Monday, October 26, 2009

Slackin' Away The Days

I came to the conclusion today that we’ve turned into a bunch of slackers with daddy out of town.

What? You don’t believe me? Well then, let me give you some examples.

No one folds the laundry. We just dig through baskets of clean clothes to find what we need. It’s a challenge and so much fun.

Anything possible gets loaded in the dishwasher so we cut down on washing by hand. After all, who wants to do that?

To make things even simpler, we use paper plates when we can.

Do you believe me yet? No?

Wait, there’s more.

At least twice a week, we eat dinner in our jammies. I’ve even had mine on as early as 5pm. Shh….

Our background music during dinner is often The Wonder Pets. Yup. Alex just loves those nights.

Dinners tend to be quick, easy, and kid-friendly. Who has time for all the whining about the food?

Toys are scattered about the kitchen and living room. The playroom is a disaster.

Got the picture?

Now, just so you know I’m not a total slacker, I do need to point out that we are wearing clean clothes (although they might be wrinkled), everyone has showered, floors are swept, and no one has been late for school.

Every so often, the urge hits me to clean something up.

I know, I know.
(Can’t you just see my eyes rolling??)

Everyone knows stepping over toys is so invigorating. If you make a poor step, you never know what may happen. Keeps your adrenaline going, doesn’t it?

But alas, tonight was one of those nights. I’d had enough.

Put the girls into action cleaning up their mess.

Or so I thought.

Who brought this book in here?

Not me!

Who got out this game?

Not me!

Who drew on this paper?

Not me!

Do you get the picture? Do you see why slacking can be a good thing? I can avoid all this drama in my life.

If I ever get my hands on this “Not Me” character, we’re going to have some words. And it won’t be pretty.

After all, “Not Me” has lived in this house now for over 18 years. He/She should know better by now.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Life as we know it.....

Forgive me readers for I have sinned. It’s been three weeks since my last update.

What can I say? Life is leaving me in the dust.

Well, that and I’m old. Time seems to fly.

Especially when your clock decides to change the time every thirty seconds.

That one really blew me away. I couldn’t figure out why it was so dark outside when the clock read 9:15am.

But I digress…..

Daddy left us two weeks ago for a six week business trip to Asia. Yep, you read that right. Six weeks. But it’s nothing like our military who are deployed for months….

Speaking of which, my brother just returned two days ago from a six month deployment as the commander of the USS Arleigh Burke. We’re hoping my brother in law will return from Iraq in the next two months, so all will be right with our world.

Oh, oh, oh, and my sister took her boys to Europe for a month to tour and meet up with their dad (who is stationed in Iraq) and just returned home as well.

For those of us stuck stateside, life continued along its usual enthralling path. With a few diversions, of course.

Diversion 1: Abby

Abby had the great experience of Turning Five. Oh my. She talked about it for days, weeks, even months. The magic day finally arrived. The smile on her face said it all…





We celebrated at home with all six of us……although two of the six were via Skype. But we did our best! Our sweet baby had a wonderful day.

Diversion 2: Anna Grace

Anna Grace always leads us to questions…..Where did you get that? Why didn’t you eat lunch? Did you pull any sticks today? Did you lose any points? What do you mean you are making money? Who did you call? What did you do to your sister? You said what??

Yep, every day is always interesting.

But the look on her face is always so angelic.



Don’t let it fool you.

Diversion 3: Alex

Alex is our “be all you can be for the minimum amount of work” kind of kid. Don’t get me wrong. He has good grades but….he’s the kind of kid who will calculate the lowest grade he needs to get on something and still get an A in the class. He’s going to push me over the edge one day.

But he is giving his all to soccer….even if some of the other kids are not. He had a game the other day in 49 degree weather with a strong, steady wind. The girls and I were in attendance.

To answer your question, no it was not fun. Although the pictures may say otherwise.




When I downloaded the pictures and compared them to last season, it hit me that he has really grown up. Such changes….




Diversion 4: Katie

Katie has been struggling to find her place in this world. The best laid plans tend to go awry at times. We’ve hit that point. She is pursuing a change in schools for the spring semester. Living in the Big City isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. So, a change is in store. We are hoping for spring semester but are realistic that it may not happen due to housing shortages.

We’ve seen both she and Catlan several times since August. But when they arrive in the driveway, who do the girls go running to see? Katie? Nope. Catlan.



Toss in the flu, two broken cell phones, Celsius to Farehheit conversion (ugh…math), a huge texting bill (if we didn’t have unlimited texting…whew!), Nick Jr. and all that it entails, no sleep, lunch twice with friends and no kids (!!!), issues at school, Smurfs, college tours, first grade boyfriends, and so much more.

And life continues……

Let’s just hope I survive.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Outtakes from the Week.....

Which girl said….

I’m going to look at my Facebook…I mean, my yearbook.

(Anna Grace. Gee, do you think she’s heard the word Facebook too many times?)

My initials are A.G. M. J. R.

(Anna Grace. Her name is Anna Grace Meizhen. The “z” sounds like a “j” so she has started doing her initials to match!)

Did you already take out your eyetacts?

(Abby. Eyetacts! Cracked me up. The child has language issues…I just can’t seem to get it diagnosed.)

In a written note: I like you because you make my heart super happy. Because I just like you.

(Anna Grace even after I fussed at her the night before.)

My toenails are so long they can climb trees.

(Abby again. Thanks to daddy’s training.)

Lumbo, lumbo, lumbo…

(Abby…..see above. Language issues. )

Toss in mom thinking one of the Blue’s Clue’s book characters was smoking (Katie insists he had a thermometer in his mouth), ironing jammies for Pajama Day tomorrow, and reliving Shaun Cassidy days thanks to XM, it’s been a week.

Include the College Kid home with the flu, the High Schooler doing the minimum he has to do for the grade, soccer two nights, church one night, and last minute dinners, it’s been a week.

Add in complaining soccer moms, tons of special ed paperwork, and a burned finger.

It’s been a week.

But life is always so interesting, isn’t it?