Hello!

I'll be trying to get caught up a little here this week. I've been stuck in a hurricane of events as of late and am barely keeping afloat. We're trying to stay on top of the growing weeds and plants. Gardens will be in soon and sprinklers will be going. It's been warm! Supposed to be 90 degrees again today! That's hot for April. Hope all is going well with you!

Death Match 2009 aftermath

So, Evan and I have been having a little disagreement about his hairstyle as of late. This picture shows why. It is frequently ALL OVER THE PLACE. Mommy let the kids stay up until 9:45 last night playing Plastic Egg Death Match and consequently, the morning brought on major bed head. I think I'm going to let him go about his day looking like this. The problem with this plan is he doesn't care! And yes, he is eating a cookie at 6:45 in the morning. Shame, Shame.

Oh, look. Daddy brought him back a concert t-shirt last year that I decided was a jammie shirt; not to be worn to school. Gee, I don't know why. And guess how much said KID shirt cost? Yup, $28. I told him from now on, (Which is only about once every 2 or so years when he and his buddy decide to go out) he is to make all spontaneous purchases BEFORE consuming alcohol.

Anyway, back to the hair. He walks around with bed head all the time and it hangs down around his ears. Lately I've been trying to ignore it, since he wants it like his friend at school. He did say he'd let me trim it around his ears but I have to keep the top long. He knows I'm one step away from buzzing it so he doesn't trust me. He did agree to let Marcy TRIM it so we're on our way down to her house today! Well, actually we're going down to make peanut butter chocolate eggs like we used to when we were kids at her mom's house. I'm throwing in the hair thing since he agreed to it! Sheesh! I just figured walking around with your hair all over the place would be embarrassing. He could care less. He has always been the one to call my bluff. "Go ahead and throw all of my toys away mommy. I don't really need any of them anyway." Grrrrr. Throw a little gel in it and I could be looking at my kid in about 10 years...concert shirt, dazed sleepy look about him, and messy hair. Anxiety!!!

Death Match 09 and the scam

Plastic Egg Death Match 2009. Easter Break has rendered me usless as a parent by 8pm at night. Then the Death Match begins. Even Sophie was taking cover. I knew I'd gone mad since the only thing I could think to say was, "You better not hit me!" Another was, "Don't come crying to me when you get hit in the face!"

Well, we're well on our way to the whole gig being exposed. We've gone from the Easter Bunny not being legit to the Shamrock/Leprechaun concept going up in smoke. Funny how the Tooth Fairy and Santa are still holding on. I could still hear my Mom's words echo in my head as I spoke the same words to my children. "Part of the responsibility of knowing these things aren't real is to make sure you keep playing along for those that still do believe." I had this good, sweet, parenting moment where I was able to lovingly relate my wishes to them...

Then the real conversation hit. I caught them almost blowing it with the neighbor kid and had to elevate my thoughts to a threat. "You guys still want Easter Baskets and the whole egg thing, right? If you ruin it for some other kid the Easter Bunny(pointing to myself) isn't going to play along and you'll get jack squat!" And then I stormed away. Since then we've had conversations like, "Mom? Is the Easter Bunny still going to hide eggs outside?" "Is the Easter Bunny still going to hide our baskets?" "I hope the Easter Bunny still gives us candy." Just smile and wave boys, smile and wave. Am I strange for enjoying the power I've been given as a Mom? Maybe a little sick, yes...I think my horns are showing.

Done!

Here it is folks! A sewing project that I purchased fabric for, made up a pattern for, and finished all in the same weekend!!! Look at my new babies! Hoaky, yes, kind of old fashioned, yes. Finished?? YES!

I made them double-sided so they wouldn't just be for Easter time. The other side will last through spring. I'm sure Chris loves how girly they make the table look. Whatever. I never found the bbq sauce/beer stained fabric at Jo Anns so he'll have to deal.

Here's to a finished project! Even I'll drink to that! Now to get Amanda's costume done for her field trip...I stopped at the sleeves. I'm tired of gathering. I still have to make the pinafore and the bonnet! The pressure is on!

Hot Stuff!!!

Hello buddy. Let me stick my finger in your eye...Buddy has settled in nicely and doesn't freak out when we take him out anymore. Speaking of animals...I covered for a lady in the office for a couple of days while she was on vacation and guess what? I got to hold a baby Wallaby! It was so cute and held on like a little baby! Did you know that you can raise them like pets here in the United States? This lady is local and raises them because she loves them and actually has quite a few. We were all in shock! I was in love, but Chris said no right away. Sheesh! I didn't say I wanted one or anything...

Amanda started softball last month. She didn't get on a team with anyone she knows, which wasn't our doing. It had to do with the Little League losing a bunch of applications and once they found them they had to make up another team with the leftovers. I've been quite proud of her for just getting in there and making the best of it. She has great coaches and has been learning a lot!

They are called "Hot Stuff". This was of course NOT Amanda's choice since she doesn't like to draw attention to herself. She said it sounded kind of weird. It's actually kind of grown on us though and now she thinks it's cute. The coach had visors made up with the name before he knew the league was going to provide them this year so now us moms have a team visor to wear at the games. I have to remember it says Hot Stuff on it when I run to the store or 7-11 on game day. I get some strange looks or smiles and then remember I have a red visor on with HOT STUFF written across the top. What we do for our kids...

The funniest part about the Hot Stuff thing was when the coach yelled out where the strike zone was while one of the girls was up to bat. His reminder to her was the laugh for the few parents with their minds in the gutter. He said, "Remember! The strike zone is from your knees to Hot Stuff!" (which is written across the chest--he even used a hand gesture across his chest.) I kept quiet but one of the Dads thought that was hysterical. Nice.

Anyhoo, more to come...lots of random thoughts and hopefully more pictures now that I have a new little camera. Our old one is slowly dying and no longer reliable.

random updates

Spring has really sprung around here including the crazy schedules that go with it. I'll have more updates to come this week and a few pictures too. I'll get to that when I have more time. For now I'm posting my hamburger and hot dog buns that I made. I was quite proud of them for my first attempt. They had good texture and held up to the vaious condiments quite well.



Can you guess what this is? It has forced us to not cut down this dead birch tree in our back yard.

More updates to come this week. Life has just been too full to do blogging lately. I hope all is going well with you!