We live!

Oh, don't mind me. I know I haven't posted in a while. I've decided to be adventurous and learn new things. I've decided to be new and different. I've gone sky diving! I've learned to play the tuba! I've gotten a job! OK, no. I've been sitting on my tushy playing World of Warcraft, otherwise known as WOW. Darn that game anyway. The hubby got tired of me harping on him for always playing it, so he introduced me to it. As a result, our house is a mess and my bubbly tushy has two flat spots on it. But hey, I'm almost to level 64. The goal is to get to 80, which is currently the highest you can go. I'm rather rotten at the game, but I do enjoy it. Recently my character discovered the Auction House. THE AUCTION HOUSE, TA DA! ::deep, excited announcer voice:: This is E-Bay for WOW'ers that uses WOW gold coins instead of real money. And you character gets the items won, not you. I can seriously never sign up on E-Bay. I can see the addiction now. I am always at the AH (auction house). I can turn items into gold so fast it's not funny. Now I need higher ticket items. So far I farm the little things, and the most I've made in one auction has been something like 42 gold. Mostly, my auctions are 2 to 4 gold. I need to level up my level 17 character so she can sell some good herbs. See, each character can have two professions. That makes it more fun for me. I love doing all the little extras in the game.

Anyway, enough about my life. Ah-hem, I mean enough about my addiction, er, favorite past time. When I'm not WOW-ing, I'm off with the kids doing things. You know, fun things like figuring out how to hold a squiggly four-year-old with an achy tummy in one hand while trying to catch his pee in mid-stream in a collection cup with the other hand. Or getting chicken out to put in the refrigerator for dinner the next day only to wake up in the morning to find the chicken warm on the counter. A shiny object must have gotten my attention between transferring the chicken from the freezer to the fridge. Because you know how far away the freezer and fridge are from each other. ::cough cough:: Now would *not be a good time to point out that they are attached to each other, side by side. Oh, and you know those ducks? They come to our porch for their lunch most days. The bonuses are abundant. The kids love it, I can use the old bread for something useful, and the ducks poop on the attached neighbor's porch - not ours.

I haven't made any posts in so long, there has been so much. My youngest is now four. Can you believe that??? The only thing that makes me feel better about having kids who are creeping up in age is knowing that my brother and his wife are due with their second child at the end of this year. And my brother will be 40 when he or she makes his/her arrival! Holy Moly. It's hard enough at 26. (shh, ok, I'm about to celebrate my 11th anniversary of 26, but who is counting?)

My oldest has had a rocky school year, but in the end he came out with straight A's and has also been accepted into the Gifted Program next year! I for one am really excited about this because that means he might actually get an age appropriate education out of this school system and be challenged a little bit. He's pretty excited, too. He came home yesterday saying something about his Music teacher wanting to put him in a "stringed instrument" program to learn how to play one. My son is going to spend some time with his grandparent's this summer. Wouldn't it be grand if I could drop him off at Grandma's and tell her "Here he is, and here's his Cello! He needs to practice three times a day! Au'voir!" The Hubby says that would be cruel. I think I would be amused. Seriously, though, it would be cool if he could learn to play an instrument. He and I have the same temperaments, and I know playing the piano helped me greatly when I was younger. We are very emotional people and music is a great way to let the emotion flow safely. I really hope he does get to learn to play. There is a school I wanted to get him next year, but not sure if I can. They teach the Violin as part of their curriculum. Pretty cool, huh? We'll see how this works out. He mentioned that his teacher mentioned it, but in our experience, the teachers don't have great follow through here.

My other kids are all doing pretty well. My daughter is such a girly girl. She's into hair and nails and cloths and stuff. We had a girl's day out shopping last weekend and she had so much fun. I had a flash into the very fast in coming teen years ahead of her. My middle son is doing OK, too. They are all doing great in school. My youngest is plugging along. He wants to go back to school, and I am working toward that goal for next year. I might really get a job, then. We shall see how things pan out. For now, he's torturing, um, playing with, the baby frogs that have over-run our back yard. It's crazy. Remember the year of the caterpillars a few years back? This is the year of the frogs. Remember that retention pond with the fountain across my house? That thing is a wild life spawning spot. Ducks, geese, turtles, frogs...I wonder if I can fish in it? The kids love it.

So, for anyone reading this whom I haven't talked to in a long while, I really miss you. My old July 2001 one friend! It was so great to see you commenting! I didn't know where your new blog went and I had been wondering about you! And Anna...hope ya'll had fun on your vacations. Good to see you here, too. It's good to see everyone! I love comments. Comment more. Or I'll unleash my kids on you.

:P

I guess I'd have to write more often, huh? You can always comment on my invisible entries for a challenge. I'll try to be better about updating. It's just that my computer time is dedicated to WOW until I get my character to level 80. Priorities and all, you know.

A picture story of some of where we've been

We've been to silly.

We have sheered some kids.

And they were a bit surprised by it.

We've been to a zoo other than the one we live in.

We have been to the beach. Depsite their droopy looks, they had a blast. They wanted to stay longer.

And then we've been back to silly. Yes, those are underwear on our heads. No, the chair is not really up my tushy. Remember, "objects in pictures are not as close as they appear."

This is what happens when you have three boys and one girl. The girl uses the brothers as one of those bodyless Barbie heads.

We have been having a lot of fun.

That Quacks Me Up

I opened my front door earlier this week and there was a duck on my porch asking me for some bread. So I said OK, I'll be right back. I shut the door, went and got some old buns and told my oldest (who was home because the school wouldn't let him in with a stuffy nose because of the Swine Flu going around; he's fine) and my youngest that they could feed the duck. We opened the door back open and there was not one duck, but four ducks standing out there. There were two females, one male, and a duckling. The boys had so much fun feeding them. They respected the ducks distance and the ducks were OK with the kids as long as they were throwing little tiny pieces of bread. One of the female ducks surprise me by biting the duckling to keep it from eating. The duckling hovered around the other female...it was clear who the Mama was.

Kite Fesitval

So we went to the Mid-Atlantic Kite Festival last weekend. It wasn't a big to do at all. I know the Hubby was a little (OK, a lot) disappointed. The kids had fun none the less. Who wouldn't have fun when there is a "we have never played here before" park to explore?

So...

So I've had plenty of funny tidbits to share and plenty of interesting things to say. Unfortunately, I have terrible news for Mommies. What they say is true. True, fellow Mommies! It's all true.

Each child that you give birth it takes a quarter of your brain capacity.

Yeah, I'm screwed.

I can't remember where I put my car keys most of the time, and they are in my hand or my pocket.


So all those those funny little tidbits are lost somewhere in my brain matter. Hopefully they will be released from hostage at some point. I usually remember things at three in the morning when I get up to pee. Then I have to hurry and write them down, or they are lost again.

Obsession

My oldest is obsessed with video games. To the point that when we have "Imagination" time, he plays "video games" in his head and acts them out. If he isn't playing a video game or the computer, he will be watching someone else and telling them how to do it. Or he will be begging to play. Or saying "I'm bored! There is nothing to do!" Seriously. It takes 100% of my effort to keep him involved in stuff when he isn't playing video games. He is not able to play by himself if it doesn't involve video games. He needs someone to guide him.

It is just so sad...do you know what he said to me this morning? He said "Mom, I have never felt so needed as I did last night." He was referring to the fact that he was sitting (in my space bubble) directing me on playing WoW during our "after-dinner-find-a -quiet-activity-and- relax time". I'm so sad that he determines his self worth according to his involvement with video/computer games. I almost cried. Seriously.

I don't know what to do about this or for him. He loves video/computer games. They are his passion. He's good at figuring them out. He likes to figure them out. He has such a hard time with idle time. I don't know how to help him. If he is idle with no one engaging him in a specific activity, he hits, yells, bosses, and generally gets in trouble. He soaks information and attention up. He seeks it and it drives him. But the video games rule his world.

We are about to bust outside for the day. It's sunny and warm and beautiful. It's always a struggle outside. As long as me or someone else is engaging him, he's fine, but as soon as the game is over, it starts. "Can I go inside and play video games?"

Um, no. Stay outside and run and play. Have fun. Be a kid.

We won't mention my new WoW addiction that is still in the budding stage.

Can I hear three cheers?

For the first time in nine and a half years, we are a completely diaper free home!

I'm so flipping excited.