Privacy

Lately my five-year-old is obsessed with his personal privacy. All of the sudden he needs to have the bathroom door closed when he's using the restroom. Or he needs to change his clothes somewhere private, like in his room with the door shut... and then inside the closet *rolls eyes*. It doesn't faze him that I still help wash his body in the bath tub or shower, or that I shampoo his hair... or that I help him to dry off after the bath...

I think it's interesting that he's developing a new emotion in regards to his privacy. We've never made a big deal about his body parts, or ours, but all on his own he no longer feels completely secure with himself to just "show himself". I'm not sure why but this just fascinates me. Without expecting it my child has aged into this other person... no longer baby-like, but someone much older! I bet soon he'll want to start wearing his pants below his knees, and he'll want to pierce something... God help us all!

Facebook

The other day (okay, a couple of months ago) my sister tells me: "You've got to create a facebook page! It's so fun!" So I'm thinking, oh, maybe it's a beauty website about makeup or facials... Nope, it's another "blog", "myspace", "broadcast your life all over the internet" kind of a thing... It took awhile, but now my children have to be bleeding for me to pry myself away. You can view my page here!

Recently I'm hooked on it. I just uploaded a motherload of pictures today (half of which I credited to my professional photographer). So instead of "leaving comments" you "write on walls" (my two year old would go nuts at the sound of that). You can look up people and send them an email asking to "be friends" with you. How fun?! I've had cousins whom I haven't spoken with in decades (no exaggeration) email me.

This is the last thing I need, another reason to be on the computer. Between this blog, my MySpace page (which I'm horrible at checking or updating), my flickr site (again, not very good at keeping it current... the last pictures I uploaded are from the 80's I think), my online stay-at-home-Mom's playgroup (yes, we meet in person, we just chat online), ebay, and of course my celebrity gossip links... it's a wonder my house stays clean, my kids are fed, and the bills are paid on time.

Puppies!

My Hubby and I breed Labs professionally and this past weekend our yellow female, Chloe, gave birth to 4 puppies! Three black and only one yellow! They are the cutest things! I know what you're thinking, "You must be crazy to voluntarily invite other creatures that eat and poop into your home"... but we love it!

Here's Jake enjoying the yellow pup, whom he named Green Bay Packer. *rolls eyes*
Now here's me and Green Bay Packer... they'll open their eyes around 10 days...

Ben loves all the puppies and thinks it's so great when they're in the warmer! He loves to sit by them and tell them, "Shh... okay?!" when they squeal.
This is how he's "soft" with them...
Having a litter with only 4 pups is extremely odd, usually for Labs the litters are much larger. For some reason God only gave us a handful, and we feel blessed regardless. We might have to raise the prices to $6000 each to make up the difference, but we'll burn that bridge when we get there!

Kindergarten

I had the pleasure of working in my son's Kindergarten class today! Last week he came home from school and announced, "There was a Mom in the class today. When are you going to come?" So today I came!

When I walked in, the class was just returning from playing outside. The teacher asked if I'd like to be in charge of the art project so I said "Yes!" Little did I know that it involved lots of glitter and glue, not to mention 20 students. Well... you can imagine! This week the class was working on the letter "d" so the children were gluing glitter on a sheet with a large "d". The project was simple but oh so messy! Glitter was everywhere! And everyone had glitter on their clothes and hands, in their hair, and on their faces. It was crazy fun!

I enjoyed watching Jake interact with the other students in the class. I got to see where he fit in academically and socially. He seemed to be a pretty popular kid and had tons of friends following him around wanting to play with him. I was happy to see him sitting patiently on his bottom during "rug time", and raising his hand to respond to the class discussion. (we need order like this at home!)

I didn't envy the teacher at all! Twenty kids all pining for her attention and acceptance... I'll remember this around the Christmas season! Thank you to all the teachers out there who constantly pour love into their students!

Frozen Food

A friend of mine and her family are moving to Hawaii this week (why can't we all be that lucky), and she mentioned that she had a bunch of frozen items she would like to dispose of, so I said, "send 'em over here!" I was expecting a couple of brown paper bags with some frozen pizzas, maybe some microwaveable dinners, etc...

I couldn't have been more wrong! She brought a huge tub overflowing with food, and another large bag also filled to the brim! There were frozen french bread pizzas, microwaveable dinners, french toast sticks, push-up pop's and ice cream sandwiches, tubs of ice cream, toaster strudels, frozen fruit, and soda! Not to forget there were tons and tons of Schwan's frozen items like stuffed pasta shells, cheddar cheese biscuits, salmon, shrimp, cookie dough, and more!

I offered to pay her for the food several times and she just waved my hand away and dismissed my offers with a guffaw of laughter. This is the kind of wonderful person she is. Including the Schwan's, there was definately over $150 worth of frozen product! Good thing we have a fridge and freezer in the garage along with our indoor one! I couldn't believe my luck! All I need for the next couple of weeks are fresh fruit and veggies, and maybe some fresh meat, and we're set!

Angels

Something was drastically altered with my children today! Sometime this afternoon (probably while I was sorting that never-ending pile of laundry) something mysterious happened... The usual sounds of the whining, bickering, mischievous little devils I call my "sons" had disappeared, and in its place were pleasant, polite, obedient noises coming from content boys with clean clothes and happy faces. I thought, "Very funny Lord, now what did you do with my children?"

I was hearing more "please" and "thank you" manners than I have ever heard come out of their little mouths before. And the "please" wasn't followed by ..."remove your hand from my throat". The boys were generally enjoying each others company! I know, it sounds strange, but trust me I saw it!

Jake was patiently teaching Ben how to play XBox (just what we need, another video game fanatic in the family), but it didn't stop there! Jake was also encouraging him on, and congratulating and cheering for Ben! I was floored. I lifted up Ben's shirt (half expecting to find some sort of alien goo oozing underneath) but all I found was a pink pudgy tummy with chocolate pudding remnants on it.

The boys ate all their dinner without complaining (courtesy of McDonald's, but still) ...and the good behavior continued through bath time. There was NO water spilled over the edge of the tub, no soap in a helpless victim's eye, and my shower curtain remained dry and in tact on the rod. Pajamas were put on without protest, books were read quietly, and both boys trooped off to bed on time without complaint.

I honestly could not believe my day. I was actually able to sit through an entire episode of Days Of Our Lives--uninterrupted! Did you know Sami has twins now? Phillip has gone over to the dark side, and when did Brady become a drug addict? All important info that I had been missing out on!

Not that I'm complaining--but would it be too much to ask for the kids to behave like this when I'm sick with the flu, or on a day when my PMS is off the hook, or I have a killer headache?

Church

Today was one of those days in Church where I desperately wanted to be "in the moment" but couldn't help myself... there were distractions everywhere! There was a Jr. High aged boy sitting to my left, doodling on the weekly pamphlet (we've all done that), and occasionally he'd whisper to his Mom, or he'd cross, and then un-cross his legs... and cross, and un-cross them again.

To my right was a woman, maybe late 40's, and to her right was (probably) her son, who was maybe in his twenties. The two of them were talking and whispering throughout the ENTIRE service! And not quietly! Most of their conversations were about the Bible passages we were discussing (in the book of Titus), but seriously! I felt like telling them to "zip it, lock it, and put it in your pocket"!

And in the middle of service I really needed to use the restroom, but sat stewing in my seat for several minutes debating a good time to quietly slip out. I hate leaving in the middle of Church! I feel like every person is staring at me as I leave, and it always sounds like the doors are slamming behind you, further announcing your departure. "Don't mind Jen, she couldn't bother to use the facilities before leaving the house!" I had this vision that if I stood up to exit the Pastor would stop his service and make an announcement: "We'll wait until you come back." Then, to make matters worse, you have to re-enter the Church auditorium where a multitude of people turn to watch you return to your seat. It's just torture! But when nature calls, it doesn't wait for a polite moment, it's usually during a meeting, or a movie, or something like that.

God knows my heart, and he knows my efforts... right??

kids camera

When I turned on the camera today, these are some photos that I found (the boys are hiding under the art easel outside):
I think this one is hilarious because it shows that they started to get silly:
...and here's one of Charlie:
...this is actually a Hot Wheels-sized car that was zoomed in on:
...and Charlie's feet:
I had no idea they had grabbed my camera and snapped away to their hearts content! (Sheesh, what kind of parent am I that I don't have a clue to my children's whereabouts and activities!)

Strawberry Explosion!

For a treat today I took my kids to the dollar store and let them choose a candy of their choice. Jake chose a Twix bar, Ben chose licorice, and I chose a two-and-a-half liter (for only 99 cents!!!) of Shasta strawberry soda. It's the yummiest soda and I rarely buy it for myself.

When I got home I stuck the bottle in the fridge for a few minutes, folded some laundry, and then pulled from the cupboard a tall blue cup to enjoy a refreshing drink. I casually untwisted the top and that's when it happened: strawberry soda EXPLODED everywhere! All over me, all over the counters, across every surface... except not a single drop landed inside my blue cup.

This is about 1/3 of one of the counters that was doused:
See how it continues down the counter...
All over the floors, covering the entire bottom half of my fridge, and all of the cabinets (which is hard to tell in the picture):
This is our doggie/kid gate, which was about four feet away, and it had several areas on it (like in the picture) where puddles collected on the top, and drips flowed all the way down through the poles: Somehow between my screaming and the pink shower I was getting, I managed to literally throw the soda bottle into the sink (spewing it's contents in the process):
I had already done a bunch of house work this morning and was planning on folding the last load of laundry in the dryer, and then kicking up my feet to relax. Instead I spent the next half and hour cursing under my breath, and kicking myself in the rear for even buying soda when I'm supposed to be "eating healthier" ...while I cleaned up this disaster. I know what you're thinking, "Why stop to take pictures! Grab a sponge! Grab a towel!" But I couldn't resist. I didn't even know where to start. There was pink dripping from my kitchen sink, sliding down numerous walls, dripping from the counter tops, drying in pink puddles on the floor... where does one begin?! You begin with a camera so all your bloggers will appreciate it later!

Hubby's an Equal Half

My Hubby is a tall, fair skinned, blue-eyed, "balding" (or rather bald with a little peach fuzz) man, and for the past few years he has sported a slightly bulgeoning belly. I've never minded this before because it's more of him to love... it also helps me with my self esteem knowing he's not perfect either. He's almost 6'3 so when I hug him it's comfortable for my face to be buried in a pudgy pillow then up against rock-hard abs. (Yeah, right... or so I've convinced myself.)

I think I can speak for most women who openly admire the looks of such men as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Wentworth Miller, etc... but I would not want to be married to one of these guys. Nice to gaze at over coffee in the morning, sure! But what would they have to look at in return? My frizz-ball of a hairdo, my sleep-swollen eyes, and my morning breath (which has been known to defrost a chicken in an under a minute). I wouldn't be able to keep up with these men! It's too much pressure for a "normal" chick like myself. I need to be able to burp under my breath, cough up my morning phlem, hang my bras around the bathroom to dry, and not give a hoot if my toenail polish is half chipped off.

I've always felt confident knowing that I have the love and devotion of a man who is more my type. Chicken legs and skinny feet... Sun tanned arms with a chest so white that when his t-shirt is off you can't tell if his undershirt is still on. Calloused fingers and muscular shoulders... stubbled face. The every-man! Not the type that requires beauty-pageant elegance on a regular basis! Good grief, to think about the daily rituals and headaches that Jennifer Lopez or Katie Holmes must go through! Thank goodness I've been spared from that life! Whew!