HAPPY BIRTHDAY

yesterday was thing 2's birthday. 7 years old.

he was so excited. he's been counting down for a long time now. it used to be months then last month he began the daily countdown. last weeks daily sign- ins from school reflected that, starting 10 days out-"there are 10 days till my birthday." "there are 9 days till my birthday." you get the idea.

we celebrated as a family with a yummy ice cream cake and the dad drove in with a new bike strapped to the roof sending thing 2 whooping and hollering around the yard. just
what he wanted.

he is my little sweetheart who loves and adores his baby brother. he will come in from playing just to see him and spend 5 minutes with him. he'll take the baby from me and when he gets fussy he'll rock him to sleep for me.

he's a boy with a special enthusiasm for life. he wants to try everything and has no fear as he does just that.

he's my sneaky little boy who hides his vegetables in the bathroom garbage or flushes them down the toilet!! and who, when he was just 2 years old, was caught telling his brother "just don't tell mom" after thing 1 had told him they weren't allowed to do something.

he can be as stubborn as all get out when he wants to. when he's feeling stubborn i don't even know how to deal with him. he digs his heals in and won't budge.

he's a pretty cool kid!

did you notice thing one in the first picture with puckered lips like he's trying to blow out the candles?

oh, martha!

my friend got tickets for her, me and lainakay to go to a taping of the martha stewart show!

yippee!

the show was to be about blogging!

yippee yahoo!

we got to spend the day in the city!

yippee yahooee!!!

we saw the show!

blaaaaahhhhh!

it wasn't so good! she didn't talk about life blogging at all! her guests were-dull! they all seemed to work for her and have a blog on the side! there were several bloggers in the audience whose blogs sounded really interesting-like wedding be-in fact when martha's wedding lady heard the wedding be lady was in the audience she ran up and had her picture taken with her! but the people she highlighted were people like this one lady with a blog about cute animals-she posts pictures of cute animals! interesting! i like cute animals buuuuuttttt!!!



so we left the show very diappointed and had ourselves a good time in the city!

my camera was on the fritz so i didn't get too many pictures.-i guess i really could have used that camera martha was raving about but only gave to 4 of her special employees in front of all of us.
we brought the dad to tend thing 4 while we were in the show! i must say, thing 4 was an angel! he must be a little city boy because he didn't fuss the entire day! he was just happy riding around in his stroller or the bjorn!!

i'm feeling maybe, possibly, a little bit, maybe... violated.

our goodwill and salvation army stores don't take toys or stuffed animals. i heard that a little local thrift shop would. as i had a pile of toys and stuffed animals i wanted to get rid of i looked up the little local shop, loaded up my van and headed over. the shop, i knew, was not in the best part of town. it was in that part of town where you better know where you are going because you just don't belong! i don't worry much, so i went. i can be kind of like a teenager who think they are invincible.
i found the place quickly and pulled up to the donation door. as i lifted my hatch i felt the bees begin to swarm. one of those bees watched as i moved my lawn chairs-you know those nifty little chairs that fold up and slide neatly into a bag-out of the way. mine are trashed and on their way to the garbage as soon as this football season is over. they are in such bad condition i wouldn't even donate them. but that buzzing bee came in for the sting.

"are you getting rid of those? i'll take them!" -bee
"no, just moving them out of my way"-me

i went in with the first load and as i came back out another bee had approached in her vehicle. as she hung out the window eyeing my treasures, she asked "got any baby clothes?"-good question since i was driving a minivan and carting 2 kids with me. nope i had no baby clothes (i'm a hoard, i save all my baby clothes-the dad begs me to get rid of them but i can't.) but i had a carseat if she wanted it. no she didn't want the carseat her sister-who is the one having a baby-already had all that. so i continued on..."well, i have no clothes but are you sure you don't want the carseat?"-stupid me, i should have ended it the first time she said no but i had to ask again and now all of the sudden she wants the carseat...and the diaper bags. her sister is having a girl and low and behold one of the bags was pink!
so she wanted the seat and bags but i had to pull to a different part of the parking lot to give it to her!!! "are you sure? i can't just give it to you here!?" NO, we had to move. as i closed my hatch and climbed back into the drivers seat i kept thinking "don't let them take you to the 2nd location!"-oprah's safety guys #1 rule!
but, we were in a parking lot and she wanted my carseat-that's all! but, why did we have to move?!
as i climbed out to give her the carseat i thought "maybe she wants to rob me!"

i grabbed the carseat and brought it to her, trying to keep her as far away from my car as possible! i jumped back in and drove away quickly-back to my safe side of town!

last night, as i lay awake, the drama queen inside me went over and over the experience pointing out all of my mistakes and how stupid i was. the dad encouraged that drama queen by agreeing that i shouldn't have gone to a different part of the lot. the rational person in me knows that the lady would probably just get in trouble for taking the donations that were meant for the store so she just needed to take her business away from their donation door. but man! (drama queen speaking now!) i made some big mistakes and could have gotten myself into a lot of trouble!

i'm dreaming...

of bathroom renovations.

the dad wants a jet tub

with sandstone color marble tile shower surround
a vanity like this maybe

a nice clean medicine cabinet like this

and antique bronze fixtures like these
and a toilet!

can you see it coming together!

even though...

i sometimes send the boys outside and tell them not to come in unless it is an emergency



i have been known to tell the kids it is quiet time so i can have a minute to think



i often say... "don't wake the baby"

"don't poke at him, you'll wake him up"

"ahh, you woke the baby!"



there are times i need the kids in bed... now!



i don't want to do any more homework!



sometimes i breathe a sigh of relief as the school bus pulls away with my boys on board



some days i look forward to the day that thing 3 climbs on board that bus too



my treats taste soooooo much better when the kids are in bed



i usually don't want to fix dinner-again



sometimes i have to pass the baby off to the dad so my arms can rest



more often than not i don't want to be ashley



most days i have to rush through the shower before that special little boy is screaming at me


it is always much easier and quicker to just bake the cookies myself


i have heard myself sending the kids to watch a show


once in a while i would like my personal space back


i would probably like to be the only one tasting my ice cream cone

i do love being a mom.

i love being my kids mom.

i loved that on their emergency sheet i could write

home

as my place of employment.

welcome back

the boys headed back to school yesterday. thing 1 was not admitting to any excitement. thing 2 was willing to admit that he was a little excited

-but just a little!

they weren't excited but they were wandering around the house with their backpacks on by 7:30 and out to the bus stop by 7:45-

the bus doesn't come till 8:20.

nope, no excitement there!

handsome boys!!

(now thing2 is home sick from school-fever!-who is home sick the 2nd day of school?! )