Boy oh boy.

J. is having the twin boys from his class over for a playdate right now.
The fact that I have time to type any blog at all during a playdate is amazing.
The fact that twin boys are easier to entertain than my ONE son?
Not sure how I feel about that but the word 'vindication' comes to mind.

"She hath done what she could... " Mark 14:8

I might need a plaque with that on it.

Daddy.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

I know it's a day late - but it's never too late to honor the man who has been in your life longer than any other.
A man who has always accepted me and thought the world of me.
My dad is the man who shaped for me all thoughts of what a man is supposed to be.

Daddy, you have always believed in me, my children.
I really believed as a little girl that I could do anything. You always told me I could.
I remember as a little girl loving to iron your shirts because they had your smell. I remember loving to wake up on Saturday mornings because, if we were real lucky, you'd be making your special pancakes.
I remember curling up on your lap and just being me and that was ok.
I remember when you would teach me how to use your pastels for artwork - and you would tell me the story of how you met Mom buying those very pastels.
I remember going fishing with you.
I remember you putting little dabs of perfume on my neck each Sunday morning, and no matter which scent I chose, you always smelled it all up and told me how pretty I smelled.
I love our little talks together - though they seem to be fewer and further between lately - your words are filled with the wisdom that only a life lived right can speak.
Thank you for giving yourself to your family. Thank you for investing in us. Thank you for being the man you have been.
I have a better picture of who God is because of you.

Thank you for letting me dance on your feet. Some days I still do.

Happy Birthday, Daddy! I love you!

mombutt

I hope you're not offended by the title of this post. If you are, you surely must know how it pained me to type it.
This is my acknowledgement of reality.
I have tried to squeeze my booty into every style of pants/jeans/slacks/trousers available hoping for that one fit - THE perfect fit - to no avail.
It appears as though I must face the bitter truth of it.
I have mombutt syndrome in every cut of lower-half-of-the-body covering attire.
Care to join me?

Grumpf.

I have had to fight the grumps all day long.
It's my house.
I detest having a house that is all out of order. Filth everywhere. My house oozes today.

Normally, I clean all evening Thursday and then most of Friday so I can enjoy a clean house all weekend long. Well, at least part of the weekend it stays clean. Normally.

But Thursday entailed a mega big school-friends playdate, so no cleaning happened Thursday. And Friday I was bushed. I had a fever and sore throat and generally felt like last week's nachos.
So again, no cleaning.

Today, I woke up, saw the awful truth, and got grumpy.
I thrive in a clean house. I get all kinds of moody when things aren't right. I have to fight hating Legos and stuffed animals. Who hates stuffed animals?

So the story goes, I am overwhelmed by mess. Mess is inevitable. The vicious cycle continues in year 6 of motherhood.

Someday I'll lick the grumpfs for good... and then, about a week later, I'll miss Legos and stuffed animals.

Little League Try-outs

I am taking a sick little boy to little league tryouts tomorrow morning. It goes against my better judgment to have him around other kids, but if he misses the tryouts, he misses the entire season. Probably we will show up, fill out the paperwork, and come back home. There is no way I could keep him from playing little league this year - he's too excited...

I could not be more proud of my little man. He's everything a mother could ever want and more.

drop me a line

when our last computer blew its gaskets, i lost the majority of your blog addresses.

if i have been reading your blog, it is because i found your link on someone else's.
so here's the big question - can i make a blog roll on my blog with a link to yours on my blog?

mostly it would be for me - because i enjoy reading them and i am more prone to that type of enjoyment when access is easy.

in addition to everyone's permission, i need these blog addresses: (I haven't found them yet.)
camezi
Dewey Hafta
Enter with Thanksgiving
These 12 Acres

thanks!

The totally amazing truth of it all.

We got a new laptop!

I am so superduper excited about this development!!!

I have missed the abyss and I am sure the abyss has missed me... :)

Really, truthfully- so much has been going on over here in the casa that I am not sure one blog can catch everyone up.

Chris took the initial exam to become a fireman and did very, very, extremely well. He is through to the second round. He will begin the process which will last for nearly a year and if all goes well, he will begin training with the department in January 2010.

I have made it through the second round of interviews for a job. There are still at least two more interviews for me to complete if they choose to keep inviting me... Now that it looks more and more likely that he'll be changing jobs (and with it the incomes) I am more and more urgent in the chase for a good job.

The kids are doing great!

Jaron has his first crush. It is so adorable! He is "in-love" by his own description. Very sweet. He asked me to take him shopping for a Valentine's Day gift for her. He tediously chose pretty beads one by one to make a bracelet for her. What's even cuter? Their names rhyme.

Avery is loving ballet, and school, and life, and being a girly girl.

I am going to have to spend a good bit of time catching up on blogs now that I have re-entered the blogosphere. Wish me luck!

What I WANT to be doing...

I want to be reading blogs.
I want to be scrolling though your wonderful thoughts and the funny things that are going on with you.
I want to be changing my CHRISTMAS layout and taking the voting poll for the Christmas cards that never went out.
I want to blog about the reason my Christmas cards never went out - anti-climactic to say the least.


But...
I have to pay bills and check important emails in my 15 minutes on my dad's pc.
Somehow we MUST get a new computer soon...

Here Goes Nuthin'

It has been so long since I posted ANYTHING that I cannot even begin to begin...

So much has happened. Then again nothing really has happened. You know what I mean, right?

KJ's preggers!!! I didn't even get to start that rumor. Man! Where's the justice in that?
I know you'll make a terrific mom - not to mention what a "momshell" you'll be! Congrats!

I am no longer the proud owner of a 1999 Ford Windstar, or the Star ship Enterprise (as my husband referred to it) I have now been inducted into this century and millennium as the owner of a 2008 Jeep Liberty!! Ye haw!

My little girl is an official ballerina in training - I cannot tell you how cute that is! She is also a flower girl in training. She's going to be a flower girl in my brother's wedding. She experienced a slight setback in the beauty department this week when her nose was apparently broken after a wagon handle flew back into the bridge of her nose. She kinda resembled a Klingon with bright plum eyeshadow on both eyes for most of the week. Poor little beauty.

Jaron is now in love with all things Star Wars. And will be shaking things up as the ring bearer at my brother's wedding. He is reading lots and has very wiggly teeth. He has the knobbiest knees accentuated by his uber long legs. Officially not a baby anymore. Officially a wiry, snaggle-toothed kid with limitless potential and some very adorable dimples.

And I, for the first time in my life, have been asked to be a matron. I was gonna say bride's maid but I am married so I guess that makes me a bride's matron Who knows?

Our holidays went well - and unlike the majority of my friends with children, we were relatively healthy. We only had a tummy bug, which is much better than last year's ER/pneumonia/flu debacle. Everyone appeared to be delighted with everything the holidays held, and I for one was thrilled to have the time off.

I vegged. I drank whole pots of coffee. I 90% remodeled my bathroom. I snacked my brains out.
Good times.

Chris is working more now than ever it seems. It could be all the vacations his co-workers try to take this time of year - but I am married to a man whose face I feel I might no longer recognize in the daylight as we are, sigh - two ships that pass in the night. (Her hand daintily fans her forehead as she wilts with emotional anguish...) This too shall pass. Perhaps sooner rather than later. Only God Knows for sure.

I guess that's it. I still have no computer. I am on my dad's. So intermittently I will attempt blog checking.

I want to get something together for Wendy in the way of a baby shower. Because it's her third I was thinking it could be a giftcard shower so she could get EXACTLY what she wants/needs. Whaddaya think?

I have lost my mind!

I guess you don't realize how much you depend on a thing until it's not there anymore. My brain is gone. Our laptop, that is.

Our laptop is deader than a doornail and we have lost everything on it. The hard drive is kaput and every picture that I have taken in the last 3 years that I did not have printed on a hard copy is gone. My baby pictures are gone. I nearly cried. Then I started to realize that every really great shot is probably on my blog. YAY!

Yes. You might be inclined to advise me about the importance of having important information on a separate hard drive. I assure you, any advice about backing up all important information is a smidge late and given my current mood regarding things computer related - potentially ill-received... :) A joke. Sort of.

Anyway, I feel like I have fallen off the edge of the information highway into the abyss of yesterday's news. Please call me with any newsworthy thing you may have, as checking emails and blogs are no longer a part of my everyday life! I have even gotten lonesome for my friends, because I can't cheat and catch up on you by reading your blog - I should just pick up the phone and call for goodness sakes!!

It's not all bad - things seem to get a bit simpler, perhaps even slow down a tad when you're not constantly checking blogs and emails. This computer-less blast from the past may be just what the doctor ordered for the holidays...

As for losing my baby pictures, it still pains me to think about it.