he stopped to potty.

We stayed in Grandma Lulu's and Abuelito Pedro's casa. A little on the small side with only two bedrooms and their daughter, son-in-law, and grandson were in the guest bedroom. They gave us their bedroom, which was nice but honestly the only thing that kept me from getting a hotel room. We didn't do much in the way of tourist activities. They cook a lot, virtually never eating out, which throws our bodies into shock. We start looking at McDonald's like a treat instead of the daily bore it is at home. We went to an animal safari park and drove through and looked at animals. It was called the Lion Safari, but 3boyzdad said it should have been called the Gazelle Safari because there were far more of those around.

The biggest news (in my mind, anyway) is that I got a tattoo. I am officially in "the club", as the tattoo artist told me. It did hurt. I had immediate "tattoo remorse" but I am ultimately happy with it. It is in the most perfect spot on top of my foot so that almost every shoe covers it totally. I will never have a problem in the office no matter if I wear a dress or most sandals. It is a pink daisy, pretty simple. It lends itself to becoming a little garden on the top of my foot. The guy that did it was super professional and very clean. You can visit his site here and see the very chair I sat in to get it done.

School started. Work cut down to a part time basis. Lucas is doing moderately well in school. Aaron is doing OK, a little sluggish in the classwork department. Daniel was deathly ill the week following our return from Florida. Honestly, I didn't know which orafice in his little body to cover next. He drove me crazy, and in return I drove the pediatrician crazy. From what I can discern, she does have a night life. One time I actually woke up on the phone listening to her tell me what to do for Daniel. That night was a blur!




Ta da!










Lucas today.









Aaron today.











Aaron on his birthday,
Friday the 13th!









All of us on Aaron's birthday.










3boyzdad's mom and dad (center)
and sister and brother-in-law.
They are expecting this summer!

Ha Ha Ha

Meet Peanut. She is a Quaker Parrot, aka Quaker Parakeet. We have had her about a year now and she only loves 3boyzdad. She has a tendency to like men better anyway and the day she came home we were friends for the couple of hours until 3boyzdad got home. Since then, she has never looked back. She lovingly snuggles with him, sits on his hand, kisses him with her little beak. And for me she reserves her worst behavior like lunging at me when I try to feed her. Whenever she ends up on the floor, she will let me pick her up, but gives a gratuitous bite just to let me know my picking her up and getting her back to her cage does not make us friends. The coolest thing about "exotic" birds is hearing them talk or mimic. Peanut can say a few things like "Pretty Peanut, Pretty Girl, You (for I Love You), and Ha Ha Ha.

So, when we got Peanut we vowed to have no kitty cats. Well, that was a year ago, and disenchanted as I am with Miss Peanut, I am not inclined to stick to my promise. We found Domino, a beautiful black and white, friendly kitty, outside our house a few months ago. So, I started feeding her and she made her home with us. She stayed outside, so before long (5 hours, maybe) she was pregnant with a litter. I moved her into the garage to have the babies just in time. But she was a first time mom, and not a very good one. I think she laid on them and only one survived. The cutest, fluffiest, darling little gray and white kitty! The kids named it (don't yet know if it's a she or he) Chewy, short for Chewbacca.

So now it is cold outside and my precious kitties are even cold in the garage. I moved them into my bathroom, complete with litter and scratching post. So what about Peanut? Well, Peanut may feel a little stalked. Domino stares at her for hours, Chewy walks on top of her cage. We've been spraying the cats with water to let them know Peanut is not for dessert. Peanut seems up to the challenge, though. I've seen them facing off, kitty cat daring on one side, bird ready to bite off whatever may slip through the bars. Last night Chewy got a good spray down for climbing up to the cage. After Chewy got down we heard Peanut call out, "HA HA HA".

Sexy Panties

Who wears sexy panties? Do you count 100% cotton briefs as sexy? Remember the granny-panties Renée Zellweger wore in Bridget Jones's Diary. A woman after my own heart! Well, maybe there is nothing sexier than being comfortable in who you are and not afraid to admit it?? Hope so. Sexy underwear for me is when the top and bottom match and they are some color other than white. Stripes call for a siren and black light! Dots are only for "special" occassions. Hee hee, just kidding.

Last night I came home with a Victoria's Secret little pink sack. 3boyzdad started salivating at first sight. There were all kinds of silky, lacey, black, pink, ruffled, crotchless, boosting, separating, good-for-3-seconds-of-wear items to choose from. So surprised was his face when he reached into the bag and pulled out.............perfume. Hey, it comes in my size!

The Dream Nanny

Miss C has been coming to our house to babysit for a few weeks now and we really enjoy having her there. She is so into the kids, she actually gets down on the floor and plays guns, or building blocks, and colors. She does activities everyday and takes pictures of the kids all day, too.

So, what are the eye openers? Well, having a nanny is like having a roommate. Even though she doesn't live with us, she does "live" there a significant part of each day. She has habits which turn out not to match ours. There are garlicky bread crumbs in the butter. The magazines are rearranged. The bird was fed six month's worth of dried fruit in the first week.

For me, these are all side issues. The important thing is how much she seems to enjoy the kids. She may actually enjoy them more than I do! So, I don't care about crumbs, knick knacks or bird food. She's a keeper!

We are planning to drive to Florida after Christmas. I am figuring ( all each way) 1550 miles, 100 gallons of gas in my gas guzzler, and 22 hours or driving. The unknowns are: one overnight stay or two? Go through New Orleans, or avoid? I checked flights today and the cheapest I saw was $500 per person. Times four people is $2000 minimum. I know we can drive for less than $1000, but I'm going to keep a strict accounting just to prove it.

What's old enough?

Aaron started shaving recently. He didn't ask me first, didn't inform me, nothing. He got a grooming kit from a neighbor which included a razor (new, fortunately) and away he went.
He comes up to me one evening, so proudly.

"See my smooth skin?"

"Yeah, so?"

"I shaved!"

"You what?? With what? Where is it?"

"My new razor!"

"Let me see, I can't tell. Oh, wait a minute, allright, there it is..." The border of baby soft hair is visible on his jawline. Awwwwe.

Blogging World

There is so much to this world of blogging.

Notice I added all the cool links to the side bar. Dad Gone Mad just had a vasectomy on Friday, he is soooo funny. And he describes the procedure very well, as I have personally observed this procedure!!

Also, notice that I added a counter to the bottom of the sidebar. The number of visits is quite low and I think belong to family and maybe a coworker or two. Furthermore, I added this "ecosystem" counter below that which ranks me as Nothing in the blogging world. Some people gain quite a bit of fame in the blogging world, like Dad Gone Mad and Anonymous Lawyer. If you ever check their site meters you will see that they get thousands of hits to their blog each day. What an audience! This leads me to the question of what do I want my blog to be. Well, what DO I want my blog to be? Is it just an online journal of the daily life with children or could it be more? Something that would be more thought provoking and draw in a wider audience. I don't know. I think I occassionally have something worth posting for a large audience, but usually it is just the mundane daily stuff and pictures of the boys. We'll see.

For the immediate future, I'm going to try to figure out how to dress up the appearance of my blog. I would really like to put a cool banner at the top. If all of my 3 readers have any suggestions, let me know.

Update

It's been so long since my last post. I guess my main problem is that I like to have a picture to go with my posts, but organizing one with a story just hasn't happened lately. So, here is an update, pictureless.

Aaron is his normal sweet self, but he is sure struggling in school. We have implemented tutoring four days per week plus we are increasing the dosage on his ADD medication. He has been on the lowest dosage for a while, so I have few qualms about doing this. The only thing left is for him to take more responsibility for his own grades, homework, destiny.

Lucas couldn't sit still or mind in PreK today, so I had to pick him up early. I don't know what got him going but he was just running and screaming, not paying attention. The school is very nice about it, the assistant principal just said he was not wanting to learn today, so he needed to go home so everyone else could. I agreed. He went home to five minutes on the "naughty rug" (Thank you Super Nanny.) and seemed to calm down a bit.

Daniel is growing soooo fast. He will be 8 months tomorrow. He just went to the pediatrician yesterday and was diagnosed with an ear infection. He is on antibiotics and an antihistimine. Besides being a tiny bit under the weather, he is just crawling all over the house, inspecting every piece of dirt and cord on the floor. He especially likes the corners of the house and the bathrooms, so we have to be careful to keep all doors shut to the rooms we don't want him in.

My mom came up with the idea to do our Christmas shopping online this year. I have almost all of mine done from www.Amazon.com. That was the best! Daniel is getting a Leapfrog drum, Lucas is getting Tinkertoys and I better not post Aaron's, just in case he reads the blog before Christmas! Aaron has been nagging me to get the tree up, so that is on the short list of priorities, but ugggh. So much work!

In anticipation of losing my job, I have joined an online mommy group. They have playdates once a week, so I thought that would be a good filler for Lucas and Daniel. Well, let me tell you, these girls email tons! There aren't that many of them, less than 20 for sure, but if left unchecked, my email will pile up with 100 emails in a day. The nice thing is that they are posting pics of their kids and sharing recipes and tips and sometimes upsets. It will probably be a nice group to be part of.

My mom spent the first night in her new house last night. She says the tile floors are cold and Petie (the Japanese Chin puppy dog) still thinks the world is his potty but otherwise it was good.

Work Countdown!
20 more work days till I'm a SAHM! (Stay at home mom) (You got to learn the lingo!!)

Paroled

Yesterday the court appointed Trust for my bankrupt, defunct employer informed us of how much longer we would still have a job. My last day is December 31st. I will really be starting a new year with all new resolutions and goals. Can you believe it is time to start planning 2006! I am feeling pressure to get the holidays done and get on with my life!

3boyzdad and I talked about what life will be like with me going to school full time. We will have to tighten the proverbial belt but we disagree on which notch to fall on. I can't stop getting my hair done, can I? What about waxing? These tasks are done with the good of the people in mind. To show up in public au natural might be considered cruel and unusual! Remember Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality before she got waxed?? So, how about the house cleaners? This is where he and I really disagree. I still say I can't live without them because I'll be studying any time I'm not dealing with kids. He thinks I should just "clean a little everyday". HA. He has no idea.

I do look forward to scheduling excercise into my regular routine. I look forward to eating more healthy meals. At work we go out to lunch in groups several days a week which is fun. But the calories associated with these lunches won't be missed!

Aaron was issued a palm pilot by his school. Isn't that cool? He was so hyped about learning to use it. I understand he will be using it to manage assignments and even have assignments sent to him on it.

This morning was a little bit of a fiasco. This reflects on the part of my personality that wants everything my friends have. I spent some time with my best friend K a while ago and she had this different contact lens case that I had never seen before. She didn't tell me much about it, but it was suppossedly a different contact solution that I could get at Wal-Mart and that case comes with it. I bought one last week. Upon further inspection of the contact lens case I decided it was way too much work. You have to carefully place your contacts inside separate compartments. So, I nixed the case. This morning I opened up Pure Eyes and just rinsed off one of my contacts (I had slept in them.....again) and proceeded to put the contact back into my eye. It immediately burned my eye, I was screaming, hopping around, yelling, "Get it OUT!" I got the contact out and rinsed my eye repeatedly. Well, it turned into a glasses day for me. Too much trauma. They should call that crap Pure Hell. Turns out, you are never supposed to let that stuff touch your eyes and the contact case has a built in neutralizer for all the sodium and peroxide crap that is in it. Furthermore, the bottle I picked up was just one step in a series of steps for cleaning your contacts with that damn stuff. Whew. Moral of the story---don't care what your friends use!

Planes and Pumpkins

Aaron got a new plane tonight, he thinks it is going to last longer than the 100 million others that have crashed and burned. Well, he may be right because it already lasted through the first 30 minutes of use!

Go here to see Lucas performing in his world wide debut of "5 Little Pumpkins".

SCORPION

When I got home from school last night, the whole house was just abuzz. This is unusual. Usually, all of my boys are occupied with television, computer, homework, or friends and the house is calm. But, last night there was just this energy from the moment I walked in the door. So, I went hunting for everybody and one by one they emerged from various rooms with faces of wonder. They had found a scorpion in the kitchen! Poor 3boyzdad. I think he had just mopped the floor from Daniel throwing up his entire dinner when Lucas came to tell him there was a "crab" in the kitchen. Wisely, 3boyzdad went to check out the "crab" and there was the uninvited visitor. They put it in a glass baby jar and thought about what to do with it. Sell it to the zoo? Yeah right. And what was showing on the Animal Planet channel??? You guessed it - Scorpions. I couldn't watch or pay attention, too gross. But, I think I picked up that most scorpoan bites aren't fatal or even serious. Some are, but not most.

Aaron called his best friend B to come see it but B wasn't home until after bed time. But, B came aknocking at 6:30am this morning to meet the now famous intruder. Aaron happily showed B the prize and they moved him to a different box and left the jar in the bathroom. Later, 3boyzdad goes to take a shower and sees the jar is empty.....Fear paralyzes his heart and he rises onto his tippee toes to start searching for the missing critter. Can you imagine? How hilarious. I hear the timid, "Aaron, did you move the scorpion?" "Yeah, we put it in a box outside." comes the reply. And all the way from the bedroom I could hear the relief as 3boyzdad sat his heels back down. Hee hee.....tough guy.

Spooky Babies

Check the link out below to see Lucas and Daniel in their costumes. Aaron was at a church lock-in Friday night, so he is not in the pics. Lucas was soooo scared of the ghosts and goblins he hung right by me, never getting more than an arms length away. The first two pics are supposed to show how Daniel is scooting backwards. He started out on the the butterfly matt and ended up way back by the TV.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=f08z731.q5mosxl&Uy=-q3t6ar&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

Judge Precious Pants

Daniel has been getting up at night for a while now. Last night it couldn't have been more unwelcome. I had studied Spanish until 11pm and was in need of every minute of sleep I could get when at 4am there comes a wail that meant, "Get UP! I'm not happy! Get me out of bed and fix it NOW!" I wake up having no idea how long he has been crying so I race to his room to get him. Check diaper, make bottle, put in bed beside me, make sure to wake up 3boyzdad so he can share in my misery. Usually, this is all it takes and Judge Precious Pants goes back to sleep, but last night he was ready to hold court. We all had to give our opening statements ("You'll find that you are dry and full.") and defend our positions (tylenol and orajel. We're not sure if the real criminal is teething or some type of pain). Finally, after pleading our case for 35 minutes the defense rested and left Judge PP to his own thoughts. He argued alone for a while and eventually gave up. We were acquitted but too tired to celebrate.

It's Friday!

Ode to Friday

Last day of the work week, we love you!
I plan my weekend, there's so much to do,
Yardwork, school work, cooking and cleaning,
The kids like playing, running and screaming.
Remind me again, Friday, why is it we love you?

Ha ha.

I'm very unpolitical but a thought has crept its way into my head about the 2008 election. I think President Bush has effectively rolled out the red carpet for democratic runners. I think we could easily see our first woman president or our first black president because America is ready to leave these last eight years as far behind as possible. This administration has been riddled with the high cost of personal and financial loss. I think Hillary Clinton will be billed as the two-for-one candidate that will restore peace and fiscal balance. Comment back to me with your thoughts.

Did anyone play the lottery, yet? I sure did. On the first day I bought two of each kind of ticket which cost me a total to $20. I'm sure I won't spend that much in the future but I am definitely budgeting a weekly lottery expence of $5. I don't know if this is irresponsible or not, but for some reason I am looking forward to sharing trips to buy lottery tickets with my 13 year old. I decided that I'll let him scratch a ticket and if he wins, 1/2 has to go into his college account. I also plan to put lottery tickets inside birthday cards in the future. So, what did I win, you ask? I won another ticket. I haven't collected it, yet, maybe this weekend with Aaron.

Happy 5th Birthday, Lucas!

Lucas turned 5 over the weekend! We took him and his friend Dalton to Chester's Party Barn where they rode ponies, fed goats, played in the sand, and rode a hayride to a big maze of corn. They had a blast. It was one of the cheapest birthday activities I've ever done, too.





Oops! Look at the extra pumpkin in the pumpkin patch!





And for those Blog-challenged friends and family of mine, I am posting links to some of my favorite blogs. I found this guy just today and what he wrote about airport security was hilarious. This lady is a new mom and she is figuring out what it takes to care for a baby. She wrote some interesting stuff about potty training early, like before one year of age. Do you think it is possible? Comment to me with your thoughts. This guy is a lawyer and he has a rather dry sense of humor, but he cracks me up sometimes.

Identity Theft
Okay, this is funny. We all know someone who has been a victim of identity theft, right? Well, my mom's credit report came back with an outstanding item of $45,000 for a SUBMARINE! My dad says he is pretty sure he would have known about a submarine purchase...well, he kids himself, but she still didn't buy it.

Ode to Granny

Today is the anniversary of my grandmother's birthday.
She passed away in December 1996 from complications
following major surgery at the age of 77.




Here are a few things I remember about her:


She taught me to count money back.
We played hours of dominoes and Wahoo.
She quilted.
She babysat kids for a living.
She cleaned with PineSol.
She gardened.
She read the bible.
She fried chicken, potatoes, and fruit pies.
She canned green beans.
She made homemade jelly.
She was a wonderful person and will always live in the hearts of her family.

Busy Aaron

Just because I don't have girls doesn't mean I won't be buying earrings!
We got Aaron's ear pierced over the summer and I think it looks pretty neat. He is doing a fair job of keeping it clean. Man, it is so hard to get some of those more boyish earrings put in correctly! They don't latch like ours. Usually, they form a continuous loop. The first time he lost (notice I said first) his earring, 3boyzdad had to use pliers to get the new earring to close properly. That was an ordeal, all of us crammed into the bathroom, Aaron with his head cranked over to the side and we were working furiously to get the darn earring latched. He can withstand so much more discomfort when it is for something he wants.

Coal for Christmas
Last weekend I lost my mind and bought him this Sony PSP. Super nice system, gets internet anywhere there is a hotspot, has a great picture, plays movies, etc. I won't even mention the cost, but will say his Christmas and birthday are wrapped up in it. I told him he is only getting sweaters now.

COHO
Aaron has been practicing after school for a month now to try out for COHO (Central Oklahoma Honor Orchestra). We have to be at Casidy School by 7:30am in the morning, ugghh. That is going to be tough for a Saturday. I am hopeful that he will make it, I would love to see him in this extra-curricular activity.

Fair
Here is Lucas at the Oklahoma State Fair. He LOVES tractors. As we drive down the street in the car, he calls out, "Tractor! Tractor!" as we pass any big work equipment, whatsoever.

Before and After

Daniel and I traveled again, this time to Florida to meet his Great grandmother visiting from Colombia. She is a sweet lady of 92 years old in excellent health, but has declared this to be her last visit to the states. Hopefully, it wasn't.

While there we shopped at the mall and visited the ocean. I stuck his little feet in the water. So cute.
Also, his grandmother, 3boyzdad's mom, wanted his hair to be shaved off. She and most of their family thinks it will make it grow back thicker. I wasn't thrilled with the idea, but relented. Fortunately, hair does grow back!

Here is Daniel with his second cousin Luisa and great abuelita. They have matching hairstyles now.

Everyone there speaks Spanish so it is great practice for me to spend time with them. It is also nice to get to know 3boyzdad's family. They are just a big network of the nicest people you would ever want to meet.

So much to write about, so little time. I have been so stressed lately with school, traveling, and taking care of the house and kids. 3boyzdad went out of town yesterday to a watch party for the Formula One races. He never goes anywhere and this is his favorite interest, so could I beg him to stay home? Not really. Not that anything could have kept him home. I could tell he was in a hurry to leave before I came up with a hundred reasons for him to stay and help me. He had fun and his favorite driver won first place.

I did finally use a laundry service to help with the laundry at home. Laundry accumulates on my living room couch and refuses to fold itself up and put itself away. It cost 85¢/lb but maybe it was worth it. I'll try it a couple more times and see if it helps me out.

Labor Day Weekend at Aunti M's

Labor Day weekend was great. Daniel and I flew to Connecticut to introduce him to his Auntie M, my younger sister. Daniel is an awesome flyer, the airplane engine had an incredible tranquilizing effect on him. He would sleep through the entire flight, then wake up in time to flirt with all of the passengers and flight attendants before we got off the plane.

Auntie M fell in love at first sight and just bonded with him right away. She said I carry him like a cabbage patch doll (hanging on one arm, facing out). One day she accidentally put him to sleep by rubbing his forhead right between his eyes.

Auntie M and Sherri took us out to eat fish (which I unexpectedly liked, Daniel politely passed), had a cookout with friends and took us to the Mohegan Sun which is a huge complex with a hotel, mall and two casinos. We put Daniel in the nursery there while I lost all my money on the rullette table.

Losses and all, we've unofficially decided to make Labor Day weekend my time to visit Connecticut. The weather there is perfect and we had a great time catching up.

A Fine Beginning

Lucas has been sent to the assistant principal's office twice already. Lucas has so many neat qualities, I just can't go on enough about how he sings, dances, acts, plays tickle monster, and more. He loves to hug, take walks, play cowboys, ninjas, Jedi, etc. But, he also can't seem to submit to authority. Just correcting the smallest of infractions turns this boy from sweet to sour in a second. He shouts NO to the world, including Mommy and Daddy, Grandma and BigPa, Auntie Em, and now, his teacher, too. He also insists on having the last word.
"Lucas, stop hitting your brother." Says 3boyzdad.
"NO!" retorts 4-year-old Lucas.
"Lucas, go play in your room/outside/etc." 3boyzdad commands.
"NO!" screams 4-year-old Lucas.
"Lucas, be quiet and go play a game."
"NO"
Well, it digresses from there...
Luckily, so far the assistant principal and the teacher are working with us to help Lucas learn to act appropriately in social situations. I would be sad to have to report he has been expelled from Pre-K! So, today I tried teaching Lucas to say, "Okay" in this really fun voice. Very animated and higher pitched. I'm hoping giving this little actor/performer something fun to respond with will keep him out of trouble at school and restore some peace at home, too.