Lent Part III...Big Sis Comment...

If you know my sister, then you know her sense of humor, "free-spiritedness" and spontaneity (which is another blog at another time.) She is one of the funniest people I know and she makes me laugh until I go stealth and start to cry. I have to share her comment about the "Early Lent" posting:

Big Sis says:

watch it. next thing you know, you will come downstairs in the morning and he will be sitting at the table with a thermos of coffee, smoking a cigarette.

I wouldn't put it past my sister to be sitting right by Roo reading the paper.

Thanks for the laughs Big Sis!! Love You!!

Sam took this picture, one afternoon, of Big Sis making faces towards me (in the front seat) when I couldn't see her...some things never change!

Drinks and Boxes...

Yesterday was the day that Jack and I went to Starbucks for the week...together, because I may have to go again this week, by myself. We pulled into the drive-through and this was the conversation:

Me: "Jack do you want a scone today?"
Jack: "No, not today. I just want a drink today."
Me: Do you want hot chocolate?
Jack: (in a lazy voice) No, not today. I am going to have some juice in a box.
Me: (thinking - how old are you?) You mean apple juice...
Jack: Yea, in a box , please.
Me: Do you want a scone?
Jack: No.
Me: (surprised) No scone?
Jack: No, just an apple box, today.
Me: No scone?
Jack: Well, I changed my mind. (imagine that!) I will have a scone and a box, today.

So Jack got his apple juice drink box. If you have ever dealt with a drink box, there is an art to those things...they should teach classes on how to deal with them!!

First, I put the straw into the drink box... after ripping it from the side, which I swear is glued on with super-glue. Then you have to pull and tug and finally tear the straw with your teeth from the super sealed wrapper it's in.

Anyway, I put the straw into the box, (after stabbing the sealed tin circle umpteen times - that is as wide as the straw), but unfortunately, I did not put the straw in the full "up-right" position.
So when I handed it back to Roo, the juice shot out of the straw all over my console. (Thank goodness I have about 50 napkins in my glove compartment from previous Starbucks visits!)

Oh, I must confess, I might have given the little drink box a totally unintentional, slight squeeze, which is a MAJOR NO-NO!! You are NEVER to squeeze the drink box! Again, there should be a waring label about the squeeze. Finally, I got Roo his drink box and scone. I looked in my review mirror and asked how was his drink box and scone. He gave my a thumbs up...which makes it all worth it.

PS - To my friends that are reading today, would you mind leaving a comment. (no I am not desperate for a little positive feedback!) My parents are out of town and are trying to read and comment on my postings, but aren't having any luck. I don't now if I have an issue that I am not seeing or if it is their issue. :) Thanks for helping me out!

Early Lent...

One thing that I am trying to cut back on is the morning routine of going to Starbucks after I drop Sam off at school. I was going every day, but now I have cut back to 1 or 2 times during the week, not counting the weekends. :) I am making my own coffee with my mini-coffee maker. yippie. Anyway, the reason I needed to start to cut back was because Roo has decided he needed a morning pick-me-up, too. When I would go through the drive-up, Jack would say, "I want a crapacino, too!" Yes, he calls my frapacino a crapacino - which it is far from being!! So, finally, one day, I ordered him a kid's cocoa~to curb his cravings. Yep, they have kid size drinks, too. He thought that was the cat's meow. Well, now he would like me to get him a "coffee" each time we would go to Starbucks. So, I had to put an end to that. He now gets his "coffee" and cinnamon scone maybe once a week. (I know mom, I could say no, but I don't think you would either!!) The pictures below show Roo, his coffee and scone. I love the one with his hand...just like a little adult!

A Boy's Mom...

Last week, my mom and I went to a friend's house to help her with her twin girls and her new baby boy. She needed some sleep and I have been there, so I was happy to help her out. Well, she now owes me BIG TIME!! While she slept, the girls did my hair. They both had combs (that were NOT to get tangled in you hair - ha ha) and a small spray bottle of water. They styled my hair for about 20 minutes. This is a photo my mom took during the styling. I am holding a plate and a cup (of tea) that Roo handed me. He said I looked hungry and thirsty. I was trying to pretend I was at a spa - didn't work. That is not a laugh on my face, but a grimace. I looked at my mom and said, "Now I know why I am a boys mom." When the girls finished my "do" - one girl said, with a completely straight face, "You look silly." Nice.

25 Ramdon Things About Me...

This idea has been going around on Facebook for the last several weeks. Thanks to a fellow blogger, Janet, who tagged me and got me thinking about what were some things that you may not know about me. So, I thought I would post it on my blog due to some of my blog readers are not on FB (I KNOW!) Enjoy!!

1. When growing up there were 3 girls and one boy in our family. Now I have 3 boys and one girl in my family.
2. I hit a peacock with my car~yes, a peacock, NOT a pheasant!
3. I rarely cook or bake. I make a mean grilled cheese!
4. I love learning new things.
5. A great day includes taking a nap.
6. I won’t shower on Sunday unless I have to. (Left over habit from my college years!)
7. When I was little I wanted to be a paper doll when I grew up because they had cool clothes.
8. I can’t stand the word “moist.”
9. I love the smell of books and will smell them before buying. I won’t buy a “stinky” book.
10. I don’t like the smell of Vegas casinos – smoke, fake air and air freshener. I breathe through my mouth when I am in a casino.
11. I can’t eat chicken on/off/from a bone. (No KFC in our house.)
12. The site of blood is hard on me. I usually need to lie down and put my feet up.
13. I am NOT spontaneous at all.
14. I don't like to throw up. I will do everything possible, including being still for hours, just so I won't throw up.
15. I like rainy days.
16. I am extremely shy in new situations and have had to work HARD on getting over that.
17. My clothes are color coded and sorted by season: summer (short sleeve) and winter (long sleeve).
18. I went to the Oprah show and you can see the back of my head through the entire show (almost.)
19. I had my picture taken with President Barak Obama.
20. I love books and read almost every day. (check out my widget - hee, hee)
21. Someday I want to live by a beach in a big old beach house even though water bothers me.
22. I would wear jeans and a white t-shirt everyday if I could.
23. I was an associate teacher at a juvenile detention center for two years.
24. I have to wear plastic gloves when touching raw meat~ like the Thanksgiving turkey, hamburger and chicken. It grosses me out.
25. Jason and I went to Martha’s Vineyard for our honeymoon. While we were out there, we saw John Kennedy Jr. and Caroline Kennedy’s funeral, after their plane crashed near Martha’s Vineyard.

Brothers...

This is one of my favorite pictures of the boys...we went to a playground where we were just messing around. It was right by a cornfield and Roo had never seen one or had been around one(I know..city boys!!) Sammy took Roo's hand and said that he wanted to show him the cornfield. Roo will do anything that Sammy does or anything Sammy wants him to do...which is okay at this age....maybe....

What cracks me up, is that Sam uses Roo's willingness for his own security. If Sam wants to do something or go somewhere that he is unsure about, he will get Roo to agree to go with him and then says, "Roo, you go first!" Like he is being polite, when in reality Sam is just too worried/frightened to do it first!! It will be interesting when Roo won't go along with this farse any longer! (that will be blog material!)

Penny the Peacock...

Someday I will post the story of me hitting a peacock with my car. Yes, a peacock, NOT a pheasant. Well, my fabulous friends at MB gave me a peacock Christmas tree ornament to commemorate the event. When it came to putting x-mas decorations away, I could not just pack away the peacock, so instead I "displayed" it in my scrap area. Yesterday, Roo discovered the peacock and laid claim to "her." According to Roo, the peacock's name is Penny, she is very nice, but doesn't talk. I am sure that I will find Penny around the house...which is ok because I will have more blogging material!

My Bookshelf...

I added a new widget last night. (The word 'widget' makes me laugh.) You can see it on the right hand side of my blog. It took me about an hour to get the bookshelf on (pulling my hair out - again!) You are able to display the books that you are reading, have read or plan on reading. Notice I don't have my categorized yet. The first book on there (the one with the girl licking her lips) is the book I am currently reading. It is not a romance novel (yucky!) It is called "Dead Until Dark." A friend recommended it to me, not the genre (vampires) that I usually read, but it is a "light" read and is actually getting pretty good. The author has 7 more books in this series and they have all gotten awesome reviews. (mom and sis, I will not be able to loan these to you - sorry!) The series of books is now going to be a series on HBO. Just another thing for me to try to keep up with!

I think I may do a bit more with my bookshelf in the future~I really don't need another thing to keep updating...my kids are really getting tired of warmed up leftovers or the question, "What do you want for dinner?" Boys answer, "Hot dogs and mac & cheese." (while saying this they have looks on their faces like 'there is NO WAY she is going to let us have that again!') Me, (after some contemplating) "Okay." The boys look at each other with their mouths opened thinking to one another: "NO WAY! This is AWESOME!" No, I DO NOT make them get the food ready by themselves...yet.

Mr. Jones Part One...

Just want to say hello to my new viewers from MB! Hope you enjoy the stories!

Indiana Jones came for a visit yesterday. There are many steps in this process. First, Roo gets his satchel ready. His satchel includes a map (of the fault lines in California), a spider, a marker for whiskers and a blue marble - I don't know why he needs a marble~a McGuyver thing.
As Roo has done before, he used a marker to make his whiskers. Usually the marker of choice is a crayola washable marker, but today he used an "off -brand." I think he chose this one due to the wonderful cinnamon scent. Anyway, later, when I went to wash off the whiskers, they just became lighter. So now he looks like he has a bad skin disease. When we picked up Sam from school he said, "What happened to him?" Nice.

This is Roo's Indy whip. It is taped together in one spot due to him putting it over a tree branch and then trying to swing from it. Didn't work. The tied area is when he decided to pull a chair across the floor. Again, didn't work.

His whip makes me laugh because it reminds me of my barbie dolls when I was little. You would open up my sister's barbie case and her barbies where in mint condition. Nice hair, all dressed, the clothes where actually on little hangers. When you opened up MY barbie doll case (after taking off the panty-hose that was wrapped around the case to keep the lid on) you would see my barbie dolls. They were missing a leg or an arm, hair completely matted (I think I was going for the dread lock look and was very successful at achieving it) and they were all naked. If you would see Sam's whip - mint condition, Roo's whip - just like his mom's Barbies. Gotta love it!

Action Indy...

After the "prep" phrase, it is time for Inday action.

First, Roo put his whip around the stair-post. Won't this boy ever learn? I am thinking we will be putting some more tape on the whip pretty darn soon.

The Indy jump. Successful due to the whip not snapping in mid air!

Off to the foot-stool for some more whip action.

Another successful jump, another successful day as Indy Jones and no tape added to the whip!

PS - I usually do not let the boys jump on the furniture by any means, but sometimes you just have to get that winning shot! :)