A week in my life, Day 2

Just a crazy day today. Nico and I both woke up on the wrong side of the bed so it was a day filled with temper tantrums from both of us. I spent the whole morning running around trying to get everyone ready to go for our field trip to LHS plus find some new recipes to use the meat that we need to use after defrosting the freezer so I could get the grocery shopping done which also meant that I needed to get my coupons together and everything else. Of course that was when I found that not only had I lost my rain check for another 40 cans of Campbell's Chunky soup but it's not like it mattered because the extra coupons I had bought expired on the 19th. The day just never got better with no breakfast and leaving 30min late for our field trip (in other words, the time needed to go grab fast food and not rush).Once we got to LHS tho things went as well as could be expected. Nico threw temper tantrums if we dared to suggest he had to hold hands and not run but so long as we could keep him entertained things went well.It was really neat there as their current exhibit is "Engineer This" so it's all about building stuff.
Really great exhibits using simple machines which is what we are studying in science right now so that was great that Jonathan got some hands on experience with them and there was tons of hands on stuff for Nico to mess with including lots of earthquake simulators where you built a building on a "fault" and then started it up to see if it would survive. By far the favorite for Nico was all the boat stuff where you could build a speedboat, paddle boat, and sail boat and then see how well they worked. Not like he actually built any but he had a lot of fun playing in the water.
This mouse was the highlight for Jonathan and Nico tho. It's a wild field mouse from the grounds that had made it's way in and was running through the toddler area. The boys went crazy running after it and I had to keep reminding them not to try and touch it but it was so brazen that as long as you held still it would run between your legs! I personally preffered the chinchilla we got to pet. LOL

Christopher and Matthew had the first class this morning on DNA and other forensic evidence as they solved a hypothetical murder. They both came out babbling all about it and I'm hoping their memories are as good tomorrow so I can update the Academy site. They had a quick lunch and then Matthew and Jonathan went to a class on earthquakes where they learned how to triangulate and find the epicenter of an earthquake. Again, I hope to have more information on that on the Academy site tomorrow. (I really need to update that site *blushing*)
The kids ran around a bit outside before we took off for the rest of our day since, well, hey, what trip to LHS would be complete without riding a whale and climbing on some DNA.
Nico of course fell asleep in the car so that he could continue his cranky mood at the grocery store. I'm really surprised they don't lock the doors when they see us coming. We managed to get through it without any of his major tantrums tho part of that was due to Christopher and I coming up with the system where Nico could put whatever he wanted in the cart and if I told him no and then walked off with him, Christopher would put it back. Made things at least almost bearable.

Now comes the really fun part of the day. It's where you run home from the grocery store, grab Jonathan's soccer gear which he puts on in the car as you race to Christopher's acting class. Drop off Christopher, drive like a maniac to Jonathan's soccer practice to drop him off, and then get home quickly to unload the groceries while Matthew gets his soccer gear on and you get him fed. Then rush out the door again to pick up Jonathan only to see the coach driving off as you pull up. Um, excuse me? I was only a couple of minutes late and practice usually runs late. I wasn't too happy about this and intend to talk to his coach on Saturday as to what happened. Thankfully Jonathan was sitting on his ball on the field tho he was on the verge of tears since there was no one else there that he knew.
Back over to Christopher's class only to have his cell phone not ring for him so I had to park in front of this boat while Matthew runs in to get him. Next stop...Matthew's soccer practice. We always get there early tho because of the way schedules work out so we were treated to more of Nico's shrieking while we waited for the coach to show up. Be thankful that I can't share that on this site. LOL From there it was back home to make dinner and put all the groceries away. Thankfully Matthew was able to get a ride from a teammate so I didn't have to run and get him which meant I could work on the dishes and laundry while yelling remding the boys constantly to do their evening chores. And what a lovely surprise as I was folding the laundry to find that one of the cats had peed on the clean clothes! Ugh! I only washed the laundry yesterday and that was so not what I wanted to deal with. Oh, well, it's back in the washing machine right now so I guess I'm folding it tomorrow.
The highlight for me today was the arrival of my amazon package. Mark's company gave me an AmEx GC for dealing with him never being home so I did what any self-respecting bibliophile would do and went to Amazon to buy Dr. Who season 3 and a bunch of books. Now if I could just find some time to read. All of my down time has managed to totally disappear lately and I can tell because I'm getting really cranky.

A week in my life, Day 1

I really loved this idea from Mel. This is exactly why I've been trying so hard to keep up with my blog is to have a journal of this time in our lives. I have a lot of great memories but I know that there are a ton of little things that I've forgotten over the years and I know that my memory is just getting worse (something about sleep deprivation I think LOL). I know that I tend to pick and choose the more general stuff in our days to talk about unless one of the kids does something that really stands out but I thought "hey, I'll try to post some of the more mundane stuff for a week", not boring per se, but just the more every day stuff that goes on as well as the regular crazy. So here we go with day 1....I knew I wanted to start this today so I went grabbing for my camera to take with me for our usual Monday morning stuff. Unfortunately, I lost a lens cap at the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago when I was there to take a quick picture for a scavenger hunt (it may still be in my car somewhere but I'm not holding my breath) and Matthew lost the other one on Saturday. He swears it's in Mark's dad's car but we searched it all over and well, no sign of it. I'm guess he accidentally dropped it out the window as we were driving because he was taking pictures of the surfers at the beach on the way to soccer.


What morning would't be complete without a fight between Matthew and Christopher. This time? The culprit was toothpaste. Seriously. Apparently they were both ready to brush their teeth at the same time and Matthew turned on the water to put his brush under. However, as he did so, Christopher pushed his brush out of the way to get his water first. Matthew pushed back and some of his toothpaste got on Christopher's brush and the last of the toothpaste Christopher likes got onto Matthew's brush. So Christopher punched Matthew. Over TOOTHPASTE! Yes we had quite the talk about that because that has got to be right up there with the stupist reasons I've ever heard for punching someone. I was really proud of Matthew tho for walking away from it and not retaliating. Christopher on the other hand got his KSW class revoked for the day.

Our usual Monday morning consists of therapy for Jonathan and Nico. Matthew was with me so we could get some work done while the other boys were at therapy but he choose to get in on the act there instead. I can't say as I really blame him since Jonathan's therapy does look pretty fun. In good news, his speech therapist (seen playing with Nico as she's his therapist as well) said that he is progressing so well that she's hopeful he may be able to graduate in 6mos! I knew he was doing well but that was wonderful to hear. Nico also showed us a few new words today. Matthew worked with him for a few days and he now says "Pow-er" and out of the blue he now says "nonny" for Jonny. So cute!

Now what kind of kid doesn't want to do school over mochas and fruit plates at Starbucks? I can't understand why Matthew keeps jeopardizing things for the sake of goofing off. I have to say that I'm really enjoying these weekly trips with the big boys. It's awful for my diet (I gotta learn how to say "tall, no whip") but the time to sit there one-on-one with them is so precious to me. I admit that I'm missing the "me" time that I used to carve out there but at the same time, I really am getting some much needed relaxing time with them which is very refreshing in it's own way.And what day around here wouldn't be complete without an injury? With 4 boys and a small house I count my blessings that most things aren't so serious they can't be cured with a hug, a kiss, a booboo pack, and maybe a dumdum lollypop. LOL
Now this is something that never ceases to flabbergast me. We had our housecleaner over this morning. Seriously. This was taken about 4hrs after she left and this was a good day! No wonder I hate cleaning up. I'm actually right when I say that they literally go around behind me and make messes in an area as soon as I pick it up. Where is that magic cleaning wand when you need it?
We ended up skipping KSW tonight since Christopher had lost the right to go and Matthew's knee is still bugging him (he tweaked it there last week). Jonathan was disappointed but what can you do? We decided to play Fluxx during dinner instead!
It was so much fun and several of the games went so quickly that we ended up playing 4 hands before dinner was over. Of course, even more amazing was the fact that Nico not only sat and ate all his dinner, but even asked for and finished seconds! That child NEVER eats dinner with us! Afterwards when he noticed that I was done with my dinner, he grabbed my plate and told me "you done" and took it to the sink for me. I told him when he came back that daddy was also done and he proceeded to take all the rest of the dirty plates and put them in the sink. I love seeing stuff like that! Yeah, I know, it doesn't take much to make me thrilled mostly because that kind of stuff seems to be a rarity around here.Of course, things had to go sideways again. As Jonathan was getting ready for his shower, Christopher apparently told him that "yes, I do want to see if you can pee in the toilet through your underwear". I have no idea where this all came from (and sorry, no pictures of that LOL) but the result is No, you can NOT pee in the toilet while standing in front of it in your underwear. I think someone needs to add that to the list of things you learn when you have a house full of boys.

PIctures from the weekend

Well, I had considered starting my "Week in the Life" series but Saturday night our internet went down and then with Boo's passing, I just wasn't in the mood but I had taken a bunch of pictures on Saturday to try and start it so I thought I'd share a few:

It was defrosting the freezer time here....obviously

Our wonderful Farmer's Marker...
These are the people I buy pounds of fresh peas from every week. They have got the sweetest, most wonderful peas anywhere! (and their artichokes are pretty darn tasty too)
Some of the produce I got this last weekend from the market with some of the pumpkins from Friday's field trip (yeah, I couldn't help going artsy fartsy with it LOL)

R.I.P. Boo

It started so sweetly one night back in October of 2002 when Mark and I were sitting on the couch watching TV. He turned to me with wide eyes, "I heard a kitten". He went outside but didn't see anything so came back inside and decided he was hearing things.

The next night the same thing happened but this time we both heard a soft little "mew". He opened the door and we saw her run off and couldn't convince her to come out.

The third night, we yet again heard the mewing but this time when we went outside, this little bundle of fur was finally coaxed into our hands. She was so tiny, maybe 5wks old, covered in fleas and obviously starving. We brought her in, washed her, fed her, and fell in love. We knew we couldn't keep her but then Jonathan (18mos at the time) woke up and called her "mine". I told him "No honey, she's going to need another home, we already have kitties" and he replied in that toddler voice "nooooooooooo....MINE!"

What could we say to that? She grew on us so quickly it was meant to be. She and Jonathan grew up together and were frequently seen together just curled up somewhere. It was precious.

She got out before we could get her fixed back in March of 2005 and returned almost 1½mos later. We had been traumatized by her leaving and were overjoyed with her return but she had yet another surprise for us. 2 months later, on July 5, she gave birth to her first litter of kittens between 12:30a-2a in my bed, under the covers, at my feet. Being newly pregnant myself, I couldn't be upset with her for anything other than the fact that she hadnt' let us know so we could be with her during that time. The kittens were beautiful and although we lost one (the runt) the rest grew wonderfully being very well loved by the boys. Padme, the only calico of the bunch, became Matthew's cat and stayed after we found homes for the other two. She was a wonderful mother to all her babies to the point where Morticia eventually had to move outside as Boo would not permit her near the precious kittens.

During the excitement of my own pregnancy, I forgot to make an appointment for her at the vets and she got out again in January 2006. She was only gone a few days this time but sure enough, she had managed to come back pregnant again. On March 11, 2006, exactly one month after Nico was born, Boo gave birth to 2 beautiful girls, Lizzie and Leia.

We don't know what happened but in early September of this year Boo once again seemed struck with wanderlust. We had gotten her spayed so we knew she wasn't in heat and we could only hope she would be back soon. Unfortunately, that was not to be this time. We never gave up looking for her and hoping she would return home to us soon. It turns out, she had never gone far but instead had realized she was sick and instead of letting us know in anyway, she had left to die. She found a comfy spot under our house and went to sleep, never to wake again and that's where Mark found her this morning.

Needless to say, we are devastated. She was such a sweetie and Jonathan is brokenhearted at the loss of his cat. She was buried today under the one remaining rose bush in the backyard with many tears. She will live on in our hearts, especially as we care for her daughters.

Good-bye Boo. We'll miss you.

Fun Quiz

Yep, I stole it off your blog Linda so yes, it looks familiar.

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Traditional, Vibrant, and Tasteful

27 Islamic, 19 Impressionist, 6 Ukiyo-e, -27 Cubist, -27 Abstract and 9 Renaissance!

Islamic art is developed from many sources: Roman, Early Christian, and Byzantine styles were taken over in early Islamic architecture; the architecture and decorative art of pre-Islamic Persia was of paramount significance; Central Asian styles were brought in with various nomadic incursions; and Chinese influences . Islamic art uses many geometical floral or vegetable designs in a repetitive pattern known as arabesque. It is used to symbolize the transcendent, indivisible and infinite nature of Allah.

People that like Islamic art tend to be more traditional people that appreciate keeping patterns that they learned and experienced from their past. It is not to say that they are not innovative personalities, they just do not like to let go of their roots. They like to put new ideas into details and make certain that they will work before sharing them with others. Failure is not something they like to think about because they are more interested in being successful and appreciated for their intelligence. These people can also be or like elaborate things in their life as long as they are tasteful. They tend to prefer geometric patterns and vibrant colors.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Pics from the Pumpkin Patch

What would October be without our annual trip to Farmer John's Pumpkin Patch...
Yes, for the record, Christopher didn't want to be there and was saying that he had no interest in carving pumpkins for Halloween as that was "childish". This from the same teenager that can't wait to go out and get tons of candy. I told him if jack-o-lanterns were too babyish for him, than he could stay home and pass out the candy at which point he grudgingly agree to go and amazingly enough, he picked out a few pumpkins too. Go figure.
Notice the lovely black smiles on the youngest two. This year Jonathan spied some cookies on our way out and they all looked cute at Farmer John's wife so she handed them out. She only had three so Christopher opted out but then she found some candy and he scored a Tootsie Roll pop. Gee, sometimes it pays to be unselfish. Who knew?

52:81 The Incredible 5-Point Scale by Kari Dunn Buron & Mitzi Curtis

From the cover "Assisting students with autism spectrum disorders in understanding social interactions and controlling their emotional responses". Great summation of the book. Very quick read (I read it in about 1½hrs while dealing with kids and playing on FB) but it's just an awesome tool. Christopher has already read this (his sociology assignment for the week) and we will be working together this weekend to put together a couple of scales for him to help with his behavior around the house and while dealing with his brothers. I'm also planning on using this to make a scale for Matthew to help him deal with Christopher better. The behavior between the two of them recently has just been massive escalation after massive escalation and it's disrupting the harmony of the whole house, stressing everyone out, and setting really bad examples for Nico so I'm hoping we can work together to help them learn when to walk away and ask for help in dealing with the situations before they escalate so far.

Pics from yesterday

So here are the pics from our huge field trip...

Oh yeah, counting the steps is much more fun than going down the slide


This was the only slide he was ALLOWED to go down. I think he went down a total of 2 times because it was boring.This was a much more fun use of the slide but of course, the playground nazis were all over him the first time he did it so the slide went unused the rest of our time there.

Here's the sandbox. A few steps to climb on and a very thin layer of sand. I think he spent less than 5 minutes here.

The poor pigeons whom he spent the majority of his time terrorizing. Interestingly enough, the playground nazis did not have a problem with that. Hmmmm....


Ahhh...the lovely playground nazis trying to entertain the children that aren't acutally allowed to play on the playground. In the background you can see the one and only "approved" climbing structure.

See the big, beautiful, round, red ball???? See the DO NOT KICK written on it? Why bother having it since apparently it was not allowed to be rolled down the ramps either. Tho how we were supposed to know that when it wasn't written on the ball or any of the signs with all the playground rules, I'm not sure.
Nico on the floormat over at the Metreon. Dude, this thing rocks and I would totally let them advertise all over it if they would install one in my house.

Next are just a few pics of each of the kids during our time at the Exploritoreum. Yes, sand and bubbles were the rage of the day. Why do you ask?

How much can I pack into a day?

Well, it's been an interesting 2 days here. Yesterday I was pretty sure that Matthew would not be joining us for our huge field trip day today as his recent schoolwork has been lacking pretty much any effort at all (think 2 word answers for essay questions and poor word choices at that). It was breaking my heart to think that he would miss the day filled with activites that he especially loves but at the same time this is too common of a problem with him to let it slide especially since I had been telling him all day to go do his work only to find every other minute that he was off playing with Nico again or goofing off in some other manner. *sigh* I called my MIL and made the arrangements for him to go there since it was looking like there was no way for him to pull it off this time. Well, he managed to surprise me and pounded out his composition like a man possessed and did almost his entire science unit review last night. I woke him up before 7a this morning and he grabbed a cup of tea and headed straight for the computer to finish his review. I asked him a few questions to help his waking brain (that child does not wake well) and he was able to answer them easily and finish up his science assessment. Ok, now we had 2 history exams and one of those was a unit assessment. I looked at that one and figured that really his problem with that was all centered around the French and Indian wars so I just had him review those chapters instead of the whole unit. Less than an hour later he had finished reviewing and was able to go back and fix his answers easily. Then he went and fixed his 2nd history test with relevent answers that made real sense unlike his previous ones and we were able to leave the house right on time. He still didn't get his spelling done but I figured I could let that one little thing slide.

So on to today...

OMG how fun it was! I was so glad that Matthew didn't miss out. First I dropped the three big boys off at Zeum for a claymation class. They spent 2hrs in there making their own characters and making their own film. I have a copy that I will be posting onto YouTube and then I'm going to have them help me do a proper post about it on the Academy's site. I'll link through to that tomorrow after it's done.

While they were doing that, I took Nico over to the playground they have there at Yueba Buena Center. Talk about a major dissapointment. Very little to do there and on top of that, they hire playground nazis who masquarade as jugglers for the children's entertainment but whose real purpose seems to be making sure that very little fun can be had. So this playground has 3 slides, 1 small climbing structure that is just bars up and down (no pole to slide or anything else to do on it), 1 xylaphone, 1 small sandbox with little sand, 1 small water play area, and my personal favorite...the big red ball with "Do Not Kick" written all over it. Now the rules: only kids 5-12 can go on 2 of the slides, all others can only climb up and down the stairs (isn't that fun...direct quote from pn), you can't kick the ball nor can you take it outside of the perscribed ball area so it can be rolled down one of the ramps, don't climb on anything that is not a designated climbing structure, and I'm surprised we didn't get in trouble for walking on the grass. Seriously it was the most depressing and uninteresting playground I've ever been to. We spent less than an hour there and most of that time was Nico chasing the pigeons or climbing on things he shouldnt' be and us getting either dirty looks or "polite" reminders from the pn about "the rules". Jeez, when was it crime for a kid to explore???

So we went over to the Metreon where he played almost as long on the piece of floor that is an interactive video game/advertising board. He was allowed to run and jump all over it, encouraged to do so in fact. We've been there many times and he loves that thing. Today we were there for over 1/2hr and he had more fun and laughed more there than the whole time at the "playground". We still had some time to kill after he'd been through all the games twice so we headed over to the Sony Store for a few minutes.

After our 2hrs was up, we went back to pick up the boys and check out the gift store. Matthew was thrilled to find that they had a red dragon marionette there. He'd seen a different marionette at Pumpkin Festival but we hadn't had a chance to go buy it so this was perfect and the cheaper too. I also ended up getting some more musical toys for Nico since he fell in love with the xylaphone there. I figure it will make a great Hannukah/Christmas/Birthday present (not sure which yet LOL).

From there we headed over to the Exploritoreum for a few hours. Lots of fun as always and since Matthew and Christopher both had their cell phones I allowed them to just roam about doing their own things while I kept track of just the two youngest. I had the monkeypack on Nico but after a while regretted not having one on Jonathan as well as that child was running off constantly to go look at something else. It was impossible to keep up with both him and Nico but thankfully no one got lost or got into any trouble other than with me so that was good.

Mike joined us towards the end of our time there. We hit the store and I managed to get a Periodic Table of the Elements shower curtain. Our world map one was basically dead and needed replacing and I'm geeky enough to think this one was majorly cool. We basically got kicked out at this point so headed back to the car to wait for Mark who was on his way from the airport since he just got back from SLC. Once he showed up, we split up again with Mike and Mark taking the three younges to IHOP while I took Christopher over to the LucasArts studios for a focus group. I made sure he was accepted and then joined everyone else over at IHOP for dinner. I have to say tho, IHOP food is not fine cuisine and I understand that but this IHOP was definitely a cut below all the others. Cold pancakes, cheese not melted on the omelets, 20min waiting for the fruit and drinks...sheesh.

With dinner over and still 45min til Christopher would be done, Mark took the boys and headed for home to give me a chance to just sit and chill while waiting for Christopher. I gratefully took it after chasing Nico all over SF for over 10hrs today and sat there waiting for Christopher to be done with my water and Emily Dickenson. Only thing that would have made it better was if I'd had good chocolate with me. LOL

Some other good news from today. Mark informed me over dinner that his company closes for Halloween because of some superstition from last year so we'll have him home all day! I'm thinking that is totally awesome. Heck, we may even get to carve our pumpkins this year. LOL He also presented me with an AmEx GC from his company as a thank you for putting up with all his travel and long hours, etc. Apparently all the wives on the QA team got these (not sure about the rest of the company) and he is taking me out to a nice dinner sans kids on the company's dime as well. As much as I like the perks, I'd rather have him home more and I'm hoping that they aren't overspending on stuff so they stick around. In the meantime I'm trying to figure out if I'm buying woodpulp or shiny media with the GC. I'm guessing it's likely to be a combination of both. Amazon, here I come. LOL

So now it's bedtime. Nico's asleep and I'm so tired I'll be amazed if this post is coherent but there you have it, our day in a nutshell. Tomorrow we head to the pumpkin patch after gymnastics. Then I'm pretty sure I have collapsing into a head on the schedule. If not, it should be there.

I'll do a seperate post tomorrow with a bunch of pictures and a link to the video. Right now, I hear my bed calling my name.

52:80 The Cat Who Said Cheese by Lilian Jackson Braun

Continuing adventures of Qwill and the cats. There are always new characters but still it manages to be formulaic to itself and nothing super shocking ever happens. It's a nice "turn your brain off" series.

Got tagged again

I have to say, the meme thing is kinda fun. I got tagged for this one by Robin. Only problem is I'm not sure how many more weird things I can come up with since I think everything about me is pretty much already out there but I'll give it a whirl.

1. I'm literally addicted to books. As in could probably use a 12-step program of some sort. It's been getting worse as I've gotten on this kick to read all the classics. I'm currently stressing out because I'm not sure I can complete my new challenge of 104 books before the end of the year. I may spend all of December reading and ignoring everything else. So if you don't hear from me, you know why.

2. I'm forever spraining things but I've only ever broken a finger bone and my big toe. Go figure. From what I hear, I think I would rather have broken things. It sounds a lot less painful with a shorter recovery time.

3. My dream house has a huge library room, tons of windows, a turret, a huge walk-in pantry for my new canning hobby, and a backyard big enough for 4 boys to run wild plus a vegetable garden and chicken coop.

4. I learned to cross-stitch so I could quit smoking. It worked too and I've been nicotine free for over 11yrs now. I just wish my hand would heal quicker so I can get back to stitching.

5. I love to bake but hate to cook. Seriously, let's make cookies, cakes, breads, you name it but the second I have to actually "cook" like dinner, I somehow get nauseous at the thought of standing in the kitchen.

6. I am currently in the middle of 7 different books and am actually making good steady, if slow, progress in at least 5 if them.

7. Even tho I have 7 siblings, I'm the only one in the world with those two parents.

Ok, now the rules say I have to tag 7 other people and link to them. Hmmmm...not sure who all reads my blog and especially someone who hasn't already been tagged by this meme but I'll give it a go:

1. Mom
2. Crystal
3. Linda
4. Christopher
5. Matthew
6. Meg
7. Louisa

Made it through Pumpkin Festival

Nico ended up walking dogs in the parade down Main St with Mark's parents while Jon and Matt showed off their KSW down the street. Christopher stayed busy acting in the different areas of the Haunted House while I went hoarse speaking in a gravelly pirate voice for 4+hrs each day leading the groups of landlubbers through to Davy Jones' Locker.
And everyone had a great time. The Haunted House went really well and we had a great time doing it. We'll definitely be back next year. Christopher even finally realized that the Dylan in his acting workshop is the same Dylan he was such great friends with back in elementary school before we pulled him out. They lost touch but I'm hoping that this finding each other again will either help them renew their friendship or help Christopher find closure with the past.