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.

Spring Break

So, this week is spring break. As much as I would love to say I'm mom of the year and all that, I have to admit this week has been difficult. The first two days the kids were bored. It rained and it rained and it rained. We made due, escaping once during a bout of sunshine to play in the park. The kids had the entire park to themselves and had a blast. Usually, they share it with forty other children. And that is just from our block. No kidding. The park is just the right size for my four kids to enjoy, but whatever, right? Fortunately, they can ride their bikes around the circle in the alley and it all works out great.

Yesterday I put bullet proof vests on all of us and we ventured out. OK, OK, I'm kidding. But sometimes it feels like we need one. We ventured over to the safer part of town and signed up for the library. As soon as we crossed the bridge, I felt much calmer and happier. It seems almost normal over there. The library actually went rather well. We came home and things went better for the rest of the evening. I tucked up the kids all snug in their beds at bedtime and I was pleased when no one yodeled. For some reason, my six year old has taken up yodeling when the Hubby has duty. He stands on his bed and yodels at the top of his little mighty lungs. I told him absolutely no zoo in the morning if he insisted on visiting the Swiss Alps last night. Thankfully, he put his Swiss Horn away and refrained from yodeling with with the goats and slept peacefully.

Ahhhhhh. Happiness is.

So I thought things were going great. Until I woke up. At seven o'clock in the morning. To the cries of "It's smoking, it's smoking!"

WTH?

Turns out my nine-year-old and my six-year-old decided to find out what happens when they rip the light bulb off of a lit/on night light.

Um, it smokes.

And sparks.

And thankfully trips the breaker in their room so no one was shocked and no fires erupted.

I really wish they could have skipped that specific science experiment.

So Mama Bear got out of bed instead of Mommy. And I was a bear. Literally. Growling and snarling. Mostly out of fear. But don't tell "them" that.

I stomped around the stream and cleaned off my fur and emerged more of a Mama Cat. Prowly and cautious. I gathered up the kittens and brought them downstairs and put them to work. Cleaning and sweeping and picking up. I fed them all their bowls of milk (with some ceral and fruit in it), and swept them out the door to the zoo.

The zoo went OK. It was cold. My oldest was nice enough to give his sister one of his three shirts to wear. We saw some creepy crawly things and some scaly things. We pressed nose to nose with some monkeys. Well, with a sheet of glass in between our noses, but the kids weren't aware of that. In their minds they were nose to nose with some curious little monkeys. It was very cute...I wish I had my camera with me. We fed some goats and pretended to be prairie dogs. Then we headed to a park outside of the zoo to eat a snack and play on the playground. My oldest was kind enough to supply another heart stopping moment for the Mama Bear/Cat/Mommy. They had some of those old fashioned metal monkey bars that are in an arch. You know, the ones we all played on for years before they deemed them too dangerous. Well, he was trying to make it to the top of the arch, and he had just reached the top and was about to celebrate when he fell through. And my heart fell out of my chest, down my leg, and out of the leg of my pants. And then some squirrels stomped all over my heart. All in three seconds. It was amazing. Really. I watched my little boy's head whiz past the bars in slow motion at 70 MPH. I saw the hairs on his head brush over the bars, his skull intact. I didn't even have time to be relieved because the squirrels were already taking off with my heart. I watched him fall to the ground in a heap and rejoiced when he immediately stood up. "MOM, DID YOU SEE THAT? THAT WAS SO COOL!"

I ran after the squirrels and got my heart back.

Boys.

I swear.

Home safe, getting ready to bake. Chocolate cake. Just what the doctor ordered.

A quick video

The last egg.

(If look up on the fence next to the post, you will see him passing by the blue egg over and over)

Well, this is a new one

My daughter's teacher called.

My daughter is stuck in her coat.

::scratches head::

Say that again?

My daughter is stuck in her coat.

They want me to come in and remove her coat and bring her a new coat.

Apparently she zipped her coat all the way up because it's raining today, and there are teeth missing at the top of the zipper, so it won't go back down.

Now, I have removed heads from in between railings, feet from the bars of the kitchen chairs, hands from places they shouldn't have been stuck (get your mind out of the gutter! I'm talking like into the hole of a pop-up baby wipes container type stuff), and hair from zippers. But I can't say I have ever been called to the school to remove my children's coats before. On my scale, this is not that big of a deal. I'll probably go in and pop it off over her head or it will unzip with a little persuasion. Apparently they have a zero touching rule and they aren't allowed to help manipulate my daughter's arms and stuff to get the coat off over her head or down her body. I can respect that. I asked the teacher to have Alexia try to wriggle it over her head on her own. So as soon as my youngest finishes eating his breakfast, I guess we are off to the school.

Wish me luck.

****************
Update!

Really, like I mentioned before, being stuck in her coat is a new one, but not the worst thing in the world. Remember I had asked the teacher to have Alexia try to wriggle it over her head on her own? When I arrived at the school, her coat was off, but still zipped up and "stuck". I got out to my vehicle and tried the zipper and it went up and down with absolutely no problem at all. I don't know. The only thing I can think of is that the zipper got stuck over the cloth at the top of the zipper and the missing teeth (tooth, really) had nothing to do with it. So the coat is fine to wear, I just won't have her wear it to school anymore.

I'm fairly amused. I never turn down a chance to smile these days.

Another successful dinner

So last night eating my son's dinner...well, let's just say I secretly threw away the grilled cheese. I didn't even know you could screw those up! :X

My daughter made broiled shrimp with garlic butter sauce for dipping, corn, baked potatoes, and I made cucumbers in homemade dressing. My daughter made the Hubby a steak, too. It was yummy. We are all stuffed.

I'm not sure why I haven't had the kids involved in making dinner before. I guess it's because I love to cook and it's my "me time," as odd as that sounds. I'm enjoying having the kids help me outside of baking, though. I really am.

It's a Dinner affair

So I've decided to let each child pick the meal and prepare dinner this week. Each child gets their own night. Tonight was my 6 year old's turn. He chose grilled cheese and tomato soup. He was so cute. He got out the sectioned trays and set them up just like lunch trays with silverware and a napkin. He made everything himself...he even put them in the skillet himself and checked them. I did turn them for him and turn the stove off and on for him (along with heavily supervising him putting the sandwiches in so he didn't burn his arms. I had him assemble them on the counter so he just had to drop them into the skillet).

He was so proud of his accomplishment.

Until I told him the cook had to clean up the kitchen. ::cheeky grin::

I think I'll give him a break tonight, though.

I took a picture of him standing in front of his cooking food, but I have lost my USB cable. One day I'll have pictures to share again. My camera doesn't take great indoor pictures since I dropped it. :(

Tomorrow is my daughter's turn to make dinner. She has chose marinated shrimp on a scewer (we looked up recipes together), and a steak for Daddy. On the side we will have baked potatoes and corn and something green. I decided to have her make a steak for Daddy since we just had Shrimp on Friday night, lol.

Life is moving along

Life keeps on marching by hand in hand with time. The kids are getting bigger, older, and wiser. And sassier. They test me at every turn of the road. I often feel at a loss of what to do.

My oldest was talking back and being Mr. Drama King last night, so I sent him to bed early. He was up late the night before and up early the next morning. (Through no fault but his own - the Hubby had to go up and tell him to get back in bed at least an hour after we tucked them in). The problem was, I sent him to bed and was still telling him to get back in bed an hour later. He kept coming back downstairs. He won't listen to me at all. Worst of all...apparently problems in school sprung up in one day. What?!?! We had to take care of family business, so the kids were out of school for a week. The day we left, conferences were held and all of my kids' teacher's sent notes home saying a conference wasn't needed. I would have liked to meet with the kids' teachers, but since we were going out of town, that worked out. So yesterday I received the weekly folders that the kids get to send home old work and things. On the front, I have to sign it every week and every week the option "Conference needed?" is checked "No". Well, after just one day of attending school since conferences, Jacob's teacher checked "Yes". And I had to sign two tests that my son failed. Did she not know this at the time of conferences? I mean, give me a break! Plus, my daughter's teacher also said "No Conference Needed," but her report card had a sudden Unsatisfactory and Needs improvement on it. Out of the blue, just a month after receiving Satisfactories in those two areas.

I'm sorry, I'm on a rant again. This school continues to plauge the children and me. They teach towards the benchmark tests that they do once a month. It's all about keeping their accredation and not about the children at all. I know I would homeschool if I thought the kids would listen to me. But they don't. And we all end up getting frustrated and nothing would be learned.

Life with kids

Today started out like any other post-duty day. I was able to sleep in until 7:30 when the alarm on my phone began to buzz angrily. I hit the snooze and lay staring at the ceiling and calling out orders to the kids to get dressed and clean up. Somehow I managed to lie there until 8 AM. Oops. I heaved myself out of my ever so comfortable-and-calling-out-to-stay-in-it bed and made my way slowly to the bathroom to do my business and brush my teeth and hair and stuff. I definitely missed the shower wagon by lying in bed until 8. It's such a rare treat these days, I was enjoying my lounging.

Boy, did I pay for that lounging. I managed to get downstairs and I managed to throw the kids together a semi-decent lunch that included a sandwich on whole wheat bread, fresh strawberries, cherry tomatoes, choice of yogurt or cheese, and pretzel rods, and a drink. Somewhere in the mist of all the chaos of me shooing kids out of the kitchen because they were trying to sneak in boxes of "Crunch N' Munch" and bags of pepperoni into their lunch boxes - it happened. The mother of all tantrums. I had looked in my daughter's back pack and her homework for the entire week was shoved into the bottom of her backpack, all crumpled up, and undone! I through a fit. She had shown me last week's papers all week which were finished and I fell for it! I had no clue she was not doing her homework all week. So I politely informed her that she would come home and sit at the table until all three days (short week this week) of her homework was complete. I then told her she could escort herself to bed directly after homework and dinner. No playing today. There would be no time because she saved herself three hours of homework. I made sure she realized this was a direct result of her own actions.

And so it began. That high-pitched-tornado siren-quality scream-that-has-probably-slowly-aided-to-the-process-of-me-going-deaf-over the past few years-scream. The scream of all screams that the Hubby and I first heard that very first day she came home from the hospital. We were blissfully napping and the tornado siren went off right next to our heads. We sat up with a "Wha--?" on our lips and confusion in our eyes before we realized the high-pitched scream from hell was coming from our brand-spanking-new sweet Princess. Yes, that scream that we thought was past us as she gets older. But no, apparently she still pulls it from the depths of her little seven-year-old toes and unleashes it on the unsuspecting when things don't go her way. I managed to get the boys lined up by the door and I had to go and get right by my daughter's ear to let her know either she walked out to our vehicle to go to school or I was carrying her like a sack of potatoes to our vehicle. Since all her friends could see that, she decided against not going to school today and followed us out to our vehicle. I somehow managed to get them to school in one piece and quietly. I was thanking the stars when I pulled away from the school in blissful silence.

Ah, what was I thinking? I celebrated too soon. I ran into the grocery store for one item and unfortunately for me, the check out line was lined with bags of jelly beans. Only the evil Grandparents and Childless Managers or Managers whose children are grown so they enjoy torturing the parents of the young would line check out lanes with hundreds of bags of jelly beans. Naturally my youngest clamped onto a bag of the evil little sugary pebbles and wouldn't let go. I pried it from his determined little fingers and managed to make it up to the express line after they opened it. He has quite the little scream hiding down there in his toes, too, let me tell you. He screamed while I paid, he screamed while I carried him out. I set him down 30 feet from our vehicle because my arms were breaking and I told him to walk to it and get in. Nothing doing. I had to go over and heave him into my wary arms and I politely informed him he would need to sit on the "I need a break" stool when he got home. He said "NO!" and got down and walked.

I thought I was finished then. I thought my day would go smoother. But no, the fates had one more treat for me up their sleeves. Fate starred me in my very own trash bag commercial. You know the one. The one where the housewife picks up the trash bag out of the trash can and all of the trash falls out the bottom of the bag. Yeah, that one. Only my trash bag held out until I was standing right next to the big can outside, then it gave up. Right next to the freaking trash can. So all of those gross leftovers I had just dumped into my bag were now all over my driveway with little bits of dirty cat litter clumped with them. Oh, yuck and double yuck. I managed to clean it up and now I have been enjoying a hot breakfast and a moment of peace.

Well, maybe not so much peace. My youngest has thrown another tantrum while I typed this. Please, offer me the strength of steel and the patience of an angel to get through my life with kids.

Sweet

My oldest told me this morning that a friend at school that he (my son) shares his lunches with gave me a compliment.

My son: "(Friend)" said I am very lucky to have a Mom who cares who packs such yummy and healthy foods every day for me to eat."

As an afterthought My son said: "He said you are a good cook, too."

:-)

Let's see what his friend has to say about my Vegetable Medley today, lol. (Zucchini, squash, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, and a little onion soup mix for seasoning)

Neglectful

Boy, has it been a long time since I have updated here. It's not that I don't have anything to say, it's just that I have been keeping busy elsewhere. I've been trying to stay off of the computer. I'm not all that successful, but I have been on less, at least.

All of the kiddos are doing well. They recently passed out report cards at school. The two middle children are on the Superintendent's List (STAR, and I saw their names on TV!) and my oldest is on the Honor Roll. I'm very proud of them all. They have worked hard. Well, the two middle children have worked hard! My oldest is ahead of the rest of his classmates and repeating what he has already done. I am planning on writing a note to find out what they are working on exactly and what is next so maybe I can move ahead with him at home. His science grade was his one B, so I have requested of J that he bring home his Science book every night, but he has yet to do so. I'm going to have to get tough on him.

Some big news...I think my youngest has finally got this poohing thing! He has been hopping up and running for the bathroom saying he has to go poopy, and then he does! I'm so excited! It's music to my ears to hear him hop up on his own (without the Mommy asking him) and saying he has to go. He has been something like five days to a week accident free! Yay, little man! I knew you could do it!

My daughter had an accident where her shoe came off at the park a couple weeks ago. She tripped over the shoe, did some unintentional somersaults, and came away with a buckle in her wrist. ::sigh:: She's on week three of wearing a cast. We had to go and have her cast replaced this weekend because my oldest splashed water on her original one. It just never ends. I'm more than a little surprised that it is my calm and quiet little girl that is the one who ends up with broken bones. My rough and tumble boys just seem to bounce. I guess little girls don't bounce. Mine doesn't, anyway.

Other than that, not too much going on. Same old same old. I hope everyone is having a beautiful day!

Wii fun

Having fun

With Wii Outdoor Adventure. We are working on our sportsmanship. :-)

Finally got it fixed

The youngest's one hair, that is. He had trimmed it months ago. It had finally grown out enough that he could get a hair cut instead of shaved bald. :-)

A nasty cranky day

Alan and I were asleep by 9 PM last night and the kids were asleep by 7 PM. We were all so tired. At a little before 11 PM Jacob woke me up saying he had tossed his cookies. I tucked him up in the recliner in Robby's room because I didn't want to wake up Aidan (shares a room with Jacob) cleaning up. Jacob was fine the rest of the night, so I attributed it to the spices in the chili we had for dinner. I thought maybe it was too much for Jake's belly. So we were leaving for the bus stop this morning and Jacob laid down in the middle of the floor saying he was going to be sick. I told him he was faking because he had been playing Wii Outdoors just 2 minutes before that and he was fine. We walked out the door and he tossed his cookies on the front porch @@. Me, being Mom of the Year, was like "Oh Jacob, why didn't you wait until you got to the grass?" So he, being son of the year, moved to the grass - leaving a trail the entire way.

I guess I deserved that.

It was fairly amusing to see a gaggle of construction workers directly across the street all running away going "Oh man kid!" They later clapped when I returned home from the bus stop to clean up the mess and toss a bucket of hot water over my porch.

Meanwhile, my poor youngest had already taken his shoes off, so he was standing at the door watching and a cat got out, so I retrieved the kitty and my son shut the door and put his shoes on. Right as we finished, he opened the door to come out saying he was "Done, Mommy!" only to have to take his shoes back off. Poor kid.

I'm trying to keep my wits about me and not yell and wave my arms around like an Italian man yelling at his girlfriend. (Think that Italian hunk of love Morelli in the Stephanie Plum series). I just have to say I hope the Hubby doesn't come home today and disappear into the quiet of our bedroom to sit at his computer for hours. I might just come unglued. I'm so bored and stressed. A dangerous combination.

Master of the Obvious, Defender of Duh

I guess that is me.

Me: "What are you guys doing playing in the dark?"
My kids: "Playing in the dark."

I guess I'm out of options

I went out on a limb today and pursued my last hope for getting my children into a better school. I drove out to the far end of our new city and filled out three zone waivers. I was told over the phone that Kindergarten was very full, but no comment was made on the other grades. The woman told me it was worth trying. So I went out and filled the forms out. I was very impressed by what I saw while I was there. Organization, friendly teachers and staff. Ahh, my dream come true.

Unfortunately, I just received a phone call from the school telling me they just couldn't fit anymore students. They just received seven more students today and there was just no more room. It is a very small school, like the one my children currently go to, and they just can't handle anymore kids this year. They told me to try again next year, so I will certainly do that. I will go at the end of this school year and apply. I tried, and I just don't know what else to do. It doesn't mean I'm giving up, though. I will pursue things through the Navy and see if they can help me come up with a solution that will work for everybody.

Tom Tom has a sense of humor

So my in-laws very generously gave the Hubby a Tom Tom (sorry if I am spelling it whacky). They figured since we are in a new place, that it would come in handy. I high jacked it and used it today. Boy was I lost. I pulled off the road and programmed my destination in there. So much easier! No problem after that! Tom Tom is my new best friend.

Tommy Boy isn't without a sense of humor, however. We used him on our way home from the in-laws (which is a long drive). We knew which way we had to go, but we followed his directions for giggles. We were on a nice paved road going the way we were supposed to when 'ol Tommy Boy told us to turn left and then make an immediate right. As you can see from the pictures, Tommy Boy was working on a previous plan or a future plan. Whichever it was, it wasn't the current plan for the roads out there! I think Tommy Boy wanted our vehicle to sprout wings and fly off of a hill. The top picture is a picture of the way the Tom Tom was telling us to go. It was clearly a dead end on a dirt road. I wish I had taken a picture of the Tom Tom pointing us that way, lol. He wasn't giving us the correct path, but he sure did provide us with a lot of giggles. It was totally worth pulling onto that dirt road that we knew would go nowhere.

The Stockings were Hung by the Chimney with care

Well, not quite. We were able to decorate our hand-made stockings first. Kudos to my MIL for coming up with such a great and fun idea! She and her friend hand made stockings for eveyrone to choose from. We picked out our stocking, and then decorated them. We had a blast! Thank you, MIL!

The men needed some coaxing, but once at the table, they really got into it.

Uncle E decorating his stocking


Grandpa decorating his stocking



Daddy's High heeled (I told you that you should have picked your stocking first! Hehe!) Stocking


Daddy getting into his

Jake's

Aidan's

Mine! Isn't it a beauty! :-)

Lexi's

Robby's (Grandma gave him considerable help!)

Christmas at home

We had a very nice and quiet Christmas at home with just the six of us. It was just right. We relaxed and enjoyed each other and the season.



Opening Wii Outdoor Challenge. They were quite happy to see it. :)

Just right. The tree is a ceramic tree that my Grandmother made years ago.

Leaving cookies and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer.

Christmas wonder.