AAAAHHHHH........

That's me breathing in a deep big breath. I made it through the semester. My children are acting a bit like kids whose parents don't spend enough time with them. I'm hoping I can reverse that over the my winter break. I'm very hopeful. I know that my sweet, considerate, loving children are in there just below the surface and I will get that back. That's the child update and now onto the family update.

It's only been three days since I finished my final and I already feel like I've crammed a ton of family-time into those few, short days. Friday was laid back and relaxed. I took Monkey to the bus stop and The Scientist to school. Once there, I was invited to coffee at one of the other mom's house. My original plan was to head to Target and get some shopping done, but it's hard to pass up coffee and visiting with people you like, so I went there instead. Oh and LK brought donuts. I think they were from the place on Southwest. I can't remember but they were good. Anyway, after leaving there I did end up at Target. I spent two hours walking around and trying on clothes. I only ended up with a skirt and a dress, but I like them both a lot and only spent fourteen dollars. Awesome. After Target, I went to El Burrito Loco and got their specialty, El Burrito Loco, and went home to eat it. I was starving after shopping and the drive home from near Carondelet Park to my house just north of Tower Grove Park was excruciating. I watched nutjobs get followed with a camera Jersey Shore and ate my burrito. Then I headed to Monkey's class party. They didn't celebrate any holidays because there is one Jehovah's Witness, but there were two birthdays so there were cupcakes and singing. I was miserable throughout the afternoon after El Burrito Loco, but I pushed through.

Saturday I cleaned in the morning and my MIL came in a little after lunch. We had a nice time visiting in the afternoon. Then everyone got ready to go out. I took the boys to my Aunt L. and Aunt J.'s house. We met my mom, her husband C., my brothers J and A, and my brother K, his wife M, and their kids T and G. Unfortunately, Monkey had NOT taken a nap and he was great for about an hour, but then he was bouncing off the walls. My aunts are very particular about their Christmas tree. My aunt J keeps each individual box to put the ornaments back into. They used to have pretty indestructible ornaments when they had cats, but they no longer have cats. I was on pins and needles all night about Monkey darting around.

He was extremely fast and precise in his movements and I was having trouble keeping up in the small space winding around people. He kept turning on the same Charlie Brown Christmas ornament of Linus saying his Christmas speech. That was fine, but it scared the crap out of me when he would dart at the tree. It was like a praying mantis. One of the times I thought he was going for the ornament and I went to spot him and make sure that's all he did, but instead, he went straight past the tree, picked up this little ceramic vase thing, walked around the island, up to the refrigerator and tried to stick the vase thing on it in the span of about one and a quarter seconds. It didn't stick though and instead crashed to the ground making a skin cringing shattering sound. I wasn't too far behind, but not close enough to catch it. UGH! My aunt turned around and said a little sternly, but more entertained, "What was that?" I apologized profusely and she said she'd been hoping that thing would break so she could get rid of it. Thanks Aunt L.

That started the extremely hectic portion of the evening where my kids only wanted sugar due to tiredness leading me to defending the food from their little monkey paws and them snapping at each other, and at times Monkey would hit. It was awful and I kept remembering conversations with other moms when we would wonder why So and So's kids are so awful to each other. I mentioned above that I think it stems from lack of parental interaction and I've noticed it slowly getting worse since I started back at school. ICK! At least I know there is a problem and we're going to attack it.

Sunday I went to breakfast with my mom, C, my brothers, SIL and nephews. We went to City Diner because I thought I remembered a friend saying that it would be a good place to take my vegan brother...it was NOT a good place to take him. Everyone else seemed to like it enough. I would have rather gone back to MoKaBe's though. But my mom needed to get back to Ohio to write a paper and get back to work. Poor A was stuck eating french fries and that was it. Sorry A. After that, my MIL had the boys help her make breakfast sandwiches to freeze for the week. Then she took them to Washington, MO for a sleepover and visiting with family.

Dirty and I hardly knew what to do with ourselves. We went to the place I despise and would sometimes rather be submitted to test out medieval torture devises than step into Wal-Mart where we had gift cards. However, without children and only one child husband to appease while shopping it was almost pleasant. I was able to get a sewing machine for under $100 AND it also comes with a subscription reimbursement for Martha Stewart Living. Major score. Plus later when we got home, we realized that the guy who couldn't wait to get around us, when we were waiting for another couple to come out of their aisle at Wal-Mart, bought us a 5 pack of Hanes V-neck undershirts. Thanks Rude Dude. Although, I don't think that will make him any more chipper this holiday season, but we got a kick out of it.

We also went out to lunch and it was one of the most freeing feelings of eating out without your kids. After the evening spent at my aunts' house, I really needed that. While there, I asked if he wanted to go see The Road. By the time we hit another handful of stores and got to the movie theater, Dirty mentioned that we still hadn't seen New Moon and it was going to be another 2 hours. It was going to be two more hours at The Galleria too, but I argued that at least we could look around for more Christmas gifts. Now for my New Moon theater going story...

This story isn't that great, but it's a little funny. We got to the theater and I didn't expect a ton of people since it's been out for a while. We ended up being two of 11 movie patrons. There were five other ladies only one of which came by herself. The other four came in pairs. Then there were two homosexual couples who I think came for this. One of the couples I overheard remarking about Jacob Black stating that he was "born that way. It isn't a lifestyle choice." I have to say I might be one of those creepy women waiting for Jacob Black to reach the age of majority. He was pretty fine. I think Dirty liked him too. He kept saying the line from Austin Powers, "Women want to be with him, men want to be him." We then came home and wrapped presents and had cocktails. It was a really nice night.

Today, Dirty went for a bike ride. I worked out. Then the boys came home and we ate lunch. Monkey went down extremely easily for a nap, and I took a three hour nap on the couch. Once we were up, we attempted shopping again with the boys. That didn't work. We ended up at Toys 'r Us and the boys were able to spend some of their Christmas money. I tried checking my grades on my phone and it worked. Straight A's baby!!!!! I guess that there have to be some sacrifices and I'm processing how I feel about my children acting like hoodlums. Like I said before, I'm hoping to reverse that over this winter break...as well as apply for nursing schools...and check out kindergarten teacher options for Monkey...and of course, to take a nice relaxing break after busting my hump this semester.

Winding down the semester...

I don't have much time to make a big long post. I'm in preservation mode to get through the semester with straight A's. I'm may be a bit in denial about how much work I have ahead of me. I do have a ton to do, but am working on one task at a time while also making sure to keep a tally of all the things that need to be done by December 17th. I went to see the UMSL School of Nursing. It's competitive right now, but I'm hoping all the hard work I've put into school, this time around, will give me an edge. I really liked the campus. It made me excited to start the nursing school portion or this trek, but like I said...one task at a time. BUT I have registered for classes next semester and am in the process of applying to UMSL while also looking into other options because of the competitiveness.

The Scientist (until I can come up with a suitable nickname) broke his arm on Thanksgiving. The story is basically this...he was having trouble getting motivated to get his coat on to leave, I challenged him with "I bet you can't make it into the kitchen in two seconds," he did but ran full tilt into the door frame. I knew he was really hurt (not that hurt, but hurt) and after consulting Children's Hospital's website decided with The Scientist to "watch and wait." He went through Thanksgiving day flinching every now and then, but doing most things as normal. We called the nurses line the next day. She suggested not going to the emergency room, but go ahead and see the pediatrician. Once there he recommended x-rays and that led to a six hour wait for the orthopedic pediatrician to decide whether to cast or splint the fracture. He's good now but milking the "I can't write" angle for all it's worth. To an extent we're going along with it. That may change once we go see the orthopedic nurse practitioner tomorrow.

Otherwise, we've been busy with schools and gymnastics and family get-togethers for Thanksgiving/Christmas. The Scientist was asking me today what we do as a family to celebrate the holidays. He didn't realize that we start Christmas at Thanksgiving and that goes until New Years. Busy, busy, busy.

You will also notice that I've changed the background layout of my blog. Thanks Half! I snatched the website from you.

Note to Self...

When "tapping" a dish to get the air bubbles out from under the surface of the food stuffs, make sure to use a ginger "tap." Otherwise, you will end up splattering the food stuffs, hypothetically speaking guacamole, all over yourself. It will get in your hair, on your sweater, all over your face, and I should let you know that your glasses won't help to shield your eyes from this mess either. Getting a hypothetical dip that has lime juice, onions, tomatoes, salt, and jalapenos in your eye does not feel good!!! This is of course for future reference. That hypothetical guacamole does taste really good though. Too bad it's not for home.

Halloween 2009...

This year, we told the boys that we had to use what we had, costume wise, or design inexpensive costumes. I don't know if anyone else has noticed just how expensive Halloween costumes are, but they are and they aren't even made very well. It makes me wish that I had a sewing machine and the ability to make things with it. I would quit spending so much time on the computer find the time. I think it would be fun and I like making things and using my hands. Where was I?*

Oh yeah, so Monkey, being the Transformer fiend that he is, chose to go as Bumblebee from last year. Great that was easy. Who's going to remember? Well you will if you follow that link. :D Okay, and The Scientist, who will henceforth be known as Pokemon Trainer, wanted to go as a Skeleton Wizard. I kind of thought at first that, man oh man, we are going to have to buy a bunch of crap to make this work. Dirty jumped in with some creativity and said, "We can use the tape that I used for my costume." I didn't get a picture of his costume, but he taped a gigantic "E" on his shirt and he's a boy...get it??? He was "E-mail."

Right, anyway, he used the tape and put the shirt together. He did the pants too, but while the shirt looked alright but anatomically incorrect I'm working on the perfectionism the legs looked pretty shotty. So I redid those as the sun was sitting. Earlier in the day, we went to the Halloween store and bought some cheap facepaint (Lord, please don't let it poison him. One time use should be alright, right?) I really enjoyed painting on his face. If the career as a nurse for some reason doesn't work out, my next move might be cosmetology. Gosh, I'm having trouble staying on topic. I watched a few tutorials on YouTube on creating skeleton looks and painted his face letting him give input on what he wanted. The YouTube tutorial didn't have lines across the gumlines, but it's how he wanted it and it was so. I wanted to keep going and make it even more shaded, but he cut me off. The colored hair spray was right next to the face paint in the store so he decided he wanted green hair too. We used one of his LOTR capes (he has two LOTR costumes because we gave into his "I don't want to be Aragorn this year. I wanted to be Legolas." even though they are basically the same freaking costume. However, times are tight we need to get creative and put a little work into it. Voila!!!

So I finished Pokemon Trainer's costume as the sun was setting. I told them we could go. We walked down the steps and, after I'd already opened the door, I remembered we had not taken a picture. So after a quick temper tantrum from Monkey and the threat of "We will NOT go Trick or Treating!" we trucked back up the steps. Pokemon Trainer was actually excited to get his picture taken. This is actually extremely out of character for him, but I'm not complaining. We hit our neighbor's houses and kept asking each other where all the Trick or Treaters were. As we got to the end of our block and made our way over to Flora Place to Trick or Treat our way up to Dirty's parents house, I saw streams of Trick or Treaters crossing the streets. See Flora Place has all of these huge houses. I would venture a guess that most of the houses are three stories and have an average of 6 bedrooms. Apparently, big houses=big candy. There are always tons of people who drive from all over the city to Trick or Treat on this street. Crazy! Yet again, I digress.

So we made our way up the two blocks and the boys were going to trick Grandpa C. We stood back and Pokemon Trainer went up the steps and said, "Trick or Treat!" That was about the time that I heard Grandpa C. say, "Sorry, but I'm out of candy. They have some though." And he directed Pokemon Trainer to the next door neighbors. Monkey went up, but didn't bother with his mask so Grandpa C. said to him, "Oh of course I have candy for you! Where's your brother?" Monkey pointed him out and Grandpa called him over again. That was kind of funny. So we went inside and I the boys dove into their candy bags and the adults went into the kitchen for cocktails. Once the boys got a little rowdy, Grandpa C. put on Monsters vs. Aliens and they settled down again. It was a nice night of visiting.

It's become a bit of a tradition, and it's nice. The boys don't end up with too much candy because we really only hit three blocks. They don't seem to notice because we end up at Happy Fun Land Grandma T.'s and Grandpa C.'s and we get to visit with Dirty's parents while the boys gorge themselves on candy and watch satellite tv. You know what the crazy thing was? As soon as Grandpa C. dropped us off, and while I was walking up our front stairs, I had this feeling like I wanted turkey and a Thanksgiving feast. I'm ready Thanksgiving goodness. Bring it on!

*I lost the post-it that had the "strike through" feature written on it. It took me forever to find a copy of it in my many past posts. Luckily, I don't know if it was me or Jeannette, but I had a copy in my dashboard. That started me on my lack of focus for this post.

Note to Self...

If you are going to not pay attention in Huber's labs, then I would suggest you start bringing a medical dictionary with you when you study. Half the stuff he brings up isn't in the book or his oh-so-comprehensive study notes, which means you need to have a tool to look this crap up. That's all. Get back to studying. You had better keep that "A".

Happy Birthday Monkey...

I can barely believe that it's been five years since he was born. He's no longer a baby or a toddler. He's a kid now. He'll be going to kindergarten next year. However, he still likes to cuddle every now and then. I've been on the verge of tears for the last couple days. Some of it has been frustration with not knowing what to do about The Scientist's anxiety, but I think some of it is also that Monkey is five...a whole hand!

For The Scientist's fifth birthday, we had a HUGE party at The Heights. For Monkey, we're having a party at The Heights, but we haven't had the time or the energy to make it as big as it maybe could have been. For that, I'm sorry. I'm sure he'll have a blast, because that's the kind of kid that he is. I know that I'm doing things for all of us that, in the long run, will be totally worth it. I still worry about what we're having to give up now. These moments pass so quickly. I swear I'm doing the best that I can, and I hope that one day, the boys will be able to look back and appreciate it.

So here's my favorite picture of him at the moment. I think it expemplifies his spirit; on the go, happy, outgoing.

Oh brother...

I've been busy(read trying to stay on task for school yet sometimes getting sidetracked which is why I'm only getting a "B" in Microbiology). I am otherwise doing well in my classes. I have an "A" is Anatomy and Physiology II, an "A" in Bio-Medical Ethics, and an "A" in College Algebra (which is actually what I remember doing freshman year...in HIGH SCHOOL!!!) I would be okay with the "B" in Microbiology, but it's slipping. I went from a high "B" to a barely "B" and that is with the "drop the lowest test and quiz scores." Why am I so obsessive about my grades, you ask?

Well, I'll tell you why I'm so obsessive. I am in my third semester of a BSN. I am starting out at community college because (1)it's cheap and (2)it's close. If I were to do the nursing program at the community college, I would have to finish their prerequisites and then sit on a wait list until they have a spot for me in their program. Since there is a year/year and a half wait list, I would basically be working on the classes that I would need for a BSN. Their program is about as long as the BSN program and I would only end up with an ASN. That seems inefficient. This leads me to why I'm so obsessive about my grades...I have to transfer after the fourth semester to a BSN program. All of those BSN programs look at your cumulative GPA. My first go round of college was disastrous (read in some instances as 0.00 GPA that I have to work back from.) There seems to be a lot of competition to get into nursing programs, so I need a good GPA. I'm hoping that once I'm in a program, I can back off a bit.

We've also been busy with the boys schedules. They are both in soccer, which makes two hour-ish practices during the week and two hour games on Saturdays. We were introduced to a new athletic club that we are excited about. Monkey did the gymnastics class and LOVED it!!! They have the spring floors and he did not stop bouncing the entire time...even when he was sitting. The Scientist tried an older gymnastics class and liked it alright, but I'm not sure if it's enough to go back. Monkey's is one night a week. The Scientist's are two nights a week. Then we've been doing family things on Sundays.

We went to Six Flags a couple weeks ago. We all had a blast. The Scientist rode his first roller coasters (not his thing). Monkey wanted to ride the roller coaster, but was one inch too short. :( We had dinner with the in-laws last week. We went to Onesto...so incredibly yummy. This week, we go to "Day Out with Thomas." I have only a slight clue as to what that actually entails. I think we'll have fun though. Upcoming, we have Monkey's FIFTH BIRTHDAY!!!!! I just wrote that and it hit me. I CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S TURNING FIVE!!!!! And of course, there is also Halloween, which I haven't even begun to think about. I'm hoping the boys will want a recap of Halloweens Past. I vaguely remember Monkey saying something about wanting to be Bumblebee again, but I think that was in a line-up of a few different characters throughout all of the Halloween Festivities. I guess I need to think about that. I haven't even asked The Scientist.

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! IT'S BUS STOP TIME!!!!! BREATHE IN. BREATHE OUT. This is my life lately. I have anxiety about every little thing including if we missed the bus, even when I logically know that it always comes later than 8:30 a.m., but what if it, for some reason, came before and we missed it. ETC. Is it Christmas break yet?

Honest Scrap Award...

This is probably the second blog "award" I was given. I look at them more as linky-love and will follow the rules as such. I will also attempt to do this in the next twenty minutes as I have to go to the bus stop to pick up the boys.

1. Choose 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.

2. Show the 7 winners’ names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they have won the Honest Scrap award.

Elizabeth

Theresa

Franchesca

Jeannette

Half-Pint

KBO

Kim

3. List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

#1 I forgot about this portion when I started this post
#2 I'm a bit longwinded...but I'll leave it there for now.
#3 I love being a full-time student. So far I'm really good at it. I know I'm just at the community college right now, but I feel like a rock star when I'm there because I excel in most of my classes. The only one where that didn't happen was Macroeconomics, and I honestly didn't put that much work into it.
#4 I'm a perfectionist.
#5 I'm scared to death about going into the workforce someday.
#6 I'm a procrastinator.
#7 I'm overweight. I don't necessarily look like it, but I am. I have my tricks, but I'm not healthy so looking good doesn't matter as much.
#8 I started out wanting three kids. Then reality set in as well as personal responsibility and I realized that it just wasn't in the cards. I would love to have more, but then I remember "freedom". I will only be 44 when Marcus turns 18. NICE!
#9 I am perfectly content in my own head and could really do without human interaction most times. Probably why I love reading. But there are times when you wish the person talking back to you wasn't yourself. :D
#10 While I talk about leaving St. Louis to live somewhere else (Phoenix AZ), it will probably never happen. I love St. Louis...a lot. I can't really imagine myself anywhere else permanently.

WOO! I finished. I'll comment on those blogs that I linked later. I've got to get to the bus stop.

Back to School Part Two...

I spent today:

I walked and ran for about 45 minutes today. Then I stretched for about 15 minutes. This is something I'm hoping to keep up. I've always wanted to be a runner. I'm not so good with the endurance portion of any activity. But I was inspired by E, who started in a similar position and then ran the Chicago Marathon. So I'm hoping to get in shape, have my clothes fit better, and just be more healthy.

On facebook tending my farm. I've decided I don't really like Farm Town because I don't know how I feel about people trying to chat me up when I'm on my farm. Plus when I go to the market with my stuff, it's a little creepy for people to be in the market place wanting work and begging people looking for people to do work. I don't know. More power to the people who like it. I have some family on there and a few friends, but it's not really an avenue that I want to take to keep in contact with people. I generally am more the type of person to not really keep in close contact with anyone. It's who I am.

I also did laundry. I finished up what Dirty started this weekend while I was gone on my trip to Ohio to see my mom and brothers. I did a few more loads so the boys have clothes to wear tomorrow.

I vacuumed and swept my floors. Sometimes I feel like vacuuming is a bit of a waste because our carpet is so disgusting from 9 years of us living on it and never being professionally shampooed. But I do enjoy walking barefoot throughout my house and not having anything get stuck on the plantar surfaces of my feet.

I cleaned the bathroom while I daydreamed about slipping into The Royale for a midday cocktail. After which, I went into the kitchen on autopilot to make an iced coffee and accidentally started to make a cocktail instead. So I dumped out the liquor, luckily I snapped to before I wasted too much, and made the iced coffee.

I watched some Flight of the Conchords clips on youtube. Business Time is one of my favorites. But really all of their stuff is hilarious.

Then I went to the bus stops. Well, really I stood in between the two stops hoping that they didn't both come at the same time. I had no idea which direction they were going to come from. So I walked quickly between the two stops everytime I thought one of their buses might have arrived. Dirty was on his way home, and I knew that the buses would be running late since it was the first day, but I was worried nonetheless. So I saw SC come out of her house and start walking to the stop. It did occur to me, in one of my many trips back and forth between blocks, that The Scientist might be old enough to get off of the bus himself and walk to where I was waiting for Monkey who is not allowed off of the bus unless a parent or guardian is there to receive him. SC let me know that, yes, indeed The Scientist can get off of the bus without a parent or caregiver there. And we talked about some other logistics. The buses did come about the same time. The Scientist's bus got their first and as we walked to, and arrived at, Monkey's stop, his bus showed up. I talked with the Scientist to see how he would feel about walking, the two blocks to where I would be waiting for Monkey, by himself. I would never be okay with this in other circumstances, but, in this instance, I would be able to see him get off the bus and walk toward me the entire way. He's been asking me, for at least a year now, if he could walk home by himself...when his school was about two miles away. But now, he's a little older, I trust his judgement when crossing the street, and he's ready for a little more responsibility. So tomorrow, is day one of The Scientist walking two blocks to where I'll be waiting for Monkey. I really do enjoy some of the things about the boys getting older.

Both boys had great days at school. We went to Cici's as a special treat for the first day. The boys got to play video games while we were there and get little trinkets from the "gumball" machines. Then we came home. I cleaned the kitchen, which had fallen into disrepair from the soccer practice nights of the week, while Dirty put the boys to bed.

And now I'm blogging, listening to more Flight of the Conchords, and will probably head to bed soon...after I fold another load of laundry. Tomorrow, is the last day of school for the week. Sometime this weekend we're going to Elephant Rock's. We'd originally planned to go on Saturday, but then I started worrying about all the people that might be out then too. So we might save it for Sunday, when less people are out and about.

Back to School...

I don't have much to say. The boys got ready without too much fuss. The Scientist had a bit of an issue with being defiant. I think in order to have some control over the situation. Monkey seemed excited for the day. Plus he gets to ride a bus this year. And now they are off to school for another year. I kind of miss just being home all day while they would go off, but I know that I need to finish what I started. I can't just stay home forever. I want a career and a degree and more importantly a paycheck. So I'll stay the course. Even though I want to sit on my butt all day and watch crappy daytime tv, I'm going to do some laundry, tidy up the house, and maybe even clean the kitchen. Here's a slideshow of the morning.

It escalates so quickly...

I let the boys watch a couple Chaotic shows on youtube.com this morning. Afterward though, I felt guilty. So we had lunch, and I gave the boys directions that they could play with anything that doesn't have to be turned on or plugged in. The Scientist being a gaming convert complained because everything else is sooo boring. I persevered though and stuck to my directions. Monkey went into the bedroom and found a box (quite easily might I add since I cleaned and organized their bedroom and toys) of small action figures. The box contained knights, bowmen, Gormiti, Power Rangers, Megaman, and Transformer guys. Monkey then made a battle area where he clipped two dishtowels together and stuffed the ends into the chair and couch cushions so they spanned a small area over the fighters. The Scientist made a base up high on the windowsill. They played nicely for maybe 15 minutes, while I walked around the house picking up and tidying, before I heard The Scientist either blocking or creating force fields for every single move the Monkey made. Remember how I said The Scientist wasn't happy about being diverted from the tv and computer?

They stayed together in the living room for a little bit longer, but then The Scientist came to me to say that he was "so bored". I stayed with the conversation trying to help him find something else that he could do. I picked up books. I showed him other toys. I pulled out LEGOS. His response was that that was all BORING. Monkey then picked up on the tension between The Scientist and I, and began trying to find as many things to "do" that would entertain The Scientist and aggravate me at the same time. Because really if it was aggravating me it was entertaining The Scientist. They ganged up on me, but they were playing together. So I let it go. They were in their room. They were playing together. They were sticking to my original instructions. I went into the bathroom to take the nail polish off of my toe nails.

The boys were both giggling. Monkey ran past me into the living room. Then past me into my bedroom. Then past me again into their bedroom. That's when out of the corner of my eye, I see that there are white flakes creating a trail everywhere Monkey ran. Those flakes I realize are instant mashed potatoes (Don't judge me. They are quick and the boys in my house don't notice the difference, or care for that matter, if our mashed potatoes come from a box.) Apparently, the entertaining themselves had entered a new level and that level was a mess through the house. This called for a plan of action.

Step one: Separate the children. Step two: Vacuum up the mashed potato flakes before they somehow get wet. Step three: Explain to Monkey why having food ground into the floor of an old house where bugs, rodents, and goodness knows what else get in all the time is NOT a good idea. Monkey resisted initially because he "likes bugs", but then I got to the beetles and the rodents and he wasn't as blase about feeding them.

Step one was where I separated the children. I sent Monkey to his bed and The Scientist to the couch. Then while cleaning up and calming down, made them stay there for thirty minutes of quiet time. Monkey was not going to comply to this easily. He yelled at me from his bed about why he doesn't care if he feeds the bugs. But then, while on his rant he heard imagined a beetle in his room and got scared. I looked in to see if there was indeed a beetle, which there wasn't, and went about my business of painting my nails during that little bit of quiet time. Within five minutes, Monkey was quiet, which I thought maybe he'd escaped through the curtain and over the piano into the living room, but I didn't hear any giggling. He had not escaped. He did fall asleep though. I was able to finish painting my nails, let them dry for a while, and now I'm writing this...in the quiet...but man that got out of control so fast.

Monkey and his girlfriends...

This evening as I was making dinner, Monkey came in and out of nowhere said, "I only love A, Ma, Mo and E."

So I asked, "Why do you only love them?"

His reply, "Because they're my girlfriends! Because they're BEAUTIFUL!!!"

After a little giggle, I responded, "Yes, they are."

Later, after Dirty got home, Monkey went to him and told him pretty much the same thing. "I only love A, Ma, Mo and E, because they're beautiful." Look out, Ladies.

Summer Shower aka Zeus Says "Go Inside"...

It was mid-afternoon, about the time that I feel like taking a nap, and the same time that the boys want to run back and forth through the house chasing, tackling, and catching each other while giggling and screaming, let's be honest, their heads off. I see no problem with that, except that we live on the second floor and have downstairs neighbors. I try to be considerate and prohibit things like jumping off the top bunk while pretending to sky dive or playing "Whack-a-Mole Towering Tower" (thank you grandparents) at the very least when the neighbors are home. We are a loud family. I'm sure our neighbors know it and talk about us with each other. Sometimes we don't quite know when to put on a more "public" face and being that our neighbors are pretty close and every little scratch or sneeze bounces off of the bricks in the city, I'm sure they know more about us than they would ever care to know.

I got off track, this particular day our downstairs neighbor C. was home and the boys had a ton of energy to expel, so I made them go outside. At that point in the summer, the bugs weren't so bad. Please don't get me started about how I get eaten alive every time I go near the door now. I'm sick of scratching, but I'm glad I now have nails.

Once again off track, so I saw that it was windy outside and figured the mosquitoes would have a harder time controlling their flight patterns because of the wind. Not ten minutes after we went outside it started thundering. The Scientist started in with "Zeus is saying we are supposed to go inside!" and "Zeus is very angry! He's going to attack us!" I was thinking there is no way I'm taking you guys inside just to have to running, bouncing, banging off of every hard surface just because of a little thunder. I told them we could go inside if Zeus started throwing lightning bolts. At first, they sat on the porch with me. Monkey ate a snack of shredded carrots, chickpeas, and orange bell pepper. The Scientist played with some dinosaur figures. Then Monkey finished his snack.

After his snack, he started getting his hands wet and making hand prints on the wall between the front doors of our house and our neighbors. That turned into running out into the rain for a few seconds then racing back up the steps onto the porch. Which then turned into moving a little further down the sidewalk. Eventually, The Scientist wanted to join in so he ran out and started getting wet. Once they were both thoroughly soaked, they realized they were having fun running around in the summer shower. So we stayed outside and the boys ran back and forth on the sidewalk, beat the crap out of a tree, and pretended to be "seekers" like Huntik on cw4kids. When they started to get cold they came up on the porch, where there was some sword fighting and being skittish in front of the camera. After quite a few tries, I did get a decent picture of both of them.

My final note, that doesn't really have anything to do with summer showers or Zeus, I will not be using Photobucket.com again. The site is so slow and it takes forever to edit pictures. I used slide.com for this.

City Garden...

I don't have a whole lot to say. I've finished my summer math course. It hasn't felt much like summer. We have a lot that we are going to cram into the few weeks that we have before the boys start school and I start my very full fall school schedule. We'll be going camping. We are going to go to the City Museum. Lots of playdates. There is a new park in St. Louis right smack in the middle of downtown. It's a couple blocks from City Grocer where you can buy coffee (if you're anti-Starbucks, like myself.) The New Busch Stadium is pretty close too. We've already been three times and plan to go back tomorrow. Another reason it hasn't felt totally like summer is because we also had some unseasonably cool weather ('70s in July, what?) Here is a post in pictures of our first trip to City Garden.

Note to Self...

When your four-year-old decides that he would like to "trade" his brand new Transformer for a different Transformer with someone, that you know, you probably won't see again for a while, DO NOT DO IT!!!! He will hound you constantly to call the other person's mom to facilitate a trade back. Once you call the other person, know that they will not answer their phone and you might not speak to them, or hear from them, for quite some time. And yet, you will have to listen to requests, try to rationalize to and explain to aforementioned four-year-old, that, no, when you left the message it was to ask for a trade back. The message was not left to tell them to run the wanted toy right over as soon as possible. Furthermore, don't let this happen the day before a 14.6 mile bike ride, because you will still have to come home, make dinner, do laundry, change sheets, give baths, and deal with silly-in-the-head boys all night after said bike ride and will be completely worn out and not in the mood or have the patience.

I know you are an intelligent person, but letting your four-year-old run the show in that situation was not an intelligent decision. Now go hit the showers! You are a little gross. Oh, and don't forget to get the dry clothes out of the dryer, fold them, and put the wet sleeping bag into the dryer before it mildews. Even if you're tired, you still have to keep that laundry moving forward. You are running low in the clothes department. After those two things, you should go relax in bed with that book that you're supposed to have read by next Tuesday for book club.

Goodbye sleepless, nursing nights...

I made my first sale on Craigslist today! I sold my old glider rocker and ottoman. It was missing a decorative button and was stained on all the used parts, but with a little Resolv-it, it could look lovely again. It went to a lovely couple, S and A, who are expecting. Congratulations S and A! I hope that it is as comfortable for them as it has been for us.

We bought the rocker when we were expecting The Scientist. I would sit up in it, with a boppy pillow around my waist, nursing The Scientist, many times falling asleep myself while trying to rock him to sleep. I don't long for those sleepless nights, but I do happily reminisce about him being oh so little, curled up in my arm, a little bundle I had the hardest time figuring out. Being a mom and taking care of a baby did not come naturally to me, despite all the "practice" I had playing house and with dolls. It did help me with changing diapers, juggling a baby in an arm or on a hip while doing other things simultaneously, and changing clothes on something so tiny and seemingly fragile.

So goodbye sleepless, nursing nights. Goodbye tiny babies. (You know what though, me saying these things and purging all this baby stuff, I'll probably end up unexpectedly pregnant.) No, I'm on a different trail now of personal, developmental growth and the freedom that comes with your children getting older. I like this time too, but there's just something about holding a sleeping infant that's all swaddled. Sigh.

Reason #21 I am able to put up with Monkey...

Upon seeing this picture and being asked by his dad, "Who is that?"

Monkey responded, "Mommy." This flattery can sometimes be hit or miss. This time it was a definite hit. Even when I'm feeling so UNself-confident, Monkey can help me feel better. Either that or he is a politician in the making. ha ha ha.

His favorite...

My four year old has lots of favorites. His favorite transformer is Ironhide. His favorite stuffed animal is Seashell, the stingray. His favorite food is cheese. Tonight I learned his favorite curse word. It wasn't so bad. We were watching a movie. He smiled when a character said pissed. I asked why he was smiling. He replied, "I'm smiling because he said my favorite curse word." I asked, "You have a favorite curse word?!"

"Yes. It starts with a 'P'." Just to make sure, and I'm not completely sure why I felt the need to, I asked, "Is it pissed?" Grinning really big he said, "Yes. That's my favorite curse word." I couldn't help but giggle. He looked at me and asked, "What?!" He used it a few more times under his breath in the next couple minutes. The fact that he wanted to share with me what his favorite curse word was touched me, however inappropriate that might be. I think part of what made me giggle is the fact that he even has a favorite curse word. HE'S FOUR! He knows he shouldn't use it, and I didn't want to make it "forbidden fruit". So I let him say it a few times to get it out of his system.

RIP Michael Jackson...

I think that John Mayer, my cohort, summed it up best when he twittered, "I think we'll mourn his loss as well as the loss of ourselves as children listening to Thriller on the record player." I remember listening to Thriller on a record player when my family lived a block from Tower Grove Park on Lackland. My sister had a poster of Michael on the wall and she may have also had the crystal-studded glove. Everyone wanted the zipper covered leather jacket and while it was out of reach for us, we were able to afford his albums. They were still albums then, at least for us, because we didn't own a cassette tape player. It's unfortunate that his reputation was marred with child-molestation accusations and other craziness involving buying the "Elephant Man's" skeleton. Thinking back on my childhood and even early teen years there were many of his songs that added to the soundtrack that is my life. Remember the theme song to "Free Willy" or the video "It's black, it's white." That video had cutting edge computer generated morphing images. Not only that but it also had Naomi Campbell (pre-crazy psycho throwing her cell phones at assistants) and Macaulay Culkin in it. I also remember when I was at my grandma's, who had cable at the time, and Thriller came on, I was told I couldn't watch it. I hid under the army green afghan and watched through the holes. I know that not everyone will, but I'm going to remember him for those good memories, and not the media-frenzy memories where they just wanted to knock him down. Goodbye, Michael.

Note to Self...

When making rice in the rice cooker, if it seems like there is way too much water there probably is. Even when the package directions say one cup rice to two and a half cups water, it isn't necessary for the rice cooker. The rice will still turn out alright. (We in the House Full of Boys aren't exactly well trained palates.) The starchy mess that will ensue will really be unnecessary though. So in the future, stick to the two to one water to rice ratio or even a one and one half to one water to rice ratio. Don't forget. Thank you for your understanding and continual push toward excellence.

ME

Finger-pointing...

Today at the Tower Grove wading pool, I was yelled at by a mother for pointing at her son to let him know that I was talking to him. I don't know that I will ever fully understand why people find that action so "aggressive", but fine people do. The reason I rushed over and pointed at him for a brief second to make sure he knew I was speaking to him...he was repeatedly pushing my child's head under the water causing him not only to inhale water, but also scraping his face, hip, elbows, and knees on the concrete. I started walking over the first time I saw him do it and, in the few seconds that it took me to get across the fifteen feet between us, he did it two more times. The Scientist was struggling to catch his breath and get away. This kid's two brothers and his sister all stopped when they heard me say, "Hands to yourself." He did not (obviously). So I did point and said, "Yes you." Unpoint, switch to a open hand. "You may NOT push people under the water. You need to keep your hands to yourself. You could really hurt someone. Do you understand what I am saying to you?" This exchange took about three seconds, he nodded, and then I went over to make sure The Scientist was okay. We went over to our stuff, right on the edge of the wading pool where I perched because I know a lot of the kids there are poorly supervised, and the mom came over with the offender. She says to me, "You are not his mother, so don't point at him." I replied, "I'm sorry if I've offended you by pointing briefly to get his attention, but he was repeatedly pushing my child..." Here she interrupts me to say, "I'm his mom and I was sitting right over there. That is why I'm coming over here to have him apologize." To her son, "Apologize." Son weakly says, "Sorry." Then she walked off. My issues with the situation are as follows:
(1) She was about fifty feet away from your children. Granted the rest of her children were not attempting to drown any of the other children at the pool, but one of them was. This makes me think that really you should be within a closer vicinity of your children (all five of them).
(2) She never even attempted to get up off of her butt until she noticed that someone had pointed a finger at her child, who was holding another child's head under the water. I am absolutely sure that you cannot be an effective parent while sitting on your ass.
(3) She finds a brief finger-pointing at her child more egregious than her child holding another child's head under the water.

Am I completely wrong in what I find the greater issue here? I would love to hear comments. I sometimes feel like I'm too aggressive when other people's children kick my children in the face repeatedly, hold my child's head under the water repeatedly, etc. But in those instances they do happen repeatedly and the other child's parents are nowhere near the child and/or don't seem to give a shit that their child is bullying another child. Am I going overboard in stepping in on the situation?

Requested Mojitos Recipe...

This mojito recipe is from Michael Chiarello, who I had a major crush on in my early stay-at-home-mom-days. I like the recipe because it makes a whole pitcher, and it's a cocktail that doesn't have a ton of different liquors that you have to buy. Enjoy this responsibly. It's pretty potent.

Mojitos

One bunch of mint, cleaned and stemmed
One cup sugar
Four lemons, juiced
Four limes, juiced
750 mL light rum (I use Bacardi)
One liter club soda (I like Schweppes)

In a pitcher, muddle the mint and sugar. Add the lemon and lime juice and dissolve the sugar. Then add the rum and the club soda.

Super-easy! Super-yummy! Well actually for me, with my weak hands, juicing eight pieces of citrus fruit is a bit of a chore, but worth it for the ease of the rest of the recipe. Happy Cocktail Hour Everyone!

(I just want to note, that even though I'm posting this at 8:15 a.m. I am not having a cocktail hour at the moment. So the "Happy Cocktail Hour" statement is for the future. :D)

A recipe...

After taking a bruschetta dish to a MOMS Night Out and getting many requests (if three or four requests equals many), I thought I'd post a little blog entry. Sorry there are no pictures. I do finally have a new, extremely nice camera, but I'm working on uploading and editing the pictures. And I didn't think, at the time of making the bruschetta topping, that I would make a blog entry about it.

Bruschetta Pomodoro

About 3/4 pound (5-6) plum tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
1/3 cup chopped kalamata olives
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons capers, drained
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
About 4 ounces Parmesan cheese, cubed (optional, but I LOVE cheese)

1 French baguette
1/4 cup olive oil

Combine the first 9-10 ingredients in a bowl; cover and let stand at least 30 minutes.

Cut the baguette into 20 (1/2-inch-thick) diagonal slices. Brush both sides of slices with olive oil. Grill, uncovered, over medium-high heat (350 to 400 degrees F) 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until golden.

I believe that this method would actually produce crostini and not bruschetta. However, for anyone that just loves food, and doesn't care as much about the terminology or history, we'll stick with the name that The All-New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook gave the recipe which is Bruschetta Pomodoro. Afterall, I would hate to end up seeming like Stephen from the first season of Top Chef about his wine pairings and incessant need to educate others. Finally, if you love capers, olives, or other cured and briny foods this is an extremely yummy recipe that I think you'll enjoy.

It's been awhile...

I was looking at a friend's blog and realized that it's been five weeks since I've posted anything. School is good. I had my first bad experience with rude staff at school. I must have been hyped up from the possibility of giving my final presentation in a class, because when the lady told me I needed to stop arguing with her and that she wasn't going to let me test if she had to explain anything to me again, I left astounded and dumbfounded. So when I recounted the situation moments later, I was on the verge of tears with the receptionist in Advising and actually did burst into tears with my Advisor. Insert wavy lines and flashback scenario here...

A non-traditional student, Me, walks into the placement testing center. She doesn't have any real insecurities about the situation, because, thus far in her community college career, she has encountered helpful, mostly friendly people. The receptionist in the placement center asks why she is there. I tell her that I'm there to take a math placement test. She says, "Uh, you can't just take one part of the test. You have to take the whole thing." So I reply, "Well, I was told in advising that I only need the one test. I have prior college experience and math is the only class that I need a placement test for." She looks a little confused, well a lot confused, and catches the eye of a lady walking by her desk. "She says she needs only the, uh, math test." Older lady says, "That's fine. Just write math on the slip." The receptionist hands me two slips of paper and says, "Fill this out to six." I smiled and said, "Thank you." Then proceeded to walk confidently to a table to fill out my form. Then another lady calls my name. I respond with a, "Yes. That's me." She walks over and takes my forms as I'm completing them. As she's looking them over she says, "You need to put a semester on here." I flushed a little and said, "Oh sorry. I wasn't exactly sure if you needed the semester I'm in here at the college or the semester that I'm needing to take the placement test for." She snapped back, "Yes." I'm thinking, is it really that crazy for me to have a little confusion with the one word instruction? So I write the semester that I need to register for that is the reason for me taking the placement test. She takes the papers from me. We walk over to her desk and she starts to type my student number into the computer. Then she looks up at me and says, "You need permission from a counselor in order to take this test."
I said, "Yes, I know. Ms. White put a note in my file that authorized me to take the test."
She said, "There is no note in your file. The only thing that is in here has to do with biology. There is nothing about taking the math placement test."
I said, "Well Ms. White put a note in there and said that it's in there, make sure they look for it."
She snapped back, "There is no note."
I then asked, "Are you sure? Because she said that the note was good for a week and as long as I came in this week that it would fine, but I couldn't wait longer than that, because they expire."
She asked, "Did this happen today?"
"No, it would have been...last week Tuesday or Wednesday."
"There is no note."
"Ms. White put one in there."
"If I have to explain any part of this again, I'm not letting you take the test today."
"I just don't understand. I was told that as long as I came in this week that was fine. So now I have to start all over again?"
"What do you mean start all over again?"
"I'm sorry, I mean that now I have to go back to advising, sign in and wait for Ms. White, have her put the note in again, come back up, and, by that time, it will be past the testing time. Then, I'll have to wait until next week." I glanced down at my watch and saw that it was already 2:00 p.m. and I didn't know how strict they are with the test times.
"You don't have to wait for Ms. White. Any counselor will be able to put a note in. If you hadn't wasted all this time arguing with me you would have made it back."
I'm thinking what the heck, woman!!!! "Okay, that's fine. I'll go down and see what's going on." So I left and headed down to Advising.

Once in advising, I recapped the scenario to the receptionist and near the end my voice started to break. She asked me if I was okay, and I replied, "Yes, I guess I'm just a little flustered." She told me to have a seat and that Ms. White would be available soon. When I went into Ms. White and retold the story, I did start to cry. She apologized for not having any tissues and gave me a little drink napkin. Then she showed me that the note is in my file, that all you have to do is scroll down, and we talked about my options for taking the test at a later date. I told her to leave the original note, because I was going back to the Placement Testing center immediately to make sure that lady knew the note was in my file.

Back in the Placement Testing office, I wasn't able to talk to the crabby lady because she was giving instructions. So I waited. While waiting the receptionist from the Advising office came up and pretended to look for some papers. When she saw the lady that had upset me she asked if that was the lady. I positively id'd the perp. and she said under her breath, "I'll let her boss know." I talked to a different lady who was very nice and said that when I come back to only deal with her. She said that I wasn't at fault and said I could still take the test if I wanted to. I thanked her and said I was just not in the headspace anymore. I was extremely pleased that crabby lady did learn that the note was in there, and I kind of hope she feels bad for being so rude. Realistically, I know that she doesn't, but it would be nice. After I left there I went back to advising to have Ms. White put a new note in. She told me to wait until the day I planned on taking the test or the day before.

I went in today and took the test. The algebra levels are as follows: pre-, elementary, intermediate, college. I did some review and hoped to at least place into elementary. I took the test and the nice lady was extra helpful and polite to me. I finished, she brought my little slip over, and then directed me to go see my counselor. She said that they would interpret the slip. I saw MTH 140 (aka Intermediate Alegebra to us community college types), but didn't know if the code was more in depth than that. So I went to Advising and eagerly awaited the interpretation of my placement slip. Ms. White came out and looked at my slip and she said, "You can fill out your form, and I'll sign it." I asked, "Well what math should I look for?" She said, "It's right on there MTH 140." I flushed and smiled really big and asked, "Really?!? I tested into MTH 140? I was hoping to at least test into Elementary, but Intermediate?" Ms. White looked at me and smiled, "It's always the smart ones who are so surprised that they are smart." I blushed so more and left the office because I needed to think about my schedule. So take that crabby placement testing lady.

Mid-term/semester update...

This Thursday, we attended parent/teacher conferences. We started the afternoon with a playdate after school at Tower Grove Park with friends. The weather was so nice and we ended up staying until 5 p.m. The playdate was impromptu though so the boys were starving and I decided to make a quick run through some fast food joint. I dreaded the experience and the place we went lived up to the expectation. The service was super-slow and the food was eh. I'd chosen fast food because I thought it was going to be fast...it wasn't we ended up running late to the parent/teacher conference. My anxiety was only exacerbated by the fact that Dirty called to tell me he was also running late because of traffic. Eventually, we made it to the school and were really only five minutes late. Monkey's teacher assured us that it was no problem.

We went into her room and sat at a table. The boys played quietly behind me as she paged me through his portfolio. Not too long after we started, she said, "Come on in, we're just getting started." That was Dirty getting there. We finished looking through the portfolio and Monkey is continuing to progress in writing, letter and number recognition, she said he's ready to start reading and that he would start that soon, she said his drawing has improved and that they are becoming more recognizable, then she let us have it. Monkey has not been behaving this week. She said that she has seen a whole new side of Monkey that she did not know existed. Normally, she can easily redirect him, but this week he has really been misbehaving, he's not napping, and he's been really defiant. We expressed our concern and did the parent thing, by trying to rationalize, with decreased sleep, diet changes, et cetera. All of which is true. Plus, we are coming off of spring break where we didn't have set bedtimes, routines were screwy, and he was gone from school for a whole week. She told us that she didn't say anything throughout the week but it has been a bit of a problem. At least, academically he is doing well. I'm sure he'll be back to his normal Monkey self soon. The Scientist, on the other hand, is doing great.

The Scientist's report was gleaming compared to Monkey's (which I won't do because good parent's don't do that ;). His teacher said his writing has much improved with his confidence since the beginning of the year. He received "A's" in Reading, Social Studies and Math, which his teacher usually doesn't give out until 4th quarter. Mr. C. said that The Scientist's ability in those areas is really exceptional so he'd earned the "A's". All of his other subjects he is still doing well in. He's still a bit too talkative at times, but he's gotten better at controlling himself when he's supposed to. Finally, there's me.

I would love to say that I've got straight "A's" again, but sadly I don't. I have one "A" and three "B's". There is a likelyhood that I will get two of those "B's" up to "A's" by the end of the semester. The one "A" I have is in Anatomy and Physiology though, so I'm pretty proud of that. I've made it to the point where most people drop A & P and I've made it here with an "A". I filled out my financial aid and will receive even more than I did for this past year. It's nice to get "something" for the almost eight years that I've been a stay-at-home-mom. All the sacrifice and low-income is paying off with...free schooling!!! Totally worth it. I got to be home and raise my children during their more formative years and now, with more confidence in myself and my abilities, I've started a path that I've always wanted to take, and I'm doing awesome.

Spring Break...

We had a great spring break! The boys and I were off the same week, which was nice. I pretended that I was just a stay-at-home-mom again and not a student. Well, that's not completely true because I worried about not studying throughout the week and I did go to S.'s house to identify muscles on the pictures she took of the models in Anatomy. We ended up with a playdate every single day. Here is a brief description of how that went.

Monday: We were originally supposed to go to TG Park and ride our bikes, then go to lunch at the R.'s. But then M.R. got strep so that was cancelled, but we still had the boy R.'s over for a playdate while M. and A. went to the doctor and then had the prescription filled. Then we rode bikes to my in-laws house, where we played and fed the dogs and watched satellite. Then we rode back home.

Tuesday: We went for a bike ride to TG Park. Then we stopped by my in-laws, to see if A. needed us to come back to feed the dogs. She didn't so we went home and the boys played in the back yard for something like four hours. I stayed inside and cleaned the kitchen and tidied up the rest of the house. Later in the evening, The Scientist's friend, M., came over for a sleepover. They stayed up pretty late playing video games then reading.

Wednesday: We all went to Mastadon State Historic Site, in Imperial, to visit their museum and hike their "Bone Bed Trail". It was a neat little museum and I learned the difference between Mastadons and Mammoths. Mammoths were mainly in the western portion of the United States. Mastadons were mainly in the eastern portion. Mammoths were bigger than Mastadons. The differences between the two are similar to the differences between African and Asian elephants. After the hike and a snack, we came home and the boys played outside for another few hours.

Thursday: We went "all the way" to Wildwood to visit the Ri.'s. It was the first time that I got to meet their newest addition C. He is super-cute and pretty much just slept the whole time were were there. BUT that meant that D. and I got most of the entire playdate to ourselves to sit and chat. The boys all got along great and were pretty much off playing. D. and I ended up tidying up the toy room near the end. I realized mid-playdate that I forgot to take the play table, which I told P. M. that I would transfer to D. Then the boys and I left, and it wasn't until I reached Lindbergh on I-44 that I realized that I'd forgotten both of the boys books in her basement. So I called her and we set up an additional meeting the next day to exchange everything I'd forgotten.

Friday: I dropped the boys at the R.'s to play while I went to meet D. in Eureka, where we had a cup of coffee and chatted a bit more. It was nice to see her two days in a row (just like old times). That ended pretty quickly, because I needed to leave to get back to the R.'s. I watched A.'s boys, and my own, while she took M. and G.K. to dance class. While she was gone I tidied up her kitchen from lunch. I figured it was only fair since she fed my children. Then she got back, and we sat and chatted. I tried to help her process clothing choices for her upcoming reunion in NOLA. It was a lot of fun, but being the fifth day of non-stop action I was pooped and therefore not much in the energetic scheme of things. The boys actually left relatively easily, which was a nice end to things. That night, we met my in-laws for dinner at Pho Grand, and then we had gelato next door at The Gelateria.

Saturday: I believe we had a pretty lazy morning, then we headed to Home Depot. After that, we came home, regrouped, then headed back out. The boys went swimming and I went to Target. I bought all of the Charlaine Harris' paperback books, Twilight: The Movie, new shelves for the boys room, and a few other odds and ends. Then, I went back to The Heights to meet the boys. They were finished playing, but the weather was so nice, so we went to the playground.

There one of my pet peeves reared it's ugly head. A mom sat in her car where she talked on her cell phone the entire time. Within one minute of the boys getting onto the playground, the youngest needed help getting down from somewhere. Within fifteen minutes, the youngest whipped "it" out and started peeing in the middle of the playground. Granted, this was after a minute or so of him looking frantically around for "something". At that point, his mother started yelling his name from her car. He obviously couldn't hold it and she's yelling at him. After about ten seconds of him peeing in the middle of the playground and her yelling, she FINALLY gets out of her car, still on her cell phone, and it isn't until she actually gets to the gate that she says, "So and so, I have to go. Yeah, I'll call you back later." Then she yells at him, "YOU DO NOT DO THAT! IF YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM YOU GO TO THE SIDE OF THE PLAYGROUND! YOU DON'T STAND IN THE MIDDLE AND GO! YOU ARE SO NAUGHTY!" Then she called her older son and said they had to leave shaming her younger son even more by saying, "We have to leave because your brother is naughty." Um yeah, how about you don't leave two children under six unattended on a playground. Sure, the playground is completely fenced in, but what are they supposed to do if they need you? Walk out of the playground and across the parking lot to your car to ask you? Right, then you make your child feel like an idiot because he doesn't know what to do, but you are nowhere near him in order for him to ask you. Nice.

Sunday: Another last lazy day. We took our time getting ready and then we went to the Zoo. We went to Zoomagination Station and renewed our Zoo membership. Then we rode the train and got to see the orangutans close up. All of them were right up against the glass just looking at the people looking at them. So cute. After the zoo, I dropped the boys at home and I went to Old Navy. Then, we spent the rest of the evening at home, winding down, and getting ready for the upcoming week. I finished my homework for tomorrow and finally completed my notecards for the muscle test in Anatomy on Friday. And now I'm writing a blog about our Spring Break week. It was so nice to have a week off, do nothing but be, and we have fantastic weather. It could have been slightly warmer for my tastes, but overall it was lovely.

Note to self...

A bird free-flying around an open space will scare the living s&%# out of you. Having a flying beast come near your head with wings a flappin' will cause you to pull your left trapezius. It will also give you flashes of gigantic moths flapping around your face, and you know how freakin' scary you think that is. No, no it's not swimming from manta rays or stepping on crocodiles in rivers, but it's still an experience that will scare the bejeezus out of you. No matter how much the bird tries to lift the cage door open or tweets at you to let him out, "DO NOT DO IT!!!"

I can't fall asleep....

I don't know if it was the Diet Dr. Pepper after 7 p.m., the ice cream at 9 p.m., the uneasy processing about my day, or my anxiety about the upcoming week, but I cannot sleep. I was hoping that if I got into bed and relaxed with a little music that I would get the urge, but it's now 12:15 a.m. in the newly daylight savings time and I am no closer to sleep. This week Dirty and I are watching my in-laws three dogs and their lovebird. I'm torn between the comfort of home, which is a sense of normalcy for me and the boys, namely a fairly set schedule, and how much time I can spend at my in-laws to give their animals a sense of normalcy, namely people in the house. Although, my two kids, and heck even the husband and I, are probably more stressful for them that just being alone. Part of my reason for not falling asleep is figuring out my school schedule, the family schedule, and adding in the extra four animals schedule. I know I can work it out. I will work it out.

My next big worry is my Anatomy class, which is slightly weird considering I also have a History test this Thursday. But I am more worried and especially anxious about the two Anatomy exams I have after getting back to school after spring break. The two exams are on muscles. (sidenote: Yay, a yawn.) There are A LOT of freakin' muscles in the human body. I don't have to know all of them, but of the 40+ muscles I do need to know I also need to know their origins, insertions, actions, and innervations. I'm already behind in the schedule that I made up for myself for the next couple of weeks. This week, I'm going to put some time into learning those four things about the muscles I need to know, but I'm going to put more time into learning where exactly they are on the body. I have to do that because the campus is closed the week of spring break, which means I'll have no access to the charts or models on campus.

I've also been feeling especially out of shape lately. I told myself that when I got the right equipment (a sports bra) that I would start jogging. Even with my crazy upcoming week, I'm going to try and jog for at least 20 minutes 7 days a week. My other problem is that I have clicking in my wrist, knee, and sometimes ankle. Now my anatomy professor said that once it starts it won't get better, but right now I'm carrying more weight than almost ever, I haven't worked out regularly since I started school, and my diet is that of a couch potato. I've been really stressed by school, family, life...

Some good things:
I thought I might be sick of John Frusciante's The Empyrean before I listened to it, but I wasn't. It is really a spectacular album. I hope I never get sick of it.

The workmen, R. and J., finished all the work on the plaster and the hole in the hall ceiling that they were hired to do. It was nice to no longer have strange people in our house...no matter how nice they were. (and they were really, really nice people) They did a great job, and I can't wait to paint everything.

We have painted the boys room. The Scientist picked the color (although we actually bought the shade lighter than what he picked, please don't tell him...ever). It is called moss green. It looks great in their room. We still have to re-white the trim and parts of the ceiling, but we are going to do that a little later because painting a room is a lot of work. We also purchased a curtain rod and four navy curtain panels to place between the living room and their room (Monkey picked out the blue). I also bought a new lamp for their room. So we can get rid of the lamp that was a hand-me-down and had a patched wire (kind of scary). Our final purchase for their room will be shelves for the wall and that will likely happen next weekend. (that's my hope anyway)

We had a really nice playdate Friday night with The Scientist's three best friends, J., I. and M., for M.'s birthday. He chose to go swimming at The Heights, which works out great for us since we're members, and dinner at CiCi's Pizza. All the parents were there, and we both really feel blessed that The Scientist has such a great group of friends. They play really well together and go out of their way to make sure that everyone can be included. On another day, they wanted to go down the big slide, The Scientist was the only one not tall enough, so in the spirit of fairness they decided that no one should go. All of the kids, except for I. are also in the gifted pull-out at school which, after a couple weeks of The Scientist not wanting to go to school on Fridays because of it, he is enjoying it again.

I suppose that's all for now...even though I'm not really any more tired than before. I probably shouldn't have taken Macroeconomics on a Monday, because I seem to get like this every Sunday. Then I'm in a class on Monday that is very interactive and the teacher makes us answer questions and write on the board and I'm out of it. Nice.

How do you spend the nicest day in weeks...

Well, here in the House Full of Boys we started out pretty good. Dirty went for an early long bike ride. I slept in until about 9:15 while the boys played quietly. Then after I woke up, I ate breakfast and gave Monkey a bath. Then, we went to a playground at McGrath school, which I think is in Brentwood, and followed that with a stop at Maplewood Bike Shop. After much waiting, The Scientist was finally getting a bike that wasn't too small. We drove toward home and, because The Scientist had his new bike, I dropped Dirty, The Old Man, The Scientist, and Monkey in Tower Grove Park so they could bike, scooter, or walk home.

It wasn't too long after I got home that they arrived. Monkey was crying, and The Scientist updated me that Monkey had fallen and cut his Chin. I don't remember if I blogged about it before, but he'd cut his chin at the pool, in practically the same place, maybe four or five months ago. This time, he had fallen off of the scooter, cut his chin, and bit his tongue. I hoped for the best but, after about five minutes of trying to clean it, realized that we needed an emergency room visit.

I packed up a bag full of Transformers, HotWheels, Micromachines, and Transformer books. The last four or five times that I've been to the emergency room, we waited for a long time, and the tv, bead coasters, meager selection of books, and locked-up video games only hold the attention for so long. I only brought water because, from prior experience, I know that they don't allow any food or drink for the patient just in case anesthesia is needed. I dropped the boys off at the entrance and went to park the car in the garage. I'm always surprised how fast people drive in the garage (or the boys' school's parking lot for that matter) knowing that there might be kids darting out into traffic, but I'll save that rant for another blog...or facebook. :D All of my preparing, was unneeded though. We weren't there more than 10 minutes when they called us back to an exam room.

We weren't in the exam room for even one minute when the ER resident, Dr. C, came in to evaluate. We were still working on getting Monkey's shirts off, and he was less than helpful. He even snapped at Dr. C, which is understandable. The poor kid has been in the ER no less than five times in four years, and the visits have never been exactly pleasurable experiences. Dr. C. had already looked at our file and reminded us of verified our prior visits (ex. possible swallowing of thumb tacks-negative findings, laceration on ear from fall in daycare). I smiled and said, "He's adventurous." Dr. C looked at his chin and told us it's superficial, but because of the location of the laceration sutures would be needed. He said that he would have someone from Child Life come in and explain the procedures to Monkey and bring some distractions.

She, sorry I can't remember her name, came in and talked with us, and Monkey a little, about a cool gel that would make his chin feel better. Monkey snapped at her too. The doctor dropped by again with some of his supplies. The nurse then came in to numb up his chin. Then we waited for about thirty-five minutes for the gel to kick in. I told Dirty, in that time, that I was a little ticked, the one time he's able to go the the ER for the boys, we didn't have to wait for hours, and everything was moving really smoothly and quickly. He said that he was glad it did because he was freaking out as it was. Monkey did really well throughout the procedure. It took about thirty minutes for Dr. C. to give Monkey five stitches and he had to leave, come back and re-lidocaine part of Monkey's chin. We were released soon after that with orange popsicles for the boys.

We made a quick stop at McDonalds for dinner (read: Daddy feels guilty that I told you they wouldn't hurt you in the emergency room, but then they did.) After that, we made a quick stop at the grocery store for ice cream, triple anti-biotic, dinner for a couple nights, and milk. We've ended the trip to come home to about ten spots of dog vomit throughout the carpeted area of the house. I made Dirty clean it up because I would yack myself if I had to clean it up. And that is how the House Full Of Boys...and Me spends the warmest day in what seems like months. I'm sure you're extremely jealous of how glamorous my lifestyle must seem. :D

Stop teasing your brother...

I have a question, a survey of sorts, to pose to any readers with early childhood experience, or other insight, into dealing with brotherly teasing. This is an issue I try to curb as much as possible, because little things always end up turning into big things. Then I end up with a headache.

So here is the situation, my four year old, Monkey, has no problem with having girlfriends. For a while, he didn't really have a definition for what a girlfriend is, but I always follow up when he talks about girlfriends by asking, "What is a girlfriend?" His answer to me used to be, "She's a girl and she's my friend." But lately his answer has evolved into, "It has to do with kissing, Mom." I, of course, had to ask, "You kiss, P, Mo, and Ma?" I was relieved when he said, "No, Mom. You can't kiss at school." Also, lately, he's added another girl to his list of "girlfriends".

The new girlfriend is my seven year old's, The Scientist's, friend J. The Scientist has no problem with Monkey saying J is his girlfriend. What The Scientist does have a problem with is Monkey saying that J is The Scientist's girlfriend. J is a girl, she is The Scientist's friend, but at this stage in his psychological development having someone say that someone else is your girlfriend really bothers him. He loves playing with J. We've have a semi-standing playdate every Friday evening swimming and then going out to eat. I need to know how to help him feel comfortable with having J as his friend and still deal with any teasing, which with other little boys seems to be occuring now. With Monkey I'm usually around to make him stop teasing his brother about it and explain the meaning of girlfriend in the context of J as The Scientist's friend. I don't know why Monkey's started this other than it is something he found that he can do to push The Scientist's buttons and sometimes that what he wants to do. Any thoughts/suggestions/comments?

I don't have long but...

A few things I wanted to get off of my chest...My last blog when I mentioned my neighbor's dog I said a form of "dear" like a billion times. Greta was a very sweet dog and very loved by her family, friends, and neighbors. However, it is possible that my comp professor from last year will read this blog, and I don't want her to think that I've somehow regressed into a world of redundant writing. I like to think that I have not, but since I am not given a grade which will add or detract from my college GPA, I am a bit less intense about checking for errors than I was with any papers for class.

I've also started a new semester at school. I've mentioned before what I'm taking, but I don't feel like looking through my blog archives to find the exact entry to hyperlink, so the classes I have this semster are Developmental Psych, Anatomy and Physiology I, Macroeconomics, and American History I. My first week went great. I enjoy the topics in the classes and enjoy most of my professors. I have two classmates from last semester in three of my classes this semester, which is always nice. The class that I know no one is Macroeconomics. I think it will be a fun class. The teacher is a trip and talks like a radio announcer or the guy who announces the rules at the Omnimax. Plus he's really interactive and runs a tight ship. I like those kinds of professors. I already have a ton of reading, but have enjoyed getting back into the learning environment. Throughout the week this week I just kept thinking how I really love community college.

I'm eager to move on to the next portion of my nursing education, but in the meantime I'm really enjoying school. The campus is great. I like how it's laid out. The Campus Life group holds a lot of functions. This week I attended my first and it was an inaugural party for Obama. They had two big screens which played CNNs coverage of the event. Luckily, I had a break in between classes and was able to watch a majority of the actual inauguration. After the ceremony there were beverages, sandwiches, chicken, and taquitos. It was nice. I would get more into that but have lost my blogging momentum...

The last weekend before school starts...

It is now the last Thursday before school starts for me. I am both excited (because this pushes me a little bit more toward my goal of becoming a nurse) and anxious (there will be a lot of studying for the classes this semester and less time to have get togethers with friends). I'm looking forward to my anatomy and physiology class and hoping that I'm able to do as well in it as I did with the rest of my classes last semester. I've really enjoyed my time off. Jake was off most of the boys Christmas break and, while it was nice to have some time to myself during the day, I wasn't at the point of "Get my children out of my house before I lose it!" It was nice to have time to spend with our little family. Then, after the boys went back to school I had a week and a half of laidback housewife-life. I went to coffee with friends. I visited some of those same friends. I went to playdates that were for the kids, without my kids, and visited with my mom-friends. I kept the house relatively clean. I cooked dinner for the family where we were able to sit together around the table.

Sitting together around the table is something I'm hoping eventually pays off. Right now it's a bit of a chore. We are trying to push the learning of manners. This is something I have to teach not only the children, but my husband. We had rolls tonight and my husband took his butter knife and cut (read smooshed it through) the middle of his roll, and the roll he was preparing for a child. I said, "I know this is advanced manners, but you aren't supposed to cut your dinner roll." He said, "Pssshhhh. Whatever, that's stupid." Then he proceeded to say, "Would you pass me a roll?" I said, "You didn't ask politely." So he looked at Monkey and said, "Please, would you pass me a roll, please." Then he felt the need to bring up Lambert's, which I feel is not a good idea when you're trying to instill table manners. Luckily, the boys didn't pick that up and run with it. It's bad enough teaching table manners to three boys without them thinking it's okay to throw food around the room.

I also wanted to mention a dear soul who passed away and will be dearly missed. Our neighbors across the street lost their dear Greta after twelve loving years. Our sympathy goes out to you M and D.