Do you need a menu??

Son1 is a picky eater, and really we might even say particular instead of picky. The only cheese products he likes (and I use the word "like", very loosely) are Macaroni and Cheese (the blue box), and Turkey Cheddar Sausages. He doesn't like butter because "it is like smooth cheese". Maybe he has a point. He will eat Pizza, but doesn't really like it again it is the cheese thing. I am not sure how it is that we have a child who doesn't like cheese. He doesn't like potato anything, but will occasionally eat french fries. It makes meal time an adventure, he will eat vegetables and fruit without complaining. He likes ham, bbq ribs (but only the ones I make with homeade bbq sauce), sausage (sometimes), bbq beef, and everyones favorite chicken nuggets and hot dogs. Hamburgers must be plain, obviously no cheese, but also no ketchup, mustard and definately no pickles. So school lunches have been an incredible challenge, now interestingly enough he ate the nacho lunch, and he also ate the chicken legs (we call it chicken on a handle). The rest of the year has been fluff and Jam sandwiches, lunch meat cut into cute little shapes, and spaghetti O's. So Wednesday night he tells Jim, "It is Wednesday and you didn't give me spaghetti O's" Jim's response was something along the lines of "sorry" to which the overly dramatic son1 says "I always have Spaghetti O's on Wednesday, do I need to make you a menu?" contorting his face to not give away the impending chuckle that was welling up in his throat he said "how about you make your own lunches then?" son1 just left the kitchen without another word.

Our Pets!

I watch our animals and laugh to myself. Is it possible that animals like chickens, who once they are beyond the cute chick stage, can take on the personalities of their owners?? I believe it in dogs and cats and other animals that are mauled on a daily basis by their owners (and the owners children and the neighborhood children, and, and, and).
We bought a house and it came with a cat...Sugar is about 17 now and does whatever she wants with little regard to what anybody else wants. 2 summers ago we got kittens, Sugar was sitting in front of the food bowl eating and kitten 1 comes up to the bowl and starts to eat. In one motion Sugar raises her paws smacks kitten 1 away from the bowl and continues eating, never missing a beat. It looked like something you would see in a cartoon, (I am thinking Garfield). We pulled into the driveway one night and Sugar was sitting in middle of it, yes you guessed it we had to park where we were as Sugar decided it wasn't quite time for her to move.
We have 3 chickens and 1 rooster. One of the chickens spends most of her time in the yard, because...well, because she does what she wants. I came out of the house one day to find the chicken drinking out of the cats water bowl, while the cats watched her very closely but didn't protest.
Our dog, Henry is 6ish, he is the greatest dog and we all love him, but like the cats and the chickens Henry has issues. The wind makes him nervous! He and Son2 can usually be found downstairs anytime the wind is blowing (tornado force winds are the worst). The neighborhood cats sit on the other side of the fence and lick their paws and Henry barks and barks, and I am sure the cats are smirking at him!! He also has the neighbors conditioned, he sees them pull into there driveway and he sits at the fence barking and waiting, waiting and barking....and they bring him treats and pets. Apparently this has been going on for sometime, every afternoon around 3. I guess he has mastered the art of manipulation.

The Mall??

Son2 has never really cared about fashion. In his world clothing should and would be considered optional. Imagine my surprise yesterday when he came home telling me "apparently you buy my shirts at the wrong place". According to him, his shirts shrink because they are from the clearance racks or Wal-mart. Um right..."honey they shrink because they are 100% cotton and get put in the dryer or better yet (and my personal favorite) you are 12 and grow out of them." He was distraught because he had never been to an aeropostale or an abercrombie store. In fact he did confess that he didn't really even know what an aeropostale store was. He was distraught because I didn't spend 70.00 on shirts for him. "buying me (not that I would) a $70 shirt is one thing it will last me the rest of my life, in fact I could and more than likely would be buried in it" "a $70 shirt for a 12 year old is not gonna happen ever!" Although a field trip to one of the above mentioned stores might be in order this summer, just because. The other part of the conversation centered around "why we didn't let him go hang out at the mall" seriously...the mall...I was speechless.."me who really has no use for the mall is now having a conversation about...THE MALL..with my 12 year old SON?? I am pretty sure the gods must be crazy!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder...at least that is what I have deluded myself into thinking.
When son1 was born I realized that Jim would not care for our children the same way that I did, but if I ever wanted a break from them I would just have to let him do it his way. After all, he is there father so I knew he would do his best. So on several different occasions in the last 15 years of mommy-hood, I have left the children in daddy's capable hands!. So when my neighbor said she had to go to Utah to bring her daughter's stuff home from college, I invited myself along...Jim's sister lives in Utah and it was the perfect excuse for a visit. On Friday afternoon we packed up the truck with our stuff, and the empty boxes and headed to Utah. Road trips these days take on a whole a different meaning!! Leaving behind 4 kids and a husband..okay so I did leave meatballs in the crock pot and a pan of brownies on the stove. Did I mention their was a soccer tournament this weekend? 2 games on Saturday, 1 on Sunday, and a possible playoff game at the end of Sunday, did I mention it was 40 degrees and pouring rain in Idaho on Saturday? All I can say is my husband is the GREATEST! so now he is enjoying Pizza with Amelia and her soccer team 14 girls between 10 and 11 years old. They won the Saturday morning game, they tied the Saturday afternoon game, they tied the Sunday morning game and the won the playoff game in the afternoon on Sunday....and by the way the weather Sunday was sunny and warmer with no rain!!
I spent the weekend with my sister in law, brother in law, nephew and his girlfriend. Saturday morning we went shopping (the grocery variety) they have a store called Sunflowers (that I love), owned by the same people that started wild oats, we did a COSTCO run, got haircuts (I will mention here that not one of my family has noticed the cut!), threw in some left over pizza for lunch, and went to the gym.
So now I am a rested and refreshed mommy with a new hair cut and ready to start a new week!!

Really it is a science project...

What a HAM!!

How long before dinner??

Take the Time to smell the flowers....

Ever felt like you were being drop kicked??

More son2 humor

Son2 comes down the stairs at 925pm...past bedtime I might add...and says
"mom I am sorry to say I have 2 brains a Right Brain and a Left Brain"
"um okay" as obviously this is a ploy to stay up late...
"I am sad to say that my left brain has nothing right in it and my right brain has nothing left in it" Ah Son2--and earlier in the evening as he is coughing he tells me I have been using too much soap and now my body can't fight off all the bad stuff and that is why I am coughing.....I have often thought about getting son2's IQ tested because maybe he really is smarter than the rest of us....maybe....

Lucy

Welcome Back Lucy! We have missed you.... NOT!!
When my darling daughter gets over tired we all suffer. Her head starts to spin in one direction, her eyes twirl in another direction and her voice raises 100 Octaves, feet stomp the floor and doors ultimately get slammed!! and more than once I have heard "I hate you, you are ruining my life" Which usually initiates the response "your 10 and you don't have a life" Yup she is back..it has been a while since we have seen her, but Lucy is alive and well and has taken up residence in our home again.
It all started Monday night when after 2 donughts she thought she should also be allowed ice cream, you would have thought the world was coming to an end (at least maybe her world anyway). Since she couldn't have ice cream she decided she wouldn't take a shower, unless of course we would give her the ice cream and then she would be happy to comply. Like the United States, we don't negotiate with terrorists! then the problem became the wind blowing against her bedroom window and she couldn't sleep. She wanted to lay in our bed to go to sleep. Ordinarily this is not a problem but Monday night Son3 and his friend were watching a movie in my room making sleep almost impossible. She stood on the stairs providing "I am waiting" commentary. After she was ignored for an extended period of time she went back to her room.
Yesterday "Lucy" arrived home from school and wanted me to take her to the library, I asked her "do you think that I am going to take you anywhere after your behavior last night" for the next 15 or more minutes all I heard was "please, please, please, please" (you get the idea). I applied the ignore tactic again and decided that I should continue the ignore tactic with my eyes shut--when I got up--she had showered, done her homework and cleaned up the living room. Not another word about the library...She had also been told 7:00 was bedtime and on her own at 7pm she went to her room, now I am not sure she went to sleep but she was quiet and in her room.
I have to remember ignore equals peace! at least this time around!!

Son2 Humor

This morning son2 brought down a pile of clothes and said "These either don't fit me or I am not going to wear them." I started going through the clothes folding them seeing what would fit son3 and the daughter when I came across this soccer T-shirt, here is the conversation that followed.
"Son2 this still fits you"
"yes, but I don't like it, it has a soccer ball on it"
"so"
"so I don't play soccer and your shirt defines who you are"
Jim happened to be standing nearby and he says "so, son2 you are saying I am a fat yellow guy in a santa suit stacking beer cans?"
Son2 looks at dad's shirt and ponders that for a quick second and he says "yes"....
..and so goes my day!!

Misc Ramblings

The last of the early morning chaos exits about 720 and the house takes on the most wonderful sound in the world. SILENCE!! I love Monday's, okay lets face it I Love weekdays, I get to reassemble the house, pick a project that needs to be done and feel this great sense of accomplishment, and really enjoy the silence at least until 3pm when the chaos begins again.
Last Night Amelia went out to say goodnight to the kitties and make sure they were all in. She came back in the house within minutes crying, apparently she bent over to see the babies and CLAWS (aka Sam the momma kitty) decided she looked like a great climbing post and climbed and clawed her way up Amelia's back to sit on the hay bales. My overly dramatic child was quite upset and made sure we all knew it, now in her dramatic defense I think I would have been screaming too! Oh lets face it, the cat would have been crying too!! In between the tears she brought me my phone and asked me take a picture so she could see it, she couldn't see it in the mirror. After I took the picture and she looked at I, I took a look. I thought "If anyone sees this without an explanation I am going to jail" I deleted the picture, no need of going to jail for something I didn't do, and besides who would really believe "THE CAT DID IT".
We were at a potluck yesterday and one of the moms was talking about her 4 year old daughter and what happens when she is up late and has to get up early..."See the princess out there? yeah daddy has to wake her up in the mornings she gets horns this BIG!!" I had to wonder is that a girl thing?? as my daughter gets those same horns! Everyone who knows her will tell me "oh she is such a sweet little girl" and she is..however when those horns come out and she transforms (in a split second) from sweet Amelia to Lucy (short for Lucifer) and goes screaming up the stairs "I hate you, you are ruining my life" It is those time that I am so grateful that saves those transformations for our viewing pleasure only!! Sometimes I am envious, I would love to throw a full blown tantrum and have somebody tell me to go to my room and don't come out until I have a new attitude..I am most certain I would be in there for a VERY long time!!

Sunday Driving....

Ah Sunday Sweet Sunday....In our home, Sunday provides respite from playing video games, computer, television, and anything electronic. Son1's friend calls it "Amish Sunday", and though we have had this had been the rule for the last 9 or more years, every Sunday it is a whole new concept for them to grasp. "Can we play the Wii?" "No it is Sunday" "OH yeah". Our neighbors have a rule too, "no playing with your friends", and since my kids play with them all week it is is a nice break for all of us. Now on very special occasions, these rules have been bent or twisted, which makes them all feel like they are getting away with something. They also seem to think that makes for a good argument the following week "you let us watch movies last week" duh, that was the exception not the rule. This Sunday we let son1 drive us to our friends house in Middleton for an afternoon potluck. We made it in one piece, but that is not to say I didn't suck in extra amounts of oxygen while sitting in the backseat. My darling husband gave me his hand and told me I could squeeze it when I wanted him to yell at son1...It is a different perspective being in the backseat of the car, or in this case suburban, we always looked too close to the center and felt like we were going WAY to fast. I am not a good back seat rider, never have been, more than likely never will be. I wasn't the mom who crawled into the backseat to sit with the kids when they were babies and I don't like being relegated to the back seat while son1 is learning to drive, however when I consider the alternative--the front seat next to him--I realize just maybe the back seat is not so bad. I think that the motor vehicle department should hand out prescriptions for valium and a box of clairol hair dye, when they give a child a learners permit.

I follow several blogs that make me laugh, obviously they are written by people with kids, about the adventures and misadventures that they have. I have told stories to people about things my kids have done or said and they always say "you should wirte that down". So here is my next attempt at writing it down. Although they always seem funnier when I get to tell them. Maybe it is when you verbally tell a story you get to use facial expression, arm movements and that makes them a little more humorous. So here goes....I have 4 children ranging in from 15 to 7. Son1 is 15, Son2 is 12, son3 is 7 and our daughter is 10, very soon to be 11. Now as I see it their really isn't much of a difference between their ages.
Son2 is very bright, lacks a little in the common sense department, but makes up for it in character. Wears his socks inside out because they are softer that way, and is definately a leader, because he doesn't follow anyone! So son 2 comes downstairs the other morning looking for his belt. When I tell him I have no idea where it is, he says then do you have a rope? You are not wearing a rope to hold up your pants. Why not it will hold my pants up. Son2 sees nothing wrong with wearing a rope to school to hold up his pants. In explaining this conversation to son2's dad, the response is "Well, what is wrong with using a rope" Have I mentioned before how much of Son2's genetic make up is from his father's side of the family??
Son3 is a 90 year old man trapped in a 7 year old body. Shortly before Son3 was born my parents moved in with us so son3 has had the benefit of grandpa's wisdom since the day he was born. Wisdom is a subjective word...One day around lunch time I asked son3 what he would like for lunch? the response "do you know what would hit the spot" "Ice Cream would really hit the spot" He sounded like a mini version of his grandpa.
So I guess this is a start, let's see how long it lasts.