driving and waiting.

13 years ago, I had to commute an hour and fifteen minutes each way to the university. (Gee. Wonder why I may have dropped out before graduation?). I learned to work every second of that time. I would record my notes onto tape and listen to them as I drove. I got through countless audio books. I would eat a bagel for breakfast, drive with velcro curlers in my hair, and put on mascara at the stop signs. And if I ever had to wait somewhere in my car-- there was always a book to read, something to write on, or something I could clean out. I was a fierce car multi-tasker! I can only imagine what I would have been able to do if I'd had a cell phone, an ipod, and a DVD player......

And now, in my role as Mom, I can referee "disagreements", sing the alphabet song, try and hear what Glenn Beck is saying, pass out hand sanitizer,help the older boys memorize the preamble of the constitution, and bend over to pick up the dropped binky with one hand while still keeping my head above the dashboard and the other hand on the wheel!!!!

I was pleasantly surprised when earlier this week I happened to find myself with 15 precious minutes before cub scouts was out. My multi-tasking skills while driving were still pretty impressive after all these years, but I fear my waiting skills were out of practice. I forgot my book. Talk radio was all commercials. No people to watch. But I just happened to have my camera. And to make sure I had something to show for my time, I started snapping pictures. I think what I caught was pretty sweet:

This was probably the main reason why the wait seemed so significant. If this one had been awake, it would have been all chatter and questions ;)!

I see James is awake. This one's up now too.....and picking his nose! He'll LOVE this photo when he's older!
Binky is our ever-faithful companion, and so is......
Bo-bo the dog. Such tiny, precious hands.


And now let's make this more about YOU-------
What do you do while you wait in your car? Or even more exciting, what can you do while you drive?!?!

our visit from the crazy leprechaun

Happy one day late Saint Patrick's Day everyone!



St. Patrick's Day is one of those "holidays" I'm not quite sure what to do with. Sure, we wear green and generally eat something green and/or made with potatoes, and last year we even had a history lesson on who St. Patrick really was (they still remembered all about him this year, so I didn't see any reason to repeat THAT idea!). But what else, I wondered, can you do to have a little fun with this day..... just for the hecuvit?!



Then I read about Kim's great St. Patty's day tradition. It involves getting a visit from a seemingly deranged leprechaun. He comes to your house, rearranges all your furniture in a nonsensical kind of way, and maybe even drops a few treasures for you to find.

Of course, I didn't read her post until it was already St. Patrick's day morning--but I thought I could still make it work for us. After a quick trip to the store, I had all the boys play out back while I "leprechauned" our house. They had a great time searching out the treasure:

The leprechaun did a fine job of messing up our living room..... but it looks like he forgot that mint chocolate ice cream on top of the big upturned ottoman! (see it?) Finders, Keepers Mr. Leprechaun!

Oh!--looks like he got the family room too. And left a box of Lucky Charms next to our milk that he turned green!

And LUCKY US!--He even left his pot of gold behind!!! Who knew it was made of chocolate?

(He also"tinkled" green (food coloring) in our toilet--which the kids got a huge kick out of, but which I'll spare you the picture of :)!).

I think Ethan summed it all up when he said "I thought today was going to be boring, but now I think St. Patrick's day is actually pretty fun!".

I thought so too! Thanks for the new tradition Kim!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

things NOT to give children

Along with sharp knives, permanent markers, the keys to your car, and Tickle Me Elmo, I am adding THIS to the list of things not to give your children: THIS is a voice changer. Not only does it amplify my children's already loud voices, it also warps them into various robotic sounds, each more annoying than the next. Zane and Ethan have had fun singing "Mr. Roboto" into it (yes, my children actually know the words to that song.....they are modern men with a secret, secret......). Liam just likes to scream, loudly, into it. Repeatedly. Early in the morning. And he's teaching James.
I don't know what my sister was thinking when she bought these for Christmas gifts, but I bet she was laughing when she was thinking it.

And she's so generous, she gave us two.

Come on dollar store batteries--
wear out quickly!

terrible children!

No, my children aren't terrible, though lately they've been doing a few things that make me want to pull my rapidly graying hair out. But each time I feel ready to start down the road to "yellsville" because of some crazy shenanigan or another, I have to stop and remember what a terrible child I was.

I didn't mean to be terrible--perhaps just overly creative with too much time on my hands. My mom was widowed and so she had to work long hours to support us all. Until I was about 8, my brother and I went to a babysitter. I can't really remember why we stopped going, I just remember suddenly having a lot of time to ourselves after school. Time to do things like this:

Once I had a yard sale. Only I never asked, I just went around the house finding stuff I didn't like or didn't think we needed--none of my precious stuff mind you--but dishes, a lamp, some of my mom's clothes, my brother's winter coat with the pointy hood that bothered me---you get the picture. Needless to say my poor mother had to do some hunting around to our neighbors to get our things back and return the dimes and quarters I'd sold everything for.

Another time, I remember my brother and I drug our family's big beanbag outside. Then we got out the ladder and climbed up onto our roof. You can guess what's coming next. We had a jolly good time repeatedly jumping off the roof and onto the beanbag. We even invited a few lucky neighborhood children to join us!

We swam in the canal that ran through our neighborhood. We played with fireworks and caught my mom's bed on fire. We called the police when we saw 'strangers' in our neighborhood (little old people out on a walk). We loaned out expensive tools and fishing gear to our friends. We experimented with our own 'potions' in the kitchen. How we are still alive, I do not know. I can only attribute it to the fact that it was the early 80's and maybe every kid acted like that......maybe?!?!

So when I feel the need to punish Liam and the "spawn of Liam" as we so affectionately call James, or to ground these two amigos that seem to outsmart me at every turn--
I just remember my own mother who laughed (and cried!) and managed to get me through my childhood feeling loved and of worth------and I think I can try and do the same.

*I would LOVE to hear some crazy stories about anyone else's childhood. No teenage stories though please--because those can get really ugly :).

Gumdrop Trees TAKE THREE!

Big brother tree has received a makeover! He now looks just different enough to stand out, but not so different as to have his siblings laugh at him. I think I have now officially spent waaaay too much time on a craft that will only last a month! AND---I was strolling through the store tonight looking at magazines when I came across the Paula Deen holiday issue, and GUESS WHAT SHE HAD ON THE COVER?.....GUMDROP TREES! So much for my clever idea, eh? Actually if I remember right, when I made the wreath a few years ago, I had stole the idea from Martha Stewart. I guess I just think like my fellow domestic goddesses. HA!

THE MOST POPULAR PLACE IN OUR HOUSE THIS EVENING: The living room couch, of course! Why is that? Because Mom was trying to catch a quick nap, that's why! Thanks to my dear husband for taking this picture....of course he could have taken Liam off my face and James off my legs, but I'll try not to complain. Just add built-in human blankets to the list of motherhood 'perks'!