A new tradition

The kids are getting older and are starting to actually take an interest in football... and not just Rams football. All football. Yay!

Backstory.... Once, just after TJ and I met, he called me on a Monday evening during football season and asked what I had going on that night. I told him I was on my way to a campus bar (Gasp!) to watch Monday Night Football. He claims that was when he knew I was the one. :)

ANYWAY, so now that the kids are interested, we've started a fun family game where we are picking the winners from each game throughout the week. Person with the most correct at the end of the season wins a week off of chores (I hope I win!) This is our first week, and it's kind of scary. We have almost all picked the same winners, with a few exceptions. Little TJ is the only one with 4 picks that are different from the rest of us. And everyone made their picks without seeing anyone else's. Secretly, I hope he wins those match-ups... I'll keep everyone updated as the weeks go by!

Go Rams!

Bridget

Tonights conversation:

Bridget: Mom, let's both be fast food restaurants, mk?

Me: What?

Bridget: I'll be Burger King and you be McDonald's.

Me: (Confused look on my face)

Bridget: Yeah, I'll be having it my way and you'll be loving it.

Me: *No response/eye roll*

Bridget: Get it?

Me: *No response/bigger eye roll*

Bridget: Seriously, get it?

Getting what you want

This morning, Broghan asked for fruit snacks.

I said No, not now

Broghan digs into her arsenal of "cute things I can do to get what I want" and in rapid succession, this is what I hear/see

Broghan signs and says Please, in a sweet voice (i.e. not whining)

Broghan makes the sign of the cross and begins saying her prayer before meals (Bless us Oh Lord...)

Broghan gives me a big hug

Broghan gives me a kiss on each cheek

Now tell me,

How in the world am I supposed to still say no to all of that?

This afternoon

Me: Bridget, do you have money for the mixer tonight?

Bridget: Yes.

Broghan: I have money.

Me: Broghan, you have money?

Broghan: Yeah!

Me: Broghan, how much money do you have?

Broghan: Ummmmmm three dollars.

Me: Three dollars? Wow, where'd you get that?

Broghan: Ummmmmm your purse!

Me: You got three dollars from mommy's purse?

Broghan: Yeah.

Me: What'cha gonna do with three dollars?

Broghan: Ummmmmmm buy candy!

A recent conversation...

Me: Our kids always play in the front yard. Since we are nestled in a subdivision, we get very little traffic.

Friend: Oh, we live on a cul-de-sac, but we NEVER let our kids play out front. (Kids aged 7,6,4) We are waaayyyyy too overly protective.

(Fast forward 15 minutes into the conversation)

Friend: When we go camping in the mountains, we have the kids wear whistles so they can wander around and yet still be able to alert us if they encounter a mountain lion or bear.

Still makes me chuckle when I think about it!

Excuses, excuses

Is having 6 kids a good enough excuse for not blogging more often? I always said I'd never use the excuse of having "so many kids" to keep me from doing anything, so I guess I've answered my own question. Perhaps I'll start jotting ideas down so that I don't forget them by the time I sit in front of the computer! No excuses!!

LOVE IT!!!!

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Well, I'm not off to a great start

I've said I was going to blog once a week... I haven't blogged since I said that WEEKS ago. Perhaps I need to spend some time thinking about what to say? I think my intention may be to chronicle my weight loss journey which is slow but progressing... we'll see.

Blogging

So, once again, I've dictated that the older kids have to submit one blog per week throughout the summer. Right now, they're only obligated to write 5 sentences, but it's enough to get their minds flowing... by the end of summer, we'll be up to two paragraphs for sure. I should note that they hate this homework, but the things they come up with always make me laugh!

To be fair, I'm going to do my best to blog once a week as well. Reminding them should be good enough to remind myself! We'll see how this goes! :)

T - 56 days (or less)

I think the official countdown has begun. Up until the last few days, I've been merrily going along with pregnancy, knowing full well that as tiring as things are now, it's still easier than when the little man makes his arrival. But now, the aching back has firmly set in. The tight muscles in my legs, the frequent visits to the bathroom, shortness of breath, and let's not forget, the constant movement that often has me wince in pain. I'm just about ready to be done. I know it's too early, and I don't mean to wish this time away, but I'm sure getting anxious to hold him in my arms. Just a few more weeks!

Too much winter for this pregnant lady!

I think I'm definitely suffering from a severe case of cabin fever. It wasn't so bad when TJ was home, and it's not like I'm completely housebound, with running the older kids in every direction, but the days are getting LONG. Broghan is just as tired of being cooped up as I am. She's constantly getting into everything she's not supposed to, and completely ignores her toys. So this morning, I threw her in the car (ok not literally), tossed the stroller in the back (yes literally) and we headed out to the mall. I didn't need anything, other than to get out of the house for a while. She kicked back in her stroller, sipping her juice, and happily enjoyed the change of scenery.

We wandered in and out of various stores, including the maternity store. I don't really need any maternity clothes at this point, but I may need a few spring tops in another month or so, so we went in.

The woman behind the counter quickly got off the phone and came to my side, and asked if I needed any help. I politely replied, "no thank you" and informed her that I was just looking. She snapped back, "well, WHAT exactly are you looking for?" Now, my knee-jerk, pregnancy hormone induced reaction was to respond with something like "50 pounds of dog food, what do you think? I'm in a friggin' maternity clothing store for crying out loud!" But I didn't. Unfortunatley. I've always wanted to do something like that, just to see the look on the other person's face.

No, instead I replied very exasperated that I was just checking out some of the spring tops, that I wouldn't likely need much because I have some from my last pregnancy, and I don't have all that much time left in this pregnancy. (Not only that, but with my luck, I'd spend hundreds of dollars on spring clothes, only to have winter extend itself firmly into April, thereby erasing all need for anything new.)

The smarty pants woman then said, "Great! Now that you know what you want, you should look at these tops over here!" and directed me to the most expensive (and ugly I might add) tops in the store.

Without even venturing over to where she was pointing, I told her that I stayed home with my children, so I really didn't have a need for "dressy" clothes, and that I was more of the jeans and t-shirt type. Clearly giving up on me, she replied "oh" then returned back behind the counter and got back on the phone with her friend, leaving me to my browsing!

Loving the bubble

When Bridget came home last night from a 7th / 8th grade mixer, we asked her if she had a good time (she did) and how it was (cool).

Anything exciting? Well, exciting no, but disgusting, yes. What was disgusting? (Girl from her class) and her boyfriend were making out, and he was like touching her boobs, and they weren't just kissing, they were like, well, let's just say when they started, he had a piece of gum in his mouth and when the chaperone made them stop, the gum was in her mouth. Mom, it was SO GROSS. Everyone was saying how disgusting it was to see all of that. It was just, blech...

TJ and I love that we're still in that bubble!

Caught in the Act

After a full night's sleep for the first time in what seems like ages, Broghan woke a few minutes before 6 this morning. That wasn't so spectacular, but given the fact that she crashed at 7:30 last night, I was pleased. She was whining, not really crying, but definitely awake, so I ventured out of bed to go and get her. When I opened her door, I caught her attempting to climb out of her bed AGAIN. Her legs were flipped over the railing, dangling over the side, her tiny hands clinging to the side rail for dear life. Busted!

Houdini

Broghan was up from 3:30 - 5:00 this morning, screaming. TJ and I took turns going up there, rocking her back to sleep, but as soon as we laid her back in her bed, she was up again... so evenutally we just let her cry. By 5:00 we were exhausted, she was still crying, and I heard someone turn a door handle. I assumed she had finally woken one of the other kids, and they were taking it upon themselves to go tend to her, so I hurried upstairs to my motherly duties. When I got to the top of the stairs, Broghan's door was still closed, but the doorknob was jiggling from the inside. Guess who made her way out of her bed? If ever I wished for a video baby monitor, this would be the reason! There was no loud thud, no extra loud screaming, no reason to believe that she fell. Yet there she was, arms outstretched sobbing for her mama. So I picked her up, carried her down to our room, where she quickly fell back asleep in my arms. Looks like we need to start shopping for a toddler bed!

Dear Friend

Dear Friend~

I want to thank you for stopping by today with your son, during my daughter's nap time. I'm so glad you were able to come pick up the thing you were borrowing from me, to save me a trip! Did you notice that when I opened the door, I welcomed you with a whispered "hello"? You did? Great! So you knew my daughter was sleeping. And remember how we when we spoke on the phone, I told you how she'd been sick with a cold for almost a week? Yes! The same cold your son had, so you remembered how miserable they can be and how important their rest is. I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you letting your son run around my house screaming and chasing the dog for the few brief minutes you were here. My daughter is wide awake now, miserable and unable to fall back asleep, despite my rocking efforts.

Your Friend,
ME

Funny things

Last Sunday, while entering church, there was a well known woman standing in the vesibule. She's a South County legend of sorts, although she's been seen literally ALL over St. Louis. She has the appearance of being homeless, although local authorities have many times returned her to the home of her mother. It was bitterly cold out. I had $28 in my coat pocket. I reached in and pulled out $8 and handed it to her, wishing her a Happy New Year. Thinking she could get a decent meal nearby. Now, I know I've just lost all virtue by telling of my gift to her, but her response was priceless... "Can't you spare a twenty?"