Thank God in all things

I am not a scripture quoter.  Nothing against it.  I am just terrible at memorizing things and so I tend to get them wrong a lot.  But I do like this verse.  Right now I am going to go look up where this came from. . . Ok, I couldn't find it?  Anyone out there who knows what verse that is please shoot it my way.  Allison if you are reading this, please comment the name of the author who wrote the story about the Nazi camp and the fleas? 

   Well my point with this post is to share with you that I am indeed learning to be thankful to God in all things.  Even the yucky ones.  Not that I am, for instance happy that my daughter has Autism but her having it sure has enriched my life with true friendships, and expanded ability for compassion and empathy, humility, lifelong lessons in unconditional and sometimes unrequited love (or so it seems.) hope for the future, the capacity to see outside myself and my little world and my petty inconvieniences or discomforts. 

I know so many people say how thankful they are for this and that but I want to be specific.  I want to thank some people without embarrassing them so I will just use intitals or nick names.  If I leave someone out, I will catch you on round two because I am sure I will think of a bunch more after I post this.
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To my mom- thanks for having me, for not dropping me off at DFCS even if I deserved it, for having faith that I would mature and we would be good friends one day and for being the best person to teach me how to make other people feel comfortable.  You gave me good social skills and they have come in handy through the years.  You have no idea how important you are to the world.  Thanks for being my cheerleader and putting up with all my drama as a teenager! I know whenever I feel like no one else understands what I am going through that you do because you've been there already. 

To my dad - thanks for having the sense of humor required to survive life with firstly, 3 sisters, then with 3 daughters (and a son!) It has come in handy and has taught me to not take myself so seriously.  Thanks for being a good example with your committment to the Lord even though I am not as good as you when it comes to Holy Days or abstinence from meat!  Thanks for being the best, most fun grandpa!

To my brother - thanks for letting me annoy you all those years but you get what you give right?  You are one of my favorite members of the male species somewhere after my husband and sons but before Hugh Grant and the Pope.

To my sister on Earth - thanks for looking up to me, Aww come on you know you do!  And thanks for being my ally against the other half of our siblings when war was waged in our youth.  You have a sweet heart and I know God has good things in store for you!

To my sister in Heaven - thanks for sharing your life with me and for leaving me all the reminders of you through the years that now as I find them, seem so poignant. Such as the inscriptions you wrote to my children in the books you gave them as gifts or the song you wrote just for them which sounds as though you knew years ago you wouldn't be here to watch them grow up but wanted them to know you loved them anyway.  You were the most fun and I hope I had something to offer you in return.

To my sister in law - I don't think I could have hand picked a better spouse for my goofy brother if I was given the task.  Thanks for reigning him in, thanks for being a best friend and for loving my kids. I always wondered if he would marry someone I couldn't stand and luckily that wasn't the case!  One day we will get the chance to actually do fun stuff without little people around!

To my Granddaddy - you are my favorite 91 year old man in the world and since you wont read this I will just say that you have given me hope that I have inherited your families longevity gene and I can't wait to celebrate your first Century birthday!  Oh and thanks for serving our country so long ago.

To my Mother in Law- I couldn't have survived these last 7 years without you and as it turns out God knew what he was doing when he only gave you one boy to raise.  He knew you need to conserve your energy for quadruplet grandchildren that would be in your future.  Thanks for continuing to be such a tremendous help even after we surprised you with baby number five which you thought I was certifiable for having but it has turned out to be a good thing ehh?  Thanks for giving me a husband who loves and respects me. You're the best MIL in the world though I do hope to never have another one he he!

To my Aunt D.  thanks for becoming an extra grandma to my kids and thanks for taking all us crazy kids on those summer trips.  How did you stand having so many preteens together at one time?

To my Aunt E.  You are one of the sweetest women in the world.  Thanks for being such a good listener and such a good example of an unselfish life of service to your loved ones.  So glad we have become close.

To my Aunt J thanks for making me feel special during my childhood and teen years when I was having Middle Child Syndrome.  I always looked forward to spending time with you at the beach or at your house during our trips to Mobile.  I haven't forgotten.  Also, thanks for having 5 kids so I am not the only one with that number in the family!

To my Aunt M.  Thanks having more kids than me, and thanks for giving me a Maureen to play with! You are a sweet soul with infinite patience and more wisdom than you are given credit for!

To my cousin Mo - thanks for everything except being skinnier than I can ever hope to be.  Thanks for being fun and on my side.  The Bay will always make me think of you and Grandpa the most.

To my kids - you are my whole world.  Thanks for showing up even if we had to wait years for you to get here!  There are no words to describe what you are to me so I won't try.  I will save that for another day and just for you.

Ok so I need to end this as it sounds like I am planning on taking leave but really I am not, I just feel strongly that people need to be told what you love about them while you're here!  Next post will be on friends.
Maybe you can tell someone how you really feel this Christmas season?  You won't be sorry and neither will they, unless of course you plan on telling them off that is.

Here we go again- Happy Halloween 2009

So last night we went out in the rain and cold and tromped through the wet leaves on a candy hunt with our five kiddos. What is up with the tootsie roll this year? I must have 3000 of those darn things in my house. They outnumber the other confections 3 to 1. I mean nothing against the chocolate chewiness, but they aren't REALLY chocolate. They do in a pinch but I grow tired of their presence and my jaw is sore from eating them anyway. Oh where are my elastic waist pants? Wait I am not 60 years old and therefore do not purchase my clothes from the Blair Catalogue yet, those lucky seniors. Do they realize how good they have it- no longer having to fulfill society's expectations of fashion? I being the stay at home mom fashionista must at least wear jeans. Oh well, such is life. Wait I think I started this post with another purpose. Oh yes my cute little darlings. Here are some shots of the costumes which have absolutely nothing to do with each other or anything else I have said thus far. There is a connection to the candy I suppose. Aren't they cute? Dad was a trooper as well. I used to dress them in some kind of theme like 3 little pigs and a wolf or different colored M & Ms but no longer it’s too hard and I am too tired to be that creative. I will try to find old shots and put them all together (but you do realize that will never happen I hope.) Have a great November and I will try to post a bit more this month.

Bringchange2mind

Today I was on the treadmill at the gym when I saw a spot on the view featuring Glenn Close and her sister Jesse.  Her sister has Bipolar disorder.  They are starting a website which brings mental illness in families "out" so to speak.  One in 6 adults has a mental illness so chances are someone in every family is included.  Well the commercial they showed made me cry and I had to run to the restroom and hide in the shower until I quit.  Why do some things touch that sore spot so quickly and sharply when months can go by with out the pain surfacing in such a raw way?  I don't know.  It felt good in a weird way.  I know people want me to be over my sister's death and they probably think that I am but I'm not.  I can hold it together pretty well and even talk about her without crying but not a day goes by when I don't ask the what if questions.  I will never have those answers. 
Anyway, here is the spot and I think its going to be a great thing if it catches on -

People of Walmart

If you need an instant laugh, hit this link and bookmark it for future laughs-

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

Now you can see that Walmarts all over the country contain the bizarreness you thought you could only find at your local store.  Nope, they're everywhere.  Be afraid, be very afraid.

Finding God in 5 Steps (I recommend this blog to anyone struggling with the existence of God)

Finding God in 5 Steps

Shared via AddThis

I think we all go through this from time to time but some people really struggle with this. I found this blog today and she is a former atheist which I find fascinating being a cradle Catholic. Anyway, it is awesome! The author will be publishing a book on this subject next year!

Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today is the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I wanted to take just a minute to ask all my friends- Protestant and Catholic- to take a minute to honor the enormity of her task and the blessing she bestowed on us through her fiat, her yes to the Heavenly Father. That said, I want to give a quick note about the place of honor Mary holds in my Catholic Faith.

We do not worship Mary, nor do we see her as God-like.
We honor her as Christ did, as his mother, Can you really imagine him NOT honoring his own mother whom I am sure he was 100% obedient to? (Note: see Ten Commandments.)Therefore, being the KING of Kings and all, is his mother not deserving of a place of honor? If he is our King, it just makes sense that we would honor, love and adore her as he did. That's all I'm sayin'.

With the exception of Christ, she is THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT HUMAN BEING TO EVER WALK THE FACE OF THE EARTH. So wish her a Happy Birthday today and thank her for her gift of saying yes to God when he called upon her 2000 years ago, no matter what your denomination. At the very least, thank God for her.

She has been there for me, through out my life in countless ways and I couldn't even begin the explain this to you if you asked me, I just know.

If you are interested in learning more about what the Catholic Church believes concerning Mary, click here. I believe this to be a fairly unbiased and reputable site in the limited time I explored it. There are just sooooo many misconceptions out there when it comes to Mary and I would love to be able to clear them up for even one person. Ok, that's all I am saying tonight. Have a great day!

Awesome Photographer

Here is the new website for a wonderful photographer of families and children.  She has worked with my quads and baby before and she is a very dear friend.  Check it out.
http://phillipsonphotography.com/

You're awesome Lisa!

First Article Published

Ok, here it is.  Hope you enjoy.  Hope I didn't offend anyone!

http://blissfullydomestic.com/multiple-bliss/what-its-like-to-be-methe-story-of-a-quad-mom-part-one/

I am working on part two now, well, ok technically I haven't started but how would you know?

Blissfully Domestic

Well, I have been slow to update here and it is because
1.  School started and that is like a tornado going through your house for a couple of weeks straight and
 2.  I have decided to test out my writing skills in a more public spot.  I applied and was accepted to join the Blissfully Domestic website which I hope you will check out and book mark.  I don't think it's hard to get accepted as a writer but I don't know.  They did have to check out my blog before they said yes so maybe there is something there.  I am going to continue with this blog as mostly a family and speak my mind forum but I will always set up a link when I get something published there.  I am really excited!  I would be more excited if they paid me but hey, gotta start somewhere.  I also want to officially announce that I really have started writing a book but I can't tell you much more than that now.  I don't know which path I am going to head down with it because depending on which publishers you go with you have to sort of curve your style to their liking so I don't know if it will be a heavily faith based book or just humor, hopefully a little of both!  Now that I have told you, I have to get serious about it.  If only the kids would cooperate!  Wish me luck!

Random thoughts by Bonnie - Hip Hop music

Ok, so today I just want to say something about Hip Hop music. I was in my car, ALONE, a rare occurrence indeed, when I flipped to a station that occasionally plays hip hop and this insanely moronic song came on. All I heard was "Let's do it, do it - do do do do do it, it, it it it. Uhhh, is that the dumbest thing I have ever heard? Well, if it isn't it has to come in a close second. I just changed the station. I have no time for that, no patience for the crude areas of life, that is except for the ones I must deal with such as that gross space between the toilet and the wall behind it or the back of the vegetable drawer that has been neglected so long that the squash has liquefied. Did I just say that? OK, yes that has really happened to me, I am not the perfect homemaker but I am getting better with age.
Back to the hip hop song, I actually appreciate that genre of music for its rhythm and creativity. I don't listen to it on a regular basis being a conservative, caucasian mini-van-driving mom of five but hey, I still like a good song and I used to dance a lot back in the day when my jeans were two sizes smaller. In the old millennium. But PULEEEZE, why crank out crap like that? I hate the misogynistic and crude aspects of some hip hop. Call me a dork but I like Will Smith type stuff, no foul language, its not necessary in a really good song. So I decided I would no longer listen to hip hop in English, I will try french. I hear it's pretty good. But then I remembered that I know just enough french to ruin it for me. I could figure out when they were being crude. I just had a brilliant moment, I officially switch to Japanese hip hop. The only word I know in Japanese is cooneachewah (phonetically spelled of course) it's some kind of greeting. Sadly I learned this from watching Hannah Montana. Oh well, I may not be cultured but I appreciate it just the same!

What's for dinner? Apple Crisp

The other night I started getting nostalgic for fall and why you might ask? Well my kids are back in school already. They get a week off in October which is really nice and then one in February which is the pits but that is where the early start date derives from.

So whenever I get that feeling I like to bake things with apples. I am getting better at this too. I learned to bake with firmer types of apples if you want to bite into it and softer sweeter apples if you want it to sortof melt in your mouth. Fuji and Gala are melty kinds of apples by the way. I used an apple called Golden Delicious. I'm pretty sure that was the name, it worked well and was firm. You can also mix apple types for pies and crisps. It had a topping like oatmeal/sugar cookie. Very good I'd say. Well, I am now looking forward to pumpkin farms and cider but I hate to rush time. That's how you miss neat little things. I must say I have never been a big fan of August, very little to love about that month down here in the south. Oh, I found a neat little web site which I haven't investigated fully but it looks promising and goes right along with my topic http://www.whatsfordinner.net/meals.html

It has 7 meals listed each week. It also lets you create a grocery list and add your own things to it before you print - How cool is that?! And it has creative family ideas. Love it! I bookmarked it as soon as I came across it. Ok, I'm out, you guys have a great night!

First day of First grade for four kids

Thought I'd throw some alliteration at you with that title. If you are scratching your head then you have been out of school too long. Ok, I sent my four babies to school for the first day of first grade and so far the reactions have been mixed, but mostly good.

I have one child in a special ed class strictly for first graders with autism. Love it, love the teacher she's awesome and loves my daughter dearly so that works out perfectly. That's Doodle on the far left of the second picture. Can you tell by looking at her here? I don't think so but the strangest thing has been happening more and more lately and that is that I have to tell people about her autism because she will do bizarre things for a girl her size that she use to get away with as a little thing (like stealing their french fries at McDonalds) but now, people are not so forgiving. If you spent some time observing her you would probably figure it out but from a picture she looks just like the rest of them and in many ways she is but in many ways, she probably never will be. Her sisters are currently obsessed with weddings and princesses and baby dolls. They ask me if Doodle will ever get married and have babies. Sadly, I tell them, I just don't know but my gut tells me this will not be. I hate to think about it. It was probably one of my top five gut-wrenching moments when I considered this for the first time. That said however, I still believe in miracles and I still pray for her recovery as often as I think about it, which is quite often. No, I don't understand why God hasn't answered me yet but I know he must have a reason. Anyway, I still believe in miracles. Onward and upward.

My other three whom I refer to often as The Three Amigos, are in the same class again. I like this for simplicities sake, same homework, same pace, and the fact that two other sets of eyes can tell me what is really going on in the classroom as far as who did what to whom which caused their "BEE" to be moved. Really it's cool in that respect. I love our school, it's in our backyard literally, so we walk to school most days. I love that we can do that. It feels very green to me and that is good considering I don't have time to recycle, ok I don't take the time to recycle but I only have limited brain space to be occupied by concerns outside of my little world. Oh wait, I JUST realized, I recycle grocery bags to hold nasty diapers!! Ok, that's not really doing anyone a favor since the biodegradibility of a diaper is severly debilitated by being surrounded by more plastic but at least I am using them twice right? Whatever.

I have one daughter in resource classes and speech.

I have one son in gifted.

I have one daughter who isn't in anything extra and doesn't understand this. I am hoping she will be my low-maintence child but really the signs all point towards a sensitive mildly dramatic version of myself at that age. She fell and knocked two teeth back in her mouth yesterday but so thoroughly enjoyed the extra attention and care she has gotten that I think she is considering a repeat. She's fine by the way - baby teeth.

I have a baby who is climbing on anything he can get to, and has learned to dismantle the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs and stealthfully scale the staircase, only to proudly announce his arrival on the second floor by grabbing the railing on the catwalk and smooshing his face between the bars while yelling "GAA!" Until he sees me looking up at him. He is 17 months, I am a little bit afraid of what he will have figured out by the time he is in first grade.

Its going to be a crazy year but I am looking forward to it. Last year was really fun and I expect this year will be no different. Here's to another year of growing up!

At the beach/ Julie and Julia

Hi to all five of you out there, ok maybe I have picked up a few more readers lately but that is beside the point. I never started this blog with the intention of having a wide audience one day. I just enjoy it. I am at the beach with my crew and in-laws and it is ohh say, 6:30 AM. Yikes, who is dumb enough to be up at 6:30 AM writing on a blog at the beach on "vacation" no less?


Me that's who. *** Side note - to anyone foolish enough to wonder why I put quotes around the word vacation, you must not be a mom. If you want to know why they are there, go ask one.





I was sleeping somewhat peacefully when I was awakened by a screaming, annoyed 17 month old in the pack and play nearby, evidently he was also annoyed - thus the screaming. This in turn set off the other alarm which is my doodle. She was sleeping in the king size bed with me and one of her sisters. So I get fussy baby settled in with me and he calms down, miraculously my Doodle does too, only now, I can't sleep anymore. So I pick up my headset and commence listening to the last CD of the book I have been listening to for the past 3 days - Julie and Julia. You may have heard of the movie that is now out with MerylStreep playing Julia Childs and Amy Adams playing Julie. Anyway, it was entertaining enough to keep me listening to the end but annoying as all get out at the same time.





I don't want to spend a lot of time on going over the plot but you can go here and watch a trailer if you are that interested. I may or may not go see the movie but I do love Meryl so that is a remote possibility. The remoteness is due to the fact that I


A. Love movies more than almost anything and therefore have a line up that is pretty extensive so Julie and Julia falls pretty far down the line and


B. I have five kids and only get to see movies when my parents are in town and


C. My entertainment budget has been severely cut back due to recent economy and current beach trip which we really can't afford but I am oh so grateful to be at.





Anyway, I love cooking but by no stretch of the imagination could I ever believe that I would be capable of accomplishing what the author set out to do which is cook her way through Julia Child's famous book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, every single recipe in one year. First of all time, second money, third I refuse to eat organ meat. Anything that is used by the body to think, collect toxins, deliver waste or purify blood is off limits. Maybe I am as culinary as a vanilla wafer but I have a healthy respect for the limits my stomach can handle.





So, Julie Powell, the author has a few things in common with me, however, there are two huge differences that really cut me off from empathizing with the "heroine" of this story -


One, she is an atheist, though not so much in a "How stupid can you all be?" kind of way, but more of a "whatever, I haven't got time for that mess" which is almost as bad. But, when I read things by nonbelievers it doesn't necessarily anger me it just means that any insight I glean from said book is worthless since its not coming from a greater place. It means no words in her writing have truly been inspired because what is inspiration if it doesn't come from the greatest Author of all times?


And, almost as bad- she is staunchly anti-republican.


Why I don't know? I am not staunchly anti-democrat. They have their few points. I don't beleaguer them that. They are green and sympathetic and have a couple of other redeeming qualities right? ( I can hear two people in my head screaming at me that this is NOT TRUE!, my dad and my best friend's husband.) So why the anti R hatred? Her parents live in TEXAS. That's a pretty conservative state right? She calls Republicans various insulting things throughout the book which I won't dignify by repeating here. But I kept thinking to myself, she has most-likely been dumped by one somewhere in her history. I don't know and it doesn't matter anyway. The author seems genuinely off-put at the end of the book because Julia is offended or critical of her project/blog and I wonder if it has anything to do with the two points mentioned above. I say, HELLO, course she is offended you twit, she was 91 when she read your blog and you say F*** every other line. 91 year olds don't like that word very much and neither do most civilized people, even if we occasionally yell it out in frustration when the kids aren't around.





Oh well, so she doesn't like Republicans, but she has effectively snubbed potentially half of her readership whom she says "don't read the Dining Section of the paper" I beg to differ, I do read that section and I have no idea where she got that idea? Just because I am against murdering unborn babies, believe in families, the sanctity of life, responsibility for oneself, keeping the money I earn to spend as I see fit, choosing which charities I donate to, smaller government and of course SARAH PALIN, this, this qualifies me as some old stogy cigar-smoking rich buracrat? Huh?





Ok, this was a really long post on a seriously random topic but it had to be done. I couldn't sleep anyway, what with the drooling monkey and his two sisters next to him in my bed.
Psst, Julie Powell, they are probably going to be REPUBLICAN CATHOLICS TOO. And well fed I might add.

My secret self

I am going to share something that only a few of you know about me. I secretly long to be . . dun dun dun - a REALLY good housewife! It has become an obsession of mine. I can't even believe I just wrote that. But I actually can cook, when I have time. I love to bake and try new recipies. I have a sewing machine that I know how to use but haven't in a while, again the time thing. I love it when my house is clean but getting it there is exhausting and never ending. IT just totally cracks me up where I have ended up and how much I enjoy the exact opposite of what I always thought I would be doing. I never wanted to do this stuff when I was little. I guess I always thought I would be a mom but never thought I would be happy with out a fabulous career and travels. I so long to travel and oneday, God willing, I will but for now I have tons to do around here and I get such a strange sense of satisfaction from it. I think its because I have never really been great at anything. I have always been okay at this and that but never really top notch so I never found a niche anywhere. But I am pretty good at this being a mom with too much to do and too much to worry about. I think it may be because I am realizing I can't do it alone so I lean harder on God and that always helps. I try to glean wisdom from my friends and their different areas of expertise. I seriously have one for each area of the whole mom/housewife/home manager/faith thing and they are fabulous. Some are friends from 20 years back and some are newer friends from church, say the past four years or so. I am lucky to have so many good friends and they make my life richer in so many ways. I am rambling.

I am having blog envy today. I have been surfing for homemaking blogs and there are soooo many. Some are Catholic, some are secular but they are all really amazing and these women don't seem like the mousy 1950's image that springs to your mind when you hear the word housewife. I just love my house and my family and it feels so good to finally feel content. Anyone know of any great blogs or websites along this line? Send them my way. Now, where's my apron?

Hope I did the right thing . . .

My motives were pure. I waited until today to tell my kids about Aunt Becky passing away. The time seemed right. We spent a week at Vacation Bible School and they were fresh full of Jesus so I told them. We listened to her music in the car. She had a CD she made at CafePress. One of the songs, which I will post later, is called Stories. Well I have heard it many times but never really listened you know? It has a line in it that says "Some stories just end before they unfold" or something like that. How profound and prophetic. She really had a way with words and the more I listen to it the more I realize that I did not give her near enough credit for being such a great guitar player. The woman just picked it up one day and decided to teach herself, she never had a lesson in her life. Her songs became increasingly complex in chords and melodies that were wonderful even if I didn't always get the words. A lot of it was autobiographical. Anyway, after I told the kids and we talked about going to heaven and how she would be there waiting on us I found a CD she made for the quads first birthday. She never had money but she always had something for them. I haven't listened to it in years and the first song on the album is a Lullaby she wrote just for them and it really tugs at my heart now that she is gone. I want to link it here but not sure how. I will try. In July I will go up to my parents home in the mountains and finally go through her few remaining possessions. I think that is when I will finally be able to cry. As for my kids, they cried when they heard the lullaby because she says in it that if they ever need her, she will be right there. They asked me if they could write her notes and tie them to balloons to send them up to Heaven. I thought that was a great idea since they weren't involved in the funeral, so we will be doing that tomorrow. Six year olds shouldn't have to learn about death this early but I know they aren't the first and sadly aren't the last.

So she thinks she can dance . . .

*** Warning - do NOT watch this if your bladder is full.

She is unabashedly unique. Nothing more needs to be said about my Bunny.!

Have a great day!

The Wisdom of a Child

Tonight Doodle was overstimulated. She always has trouble winding down to sleep and those of you who have or know a child with Autism probably know what I mean. Yes the experts say, they need a routine, blah blah blah. Well routine shmootine - IT DON'T WORK. Our routine is in place for the rest of the quads but with her, it all depends on so many variables during the day and now that we are Potty training (big Yay!!) it is even more interesting. So she was bouncing off the walls with no thought of drifting off to the Land of Nod. So we went outside, on the deck and turned the lights off. We sat on the steps, her in my lap, counting stars and feeling that wonderful early summer nighttime breeze - light and cool, yet not chilly at all. Star-gazing, watching airplanes and the trees swaying gently. We were just absorbed in all the goodness of God's world.
Finally, I told her we needed to go inside so we did. No sooner had I sat down than she came to me and grabbed my hand, pointing to the window, and pulling on my she says, "Night- Stars"

This is AMAZING to me.
She's six and she's just begun to do things that my 15 month old is about to embark on. The things you take for granted with typical kids, like sharing an enjoyable activity or having them point to something they want you to see with them, bringing you a book they like, these are all things that kids with autism have trouble with. Heartbreakingly absent in the parent-child relationship of a child with moderate to severe autism. So when it does happen out of the blue you immediately ask yourself the following-
*How did this just happen? (Did she really just say that to me?)
*What caused this to happen? (Have I fed her something different, are the supplements working?, etc.)
*Is she "recovering"? (unlikely)
*Will it ever happen again or was it a fluke?
I am cautiously optimistic. These moments are treasures and I store them away incase it does not happen again.
My precious sweet little girl wanted to share something with me that made her happy! This is such a struggle for these kids and in fact a very early indicator of a problem. When your toddler doesn't bring things to you or point at things they want you to see, red flags should pop out. Denial never helped a child with a developmental delay. I remember the exact moment I realized she wasn't doing these things. Probably around the age of one. I think my husband and I both came to our own similar conclusions about Doodle long before we actually discussed it out loud.
But back to our evening, so I decided we would go back outside, but we went out to the front porch with the incentive being avoidance of big hairy Golden who likes to knock me down each time I open the back door. Well, boy, we were rewarded.
A bright, clear half-moon looked down on us like it had been hung, perfectly centered in front of our house. I nearly gasped. It was so lovely. I looked around. The night air was soft and the view from the gentle hill our house sits atop was like a storybook page.
She sat in my lap and started jabbering again. I mentioned some frogs singing nearby. Many times she seems to make up words or at least I can't understand them. This time, however, I did. Clear as day, I heard my little girl saying,

"Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful world."

Absolutely Doodle -
You got that right. . .

Observations of a Redneck: Becky

Observations of a Redneck: Becky

How my baby makes me laugh

*** Disclaimer**** - Lest some of you think I am heartless or in denial please know that I have a blog on my sister in the works but it is heavy and sad and right now I need funny so when my little man sat on my head last night and laughed I thought hmmm . . . maybe I will do the funny until I am ready to write the sad. If you don't know me personally, my older sister passed away last week suddenly and I will write more about that later, she was only 39, that is far too young to leave the world.



How My Baby Makes Me Laugh . . .

He sits on my head with his big old pajama clad behind and starts playing with a toy , like this is the most normal of spots to perch, he did laugh though so I think he secretly knew it was funny. Hmm, he likes to think he's funny, wonder where he gets that from???

If I lay on the floor, he uses my body like a piece of gymnastics equipment.

He likes to blow zerberts on any and all exposed flesh that he can reach so watch out if you come over - he doesn't care who it is. He once caught me just above my jeans on my back as I was squatting down to clean the toilet. Talk about a surprise you weren't expecting.

He likes to look at me right before he does one of the things he knows he is not supposed to do just to see if I am paying attention, like climbing on the fireplace, in fact he makes baby noises and calls attention to himself until I catch him doing said activity so I will come over and pick him up to move him. Manipulative little dude.

He likes to play the "Hold my arms out to other adults then psych! Immediately turn back around and hold them out for mom again" game.

When he really likes something he throws one hand in the air, looks up and says GA!! I have yet to figure out what that really means?

He thinks he is six years old like his siblings

He is extremely physically capable and I don't know if that should delight or terrify me!?

He already has a favorite book - Baby's First Word Book, isn't that a Henry James?

He has the cutest, biggest behind I have ever seen on a baby.

He likes to make this face when you, never mind I can't describe it in words you'd have to see it. It is a face that is far too intense for a 15 month old to pull off, he learned it by copying his siblings, it makes them laugh too.

It is this stuff that gets me through the day. It is why I still love him at 2 AM when he is screaming for no apparent reason for the third time in a night. It is the benefit of extra fun in my life that has never for a second made me regret having a fifth baby when everyone in my life except my husband, mom a couple of very close friends thought I was crazy.

That's the good stuff . . .

Becky

This is my sister Becky, she was 39. She passed away this week. I miss her already. I want to post her eulogy here but I have to figure out how to do it. I am not a techno guru. I will get to it sooner or later. I am still not ready to write a long sad post but I am getting there. For those of you who didn't know her let me just fill you in a bit.





She was older than me by 20 months. She was 39. That is way too young to die. I am the second and then I have a younger sister and a younger brother. My mom had all four of us with in 5 years. I did the opposite five in four years, well okay it was more like 4 in 5 minutes and then one more five years later :)


Do you ever look at people around you who have things like this happen, a death of a very close relative, or some other horrible thing and think that those kinds of things just don't happen to you? I was one of those people, now I am on the other side. Its so very weird. It gives you a completely different perspective on life. Not better or worse I guess, just different. Its like you've been looking at a picture from the same angle and height for years and then you climb up on a ladder and see it looks absolutely different than you imagined. Does that make any sense?


Well speaking for "those people who have these things happen to them" perspective changing events come to all of us at some point in our lives but it isn't necessarily always from a tragic situation such as mine, it can also come from beautiful wonderful events like the birth of four babies at one time or one baby four times? Any babies, babies bring tons of perspective changing magic with them when they enter the world. Love the babies, don't want anymore, well more like can't afford anymore and need a nanny. Becky was a nanny by the way, back to my original intent with this post. It'll make you dizzy - I know, my stream of consciousness writing style tonight is free therapy for me so feel free to click out to something more, hmm, well predictable. So Becky was a nanny, a great one, for 15 or more years. She learned after the first family not to get too terribly attached to the kids. Her first assignment was somewhere in New Jersey and she told me that she still had dreams about the cute little boy and his family. It hurt her not to have him in her life anymore, I wonder if she knows that I now understand that all too well. Becky was creative, intelligent, scary, annoyingly weird, hilarious and frustrating. She was just my sister but I know other people saw her differently. It bothered me when she all of a sudden decided new people in her life would call her Rebecca instead of Becky or Bec as I called her, but I guess she just wanted a grown up name.


There time for a new paragraph. My English teachers would have a ball with a red pen on this piece of work. Becky liked music that I just didn't get like Tori Amos - yuck if you put me in a room with that music on I would complain of illegal torture tactics. I am sure she is a nice person but all that melodramatic whiny muck grates on my nerves. Anything that reeks of co dependence or angst is a deal-breaker to me, that includes people. I believe Becky knew that about me and respectfully hid some of hers from me. Does that make me cold? I don't know, I just know that I have joy in my life, joy of living a normal life (well, that's debatable) Joy from being kinda conventional and conservative and not doing drugs etc :) Joy in watching my children grow up in a stable predictable environment year after year which I know could be snatched up at any moment and so I remember to thank God for each day we have together in this world. I guess that gives you enough to chew on for the moment. I will tell you more about her funny escapades one day soon. She was a hoot. I will miss that most of all. Love you Bec.

One thing . . . leads to another

I was forced to clean my house all last week because my quads had their classmates party on Sunday. Now I have awful carpets and nothing can make them better except ripping them out to get new ones but we just aren't quite there yet. But I scrubbed the floor, the baseboards, windows, bathroom, the kitchen, and even the playroom. I dusted and mopped, swept and did all the things that I normally don't get to on a regular basis. What I have found is that when you start cleaning up one area of your home that leads to another and then another because once you get one cleaned up you realize just how awful the other parts look in comparison! But here is a typical clean up session for me, maybe it will be make you laugh but it is accurate and the truth -I get up and down a big coffee because it gets my blood moving and gets me out of "sit around in pj's eating breakfast mode (note: I still eat, I just move while I am doing it, I have never been and never will be a breakfast skipper , pshaw - AS IF?) Then I have to feed everyone and change two diapers. Then I tackle the have to's - dishes and laundry, meanwhile something in the kitchen catches my eye, it is my daughter who has been bugging me for three days to paint her toenails pink , painting her own toenails pink - everything screeches to a halt "Mouse, you know you can't do that by yourself "
Her "but mommy you said you would and you kept saying you would and you still hafent done it!"
Okay, she's right and I kinda HAFE to live up to my promises don't I?
"Allright sweetie, hang on." I finish up whatever I am doing and start doing something else that catches my eye and I hear this faint voice "Mommy you aren't doing it yet?!" Oh yea right - arrrgggghhh!
Well lets see, I half way sit in the chair in front of her, well almost, I do a hover squat but then have to stand up because I notice her toenails are too long and ragged so I have to go find the clippers which will also require the trash can to put clippings in so I go dig the clippers out and make mental note to dump and sort junk drawer someday soon. Then I grab the trash can and notice it is full to the top so I put it down, I put the clippers down, I go to the pantry to get a new liner, I have to unrig the homemade baby proofing (headband and a chip clip) on the doors. Get the liner, change it out then take trash bag to garage, notice there are three bags already out there waiting to go to the trash can outside, so I take them all and then think while I am out there, "I should just go ahead and get the mail." Oooh I better run back and shut the door so the baby doesn't fall out. I get the mail and start to look through it. Get irritated at same old junk. Make mental note to throw out the last four issues of the same catalog I get every week and have never ordered from but for some reason have a hard time letting go of. On the way back up the driveway I notice some onions and other weeds sprouting in my soon to be filled with Gerber Daisys flower beds (Yay Perinneals! ) Pull 'em. Toggle between leaving weeds in driveway to dry up like my dad taught me or picking them up in a garbage bag to throw away like husband likes , decide husbands way would require yet another side trip to get a new bag so I leave them on driveway which irritates husband who later throws them back in flower beds which I find to be very counterproductive passive aggressivy! Then remember CRAP I am supposed to be painting daughters toenails, how the hell did I end up obsessing about weeds! I run back inside and slow down to open the door because there is usually a baby, sometimes mad, waiting on the other side. There is so I have to do this sortof slow dance thing trying to ease the door open enough to push the baby gently enough to move him but not enough for him to fall down while moving. Then I shimmey around the door like you have to do when you are trying to get into a stupid public bathroom stall thinking to yourself, "I am an average sized person and there is no comfortable way to get in here without putting a foot in the toilet in order to shut the door!! What do the plus sized people do? Aarrgghh!"
So anyway, I finally get back in the house, aiming for the little girl awaiting a pedicure when I smell something peculiar , yep, budgie has done a boo boo in his pants as we like to say around here. So I head for the bathroom and locate diapers and wipes, which must be refilled so I do that and notice the trash can is overflowing so I do that and then notice son is playing in toilet water so gross! I scoop him up and wash his hands while he fusses. Then I have to change him and that requires another trip to the garage where the diaper champ awaits smelly and full, that needs changing too!!!!! Nope not touching it, DH can do it when he gets home. So I set the offensive article on top of the diaper champ and head back in, baby in tow. Set him down and pause with brain freeze for a moment - I am supposed to be . . . hmm, see exasperated daughter staring at me holding nail polish and practicing her best imitative Zoey 101 eyeroll , 5 year olds should not be that good at that yet! "Mom - toes - polish!" Oh crap, yes toes, polish "coming!" I say and I clip, polish, sweep, wash hands. Flop on the couch - mission accomplished.
"Mom I-am-so hungry -I-wanna-eat-NOW!" comes another voice
Oh well, I will get to sit down when I am like 58 and then I have a feeling I will never get up again. Now aren't you exhausted after reading all that? It was hard reliving it just to write it all down, but I will never miss the chance to make you laugh and appreciate your own life, so there. Have a good night and don't ever ask me to paint your toes.

Cyber Socializing

Okay, admit it - most of you (ahem - us) enjoy time wasting with cyber-socializing. Pretty harmless and only a bit addictive but a relatively new phenomenon, (I like to use big words!) Anyway, I am finding it more and more necessary to get through my day. I carry my Crackberry, I mean Blackberry in my pocket and marvel at the little snippits of info I get from friends or "friends" from days past.
I love getting "friended" by people, but it cracks me up when its someone from high school, usually in my year, whom I never even spoke to or atleast don't remember doing so. Must we all be friends? Do I still have to play nice and let everyone into my little cyberworld or is it okay to be exclusive? I was pondering this questions recently when I decided to weed out my friend list. Not to be mean at all, just to par down or simplify my life in this tiny area I have control over. So on Facebook I cut maybe 5 or 10 people whom I never exchanged messages with because I don't really care that they are bowling with their sister in law or the fact that they are going to Hawaii and just want to make all of us non-Hawaii goers jealous (it worked) or maybe they are having a baby - nahh I always think that is cool to hear about! But anyway, I weeded and then started getting refriended (I think I just invented new Facebook lingo) by the same person over and over and I just kept ignoring it. Not because I didn't like her, I don't even really know her anymore, well never did, we just happened to graduate together. I found it odd and annoying that she kept pestering me so I dug my heels in and finally blocked her completely. Why? Why does she care? That is so weird. My point, and I do have one, is that this new time sucker FB has its own rules and strangly enough, politics just like everything else. Like my mom always said, you have to use your social skills, even on FB. I was going to go into Twitter but I fear I may bore some of you so I will leave that for another day. My last thought is that I am getting to live vicariously through the postings of my favorite group of students who are now in their mid twenties, they are my cheerleading squad from my teaching days. I laugh at the things they post, one is in England, one is in Egypt, one in Miami, etc. They are completely grown up but I keep getting shocked when they allude to some not-for-adolescents behavior and of course they are not adolescents anymore, they are adults, at least on paper! Have a good night.

All I really want right now . . .

Its Friday, ahhh what that used to mean -
no work, no school, no housework or laundry, a date with my husband or friends and sleeping in the next morning, maybe a party to look forward to or shopping at the mall with unspoken for cash, running with my dog etc.

Here is what it means now -
-getting up early anyway because the baby thinks breakfast is at 5 AM everyday
-getting up early for baseball pictures which start at 8-freakin AM?????
-trying to understand why our softball coach thinks anyone would want to add a third softball event to the same day (pictures, practice game and practice game) Huh, she has no life or maybe just less than 5 children
-being stuck in the house with five no make that 6 cranky kids if you count DH when it rains and having to feed them
-still doing just as much laundry as weekdays or risk having a terrible laundry make up monday session
- wanting desperately to order pizza but not due to daughter being on Gluten and Casein free diet that everyone swears works but doesn't (Pizza is her fave and mine too.)
- Having to fix and feed everyone 3 times a day instead of twice.
-having to listen to myself complain in my head when I can't get to the blog to do it.
-imagining how great my friends lives are at the moment because of course they have to be better than mine!
okay, thats it I am through for a moment, hope you enjoyed my SUPERFUN ATTITUDE!

Snowy Day in Georgia

Well, we finally got it, and on March 1st! I always and only wish for one day and night of snow each year, here in the fairly deep south (which I adore.) Sleet turned to snow yesterday as the temps plummeted and my children were thrilled.

Here is doodle talking to a lumpy grungy snowman, I think she is waiting for it to wake up and say "Happy Birthday! Seriously she stood there for like 20 minutes oblivious to the cold and she refused to wear gloves.

Here is dad being a good dad trying to make grungy snowman #2.

This is me trying to take a picture of Jack with the snow, left handed. He didn't have any appropriate attire, heck none of us did. Should you invest money each year on snow proof clothes and shoes when your children are growing and will only need it once each year? Especially when 4/5 of your kids are all the same age and size so its not like hand me downs would get used all that much!

I finally got in a picture this morning and I like this one simply because it is so colorful in our hodge podge of piece-mealed clothing! Hope it is dry and sunny tomorrow like they are predicting. 70's by Friday. Now that's what I like about the South . . .

Navigating the social side of life

Here is my silly "shy" girl. Looking at this picture you can see her true personality, a total ham. She loves to sing, play dress up and give snappy eyerolling remarks reminiscent of a 13 year old (yes, that one really scares me but currently it is hilarious coming out of a 5 year olds mouth.) She is actually very shy, but I can tell kids like her and want to be friends with her. Once I was walking behind her at school and a little girl came running up and threw her arm around my daughter and said "Hey D!" They walked to class together but I caught a glimpse of my daughter and she had this look on her face like "what is going on?" She later told me, she liked this girl and wanted to be friends with her but that she didn't know what to say. The other girl, being the more outgoing of the pair, obviously wanted the same thing and took charge of the situation as that came natural to her. I have always been envious of those people. D is definitely my daughter, age has helped somewhat as has having children, but I am not a natural at social situations, it has taken careful observation and practice to feel as comfortable as I do now, which is much better than say my twenties were in that respect, but still its an ongoing struggle and has something to do with confidence and an awareness that you truly are no more or less important on this earth than anyone you may talk to (well short of the Pope, and some select world leaders I guess!)

So I really want to pass this lesson on to my children as I think my mom has done for me. She is also on the shy side but really has the best social skills as far knowing what is the best thing to do or not do in a situation "Bonnie, you need to leave the neighbors house when they start cooking supper" "People like to hear their name when you are talking to them." She is right about that one, try it. When you are talking with someone, just say their name or notice how you feel when they say yours, it makes you feel like they care. Anyway, this begs the question, how do you teach your children to navigate the social side of life? It really is that important, it is after all the way we reach out and connect with people that makes life enjoyable. We are all social creatures, even those of us who are shy. I do not consider myself shy anymore. But it took years to get to this point. I have another daughter who will never be shy and I suspect the baby will be the kind of person that people revolve around because he has that magnetic personality. Well, I started this post as an update but as is usually the case, it turned into a commentary on something totally random. More to come . . .

What a CRAZY week we have had!

Hi long-lost blog friends, we have had a crazy week here, or two maybe? Let me fill you in on my tuesday and then maybe a few other fun things as well -

So I have to do the usual get everyone up including the baby and get dressed, feed, water and potty them. Tie shoes, fix lunch , zip backpacks etc and buckle them in the car by 8 AM.
I nearly always end up saying something I regret, someone is in tears (often myself) or I am just fuming in general. I may be getting a better grip on this but more on that later. I only had two to drop off as my big boy had strep - yuck- so far the rest of us have faired well. I kept my first born home (first born by 30 seconds) as she had an appointment with doodles Psych. for an eval we are suspecting ADD but it has been suggested that mild autism is not out of the question - Lord why another one?) I am thinking God has decided we are handling the first one so well that he thought we could add another? SO the moral of the story is - to those who have much, more will be piled on top until you can't see light at all.
Anyway, baby J, big boy and "baby"A and myself drive 35 minutes to pick up MIL. Then we get a flat on the way. I never even felt a thing?? Luckily we were a hundred yards from a gas station and just happened to be 5 minutes from my husbands work so he came out and changed it in his nice clothes. This is a new to us car so we had to read the manual to figure out where the heck the spare was and boy was it complicated. All that extra storage comes at a price, they jimmied the spare up under the car on some kind of cable and wench system? I suspect I just lost most of you there didn't I? Me too, anyway. We drive on, not too late because, for once, I left with some time to spare, yes I know, totally not my style. The Dr basically confirms that there is indeed an issue with out daughter which I knew but still hated hearing, and how interesting is it that in this age of budget cuts Walton County is reevaluating her and "finding" that she might not qualify anymore?? They ought to be patting their teachers on the back for catching her up, not saying she doesn't need the help now because she is doing well. The fact is, she is very smart but cant focus to save a dime and once that extra help is gone she will fall behind again per teachers and therapists. The officials are saying otherwise, the ones who don't know her and administer tests. Whatever,
So while I was at the Dr, Dh calls and says the school called and said a boy in doodles class, large and mean, has pushed her off the slide a 6 foot drop and she is in the nurses office with a limp. I was too far away so he went to pick her up and she ended up being okay but I really wanted to pound that stupid kid (don't judge me for calling him stupid, if it was your kid getting shoved you would feel exactly the same) She is totally defenseless. She wouldn't know how to defend herself at all in any situation and he was twice her size. I do not care that he has a disability, I want him gone from her class. He has hit and cussed at everyone and needs to be in a psychoed center. They are having a meeting on monday and the parents do not think there is a problem. Coincidently Doodle received a huge full price valentine from this boy with his parents handwriting sending "lots of love!" Barf me out the door people. Ooh I just got a little angry there?
Okay so that was my Tuesday, she is fine though and her wonderful teacher and parapros are fiercely protective of her, especially now so hopefully that will be the end of that. My next entry will be about the healing mass and some fun stuff.

What's goin' on

To start, as I sit here and write, I hear one of my five year old walking around in the kitchen singing "womanizer, womanizer . . " that's about all she knows thank goodness. We were, gulp, listening to it on the way home from church (that's when the top 40 countdown comes on!)
So , some thoughts on this crazy week. First of all, Baby J turned ONE YEAR OLD!! I can't believe it. I really had mixed emotions about it. MY baby is not really a baby at this point, although that's only a technicality, every mom knows he will always be my baby. He is sure gettin fiesty though. HE wants what he wants, when he wants it and that's it. There is no reasoning with him, he doesn't see your point of view. I am not sure that will change even as he matures but I have learned this. Most of the annoying, stressful exasperating traits your children have area a good sign of healthy, typical development and will probably serve them well in the future, even if you are driven crazy by it presently! Stubborness, early walking, some amount of clinginess (remember, the opposite is aloofness and that's not good) Anyway, I made a resolution for February to keep my posts shorter so I will end this one and say that the next will update you all on my experience at the healing mass with Alan Ames that we took Doodle to.

My washing machine

I am not sure if this post will be funny or even interesting, but I will try my best. You see My washing machine (which is like 12 years old and has already been fixed once by my amazingly self-trained-at fixing-random-things husband,) is broken. I am sooooo coveting those snazzy-lookin' matchy matchy front loaders with the commercial looking stands. I can't really justify the purchase in this economic climate however, I promise I would- use it use it wear it out, make it work or do with out'-to quote a phrase from WWII. Wait a minute, that's what I'm doing now with the old washer and dryer (the dryer has been revamp by my handiman as well.)

See I do like 2 loads a day minimum if I want to have any kind of a weekend. Unless I am pg with morning sickness and then I don't do any until my MIL or mom comes over and feels sorry for me. But since that won't be happening anymore ... I have no excuses, I try to be a fly baby but I can only take that attitude for so long before it makes me want to hurl. But I digress, I deserve to have the proper tools to take care of my family of seven but it ain't gonna happen due to the fact that my darn husband figured out what part needed replacing. BTW - I need a new lap top too, this one is missing some keys! Also notta happenin' . I very much want to quit wanting things but I guess its human nature. I need to become a Christian Buddhist , don't they tout the philosophy that all human suffering comes from attachment to things. Well I am technically attached to the idea that my kids need to wear clothes to school that don't have old ketchup stains on them so I guess I can't be a buddhist. If there ever was a household that would use and appreciate a heavy duty washer and dryer its this one. Unless you count the family with 18 kids but they have like a laundry floor complete with closets and maybe 5 washers and dryers. So I spent 30 bucks at the laundromat last week and the stuff wasn't even dry when I got home - not DRY!! or folded (shouldn't the machines do that too?) Really cool people hang out at laundromats, like the creepy stalker looking pseudo-nerd who shouldn't have to be there as long as he is since he has to be single so he wouldn't need to do more than one load? Or the mom whose kid is running around checking ALL the machines for change AGAIN. Other good times to be had at the washateria as my mom still calls it, The wonderful fumes of Bounce, mixed with chlorine bleach and burnt dryer lint. and that nice sticky icky feeling you get when you accidently touch any surface including the change machine. I used three of the super-mega washing machines, each holds four loads and costs 5.25 per shot. I did 12 loads then and tryed to shove them into two dryers thinking I would save money? The more wet clothes the longer it takes to dry so I didn't end up saving myself any thing at all! Hmpff! I just need to take it in stride, The part should arrive tomorrow and I can go back to doing my 2-3 loads a day and eventually catch up once more. I read an article in an inspirational magazine that struck a chord and it literally said "if you have a washing machine that works- be thankful! Well I don't but I am still thankful because we have clothes to be washed and I "cant" do any washing right now so that leaves some time free to do things like dishes or post on a blog about how much I need a new washer !

All my children and my friends' too

Check out this post on my friend Lisa's blog. It has some cute pictures of our collective children.

What's your child's gift?

Here is the picture I sent in to Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby contest, so you can give up, no more entries are being accepted since they saw him. sorry guys (I am kidding of course, well- sort of, they are still accepting entries but its just a formality at this point!) If he gets selected, ahemm excuse me, when he gets selected I expect everyone to vote for him the week of March 9th. I mean who wouldn't want to see this face on TV and Magazines??? This was his Nana's idea but I agree with her.

I sit here on a Friday afternoon exhausted and happy too. Although doodle will not quit going through pullups and the house smells as a result! Most of you know doodle is not my baby so changing her is no fun whatsoever. (I am not sure if that is supposed to be one big word or not?) Anyway, I am happy we get to get up and watch TV in the morning but we have baseball and softball evals so we can't slug around too late. Please pray for me as I will have three playing ball and a baby plus doodle to tote to the games. Still not sure how I am going to do this but I am determined to let them play a sport this spring. I loved Soccer last year, the three were on the same co-ed team and it worked nicely with baby in a carrier. But this year he is all over the place and so unsatisfied to be stuck in a stroller. He has the most stubborn attitude any baby has ever had, I promise!

I am happy also because my big boy received a permission slip to be tested for the gifted program!! I know this has nothing to do with me or else all my kids would have gotten one but it is nice to get a happy testing in addition to the, "we aren't sure what your daughters issues are" testing notices! I am not talking about doodle their. Poor baby D she doesn't get tested for anything unless you count repeated vision and hearing tests which she did fine on after the ear infections and such cleared up.

So I want to share with you that I feel like I am living in a little science experiment on Nature Vs Nurture. I have 4 subjects with nearly identical environments and variables, same mom and dad, house, age, food, temperature, opportunities and grandparents! So it has certainly shown me that nature has a lot to do with it since I feel like I have 4 very very different kids. I do think they are all bright in their own ways, really. They are all four excellent readers, I think I may have helped with that since I love to read and like reading to them. But other than that, they each have surprising things about them that are terrific. I am sure that all kids have something special about them but I wonder how many go unnoticed because they are not considered traditional gifts? Ever notice how some kids are very intuitive and empathetic? Even as kindergartners, or a fabulous sense of humor. Creativity, memory, and a caring personality are all special gifts as well. I hope everyone will look for the gifts their children have, even if they never get invited to join the gifted program. I hope I will remember that should my son not "pass" whatever tests they put in front of him. He is already gifted to me as are the other 4, baby J's just remains to be seen!

All things random . . . and some pictures from McDonalds

I call this one "Gigantic Baby eats Local Playland" And the one above is "Silly Sisters Sliding"

I think people like to read blogs with pictures better even if the posts have nothing to do with the pictures. I also have no idea why when I loaded these it crammed them next to each other instead of letting me write between them? Oh well.

This is what we were doing on the recent school holiday. Its one of the few places we can safely go and afford! The only real problem is that Doodle likes to steal other peoples fries off their trays and she doesn't care if they are looking or if they get mad, she does it anyway. So I have to buy a giant size fry as soon as we get there and put it out for her to eat.

What thoughts do I have for all of you tonight hmm lets see :

I was recently out at Walmart and realized I looked ridiculously hideous, sweats, a baby stained shirt and old sneakers, then I looked around and well ,of course I fit in perfectly which shocked me in a new way since I don't consider myself a "Walmart shopper" even though I most certainly am! So that leads me to this - when did the girl who used to spend 1 and 1/2 hours getting ready for school turn into the woman who just uses clothing to cover her body. I mean seriously this is insane - I like clothes, cute ones but can't buy any and if I did they wouldn't be in the size I wanted and they would very shortly be destroyed by spaghetti sauce and baby puke.

Oh by the way, my neighbors I like to call Rednecks-with-money, have moved out and praise be to God they took the Yard Art with them!!!! I can't tell you how this thrills me! No more concrete deer, angels, little boy fishing on a bench, no more giant fountain or little lighthouses! Hallelujah! Of course on a sad note, who am I going to make fun of anymore?

So I was entertaining one of my kids who wanted me to sing (I don't really sing well so I don't know what possessed her to ask me) I started doing the Name Game and I thought , I wonder if people play the name game with their kids names before they write them on birth certificate? I know for a fact that this is a good idea because my dad's name is Buck, try it . . .

Ha see, not a good idea at all, don't name your kid Buck, or anything that rhymes with it.

Today I ordered a small coffee from Dunky Donuts as my kids call it, that is the smallest dang coffee I have ever seen in my life. I looked like a dixie cup. They should call it a sample.

I often have the random thought that I wonder what is going on on Mars or Jupiter right at this moment. Have you ever thought about that? It's like the old saying, If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it . . . well even though no one is there to see the weather and the scenery on said planet, its still there and its still going on, how weird is that?

Speaking of other planets, my daughter walks in the other day and (FYI she is the queen of random thoughts so I guess you see where she gets it) she says "Mom is this Earth that we're on (well it sounded more like Earf but you get the picture) "Sweetie," I said, "Mommy lives on Earth but I don't know what planet you're on." Sorry that was mean but she comes right back with "Your KIDDING, I am your kid mom!" She tends to obsess and take everything literally so I had to concede eventually.

This particular daughter loves to sing and loves Momma Mia (which I know I probably shouldn't have let her watch umpteen times but I usually FF thru the two parts that kids don't need to see) Here is her version of one ABBA song " the river takes it all, the lizard takes a fall!"

If you don't know what the real verse is, then you were probably born in the 90's and you shouldn't be reading my blog!

Okay, that is all for now but let me leave you with this one last thought -

No that's it, I don't have anymore thoughts tonight, love ya! There Katie, are you happy now??