Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Crazy for You

I heard this song from Madonna on the radio yesterday. And, I guess it's the time of year maybe, but it brought back memories of my senior prom.

It's hard to describe my senior prom, although the words "terribly unfortunate" immediately come to mind. My date was, well, not my first choice. I went to an all-girls school, although I knew lots of guys (not in the Biblical sense, mind you). The first guy I asked said he'd like to go, but he needed to ask his girlfriend first. Never mind. The second guy said he'd like to go, but he didn't have enough money to rent a tux. Loser! So, that pretty much left the guy I took. Sadly, I can't even remember his name. It HAS been 18 years. I think it was Joe something and I think we called him Skippy. I can't remember if this was an actual nickname he was aware of, or something I just called him. I think it may very well have been his first date ever. In addition to the bad date, instead of renting a limo, my dad got one from Ford Motor Co. (where he used to be employed) and DROVE IT HIMSELF!! In addition to that, there was enough room in the limo for 6 people, not the 8 that we had in there (plus everyone's big dress hoops...this was 1988, afterall) Sadly, I was not one of the fortunate one's at the prom who were able to secure some alcohol. Perhaps that would have made the evening more enjoyable. At any rate, it was all worth a good laugh with my girlfriends for many months/years afterward. And, I think I've gotten over the embarassment of the my parents driving me.

Thanks for walking with me down memory lane!

Friday, April 21, 2006

Wiping Crayon off Walls

We had a guy come today to paint up the stairs and in the hallways upstairs. This is the one area of the house that has not been touched in the nearly 6 years that we have lived here. When we moved in, Ryan was a newborn and the triplets were barely 3. One of their favorite things to do was color on the walls (that, and cut each other's hair!) So, this morning, I got out my Magic Eraser and started to erase the crayon marks. I think my favorite was when Jaden drew a picture on the wall along with his name. When I got angry about it, he kept insisting he didn't do it. When I asked him why his name was on it then, he just got a little mischievous grin and started laughing...he knew he was caught.

You know I've never really been one to live in the moment. When I was in 3rd grade, I was nervous about getting lost in Junior High. When I started 7th grade, I was worried about having to pass swim class in order to graduate from high school. You get the drift. That's why in the middle of cleaning the crayon, it dawned on me that I have FOUR months left until ALL of my kids are in school ALL day long. In fact, school starts August 28, 2006. This will be nearly 9 years to the day that I became a mom. Nine years seems like a long time to be knee deep in diapers and crayon marks. But, I'm feeling like it's not enough!! Oh, how I used to hate when people would tell me, "It goes by soooo fast!" But, it does. And, in my like-to-fret-about-things-before-they-happen-kind-of-way, I am sad.

I know I have posted in the past about how glad I am to be out of the baby stage and how I'm OK with the fact that those days of preschoolers are dwindling. I know! I know! BUt, there's something about seeing the art work of a three year old and then seeing the emerging cursive of almost nine year olds that makes me miss having wee ones. But, fortunately, I took good pictures and I have good memories. Not even a Magic Eraser can take those away!

Monday, April 17, 2006

I have a new hat to wear!

I'm an AUNT !!

Yes, my first nephew was born this morning to Rob's sister Michelle and her husband. I hear he's adorable. I can't wait to meet him :)

Easter Weekend

Well, it was just a lovely time to be sure. Lovely church service, lovely egg hunt, lovely dinner of cereal or leftovers...your choice! Lovely 3-on-3 basketball game with the kids. Allow me to expound:

Church was wonderful. Jam Packed to be sure. But, a nice message. In Luke 24:11, it says, "but they did not beliee the women because their words seemed to them like nonsense." The women were telling them that Jesus wasn't in the tomb, but that he was alive. SO, if having faith in a risen Lord sounds like nonsense to you...don't worry, it sounded like nonsense to the first diciples at first also.

Egg hunt. This is an annual tradition where we hide eggs filled with jelly beans all over the place. I think there is still one or two that we haven't found. THe one big downside tot his is that I do believe I ate approximately 1,276,999,475 jelly beans yeaterday.

Dinner. Well, what can I say? We don't live by any family and the kids would really just turn their noses up at a big ham/potatos/vegetables dinner anyway. So, instead of making Easter dinner like every other dinner we usually haave, I just take a break and give the kids the traditional cereal dinner. Although I can't really callit traditional because sometimes we go to McDonalds.

Basketball game. This was ROb's idea and it actually turned out to be fun. Team "Um" was me, Jonathan and Ryan. Team "Red Balls" (from Lingo) was Rob, Trisha, Jaden. Team "Red Balls" won by one basket, with Trisha scoring the winning basket. Several injury time outs were taken, not for physical injuries, but for the emotional injuries inflicted from the frustration of not being able to score a basket. But, that was just Rob!!! HA_HA only kidding!!

I ended the day, for some bizarre reason, looking at my Jr. High yearbook. Yup, good ole' Clifford H. Smart Jr. High School. Was Jr. High a good experience for anybody really?? I think not.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Jonathan has a stalker


The original title of my post was going to be something about Jonathan having a play date with a girl today. This should, of course, not be a little weird to me, but I have to admit that it is. From what I understand, Jonathan is like the Casanova of the classroom. Although he is adorable, I think it's because unlike most of the other boys, Jonathan actually pays attention to the girls. It is perfectly natural that jonathan would be very comfortable around girls given the fact that he has a sister his exact same age. I think I'm still bothered by that stupid Bringing Up Boys Book! It assumes that since he likes to play with girls this means he will grow up gay. I'm not going to worry about that. I was a bit concerned given the fact that we don't really know this girl or her family.

Anyway, now to the stalker part. I counted. This girl called 25 times yesterday. twice she got to talk to Joanthan. After my not answering her call on her home phone, she proceeded to call on her mom's cell phone. Finally, I answered and said that Jonathan would not be able to come to the phone but that we were excited to have her over. I asked her if she wanted me to give Jonathan a message...she says, "No, what I have to say to him I can tell him myself at school tomorrow." Excuse me?!@?! Maybe I should just circulate this picture of Jonathan...that should cure this female interest thing!


*Bringing up Boys is a book by Dr. Dobson that began my journey into deciding not to listen to him!

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Why I send my kids to Public School

It is always this time of year, as the school year draws to a close, that we examine the school year and begin thinking about whether or not we are going to make a change. For us, Public School is NOT a default decision. Meaning: we could afford Christian school if we felt so led, and I wouldn't mind terribly homeschooling if we felt so led.

Our decision to send them to the neighborhood school was actually a proactive one. I like that my kids are learning from someone other than me. Afterall, I know that I am not the end-all, be-all of knowledge and talent. I know that I have benefitted in my life from learning from many different people with many different personalities and strengths. I like that we get to meet and interact with different people. Not just people who all look like we do and believe exactly as we do. I like that my children have had the opportunity to learn at such a young age that just because someone says something is true, doesn't meant that it is true!

I remember when I first sent the triplets to Kindergarten, I told Rob that the first time someone told them they needed to be gay or vote for Hillary Clinton, I was pulling them out. To my surprise, this has never happened. I have not seen the liberal, horribly anti-Christain agenda that so many people talk about. HAve things been taught that do not line up with scripture? Once or twice. But that gave us a great opportunity as a family to talk about the truth. Is the public school perfect? Of course not. But, neither is Christian school and neither is homeschooling. There are things I don't like...like mean teachers (if anyone is going to yell at my kid it should be me) and the constant rush, rush, rushing in the morning. But, overall, at least so far, the first few years have been good. Doesn't mean I won't change my mind in the future. But, for now, public schooling is for us!

Friday, April 07, 2006

This is hilarious!

Whatever...

I hate thinking of titles...

Anyway, I can't get a friend off my mind. This poor lady has just had one family member after another diagnosed with medical problems. And, now, today it's her husband...a 40 year-old guy with a strange mass and a biopsy. I have told God that I will not be impressed if it's cancer. I really won't be. It boggles my mind that some people seem to get slammed with problems while others live scott-free. This life is not fair. That's a lesson some smart people (my parents) tried to teach me when I was younger. I think I am only now starting to "get it". It reminds me of a quote I heard recently that this life here on earth is as close as believers will ever get to hell. Close enough for me, thanks. Sadly, and I do hate to mention this, it is also as close as non-believers will get to Heaven. I pray that my friend's husband will be fine.

On a much lighter note, a few people have wondered why I didn't mention on my blog the fact that I rammed into a friend's lightpost yesterday and knocked it right off the ground. Pretty clean cut, I might add. OF course, I am mortified and told her to please send me the bill, but the reason it didn't really hit my radar as being something to blog about is because of my driving record. I mean you really can't have high hopes for someone who rams their car into a gas pump for her first official act of driving with a license. (A brand new car too, might I add).

BTW, as I am typing this, I hear the doorbell. I go and answer the door and it is Ryan...with a daffodil for me. "Isn't it pretty?" he says. "Smell it." he says. "I gave it to you because you don't feel well." "Do you have a cup for it? It's real you know". What a sweetie pie, so thoughtful. Let's just not mention to the neighbors that one of their daffodils is missing!

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Exercise Class...

Sometimes kids have strange ways of telling you that they love you. Take this for example: I was coming out of exercise class the other day with Ryan. The babysitter wasn't there, so Ryan had to sort of sit on the sidelines and watch the class. We got into the car and Ryan exclaimed in a very excited and proud voice, "Mom!! You were the biggest mom in the whole class!!". He was so proud of me!! Don't worry Ryan, I noticed