Wednesday, November 26, 2008

birthday pictures

working title "why all my money ends up at target"
or "why we take christmas pictures at home"

6:15am - g gets up? hears mm scraping his car.
6:15am - 7:00am - g plays ds while i sleep.
7:10am - kids up for school.
8:00am - bus picks up m and g.
8:30am - showered and ready.
8:45am - 9:30am - facebook, just kidding, well, not really.
9:45am - start getting k ready for her birthday pictures.
10:00am - remembering to print coupons, AND put in my purse. bonus!
10:15am - bag packed, dress packed, kid packed, off to target.
10:30am - at studio, changing k's clothes, brushing hair, etc.
10:40am - picture appointment, k looks perfect.
11:00am - still waiting, k running up and down the baby aisle.
42 times.
11:15am - um, still waiting. k dusting floor with white tights.
kind of frazzled.
11:20am - finally get pictures taken.
11:30am - pictures will be ready to look at in 15 minutes?!?!?
11:35am - in the toy aisle with popcorn ($1), sprite ($1), and vitamin water ($1).
11:40am - find the bakugan arena ($30)! and bakugan starter packs (2x$10)! score! check out, get some tic tacs for k ($1).
11:45am - look at proofs while k eats an ENTIRE giant box of tic tacs. ($70!) darn blonde hair!
12:00pm - loading up the car for the ride home.

exhausted, maybe i should have purchased TWO vitamin waters...
oh AND - i only had ONE kid with me! thank goodness.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

thanksgiving prayer

this prayer came home to us from church school. i'm not usually a sentimental gal, ok, who am i kidding, i liked this a lot. happy turkey day to you and yours...

my thanksgiving prayer to you from me;
is for love strong and true that you hold within thee.

a heart that beats steady and holds love within;
for your brothers and sisters and all creatures by him.

a soul that is worthy of all of his love;
that is given to you from the heavens above.

food on your table that you thank the lord for;
friends to surround you forever and more.

a house filled with love and the light how it shines;
showing all of its beauty till the end of time.

kindness towards others for all of your days;
to be returned i pray in many a way.

a good job to keep you and pay all your bills;
that you spend it all wisely and not on the frills.

a family around you that is loving and true;
that you all stand together for there are so few.

children to bless you if that is god's will;
to cherish and nourish so your life is fulfilled.

dreams of pure beauty as you lay there and sleep;
through the peaceful night when darkness is deep.

an angel to guide you through morning and night;
to protect you and love you till the end of your plight.

and last but most important your love for god will shine through;
to the heavens above for he's waiting for you.

amen and god bless! ~author~ judy n. marquart

Thursday, November 20, 2008

when i am president

m's class did a project. they each wrote what they would do when they became president. the booklet came home for us to enjoy and then send on to the next student. hopefully at the end we will get a copy to keep. it was a delight.

as i started reading, i became more and more nervous about what exactly m's answer would be. the other kids (this is second grade) wrote about many issues, ranging from lower taxes, lower gas prices, guns, straight up to better donuts... i am definitely voting for that kid.

i turned the page and there was m. sitting at the principal's desk, pen in hand, smiling up at the camera with her new teeth peeking out. my first thought was how grown-up she looked. i read her paragraph. i wish now that i had made a copy. she started with lower taxes, must have been a running theme in our households, as many students mentioned this.

the best part for me was that she wrote, "i would make sure that people have money to buy the things they need." closely followed by, "i would clean up all the litter."

the last sentence, however, was classic m - "i would put pandas in the zoo." are you listening pittsburgh?

mostly i learned that these kids are listening at home. they know what's going on in the world, and how their parents feel about it. i also learned that i have nothing to be nervous about, m is a bright little lady. and more than ready for the oval office.

bring on the donuts.

Friday, November 14, 2008

a little moon talk

overheard from the backseat...

"excuse me, moon."
"I AM K..."
"stop following us, ok?"

i'll be darned if that full moon didn't listen.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

ebony and ivory

yin and yang, tomato, tamato, etc. opposites attract. it's true, believe it.

although, over the years, we have somehow met in the middle, funny how that happens.

our ivory anniversary is today, 14 years. it is fitting, the elephant, since i rarely forget anything. anything. i have a mind for detail. ask mm.

a few weeks ago, i went through some old college notebooks. and there it was. the program from our first date. well, first "real" date. sorry honey, teaching someone how to "shotgun" does not a date make... even though i ROCKED... hey, i'm a good student.

as some of you know, i am a latin geek. i took way too many college latin courses. up to the point where i was the only person left at wvu that even wanted to take latin anymore. i should have been a latin teacher, but that is another post. in one of my first classes, we were offered extra credit to go see a latin play at the cac. i got two tickets and had planned to take another guy... hey, i was living the single life for the first time, well, ever, and i was enjoying it.

then i met mm. darn it. i knew immediately that he was/is the one. everyone says, "you'll just know." but i didn't believe it, until it happened to me.

fortunately, the other guy had "prior" commitments, i.e. getting hazed, so i called mm. he said sure, what time, he'd be there.

he came in style. a cardigan sweater with a skinny tie. probably from the chess king, no less. sounds weird, but it looked cool. i probably wore some giant over-sized sweater, as i tend to do. our carriage was his red blazer plastered with buffalo stickers.

now comes the actual date part. the play that i asked mm to go to. i really didn't read up much on it, just went for the extra credit. we were getting ready to translate the next week, so i thought it might help to go. the play was called lysistrata. i cannot even begin to describe it here, it's too embarrassing, so i'll post a link to wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysistrata

i pretty much kept sinking further in my seat as the night went on. afterwards we had a good nervous laugh and went to eat n' park for dessert. i ordered the biggest dessert ever. we talked and talked and had a great time.

after that, we have had many more dates. we got married, had way too many kids, but some things will never change. he is always early, i am always late. he hates clutter, i adore it. he loves scary movies, i can't watch. he doesn't like sweets, i do, like, duh.

but from that very first date we both knew one thing, we are in it for the long haul.

and to this day, mm still has a penchant for dressing cool, and i still like to order big desserts...

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

obnoxious

last night k was flipping around on the couch screaming at the top of her lungs...

i said, "you, girl, are obnoxious."

she said, without missing a beat, "i know i am."

cute - obnoxious - but cute.

Friday, November 7, 2008

girl next door

I HAD A DREAM THAT I WAS THE NEW -
GIRL NEXT DOOR!
thought you might need a friday chuckle.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

swing of thought

we have been enjoying some excellent november weather, so yesterday we were outside on our swingset for quite a while.

g can finally swing on his own, and is pretty proud. "look mom, i can get started on my own!"

"yes, pretty soon you'll be driving a car..."

"i'm going to get a jeep."
"cool."
m says, "i'm going to drive a convertible."
"you guys better go to college and get good jobs."
"i'll be a teacher," m says.
"i'm going to build things with legos," g says.

i keep the conversation going, "there won't be much room for car seats in a convertible."

g asks, "is there room for car seats in a jeep?"
"yes, but jeeps are pretty loud, it might not be good for little ears."

quiet.

g states matter-of-factly,
"my wife will have a better car than me."

interesting. i like it!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

i voted today

i voted today.

i think i'll just leave it at that.

now you go vote too.

Monday, November 3, 2008

nekked

i went to the fall festival party for g's class. first there was a parade and then snacks, games, etc.

as soon as i get there i notice g is in his costume. he turns around...

i suppose i forgot to explain to him that the costume goes OVER the clothes... dang it.

gotta love it!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

halloween observations

first - to add to the list of candy that hurts my teeth...

milk duds* - jeez, who even invented these?
ju-jy fruits
blow pops

*i totally ate 5 boxes anyway.

second - a group of tweeners came dressed as "techno hippies" - fluorescent socks, paint splattered shirts, sweatpants pulled up, side pigtails, painters hats, etc. it's good to know my eighth grade wardrobe is back in "style" and called something as cool as techno hippie...

third - my kids successfully ate candy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. this doesn't seem to have any adverse reactions, so far.

fourth - the mcdonalds coupons were a big hit with the jr. high crowd.

oh - and everyone please compost those pumpkins!

favorite costume - a young lady dressed as gisele, from enchanted. she was perfect. spoke just like her, complimenting our pumpkin and being all around gracious.

honorable mention - a tiny thomas the tank, who grabbed handfuls of candy. he was so cute i didn't even mind.