Seriously!

I seriously can't believe it's been almost a year since I last posted. Loads has happened and I need to be better about recording on here. I'll be more detailed later, but until then, I've been quite busy with these people...

and recently added this one to the mix...Mr. Caleb Richard :)

Thoughts of my Great Grandparents

*Warning: The end of this post contains naked baby buttocks.

First of all, sorry I haven't posted in a couple weeks. Actually, that's not a very sincere apology. I don't really feel all that bad. It's more my lack of journaling that bothers me. Life’s been crazy and with illness, a broken arm, and ear surgery happening around here I just haven’t had time to worry about who may be waiting with baited breath for a blog post. Part of my open book, lay it on the line personality.

I will provide a rundown for all who are interested. Tony’s been complaining of increased ear pain. His tubes are no longer functional and were impacted. So, he had them removed, his eardrum patched, and canal cleaned on Tuesday. Lukas broke his arm at preschool last Thursday. It was a mess and I didn’t know until picking him up that he’d even been hurt. Ugh! I was crazy sick with a cold at the beginning of last week. Lydia continues to be wheezy at home and the thought at this point is that she’s allergic to the family dog. Boo! Eliza is doing wonderfully on the toilet. Yay! Abby auditioned for Beauty and The Beast at the local children’s theatre and can be seen as one half of the spooky Magic Looking Glass come April. She had me audition with her and I’ll be playing Beauty’s widowed mother. It’ll be great to spend this time with her! To top it all off, I was made to endure mutton chops on my husband for one whole night and day as he sported his goofiness for the trivia bowl at work. Yes, his team won because even in chops, he’s still a genius. The rundown is now done.

I’ve been thinking of modern day life and our way of thinking. The phrase “A better life” kept coming to mind. I’ve been mulling over the idea that the quest for a better life is keeping my generation from living (to an extent).

When I would visit my great-grandparents in small town Missouri while growing up, life seemed so old-fashioned and easy to me. Religion jokes and non-pc talk aside, it was nice. They lived to be 99 and 97 years old. They grew and maintained a garden yearly into their 90’s. Grandpa wore the same blue and white railroad style overalls everyday save Sunday when he dressed up for church. They canned their own food, owned a modest home, ate a healthful, early breakfast, enjoyed a large lunch (or dinner, as they called it), ate an early and modest supper, and went to bed early. When a massive thunderstorm rolled in, they’d enjoy it from either the front porch or three seasons’ porch in back, depending on the time of day. For their generation, death was part of life as were hard work, living on what you made, and earning all you had. Theirs was a generation of world wars and The Great Depression. They saw paved roads, highways, malls, shopping centers, cars, phones, and television become main stream. They could do without all of it, yet my generation (and the previous 1-2 for that matter) goes into heavy debt paying cell phone and cable TV. bills. Not many seem to look for a home with a nice, large yard that could sustain a garden and family. How many garages does it have so I have room for all my toys and “stuff”? Does a family of four really need 4,000 sqft? How much time to we spend worrying about what might happen and don’t really enjoy what is happening. How much time do we spend on the computer or in front of the television as opposed to actually conversing with our friends and loved ones? In a time when it is increasingly difficult for grown children to find employment close to home, do we use modern conveniences like webcams and telephones to keep in touch so faces and voices are not forgotten or will we be remembered for our texts and emails and the fonts we use. Is it any wonder that the rising generation is full of young people with a total lack of intrapersonal skills? How many people out there would say in person half of what they put online? I fear we are becoming a society wrought with selfish, vain, overindulging, fearful, discontent, excessive, lazy, and ignorant people who have no idea how to truly respect and care for one another.

I type this as I sit in my large home with far too much stuff in it (I’m spring purging before I become an episode of hoarders). My children happily eat their after school snack of freshly air popped popcorn and homemade banana bread…in front of a movie from the local library. My prepaid cell phone sits uncharged on the kitchen counter next to the window overlooking our frozen vegetable garden that yielded many tomatoes, squash, beans, and peas last year. As the snow melts, I am reminded that not all of the fallen apples from our tree were picked up before it snowed. Sometimes I loathe those trees, but they make for some wonderful applesauce. I love the fact that we haven’t bought applesauce or canned peaches and pears for three years. My oldest received an MP3 player for Christmas…along with several cross-stitch kits. The player is next to me, dead. The kits are fervently being worked on daily. We also caved to a Wii this year with all the active sports games. They still ride bikes, play on the slide, and jump on the inflatable in the basement. Tony also is on a quest to beat all of my high scores on Sports Resort. Perhaps, the solution is and will always be balance and moderation in all things worthwhile. Those are the thoughts of the day and the lunch date ramblings with my hubs. Oh and here’s the chubs-rhymes-with-hubs. So. Stinkin’. Cute.

My Birthday and Validation

Yesterday was amazing. It was my birthday and my hubs rocked the "make it a special day" thing. It started with him making breakfast casserole and putting the most amazing dinner in the crockpot before work. He also informed me that he had lined up a sitter for the two wee ones (oh, yes he did) and we would be having lunch together at my favorite yummy spot. Nothing says yum like shrimp and lobster bisque followed by an amazing gourmet burger and a house salad with gorgonzola crumbles. Finish it with some crème brule and I'm done for. We had some great family time in the evening and he finished it all with an Irish cream bundt cake. Yeah, he's a superstar.

It is because of yesterday that I got through today's .5 gallon of milk on the kitchen floor and carpet, bowl of popcorn on the carpet, doctor's visit, mess after mess after mess, etc. Oh, let’s not forget the following conversation-
Tony: "Mom, Luke [blah, blah, blah]!"
Mom: "I'm really not caring right now. Throw toys on the floor, unfold the laundry, fight over everything, write on the walls, don't use the toilet, and get into EVERYTHING. I really am tired of trying and nobody caring today."
Abby: "Mu-oh-m!"
Mom: "What? How would you feel if you went to school and you had a project that you worked really hard on and your teacher didn't care and then you did it again and your teacher said that you wouldn't get a grade, he didn't care that you did it, and then ruined it?"
Abby: "That would be awful! [Teacher] would never do that!"
Mom: "That's kind of what you guys have been doing to me and what I do around here. Do you understand that?"
Abby: "Yes."
Mom: "Do you care?"
Abby: "No, not really."

Walk away and...scene.

I swear I've been a better parent than that. So, yeah, I’m totally feeling validated tonight. Maybe it has something to do with being up until 4am last night with a sick kid who spent the day at home bouncing off the walls with his brother after finally getting the right meds for his massive ear infection. Or that LouLou is cutting more teeth and waking up 4-6 times a night. Or that Eliza has suddenly had at least one accident every day this week. However, yesterday was amazing and so is my hubs. And we make cute babies. And Alka-Seltzer is great for my sinus infection until I can find time to get myself to the doctor. And it's Friday. And no, I don't care about sentence structure or punctuation today.


And...scene.

Thank you, Mexico

As previously mentioned, the 3 feet of snow outside can occasionally get to me. After a very busy 24 hours running around in the cold (although, today broke freezing!), I must thank Mexico. The only thing better than the sound of melted snow puddles under my tires today was a glorious sight I happened upon while recycling cans at the great and spacious blue W. On sale? Even better!

That's right, watermelon. Looks like heaven and tastes like summer. Be jealous. Be very jealous. Slurp on, winter, slurp on.

Mook

Five years ago today, my easiest pregnancy came to a very fast end. I was feeling fine when I went in for my 38 week check-up. For once, I'd had a complication free, fairly comfortable pregnancy. I was relishing my baby belly and third trimester nesting energy. Then, doc said I was 4cm and 80% (I'll let you figure out what that means). With a history of fast labors and a 20min drive to the hospital, it was induction time. Doc broke my water and 25min later, Lukie Mook was here. He was going to be Eddison per his daddy's picking, but I just couldn't go with it. Ladies, there's no better time to ask your spouse about a name change than moments after giving birth. At exactly one week before my birthday, he's the best birthday present I have ever received. Happy Birthday, my brown eyed cuddle bug!

Snow Day Conversation

I will blame this morning's conversation with the kiddos on being in the house too much, since we're going on our second snow day. Too many snow days do something to the mind.

The snow bound were inquiring about their places of birth this a.m. and debating who actually lived where and if being "in mom's tummy" counted as residing in a given state. Enter Abby and Luke:

"Luke, you didn't live in Utah!"
"But, I was in mom's tummy in Utah!"
"Mom, your tummy [s]cares me! It's [s]cary!"- 2yr. old Eliza
"What?"
"Your tummy is so [s]cary."

Remind me to have a pool party for her in her teen years and wear a bikini. I'll show her scary. I'm proud of my mommy marks. She wouldn't be here without them!

Hey, Dad!

It's snowing here. A ton. Like serious buckets. Dump truck buckets. All the blowing, sparkly, stuff got me thinking. Well, that and taking the kiddos sledding today. We went to two different hills. I didn't actually suffer in the arctic wind, but I sure enjoyed watching from the van with my two itty girls. Eliza decided it was too cold after taking 3 steps away from the van and Lydia never was going out due to the grumps and runny nose. Oh, her fever broke today. Abs, Tone, and Mook had loads of fun. That is until Tone biffed it going head first and got snow in his coat and boots. Then he got the grumps, too.

Back to me thinking.

Do you remember the fun we used to have in the buckets of sparkly stuff when I was little? The parking lot for the park behind our house got me thinking about Rapid City and living across from the racetrack with its parking lot. Do you remember the spray painted, camo beast truck you showed up with one day? Do you remember taking it out in the blizzard and getting stuck? How about the fun in the parking lot? What a genius dad you were for tying our sleds to the back of that old thing and pulling us around the lot. I'm serious. That was so much fun. It's just a shame the lot was gravel and our fun eventually wore out the bottom of the sled. It's even more of a shame that the seat of Will's snowsuit found out about it first. Oh, you built some pretty rockin' snow caves and tunnels around the yard, too. Yeah, those were some good times. Mom's pretty awesome for being cool with it all. So, you wanna bring your Rubicon over and tow the kids around behind the house? Their snowsuits have reinforced seats...

Love ya,
Punkin

So, you wanna go back? Everyone? It was so much fun taking the kids the past two summers. Okay, maybe not so much this past year. ;)

Here you go, per your request. It's between the snowfall this afternoon and currently...