I've Learned Lately...

(or relearned in some cases) that:

school can be let out early because of lots of rain,
Manheim has severe weather.
(In the three years we have lived here there have been 2 tornadoes, 1 earthquake, several large thunderstorms far and above typical east coast stuff, lightning striking my back yard and blowing out hundreds of dollars of electronics, and seriously high winds, damaging my tramp)

when I don't have time for blogging I feel creatively frustrated,
when I can't read others blogs I miss my friends,
and having friends come visit me from out of town is the best thing ever.

having lunch with friends is the best stress reliever ever,
Museums really were meant for rainy days,
and Travis really is hands above the rest in husband material.

Bella really loves school and will cry if she is too sick to go,
Issac really likes Pre-K despite his complaining everyday to me about its boringness,
and Wyatt has a secret desire to tap dance.

i will bend over backwards and drive myself into the ground to help/serve other people,
when my family is sick to just get lots of movies and blankets and cuddle in the living room,
and even then i will not get near the rest i need or want.

to always be grateful because someone will always have things worse or better, but no one will have exactly what I have,
decorating my front porch for holidays makes me happy,
but creativeness in all areas stretches me to the limits of my abilities.

to enjoy the moment,
and that the more I follow God's plan the happier I am.

Some Things Are A Secret For a Reason

...and this is one of them.
Check this out!

Call me crazy but did you ever think of not slutting it up with your low cut shirts if you don't want your boobies showing.

And is there anything else mildly disturbing to anyone about her rubbing her breast throughout the commercial.

And has there ever been anything so ridiculous made before in the history of the world.

I think not!

Joining the MOB (Mothers of Barons)

"If" you were to be at middle school right below your house with your three sons riding bikes, when the youngest exclaims his urgent and pressing desire to relieve himself, you may suggest a tree. And after doing so, he may determine that he also needs to relieve himself in another way more suited for sitting down in one's own bathroom. At this point you would be faced with the decision to go home and do your business and return or use the schools. DO NOT USE THE SCHOOL'S BATHROOM!

Because if and when you follow the signs from the front door to use the gymnasium doors for after school hours and you see a propped open metal door where the gymnasium is and hear boys laughing and a ruckus type of noise, you may be just one door off from the gymnasium door.

And strictly hypothetically speaking, if your older son, who is 6, comes out and tells you it is not a bathroom or a locker room, you may not want to trust his judgement on that before you walk in a door you had been suspicious about. And after if you ask him why he told you it wasn't a bathroom or locker room, you'll learn that vocabulary really is important as he answers, "It was just a room where boys get changed for football or other sports." And that is when you might take the opportunity to tell him that is the definition of a locker room. Just Saying!

But these things would only be done after walking to the aforementioned door having an athletic coach pass your three young boys, size them up like a jungle cat assessing his prey and ask knowingly, "Are these future Barons?" The mascot of our highly skilled athletically inclined school district. "They look like they are going to be good team." And when you say yes, he'll have shouted, "Go, Barons!" while pumping his fist upward. But this is all just hypothetical conjecture, because can you imagine the shame of having walked in on a middle school boys locker room filled with boys right after a sports practice. Yeah, neither can I ;)

Catchy Crap Phrases

"If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." As well as being grammatically defunked, I absolutely abhor this catch phrase. It doesn't reflect upon mothers kindly and for all the men who have told me of its flattery regarding the power of women within the home, I say poohy. If you want to speak to the power of women in the home, there are a million ways to do it, none less clever than by simply changing the phrase to, "When mom is happy, everyone is happy." But no, that wreaks of lies and insincerity as much as the first statement.

So let me enlighten you all to what I think. Because as my husband said to me the other day, "I didn't think there was anything you didn't have an opinion on." Moms are not mind nor mood controllers. I can't force my children to be happy any more than I can change the weather. I can't make them be pleasantly dispositioned children if they are prone to mood swings and last I don't want to have that responsibility, because quite frankly that would be scary.

What I have found is that mothers are simply a barometer for the family. They let you in on the pressure and attitude of all the members of the family. If trouble is brewing, moms all across the globe are starting to have anxiety, and if there is open conflict and unhappy feelings, mom is not going to be a happy camper. You find me a mom who has a happy husband and happy children who is unhappy and I will show you an mentally unstable woman.

So if you see me walking around all moody like, you can guarantee that I have a child who has been crying every minute since the moment he woke up two hours ago, and I can't figure out what's wrong. You can deduce that I am stressed beyond belief because I feel like a failure as a mother because I can't figure out this dilemma nor solve it. And if I happen to side swipe your car's side mirror as I am driving down a narrow road because I am so mentally obsessed with stress about figuring out what to do, then I am sorry, especially you - Mr. Red Ford Truck Man from this morning.

It's Raining Crazy

Overheard nonsense at my house:

(Out of the middle of nowhere)
Issac: My teacher tells lies.

(A distance peeing competition amongst the boys while at the cabin)
Travis: Yeah Wyatt, you are only tied with Kody for distance.
Wyatt: Oh, yeah! Now watch this.
(Somehow increasing pee pressure to cover an extra foot of distance.)

(When Kody learned he wouldn't be going to school this year with all the other kids)
Kody: Well who is my teacher going to be?
Me: I'm going to be your teacher.
Kody: You're not a teacher. You're just a mom!

(At Bella's dance recital, the new hip hop teacher is dancing and has fantastic hair)
Me: I love the way her hair moves when she is dancing.
Travis: Yeah, she probably uses Pantene or something.

(Last night before bed - Bella time)
Bella: Mom and Dad put her foreheads together touching.
(We do it, she puts her hands over our heads and moves them spastically)
Bella: Now kiss, come on kiss.
Me: Bella, what are you doing.
Bella: I'm being mistletoe, you have to kiss.
Me: Why are your hands moving like that.
Bella: Because mistletoe is jaggy.
Me: No it not.
Bella: Well all the kids at school think it is.
Me: Well they are wrong.
Bella: Then why do you say ouch as you pick it from the flowerbeds.
(Aha moment)
Me: Thistle. That is thistle you are thinking of. Rhymes with mistle, but different. Thistle/Mistletoe.

(Our family on the tramp. Kody has his head burrowed into Travis's lap. Don't ask! It's his thing right now. Anyway Travis has to fart so pushes Kody away. Kody ignores him to reburrow.)
Kody(with furrowed brow): Eww you sort of smell like chocolate.
Travis(skeptical look)
Kody: Or poop, yeah you smell like poop.

(Summarizing his behavior in school yesterday)
Me: How was school today? Did you stay on the green light(good behavior)?
Issac: No, I got moved to the yellow light.
Me: Why what did you do?
Issac: Nothing. I don't know. She just walked up to the board and moved me from green to yellow and didn't tell me why.
(Discussion continues, teacher emails ensue to discover problem, I find out he is lying.)
Me: Issac why did you lie about getting moved to yellow?
Issac: I thought it would be a good surprise when you found out, I actually stayed on green.

Indian Anyone?

Tonight I tried a new recipe that a friend has made for me; Aloo Gobi.

It's a vegetarian Indian dish.

Upon starting the recipe I realized I lacked several major ingredients?
Anyone surprised?

I sort of was even though I shouldn't have been.

And what the heck is Garam Marsala?

Well after a little research I thought MSG would be a suitable substitute.

And many others were made. But it was yummy!

Back 2 School and Other Missed Items

Bella this summer finally conquered her bike without any training wheels.

I did too!

The last week before school started, we had Taste of Manheim. One of our monthly downtown type events. I love our city. All the restaurants and vendors bring out food for cheap and people eat, Bella's dance studio performed, and we watched a projected video on a 3 story inflatable.

The day before school started I took the kids to the park behind our house that just got finished about a month ago as part of the requirement for our HOA. We played and snuggled a lot that last weekend. Man I will miss those kids during the day.
First day of school giddiness and fashion statements. The kids picked their own clothes of course.
Bus stop reunion - the girls have missed one another this past month as we moms have been too busy to get together as often as we used to.
First day of Pre-K for Issac. Our school district has a Pre-K program. They meet everyday from 8:15-11:00. This will really help Issac get ready for all day Kindergarten next year.

Kody was home by himself for half his birthday. He helped me make his cake and lick the beaters.

Since he was the only one home, he got to sneak a cupcake before the b-day celebrations.

To help him wait to open presents till everyone got home he got to open his cards throughout the day.

Present time.

He is the world's best sword fighter. Three swords later he is one happy camper.

And last week I had another girls' night. It is always a good time catching up with friends.

It Takes A Villiage To Raise A Child

Although, Hilary Clinton, is often noted for this saying because she wrote a book with a similar title, it's actually an African proverb. And perhaps in some of the most traditional families it is inaccurate or superfluous, but in a broken home and as the child in question, I just feel grateful for all the people who abide by this concept.

Today my husband, out of the clear blue, walked up to me gave me a hug and said that's from Mike. I didn't even need ask, Mike who? And although I know more than a dozen Mike's only one is like a father to me.

When I was quite young, my very happy childhood rapidly deteriorated to a house full of hostility, accusations, and violence. Shortly thereafter my parents ended the madness by divorcing. As is often the case with divorce, I think we kids perhaps suffered the most. And although I don't remember feeling horribly terrible at that stage in my life, I can only attribute that to the fact that about a half a dozen people stepped in and stepped up to the task of taking care of and loving the remaining children in the home.

And so with all of these people surrounding me I still maintain predominantly happy memories of a childhood that could be described as so many other things upon a verbal recounting of incidents only. Now that I am older I just feel an ever increasing immensity of gratitude for those people. Whether they saw the need and filled it intentionally or just some serendipitous events conspired I'll never know for sure. But when I find that my husband has chatted with my "dad" today without my knowing, I feel just happiness that he is equally comfortable talking to him. And when for my birthday I get a card, that says to the other woman in my life - I feel okay with the way things turned out after all, because instead of having one father and one mother who loved me and remember me everyday and every year on my birthday, I have a whole slew of people super emotionally invested in me and it makes me want to be a much better person for each one of them and the part of their legacy that they gifted to me.

Dakota Dean

Why do you have red hair?

Why don't you look like anyone in our family and instead more like an 80 year old man?
Where do you get your personality from?
And, will you always make those crazy faces that make me smile?

And although I can't answer these questions with anything even remotely reasonable, I can't fathom loving an individual more than I do you. You are filled with so many smiles and happy giggles. You are ticklish beyond belief and super playful. You love to ride on my back at the pool and you are my favorite boy to invite into my bed for a snuggle. You are obsessed with swords, bows and arrows, and guns. And every night during Daddy time you are the star of the story about a knight who slays dinosaurs and dragons.

For your birthday you picked three swords out from the store for your gifts, two from Wal-Mart and one from Dollar General for a grand total of $4.00. And for your cake you want a dinosaur cake. Everything you do is pure boy and I can't help but think you are especially adorable as you pass through every phase. You are constantly chasing after your brothers and sister trying to keep up and do everything they do. And you are so good at so many things because of it. And you can't help but be a bit spoiled as there are five people acting like your mom and dad. You are my last little one and as I watch you grow I just feel happy to know that you are the best part of your dad and me.

Happy Birthday buddy, you're three now and practically all grown up.