Maybe my cakes aren't so bad

I know I'm not the greatest cake decorator. I freely admit that but I also generally don't charge for my cakes, they are always edible, the spelling and grammar are good, and they don't generally induce people into fits of laughter or vomiting.

That can't be said for many of the cakes on this website:
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

What's worse is that these are professional cakes. There were some truly horrible wedding cakes on there and I couldn't believe that real decorators would even try to pass these off as even decent to their paying clients especially given how much professional bakeries charge (the main reason I started doing my own).

But hey, it's not going to waste as they get second lives in providing us with laughter. I spent too much of the day going through every page on this blog just laughing at what people do.

For the record, there are some absolutely gorgeous cakes on there in her "Sweet Sunday" posts. I won't be showing the Lego Batman cake to my kids just in case they start thinking they want that for their birthdays. LOL

Enjoy!

Well Check-ups

Jonathan and Nico had their well checks with the pedi yesterday. Both are doing just fine. Only item of note is that I'm thinking Jonathan is either getting ready to follow Matthew's growth or is about to grow 6" as for the first time in his entire life, his weight percentage is about 2xs his height. Considering I checked him just a few months ago and he was still perfectly proportioned, I'm guessing the latter but only time will tell.

After that I managed to do the Costco shopping with just those two since Mark took the older boys back to his office after lunch and they were still behaving. It was nice just having some time with the younger ones and I remember to bring Nico's DS into the store with me which meant we had a very pleasant trip. And I even stayed totally on budget tho since so much was large objects it made for a lot of fun getting it all in the truck afterwards. The kids don't really need foot room do they?

I didn't leave the house today

I know, I know, I was shocked too. Wednesday is typically one of our quieter days with just KSW taking us out in the evening and otherwise we are home trying to catch up from the previous two crazy days. This week, however, Mark was working in SLC from Monday morning to Wednesday afternoon (as opposed to Tues night) and the boys all voted for staying home and spending time with daddy rather than KSW.

Of course they didn't actually do that as Matthew and Christopher were still catching up on schoolwork (which is still not done *sigh*) and Jonathan finally got his work done and stuck his nose in a gameboy. That was all okay with me tho as I got to watch Mark cook dinner from the couch while watching Kitchen Nightmares. I don't get to do anything like that much but boy, it felt good. I definitely need to try and do a little more of that.

Rethinking the whole grocery shopping thing

Now bear in mind that I usually try to get it done on Monday nights while the boys are in KSW since I have to be right in that area for an hour anyway and the budget would rather do that than hit the bookstore. So here's what I've tried for getting the grocery shopping done with Nico:

• Bribing Nico with the shopping cart with a car in the front, Jamba Juice, and a cookie (this lasts for about 15min, just long enough for the cart to be over half full and then he will take off running through the store but you will be at the point where you dont' want to just give up and forget about finishing because you are sooooo close to being done)
  
• Strapping Nico in the cart in front of me (this lasts about .02 seconds before the shrieking commences and you are stricken deaf, of course this helps to distract you from the fact that you are being turned black and blue as a result of his kicking, hitting, pinching, and biting)
• Take all 4 boys after bowling when Nico should be a little more tired and has others to keep him entertained. (This results in trying to keep all four from adding stuff to the cart and running around like maniacs because as homeschooled children they are never allowed in public and thus have no clue how to behave...all of which only encourages Nico's lovely behavior)
  
• Yesterday we tried Nico with his monkeypack and me with a basket for a few items (this only works for a few items, not a whole week's groceries and it was tons of fun juggling paying for the groceries while getting a reusable bag out and ready while on the phone with the older ones as Nico dumped his Jamba Juice all over the floor...I actually don't recommend this method unless a roll of duct tape is involved)
• Today we tried Nico with his monkeypack and my with a cart. First he screamed about having the monkey on. Then he insisted on riding in the back of the cart (yes, I know about the dangers of this, I was watching him like a hawk) but decided that he needed to climb out to see the Cars soup display (he got one leg up and I got him down since I knew what was coming). Then he ran in circles around my legs making it impossible for me to push the cart or even walk. Next he stole his brother's inflatable hammer and proceeded to hit random people and cards with it and scream when it was taken from him. He pretty much repeated those two parts of the process for the rest of the trip. I won't be repeating this one again either.

I think I'm resigning myself to the fact that I'm going to have to give up family time on Sundays in order to get the grocery shopping done alone. I hate doing it this way but with Nico's current behavior, I really am not seeing much of an alternative. I've never had to get to this point with any of the other kids but this has just gotten ridiculous. I only have to take one child with me and I can't control him enough to get the grocery shopping done. My grocery list is only good for Sunday-Tuesday and with Mark working in Salt Lake City Monday and Tuesday, it doesn't leave me with a whole lot of other alternatives. Hopefully it won't last long and then maybe we could do it on Tuesday nights while Christopher is at YAW.

The one bright point in all this is that I'm hoping Mark will start being home on Monday nights again soon and maybe something can be worked out where I can get my workouts at Curves on Monday nights and take one of the two big boys out for coffee and one-on-one time with me while the two littles are at therapy. To try and catch up school work and various other reasons this has been happening a lot and I really like having that time with them and they seem to like it too. Yeah, it means Starbucks starts actually getting a weekly stipend from me but hey, my kids are totally worth a few bucks a week.

Just another manic Monday

This week Mark is gone til Wednesday and apparently my brain has shut down at the thought of that. I did manage to get everyone where they needed to be ontime tho so I think I deserve some bonus points for that.

• Kids to therapy on time....check
• Took Christopher with me so after therapy I could discuss schoolwork with him rather than go to the gym...check
• Check over all papers to discuss prior to leaving the house....Um...
• Make sure Chris had emailed all papers to me so we could at least attempt to discuss everything...Um....
• Get back to house and ask Christopher to email me missing papers, again, and again, and again as I keep figuring out there were more missing...check
• Finally grade all papers by 2p when there is no longer any time to discuss them and he has no hopes of getting his schoolwork done today because his teacher is running behind...check
• Manage to spend so much time on Christopher's work that I didn't get even our shortened day schedule done with Jonathan...check
• Get dinner in the crockpot on time so we could eat dinner after getting home from activities...check
• Order corset for pirate costume..check
  
• Get a bunch of DVDs put away...check
• Do a load of laundry including actually folding it and getting it put away...check
  
• Get boys to KSW on time...check
• Forget shopping list and coupons so grocery shopping is impossible...check
• Try to get at least a few of the items so tomorrow is a little easier since Nico was in a good mood...check
• Forget that even in a good mood, Nico can cause enough chaos and destruction to make Stitch proud...check
• Try to answer the ringing phone while pulling out a Chico bag from my purse as Nico dumps his Jamba Juice all over the floor while trying to pay for the groceries...check
• Get home and put groceries away while telling the boys to get out of the uniforms...check
• Find out that green beans for dinner tonight went bad overnight...check
• Find some freezer burned veggies in back of the freezer and say "what the heck"...check
• Let the boys put on Monsters Inc just to shut them up so I could hide whenever possible and finish a project...check
• Finish getting Monka pics uploaded, organized, and labeled...check (http://s117.photobucket.com/albums/o53/4boyz4me/Monka/?albumview=slideshow)
• Get a blog post in for the day...check

Now I just need chocolate and some down time to read a book. I realized today that I've hardly cracked a book that wasn't directly school related in almost 2wks. No wonder I'm ready for the loony bin.

Crazy week

I know I've been awful keeping up here. This week it's felt like I wake up, turn around, and it's time for bed and I'm so exhausted that I just collapse.

So what exactly has been going on here?

Monday - OT for Jonathan but all speech was canceled due to sick therapist so Nico and I went to the bookstore instead and participated in our scavenger hunt. Then back home for lunch and schoolwork. The contractors showed up and it's amazing how little schoolwork got done while we had people in and under our house getting it leveled. Went to get all the big boys ready for KSW and Matthew couldn't find his uniform. I asked him if it was in his room or the car and he said he'd looked there but couldn't find it. I ended up leaving him home to finish his schoolwork while I dropped the other kids off and headed to the grocery store with Nico. Got home to Crockpot Pineapple Chicken done and the rice ready and Matthew had made the veggies to go with it. I think it would have been better if it hadn't cooked for so long so we'll try it one more time with less cooking time and see if it's worth repeating any more than that.

Tuesday - Schoolwork in the morning then bowling in the afternoon followed by YAW and the 2 soccer practices. Tuesday is canned soup night. I wonder why?

Wednesday - I was really hoping to get caught up on a few things that evening while Mark had the boys at KSW but we ended up scoring those Christopher Paolini tickets so there went that idea. The boys seemed to not understand the whole "I really, really need your help getting your work done these days with your dad gone so much because I'm falling really behind in all the housework and bill paying" lecture. Honestly, I think I need Spiderman to come over to my house and give them that lecture. Maybe they'd listen from him (or at least he could web them up for a few hours so they wouldn't be wrecking the house while my back was turned).

Thursday - The boys spent the entire morning thinking about all the fun things they were going to do with my brother Jack rather than doing their work. What this ends up doing is having me sitting around repeating myself constantly to one while glaring at another to work but in reality nothing is getting done. I obviously need to learn to assign chores when they are like that, set a timer, and go do my own work for a bit and then try again in a little while. We went to go get Jack that afternoon and got home so that the boys could do their work. They did finally get it all done but man, I don't know how to get work ethic through to them. The best thing of the entire day was watching the Shark's home opener. Beautiful win over Anaheim!

Friday - Nico had gymnastics that morning and it was awful. He has really been pushing my buttons with the running off thing and this time there were only two boys in the class so the teacher wasn't keeping as much control going with the "boys need to run and get their energy out". Unfortunately, that translated in Nico's mind to "I can go run off and do whatever I want". After the third (or was it fourth time?) time of his running off and going into the other room where he's not supposed to be, I decided enough was enough and we left. I had warned him and he'd done it again and that was it. He wouldn't put his shoes on so I carried him home while Matthew carried his shoes. That was such a fun tantrum. While he threw his tantrum at home I got dinner in the crockpot (lemon Chicken) since Mark wasn't going to be home as he was at WhiskeyFest and we were about to leave on a field trip.

Then we headed over to Malibu for some mini-golf and video games. Kids cashed in on the tickets for tons of candy (the dentist bills are still dancing in my head) and we left for home around 3:30p. After Nico's dash towards the parking lot on the way out from Malibu, I made him wear his monkey when we stopped at New Leaf for a few groceries. Of course this led to yet another tantrum with cries of "ha, ha, ha" (translates to "I'll hold your hand and be good!"). At least this was a store that hasn't experienced one of these out of him and it wasn't one of his noisier ones so maybe I still have one grocery store left to shop in. It was interesting having 5 boys with me everywhere I will say just because it was like "Hey, what's this dark haired child doing with us?" LOL In all honesty tho, I almost didn't give him back. I'm sure it's only because he was away from home but he was awesome to have around, always helping with stuff like the boys' chores without even being asked and just really mellow which is such a switch after my 4 constantly battling to the death over everything. We finally got home around 4:45p and I finally got ahold of the Chinese place around 5p to order some sides for our dinner since I was really in the mood for their dried sauteed string beans. I'm only kicking myself for not getting honey prawns too but I was afraid that would send the wrong message to the kiddies.

Right after we ate tho, I went to check my email only to find out that one of my refs for Upper Division AYSO was only doing 2 out of the 3 games for Saturday and it was of course the one game where I hadn't been able to line up any ARs. Usually when that happens he brings his kids to help out so I wasn't stressing until he tells me at 6p that he's not going to be there. Then it was panic time. I called a few other refs with one saying maybe he could help but that still left me down 2 ARs. If we don't have all 3 ref slots filled for a game, it's cancelled so now I'm calling my regional commissioner to see what to do next. She wasn't home but gave me some ideas and I spent the next 2hrs on the phone with various people until we finally had everything sorted out. Of course, during this time our CAVA teacher called for our monthly phone conference. Ugh! Things are going well with the middle two except for Matthew's continued motiviational issues. Jonathan's reading is coming along beautifully (he read me a Curious George book on Saturday with very little help) and really I couldn't be happier with his progress. Just to add to the choas of the night my mom called right after everything else so I'm telling the boys to turn off the video games and get ready for bed while I chat and check to make sure we have everything for soccer on Saturday morning. I get off the phone close to 10p and go check on the boys only to find that all of them are under the powerful trance of the monitor and haven't even gotten in their pjs. Needless to say there was some serious evil glaring going on as they were all told to get a serious move on. I got Nico and dosed him then did the dishes waiting for things to take effect. Then it was pjs and collapse time for me.

Saturday - Fun, fun, fun. I left the house at 8:30a and didn't get home until around 3p. First it was off to Jonathan's soccer game at 9a. It was nice to leave Nico at home (he was still sleeping) and get to actually watch the game. They won too which made it even better and Jonathan had some good blocks and kicks. Then we ran home where I let Jonathan out and picked up Christopher (not setting foot in the house lest Nico see me and the fit begin) and I dropped him off at the YAW prep area and headed over to the Farmer's Market to get the fresh produce for the week. I went back to Christopher and asked what help they needed and got asked if I minded dressing up and playing tour guide. Well, let's see, I did drama and plays all through high school and was in RHPS for close to 10yrs so yeah, I think I can handle that. Christopher signed up to be an actor and pretty much wanted to be there the whole weekend (it takes place next weekend at the Pumpkin Festival so come check it out if you feel brave enough to face the crowds) but I limited him to two shifts so he choose both mornings so we'll both be there bright and early. While I'm getting trained on how to be a tour guide my phone keeps ringing. I get outside where I can finally check it and it's Mark telling me he had car problems but finally managed to get the other 4 boys over to Matthew's soccer game but now something has happened at work and he needs to go in. Great. Christopher and I finish up at YAW and head over to Matthew's game. We all chased Nico around the track but in hindsight that was a bad idea since Matthew was out for the Q3 and decided it would be more fun to chase us than sit on the bench waiting to go back in. I kept telling him he needed to be on the bench but had to chase Nico and couldn't keep on Matthew. His coach called later in the day to apologize for only playing him 1/2 the game but mentioned that it was because he couldn't find him for Q4. Yeah, we talked about that too.

So it's now 2p, the kids are hungry but Mark tells me that he wants to make Alton Brown's granola bars and rice crispy treats on Sunday so could I go to the store and pick some stuff up. I head back over to New Leaf to grab the items and then on to home. On the way home I got to listen to a lovely rendition of "Stop poking me, stop poking my seat, stop kicking my seat, get your feet off my head, etc". No, this had nothing to do with Nico amazingly enough. This was Matthew to Christopher!!! I was ready to pull over and make him walk the 5mi home because it was just ridiculous. He finally calmed down but not before everyone in the car was ready to strangle him. We stopped at Pardini's for some fresh brussels sprouts, apples, and oranges and that's when I realized I still hadn't dropped off Miles's book from the signing. *slaps head* Matthew has decided that he wants to walk home from Pardini's (less than 1mi) and I let him but within a block he was trying to chase me down and not paying attention to the car coming straight at him so I pulled over and told him to get back in the car. Dropped off Miles's book and finally got home at 3:30p. Then I got to make lunch and start working on Mt. Laundry (geesh, how many times have I scaled that this year?!). Told the boys that they had all had more than enough video time so they grabbed out the Risk board instead. I can handle that. Rest of the night was spent catching up on laundry and watching hockey. Oh, and ordering the top to my haunted house costume. (I'm waiting to talk to the people at the corset shop to get that ordered tomorrow.)

Sunday - I'm fried. I have no energy but stuff still needs to get done. I finish up the laundry, grading all the papers, entering attendance, filling out PE Logs, doing lesson plans for the week, putting all my new printed out recipes in sleeves and then the binder, getting a bunch of DVDs put into books, menu plan for the week, grocery list, and cutting out the coupons as well as helped Matthew with his composition. Not done was getting the checkbook balanced (hmmm...when was the last time I got that done?), music with Jonathan (oops), and LOTR discussion with Christopher (double oops). Did manage to do some stuff for my board (not that anyone can tell at this point since it's all still in the works but hey, I did work on it). Mike came and got Jack to take him home and then it was time for dinner and more hockey (gotta love hockey season! Go Sharks!). At this point I've been working on this on and off for a couple of hours, it's 9:30p, Nico is playing fetch with me and a tennis ball instead of going to sleep, and I'm ready to collapse. Mark leaves early in the morning for SLC but instead of coming back Tuesday night, it's Wednesday afternoon. I told him that was fine but then asked what he was cooking me for dinner on Wednesday.

At least I'm getting a little break this week in that Jonathan doesn't have soccer practice. Too bad we haven't gotten Christopher taking the bus yet to class tho I'm considering researching the schedule and having him take the bus there. It looks like there is a bus that would pick him up around the corner from us and drop him off right in front of where his acting class is. Hmmmm... Of course, you know things can never actually settle down here so Jonathan and Nico have well-kid check-ups on Thursday afternoon. We're planning on getting together with Mark for lunch beforehand and then I need to stop at Costco for a few items afterwards (maybe I'll do all the Costco shopping then if I can find the cash and make my life easy). So I think that's the last week in brief. My friend, Mel, has done a really awesome "Week in the Life of" on her blog this week and I'm considering trying it in the near future. We'll see if I'm brave enough. LOL

Christopher Paolini sighting + signing

This is one of my Christopher's favorite authors of all time. For those not in the know, he is the author of the Eragon books. He started writing the first one when he was 15 and was homeschooled his entire life.

Well, Wednesday afternoon I was checking email and another homeschool mom had posted that Paolini was going to be in the area at a ticketed signing that night. She had 2 tickets but was unable to go. It had been 30min since she posted but I took a chance and she still had them. So much for Mark's father's birthday celebration that night. LOL


Now I've not read his books yet (they are in the cue LOL) but still, I found him to be an engaging young man, very passionate about his creation, very interesting to listen to. He read aloud some of his favorite passages from his new book, Brisinger, including some in the Elvish and Dwarvish languages. During the signing he came up to the podium a few times to make up trivia questions for the contest going on. When we finally got up to him for the book signing, even tho we were some of the last people and this was his second to last stop on the book tour, he still showed interest in who he was signing the books for, answered my Christopher's question that he hadn't been able to ask during the presentation, and again just struck me as one of the nicest young men, someone who you would want to be friends with regardless of whether or not he was a famous author.

Reducing some paper clutter

I keep recycling stuff but sheesh, it seems the more I recycle, deal with, clean out...the more that finds its way in. I keep thinking, jeez, you guys sens me all these catalogs/credit card offers and I never respond, how many years will it take before you give up?! I think it's so funny to see the "This is your last catalog" sticker on the same catalog name 5xs in a row. Or what about One Step Ahead who I did order from a few times back in 1998 and they screwed up every order and so I told them point blank to stop sending me their catalogs because I would never order from them again and they still keep coming! Or another favorite of mine, American Girl. It's a doll company and they make look-a-like dolls for your daughter and matching dresses and and and. Um, I have boys?! I've called and told them that several times and they just don't get the hint. I've been getting this catalog for 10yrs now!!!

So FLYLady found a site that is supposed to help with getting off those lists. It's called catalogchoice.org so I'm busy right now (especially since the holiday season is upon us) inputting the catalogs I know I don't want into it in the hopes to stop them from even coming to my house. It's just a total waste of everything and it annoys me no end that I've called some of these companies and told them to take me off their list and they have refused. Ugh!

Now if I could just find one for credit card offers...

I wanna hold your hand

That's Nico's newest thing. He doesn't say it yet, but whenever I try to put the monkey on his back, put him in the stroller, or anything else that entails containing him, he starts the screaming. Then comes his holding his hand out to you and putting it in your hand and looking at you with the big eyes and acting totally innocent. It's all a huge joke of course, he never means to stay with you. He is only trying to lure you into a false sense of security in thinking that this time he actually means it and will stay with you instead of waiting for your attention to lapse for a second (like while you are paying for his Jamba Juice) and he's off like a shot and the chase is on. We did okay for a bit today but after his first take-off, he got to learn that mommy is soooo not playing this game and that one strike and you're out buddy.

Today this occured just as we tried to enter the Safeway so right in the cart he went, fully strapped in. No car, no second chances, that was it. Of course we had to have some temper tantrums along the way (what shopping trip would be complete without those?). My favorite for the night where when he took 15min to decide what freaking flavor of Goldfish crackers he wanted and I was ready to lose it because I wanted to get out of there before he was totally done for and the best....when he threw a fit because I put a canteloupe in the cart for my breakfasts!!! Excuse me but wth?! So now I'm not allowed to eat anything that has not been sanctioned and approved by the 2yr old?! I don't think so buddy. I told him he could just suck it up and deal.

**sheesh**

How many times can the plan change?

Well, I want to thank all our guests for Christopher's birthday party for putting up with how crazy everything got today but I hope everyone had a good time.

So to start out our changing plans, the movie Christopher wanted to see, "Journey to the Center of the Earth" stopped showing in local theaters on Thursday. So we switched to our back-up plan of "Star Wars: Clone Wars". Unfortunately that was only showing in one theater and that was about 30mi from the restaurant that Christopher had first chosen for our lunch so we agonized over what else we could do and finally settled on Windy City Pizza as our meeting point. We would regret that. I emailed everyone the change of plans on Friday when we got the news and proceeded with the weekend.

Fast forward to today. We got to Windy City Pizza right on time only to realize that not being football fans we had failed to take that into account when choosing the only restaurant in the area guarenteed to be showing the Bears game. Oops. The adults ended up spending half the time standing around outside trying to escape some of the enthusiasm.

While waiting for the food to show up, Mark went to the theater to get the tickets to save time later. He calls me from the theater to tell me that even tho the movie listings had a 2:55p movie the last showing for the movie is at 12:30p (10min from when he was calling me) and that it was the LAST SHOWING OF ANY MOVIE AT THE THEATER! They were demolishing the theater right after the 12:30p movies! Good grief!

Seriously, could this party thing have possibly been more crazy? We ended up giving Christopher a few suggestions and he went for driving the cars at Malibu Grand Prix. Everyone seemed to have a good time (I sure hope so) and I know that the birthday boy did so I was glad for that.

*whew* Last birthday part of the year and the last one I need to deal with for 4mos. I'm looking forward to the break.

Love this new blog I found!

crockpot365.blogspot.com

Thank you to Robin (I'm pretty sure it was her) who posted it under her links (well, this one and whole bunch of others I snagged too!). I made her Crockpot Applesauce Chicken last night. It was easy and the kids ate it. I'm all for that. I'm currently going through the archives and bookmarking and printing out several other recipes that look good in an effort to make life a tad bit saner on Mondays and Tuesdays with Mark being gone and the kids all having activities that keep us out super late. I hate the idea of having to grab fast food but I also hate the idea of having to come home at 7-7:30p and cook a whole meal. I'm currently grabbing her main courses to check out so that when we get home all I have to do is heat up some rice and figure out a veggie that doesn't take too long to pair with it. So far I've found several that look good and we found a 4qt crockpot at the thrift store which solved my other big problem of small recipes in a big crockpot are not usually a good fit. This one is perfect for making just a dinner rather than a stockpile.

Happy Crockpotting!

52:79 The Cat Who Blew the Whistle by Lilian Jackson Braun

Next book in the series, wasn't so happy with the whole Polly subplot in this one and just felt like there was a lot less personality to the book as a whole. I've got quite a few more of these to read so I sure hope it picks up again in the next one.

and Yikes, I've got 3 months to read 25 more books for my super challenge. Ummm...maybe it will happen. Maybe I need some more graphic novels. LOL

52:78 Masque of the Red Death by Wendy Pini

Ok, yeah, I know this is actually a graphic novel but hey, I figure it makes up for some of the other longer winded things I'm reading that only count for one book. :) Story is based on the short story by Poe and will be a couple of volumes with one being released each year. Grrrrr.. LOL Artwork was beautiful, not like you would expect anything else from her hand tho the main characters reminded me a little too much of the High Ones in how even as men they were willowy and graceful. The story wasn't quite what I was expecting as she added her own *ahem* interesting twists to the characters involvement (at least I dont' remember that part in the original story...it has been pushed up in the queue tho so I can compare properly LOL) but it was very enjoyable. NOT for kids tho. I've hidden my copy on the pretense that it's signed and they need to keep their hands off my signed stuff. In reality, I would have hidden it anyway.

Don't mess with the master

So I commented to Jonathan tonight that there were faster ways to wipe down the table.

He held out the sponge to me and said:
"Yes, but you cannot rush the perfection of the master."

What could I say to that?












Answer....








Nothing, I was too busy dying of laughter! LOL

It's been 14 years...

And we've managed to survive...
We've survived your first year as a teenager with all the moodiness that has entailed...


We've survived your preoccupation with all things manga and video game related...


We've survived your taste in music and in clothes...

Yes, we've survived it all. And in surviving it, we have been witness to an incredible time in your life. We've watched as you continue to learn who you are and who you eventually want to be. We've seen you grow from a sometimes angry, often withdrawn, usually moody and depressed 13 into a much more mellow 14. Yes, we still see flashes and it's not always smooth sailing but we are definitely witness to seeing things move towards a more mature tone.

It may not always be a pleasure to watch all these growing pains while we are in the middle of them and I apologize for not always being as calm and understanding as I should be but I can say that so far, it's been worth it for the privilege of watching the metamorphosis of the baby to toddler to child to teen to eventual adult. It's truly amazing and I thank G-d every day for giving me the chance to watch it and go through it as a mentor with you.

You are truly something special and even tho I know that so often you don't feel like you know what path you should be on or where you are going, I believe in you. I believe that you were put here for a reason and even tho that reason may elude you for now, you will find your purpose and that you are walking the path that was meant for you. With your caring heart and giving nature, you are truly something special and my only wish is for you to learn to know that about yourself and know that all will happen in G-d's time. If you ever doubt, just look back on where you started...



Happy Birthday my handsome young man. You truly have been on an amazing journey and I can only hope that the best is still yet to come.



**Yes, all the earlier pics are from this morning when he opened his presents..Hey, have you ever tried getting pics of a teenager otherwise??? It's near impossible! LOL**

Little Cling-On

I'm really ready for this phase to be over. Really. There can be three boys sitting on the couch watching tv while I'm trying to pay the bills and he'll come in, snatch my hand off the mouse, and then start in with the air raid siren until I come with him. All because he wanted some juice. Juice that any of the three boys rotting their brains in front of the tv could help him with.

But no.

They aren't mommy.

I could be trying to make dinner while doing lessons with Jonathan, answering questions for Christopher, and double checking Matthew's grammar while Mark sits on the couch fiddling with something unimportant and instead of letting daddy change his diaper, he'll shriek for me to do it.

Everything is like this. He is constantly attached to me like a baby monkey. To go to the bathroom involves 10min of trying to detach him from me which usually ends up with me finally managing to pry my clothes out from his hands while simultaneously jumping up and running away quickly. This ends with me getting to the bathroom just a few steps ahead of him and getting to listen to him screaming at me through the door while trying to kick it down.

I need steel reinforced, sound proof doors. Seriously. That is all I want for Christmas/Channukah. Maybe just a small, sound proof bomb shelter...just big enough for one.

Six Absolutely Unspectacular Things About Me

Ok, I really haven't done these before but my friend Mel tagged me on this one so I'm game to play along.

1. I HATE wearing shoes and socks. HATE, HATE, HATE them! Seriously, I take them off the second I get into someone's house that won't mind. I take them off while driving. I can not stand wearing them which is why most of my shoes are slip-ons. Sorry FLYLady!
2. I'm only 5'4" which has the distinction of making me one of the tallest of my female friends but still the 2nd shortest woman in my family. Go figure. LOL
3. I'm not into the girly stuff and never have been. Getting into TinkerBell recently has been the most girly I can remember ever really being and the only reason I can get into her is she's got 'tude going. That whole princess thing? Forget it! I always wanted to have the sword and go rescue the prince. And imo, pink is a hideous color. (sorry to those who like it)
4. Even tho I made jewelry for a while (and still do occasionally), I rarely wear more than I do everyday and that stuff is all stuff that goes on because it has meaning to me and then never comes off til it breaks. Again, not big on the whole girly thing.
5. I'm finding myself becoming more like my father as I get older which is sort of cool but sort of scary too. LOL I'm agreeing with him more and more about the value of a dollar and the whole throw-away consumerist attitude that is so prevalent today. Almost makes me wonder what else he may be right about. Hmmmm...
6. I'm seriously addicted to books and reading. I could easily spend an entire day engrossed in a book to the exclusion of children and home. In fact, I would love to go on a vacation to a hotel room with good room service and a bag full of books and just totally veg. It's pretty high on my list of ideal vacations. LOL

Ok, so according to the rules I need to post the rules and then tag 6 other people so Mom, Crystal, Maria, Meg, Sis, and Susan...You're it!

Meme terms & conditions

1. link the person who tagged you
2. mention the rules on your blog
3. list 6 unspectacular things about you
4. tag 6 other bloggers by linking them

Book meme

Ok, I've never done a meme before but I got tagged for another one and then found this one so thought I would play.

I totally stole this off my mom's blog but I thought it would be fun so:


* Grab the nearest book.
* Open the book to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

So I actually have several sitting on my desk that would easily apply for this but I grabbed the one that was just sitting on top where the boys placed it last night. From "Celebrate! Stories of the Jewish Holidays":

Beyond the Temple gates, they tossed it down.

Something wrong with the world today

I don't know what it is. These song lyrics are racing through my head and no wonder. Matthew woke up this morning freezing. He is currently on the couch fully dressed with sock and sweatshirt under 5 thick comforters and the thermometer says 96.0. I called the advice nurse on this one because that child when sick tends to run 103+ for minor things so this is just wrong for him. She said to expect a really high fever later today. No bowling for us I guess.

And as if that wasn't strange enough, it's 10a and Nico is still asleep. He has slept through all of his brothers trying to wake him up, their wrestling on my bed (where's currently sleeping), and their running screaming through my room. He's starting to stir a little bit now but still....Nico sleeping?! He slept in late yesterday too.

Something is definitely wrong with the world today and I'm scared.

Squeal!!!

Ok, I don't do that whole super girly squeal often but for this I'll make an exception. Here's the pic (stolen off my friend's blog LOL) of Wendy Pini signing my shirt! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllll!!!!!