Who's to Blame?

... if say, you happen to pass by some ginormous front-facing windows somewhere in suburban Texas and glance inside to see:

1. A certain Homeschooling Mama boogy-ing around her kitchen making this and this...

2. Listening to her mp3 player newly stocked (compliments of DH) with oldies but goodies (in her opinion anyway) of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots...

3. And finishing off glass #2 of her precious (flavored with 7-up) zinfandel.


Is it due to:

A. Her rapidly depleting supply of brain cells caused by her futile attempts to educate 5 children under the age of 10?

B. The approaching payday, and her success in keeping all consumer giants at bay?

C. The evil "For Sale" sign out front... forever mocking her inability to keep a small house clean?

D. The chaos of bouncing balls, dueling hockey sticks and flying Barbies in her living room?

E. All of the above.


Yeah, I'd choose 'E' too...


:)

It's 3pm on Homeschooling Day #4...

And the only question I have, with zinfandel in hand, is:



It's 5pm somewhere in North America (like, maybe, Newfoundland?)


... right?!?






: P

Just When You Think...

.. of handing in your parenting ID card due to much yelling and doling out of horrific punishments like no tv for the whole day which caused much wailing and grinding of teeth (theirs and your own) and you had just hung up the phone with your better half bemoaning the state of discipline in the house, likening your own presence to that of a neglected house plant, when suddenly one of the offending parties smiles at you as you hand her her popcorn to be eaten while in the dungeon of her own room, and says sweetly:

Thank you Mom. You're the bestest Mom in the whole world.

:)

I Have Not Forgotten

We watched World Trade Center last night; A moving tribute to the Port Authority Police and the dramatic rescue of two of their own who were trapped in the North Tower.

Once the movie ended, I was gripped with the emotion of that day.

The loss of innocent life was so overwhelming. The attack so unexpected and unprovoked...

And I wondered... will those memories ever go dry? Will my tears ever cease to flow in remembrance of that day?

I certainly hope not.

Eternal Rest grant unto them, O Lord.

And grant us peace...

*Applause*

This guy gets it exactly right.

We had a similar problem on our flight home. The movie they showed was entitled Gracie. And while it seemed like a feel-good family film, there were parts of it that were definitely not for my children's eyes....

Like, when she "dressed up" to go out and dance and smooch it up with the guys on the soccer team. And then her father catches her in the back seat of a car with one of them... stuff like that.

Unfortunately, since we fly stand-by, there was nothing I could say. If we were fully paying passengers, I would raise hell, no question. Because when it comes to my kids and their innocence, I can be one mean Mama Bear.

Luckily, we had our own dvd player and head phones. And after awhile the sexual scenes were gone and it was all soccer.

I can't imagine if it had been a show like Shooter or King Kong or Fracture.

Yikes.

I guess it's a good thing our travel privileges end in June, eh? A blessing in disguise...

:)

Frugal Soldiers

I've noticed a lack of fervor in mass on the part of my two boys. In the past, I've drawn on their warrior sense, exhorting them to fight against the Devil's temptations to slouch and moan throughout the consecration. And, surprisingly enough, it's worked. I certainly don't harp about the Devil and his wily ways all the time. But, every once in awhile, I think it's good to remind them that there is an actual battle going on right here at home. A spiritual battle, but very real nonetheless.

This week, I have my own immaterial battle to wage. And I suspect many of you moms out there wage this exact same battle every week or so. It's called "making do 'til payday." We have done our shopping, met our obligations, and now we just need to put 'er in neutral and coast.

And I look on it as a challenge. A battle to be waged against the bastions of consumerism*. No, we will not be stopping by the golden arches or calling on the pizza man for dinner this week. The clothes shopping that needs to be done for fall? That can wait until the weekend. I will not step foot into a mall or bookstore until Friday morning at the earliest... Our outings this week will be confined(? what an ironic way to describe it) to the lake, and the library and maybe to visit some friends. All of our meals will be homemade, with no wasting, and much school will be done, especially in the evenings with DH.

And you know what?

I bet we'll have an awesome week of it, too.

:)


*A tangent to this would be a discussion of how freeing it is not to go to mall-hopping on the weekends... not to be constantly needing new things. Always looking at things you don't have makes for a very dissatisfied person. I prefer a trip to the lake.

Visiting Cousins Part II

"The Baby" edition...

My sister-in-law's youngest, CLT, (cute little terror) is just over a year old. When we arrived, he had three shiners on his forehead and one on his cheek. By the time we were leaving, his left eye was swollen to three times the normal size.

Nothing to do with our presence... promise.

CLT is very... adventurous. Two seconds go by with not seeing him, and everyone is up and searching, because he is most often to be found in a precarious situation like; on top of the kitchen table, or hanging over the back of the couch peering down the stairs, or about to dive head first into the kiddie pool...

Either that, or he is sitting on the cat or Little Love, and maybe about to bite his brother or Little Boo.

His saving grace? His amazing smile and babbling and waving of-the-arms-run when he sees me coming. I pick him up every time.

Of course.

:)

I was worried that Little Boo might get sick of the constant "pick up your toys, here comes CLT!" But as the week progressed, she decided that this child needed a mentor, and she took on the job. She followed him and reported on his shenanigans, and was actually quite a patient "babysitter".

The night before she left, she hit me with a proposition:
Why don't we leave Little Love here and she can be their baby, and we take CLT home with us?
















While it was tempting, given the many tantrums dealt to us by Little Love this trip, I had to say no...

We already miss you, CLT!!

Visiting Cousins Part I

Little Love met her "twin" in Canada this trip. There were many times that, at first glance, I mistook one for the other...

Can you tell who is who?













How about now?














And while "Cupcake" is 6 months older, they were well-matched... aren't they just such cuties?














And, lest you doubt the family genes:













Here she is with her older cousin, "Sponge Bob"... having a yummy dinner.

Ahhhh. Family. It's nice to belong...

:)

Two Things....

...that makes my Mama heart freeze in terror:

1.Checking up on Little Boo in the tub, finding her face down and very still... perfecting her rendition of the dead man's float.

2. Later on, checking on Little Love sleeping on her mattress (sans crib... makes the room look bigger when we shove her mattress under Little Dear's bed) and finding this:














Look closer...















Have a great Friday, y'all!!

:)

My Trip to the Mall...

...became a trip down memory lane.






Originally, I went to the mall to stock up on some cute clothes for my cherubs. Alas, the styles and prints just weren't appealing to me. So, off I went to my old standby.



Um. When did we rewind ourselves 20 years?!?



I shuddered my way through aisle after aisle, desperately seeking something...cute.



I mean, I was out, on my own, FREE. I was looking forward to bringing home tons of deals for the kids and myself, what with a somewhat favorable exchange rate and all. Yet, I came home sorely disappointed. Because, while I may have grown and changed and matured... apparently, the styles hadn't at all since the last time I set foot in a mall.



It's a good thing this stay-at-home, homeschooling Mama of 5 doesn't need to be hip or anything, because those 80's styles? They will forever remain on the pages in my yearbook...

:)