Bike Riding

I am slightly embarrassed to say none of my kids know how to ride a bike. Roman is now 8 and still using training wheels. Problem is we haven't lived in a place they could learn to ride bikes since we left Florida... Roman was 2, Hopey just 9 months at that time. Our current neighborhood has great streets for bike riding. So, with gas prices so high this summer, we decided do something different and "go green" and take a little of our tax returns and invest in a great family activity... bike riding! Yup, even James and I got knew bikes, which neither of us have owned since we were kids. Boy did we forget how fun it can be! Bethany is a hellion on wheels. No big shock there, right! Hopey is slow and lazy and doesn't want to peddle for long. She fell once and tried to give up for good. Yup, no big shock there either. But Roman. That boy won't even try! He's demanding we put training wheels on his new bike before he'll get on it. He's EIGHT! It just kills me and James. He'd rather ride his scooter or even rollerblade than bike ride. Still he got a new one and we're forcing the issue. This summer we will be spending a lot of time close to home from the looks of it. Instead of wasting the gas to drive 3 blocks to the pool, they WILL be riding their bikes back and forth. Wish us luck as we get their little chunky butts in shape and teach them this great childhood pastime. Surprisingly, a lot of their friends don't know how to ride bikes either. What is happening to this generation!??!

On a side note.... OUCH!!!! My butt still hurts from those few hours of riding on Saturday!

Cold Packs

The Dobie, has recently been renamed to Dr. Hope. See, Hope is the only one in the house that ever seems to know exactly where the bandaids are. Secretly I think she's been hiding and hording them, but haven't been able to prove this theory as I still have no idea where she keeps getting them from. With spring in the air and baseball season in full swing, it was time to restock the first aid kits, something we do every spring. Since Hope was doing such a great job patching boo-boos and reminding everyone to wash their hands and whatnot we decided she could be Dr. Hope and bought her her very own first aid kit, a Medibag. The idea was for her to keep it under the sink in the kids' bathroom and note that it was the only one the kids could get into without help or at least asking, and maybe the ones in the other bathrooms would miraculously be there when we need them! Hope agreed to these terms and was given the responsibility of her new Medibag.

Of course this means the B-monster got into it! I came home late last week to find the contents scattered throughout MY bedroom. I called Hope in to address it, pick up the mess and put it away where it belongs. Aside from confirming it was Bethany's doing she did so with little complaint and in doing so discovered the cold pack. "Mom, what's this?" "That's a cold pack, be careful with it, cause if you crack it it won't work when you need it and it's a one time use thing. Use it, then throw it away." "Ohhhhhhh, okay, the next time someone gets a cold I'll crack it and toss it! Will that make them better faster??"

Wacky Wednesday

Wacky Wednesday just may be Hope's most all time favorite school day!! She came home the day before and it was all she could talk about. She must have matched 20 different outfits to come up with the PERFECT one for Wacky Wednesday (yes, she really did wear this to school, and out to dinner, and to Roman's baseball practice!)

Report Cards

I'm not sure I've ever bragged on my kids schooling in the past, and certainly not in awhile at least. So here goes. Roman and Hope are both amazing!!! Both were blessed (and seemingly B too) with natural intelligence. Or rather, they easily just get it! Schooling has always come easily for them. Both could have (and most certainly Bethany, though it ain't gonna happen) started Kindergarten a year ahead of schedule and I have no doubts in my mind that they would have excelled and done just fine. We don't have to work extremely hard on their academic lives and for that I am soooooooooooo thankful. I am truly blessed in this department!

Their latest report cards.... drum roll please...... Hope Elizabeth got ALL E's!!!!!!!!!!! That would be the equivalent of straight A's. Roman dropped off a little this time around. He came home with 5 S's and 4 E's. Most kids would kill for a report card that great and it would be the equivalent of A/B honor roll. But Roman, he was pretty devastated. He's known he's been "off" lately. We've discussed it, his teacher has apparently discussed it with him recently, and according to him he's been having a lot of issues with his friends at school on top of the added pressure of helping out more at home these last few months while James has been laid up. He's just going through a rough spell, but that's another post for another day.

Last night was baseball practice, so of course all the mom's are asking the kids how they did. One of the mom's asks Hope.... "How did you do on your report?" Hope, "I got 5 S's and all the rest E's. I did grrrrrrrreat!" ummm, Hope honey, that was ROMAN's report card you were looking at not yours! So when I told her she got all E's, she just shrugs and says, "Well, that's good too." and walks off. LOL Roman on the otherhand was even more devastated to hear that Hopey pulled all E's, something, thanks to his chicken scratch handwriting, he's yet to pull off himself. All the same, we were thrilled with them both and stopped by the store on the way home from practice to pick up "Alvin and the Chipmunks", a much wanted and well earned DVD.

I know Roman is a bit upset over it, but I'm so proud of them both!!!

Sarah for Brevard Idol

My niece, Sarah, is in a local singing competition in her hometown, similar to American Idol. You can go online to view her performance and vote. Voting ends today, but we've spent hours this week logging votes for Sarah and it shows as Bethany can not stop singing the "Sarah Song". In an attempt to capture the moment for Sarah, I got this video. In it you will see her frustrated in the beginning where she proceeds to hit Roman for singing with her. Later on Roman's game controller sitting on the table begins to vibrate and sounds like someone farting. B can't help but jerk her head to look. Then in the end she is upset over her substandard performance... which was captured half a dozen more times, but this one was just too funny not to share!

Good luck Sarah!!!! We love you!!!!!

Army Time

While spring cleaning this weekend Roman found his watch. It's a camouflage band with a compass and other military type things on it. So, after lunch the boy comes in, looks at his watch and says, "Dad, it's 12:04." All proud of himself he walks into the den and sees that the clock on the Verizon box says 12:02. He comes back into the foyer where James and I are talking and says, "Well, it's really 12:02, but it's 12:04 Army time. That's just cause there's 100 minutes in an hour on Army time!"

Let's go to Canada... where the camels are!

So, we're driving to Jeni's yesterday taking the "scenic" route and of course it's the long way around and the kids were cranky and tired and hungry and the "are we there yet?"'s started about as fast as we got out of the neighborhood. Finally Hope makes a comment, "We have to be getting close to Baltimore already we've been driving so long!" NOTE - it's been about 15 minutes in the car! I look at our direction and make comment, "Well, in this direction we'll end up in Canada before we get to Baltimore." And Hope says, "REALLY?!?! Canada!! I can't wait to see all the camels!"

Under further investigation we discovered that the further north you go the warmer it gets because camels live in the desert. At one point she makes a comment, "You know Canada... where the camels are!" in this slightly airheaded voice and Roman hits his head with his hand in a 'd'oh fashion' and says, "HOPE, it's not the camels, it's the moose! Lily says, 'I'm from Canada, you know, where the mooses are' not camels!" Hope's response, "Oh yeah, the moose!"... those of you not up on Hannah Montana this comes from an episode where Miley's friend Lily is in disguise as 'Lola' her assistant so no one will put Lily and Miley together to let out Miley's secret of being Hannah Montana. When someone asks who she is she says, "I'm Lola.... from Canada.... (with hands up in antler fashion) where the mooses are!" Hope was clearly confused, but at least she knew enough to know camels live in the desert!

April Fools!!!

Yeah, I know it was yesterday. It's been awhile since I actively participated in this evil day or fun and I had forgotten just how much fun it can be. And so it started off as normal as any other day. At work James called me... we need to prank the kids, what can we do?? After tossing around this and that we decided he would yell at them when they got home from school and ground them. Here's the tales told by the kids....

HOPE - Well, dad said, "Hope, why did you get a bad report from music class today?" and I said, "I dunno" and he said, "Hope, what did you do that was so bad in music that the teacher had to send a note home?" and I said, "I dunno" and he said, "Do I need to ground you for a week?" and I said, "I don't know what you're talking about." and he said, "April Fool's!" and I said, "Oooooooooh, I get it now. (hehe) He's funny!" And then at school I said to Cassie, "Cassie, there's a dolphin behind you" and she turned around and I said, "April Fool's!" and then she says, "no there's really a dolphin behind YOU" and so I turned around and she said, "April Fool's!" and then.....

ROMAN - Dad got me goooood! I was really freakin' out!!!

Yup, that was all I got out of Roman, so had to turn to James for the run down of how this one played out. And apparently when Roman got in James met him and immediately began laying into him. "What happened in the lunchroom today??" "Nothing" "Who were you trying to pick a fight with today in the lunchroom?" "No one, I swear!" "Why did Mrs. Dunn have to call me then?" "I didn't do anything, I swear! I sat with my boys today, but we didn't cause any trouble, I swear it!" "And I guess you're gonna tell me that you didn't get moved to the silent table either! I think I'm gonna have to take away Xbox for 2 weeks since you won't fess up to it. I've already spoken to Mrs Dunn, she told me everything." At which point Roman was completely freaking out and on the verge of tears and James couldn't keep it up.... "April Fool's!!!!" He didn't find it as funny as Hope did!

By the time I got home I was greeted at the door and informed I had poisonous spiders on my head, a bear behind me and a goat in the kitchen! All I have to say is those kids better beware of April 1, 2009, cause it's on now!!! To add to the fun of the evening I did fix an April Fool's dinner for them that I think they all loved. When called in for dinner they were greeted with mini cheeseburgers, mashed potatoes and gravy, and peas as well as a big birthday cake for Trooper.... yup, our boy turned 1 yesterday!!! Happy Birthday Trooper!!!.... anyway, as Roman griped about the size of the meal, which was small, he soon came to realize it wasn't all it looked to be. The mini hamburgers were made of cookies and starburst, the mashed potatoes and gravy that they all came in griping about having to eat was really vanilla ice cream and caramel, and much to their shocking surprise, the peas were, well, peas! LOL I told them it was a small dinner cause we had a big cake to eat. Roman (thank you grandaddy!!!) did his well known "Oops" swipe on the icing of the cake and I just wish I had the camera at the ready to capture his face when he realized it wasn't icing, but the real mashed potatoes! hahahaha I had made up a meatloaf over the weekend and baked it in two round cake pans, stacked and iced with mashed potatoes, then decorated with grape tomatoes and topped with a Scooby Doo candle in honor of Trooper's birthday. I even left a jar of cherries on the counter to throw them off, and they had NO IDEA! It was priceless! Of course that was the real dinner, and yes, instead of saving the leftovers, Trooper got to eat the remainder of his "Cake". He was in heaven!!!

I'm loving the kids being old enough to appreciate such things!!! The ideas for next year just keep flowing.....

My awesome girls!

This weekend we bought a full set of crate style furniture off a lady on Craigslist. Roman had baseball practice during the time we set to pick it up, so Jeni came over and road with us to help with lifting as James's back is still not 100%. When we arrived we met the nice lady who I had been corresponding with. Her husband had lined up a few friends to help us load the furniture - totally unexpected! Overall it was the easiest transaction ever. They were a really nice couple with an adorable 8 month old daughter.

So, anyone who knows my girls knows they seldom ever meet a stranger. They are obnoxiously friendly and very outgoing and being that James and I constantly have people hanging out, they are just as accustomed to interacting with adults as they are children. No surprise they took to this lady immediately! By the time the furniture was loaded and I went to round them up to head home, I find Bethany curled up in her lap with Hope sitting as close next to her as possible all singing and talking to the baby. I just shook my head, grinning (who could help it!), apologized explaining they know no strangers and have issues with personal space. Lucky for them they are both adorably cute with bubbly personalities that makes even the most hard hearted of people melt. Apparently she was enjoying every minute of it. This morning when I arrived at work I found an email for her awaiting me. This is what she had to say....

Julie- I hope you didn’t have any trouble getting the furniture moved in and you are happy with it. I also wanted to tell you that your daughters are absolutely precious. Polite, friendly and a joy to be around… I hope Megan is exactly like that when she is older!

What an overwhelmingly awesome compliment! Can you even imagine?? I have been grinning all morning, just so proud of my little ladies! I mean *I* know they're terrific kids, but there's just something so heartwarming when others, particularly complete strangers, go out of their way to acknowledge it! This is a first time mom of a small infant and to hear her make that last comment about hoping her baby turns out like my girls just makes me overflow with pride for them! I love them so much!!!! And when you get a compliment like this, you just have to stop and let that warmth and pride of it wrap around you a bit and hold tight to knowing that you must be doing something right, cause let's face it, parenting is scary stuff! Yes, they can be rotten at times, but overall I really could not be prouder of my kids. All of them! (Roman just wasn't included because he wasn't there!)

Spring Break

I do believe all in all we had a boring, relaxing, easy spring break this year. The kids were happy to be heading back to school today and James and I were happy to send them! They had a lot of late nights, sleeping in till noon, eating a lot of junk, watching movies, playing video games, and playing outdoors. We made it to the park twice, managed a bit of spring cleaning, and had a "date" with our neighbors while James got a much needed break.... since Rich was out of time (convenient being spring break and all!) Tracie invited me and the kids over for movie and popcorn one night. That was nice, something different, and as usual the kids (and I) had a great time! Otherwise it was just hanging out with some much needed downtime!

On the down side there was LOTS of fights and bickering. Tons of dramatic tears, even from Roman, and basically I've decided that my children are doomed to be constant movers and over-achievers. It is quite clear that they have no concept of downtime or how to just relax. hmmm.... I can't imagine where they'd get that from!

Inherited Boo-hoos

I have determined that this MUST skip every other generation.....

For a bit of history let me tell you of my beloved mother! She is an amazing person. Probably the strongest person I know. She is very kind hearted, always thinking of others before herself, especially her children. My mother suffers from a great deal of pain, but rarely will you ever hear about it as she is not one to ever complain! I can not say enough wonderful things about my mom, nor how proud I am to be her called her daughter. And yes if she is reading this she is most likely already beginning to tear up!

See, my mom isn't perfect. What mom is? My mom is often naive and for some reason things just always happen in her presence! I could spend days, weeks, maybe even months writing up tales of her, but for now, that's not what this is about. See, my mom is a crier. She cries at nearly every movie she watches. She boo-hoos through her soaps regularly. Tears stream down while reading a book. And yes, she was the embarrassing one with the white hanky in the front row blowing her nose, wiping her eyes, and waving her hanky at me on stage for every recital, concert, play, speech, basically every moment of life regardless of how big or small! I have teased her unendingly for pretty much the entirety of my life.

Me? No, I'm not much of a crier. True something will hit me every now in then, but I seldom cry. Kari, being a much more emotional person than I, still isn't much of a crier... not like mom! Sure I swell with pride and want to yell out, "Hey, that's my kid!" when I see my 3 in the spotlight, and while I may occasionally wave, never has it been with a hanky in hand.

In my previous mention of hysterical genetics skipping generations I must confess.... my girls have totally inherited the boo-hoo gene from my mother! Hope can not watch a movie without crying. She cries over books and pretty much everything in life. A complete drama queen. Even movies that she has seen 2,000 times she STILL cries over (yup, just like her grandmother!). For instance in High School Musical 2 Troy and Gabriella break up. Hope KNOWS this as she has the movie memorized, but still as soon as Gabriella breaks into the "break up song" she loses it and goes into complete hysterics!

Bethany has always been a stronger, more independent spirit... so we thought. B tends to cry more out of anger than anything, but last night as I lay in bed with my girls watching the movie "Eight Below" and listening to her sob, these heart wrenching painful sobs, literally crying herself to sleep over a dog that gets left behind all by himself, I couldn't help but laugh thinking, "Yup, every other generation and both my girls are doomed to be hanky wavers!!!!" (she was asleep before they confirmed that dog had died, boy was I thankful for that!)

Happy Belated Easter

I completely forgot in my last post to say HAPPY EASTER!!! (even though I know it's 2 days late). We had a great Easter. We got up early Sunday. The kids quickly hunted down all the eggs and found their baskets. Before breaking into them though it was upstairs to get dressed for church. We had to be there by 8:30. They each were allowed a small handful of candy to take with them, but otherwise their new goodies had to wait till we got home.


At church the kids had an Easter egg hunt during Sunday School and scored tons more candy and stuff. It was the first Sunday the band played so far this year. James being laid up with his back and Debbe out fighting breast cancer has kept the band appart since Christmas. Stacey was working, so I was recruited to play bass guitar. Boy was I nervous! I hadn't picked up a guitar in over 10 years and even then I was no actual player, just learned a few songs to humor James! I had practiced hard on 1 of the 3 songs, but the other two I didn't even know about until Sunday morning! Yikes!!! I pulled off an almost convincing show though. Don't know how, must have been a God thing! The kids also played handbells and did a fantastic job as usual. Bethany is so expressive to watch, a true little entertainer.


After church, Jeni went with us to Robius Landing park for a picnic dinner. We hid some of the kids plastic eggs and let them search for them. Roman and I threw the baseball around some, practicing his catching. We played on the little dock and went for a hike in the woods. It was a really nice day. Cool, but nice! Afterwards we said bye to Jeni and headed home. Once home, everyone laid down and slept a good 3-4 hours! I think we all needed that very much. Gma came by for a late dinner and we all snuggled down to watch Enchanted before heading back to bed.


Overall it was a nice quiet family day, so very different than the year before. Looking back through it does not appear that I blogged on last Easter. I know, I wasn't a very good blogger at all last year! But a year ago on Easter Sunday 2007, James was baptized. Anyone who knew him prior to this would have said, "Hell would have to freeze over before you get him to church on a regular basis!" Well, apparently there was some truth in that because on Easter Sunday of 2007 we got our only snowfall of the year here in Richmond! LOL It will take him awhile to get past the certainty that hell must have frozen over that day as he handed his life over to Christ! Afterwards we had a last minute party at our house to celebrate. The day before I had 2 people coming over after church. They held band practice that afternoon and James asked if he could invite anyone that didn't already have plans to join us..... no one had plans! LOL We went from a planned meal for 8 to feeding 50+ in less than 24 hours. I just threw on another turkey and added a ham and a few more sides and voila! It was a fantastic day but sooooo opposite this year's Easter. Equally wonderful, just different!

Easter and the Easter Bunny

We have never really talked about the Easter Bunny much in our house. It is the one holiday I try to downplay in the commercialized hype and stick to the real reason we celebrate. Of course we do dye eggs and the Easter Bunny does come and hide the eggs and leave treats in the kids' easter baskets. We don't decorate the house, and if we do it's with flowers, crosses, doves, mostly spring or religious symbols instead of cute little chicks and bunnies. The eggs don't even get dyed until the night before right before bed and pretty much either get eaten or tossed in the trash the next morning after they've found them. Easter baskets are packed full of candy and a few toys or odds and ends. I try to keep it to around 3 non-candy items and we never make a big deal out of the gifts, the candy or the Easter Bunny. To me, Easter is the number 1 most important religious holiday on the calendar and from a spiritual standpoint pales next to Christmas - which I will fully admit, while the birth of Christ is a significant event too, I totally get caught up in the gifts and fellowship, the cookies, the smells and everything about Christmas. Easter is more of a relaxed time of reflection. We don't build the commercialized hype of the holiday and to the kids the biggest preparation of Easter is picking out the perfect dress or shirt AND tie, to dress to the max and go to church on Sunday morning! Even in the years when they were young and we were not attending church, they still got new outfits and dressed up for a nice family dinner. (you'll notice from previous entry.... for Hope, Easter is definitely about the clothes! haha)

Roman and Hope are both at the age of recognition right now and they want answers. "Is that bunny in the mall real?" "Is that the REAL Easter Bunny??" NO, he's a man or lady in a ridiculously big crazy suit making it fun for the kids (my kids have NEVER gone to have their pic taken. Yes, we do do Santa though!) So, in the midst of a walk last night, I found it very interesting to hear their "Tale of the Easter Bunny!" What do kids think who's parents have never really addressed nor fully acknowledged the Easter Bunny. Who's parents admit that there is no big costumed bunny like those in the mall coming to our house. Who's parents don't even comment on the Easter Bunny except to say, "No, I've never seen the Easter Bunny and I'm not sure anyone else ever has either." What assumptions do they come up with once outside stories, fables, and commercialization come into play... especially in a public school setting??

Last night Roman and Hope discussed it with me over a walk. I was a bit surprised at their acceptance and story, but they universally agreed this IS the true story of the Easter Bunny. It's also one I've never heard before and couldn't help laugh at the convenience of it!

According to Roman and Hope, the Easter Bunny is quite small, like and average bunny, who hops around from house to house. But when he gets to a front porch he grows to be huge, the size of a grown up person in order to reach the knob to come in. He's very concerned about kids, so he disguises himself as a parent or familiar adult before entering the house to hide the eggs and deliver the goods. That way if a child wakes up and catches him, he won't be scared of a gigantic bunny, because it will appear to be a familiar face, even though it's really not. Or as Roman puts it, "The Easter Bunny is a small average bunny that hops to your house, then grows and grows big and tall before morphing into you, Mom!"

That sure is one clever E.B. huh!

For the record, I don't think I ever bought into the whole bunny thing, not even as a little kid. I think it's the most ridiculous of all the imaginary fairy tale creatures, but like my younglings I liked the candy, the toys, and even hunting those eggs, so I kept my mouth shut! LOL The toothfairy, Santa, even Roman's most favored - the little Leprechauns, are more believable! And I never understood, still don't, the correlation between a bunny and eggs. If anyone would care to explain that, go right ahead!

Easter Outfits

Hopey, "Mom, I HAVE to have a new outfit for Easter tomorrow!"

umm, sweetie, tomorrow isn't Easter, it's Thursday, Easter's on Sunday. We still have time.

Hopey, "NO, tomorrow is Easter at school. We're having an Easter egg hunt and I HAVE to have a new outfit. I always get a new dress for Easter."

Took some convincing, a few stores that had nothing of major interest - aside from some very impractical mini prom dresses-, and the breakdown of buying her Easter dress for Sunday, but finally she agreed to wear regular clothes to school today. We're in VA, home to lots of red clay and it rained all night. No way was she getting a new dress to destroy at school during her egg hunt! She was cracking us up with her determination though. Where does she come up with this stuff??

H.B. Solicitations

So yesterday at lunch I notice I have a missed call on my cell. It came in at 11:15am from my sister Ronda. Ronda is next to impossible to get in touch with most days and rarely remembers to call for a chat. Her having the same gripe about me and we don't talk nearly as often as we should, or as we used to I should say. NEVER does she call in the middle of the day, at least not since I moved from Florida. So, knowing it was her birthday and curiosity getting the best of me, I called her back, expecting to get voice mail as usual, she answered. We talked briefly for a few moments. She wanted to know what sizes the kids are wearing these days and general chit chat. After a few moments she stopped and says, "Come on, aren't ya gonna say it?" "Say what??" "Come on, starts with an H, second word begins with a B...." "What ARE you talking about?!?" as I try to hold back a laugh. To which she blurts out "It's my birthday! You're supposed to say Happy Birthday!" .... seriously Ron, you're calling just to solicit Happy Birthdays?? hahahaha



As planned, the kids and I called her last night to sing Happy Birthday! As expected, we had to leave it on voice mail! hehe

Leapsters

Gma hasn't seen much of us since she moved out last month. With me being sick over the weekend, James decided to take the kids out to let me rest. They met up with Grandma and spent the day shopping! When they arrived back home the kids were the proud owners of several new Leapster games. Leapster is a hot item in our household. All 3 kids now have their own, but it hasn't curbed the fighting over them. It's inevitable that at least one of them can't find theirs when the others are playing. Not to mention we only have 1 copy of each game. The biggest winner of their games has been "Pet Pals" where they adopt a dog and earn points through different activities and carrying for the pet. They are all obsessed! The fighting has been at a high over this one simple game.



So last night around 9 o'clock I put the kids to bed. I go in and read while James is playing on the computer and listening to music. We talked for a few hours and he finally fell asleep. I was a bit wired still from spending too much time in bed over the weekend and stayed up a bit longer reading. At 11:30 I heard a noise. It was enough to jolt me away from my book, but then as I listened I didn't hear it again. A little bit later I heard another noise. Getting up to inspect the house and make sure everything was okay, then peaking in to check on the kids one last time. I gave Roman a kiss and tucked him back in and as I was leaving his room I heard a noise again. I walked in the girls room and all was quiet. I noticed Bethany wasn't in her bed. That's nothing new, she seldom sleeps in her bed the entire night. So I climbed up to check on Hope and I saw a little light shining through the comforter towards the bottom of Hope's bed. As I pulled back the covers I found Bethany, huddled in a little ball playing her Leapster! By the time I confiscated it and grounded her from it for 2 days, got back to bed and it was after midnight. She was asking for it back first thing this morning. It's gonna be a long 2 days!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Of course, with St. Patrick's Day being on a Monday I completely forgot about it this year! If I hadn't have been too lazy to take out my green earrings still on from Saturday I would have been the target of a lot of pinching. As I walked into work I was greeted by the guard with a cheerful "Top of the Mornin' to ya!" That's when it hit me! Yikes, it's St. Patrick's Day!!! Being of scot-irish heritage myself, this is normally a big deal holiday in our house. I take my green very seriously. As I reached my desk I realized it was too late to call and make sure the kids had on green as they would have been getting on the bus roughly at that moment.

Jump ahead to this evening. I get home from work and am welcomed by the girl, dressed in jeans and a pink and brown shirt while the boy, who's wardrobe is almost half green to begin with, is wearing jeans with a yellow and blue striped shirt. He has a look of exasperation as I ask how their day went.

HOPE - "You didn't tell us it was St. Patrick's Day. Hello! I walked into school without green on and everyone started trying to pinch me. Miss Neal gave me this pin (a green four leaf clover pin) to wear to save me."

That was very nice of her.... so Roman, how was your day?

ROMAN - "I got pinched.... a lot! EVERYONE in my class and nearly everyone in 2nd grade pinched me. I even got pinched by older kids AND younger ones!" as he gave his 'what's up with that' look enhanced by the dramatic extended arms, palms up, shrug of his.

Smiling I asked why Mrs. Gregory didn't give him a pin to wear or something green like Hope's teacher had. To which he replied, "Give me green?? Heck, she was first in line to pinch me!"

Football Mania

Wow, as baseball practice began, football started with a vengence! Crazy, huh. Our first meeting went really well. I've decided to head up fundraising and possibly oversee concessions as a subset of that. In the past concessions has brought in little money to the association. I hope to rectify that this coming season. Should be challenging and fun. Bethany and Hope will both be cheering for the flaggers this fall and Roman is all signed up for minors. He is beyond thrilled with that knowing this year he gets to wear the pads and the helmet and hold nothing back. This mama's still a big nervous about that, but he knows the game well, listens, and only does what he's told to do on the field. We have a fantastic coaching staff that will see that my baby boy remains safe and has fun. Today we had a first registration day. With 6 months to go this gives the parents time to budget and make payments on their child's fees. It was thrown together at the last minute, but we went for it all the same. About half a dozen families just hanging out as car after car came by to sign up their child and see what was going on. With 10-15 boys out playing flag football in front of the school on a Saturday morning, people wanted to stop and see what was going on. The result, approximately 35 signups!!!! That is a fantastic start to the season! Our goal this year is 25 kids per each of the four teams. From that plus the verbal confirmations from past players it looks like we already have a full flagger team and 40+ minors! That's right, almost double our team goal in Roman's age division. Coach West is looking into possible 2 teams out of Reams. Roman wants to be on A team bad and has already begun watching what he eats, practicing throws, and tackling everything, just as he did through last season. It's gonna be a loooooooooooooong 6 months till football officially kicks off! As for me, my first assignment is coming up fast. In mid-April we will have our second registration day. This time it will be a community event, "Spirit Day". I have a list of ideas and a dozen calls to place, but if it comes through, it should be a great event, a lot of fun, and hopefully start us off right with fundraising for the year!

What's up with the Trettels

The end of 2007 and start of 2008 has had us run ragged. So, what have we been up too?? We'll start from the youngest and work our way up....

Bethany - In Sept of '07 B became an only child M-F from 8:50-3:50. As Hope headed off to Kindergarten Bethany's world shook. Being the youngest of 3 children less than 4 years apart in age, we expected her to react heavily to this enormous change, but true to her natural born independent streak, she worked it out just fine. Bethany quickly learned that she loved the one on one time and has just thrived over the last several months. Her personality, large as it was, has literally exploded this year. She is still a bit devilish, always up to no good. She loves to sing and dance, must be the center of the universe and quite the entertainer. She is still sucking those fingers and still leaving a trail of hair everywhere she goes (My Little Pony hair for quite sometime now). Recently she cut her own hair (see picture). A large hunk out of the front of her head. While it was not a devastating cut, it did shorten her hair from more than midway down her back to about chin length! As usually her hair is growing like weeds and after barely a months time is about down to her shoulders already! Her favorite place to go right now is Build a Bear Workshop.

Hope - This past Sept our Hopey headed off to Kindergarten! But a stroke of last minute good fortune she was placed with our all time most favorite K teacher, Ms. Neal!!!! We are thrilled to have her back in our lives. Most kids when you ask them, "What happened at school today?" just shrugs and says, "Nothing" or "How was school today?" *shrugs* "Fine" or at least this has always been life with Roman. Not Hope! LOL Day 1 she came home. "Hope, what happened at school today?" "One kid cried ALL DAY LONG! One girl got in trouble already. And I got fussed at during carpet time." "YOU?? What did Ms. Neal have to fuss at you for?" .... fully expecting to hear how she was running her mouth to a new best friend.... "I kept taking my shoes off and apparently that's not appropriate!" Mainly throughout the last 100+ days to date of school, Hope has excelled wonderfully. With this exception of PE... another "shoe thing".... she pulled straight E's on her last report card. She continues to be the sweetest, most kind hearted child ever. Yes, still a bit of blonde in that head of hers, but truly just a heart of gold and a complete joy! When she says, "Mama, I got $10 for my birthday, can you take me to the store to pick out new toys for Roman and Bethany?" how can my heart not melt??

Roman - August of 2007 gave Roman a YES to a question that has plagued me for years now. "Can I pleeeeeeeeeeeease play football!" With his growing interest in the game and knowing that it would be his last year to play flag football, I caved. This is something I have been adamantly against since the day he was born. I did NOT want my child playing football. And now.... I'm stuck for life! The boy is completely addicted. And I must admit, I was in no way prepared for the drastic change in this kid either. And I'm not talking about pounds that seemed to melt off him from 4 day a week 2 hour practices in the hot late summer, early fall temps. I was not prepared for the discipline and structure of football, the pride and team spirit of 5-7 year olds. It was crazy! We have had Roman in team sports since he was 3 years old. He played 7 seasons of soccer and 3 seasons of teeball prior to joining sports. I know about team sports and what to expect of this age group... I did not know about football! It is like a completely different mentality of hard, near military structure. The coaches are gruff, they bark orders.... and the kids LISTEN! They stress healthy living, healthy eating habits, fitness and hold nothing back on the seriousness of the game and how easily someone can get hurt who is not properly prepared and in shape. They preach about respect of parents, coaches, teachers, and community leaders. They demand excellence in and off the field and poor grades and trouble in school will get a child benched. YES, Roman is only in second grade, but in the football world, flag to pro's, they train and learn the game all the same. It was the craziest most all-consuming thing we've ever done as a family. The 5-6 day a week commitment alone is insane. I mean practices start the first week of August in the middle of summer, for 4 hours a day M-F for an entire month before school ever starts. Crazy, I tell you! The coaches, the staff, the parents, the kids have to give 110% of total dedication for 4 solid months. And you know what? My boy THRIVED!!!! His attitude at home improved, his manners improved, and he had the best ever start to school this year (I also attribute that to the fabulous Mrs. Gregory who seems to just know him inside and out!). Roman has always done well in school. He's an E/S student and rarely ever causes any trouble, but even that has IMPROVED. This last report card Roman pulled straight E's with the exception of handwriting... we'll give him slack on that one, it was always my worst subject too! Aside from football, he is totally into SPORTS! LOL I took him too his first hockey game a few weeks ago and we had a fantastic time. Can't wait to take the whole family in the near future. Coming into spring he had a big decision to make... soccer or baseball through RRAA. He chose to go with his school and we look forward to the kick off of baseball season next week, though I am a bit sad that he will not be playing soccer. Outside of sports the big 8 year old things right now are Transformers, still some Star Wars, and Halo, okay, anything Xbox 360, or gameboy, or even Leapster... so video games! LOL Roman is 100% all boy, but he does have a sensitive side. He is very sweet with his sisters, and I have enjoyed watching him evolve into his own person with his own mind who's not afraid to stand up for what he believes in and put his own unique stamp on what has become his style. There is no more baby, or even little kid left of him and I couldn't be prouder of the boy he's become!

James - Well, he's still James! LOL His Star Wars geek status took a bit of a back seat to football season. James enjoyed football every bit as much as Roman and plans to get more involved in RRAA for this coming fall. We actually have a meeting on that this Friday. Just before Christmas, on December 23rd to be exact, we were coming back from a visit in Baltimore and swung off to mom's for a brief visit as Gloria, Ashley, Joel and John were in town. Well, it was rainy outside and the entrance way into mom's apartment is all tile with 3 steps to go down to get to her door. James took a slip on the top step and came down hard landing on the three stairs with his arm wedged into the railing. Took me and 3 guys to get him up and I thought for sure he'd broken something. It's been a long recovery. Took 2 weeks to get him up without 100% assistance. Was able to then transition him to a walker and eventually a cane. He is out and about now. He is driving, but not comfortably enough to do so with just the kids in the car, unless in an emergency. He is even starting to venture around the house some without his cane now. The back spasms are still bothering him often, but overall he is doing awesome right now! That has certainly put a damper on things lately. With the exception of scouts, we have cut out all activities for all of us. Honestly, it's been good for us. Barbara moved out in the midst of it all and we have been working hard at adjusting to life as 5 again, settling into our house, and spending a lot more quality time together as a family!

Trooper is doing well too. He spent way too much time being cooped up in the crate while James was recovering. I think 3 adults in the house all with different rules and commands was more than a little confusing too. After Barbara moved out James and I sat down and worked out a training plan for the boy and he is just thriving on it! What an amazing difference in such a short time. The chewing is a LOT better now, he is 100% housebroken, almost completely leash trained, and after spending a bit to properly dog proof the first floor, he is one happy pup and very much the family dog we had hoped for!

As for me, well, my part of life hasn't been without drama either. LOL Last August was a nightmare, but worthy of it's own post, so you'll have to keep looking for that one! Just before Thanksgiving I was "laid off". There was a helpdesk opening that offered to me in place of termination with a pathetic severance package that would not have gotten us through the end of the year. So, for my family, I begrudgingly accepted it. With a turn of good luck, 2 guys announced they were leaving the week I started on the helpdesk. I applied for the new opening (that otherwise wouldn't have come as we are in a hiring freeze here thanks to the real estate market taking such a hard hit lately) and the day after Christmas was offered and accepted it. It took a stressful month and a half to get me fully transitioned over to the new job. I've been here, working on the server team for about 3 weeks now and I absolutely love it! Funny thing is, this position was open once before, about a year ago and I didn't apply because I was in comfortable misery where I was... meaning I didn't care for my job or the management changes occurring with it, but it was a job, paid well, and I stuck around without motivation to move on. In that way the lay off has been a true blessing as I probably would not have bothered to apply for this one had I not been downgraded to helpdesk! Outside of work I am making a conscious effort to work on ME. I have taken to going to the gym M-F, getting up at 4:45 to hit the gym at 5am. What am I thinking?!?! I feel really good when I make it and don't beat myself up too bad if I don't. I haven't been dieting, but have been watching what I eat and managing proper portion control for everyone at home. Must be doing something right, cause people I don't see everyday are starting to take notice and I've had a few people this week that I do see nearly every day stop and ask what I've been doing to drop the weight. In truth I've only lost about 4 lbs in the last month, but I have dropped a full pants size and things are just shifting I guess, probably due to the exercise. I am feeling great though, loving my new job, and life just seems to be going right for once!

Baseball season starts next week. The girls were supposed to be playing soccer this spring, but we have pretty much decided to continue on our easy path. They both have dance still anyway, so it's not like they are without or anything. Hopefully the rest of the school year will remain relatively calm, stress free and NORMAL for once!

A Disgusting Night

Recently a good friend of mine began her blog and in reading over it I realized just how much I really do miss this one. I was quite addicted to this thing in the beginning, but with 3 active kids, over time I've just gotten away from it. In reading back through my own words I realize that although I do blog about the crazy antics my kids get into, including some that have lead to the ER amongst other places, that I very rarely post about the bad, the hardships of life. Honestly, it's probably just not in my nature, and Hope will someday shoot me for posting this, but here it is, a horrible night gone completely wrong with the Trettels!

Tuesday night on my way home, it's dreary, misty, overcast and overall miserable. If it hadn't been 60 degrees out I would have sworn we were in for a major snowstorm! However, as usual we weren't even close. I called James to let him know I was going by the store, we addressed dinner. He wanted to go out, I did NOT. I wanted to curl up with the kids, some popcorn, maybe a little pizza and a good movie, okay, one we at least hadn't seen 2 billion times already! So I run into Target.... BINGO! They have a sale, $10 movies for ones like Ratouille (however you spell it) and TMNT (which Roman has been dying to see). So I splurge and buy a few new movies, a big box of microwave Movie Theater Butter popcorn and toss in a box or 2 of candies, sparing nothing here. Ready for a full blown movie night at home!!! Walk outside to head to Little Caesar's for a couple pizzas to finish off my "meal" and it's super sunny, bright and cheerful, no more rain, not a cloud in the sky. I was quite disappointed.

James is on the phone before I can get out of the parking lot. It's kids eat free night at Lonestar, can we pleeeeeeeeeeeeease go tonight Okay, I give in. So I pick up the family and we head to the restaurant. Gma meets us there and has appetizer ready and waiting and everyone is in high spirits. Hope starts handing out her share of the absolute most cheesiest fries ever, which is somewhat out of the ordinary, but not enough to send up flags. By the time we're finishing and soups and salads are arriving, Hope has to go to the bathroom. No big deal, the child has always been infatuated with seeing bathrooms. We go in and she is taking FOREVER! Next thing I know there's a huge potty explosion, or rather, she has major diarrhea. After another 10 minutes she's all better. We go sit down, I scarf down my salad and shes running back to the bathroom. I feel really bad for her now. We get back to the table and everyone's eating and I sit and scarf down my dinner as fast as possible and tell her to come on and we'll go wait in the truck where she can laydown and be a tad more comfortable while the others finish up and pay the bill. So she stands up and proceeds to throw up.... EVERYWHERE! It just kept coming and coming and she couldn't stop. It was projectile vomit everywhere. I'm running for cover. Mom of the year I am not and I do not handle puke at all, not without contributing my own to it at least. Fortunately we were over in a corner away sorta hidden away from others and didn't disturb anyone else's meal. I pawned it off on the waitress while the waitress pawned it off on the poor bus boy and I ran for the door with Hope as fast as I could before I joined her in her puke-fest. She was soooooooooo embarrassed. I felt really bad for her, but honestly I have never seen or smelled anything more disgusting in my entire life!!!!!

We came home, the guys stayed downstairs playing video games while the girls and I laid down upstairs with Hope's new movie, Ella Enchanted, but we decided to forego the popcorn and candy!