Monday, June 30, 2008

I finished the book....FINALLY!!!

Here is a link to the book that I read.

And, here is what I learned....
(actually, I learned more than this, but I'll save the rest for another day, or maybe I won't)

Anway, here is what I learned,

Your purpose in life......

is........

WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING ***RIGHT NOW*** !!!

How cool is that?!?!?!!?!...YOUR purpose in life is to read MY blog. I'm so honored. :)

LOL!!! Ok, seriously though, it makes a lot of sense and if you can do it, what a great way to live!

His opinion is that *right now*, is the only thing that is real. The past and the future are just thoughts in your brain. They don't exist, the present is the only reality.

Therefore, when I am driving my kids to piano lessons, the main purpose in my life, at that moment, is not to get them to piano lessons??? Apparently, piano lessons will happen at a point in the future, so that is not reality. I guess that my reality is that I am driving my van.....and driving my van is my whole purpose in life, at that moment.

My first thought was that guy is wacko. First of all, I am a pretty impatient driver and have been known to get pretty upset that it seems that everyone else on the road doesn't seem to have any place to be....I always have some place to be! Now, this guy is saying that my whole purpose in life is to drive my van. How ridiculous is that?!?!?!

After I got over the "he's nutso" thought, I really started to consider what he was saying. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and really think about it the next time that I was driving the boys to piano lessons. I started with thinking 'wow, if driving this van is my purpose in life, I better pay more attention'. Lucky for this Tolle guy and his *point*, it was a beautiful spring day. I rolled the window down a bit and the breeze felt really good. I noticed that there was also a pretty good song on the radio....I hadn't even realized that the radio was on. Charlie was jibber-jabbering something in the back seat so, I looked in my rear-view mirror and he had apparently seen a bird or something that he thought was pretty cool. The boys were being goofy with their newest Happy Meal toys. It was really an interesting drive though.

I figure that this whole experience was a bit of a fluke, but I will admit that he makes a good point. Some days it feels like I am just rushing from here to there and just anticipating what is next. I'm waiting for lunchtime, or time to pick the boys up from school, or BEDTIME. But, by rushing and being preoccupied with "life", I am missing some of life.

To go back to my piano lessons analogy, I pick the boys up from school on Fridays with the mind set "must get the boys to piano by 1:15", we eat lunch and I am thinking "must get to piano by 1:15", we are stuck on 75th street in construction and I am thinking "must get to piano NOW!". How stupid is that? We walk in the door of piano "whew, we make it". My purpose in life on Friday mornings/afternoons is not to get the boys to piano. My purpose was to pick them up from school and to eat lunch with them and to ride in the car with them and to experience everything that goes along with doing those things.

So, I guess that I have been *converted*. Don't worry, I am still Catholic. :) But, this does make sense to me. The time that I spent anticipating the future, takes away from the present. I'm looking forward to vacation, holidays, birthdays, nice weather, school, summer vacation, when my house gets pained, when the boys are old enough to take a shower on their own. I need to refocus that energy to enjoying the *right now*.

I think the same can be said for people spending time re-living the past, in their minds. It seems like there are so many people out there that are missing out on life because they are all caught up in when they were in this relationship, or had this job, or when their kids were in school, or babies.

I know it is impossible to do it completely, but I am going to put more effort into living in the now. We'll see how it goes.




I added this picture from Saturday because I took it and thought it was so pretty.
I wanted to show it off again. ;)
And, oh yeah, I thought it was a good reminder to live in the now.

*** Disclaimer*** This post was about a book that I read. The book was kind of deep...and long, in my opinion. It was also very thought provoking. If you want to know exactly what the author said, read the book. I read the book mostly late at night and have also spent quite a bit of time thinking about what the author said and how I think it applies to my life and life, in general. Because it took me so long to read the book and I have spent time thinking about the author's ideas, I have kind of forgotten where the author left off and my own thoughts took over. So, be aware that my comments are not directly from the book, but rather, they are my conclusions based on reading the book and adding my own thoughts. If you read the book, you may come to completely different conclusions.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

A sad, sad weekend....

I'm sure that all of you White Sox fans are laughing at us Cubs Fans this weekend. That's right, all of us Cubs fans sat around all weekend in absolute misery. Here are some pictures from our miserable weekend. I thought you might enjoy seeing us suffer.

Go Cubs!!!

Our little "all-star"

If you've never seen 5 year olds play T-ball, you are missing out. It is definitely an experience....especially watching them play defense.


Some of the kids have no interest at all, they look at the clouds and the grass; they play with their glove and their hat; and they talk to whoever happens to be within earshot.


Some of the kids have been "well coached" to go get the ball. It doesn't matter if the batter has hit the ball 3 feet, 2/3rd's of the outfielders as well as many infielders are going to run in and try to get the ball. I really shouldn't say "get the ball"....it is more accurate to say that they will dive for the ball and then lay on it so that none of the other players, from their own team, can take it away from them. Then, after they are sure that they have sole-possession of the ball, they will stand up and throw it to 1st base...most of the time.


Needless to say, there are not a lot of "outs" made at 5 year old t-ball. Luckily, the way they play a game of t-ball, the inning is over when 5 runs score, or 3 outs are made, whichever comes first. Thank goodness for that rule because there has only been one inning where the Phillies got 3 outs on the other team.


Now changing gears, there are a *few* kids that are really interested in baseball and "get it". We are proud to have one of these players in our family. Jack LOVES t-ball!! He "gets" baseball. He knows the rules (well, most of the rules) he knows where the positions are, he knows when it is his turn to bat, he even remembers to bring his hat and MITT out with him to the field. In fact, Spencer was lining up the team the other day in batting order and Jack noticed his spot in the lineup. He told Spencer, with a bit of disappointment in his voice, that he was not going "to score" that inning. Spencer was like Huh? Jack said "yeah Dad, I'm going to be on 3rd base when the inning is over, well, unless someone gets out." Sure enough, Jack was standing on 3rd base when the inning was over. Now this is a kid that is interested in the game!!





So, here is my *brag* moment. A couple of weeks ago, Jack was assigned the prime position of "pitcher". You may laugh and wonder what is so "prime" about being the pitcher in a t-ball game. Well, sure it is true that he does not actually throw any pitches, but it is also true that 5 year olds hit the ball to the pitcher a lot!!! Our little man ended up fielding almost every ball that inning and got the Phillies out of the inning by getting 3 outs!!! This was huge, it had never been done before by the Phillies. Jack threw the ball to 1st to get 2 outs and then he fielded the ball and ran home to get a force out at the plate for the 3rd out. It was awesome!

Jack was so proud of himself. He is still talking about it, well, as a matter of fact, my mom and dad happened to be at that game and my dad is still talking about it too! :) It was definitely a happy day for all of us.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Confusion...

Tonight, the boys' t-ball team (the Phillies) had a game against the Cardinals. If you are not familiar with these teams, they both wear RED shirts. Since this is t-ball, they do not have the benefit of home and away jerseys....apparently, not enough companies want to sponsor t-ball. Anyway, this can be quite confusing for everyone involved. It can be especially confusing for our little #4 (Drew) who is not always super interested in THE game! Before bed tonight, the boys were each talking about different parts of the game. Ben got hit with a line drive at short stop so, he mentioned that and he also tagged someone out at 2nd base. Jack was pretty excited about scoring each of the 4 times that he was up to bat.

Here was Drew's contribution to the conversation.

Drew: "Hey Mom, did you see me at 3rd base tonight?"

Me: "Sure I did"

Drew: "Did you see when I was at 3rd base and I forgot that I was playing a paditian (position)"

Me: "You mean you were playing 3rd base and you forgot?"

Drew: "Yeah"

Me: "what happened?"

Drew: "Weeelllllll, I forgot I was playing a paditian and I started running home when the batter hit the ball. But, then I remembered that I was playing a paditian so I stopped."


Monday, June 23, 2008

Can you say SWEEP!!!


Woo Hoo!!! This is the year...right?!?!?! What a great weekend series against the White Sox. I'm trying really hard to not *hate* the White Sox, but I've gotta tell you that I've been kinda giddy and the "Go Cubs Go...." song keeps replaying over and over in my head. Actually, I think it is only in my head 1/2 the time, apparently, Jack is as giddy as I am and keeps singing the song at all hours of the day.

Can't you just hear it!!


The lyrics to "Go Cubs Go"....

Baseball season is underway
Well you'd better get ready for a brand new day
Hey Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today
They're singingGo Cubs Go!
Go Cubs Go!
Hey Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today
Go Cubs Go!
Go Cubs Go!
Hey Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today
They've got the power
They've got the speed
To be the best in the National League
Well this is the year
And the Cubs are real
So come on down to Wrigley Field
We're singingGo Cubs Go!
Go Cubs Go!
Hey Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today
Go Cubs Go!
Go Cubs Go!
Hey Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today
Baseball time is here again
You can catch it all on WGN
So stamp your feet and clap your hands
Chicago Cubs have got the greatest fans
Keep on singing
Go Cubs Go!
Go Cubs Go!
Hey Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today(Let's go!)
Go Cubs Go!
Go Cubs Go!
Hey Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today!
Go Cubs Go!
Go Cubs Go!
Hey Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today(Take charge!)
Go Cubs Go!
Go Cubs Go!
Hey Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today
Go Cubs Go!
Go Cubs Go!
Hey Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today
Go Cubs Go!
Go Cubs Go!
Hey Chicago, what do you say?
The Cubs are gonna win today(repeat and fade)
Yesterday, I was listening to WGN on the radio and they were talking about whether or not it would be cool if there was a White Sox vs. Cubs World Series. Instinctively, I'm like "Yeah, why not?!?!?!". Then I started to think about it....


Now, the Cubs have not been to the World Series since 1945 (63 years ago...ask Jack). To put it in perspective, my dad has NEVER seen the Cubs in the World Series. Without even mentioning how awesome it would be for the Cubs to win the World Series for the first time in 100 years, it would be really, unbelieveably, cool for the Cubs to just make it to the World Series.


Now saying all that, just how bad would it suck for the Cubs to LOSE the World Series to the White Sox. Every time the Cubs have a really good team and a real shot at going all the way, something crazy happens. Wouldn't it just be dumb-Cubs-luck to finally make it to the World Series and then lose to the Sox. How painful would that be! Those crazy White Sox fans would drive me INSANE!!! Yes, I'm talking to you Johnny!

I do realize that I am getting ahead of myself. It is June, and these are the Cubs that I'm talking about. But as Cubs fans, we do have to enjoy it while we can. Hopefully, it will continue to be a very fun and exciting season (BTW, exciting to me means winning....to Spencer exciting means a close and interesting game. I'm not into that, I want them to WIN, all of their games.....by A LOT!!!!)

GO CUBBIES!!!
We're singing .....Go Cubs Go!!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Trying to do the right thing...

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that Drew seemed a little "down". It stinks when Drew is not his usual chipper self. When I asked him what is wrong, he looked at me with a big fake smile and said "nothing...I'm not crying". Getting a 6 year old boy to talk about his emotions is impossible, and I'm guessing that is not going to improve. So, I started to think about what we have been doing and I realized that I have been nagging Drew a lot lately and was wondered if that contributed to his "mood". I felt horrible that I may be the reason that Drew is feeling a bit sad and decided that I want to try to help him feel better. Not horrible enough to entirely stop the nagging, but horrible none the less.
Back when Drew still thought I was cool. ;)

Spencer and I have been talking about doing things individually with the boys for quite a while. We know it is a great thing to do, but it is not always easy to squeeze into our days. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to start something like this with Drew. So, I decided to "talk" to Drew without really telling him what I was thinking.

Our conversation went a bit like this...

Me: "Hey Drew, you seem a little sad. Is there anything that I could do to make you happy?"

Drew: "I'm not sad"

Me: "Ok, you are not sad, but is there anything that you think would be a fun thing to do with Mommy?"

Drew: "I don't know"

Me: "Think about it Drew, IMAGINE, if there was anything, in the whole world that you dould do with me, what would you like to do?"

Drew: "Welllllllll, I guesssss, it would be.........to go to Gino's East with Mommy and Ben, Jack, Daddy and Charlie stay home."

Me: "Wow Drew, that sure would be a lot of fun!"

So, of course, I immediately get on the phone with Spencer and tell him that I HAVE to take Drew to Gino's East that night. He agreed and we decided that I would do that and it would start our going out with the boys individually. He also told me that I should explain it to the boys.

So, we are leaving golf lessons that afternoon and Ben and Jack had run ahead so, it was just Drew walking with me.

Me: "Hey Drew, guess what! How would you like to go with me to Gino's East TONIGHT!"

Drew: *Silence*

Me: "I thought you said that you would really like it if you and I went to Gino's East and Daddy and Ben and Jack and Charlie stayed home. I called Daddy and he said that we could go tonight"......"If you want".

Drew: "Hmmmm"

Me: "Isn't that what you said you wanted to do?"

Drew: "welllllll, you did tell me to IMAGINE..."

What am I supposed to say to that?!?!? Here I think I am being a great mom and doing the right thing and he was just imagining! He totally burst my bubble.

It all ended up turning out very well in the end. We changed it a little and went to Red Robin instead. It was a great dinner and we both had a really good time. They had a game on his menu where we had to try to find something on our table for each letter of the alphabet...how perfect is that for Drew!!! Anyway, we did awesome. We couldn't find something for "X" and "Q" and that was it. We were quite proud of ourselves. After dinner, we stopped and picked up Daddy's father's day present and Drew thought it was pretty cool to keep that secret for a few days.

By the way, when I told Ben and Jack that Drew and I were going out and they thought that was pretty cool. They each had one request. Which they yelled from the back of the van, over and over again.

Jack: "I WANNA BE NEXT!!!!"
Ben: "I WANNA GO SOMEWHERE WITH DADDY!!!"

Jack did continue to repeat his request almost daily until last night when Spencer took him to the Kane County Cougars game. He was beyond excited. We didn't tell him until 2 hours before the game and he talked about it non-stop. He told the neighbors and anyone else that would listen and he asked what time it was about 500 times. Jack and Daddy also had a good time. Ben and Daddy are planning to go mini-golfing one day soon.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Boys Will Be Boys....I guess

Here is a conversation that I overheard between Ben and Drew this morning.

Ben: "Hey Drew, guess what????
Poop fell out of you.........
.......and............
do you know where it landed???????
.
.
.
.
.
.
......IN MY TUMMY!!!

WUAHAUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!"

Drew: "AHAHAHAHHHHHHAHAHAHAHHAH"

The two of them thought this was just about the funniest thing that they have ever heard.

Is it a boy thing or are my kids seriously going to not have any friends?

I don't get it. ;)

***Edited to Add*** This did not really happen, with the poop, they made the whole thing up. It was a "joke" that Ben made up. I came back to read this post tonight and realized that it could be misunderstood. Seriously, nobody was eating any poop. At least that I am aware of.....

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Happy Father's Day!!!

Ooooooppps....a little belated. Anway.....

How lucky am I that I picked out such a cute, nice, wonderful husband that also happened turned out to be a fabulous daddy! I could make a whole post about what a great dad he is, and I'll probably do that on another day, but today I thought that I would let the boys tell you why their "daddy is the bestest" and what they love about their dad.

Ben
  • playing the big frisbee game
  • going to the playground
  • playing the Memory Game
  • walking around the block
  • playing Elmo Uno
  • Playing "tag" in Daddy's room
  • eating grapes and pretzels with Daddy
  • going to the movie theatre

Jack

  • Daddy is funny
  • playing sports
  • biking and scootering around the neighborhood
  • playing Monopoly
  • Playing Hide N Seek when Daddy hides behind the computer room door
  • watching baseball games

Drew

  • playing "superhero"
  • watching "kids's shows" on tv
  • going to a restaurant
  • going on rides on vacation with him
  • swimming in the ocean
  • when Daddy says "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat"
  • playing "Simon Says"

Charlie

  • "DaDa"

Milestones....

Maybe it is a 'mom of preemies thing', or maybe it is just a 'mom thing', but there is not much in the world that is more satisfying than watching your kids accomplish something new. Yesterday, we had one of those moments.

Quite often in the summer, we take a walk, of about a mile, after dinner. A few years ago, we took the walk by pushing the boys in their stroller. Two years ago, they rode their Big Wheels. Last year, they rode their bikes with training wheels. This year, they have been riding their scooters. But yesterday, for the first time, all 3 boys rode their bikes, without training wheels for our walk!! I can't believe they all could do it. I knew that this is something that we were going to work to try to accomplish this summer, but I had no idea that they would do it so quickly.

If I had a crystal ball and I could have seen future events, last night is one of those nights that I would have really wanted to see 6 years ago! To think about all of the big and little concerns that we have had for the boys, since before they were born, getting a quick peek at the 3 of them riding their bikes (without training wheels!!) sure would have given me a lot more peace of mind.

When my doctor noticed something by ultrasound in Drew's abdomen, about 3 weeks before he was born and was very concerned and said "I don't know what that is, but it looks like blood, but if it was blood, he'd be dead", a quick image of last night on the crystal ball would have been wonderful.


Same with the day we started getting physical therapy for Ben at 7 months old because he refused to put any weight on his legs.



And, we definitely could have used a peek at the crystal ball when at 21 months old, Jack STILL was not walking!!

But now, look at them all go!! I can't believe it!! We are very blessed.


Monday, June 16, 2008

Just in case you missed it...

I think this picture is so cool!!! I just had to zoom in and post it again. My camera has a delay so, I never get "the shot". Ben has since learned that it is not a good idea to launch himself into the air when slip n sliding, but still a cool picture!

Things that make you go ewwww.....

In the boys bathroom, there is not any wall space for a toilet paper holder. I know that we have to figure something else out, but we have just been keeping a roll on the back of the toilet. Yesterday, when I was giving Jack a bath, he pointed to the roll of t.p. and mentioned that he made "a mistake" with it the night before. I looked at it and saw it was all wrinkley. That is not too unusual because the boys bathroom seems to get quite wet. Anyway, he said that he "dropped it into the toilet" ok, gross...........but then he continued..."yeah, I dropped it in when I was try to wipe my bottom.". Major YUCK!!!!

Why would he put the roll back on the top of the toilet after pulling it out of the toilet full of poop??? What if he didn't happen to mention that to me...YUCK!!

Makes me just want to go disinfect the whole house right now...and again tomorrow....and the day after that!!!!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

A day with nothing to do...

...is definitely a rarity in our house. We always have places to go, people to see, things to do. But, today we had no plans!! How cool is that! We considered going downtown for the Italian Festival, we considered going to NaperDays, we considered going to the pool, but we ultimately decided to spend the day in our own backyard. It was awesome. Spencer got the grass cut, I got some bushes trimmed, and all 4 boys played together, for a long time, while we worked in the yard. I always imagined that when I had little kids, they would play while I did yard work and whatever else I wanted...LOL!! Maybe it is the quantity of little kids that we have, but I didn't realize that little kids need a lot of things and usually a lot of help. But today, they played out back for a good hour without anyone needing anything from Spencer or I. Amazing!


Ben helping cut the grass


Charlie playing nicely

Elaina got the boys a TRIPLE Slip N Slide for their birthday and it was a HIT! ALL of the boys spent quite a bit of time playing on it this afternoon.



Check out this "action shot"!!

After dinner, Ben and Jack dug out their bikes and made a lot of progress riding without training wheels. Both of them did AWESOME! They can definitely do it. Jack gets messed up by pressing backwards on the pedals and activating the brakes unintentionally, but other than that, they both just need to work on the steering (Look out!!) and their confidence and they've got it! Drew's bike still has training wheels on it...just not interested right now. ;)



Thursday, June 12, 2008

Awwwwww......


How much is your blog worth???

Here's a contest...just between us friendly bloggers. I found a silly website that will rate your blog by telling you how much money you can make with it. Amazingly, it can tell you what your earnings can be in about 15 seconds!!! WOW!! It, however, does not tell you how to go about "collecting". Hmmmm....

So anyway, it says that my blog can earn me $418. It neglects to tell you how long it would take to earn the $418. So in order to determine if this is a good or bad amount, I ran the calculation based on that dooce.com lady that is pulling in $40,000/month. The site calculated that she would only make $274.

LOL!!!!

Hmmmmm....is that good or bad. I mean, my first reaction, of course is "WOW, my blog is way better than that the dooce lady's blog....I'm gonna to be RICH!!!"....ummmm.....yeah, don't worry, that thought only lasted 1/2 second.

Of course, my next thought was "bummer, there goes my $418, this calculation is a joke". I should have known, it takes longer than 15 seconds to determine the value of my blog....duh.

Finally, my last thought was this could be fun with my blogging friends. Lets all rate our blogs and see who has the most *profitable* blog. Who's in??? Leave a comment with your value. Even if I don't *know* you, I'd love to see your blog and how much $$ it is worth.

Here is the link $$$$$ .

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Gotta Love the Internet!!

Have you seen the Google Maps thing where you can see your house from a satellite picture. Well, if you haven't been on there lately, they've improved it. You can now see your house from a streetview. They haven't done all of the streets yet, but it is very cool.

Here is the house that I grew up in. We moved from it when I was 14. It is much smaller in the picture than in my memory. ;)

**Edited** Actually edited a couple of times, the first time I accidently liked to Mishelle's house. I "stole" this google link from her blog. LOL! Nope, I grew up in a nice house, but it wasn't Mishelle house nice, it was the 70's afterall. Anyway, if the link doesn't come up just right, click on "streetview". When I checked it, it is showing the right corner, but the wrong direction. It is the house on the south, east corner.

Monday, June 9, 2008

I LOVE Salsa!!!

And, after trying every kind of salsa out there. I finally found the very BEST salsa at a Tupperware party that I went to last year. The Tupperware Lady (Michele) was talking about the Quick Chef and she said that she makes the best salsa in her Quick Chef and would be happy to give her recipe to anyone that bought one. I was all over that! As I said, I LOVE salsa and thought it would be so cool to make my own so that I could get it just the way I like it. Buying that Quick Chef was probably one of the best things that I ever got because the salsa is so yummy.
Tupperware Quick Chef


I've had a few people ask me for the recipe. I thought it would be a good idea to put it on here so, that way everyone who wants it can get it and if I lose my paper copy of the recipe, it is forever saved here on my blog. I'm sure that Michele won't mind me sharing this recipe as long as if you need a Quick Chef, order it through her. Here is a link to her site.


Quick Chef Easy Salsa

8 Plum Tomatoes - Quartered (I'm not knowledgable about tomatoes, but I couldn't find plum tomatoes the first time that I made this so, I just bought a package of "4 tomatoes" at SuperTarget. If you go to SuperTarget, you will see what I am talking about. I have no idea what kind of tomatoes they are, they just say "tomatoes" on the package and there is 4.)

1 Jalapeno Pepper - No seeds

1/4 Red Onion

Fresh Cilantro (She didn't specify how much, so I just put in....well....a lot. Again, if you are at Target, I buy the fresh cilantro in the package with the cilantro, in the dirt, and use about 1/2 of it.)


1 Teaspoon Sugar

1 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Yellow/Orange Pepper

1/2 Fresh Lime - Juice (I use 2 Tablespoons of the RealLime juice)

Spin in Quick Chef periodically and then chill before serving.

It is really delicious with the Tostido's Lime Chips....Mmmmmmmmm......Ok, I'm getting hungry now. ;)

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Email From the Year 2032...

You know you were a child of the *new* millenium if .......you wore Crocs.

One of my favorite spam emails has always been "If you were a little girl in the 70's and 80's". I've seen a few different versions of it, and am always really surprised at how they nail it! Here is a link to one that I like because it actually has pictures. I remember all of that stuff!

I was thinking about that email because I bought Charlie a pair of Crocs yesterday. (They look so cute on him!!!)

Buying those trendy(?) shoes, reminded me of Dr. Scholls wood shoes that we all HAD to have when we were little girls and thus reminded me of that old spam email. Anyway, what horrible shoes those Dr. Scholl's were. I can't believe that we wore them!! Mine had the wood bottom, of course, and a red strap with a buckle. Jen's were the same except she had a navy strap. I just remember that they were really hard to walk in because first of all there was no traction so, we would slide all over. Second of all, it was hard to 'grip' the shoes with your toes because they were WOOD so, our feet would slide back and forth and sideways in the shoe. I remember Jen taking a particularly bad tumble one day when her and I were walking home from "Dolton Pool" and boy was she a bloody mess. Maybe we had the *generic* ones. Hmmmm...
If Dr. Scholls made the 70's list, Crocs will surely make the 2000's list. They are so crazy looking and they are EVERYWHERE!!
Webkinz will HAVE to make the list too! We are now up to 23 Webkinz in our house. I wonder what else?

Saturday, June 7, 2008

I'm a good mom too...

I was checking out my friend, Theresa's blog yesterday and was quite impressed with the cool activites that she did with her kids for the first day of summer vacation. She is apparently going to keep it up over summer vacation. I want to be like that, but little hands covered in paint, in my kitchen still gives me nightmares. I'll have to get to work on some good ideas to keep their brains active this summer. I feel like God gave us some pretty smart kids, I'd hate to ruin it by letting them fill up their minds with memorizing more sequences of the DVD Bingo games that they love so much. ;)

So, here is my "I'm a good mom too" contribution. Yesterday, which was our second day of summer vacation, I took the boys to the bookstore for them each to spend a giftcard that they received from Don & Joan for their birthday. If you think about it, there is a lot to learn for a little kid, with his own money, in a bookstore. We actually had a really good time. I mean, it can be quite stressful being in a bookstore with 4 little kids, all going in different directions with decisions to be made and money to spend. But, they all came out of there happy and with appropriate books. Whew! And, I only had to contribute $2.08 to the excursion...Bonus!

Thanks Don & Joan, the boys can't wait to tell you all about what they picked out!!

And, if that is not enough, then we went to Costco for the first of many trips that I plan to make over the summer. My plan is to have a bowl of fruit sitting on the kitchen counter all summer long. That way if someone is *huuuunnnngry*, they can have a good nutritious snack any time they want. Gotta love summer!!!
Yummies from Costco

After we went to Costco, we went to McDonalds. I hope that doesn't reduce my "good mom" status.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Disrupting the Universe...

We decided that with the boys turning 6, it was time to give them a little more room in their bedroom and bunk two of the beds. So, as a surprise to the boys, Spencer bunked them while the boys were at school, on their birthday.


In moving around the furniture, we ended up having to switch around the planets to make room for the upper bunk. Spencer ended up moving the 'sun' to the other end of the room and then we just reversed the plants. We didn't think it was a big deal.


When the boys got home from school, they were very excited. Jack was a bit disappointed that he was going to sleep in the one regular bed first. (We are going to rotate every 2 weeks.) He expressed his disappointment, but then accepted it and laid down on the bed and said "ok, fine, I'll just sleep here on Ben's bed until it's time to move". Huh? We told him that he was not sleeping in 'Ben's bed', it was his bed. He said "no, it's Ben's bed because it is next to the closet door and Ben always has slept next to the closet door". Double HUH? I showed him that it was his bed because it had his red sheets on it and the door it was next to wasn't the closet door, but the bathroom door. He said "but wait, that can't be the bathroom door because the SUN is over there!!!".


Can you believe that!!! The poor child was using the blow-up sun and the entire blow-up solar system as his point of reference in his bedroom. We moved the sun and now he couldn't even find the bathroom!! LOL!! You would have thought that he would have been able to figure it out, it is not like we moved the door from the hallway or the WINDOWS that he has slept right next to for the past 3 years. Nope...the blow-up sun that has been in his room for 6 months! Maybe Jack is a little too smart for his own good. I mean it is great that he recognizes the sun as the best thing to use to find your way, but he needs to realize that a blow-up one doesn't quite work the same way.


Click here for before pictures.

After



Thursday, June 5, 2008

A special request...

A special request...I've never had a request before, I must oblige...

Here is Drew on his 3rd birthday.
He sat just like that, patiently waiting for his turn, which was last,
to hear the "Happy Birthday Dear Drew" song.
You can almost hear the little voice in his head saying
"don't touch the cake...don't touch the cake"

Another 6th Birthday Party...

Speaking of 6th birthday parties, my dad just gave me a disk with all of our old pictures. I'm having a blast looking at all of them. Tonight, I found this one of MY 6th birthday party. I'm sure a couple of you will really enjoy this picture!!
It looks like I must have gotten a watch for by birthday, and I look pretty darn proud of it! Obviously, I'm the one with my arm up in the air and Jen is to my left.

Remebering too much!

Yesterday, Spencer was looking at the boys' report cards. Which by the way, they did very well....smart boys...lucky mom!!! Anyway, he was comparing their number of days absent. Ben and Jack both missed about four and Drew missed only one.

Spencer commented to Drew about how he only missed one day of school.

Drew said "yeah, that was October 30th"

Spencer was a little surprised that Drew remembered exactly what day he missed from school. So, he responded "so, you were sick on October 30th..."

Drew said "well....ya know....I wasn't really sick"

Spencer asked Drew why he didn't go to school if he wasn't sick.

Drew told Spencer that he didn't go to school "because mommy scared me that morning so, I thought I was sick. So, I didn't go to school.".

What the heck!?!?!?! This is the first I am hearing about this! Drew explained that he came in my room that morning and he thought I was in the shower, but I was in the closet so, when I came out I scared him.

Can you believe that!?!?! Spencer thought is was hilarious that I kept Drew from having "perfect attendance" because I scared my 5 year old so bad that he couldn't go to school. Of course, I feel horrible. This is my child that never complains about actually being sick. We never can tell if he has an ear infection or a sore throat, or anything because he just keeps plugging along. But, heaven forbit, mommy is in the closet when she is supposed to be in the shower to scare him into being sick for the day. This job is hard!

Here is a day when Drew really was sick.
March 2004..poor little guy.

Summer Vacation Plans...

Today was the first official day of summer vacation. The boys had their 6 year checkup and a t-ball game tonight. I feel like we have quite a bit going on this summer and I am sure that the time will go by very quickly. I LOVE summer time!! I promise that I will never complain about the heat because I want to reserve the right to complain about the cold all winter. Here in Chicago, winter can pretty much be from Labor Day until Memorial Day. Spencer would tell me that I am exaggerating, and maybe I am exaggerating the fall end of winter, a bit, but he has to admit that spring is pretty non-existent here. Anyway, today was 88 degrees (per my van) and nice and sticky...just the way I like it!

As for our summer plans...

The boys have a week of "Safety Town" coming up the end of June.
They have a week of golf lessons next week.
They have a week of Vacation Bible School in August.

They will continue their piano lessons on Tuesday mornings at 9:35.
Swimming Lessons will be on Wednesday mornings at 9:30, I think.
Karate will continue on Mondays and Wednesdays at 4:30
And, T-Ball is Tuesday and Wedesday nights...Go Phillies!!!

Wow, when I type it all out, it sure looks like a lot! I think that t-ball will definitely keep us busy, but most of the other stuff is 1/2 hour or 45 minutes long. Other than the weeks where we will be a little extra busy with week-long stuff, I'm thinking that we will still have quite a bit of free time to play with friends and take little day trips to the zoo or wherever. We also spent a lot of time at the pool last summer and I'm hoping to do that again this summer. Since Charlie still naps on most days between 1-3:30, I scheduled a few morning things to jump-start our day so that we can get to the pool before Charlie is DONE(!).

Oh yeah, one more BIG plan for our schedule is our week in OC, NJ at the end of July....that can't come soon enough!!! Love that trip!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Look Out 1st Grade...

Here they come!!!


Today was the last day of kindergarten. Wow, that went fast! It was a very successful year and we couldn't have been happier with their teachers and overall experience. The boys seem to have some mixed emotions about being done with school for the summer. They are excited to have the free time and to go to the pool, but they will miss school. I wonder if this is the last year for "missing school" over summer break.
Their teachers were *nice* enough to let the kids take home a 'blow-up letter person' from their classroom. The kids could either pick a letter person or pick something from the surprise box. Of course, my boys thought that having a letter person was just about the coolest thing in the world. How did the teachers know that 3 letter people were exactly what we needed to have in our house after trying to find space for all of the presents from the "ultimate birthday party" last week? I think we might need a bigger house!! Notice in the picture, their friend Kyle is also holding his 'prize' from the surprise box. It is a skinny green balloon. Not my kids...NOPE...Big Blow-Up Letter People! LOL!! I'm just teasing, we are thrilled to have our new letter people additions...but, it is pretty funny. Lisa, if you still read this, I hope you have a good time blowing up that skinny green balloon over and over again. We got one last week. ;)

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

1st Tee Ball Game Today!!!

The first, real t-ball game for my oldest children was scheduled for tonight at 6:15. This is a big deal. We have been talking about it all day. We made sure that we knew where the uniforms were as well as the mitts and hats. I made dinner early, Daddy left work to make it home on time. The boys and I even practiced some batting this afternoon. The boys were even in the car EARLY to leave for the game. I guess that I shouldn't really say early though because Jack and Drew did end up jumping out to use the bathroom one last time and then Drew had to go back inside to get his mitt. Good thing there is not a lot of equipment to bring for t-ball. Anyway, we made it to the field with a few minutes to spare, or so we thought....

Unfortunately, it rained quite a bit this afternoon and the "powers that be" decided that the skies didn't look to good this evening. And, really unfortunately, somehow, we got missed when the phone calls cancelling the game were made. How does that happen...one phone call...20% of the team done...I think I'd be makin' that phone call first.

Well, we ended up doing what any other mom and dad would do with a car full of kids that were bummed about not playing their 1st t-ball game...we went to Good 'Ole Mickey D's for some ice cream. They perked up quickly.





After McDonalds, we went home to play out in front for a little while. I kept yelling at them to get off the grass with their baseball pants on. I felt like Kate from "Jon & Kate + 8"...ahhh!!! I really don't mind if they get grass stains on baseball pants, but I would at least like them to wear them for an actual game before they get them stained. ;)

The boys got a basketball hoop for their birthday from Spencer and I so, they decided to play that because no grass stains!! The big news of the night turned out to be that the first official basket was made by one of the boys. Ben made a nice little shot right into the hoop. Yay!! Jack and Drew are still working on it. Jack is determined to make a basket one day very soon. He is getting closer but needs to get the ball up just a few more inches.

Here is a picture of the boys *playing defense*. They are all ready for the rebound. LOL!

And, just in case you were wondering, no, we were not out playing basketball in the rain. It never did rain again...grrrr. I'll have to post again on Thursday when their "First Official T-Ball Game II" is supposed to happen.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

As long as I'm on a roll....

Here is one more picture. This picture was taken in July 2005.
The boys were 3 years old. Notice the outfit that Jack is wearing, then look at the picture in the my previous post of Charlie from yesterday....Charlie will be 2 in July.

I'm a postin' fool tonight....

Cathy took a few more pictures yesterday...like about 250. I had to post a few more of the extra cute ones.

Don't worry, I'm putting some of the babies in too...