Top 5...

TOP 5 WAYS YOU KNOW YOU ARE A MOM!

1) You can create a monster trap out of plastic bags and tape in order to ease the worries of a 5 year old.

2) You go to the world's largest shopping mall and all you come home with is 4 pairs of Baby Gap socks for the 2 year old, a bag of train shaped cookie cutters for the 5 year old and Beartie Bott's Every Flavor Beans for the 7 year old who is reading Harry Potter. And a book on how to survive raising three boys.

3) Even though you are so sunburned you look like a piece of fried chicken, you still gather your children and go to a water park.

4) You play bingo until your ears bleed for family game night.

5) You take a 10 minute, stroke inducing, horror filled ride down a water slide to show how much fun they are. TO YOUR KIDS

Cheese Strips

James has had a few very difficult days lately. They all culminated with a series of unfortunate events that had him in solitary confinement (aka his bedroom) for the day. Not only did he have to spend the day in his room, but he had every single item he possesses taken away AND he had to write sentences about never behaving that way again. In order to earn the right to go outside again he had to write 2 pages of "I will never hurt Jack again". He is now in the process of having to work to get his things back. Now, this may sound like a harsh punishment for a 6 year old, but trust me when I tell you that the pain of having to earn back your toys is nothing compared to the pain he inflicted on his brother.

 

I swear there is nothing on the planet that makes me as angry as when one of my kids hurts another one.

While James was in said solitary confinement, he kept calling out of his room that he was hungry (it was 9 am and we ate breakfast at 8 am). I didn't have a lot of sympathy nor patience at this point, so I told him to wait until lunch. I was folding clothes in the living room and noticed Jack running back and forth from the kitchen down the hall with a little backpack on wheels. I finally asked him what he was doing and he said "I am bringing food to my bawa because he is hungry". I asked him what he had in the backpack and he said "I am bringing bawa a cheese strip so he can keep writing so we can go play."

I was shocked and amazed at his ability to be compassionate after the events that occurred earlier. It made me realize that the things that are most important to me - love, respect, kindness, caring - must be in them somewhere and maybe there is hope for us after all....smile

Update

So I am feeling very guilty about how I have neglected my poor blog. It seems like all of the interesting things seem to come in waves....and right now we are in a dry spell! I am however, continuously amazed at the ability of my three sons to abuse their bodies and still be able to move. Before we had kids, I used to tell people to buy stock in shoe stores...now I tell them bandage companies. And antibiotic ointment manufacturers.

 

So here are some updates on My Three Sons!And a random, embarrassing picture of Daryl.  HA!

JAMES

James has been officially signed up for Cub Scouts. I am not sure who is more excited...him or his dad. I see a gleam in Daryl's eye whenever he talks about the pinewood derby. I have had to remind him that this is an event for James, not Daryl....but I suppose the whole fun of having kids is to live vicariously through them, right?

James and Jack have two new friends that they have been spending a ton of time with - Sebastian and Will. The boys actually spent the afternoon at their house today (THANKS HOLLY!!) so now their mom is my new best friend....grin. Sebastian goes to school with Jack and Will is one grade ahead of James. It is so much fun seeing them all together...we go to the park on Tuesdays and Burger King on Wednesdays so there is a lot of time spent plotting against evil forces lurking in the trees and under the tables at Burger King.

JACK

Jack is a walking band aid. Seriously, the boy needs to wear an inner tube or something. The other morning, he had had a bloody nose, bruised knee and a cut on his head by 7 am. I am almost afraid to take him anywhere because I don't want people to think he is abused! Daryl is incredulous that he falls so much, but the boy is like a German Shepard puppy. You know how they have HUGE paws and are kinda gangley until they grow into their bodies? That's Jack. He is 5 pounds lighter than James and wears the same size shoes. I am going to have to shop at Omar Tent and Awning when he gets older. NOTE! In about 5 years, switch back from band aid stock to shoe company stock.

JOEY

JOEY IS ALMOST 1!! His first birthday is next MONTH! I can't get over it. It seriously seems like we just brought him home. I think the time goes by faster with each kid....or maybe with each of my birthdays. Either way, I am amazed at the little person he is becoming. He is crawling like crazy, standing up and has 6 teeth. He is cruising along the edge of the couch and should be walking any time. Plus he is really really cute...grin.

His party is going to be July 13th and you are all invited. SMILE!

 

 

Summer Fun!

 

The summer seems to be going by so fast already, and James has been out of school for only a week! Jack and James decided that they had had enough of me and wanted to see their grandmother, so Jack spent the night at her house last night, and James is there tonight. James told me this morning that it is kinda boring here without Jack...oh, and quiet too.

Jack had an absolute FIT when Grammy was bringing him home and picking up James. I swear the entire neighborhood heard him scream "But I can't SLEEP without JAMES here! I LOVE MY BAWA!" In case you have never heard Jack say "brother" before, it sounds like bawa. Of course when you say it like he does, he immediately corrects you.

So my three sons have discovered Webkinz. They are these little stuffed animals that come with a tag that has a code written on it. You log into Webkinz's website, enter the code and POOF! there is your little animal. You adopt it, feed it, play with it....it is quite a set-up. The only problem is, they cost about $15.00 each and of course, they want every one under the sun. I discovered, much to Jack's delight, that they have Webkinz Pugs. We now have 2 named....you guessed it. Sadie and Solo. I am sure when he is grown up I will hear about how traumatized he was when his mom got rid of his real dogs and gave him stuffed ones instead! By the way email me if you want to know their names in Wekinz World...they love to send letters to people!

Hugo Animal Farm

I got to go on a field trip with my favorite James!! (No, he is not THE favorite, just my favorite James....smile)



We had such a fun time...and the farm is GREAT!

Sad Day

We had a very sad day yesterday...Sadie and Solo had to go to a new home.

Since we adopted them, they had pretty much continuously fought. Thursday last week they started to fight and Jack was in the middle of it. I had a pretty tough time getting them apart and Jack was scared half to death. Daryl and I decided that we couldn't take the chance that one of the boys would tick them off and they would get bit.

So they are going back to their foster home....but we are going to miss them!

Kid Fest 2008

 

 

 

We had the perfect day for Kid Fest 2008!

 

It was warm, sunny and humid.

 

 

The 3-person Slip and Slide was perfect for racing...although the piece of wire we found in the grass after some scrapes kinda slowed them down!