Nothing to see here...nothing at all.......

Or so it would seem by my absence, yes no?

Oy - stop, start. stop, start. Seems to be the name of the game around my part of the world.

A new school year is in full swing already - Dexter's a Kindergartner, Bonnie and Clyde are in Beginners Preschool. Add in hockey for Dex and gymnastics for B&C and the weeks get busy.

Better. Soon. I promise.

just another manic......Thursday?

Yeah, I know. It's not how the song goes. I can't help it! Thursdays are our crazy days!

Bonnie and Clyde have school at 8:30. Dexter has school at 9 25 minutes across town.

Bonnie and Clyde are done at 11:30, and Dex is done at 1. Then, at 5:30, everyone goes to swim lessons, followed by dinner at Subway (hey, it's **right** there in the Y. Easy fix!). Home for bath and bed, and BLINK! There went the day.

Nothing all that remarkable about today, just another Thursday in the life and times of us.

How can I stay angry with this?!?!

Overheard from the kitchen, where timeouts were being served au deux:

Clyde: Gawd is gweat
Bonnie: Gawd is dood
Clyde: Tank Oou Gawd
Bonnie: Now, des get out da snacks!

Ok, so not exactly how the prayer goes, but hey, A+ for effort, right?

**sigh**

Sorry it's been so long since I updated. It's been a little rough around the behavior edges. We also recently completed a trip to Kansas City to visit friends, and picked up some germs along the way, so it's been a little rough around the health edges, too.

Do you know how hard it is to type with gloves on?!?!

It is FREEZING here. As in, single digit temp, 45mph wind gusts, and resulting way way way negative wind chills.

Even my office is cold, and seriously? Typing (accurately) with gloves on is difficult. Dexter wants you to know - typing with mittens on is impossible!

Today was good. There was no hitting, no spitting, and no biting. And thanks to a new addition to the stroller armada, kicking is now impossible. Well, kicking one another, anyway. Kicking the footboard and making that annoying clacking sound? That's still possible. But even that was lessened today.

The only thing missing today was the feeling in my fingers and toes.

Did I mention how COLD it is?!?!?!

I think I forgot to schedule in breathing....

Today looks like this:
5:45am
Husband left for work.

6am
My alarm goes off, and I procrastinate getting up until.........

6:10am
Bonnie woke up (and begged "Git me oudda hewe, pease, momma")

6:25am
Entire house is awake, and I feel the opportunity for a shower slipping away.

6:30am
I determine it's now or never, destruction of the house be damned. StormHawks and Pokemon entertain Dexter, and I try to convince Bonnie and Clyde to stay in my bed and watch JoJo and the Wiggles.

6:35-7:10am
Try to shower, get ready, keep Bonnie and Clyde from mortally wounding one another ("buh Momma! He huwt me!!!!")

7:25am
breakfast, which, at 8:19am (the current time), is still ongoing. Waffles, yogurt, milk, apple slices. Gracious! Must be getting ready to grow.

The rest of the day plays out like this:
Must leave house by 9am to make it to the Children's Museum for a class for Dexter at 10am. We'll have lunch there (thank you mac and cheese!!! The Lenten Luncheon of Catholic Champions!!!!) and play for a bit, then head home.

Must pick up dog and drop off kids at my mom's house by 3:30pm. Dog has Vet appt at 4pm.

Pick up Bonnie and Clyde afterwards (Dexter has a sleepover with Cousin) and get home by 5:30pm to meet babysitter.

Dinner reservations at 6:15pm for rescheduled date night.

Sometime, later, fall, exhausted into bed. And breathe.

Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness

The title of today's entry is brought to you by Richard Carlson. I don't know who he is, and I don't know if he did something amazing or historical. I do think, though, he must have spent some time in my life recently, though!

I've been missing more than not lately. Sorry about that.

I'm having difficulty finding anything newsworthy or even slightly humorous in the kicking, hitting, pinching, spitting, biting, screaming, whining and crying that has taken over in this house. You know it's bad when Bonnie and Clyde's MDO teacher says "Yep, they were horrible." This woman is as sweet as pie, and they've worn through her already. There are three months of school left!!!! Have mercy..........

Additionally, Dexter's kindergarten "situation" still hasn't been resolved. (The situation being that we don't know where he'll be attending said kindergarten.) We're praying for the best (an opening - he's currently top of the waiting list!) and preparing for the very real possibility that there just won't be movement within the current roster and spot may not open up. To that end, I've gotten all the details on registration at the elementary school across the way, and have a plan B for preschool for Bonnie and Clyde, should Dex be assigned to afternoon K.

Add in a dash of overscheduled and a pinch of marital communication issues, and well, there you have it.

If stress is, indeed, a more socially accepted disease, I'm a popular gal!

A little heads up to the Husband

Actual text of an email sent to Husband moments ago.

Pretty much sums up our day here at the homestead:

1. The movies are being relocated to the green bins and being placed in your office. At least for now. I couldn't think of another place to put them and keep them out of reach for Bonnie and Clyde.

2. All of the Little People are put away right now. One phrase "thou shalt not use LP as projectiles"

3. The slide is put away, and the column by the oven/micro is damaged. We need to put the slide somewhere - AWAY- for a while.

Inferno, with a side of pretzels, please

Things have been rough around the homestead lately. Bonnie and Clyde are marching ever closer to three, which around here, seems to be like me voluntarily marching straight into Dante's Inferno. "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." Yep, that pretty much sums it up these days!

Today has been the epitome of this, as evidenced by (in no particular order) screaming, spitting, biting, kicking, hitting, hair pulling, and, in an effort worthy of an Academy nomination, a full out temper tantrum over a hot dog (well, actually, the lack thereof).

I **know** this, too, shall pass. I know it. I lived through it with Dexter, I'll live through it with them. It seriously tests the mettle of which I'm made.

They are asleep, thankfully. I'm praying for a long nap today in the hopes that sleep will adjust their attitude-o-meter.

In other news, it's currently 12* outdoors (windchill -1* Ooooo! A warm front!). At least the sun is out!!!!

Q, R, S, 1, 2, 3.......................

There are days that I'm so thankful to be a SAHM. When I'm the first to witness a new kid-ism, I'm particularly thankful.

Today is one of those days.

The Leap Frog Word Whammer was a big hit from Christmas. Learning the ABC song has been a favorite activity of Bonnie and Clyde lately. Bonnie almost has it. At least in her mind.

A B C D E F G H I J K Lemonelopie Q R S 1 2 3 bubbleview yes Y TREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Please pause for station identification.....

I'm not sure what station I'm broadcasting on, but I can tell you that it's transmitting at a frequency the monkeys in this house don't hear.

It's been a long and tiring day here (day two of no school for the week - this time parent/teacher conferences).

In the last 36 hours, I've come to realize that I can not locate original birth certificates for any of my three children, baptismal certificates for two of my children (was three, prior to the mail arriving today. Thank you St. Mary's!!!!!!!), and social security cards for two children and a husband are also missing.

Oh, and Dexter's baby book is missing, too. greeeeeeeeeeat.

I went to Target yesterday to purchase a fire safe after saying for years I wanted to do so. Those same years were spent bowing to husband's wishes NOT to get one. And now, I can't find anything.

This afternoon will be spent refereeing and organizing. Not exactly two mutually agreeable tasks, but two necessary ones.

I have a headache, and it has excedrin written all over it.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

"and when necessary, use words"

This quote, or at least this part of the quote, was featured prominently in the homily by Fr. John yesterday at Mass.

It made me think, and made me realize, that my actions don't always portray the message I'm hoping to send - to my kids, to my husband, to my friends, to my family.

Have you ever noticed this in your life? It was particularly apparent to me, in retrospect, from an instance on Friday.

The kids and I went to Target - mostly for groceries, but also to kill some time so we could meet up with friends at McDs to hand off some maternity wear. Because of the killing time part, we were taking longer than necessary to complete the task, and the natives were getting restless.

By the time we made it through checkout, we'd survived Bonnie and Clyde kicking and hitting, three potty breaks (times 3 kids!), a broken packet of spices, and a handful of items tumbling off our overstuffed cart.

Yet, despite all of this, I wasn't stressed, I wasn't angry, and was generally ready to consider the outing a success. Until the checkout lady said, "Try to have a better rest of your day."

huh.

Apparently my non-verbal communication was not conveying my overall satisfaction (not pleasure, mind you, just not DISsatisfaction) with the events of the day.

So, to add to the list of things I'm working on right now, I'm adding the task of making the outward appearance match the inward joy. It's an extension of changing my approach in parenting the kiddos, trying to ratchet down the ambient noise level in the house, etc.

I'm trying new things like redirecting attitudes, continuing to model proper behavior, and using a calmer front. I suppose, when necessary, I'll use words, too.

This is me, without a nap

A nap by the kids, that is!

Holy cow. I'm pooped.

We had a litany of errands to run today, and I was really counting on some kids' sleeping time to regroup and veg a bit.

yeah. SO not happening.

Guess this means I now have no excuse not to get on the horn to the plumber, the electrician, and the builder. Think they're scrubbing their way out to sea together? That could explain why no one has called me back. Hmmmm.....

In other non-important daily news, I have learned a few things today:
1. A new McDonald's play area is a zoo. Mind you, a cleaner zoo than normal, but a zoo nonetheless.
2. When you tell a precocious 5.5yo that "it's a zoo in there", he's sorely disappointed to see only other children, no lions (or tigers, or bears, OH MY!)
3. That a sleeping 2.5yo girl is not as sleepily transported from car to bed now that she's in panties and has to be woken up to use the potty before resuming her nap.
4. When a 2.5yo girl only takes a 15 minute car nap, it makes for a looooooooong and ugly ugly ugly afternoon.

And lastly - here's my PSA for the day:
To the nice lady behind me at Target today:
I can not begin to express to you just how very much I appreciated you commenting on my children's behavior. I thought it was atrocious, but you insisted that you were impressed. It reminded me that maybe I really AM my worst critic and things aren't always as bad as they seem to me. (I'm being serious here, folks. No sarcasm! I know! ME? no sarcasm?)

So, in the spirit of paying it forward, I vow to tell a mom I don't know what a great job I think she's doing the next time I'm at a store. Will you join me?

Calgon, Take Me Away

Remember this commercial? I think it was a late 80's, early 90's slogan. Growing up, though, it was adopted into our daily lives, and has stuck with me ever since. Apropos anytime things are just....well...just too much.

Or, in the case of today, too little. Too little sleep, that is.

Why is it when you have had too little sleep, everything else becomes exponentially too much?

Too many questions, which are standard fare around here, become enough to send me over the edge when I've had too little sleep.

Too many requests, too much whining, too much singing, too much of it ALL.

I could probably remedy my overtired, overstressed situation by taking a nap. But, napping doesn't actually prove productive in any arena except sleep, so a nap today is just simply not going to happen.

Too many phone calls to make, too much laundry to wash/dry/fold/put away, too much clutter to manage, simply too much to do.

So, while sleep would be a logical choice, I'm going with option number 2 - cookies and caffeine.

Oh, and tomorrow? Bonnie? Clyde? Can we agree that 4 am is simply TOO early?!?!?!

Boys live here

There are times when it becomes glaringly apparent that this home is inhabited by boys.

This is one of those times.

It should be noted that this photographed was not staged by an adult in any way. I just walked up the stairs to find this.

Of course, five minutes after this picture was taken, cars started raining from the heavens, and they were subsequently gathered up in a ziploc and put in timeout.

Because, you know, boys will be boys, right?

He can READ!! He can READ!!!!

Holy cow. Wow wow wow. WOW!

Dexter can read. Officially, starting today, he can READ!

He's known his letters and their sounds forEVER, but has had zero interest in piecing them together and sounding out words. He's a stubborn boy, and when he doesn't want to do something, he won't even try. That's been the case up until now.

Today, when I picked him up from preK, his teacher was telling me what a great job he'd done on his project that day - a mitten book. I told him how excited I was to see it, and that we'd read it before quiet time today.

And then came those magical words, straight from his teacher's mouth, "Have him read it to you. He can do it."

WHAAAAAAAAAT?

I ask her to clarify. I say, "yes, he memorizes books easily. He can recite it, right?" and she says "No, he can READ it."

No freakin' way. I tested him when we got home.

Mitten Book? Check - read it.
Old, New, Red, Blue? CHECK! He read it!!!!!!

wow, Wow, WOW!!!!!!!

My baby can READ!!!!!!!

Apparently, they did

**sigh**

Was a long day yesterday, especially if you're an Indianapolis Colts' fan.

Going to the game was definitely a last minute decision, spurred primarily by the fact that we had a babysitter. Given that rarity, it seemed silly not to go. So, we fired up StubHub, found some good seats, and made it official.

Husband and I would attend the last game ever to be played in the RCA Dome.

It was a gross day - the kind where I'm particularly thankful that Indy is a Dome city. I love football, don't get me wrong. I also love staying dry, warm, and to that end, basically healthy. And with a little creative parking (and a willingness to pay more than $5 for event day parking), one can maneuver from the car to the Dome with only about 1 block of outdoor weather.

It was rather fitting for me that we were playing the San Diego Chargers. The very first Colts' game I'd ever attended was against the Chargers, on October 18, 1992. (We lost that one, too. 34-14)

It was an electric atmosphere. We were confident, as fans, that we would be able to handle the Chargers. Sure, we'd misfired earlier this season when we played them in San Diego. But, we'd learned from our mistakes, and HEY! Marvin Harrison was back! (Too bad Booger and Freeny weren't.....)

All in all, it wasn't a pretty game. There were plenty of errors made on both sides of the ball, and the energy from the 12th man just wasn't enough to make up for the lack of energy from the team itself.

So, to answer you, NFL, regarding "Who Wants it More?"

Apparently, the Chargers did.

Oh, and RCA dome?

And I couldn't even blame it on the kids

In case you haven't heard the news, one of the worst times to discover that you've locked your keys in your car is the minute you're trying to leave for basketball practice.

However, it's also one of the most likely times to learn it, as it's unlikely you'd think, "Oh, I've got nowhere to go and nothing to do for the next 3 hours, I should go check my car and see if I need to start searching for my spare set of keys."

Oh, and Husband? The 30 seconds following your wife's discovery that she has locked her keys in her car is probably NOT the best time to point out that it's bothered you for years that she leaves her keys in her car every.single.night. I'm just sayin', that's all. Take note, and you might be able to avoid at least one future occurrence of the evillookofdeath.

I feel I should round out today's life lesson with this plug, though. AAA? Yeah, it's a good thing. They're fast, they're reliable, and they're trustworthy.

And the best part? They don't even laugh at you when you tell them your keys are locked in your car - in your garage. They're evillookofdeath-proof!

No rest for the weary ....

So, I completely missed my mom-break today. I had a meeting I had to attend at 1pm, which meant Husband covered the homefront from 1-2. And, of course, that means he also was able to reap the benefits of naptime.

Wouldn't you know it? Within mere seconds of him leaving the house (please! the garage door wasn't even down yet!!!) all three came bounding into my office.

Break time? Not today!

However, my stress level is residing right around that 10+ mark, and just didn't have it in me to deal with the monkeys. So, I snacked them up and retreated to my office for a quick game of Bejeweled 2 (my latest stress-reducing, use my brain, release).

Wouldn't you know it? At my stressed out highest, with kids clamoring for my attention, I scored my highest score yet - 43,601. Go me!!! I also made Expert Appraiser. (My mother would be so proud.....)

Just goes to show - we moms? Yep, you guessed it - we're in our top form when completely stressed out!!!

I'll spin you right 'round, baby...........

I can't help but think of this song every time Bonnie and Clyde are in the midst of their "running around".

Why? Because they once took my lament of "guys, why don't you go run around or something?" to heart, and now love to, quite literally, run around. As in, circles.

This is one of their favorite bedtime delay tactics, and often results in fits of giggles and, occasionally, bumped heads.

Today, though, they had the best session of running around I think they've ever enjoyed. We were early to pick up Dexter from preK, and they'd been fairly well behaved at lunch. (Einsteins. Tasty Turkey. YUM!!! Oh - that was for me, not them.....) Anyway, I digress. They'd been well behaved, so I decided to let them "run around" in the otherwise deserted gym/community room at the Church.

Here are just a few of the comments I overheard:

"whee! I be so deezee I fawl down boom!" (insert crazy toddler giggles here)
"Sissy! No spinning! we wun awound, no spin spin spin!!" (insert crazy toddler giggles here)
"oou go dat way, I go dis way. we'wl wun and wun and wun and go 'wound togever!!" (as you may have guessed, insert crazy toddler giggles here).

My favorite, though, was this, overheard as I was rounding them up to head upstairs and acquire their big brother:

"Oh, dat was so FUN! Momma! Dat was FUN! Tank-oou, Momma for wetting me wun 'wound! I so tiwed now, Momma!"

Manners, gratitude, AND the promise of a real nap? Rock on!!!!

It must've worked, they've been sleeping for two hours now!

Just like on TV, right?

So, I'm a Mac owner.

As a retired engineer, this was a big, scary step for me. I took it not quite a year ago, after receiving multiple reassurances from friends that took the leap before me.

I went to the Apple store. I played on the fun ball chairs, and tested out all the different machines.

I fell in love with the 17" Mac Book Pro. I mean really, who wouldn't? It's a rockin' little machine with lightening fast processing, a big 'ole screen for all my (residual) spreadsheet needs and comes with the built in intuitiveness I've come to love about all things Apple. And as a bonus, once you own a Mac, you can laugh at all the fun commercials while sporting a knowing grin (my favorite is the computer cart). Macs rock.

Many of the super creative people I know - whether they're sewers, musicians, or even scrapbookers - seem to use a Mac. The more I learned, the more I fell in love. The transition was rocky for, oh, about 10 minutes (who knew two fingers on the trackpad opened the right click?!?!). I fell for my Mac. Hard.

Oh sure, the whole world still used a PC, but not me! I was FREE! I was liberated from spyware. Viruses? Never. I was part of the revolution against Bill and his wiley ways.

And then I ran into my first website that didn't support Safari. (Oh, for you PC users? Safari is to Mac as Internet Explorer is to PC. It'll be a question on the SATs soon, I'm sure!)

Oooh, no! What now? Enter Mozilla Firefox. Firefox is meant to mimic the way IE operates, thus glossing over 98% of the issues we liberated Mac users run into in the scary scary internet. Yay! Firefox! Firefox, you're my hero!

I then returned to my Mac loving ways.

Until today.

It started out simple enough. All I wanted to do was upload some photos to an online processing facility. Had it been one or two, I would have never noticed what an ordeal it would be!

But I had 226.

Do you know now long it takes to add 226 photos to an online processor?!?! Yeah, naptime? Gone. And snacktime, too, for those keeping track.

A few emails back and forth, including my refusal to purchase Parallel for $80 (um, pay $80 to basically run Windows on my Mac? No thanks!!!), and I realized. I've hit my first roadblock in my blissful MacLand.

I know I had other options. None of them were very appealing to me.

Instead, I loaded up my flashdrive and used Hubby's PC. I admitted defeat. Maybe things in MacLand aren't quite as they appear on TV.

But the commercials? Yeah, they're still funny................

Another Chapter in the Bonnie and Clyde Chronicles

Sigh.

As a parent, have you ever thought, "Now THIS is a good idea. This will work. I'm sure of it."

Let me guess - it never works, does it? Please tell it doesn't work for you, either, because otherwise, I'll begin questioning my parenting skills AND my sanity.

So, Bonnie and Clyde are out of their cribs now, and have been for a few weeks. The timing left a bit to be desired, taking down the cribs right before Christmas. But, alas, that's the way it worked out.

All in all, things actually aren't going too badly. They haven't broken anything in their rooms, they haven't trashed the house in the night, and they haven't fallen out of bed.

Unfortunately, the other thing they haven't done, either, is sleep very well, which causes me stress, as they are formerly great sleepers. In the past, it wasn't uncommon for Clyde to take 4 hour naps in the afternoon, nor was it unheard of that Bonnie had to be woken up at 8, 9, or even 10am. I was always so happy with my little sleepers; I was so sure it was the excellent parenting and loving but firm hand that guided them off to successful dreaming.

Silly me.

It wasn't anything I had done. It was the cage. They couldn't get out, so they figured "eh, I'm in here anyway, may as well catch a few zzzz's."

Now? Freedom comes at a price. And that price is my sanity and sleep time.

The first few nights, one would wake up (assuming, of course, there had been sleep in the first place) and go into the other's room, flip on the lights, and yell "Wate Up!!!! WATE UP!!!!" until the formerly sleeping sibling arose.

No problem - we decided to lock the kids' doors, so they could get out of their own rooms, but not into others' rooms.

Ta Da! problem solved, right?

Wrong.

All it took was one night of this before we realize the fatal error in our plan. Our kids? Yeah, they're both creative AND determined. Clyde was the perpetrator, and he shook Bonnie's door, while simultaneously banging on it with his other hand and demanding "Wate Up Sissy! Wate up and PWAY!!!!"

So then we think, ok, we need to stop them getting out of their own rooms.

aHA! The parenting lightbulb goes off. What the solution? GATES! Said in our best imitation of Mr. Burns, "Yes, gates. Gates will allow us to access their rooms, but keep them in. Gates. Gates are the answer!"

You know where this is headed by now, right? Regardless, read on!

So, gates installed, we put the darlings down for bed. We lie down with each of them ("oou lay me 2 minutes, Momma?", "Yes sweetheart, 2 minutes....."). We explain the gates are going up ("you're not in trouble, baby, it's just a reminder that it's still too early to get up. If you get up and see the gate, it's time to go back to bed.")

The first part of the night goes well. Clyde opens his door the requisite two or three times, but each time, goes back to bed. Finally falls asleep. Bonnie is asleep right away, one of her redeeming qualities.

Enter 12:30ish.

Bonnie: Daddeeee! Daddeeee! Muh B! Muh B!!
husband lumbers out of bed, shuffles up the stairs.
Daddy: What's wrong? OH! Your blanket fell out of bed. There you go, nigh night.

Enter 2:15ish
Clyde: Momma! Momma! I no wanna date! Date go down!
I lumber out of bed, shuffle up the stairs.
Me: Honey, remember what we said - if the gate is up, it's time to go back to bed. Come on now, yes, back to bed. Yes, I'll lay you 2 minutes.

Enter 5:40ish
Clyde: NOOOOOOO!!! NOOOOOOOO! I no wanna date! NO DATE! Wett me oudda hewe! NO DATE! Tum and det me NOW!!!
husband: you want to go get him?
me: no. Do you?
husband: no.
me: (over the racket still being created) FINE. I'll go.
shuffle shuffle shuffle.

He's awake, Bonnie's awake and (to her credit) asking far more politely "Momma? You tate the date down? I no wike da date."

Pile them both back into their respective beds, lay the requisite two minutes.

Shuffle down stairs.

Head hits pillow.

And then I hear, over the monitor, Clyde's angelic voice:
No sissy, wike dis. Put da teptool hewe, den cwimb ober dike dis.

And that, my friends, is how we decided - Gates? yeah, that's not going to work, either.

Good Days

I love good days.

You know - the days you have a plan, and it actually works out? Yeah, those days.

See, they're rare around here. Not the "having a plan" part - I always have a plan, agenda, Parade of Daily Activities, whatever you want to call it.

The rare part is getting a 5yo and two 2.5yos to buy INTO the the plan.

Today, though, they did, and it was refreshing! I accomplished everything this morning I had hoped to do - mailed a letter, did preK drop off, went to Babies R Us, Costco, had the car washed, picked UP from preK, and came home.

Dex had a good day at preK, so there was an impromptu run to Dunkin' Donuts (that strawberry icing? Um, so so SO delish). We didn't get Clyde's hair cut, but not because we didn't try. (Seriously - who knew the day everyone school aged goes back to school is a crazy busy day at the kids' haircut place? At NOON?? Lesson learned)

Of course, I have a gazillion and one things to do at home - tree needs undecorated, laundry needs started, my office is still a mess (though it has moved up to simply "mess" from "disaster"!!!), and I have some art supplies that could use some re-arranging, but hey, I'm only one mom! I think I'm doing ok, having at least half of the day go as planned!!!

Promise

I'm finally getting around to uploading my CDs to iTunes. This is complicated slightly by the fact that my drive is a little finicky (wouldn't *you* be if a 2 year old dropped you on YOUR head?). I've figured out what I need to do to make it work, but it's frustrating, nonetheless. (as is the red pen on my screen - same 2 year old......hmmm, think he needs to stay away from mommy's laptop?!?!)

Anyway - I'm nearing the end of the pile for today, I discovered a CD I'd forgotten I'd picked up during our last trip to Disney in November.

Let me backtrack a little.

I'm not really a big cry-er. In fact, the types of things that make most mommies tear up touch me, but don't actually make me cry. Ever. It was actually something I stressed out about the first time around. Now I know, I'm just not a cry-er.

But, there are a handful of things that make me cry every.single.time. And they're not normal things. They're things like commercials from AT&T, or a news story. Or fireworks.

Yep, fireworks. Specifically, Disney fireworks. And of all the Disney fireworks, the Epcot IllumiNations show makes me cry. Every time.

And in my stack of CDs, I (re)discovered the soundtrack from this show. I love it. The two vocal songs are so touching, so true, so EXACTLY what I dream of for my children, that really, I can't imagine how someone WOULDN'T cry when they hear them.

The one song, in particular, is named "Promise" by Kellie Coffey. And every time I hear it at Epcot, I'm surrounded by my husband and children, and I think "yes! This, this is why I'm a mom, a wife, a friend."

It's a nice anthem, don't you think?

Promise
every evening brings an ending
every day becomes a legacy
every sunset leads to morning
with the promise of opportunity
we can reach for the stars we find along the way
dreaming as we learn to love every day
promise you will take my hand
as tomorrow comes, we'll go on

we'll go on growing closer through the years
moving on through the good times and the tears
ever on another 1,000 circles 'round the sun
if two can be as one, we'll go on

there is music if you listen
in the rhythm of each breath we take
destinations undiscovered
revelations from every choice we make
and I know there are diamonds dancing in the sky
all we have to do is open our eyes
promise we'll walk side by side
as a new day dawns we'll go on

a new life has begun
the two of us as one
and we live to keep the promise,
we'll go on........

When a good daughter has a bad memory

Um, yeah.

Today is my father's 60th birthday. Great! Amazing! Wonderful! A sure cause for celebration, because he's a wonderful man who has accomplished wonderful things in his life.

Problem?

I thought it was next year.

So, while in my mind I had an entire year left to plan a great celebration, I really have, ahhh, 7 hours. And my mom already has 90% of the planning done and food purchased for a small family dinner tonight. So, it won't be what it would be had I realized my faux pas, say, a month ago, but it'll be ok.

It is always ok. Because really, that's the only option, right?

So, in case I also forget to say it tonight, Dad, Happy Birthday. I love you, and though our history is anything but perfect, it has shaped me into who I am today, and I owe you an undying debt of gratitude.

A new year, a new disease......

Hope you were able to ring in 2008 surrounded by friends and family! We had a nice turnout for NYE this year - well, last year! - and all were able to shout and make noise and kiss right at midnight. Perfect start to 2008!

Dexter waking up with the stomach flu at 11:30 last night? Not such a perfect start.

Pray that it starts and stops with him, and that it passes quickly.

Going to be a long day today, between the loads of sheets and comforters needing washed and the refusal by Bonnie and Clyde to use the potty.

I keep reminding myself, I'm building cathedrals here........