Now that's the life!

Mimi and Papa you might want to turn the music off. This one is for you!

This is where we headed after the recital.........
50th Wedding Anniversery of Todd's Aunt and Uncle!
(Man standing is Uncle Jonnie, my MIL's brother, and the middle lady sitting is his wife, June)
The others in the picture are 'the sisters'....well, some of them! There are 13 sisters in total and one brother! Talk about a rush for the bathroom mirror!

Eating with Grandmom!

Delaney's 1st swim class!!!!!!!!!! Which she LOVED!

The rose inbetween the thorns! NOT that Delaney cannot keep up with a class full of boys! She is more likely to just push them in if they mess with her!

And some summertime fun!

I know! I know!!

The kids are off for the summer and I have spent my week running around like a chicken without a head. And little time to come on the computer.

But I have pictures of Delaneys recital and swim classes. And so I don't bore you in all one session, I will do a two part!

Delaneys did so well on her recital! As I started to get her dressed she didn't want to go. Grandmom was here and she thought that mean we were going to church. She did NOT want to get a tutu on to go dance! That took some fighting, explaining and tears. But she finally got dressed and off we went.

She sang. She danced. And when it was all over she proudly announced "I DID IT MOMMY!!!!"

She did do it. And I was very proud of her.

So here she is......

And just in case you cannot find her, she is the tallest one in the class, third in from the left, with the head piece over almost over her face. I am not sure if that was an accident or if she was trying to hide but I found her. And it probably drew more attention to her in the end cause a child with a red rag over her face standing on a stage and dancing, is more likely to draw the eyes of people!! But I won't tell her that!

They don't look nothin' like I know!

Last night I was doing a late load of laundry and didn't feel like hiking upstairs while I waited for one to dry. So I picked up the clicker and turned on the tube. It is just the start of summer and already there is nothing much on. I spent a good 10 min clicking through the channels trying to find something. ANYthing! I finally settled on Bravo!'s Real Housewifes of NJ. I live in NJ. I am sorta a housewife. Sounded good to me. WRONG!

Seriously. Have you ever seen this show? I haven't till last night and I can see why. I sat amazed and shook my head while about 6 women and their families gathered for a dinner. Which was, in fact, an attack of the cats. Tables were thrown, foul words flew and yelling was galore! All while their kids sat there with their tiny mouths hanging open! Then they would shoot to clips of private interviews with these people and the kids would say something like "I was so proud of my mom. She stood up for herself and didn't take no crap from anyone!" Cause...yeah....they are seeing such wonderful examples of parenthood!

Now, let me just say, I live in NJ and I do not ever see women like these!

Of course I am not an offical housewife. I am a work at home mom. Cause changing diapers, cleaning house, chasing kids, doing laundry AND getting paid for it puts me in a whole other catagory. But, I like to think, I have my foot in the door of housewives and unless they are hiding from me, I have never met one of these women!

I know many who proclaim being a housewife as a profession. And I cannot say I have EVER seen a women like the ones I watched last night. Let alone 6 in one room! These women were mean, catty, well dressed, and face tucked. Where did they find these moms?

The women I know are jean, sports pants, tees, sneakers, PTA kinda moms. They are seen getting out of minivans at the park with juice boxes in one hand and a stroller in the other. They don't drive fancy cars, have face lifts or talk like they are from New York!

Ok I do know one mom that I secretly call "Barbie Mom" whos daughter is in my daughters dance class. She is about as close to these women, look wise, as one can get. Blonde, middle aged, dresses like a teen in size 3 pants and a pink cell phone in hand. BUT she is about as sweet as can be. I have to say I have never heard her cuss or throw a table or talk like she should be on the Sopranos.

When they say reality TV, I wonder whos reality they are looking into? Cause they don't look nothin' like I know!

So the next time I am bored and click onto Housewives of Beverly Hills....I will take it with a grain of salt. Cause maybe their reality isn't real either!

In the meantime I am going to be on the hunt for these elusive Housewives of NJ. They must be hiding!

WHAT did you say?!!

O-M-GOOSH!!!!

It is offical.

I am old!

When did this come to happen? I am not going to get to experience the "but I FEEL like I am 20" world already???? It cannot be! It is way too soon!

It was not long ago I was the cool mom. The mom that she looked up too. The mom who could do anything and knew who the Jonas brothers were and watched High School Musical over pizza in our pjs! When did I become a dorky mom??

Apparently it was at 7am this morning.....June 16th in the year 2009!

As I was brushing Megans hair up into a ponytail she complained that she didn't want it up too high. I laughed and said that I was going to pull it up like Madonna.

And her comment was..........



WHO IS MADONNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Seriously?? Seriously!!!

Madonna....the 80's icon pop star. The breaker of rules in the 90's. The powerful woman who stands her ground of the 2000's. The woman isn't DEAD! She still sings. She still performs. She even made out with Brittney! Megan knows Brit!

Ok...maybe that might not be the best example!

*sigh*

This morning my lovely 11 year old daughter offically pushed me into the world of 'old'!

When "Like a Virgin" makes it to the golden oldies station on the radio then I know I am done for!

My baby can sing!

This weekend we had the Cherub Choir concert for children's day at church. You never know with Delaney on what you might get. Sometimes she sings and most times not. Actually I can only think of one time that her lips were moving and then I am not sure if she was singing the song everyone else was or just talking to herself! BUT she doesn't cry or run off the alter and she loves being with her friends and so, we got up early and headed to church to see what may...or may not happen.

Well she sang! And she sang sweet. After all, nothing can be more cute than a 4 year old in a watermelon dress singing Sweet Low Sweet Cheriot while pulling the hem of her dress over her head at the front of the church!

When we arrived there were little stations around the church set up with sidewalk chalk so that you could leave a message to your little one.

Here is Delaneys pimped up pink scooter. Yes Mommy over did it. And yes I realize I have an issue with going overboard but I cannot control myself. And besides...it was cute! And I held back. I did. I wanted pink ribbons all over it too but only had time for one!

And here she is taking her ride in her pimped up scooter as the Grand Finale!!

Afterwards there was swimming and food and cupcakes and games!! All for the kids while moms and dad sat around and talked and took tons of pictures!

Might I add at this point that Delaney was the ONLY child that got in and never got out till it was time to leave. All the other kids took breaks cause the water was so cold. Not Delaney. By the time we called it quits, she was looking like a blue prune and loving every sec of it! At this point....go back to my swim lesson post! Those teachers have no clue what they are in for!

And then night came and there was more than one tuckered out person it would seem!

Now turn down your volume and experience the most sought after mucial video of Delaney singing!

What I have not done!

It is already Thur. and this week is almost over. Already. It seems to be speeding by faster than I can move. Doesn't Mother Nature know that I have a check list of things to do?? My alarm goes off each morning and before I know it, my jammies are calling my name. PMS does not seem to be helping my slow-mo attitude. Kinda hard to get much done when you are sitting and daydreaming about a Hershey chocolate bar! *sigh* Giant sized Hershey Chocolate Bar!!!

I wanted to get that playroom done. As in painted, decorated, toys sorted and looking child friendly. NOT! It is STILL not finished!!! God is so playing with Todd and I. It seems He was bored lately and needed a good laugh! Cause no matter how many coats of primer and paint we put on that wall, the old purple color keeps showing through. Seriously...how many coats does it take to cover purple? Apparently more than 4! I have to have the ugliest playroom and messiest basement at this very moment and just pray I do not get a phone call for a new parent position in my daycare anytime soon or I will have to try and explain the ugly purple streaks that keep looking back at us! Todd has declared that it is all my fault and I should have just thrown a boarder up over the stencil and kept the room purple! How COULD I do this to him! And, at this point, I have to say.....and listen carefully cause it is rare you will ever hear this again.........I might be starting to agree with him. And don't try telling him that cause I will just deny it! But there is no turning back at this point. This room WILL be cream if it the last thing we do! I swear it!

I wanted to pack away all the winter clothes by now and be done with that and laundry. This is a job I hate. It is so time consuming. Two girls and myself. That is a lot of clothes!!! If I am smart I would sort the things that I know is too small and give those away now rather than pack them....but no one said I was smart. It takes so much time and I have little of that it would seem! So I just throw it all in those large ziplock bags....which BTW have to be the bestest invention in the world right about now.....and write winter clothes on the front with the girls name and off to the basement they go. The messy basement. That has no place to move cause I have to take time to sort that too! But it isn't upstairs! And that is all that is important at the moment. Nothing like moving the mess from one place to another for another checklist of to-do's. And just when I thought I was all done one night, sitting on the sofa relaxing and tired from my job well done and ready for bed, I realized that I forgot a whole load of MY clothes. Which were still sitting on the bed. Which are now sitting on my floor cause there was no way I was lugging that downstairs at that hour. Not when The Nanny on Nick at Night was calling me! Cause nothing is more important at 11pm at night than The Nanny. And the prospect of my bed. So that is my job at some point today! Get the clothes off my floor!

This doesn't even cover the things I want done. I have the cabinet in my kitchen that I have been trying to clean out for over a year so I can put my breadmaker that I no longer use, in there. Cause I wouldn't want to give it away. Not if there was some possibility I would get the time or energy to actually make fresh bread again one day! There is touch ups in the girls room that need to still be done from when we painted in there and all work stopped due to Megans tonsil surgery. And of course.............the basement. Which has to be done within the next week or two to give the older kids, who will be home from school at that point, a place to go so that I do not have to listen to them all day long. The basement is a MUST. For my own sanity!

I could so go on! I just don't have the time it seems! My to-do list just keeps growing and making my list on my blog is not on there! Although, perhaps I should put it on. Then I would be able to actually check something OFF!

The joy of a new swimsuit

It is that time of the year. And don't we all just love the job of hunting for that new swimsuit?? Makes little difference if you are a size 3 or a size 33. We all put that swimsuit on, stand in front of the carnival mirror in the dressing room with our pale winter skin and cry!

I almost forgot I had to get a swimsuit. I believe that was my brains way of trying to hide from the horror that was to come! Then I came home from that big shopping spree about two weeks ago and realized that I had to replace my swimsuit from last year. Actually I believe I have to replace TWO of them but I took tiny steps and we went with one. Plus...it took everything in me to get just that one as it was!

I went to Kohls just up north of me. And you would have thought a hurricane had gone through that store! I have never seen such a mess! I hunted for a good hour and finally gave up.

I trugged last night to the Kohls closer to me and it wasn't as bad. They must have nicer and more sympathic store workers there. They had tried their best to keep the bottoms with the tops and the sizes together. Course they were on the wrong hangers which made going to the dressing room interesting. Nothing can be much more depressing than to try on a size 10, for example, only to realize it was on the wrong hanger and you just spent 20 min trying to squeeze your butt into a size 5!

I must have tried on 8 swimsuits or more. Either the tops was ok but the bottom didn't fit. Or the bottom fit but the top was too big. And what is with this years style of low cut tops!? Whoever designed these things obviously was a man without boobs! And without young children that use your swimsuit top to hold onto while they kick their legs in the pool! Or ever run after a child on the beach!!!!! That little thin shoestring was NOT going hold my girls in. Not with the gapping, low cut, plunge to your midrib cage style that I had going on! Seriously! Like they were not going to flop out for a peek the 1st time I bend over to pick up a shovel in the sand!

My 20 year old perky boobs are a thing for history books! Ok....maybe not the history books but you get the idea! Momma needs SUPPORT! Dare I say is? I am knocking on the door of old lady swimsuits! *GASP*

Well there was no way I was going in THAT department. Not yet. They will have to drag me there 1st. So, for over an hour, I squeezed my butt....and boobs....into every little youthful swimsuit I could find. I hunted in desperation for that perfect swimsuit that was cute, young and fresh but offered more than a thin spaghetti strap! I finally found one.

I think. Cause you know you have to stare at yourself in that carnival mirror for a good 15 min more to try and envision yourself in real life with that swimsuit on. Bend over and make sure the girls stay in. Squat so that you know there is no wedgy when you bend over for that shovel. All that while chasing your 4 yr old in the dressing room who is crawling under the stalls! Then you pay for it, with doubt in your heart, and take it home.

That is when the truth is seen. In real light. In a real mirror. Without the distraction of your 4 yr old to take your mind off what is about to happen. And you spend another 15 min looking at yourself to decide if indeed this one is it! And if it gets the thumbs up on the look....the real test..........the pool!

I haven't gotten there yet. The swimsuit is still in the bag. I am stalling. I know. But sometime today I have to take it out......

Pray I do not have to go back again. Looking for that swimsuit is just too much like work!

Sunday

After a week of rain, thunderstorms, rain, cold, and some more rain....it was nice to have a day like this!

NO! This is not me hiding in an 11 year olds skinny no stretch mark body!


Nor is this me in the chunky monkeys little pin up layout!



I do not play badmitton either (and neither does Cherokee it would seem!)...........

Or jump in the COLD freezing water with a smile on my face!

Come to think of it...most of these were taken with my lazy summer butt sitting in a chair with a glass of iced tea beside me. And that is ok with me. I am getting to old to think about bikinis or working up a sweat moving in some sort of outside game! Just me and a good book makes me happy once in a while!

I will have to remember these, though, cause it will be the last nice day for another week!

Cross country equals moving ones body! Fast!

Megan came home last week and declared that she wanted to try a sport in the middle school next year. Ok. It is, after all, the middle school and they offer little there at this point. In an excited voice she tells me she is going to do cross country.

Now this is the same girl that can't even make it out to the van when I say '5 min call'!
She moves like a snail!

I explain that cross country means long distance. As in running 3 miles or more. With the goal to be the 1st at the finish line. Not the 1st to pass out! After running 3 miles or more. Without stopping. Or texting.

This child takes an hour shower. Another 45.6 mins to get dressed. And is STILL sitting there without shoes on or her teeth brushed when the bus is pulling up. And she wants to RUN long distance?! Ok........I admit it. I tried so very hard not to laugh at my daughter!

Never in this lifetime would Megan EVER survive cross country!
She would be the poor team member that the coach sends out knowing that this team will not win because of her but keeps her on for trying all the same. She would be the team member who got no awards except for the 'most improved' cause there was nothing else to give her but a made up award in the end! She would be the one walking through the end while all the team members waited.

No. I felt it my duty to support the middle school cross country team and keep my daughter off it! Someday the coach will thank me!

But I didn't want to discourage my daughter from trying new things. So I told her to go for the track instead. She as the legs for it. It is more sprinting and jumping. And if the coach can get the cell out of her hand, she just might WIN something. And Megan will be happy cause in between events she still might have time to put on that next coat of nailpolish!

One must always encourage their children to try new things right?

Sorry Mr. Track Coach. Someone had to be sacrificed! It looks like it will be you! I will make you the most awesome cheesecake to make up for it. I promise!

Swim lessons

Well we opened the pool! Not that it is warm enough for MY butt to be sitting in that cold water anytime soon! But kids don't seem to notice the cold. They will jump in with a smile on their face while their lips turn the loveliest shade of blue and insisting they are NOT cold!

Ryan was the 1st daring person to take the plunge. Megan to follow. So Delaney shouted that she LOVED cold water too and ran to her room to grab that new swimsuit with the tags still on it. I insisted on the full swimsuit cause, well, it covers more and in my insane way, believes she just might stay warmer a few seconds longer than in a bikini!

As she is putting the swimsuit on and ripping off the tags, I start blowing up the little tube. She declares in a huff that she does NOT need a tube. She is going to swim like Ryan! Yeah. Just a reminder that she is 4 and the pool comes up to my midribs standing and I am 5ft 9in. So I tell her that if she wants to go in that pool she either wears her tube or the lifejacket. No way! She can swim she tells me! I tell her there is no other options. She runs around the room "swimming" and telling me she can do it..............And so the battle begins.

As she is insisting she can swim without some sort of floatation, all the horror memories from last summer flooded back. The climbing up the ladder to get in the pool on her own! And then getting a kitchen chair to get in when the gate was locked!!!! The following her 11 year old sister and friend in the lake up to her chin and me having a heart attack when she fell under the murky water and disappeared only to have her jump back up, wipe her face off and smile at me!! The time she decided she did not need the tube and took it off and went under in the pool!!!! My heart was beating 100mph and I broke out in a sweat at just the memories of it! How could I have forgotten! What was I thinking not to remember all that!? This child has NO fear! And last year I swore I would duck tape the life jacket to her for the rest of the summer just to give me peace of mind!

As she trudged outside with the tube in place, I ran for the phone and called the local YMCA for swim classes with about as much urgency as someone calling 911!!

The lady on the phone asks me what I expect from the class so that she knew where to place Delaney. Did I want her to swim with a parent? Did I want her to swim on her own? Holly Moley........YES! I told her that since she seemed to think she could just jump in the pool and do everything her 16 yr old brother did.....I wanted her to be able to do everything on her own so that should she get in a jam she would know what to do. They bumped her up to the Pike class. I asked the lady what happened if she advanced out of it.....I think the lady probably thought I was 'one of those moms' who thought their child was so advanced. But I see Delaney. I know what is coming. And they have no clue what a daredevil they will have on their hands in a few weeks time! She obviously already knows how to hold her breath which means she will be doing that ahead of the other kids who have never stuck their head under water. She had no fear, so letting go and going for it isnt' going to hold her back any! And I would not put it past her to be jumping in from the side, which is something she cannot do in my above ground pool! Oh yeah....she is going to take to this like a fish!

Mom on the other hand might need to take a drink or two to get through this one!

Eating at my house is at your own risk

The other morning I was getting cereal for Delaney and she wanted to help me. So while I am pouring the cereal in the bowl, she goes to the fridge, called Cherokee (my dog) and brings the milk over to the counter. This, of course, caught my attention and I waited to see what the dog had to do with all this?

While she gets a chair and opens the milk, Cherokee is waiting beside her in anticipation. Then she takes the milk cap and holds it down to Cherokee to lick! And my guess is, since the dog seemed to know what was going to happen, that this was a secret routine between them for a while.

I envisioned all the lids in this house that had been shared with the dog and, heaven forbid, what else there was with licked dog germs on it. It would seem that to a 4 year old there is no boundries when sharing something yummy with a loved one.

NO it is not a practice I encourage. And I explained that we do not share our food with the dog and why.

But I am guessing from the squeel of laughter and this video that she still is lovingly sharing with her friend.

Cherokee is no fool! She knows a good deal when she's got one!

(You can turn off music volume if you need too)

Just Behr and me

Now that we have gotten past the whole tonsil monster ordeal, it was time to get back to reality. For me that meant back down in the basement to attack, clean up, sort and paint. I am so over the whole painting and sorting thing. After a month of it, the excitement has just kinda left me. It is summer and the outside is calling my name. I closed my eyes for three weeks and can no longer put off what must be done. So I either attack now or do it when the weather is perfect and I am then stuck downstairs doing what I should have done weeks prior. Why put off today what you can do tomorrow, right!? (was that right? Sounded good to me!)

So I sucked it up, put on my paint clothes AGAIN, grabbed some inspiring music to get me in the groove and unhappily trugged downstairs to paint. I didn't feel like moving the whole entire room of toys so I shoved to one side. Figured I could paint 1/2 the room and then decorate it and have the toys moved back by the end of the day. That was my goal.

I clicked on the jams, dipped the brush and started. I happily got 1/2 the room painted and looked around and saw that my efforts were ruined. The room would easily require another coat!!!!! *sigh* So much for getting 1/2 the room painted AND decorated and put back.

By lunch I gave in to hunger and two whinny girls calling for hotdogs. I saddly packed up the brushes and paint and looked around. I would be spending another day, maybe two, in that room. So much for goals!




Cute, huh? Sure makes ME wanna spend time in there playing!

I WILL get it done....I WILL get it done.

Maybe if I keep saying it, it might actually happen!