Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

WOW! Life just sneaks up on you and before you know it - POW! It hits you and it's on its way out! I swear that school just started! Now we are on Christmas break? And now we look forward to Valentines Day, spring break, Easter and SUMMER! Each event passes by so quickly that I barely have time to enjoy it before it's gone. The anticipation and preparation lasts much longer.

One of my resolutions for this year will be to enjoy the preparation of things other than expect to be happy when the event arrives. Another one is to do more things on impulse. Just like the other day - I told the kids that I was tired of them just sitting around playing Xbox and PS3. I thought they ought to go outside and get some fresh air and exercise. It was a warm sunny day and it just felt good to get out. They tried thrwoing snowballs at each other but "some" can throw harder than other and people got hurt. I had kids running in, throwing off their coat and boots and screaming "I'm not going to be out there with 'HIM!'" So, I bundled them up again pushed them outside. I ran into the garage and grabbed the saucers, jumped on one and went down the snow piled hill in our front side yard! It was fun! The kids were looking at me like I was crazy but I get that look often! I handed them each a saucer and told them to go for it! They ended up spending an hour going up and down and up and down. The hill is only 3 1/2 feet tall but it was all we needed!!!

Attention Walmart Associates! We have a “CODE ADAM”!

It began as a crazy dash (FIRST mistake) for the Walmart five miles South of us. We had to get there before 9pm so we could pick up James’ new glasses at the Optical Center. Well, EVERYONE (except Dad) had to go with. (SECOND mistake!) We also had the girls’ friend with us to drop off at her house afterwards. SO, I have SIX children with me! Was I thinking straight? I really have my doubts!
Anyways! We start off late because my youngest daughter who will remain unnamed, can’t find her shoes. BIG surprise! Can I just say that I am soooo fed up with the shoe losing thing? HELLO! Can you please put them in the same place – PLEASE! So, I almost took off without her. (Should’ve – really should’ve!) SO, we are really pushing the time limit as I race down the freeway, take the offramp, swing a right, then a left, then a right, then a right – and I tell Brandon and James to jump out and run in as I pull up to the doors. Brandon jumps out – James get out and says “What? What am I supposed to do?” “RUN!” I tell him, “Follow your brother!” I then park the van and get the rest of the troupe out. Well, we walk in and Brandon and James are standing outside the ropes that block the entrance to the optical center. I heave a big sigh and said “Oh no! We didn’t make it!” But Brandon says that they caught her just in time and she was just back getting the glasses. Whew!
We got the glasses and then I decided to do a bit of school shopping (THIRD mistake!) for those things that we hadn’t got yet that were on the kids “lists”. So we get those and then proceed to wander around the store. We looked at phones (FOURTH mistake!) so maybe the boys could actually have contact with me if they weren’t home. I’m just a concerned mom, not really too overprotective! Really! So I make a decision and call the DH to confirm the purchase. Well, he didn’t like it! “Do you think we’re made of money? They don’t need a phone!” Etc. I was annoyed verging on really ticked off so I said to the kids – let’s forget it and get on with our shopping.
So, we all traipse off and a minute later I ask, “Where’s John???” We couldn’t see him anywhere. I had everyone branch out. We went back to the phone area – no John. We went to the toys – no John. We went down a couple main aisles – no John. Ok, I was starting to panic! We headed back to the phones and when we still couldn’t see him, I headed to the electronics cashier and told him I had a “lost boy”. He immediately announced a “CODE ADAM” which is an instant door monitoring and department check. After giving the associate a description, which was quite accurate because I remembered the incident earlier that evening regarding his clothes. He was on his second outfit of the day and threw a fit when I told him Brandon had to help him put it on. So, we waited a few minutes back at electronics and then we were told that if they found him they would bring him up to customer service. We headed up there and I saw Brandon a section over making his way up there too. When we were out in the clear I saw that he had John with him. I ran up to them and grabbed John and asked him where he had been. He calmly stated that “I just wanted a baseball!” Brandon had found him back in the sporting goods where we had been looking for soccer shin-guards.

As I was putting John into the cart and telling him that he can’t get out again the store manager asks me if he was mine and if this was the one that was lost. I said with a sigh, “Yep! This is the guilty one!” I must’ve looked pretty frazzled because he then said, “Are you going to be okay?” Looking around at the bunch of kids gathered around me I managed another sigh and stated, “Sure – I’ll be just fine!”












The "GUILTY" one!

Show Time!

Drama Queens and Kings. I think the kids have actually inherited something good from me. They are natural born actors. I remember in seventh grade parent teacher conferences, my art teacher was telling my mom my grade. It wasn’t the A that I thought I had and I gasped in horror! He then commented that I was very dramatic and thus my love for the theater began!
The kids, minus Brandon because he was gone, put on a show for us. The tickets were very expensive - $100 each! Luckily ours were complimentary!

Here’s the playbill:
How did this start? A few weeks ago we were at Wally World (I was there with all FIVE kids! Can you say MISTAKE?) and Brandon wanted me to buy a video. I said no and no again and no again! “But mom! It’s only five bucks!” I said no and my word is final! Yeah right! I got up to the check-out lane and there it was - hiding under a head of lettuce! A video of old-time cartoons – Popeye, Tom and Jerry, Betty Boop, and many others. I gave in. The kids absolutely love it! In fact they’ve watched it so many times they have them all memorized! And so, the rehearsals began!




A riveting performance of “Ancient Fistory”


The “Bull” pushing Popeye through the “house"

A Happy Ending

Intermission (Dinner break)









The group performing “Popeye as Aladdin”. (My personal favorite!)

In the “Cave of Wonders”









Princess Olive lounging at the castle


Bluto has the lamp!









“Salami, salami, saloon”

What a wonderful performance!!!

Chaos - My first name

Did I mention that Chaos was my first name? Seriously! I bring it on myself! Let’s take on the subject of soccer. How many other moms would put themselves (and their Dear Husbands) through the torture of five children in soccer? Not too many, just the insane ones. I don’t know what our Saturdays are going to be like in the next couple months but needless to say, they will be BUSY! I’ve only been contacted by four of the coaches so far. I’m afraid to look at the schedules because I may have a mild breakdown. . . (I love soccer, I love soccer, I love soccer!)
Each year my DH asks, “Why, why, why?” Then the children say “I hadn’t decided if I was going to play again!” (Even though when I signed them up they said that they wanted to.) I just reply, “It’s good for you! It’s all about learning how to be a team player and getting some exercise - all in one!” Such positive statements from someone who has subjected themselves to multiple weekly practices (in many different places) and a whole lot of Saturdays of juggling schedules.
Oh – and don’t get me started on how butt-freezing cold it is at some of these games! Especially the ones at 9am. I don’t like those! Remember now – I’m the one who likes to bake in the sun! I’d rather sit in a sweaty camp chair, with no umbrella, as the temperature reaches the high 90’s than try to wrap myself up in blankets, as the sleet pelts my face and makes it so I can’t tell which kid is mine! Bringing hot chocolate is only a mild consolation. It doesn’t last near as long as the game does. (I swear sometimes they add minutes to the stop watch!) There have been a few games where I’ve considered pouring the hot chocolate over me just to get warm! But then logic seeps in and I realize that I would only get colder once the liquid freezes on me. So instead I stealthily sneak from my chair to “get something from the car”. I’m sure no one suspects any different. Right?
Still, I love to see them run, kick, dribble, pass and score! Despite the searching for soccer gear, running to the game before it actually starts, taking two different vehicles, begging the coach to pick up one of the kids, and providing snacks for a heck of a lot of players! Less than a week left till the fun starts!

Bring it on! Let the games begin!