My February Ramblings

• What is it about February and the weather that has made my kids crazy? We have had some of the oddest "lessons" lately, that I thought we had already covered, but, here I am, doing this all over again.
  
• I am starting to feel that I really need a maid. Need is probably not the right word. REALLY WANT a maid. The only problem is that my home is not maid-ready. I would have to clean/organize BEFORE the maid could come and clean. Sigh. Anyone up for either of those jobs?
  
• Why yes, I did just have a birthday. Milestone too. It was quite lovely, and no, I didn't cry. I don't feel old....yet. I took the kids to the House of Bounce and had friends and family all around the whole day, and ended the day with dinner with my mom, sisters, sister-in-law and new neice. We stayed out for hours, and it was just wonderful! We haven't done that in forever. I don't have any pictures of the "new me" yet, but I will do that soon. Tommy keeps making jokes that we "haven't been here since you've turned 30" or such nonsense. You know what's funny? I have a great group of friends, and I am the oldest of our group! That is just so weird to me.
  
• I have been thinking about what I am going to get myself for my birthday, and am realizing that there is a theme for my gift requests. For Christmas I asked for an attachment to my Dyson vacuum for my kitchen floors (I LOVE it!). Now, I want one of those Shark steam mops to use AFTER I vaccuum. LOL I must be getting old! I just want practical gifts.
  
• The snow is finally melting. It's mostly the big piles at the corners and in the front yards in our neighborhoods. Call me crazy, but I miss it. I loved seeing all the whiteness outside, and remembering the fun we had. I kind of wish it would snow again.....(ducking for cover before someone in my area throws a snowball at my head!)
• Lent is upon us, and I have yet to begin anything. I know. It's terrible. But, to be honest, I have come to discover (in my old age) that each penitential season, I don't usually pick my own penance. God almost always sends something my way to work on, and though I may not always listen, I do notice, and really want to try. I need to help my kids understand the meaning of "giving up" for Lent, because though we had a manger and straws to do during Advent, they really didn't get it. I read a great idea from a new blog I found, and I think I would like to implement something similar. I think a trip to the craft store is in order!

To The Alarm Clock

Dear Tommy's Alarm Clock,

He is not home. Really. He's not here. I promise. You don't need to go off at 5AM. I know you have this internal program that tells you that you MUST go off during the week, but He's.Not.Here. I am not sure how to work you, so I thought I had the best solution for this week. Can you please explain to me how you STILL went off at 5 after I unplugged you??!?! I'm pretty sure I wasn't dreaming because I made sure to look at my own clock before I crawled to that side of the bed to shut it off. Really? I mean, REALLY? I know it's Lent, and it may be a time for more penances, so I should accept it as such, but it's hard.

Could you please get your act together for the next couple days?

Very respectfully,
The sleeping momma-that-just-may-throw-you-out-the-window-if-you-try-that-again

"Massanuthin" Weekend

I kept telling the kids we were going to Massanuten, but they kept saying massanuthin' and it made me laugh. We had planned a trip with the Iveys and Matt Wilson for the long weekend. Little did we know that we would be indoors and Tommy would be home for the whole week before! The house belongs to Matt's parents and it was just perfect for our weekend. I loved that it was a winter wonderland around the ski resort with all the lovely mountains around. Our day trip was to Luray, which I had never been to before.
The kids were really excited, but kept asking us if it was real rocks, or just pretend. LOL

This is the Dream Lake, the formations are on the ceiling!

See the headsets? There was a version for the adults and one for the kids. The latter was WAY more entertaining!
Here's the Iveys! Susan, Mike and Lauren (and baby due soon!).

This was Patrick's favorite: The Fried Eggs!

Here's Wilson and Patrick! My camera doesn't do the caverns justice.

Lauren and William played so well together! Look how cute.

We played LOTS of Wii, and William was right in the thick of it too! See those pajamas William has on? Those are his "football" pajamas that he loves because it has the redskins and footballs, his favorite things. Well, one night while we were there, he found them in my suitcase, pulled them out and brought them to me, saying "footballs, footballs." He was already in pajamas, so I just put them aside. He got very frustrated and kept repeating the same thing, and handing me the pajamas. Finally, he points to the pajamas and pats on his legs to get the point across (all the time repeating "footballs" over and over, each time with more emphasis) that he wants to wear them. I said, "okay, but you have to lie down" and he did just that. I put them underneath his other pajamas. All night he kept patting his legs and saying "footballs" in a very contented tone. That kid is too funny.

After Sunday Mass, most of us went Tubing. Emma absolutely loved every minute of it, and Patrick was done after 2 times. The kids called my mom to talk about it, and while Emma was telling her that she did something "twice, no, three times" Patrick corrected her and said "thrice." What a kid! I wished I had brought my camera to capture their fun on the slopes. It was a great weekend, with much needed time away.

Sing with me now: "Let it snow, let it snow!"

Call me crazy, but I love snow. I love being at home in the nice warm house with my family and watching the snow fall from inside. The snowstorm which dumped 32" of snow in our area was soo pretty to see! I was amazed at the amount, but it was just lovely.

We had some great plans for our snow day, but the power had other ideas. So, our day was spent bundling up inside as well as out. For about 12 hours we were without power. Tommy spent the day shoveling and trying to figure out where to put all this snow. (There's a photo that shows piles and piles of snow on either side. The left are the cars and the right are the piles in the front yards.) The kids were playing outside with all of the other neighbors who were out of doors as well, since we were all without power. I spent the day hanging wet clothes that wouldn't dry and fielding the same questions from the kids: "Why won't the stereo/light in the fridge/clock on the oven/light in the bathroom work?" It was pretty funny. My favorite conversation was when I heard Emma on the phone with my Dad who offered to loan us some of his power. I don't think she understood, but to hear her tell about Mommy shoveling, and the lights out, it was too cute. We had some wonderful family time, and it was really nice to go out and chat with our neighbors. (On a side note, we have AWESOME neighbors! They let me kids help them shovel and brush snow off, because they wanted to help, and they were just so kind. I would like to think of this as a bonding experience.) Our dinner was served by candle light which included a mix of all the scented candles I had on hand, of which I seem to have quite a few! LOL Thankfully, the power went back on before the REALLY cold night. I have to admit I was happy to go to bed with the hum of my dishwasher and heater lulling me to sleep.

One of the neat things that came from the storm happened the following day. We were invited to watch the Super Bowl at our neighbor's house! It was so great, and the kids had so much fun in a different house with a change of scenery and toys. It was just nice to sit and chat with such a great couple and their son who is Patrick's age (he's in the sledding picture).

Can I tell you that I am excited that we have another storm coming through with about 10-20" more?? ;)

The Most Roaring Car!

Patrick had his first Pinewood Derby race today. He and Daddy worked really hard on the car. Patrick picked the shape and design and Tommy (and Emma) helped with the painting. The cars were really amazing, and the theme was "Heroes." I was impressed with all the different designs of heroes, and Patrick decided he wanted to make his hero the Tiger Cubs (which, is the name of his pack, er, den? Something. He's called a Tiger Cub right now. :)
His car is second from the right (it's sitting backwards). It has Tigers and stripes on it. This is pre-stripes (can you tell it's a tiger?). Emma "helped" paint some more with no supervision. I'm not sure which stripes were her doing. It's still kind of cool.
The judges voted on the cars the night before, and Patrick won the "Most Roaring Car" award. I love this photo.

The side of the car says "Tiger Cubs" but the wheels covered some of it up. Patrick raced 6 times and won 2 of the six. Here is a video of one of his wins! My favorite part is the "good sportsmanship" part at the end of the race. Each boy did that after each race and the proud mommy in me loved it. (I only got to see a couple races since I had to work. I was grateful that Tommy filmed one for me!)

The Train Show

Our family decided to go visit the local train show. It was a really neat show, but there were TONS of people there. I think it's funny to see all the old men with their "toys" and how much pride they have in them. William wasn't really sure what to make of it, but we had just brought out all the trains in the basement and a few with us. The more trains we saw, the tighter he held his train and starting making "choo-choo" sounds.

I love all the detail of the train sets.

Patrick was really interested in the trains, but he wanted to keep moving. It was a stop here, look and just keep going. It was kind of funny, because once he got a flyer from somebody with a map in it, then he was ready to stop.

Thomas model train.

This one's for Dave!

We waited in a very long line to ride the Thomas train. The kids loved it!

Can you see how many people were there? We visited with the Iveys afterward and had dinner at Chuck E Cheese (mommy had a few Tylenol that day to help her along) where the guys played basketball and ski-ball. We always have a great time with the Iveys, and Chuck E Cheese is always fun!

In the car today:
Emma: Mommy, what do we wear when we die?
Me: (distracted) What, Emma?
Emma: Do we wear clothes?
Patrick: Of course we do! We get Saint's clothes!

(I just thought this was adorable!)

Sunday Ramdomness

It's time for some more of my mumblings and ramblings! January is here, so it's time to start the new year right. :)

• My skin is finally starting to clear up. I think I have the hang of this sebhorraic dermatitis thing. I HAVE to wash my face 2x a day, and I need the thickest moisturizers to keep my skin from going crazy. It still peels a little, but definitely not as bad as it was. I am so grateful that I finally got some answers.
• Thanks to all of you who have been so sweet and joined in the meme!
• We have a dilemma, and we can't seem to find a good solution. One of my kids got a gift at Christmas and it is something we have already, or like it. I have tried almost every.single.store in our area, and nobody seems to carry this toy. My first thought was Toys R Us, but they won't take it back without a receipt or a phone number. Really?? It was a GIFT. I KNOW you carry this thing, why can't you just help me! So frustrating.
• I have a milestone birthday coming up. It makes me laugh because it seems like it's a bigger deal to other people than it is to me, and Emma is the first one to remind me that I about to be older. I would like to throw a big bash, but February is such a busy month with all the other family birthdays, Mason basketball games, work days, and a little thing called Lent. Tommy has actually planned a family weekend with some friends (the weekend before my birthday), but my fears is that the weekend will end up like this trip on Shannon's blog (I LOVE this blog) but with much younger kids, and no fun reading time, just chasing-the-toddlers-around time.
• I am on time with all of Patrick's school grades! I feel so good that we are doing well, and he has all A's in his subjects. Thank goodness it's only first grade! LOL We are going to apply again at our parish's Catholic School (we are on the wait list from last year) and we will see what happens. I am really glad I have had this time with my kids if they are off to school next year, and I feel REALLY good if I need to/want to continue homeschooling. My mom homeschooled all of my siblings at one time or another, and I knew I wanted to try it. I know I am not some of my sisters who are so smart and can teach just about anything and at any grade level, but I know I can do what I need to. I think I could do a whole post about this, so I'll stop here. LOL I had no idea that I was going to type so much about this.
• We have done some re-arranging of seats in the van, and it used to be just William in the middle seat. Patrick and Emma used to play/argue in the back seat and it was usually pretty private for Tommy and me to have a conversation in the front seats. Now, Patrick is next to William and REALLY involved in our conversations. I forget sometimes until he chimes in with a question about what we are discussing. Oops. LOL

This is a test

It's only a test, and an easy one at that. I found this at Margaret's blog and I thought I would share in the fun. I would love to see some more of you comment, so I am going to try a test. (let's see how this goes).

Here it is: Leave a one-word comment (excluding “Fuzzy”) that you think best describes me. That's all! I will be happy to participate in YOURS, so join in the meme!

Thanks!

(we have a stomach bug going through our home, so I am looking for a small distraction. I am feeling like the-cleaner/catcher-for-all-kinds-of-bodily-fluids, so I am *hoping* for a different result)

And the award for bad mommy goes to....

..the mommy who finally took her son to the shoe store and discovered that his new size 6 1/2-7 feet will NOT fit in his current size 4 1/2 shoe. Oh man.....

Life as Wii know it

We love it. Really. We love having the Wii, though I admit I did fight the purchase of it. I was unsure of how it would work out with the homeschooling and chores, but I admit, it has been really nice. It's so much fun to play together and it keeps the kids from making a big mess (sometimes). Even William gets into the action! He grabs a Wii-mote (why does that make me giggle every time I say it? Tommy has to make a little stop in the middle because he says he feels funny saying. Try it. It will make you laugh) and starts waving it in the air like we do, and he is so proud of himself. I have to admit that I use the Wii for leverage to get certain things done around the house because it is so new, and the excitement is still there. Patrick is a whiz with the games, and when he is the #1 wii-mote - oh boy, watch out! He wields that power well.

We have some really great games, but I have to say my favorite is Toy Story Mania. It's like the ride at Disneyworld and it makes me laugh and feel like I am at a carnival and WDW all over again. The other games are fun (Sports, Resort), but I like this one the best. I am not very athletic and when I go to play the sports, I get this feeling of being back in school: the last one picked for a team, everyone's just waiting for you to finish your turn because they know you aren't going to hit the ball/shoot/whatever very well, let's just get on with it. It's terrible! I get a little competitive, but it frustrates me that I have so much trouble with those. (LOL I get frustrated easily) But when Tommy gets up there, he is always good at the games, and he must get the opposite feeling: the crowd is hushed, the outfielders move back, closer to the walls, the archers are sure to move out of the way all because the BIG MAN is up! We want him on OUR team! It's fun to watch him play because he does do so well.

I like that we have something "cool" at our home since I never had any kind of computer or video games growing up (we did have Pac-Man, but I don't remember playing it). I love sharing it with the others and so does Patrick. If we have anyone come to the house they are immediately bombarded with "doyouwanttoplayWii? whataboutWiisports? OrwehavesupermariobrothersandwecanplaythatbutIdon'tlikethislevelsoI
won'tplaythatone." Do you think the excitement will die down anytime soon? If I know my son, the answer is nope.

ETA: We are doing Adjectives in English right now. We had an exercise that required writing your own adjective for the noun "home." Patrick's answer: the Wii home. Google is a verb, why can't Wii be an adjective??

He did it again

The family went to a George Mason basketball game yesterday. Patrick was a bit upset about a snack that made its way to the seats we were in, and I was trying to calm him down. I said there were 3 more quarters left in the game, and we could get something later, or not at all. Patrick says, "No, Mommy, that's football. There are only 2 halves in this game."

Drat. Why can't I get it right?