Shower Power

The above is a picture of me in my outside shower. What? You don't have one? And why is there foliage in my picture when we've received about 14 tons of snow this winter? I live in a magical place, my friend. And it's a place where I have very skinny arms apparently.
But back to reality. The other day Mitch begged me not to take a shower because I'm 'in there too long." To which I responded, "WHAT THE?! HAVE YOU MET YOUR FATHER?" (Which is very true. I swear Hub takes a daily 40-minute shower. The difference being Mitch is not yet awake and therefore cannot hold dad accountable) I also told Mitch that in order for me to be the best mom ever, which I am, I need my shower time and to not begrudge me my few minutes alone, dangit!
Don't most of your best ideas come in the shower? Mine do. I can whip out a super family night lesson in the shower. Or a great career idea. And if I had a computer in the shower I would be an awesome blogger. Let's not even get into the imaginary confrontations I have with people who never even knew they wronged me....
But these are very fleeting moments because even the shower cannot drown out the noise of a door slamming and a kid kicking at the bathroom door and reality comes rushing back. But I tell you--for those short minutes (no matter what Mitch would have you believe), I have solved many a problem and come up with many a great lesson. Are you a shower meditator like me?

ps Do you like my new profile picture? It's not too much, is it? I just needed to kick the winter blahs and I think I did in one quick download!

So Easily Amused

I remember when one of my brothers(D-Dawg for those who know him) had his first kid. He made the comment that he couldn't remember what they'd done for entertainment before she came along because it was so fun to watch her talk and play. At the time I thought that was pretty sad and that he'd officially entered Boring Life With Children, but now I'm totally with him!

There is no greater entertainment in our home right now than our two-year-old, Noelle. She even has all of her brothers as captive audience members which ranks her higher than cartoons and potty talk. Just ask her a question and laugh hilariously at the answer that makes no sense.
Me: "Noelle, do you want a sandwich for lunch?"
Noelle: "Baby kiss Elmo."
Brothers: "HAHAHAHAHAH!"
Or just ask her to dance. Or to sing a song. Or to hide. Whatever it is, she ends up making everyone laugh. Sadly, I am afraid it is a stage and cannot last much longer. Her older siblings each had a turn being the toast of the town and are now mere audience members. Soon she will catch on that we are using her for cheap entertainment and she'll want to charge admission. Or like other great comics, she will revert to 'adult' humor and I'll have to ban her from her young audience. Maybe she'll actually comprehend our questions and respond appropriately. That will definitely take away all the fun.
Good thing we've got a comic in the wings to take her place. I'm 33 and 1/2 weeks and counting.....

My secret talents

I'm sure you have noticed that lots of bloggers are good at photography. And if you have, then you also have noticed that I am one of those bloggers who is not. All those buttons on the camera are there to confuse me and take away my freedom. I rebel against them and then end up with pictures like these:




Isaac had his first basketball game last weekend and there were great shots to be had (please do not try to make that into a pun. Puns are not punny no matter what your grandma says). I happened to take all these non-great shots. Hub was too busy coaching or he would have redeemed me for posterity's sake. You may just roll your eyes at me and say, "How hard is it to push the flash button?" And I will tell you that if that is the little lightning bolt thing, I think I did and this still happened!
Since I don't really like looking incompetent then I leave my defense to you. Maybe I just like the mysterious look of this basketball game. Maybe the refs turned the lights out as a test to see how well the boys could 'feel' their teammates presence. Maybe I wanted dark pictures so you couldn't see Ike's sweaty face (he is the biggest heater head!) Or maybe this is one talent I just don't have. Nah, that's not it.
Next game I will try again and I am sure the pix will turn out better and you will actually be able to see Ike's red face. Of course that may mean that I am the one coaching and Hub's taking the pictures, but I won't tell.

Baa Baa! I'm a sheep

Yes friends, it is true. I just hate to miss out on anything (unless it's joining Facebook) and so I have finally finished the Twilight series. It only took me a year and a half. It wasn't because I was a slow reader, because I actually read each book quickly, it was rather that I felt no need to rush into the next one. I was pacing myself, people. Like a good marathon runner would. And like all good marathon runners (or so I'm assuming since I really hate to run) I now am done and feel quite the accomplishment. Except I didn't win a trophy or get a free t-shirt from the experience.

So now I am In the Know like most of the female population and feel qualified to offer my deep insights into the books. For the two of you out there who have no idea what I'm talking about I will excuse you from this post and ask you to return next time for when I get back to being deep in ways you appreciate.

Thought #1: After all the raving about it, the next time I am at a museum and nobody is looking I am going to find a marble statue and hug it and kiss it. Seriously. No matter how sparkly great looking Edward is does it really sound appealing to cuddle to something hard and cold?? But maybe my cynicism is because I've never DONE it. So I will reserve full judgement until I've tried it and hope I don't get arrested.

Thought #2: I was really annoyed initially that Boring Bella could somehow snag the two hottest non-humans in all of Washington. Then it hit me that I was just jealous. How come no vampires or werewolves were fighting over me? Then it hit me again. Bella is the hero for all of us plain Janes out there! If Bella could do it, then why couldn't I? Then it hit me again. I'm a freakin' 30- something-year-old married mom of 4 plus kids and I was having these teenage jealousy issues? I really better stop reading before I start hanging out at the high school looking for my own Edward.

Thought #3: I really want Stephenie Meyer's bank account.

There it is. I thought they were a fun read for pure escapism. I even enjoyed the movie. But here's my final thing----the last book gets a little too honeymoonish for me and I started getting a little embarrassed about all the people I knew who had read about all that kissy-kissy stuff! Like my brother! And the pre-teens I know! I can't look anyone in the eye anymore since we all were witnesses to such personal moments in Bella's life. The end.

Hola to 2009

Where to begin?? We've had a great Christmas break with lots of play time, movie time, eating time and minor sick time. Below is a picture of Mitch (or is it??!) building with the Lincoln Logs. He added smarties to the roof to make it one of those gingerbread houses we never really got around to making this year.

Next we have a picture of Ethan. Everyone got some fake tattoos in their stockings this year because I strongly believe that is one of the greatest inventions EVER. Imagine my surprise to walk in the bathroom one day to see Ethan applying them on his chest himself. He obviously knows where real men wear their tats. Or he also knew that with his hoodie zipped up I wouldn't know that he'd been doing his own private bathroom craft.



Next up is Me! I had a Birthday and turned 3*! I would say, but that takes all the mystery out of my profile. Anyway. I had a great day filled with shopping, food, family and Hub taking care of my every whim.

Hub made me a chocolate raspberry trifle. Isn't it pretty enough to eat?
He also made lasagna Alfredo. Or is Alfredo lasagna? I honestly have no idea and am too lazy to look it up. Whatever it was, it was very good and very rich and after the huge Chinese food lunch we'd had I think our fetus was putting on a lot of weight yesterday. (Isn't it nice to have a fetus to blame any Holiday weight gain on?)
Oh yes, if you are dying to see a touching tribute and darling pix of my past visit sis CC's blog.