I Am Original/ Day 1

Straight off.......I totally hacked this idea from another blog.  I might be original in technical terms, but my ideas aren't. 
The plan is to follow this little formula in order to boost my blogging.  I am sure it will take me more than the alloted 30 days.

day 1- recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself

day 2- the meaning behind your blog name
day 3- a picture of you and your friends
day 4- a habit that you wish you didn’t have
day 5- a picture of somewhere you've been to
day 6- favorite super hero and why
day 7- a picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you
day 8- short term goals for this month and why
day 9- something you're proud of in the past few days
day 10- songs you listen to when you are happy, sad, bored, hyped, mad
day 11- another picture of you and your friends
day 12- how you found out about blogger and why you have one
day 13- a letter to someone who has hurt you recently
day 14- a picture of you and your family
day 15- put your ipod on shuffle: first 10 songs that play
day 16- another picture of yourself
day 17- someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
day 18- plans/dreams/goals you have
day 19- nicknames you have and why you have them
day 20- someone you see yourself marrying or being with in the future
day 21- a picture of something that makes you happy
day 22- what makes you different from everyone else
day 23- something you crave for a lot
day 24- a letter to your parents
day 25- what I would find in your bag
day 26- what do you think about your friends
day 27- why are you doing this 30 day challenge
day 28- a picture of you from last year and now, how have you changed since then?
day 29- in this past month, what have you learned
day 30- your favorite song

15 Interesting Facts.......(I know, repetative.....like I haven't done this before).
1.  I hate repetative sounds.  Don't make them around me.
2.  I love it when Max gets tired and follows me around trying to get his hand up my shirt.  Skin to skin contact is very reassuring.
3.  My current obsession is the TLC show Sister Wives.  Like a terrible, terrible accident...I cannot look away.
4.  I carry a book everywhere I go, just like a woobie.  It is my security blanket.  It helps me disengage from the pulic at large and if someone really wants to talk to me, they can talk about my book.
5.  When I was pregnant with Riley I ate only chocolate Pull n' Peels, Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes, and drank Sunny Delight.  Imagine if I had eaten properly what a genius should would be.
6.  I like my kitchen sink clean and void of dishes.  I hate doing dishes though.
7.  I religiously ate either grilled cheese or tuna sandwiches for dinner nearly every night between the ages of 9 and 14.
8.  I worry that when the world ends I won't be home and I will have no way to get to my kids.
9.  I love Halloween.  I love to dress up and be someone totally different from myself.
10.  I had 2 pet rats.
11.  I am stoked to hit Disneyland with my nuggets and my parents.
12.  I was ready for Jason to propose in August and get married in December.  He didn't pop the question until December.
13.  When people ask what I would do different about my wedding......I would have eloped over Christmas break.
14.  Junior Mints are where it's at baby.
15.  I feel like Jack's emotional twin and I hate making him do things he doesn't want to do.....because I wouldn't want to do them either.

Back to School

Stopping the new school year was like trying to stop a hurricane.  I tried my best but the wind and rain came and so did September:(

As you can see, Miss Mad is pretty happy.  This was not her real first day.  She only had testing for placement.  But she has been waiting nearly 6 years (no preschool even!) and going in for testing was good enough.  Mads ended up in the classroom next door to her bestie, which was a sad day.  She is usually excited and enjoying herself.  She went in reading so she has had a lot of reading homework.  On the days she hasn't had enough sleep she is kind enough to tell me I was right when I told her she would be better off being homeschooled.

My dear boy......go ahead and look again at his face.  Jack does not enjoy leaving home.  He would rather be here with Mama and Max, herding his cows on the ranches he creates all over the house and yard, complete with watering holes and cattle guards.  He is terribly bright and popular, and once he gets to school things go smoothly.  But making the break from home is heart breaking.  I think 3rd grade is going to be his year.  His personal goal is to go to school happy....ish, and without resistance.  If that happens, every month he can choose one day to stay home. 

Lovely Ri Ri.  Fifth grade.  I just gagged a little.  Riles is the one child that does not want to be homeschooled.  She has lots of friends, sets her own physical and educational goals, and loves sports at recess.  This year instead of joint ruining gymnastics, she is taking piano, basketball, and more baseball.

Max, Max, Max.  When people ask him if he is going to school this year he says, "No, I not big enough."  For better or worse he might be my last and I am indulging myself by keeping him home.  Since his birthday is close to the cut off, he will be going nearly a full year before his sisters did.  Then he's gone forever. 

I used to think that if you were an involved parent, public school was a viable option.  I am seriously beginning to rethink that.  But that's another story.

Tuesdays With Maxy

Max has developed a new ritual.  Every Tuesday morning when the garbage truck comes, he likes to go sit on the cement in the drive way and watch the garbage being dumped at every house on the street.  When it's finally our turn, he claps like a wild man when the trash is emptied into the back of the truck.  Then he waves and waves at the driver.
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Knock on wood but Max is finally potty trained.  There weren't any tricks that worked.  Candy...nope.  Shooting a gun.....nope.  The promise of a new Transformer.....nope.  He just finally decided it was time and hasn't looked back. 
One day after he had been successfully using the potty for a few weeks he said that it was time for him to ride the potty train.  He said he could ride it alone and then decided he would rather invite his brother and sisters and me.  Jack cracked a smile....laughed and told Max that he was free Thursday.  Funny boys!
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Max loves to follow me around the house with plastic bugs and lizards hidden in his hands.  Then he will tell me that he has something for me and throw them at my face.  He thinks it is hilarious.....and he learned it from Ri.  She's good enough that I really believe she is going to throw a bug at me.  I always scream when Ri does it and that is the exact reaction I have to give Max too, to make him happy.
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Max can run the dishwasher and unload part of it.  He can also run the washer and dryer, put the clothes in and transfer them.  He isn't half bad at sweeping the floor and cleaning his room.  You would think if all of that were true, I would have a much easier job.  Some how it hasn't worked out that way yet.
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When I asked Max what we were going to do all day with his Ri Ri and Dackie gone, he said,"Play Mario Cart."
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He's still just a baby though.  When he's getting tired and needs some snuggles, he shoves his hand right up my shirt and rubs my stomach.  The other night he was exhausted and had one hand under my shirt and the other clutching Woobie.  He kept shoving his hand against the underwire in my bra.  Finally he had enough and said,"What is undoo you shoot?"  I said, "My bra Max."   He said, "I can't get undoo it.  Why you weawing it?"   I said, "That's exactly why Max."

Pittsburgh Is Code For BORED!

        When left to my own devices.....no internet, no TV, no newspapers...I crumbled.  Superman was in Pittsburgh for one week and I couldn't take the stress of being left alone with my own thoughts.  I took up a shameful crime...er crafting spree.                                                                     

Exhibit A) Wreath

B) Riley's unfortunate jewelry box

C) One of two free lamps that got in my way....plus my cute little jewelry plate that Superman mocks.

D) Little flowers and old pictures.....awe:)

E) The bench and it's accompanying cushion


I also massacred a pillowcase dress, another wreath, a flowered headband, two chairs, and a body pillow with covers for Ri's bed....but since my crafting and picture taking are about equal in negativity, the pictures didn't  make it.

Max's 3rd Birthday

Max opted to spend his day of birth doing testosterone jello shots.  Dada, Dackie, and Coppa took old Maximus out for some four wheeling.  They rode some fun trails all day and stopped for dog food soup (bean and bacon....which in my book smells like a can of Alpo) and a celebratory brownie.  Only one near accident occured when Dada dismounted the four wheeler to open a gate, leaving Max to grab the gas, throttle the heck out of it, and speed off.

The day before the Max's big day, the whole family went to the Gateway.  The kids played in the Olympic Fountain while I melted into a puddle and Superman went looking for cold liquid.

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A Maxism:   A few days before his birthday, Max and I were having a cuddle on the bed.  He'd had enough resting and threw himself knees first into my lower back.  As I blinked back tears and let out wimpers of pain, he said, "Ifs you foe up, cops west you.  (Not a threat at this point....I wouldn't have minded being lead off in a patrol car to my own hard bunk.....with no children to beat me.)"  When I told him I didn't think I was going to throw up anymore he said, "Then you wanna buy new ouse (house)? Beeeooo (blue) or bown (brown)?"  He obviously knows my love of realestate.

It's All Fun And Games Until........

One day Ri and her very goodest friend Regan decided to paint each other's faces.  I don't happen to have a lot of face paint since I have up clowning.  So I pulled out an old tube of lipstick and figured that would do.  Not much later they show up with their faces completely 'Innsbruck Bronze'.   They had begun by only painting certain parts but succumbed to the pull of the lipstick.  The funniest part.......it wouldn't come off.  Soap and water wouldn't cut through it and I didn't want to burn their faces off with any adult facial cleaning products.  We even tried lotion.  We finally settled on some 'Clean and Clear' stuff and then I had to moisturize the heck out of their skin.  They still had sparkle around their hairline and in their EYEBROWS along with a healthy glow on their skin.

I understand the need to take things a little too far......once you start you just can't stop.  I found a razor in the bathtub when I was little.  I felt like I could really make myself into a true beauty.  I shaved some arm hair and then decided........to clean up the eyebrows.  A very short swipe of the razor later......I had no eyebrows.  Unfortunately it took more than a damp rag and powerful acne cleaner to restore me to my former self.  My mother wasn't as easily tricked as I had assumed and realized that there was something severely wrong when I wrapped a scarf around my forehead and assumed a pirate brogue.

I Love Me Some Superman

Last night we were out on the dance floor at my sister's wedding.  The dance was for couples.  Every now and then the D.J. would ask couples to leave the floor depending on how long they had been married.  Trooper Lance Armstrong and I made it to the last 4 couples.  We are either A)old  B) surrounded by divorcees or C) off our rockers for each other:)   I will admit to B&C.  The floor basically cleared by 5 years and the couples that beat us had been married for over 30 years. 

Our 14 year anniversary just rolled around while we were cruising the Alpine Slide in Park City and I was drooling over Bradley Cooper.  This is why we have been able to stick it out for 15 years.  Me Bob isn't oblivious to my black heart and deeply grooved personality flaws.........he just rolls with it.  He isn't a thrill seeker but he knew I would love to shoot down a dry ski slope on a wee sled.  He wanted to see the A Team, but I know he knew I was only going for Coop's shiny  white teeth and blue eyes.  He brings me flowers when I cry for a week like I'm Bella and Edward just went AWOL and I don't give sufficient explaination.  He runs with me at my pace when I know he could go much faster.  He shaves his head or lets his scruff grow because it makes me smile.  He texts me pictures of himself in a suit when I'm not there to see it for myself.  He lets my bedside table pile high with countless books and gives merely a shake of the head.  He endures Chinese food in amounts forbidden by the FDA. 

I don't know why he abides the cold blood that runs through my veins, but he's my man and I'm glad he does.