Spring?

Spring must be here!

Nine children running around playing tag at the foggy bus stop (my yard) with no snow boots in sight.

The weatherman calling for 59 degrees and rain all day today.

No snow forecasted for the entire week.

A little green in the yard.

Do I believe my ears? Is that thunder I'm hearing? It is! It MUST be Spring.

Oooey Gooey Goner

Oooey Gooey was a worm
A fragile worm was he
Corey smashed him down
Many times in the ground
And now no more is he

Oooey Gooey!

(Corey also pulled out at least 15% of the spikes on poor Oooey Gooey.)

Homework

Well, Ken's not 100% yet, that's for sure, but he had the energy to hit the Outlet Mall and rearrange a couple of rooms in two days.

Yesterday he decided that we needed to get some things for our April trip to Jamaica so he decided we should drive 80 miles to do it. It was a cold day and the layout of the mall was enormous, but Ken was on a mission. Four two hours we shopped for sandals. Man sandals. (I also tried on a couple of swim suits, but really, we were looking for his sandals.) A couple hours and six shoe stores later, Ken found his sandals. Unfortunately for him, the kids had also discovered a toy store outlet and we spent $30 that we otherwise could have kept in our pockets had the boys not been so miserably cold and bored.

The boys certainly hit the jackpot with the toys they found. Riley got a Pokemon 3 pack, Shannon found an actual Knuckles figurine from the Sonic cartoon (Mommy had to show him that it actually lit up, he had played with it for an hour before finding this out,) and Corey found the coolest toy of all. His brother decided it should be named "Oooey Gooey" from an old poem Mommy likes to recite, and it was a suiting name for a sticky light-up worm with spikes all over it.


The poem? Well, it goes like this:

Oooey Gooey was a worm
A mighty worm was he
He sat upon the railroad tracks
The train he did not see
Oooey Gooey!

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This morning I was going to power clean the house, and when Ken heard this, he jumped right in. Well, he began organizing everything in every room, anyhow. This is how Ken cleans. Tear everything up and ask Colleen to put it somewhere else. Usually this is only effective in angering me, but today it resulted in locating two Nintendo DS games that we thought were gone for good, taking loads of junk to the garbage can or to the basement for storage, and a complete rearrangement of the living room furniture. So I wont complain. The end result?



Ken even hung a picture for me, finally! I think it's too high, Ken thinks it's too low, but at least it's not a boring, empty, scuffed up wall like it used to be. Now I just need something for the sides of the picture to help fill up the wall a little more. Ken also fixed both of our lamps that I thought were ruined for good! (Really, with my boys, lamps NEVER last!) Now we're thinking of replacing the carpet too, even though we don't really have the money to spend and the boys will most likely ruin the new stuff, too. That idea will probably go by the wayside after we get back from Jamaica and realize we spent more money there than we meant to.

Germs, Cooties, and Other Annoying Creatures

I know I shouldn't complain, but I just can't help but think something may be wrong here. For four days now Corey has been taking afternoon power naps. Corey hasn't napped since he was two, by the way.

I know we're all recovering from bad colds/flu/whatever it was (except for Ken who is now in the thick of it,) but four days of napping? Today he slept for three and a half hours, woke up for one hour and went back to bed for the night. The only other indication that something might be wrong is that he has a runny nose. No fever, sore throat, tummy ache, ear ache, etc... Maybe it's just a growth spurt or maybe he just gets bored with sick Mommy so he figures he'll nap too.

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Our biggest challenge lately is that Shannon and Corey will not keep their hands off of each other. I'll get Shannon behaving well and then the minute I take my eyes off the boys, Corey is running after Shannon threatening to touch him! When he does actually succeed in touching Shannon, Shannon hauls off and punches Corey in the middle of the back. Or Corey will be obsessing over his signs and Shannon will come up out of nowhere and pat Corey on the head. Next thing you know, Corey is whining and crying and running around the room trying to touch Shannon. It's wrong. Just wrong. The least they could do is get it right and yell "Cooties!" when they feel compelled to touch one another. Geeze.

The Bunny Hop

Grandpa and I officially taught my boys how to perform the 'Bunny Hop' dance yesterday, and today the boys and I perfected it. They loved it!

Their dad saw us coming up the hallway with our hops and just looked dumbfounded. We didn't bother teaching it to him. Anybody who's seen Ken dance knows why.

What the Bunny Left Behind

We dyed eggs today and I was impressed with how mature the boys had become. They did a great job, didn't fight, knew what they wanted to do with their eggs and didn't complain when I cleaned up the mess. Grandma took a ton of pictures and they turned out great. I went to go copy her adorable pictures of my boys onto a CD for myself so that I could post a few and then... well... I love Grandma and all, but I don't want all 956 pictures that she had on her memory stick. And I wasn't going to wait for all of them to transfer so that I could pick out the ten I wanted.

So... out comes my camera and here are the resulting 'after the fact' pictures. Not as cute as Grandma's pictures but much more accessible!

Alleluia!

Take note: Last night Corey officially pooped on the potty! Don't ask me why, don't ask me how, Corey just committed himself to the task and I'm not going to question it.

He decided to do it in the ducky bathroom (you know the one, yellow walls, yellow rug, yellow towels, yellow ducks...) and apparently that is the only bathroom he's willing to make this effort in. He did ask for his dad to come in and put the seat down (I'm not about to feel slighted about this after potty training the other two,) then quickly went plop and flushed before anybody could admire the evidence. However, daddy helped him wipe and the proof was there! Now if this would just stick (the training, that is,) we're all set!

I'm still battling whatever has gotten into my system, but each of the boys were home sick for two days of school this week and now seem to be on the mend. Just in time for Grandma and Grandpa's visit for Easter. Here's hoping they arrive safely, they hit the snow as they crossed into Michigan and it's been slow going ever since. (Less than 80 miles in two hours, so far.) Dare I say it? Better them than me!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's the day for the wearin' o' the green and all that jazz. My father is walking around Disney World today with a bright green beard and moustache, leprechauns are up to no good and I am sick as a dog! Yippie!

Riley and I have that wonderful type of cough where you'd better carry a bowl around with you just in case you cough up a lung or get to vomiting. Shannon's not quite as bad so I sent him off to school, we'll see what tomorrow brings. Maybe Spring wasn't quite here on Saturday and Sunday after all?

Here's hoping you all have a happy and healthy St. Patty's Day, especially you Irish lads and lassies!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Finally, weather that makes the neighborhood come alive! Friday evening it had warmed up to over 50 degrees and it was time to get outside! Riley was the first to disappear outdoors, soon followed by Shannon and Corey. Corey insisted on a winter coat and hat, which is great because for the last five years we had been unable to convince him to even wear a hat in the coldest of weather.


The boy's best girl, Anna, was outside already, and that's all it took. They began by dismantling the remaining snow piles and soon moved on to dragging all of their riding toys out. Just like every summer, more kids piled out of their houses and toys and building materials littered the yard, waiting for me to pick them up. Cardboard for signs: check! Scrap wood, mallets and hammers to build with: check! Buckets for imaginary mailboxes and rock transport: check! Kids with scraped knees or elbows from wiping out on bicycles or scooters in the driveway: check! I just love it! Of course this year all the play time was monitored by mom yelling, "Everybody stay out of the side-yard, it's full of doggie poo," but other than that, same as it ever was!


We were outside for over an hour and the sun began going down. That, at the Herubin household, means invite everyone inside and raid the kitchen. Of course, there were even more kids outside by this time so in they came. What a change (a welcome one, at that,) to have a house full of kids after a long and cold winter. Everybody around here goes into seclusion after Halloween so Spring is really a big awakening. The boys showed off their 'new' playroom, forts were made, and then for some reason, they all gathered around the computer like the boys had been doing all winter. The boys showed off their favorite websites and Corey explained his favorite signs that he'd discovered on Google Images.



Of course, with all the excitement we had to extend bedtime an extra hour and then remind the boys that yes, they are still required to escort their best girl home at the end of the day. Riley volunteered but I'm sure that was just to get a few more 'outside' minutes. This is the best time of the year; warmer weather, my 'February-funk' lifting, and the boys have plenty of time before they get tired of being outside. I can finally see the light at the end of this long dark tunnel called winter and I am so excited!

In the Basement

The playroom, above, undecorated but straightened. The bedroom, left, partially decorated.

Okay, here is the finished but undecorated playroom. The dust has been removed an that was no

easy task. Notice, no drop ceiling, that is drywall! In the 4th bedroom, we did hang a picture, add two end tables, and two lamps (one which doesn't work, who would expect any different in my house,) so the room is partially decorated. This shows a better example of the true color of the room than previous posts have.

And finally, not that you can see them very well, but I actually have some fingernails now! (And really OLD looking hands.) But at 34 years old, it looks like I might have finally kicked a very bad habit, and I did it for no apparent reason! I went to the mall in early January and some strange, feminine guy with a heavy accent grabbed my hand, hit my fingernail with a buffer a few times and said, "Buy my product!" (I'm assuming that is what he said, and it must have worked.) I bought a nail buffer, some cuticle cream and never chewed my nails again! I'm safe at least until the next big crisis in my life, I think.

Where Is....

my music player? I don't have it on my site and I can't hear the music! Can anybody else? Please let me know in the comment section!

What is Wrong with this Picture?

Okay, I'm going to be scrubbing toilets and dusting my house all day, and where are my parents? Celebrating their 41st Anniversary. (Well, Mom, I guess you aren't really 36 now, are ya?) At Disney World. Where it's warm and sunny. Where all the 'magic' happens. Where you take your children when they are very very good. They didn't take their children. I am their child and I am not at Disney World. What is wrong with this picture?

The basement is finally done, though, and that is a miracle in itself. Unfortunately, the paint color doesn't really match the decor, so I will be accepting donations to acquire new furniture, because there is no way that I am picking up a paint brush for at least a year or two. Unless it's on the floor and I need to move it to vacuum, that is.

I decided that I will leave the Leprechaun Song up a little longer for all of you Irish folk out there. Besides, I'm having a really hard time coming up with a song about toilets. However, if you know of one, feel free to direct me to it in the comment section.

What ARE the Lyrics?

1000 points to anybody who can tell me what the words are in the chorus of this "Leprechaun" song that I have on my blog. 20,000 points if you can decipher the whole darn thing!

Help...

Okay, Ken is getting back at me for my last few weeks, err...days of laziness. Would you believe he made me prime the entire ceiling, wash all the painting tools, paint one wall a grey-mint-green, wash all the painting tools, second coat the ceiling, prime the top foot of all the walls and then wash all the painting tools for the third time??? Believe it. Yes, I am quite taller than he is, but geeze, that ceiling stuff will rip your arms out of their sockets!

Not to say Ken wasn't doing anything, he cut-in the ceiling and the one grey-mint-green wall then washed all the walls. He sanded a little bit, too. And we did this all in five hours. Tomorrow we get to double coat the entire room, get all the stuck-on mud out of the carpets and try to pull the room back together. Then I can finally dust my entire house. That hasn't happened in a month and I am dead serious- there is no reason to dust when your husband is using a table saw or a sander or mudding equipment in your basement.

Shannon enlightened me a little bit about Leprechauns today, and me being a little colleen, well I guess I should have known. Apparently his classroom gets ransacked by Leprechauns on a regular basis and they are very mischievous little creatures. They like to mess up the teacher's journals and they NEVER clean them up. They misplace things and cause confusion for the teacher pretty regularly, too. They can be lured in by chocolate coins but after they eat them they are supposed to leave some golden coins behind. Unfortunately for the teacher, they never remember to leave the gold and she just doesn't have much money for all of the trouble.

Far be it for me to question a Kindergarten teacher, but I'm pretty sure that she has her Leprechauns confused with Gremlins or something. I mean, really! I've never met an Irishman who would be troublesome or mischievous in the least!

Well, there's Grandpa. And Riley. And Shannon. And Corey... okay, maybe she wasn't confused after all.

Mudding and Texturing Done!

That's it, the hard part is done.

Painting the ceiling tomorrow and maybe the first coat on the walls! If you don't hear from me for a day or two, don't be surprised. I'm actually allowed to paint. Technically, I'm expected to paint.

X-rated!!! (Don't read if easily offended!)

Okay, so I have three boys ages 7, 5 and 5. And we're experiencing some minor issues. Okay, maybe not so minor? Anyway you look at it, today was a day of some very dirty words.

It all started this morning. I woke up to the sun shining through the windows and the chatter of a very serious discussion coming from below. The boys were up early as usual for a Saturday, playing on the computer while quietly debating. For some reason (exhaustion?) I laid in bed and just listened in:

Riley: "I don't think it's a dirty word. It can't be."
Shannon: "Yes it is, it's privates talk."
Riley: "It can't be. It was in the Shrek movie."
Shannon: "No, I know it's a bad word. Brecken told it to me on the bus!"
Riley: "It was even in the song from Shrek. 'I'm too sexy for my cat, my pussy pussy cat...' "

Okay!!! Time to get out of bed! After coming downstairs, I asked the boys what they were talking about. Shannon immediately wanted to know if there was a bad word in the Shrek movie and I said, "Ummmm..." I went on to explain how cats used to be referred to in that way, and that some people distorted the meaning of it, so kinda/sorta.... "Could you just not say it, Shannon?" I managed to spit out. My greatest fear at the moment was a direct question about what the word meant and thankfully they didn't seem too curious.

A few hours later Shannon had a question for me. A serious one. I knew this because he began to whisper. "Mommy, I know that word was a bad one and I know that peanuts is bad too. It's privates, isn't it?"

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Well, I guess that's how it's going to go. Riley, two years older, obviously either didn't have classmates quite as advanced as Shannon, or knew better than to ask me when a dirty word was introduced to him. Either that or Riley has been very sheltered. Shannon sure seems to see it all, hear it all and question it all.

I knew that lately Shannon was seated near some boys who were more worldly (?) than himself on the bus, and he had mentioned that they liked to 'potty talk'. ('Potty talk' in our house means bad words or words like poop, diaper and pee-pee, words Corey is a little obsessed with, as you may know.) I didn't inquire too much at the time, but reminded him that he was not allowed to 'potty talk.' Every day after Shannon's confession, his laments about his day at school have been about the bus ride home.

Apparently Nick and Brecken, two boys from the bus, like to say bad words and Shannon told them he wouldn't talk 'potty talk' with them. When Shannon insisted they stop or they couldn't be his friends, they decided that they would talk 'potty talk' all the time just to get a reaction. On Friday, Shannon informed me that they were no longer friends and that he would always ignore them forever. I tried to counsel and console him, but he didn't seem to be too upset. He was pretty certain that they were bad and he didn't need to be friends with them anymore. Okay.

So that's where we're at on the 'potty talk' front. I'm trying not to make too big of a deal out of it, I think the boys have a pretty good idea of what they need to do to stand up for themselves, and I know that they're exposed to so much more now that they're in school. I'm not saying this is great, I'm just saying I'm not too surprised.

After all, as the youngest of five and way too worldly for my age because of it, I can recall sitting on the bus to St. Mary's Elementary School in the first grade. My best friend seated next to me was an extremely naive only child from a very devout family. In the nicest possibly way, I would lean over to her, cup my hand around her ear and whisper, "My brother told me..." You don't want to know where it went from there. She turned out okay, and I turned out... well, I'm almost normal. My boys will be, too.

You Smell Like Feet

It's the first Friday of Lent that I actually remembered to not eat meat! (It is SO hard to be a Catholic sometimes...) We just finished off our french toast dinner, one of the kid's favorite meals. I don't think it's the french toast they like so much, but the fact that I let them put cake 'sprinkles' on them. Whatever holiday sprinkles are on clearance, I buy them. Today we had Halloween sprinkles, which are very cool because we make spider webs with them. Once the black sugar crystals hit the syrup and start to melt I quickly slice the french toast with a pizza cutter and a web pattern appears. To top it all off, Corey usually eats all of his dinner when sprinkles are involved so whatever works for him works for me!

Today was 'Button Day' at Riley and Shannons school, where they could wear any button that had words on it, so last night I made a 'quick' run to Wal-Mart. (It's never 'quick,' but the intent is always there.) I could only find a three pack of buttons that each had a sarcastic bunny on them with various phrases. Typically I would have passed, the first two had the phrases, 'I hate everything,' and 'Like I need your approval.' But the third one was made for Shannon so I had to get them all. It read, 'You smell like feet.' This is only funny because just the other day he told Corey that he smelled like a dirty sock.

Ken's doing his last coat of mud tonight before he starts texturing the ceiling in the playroom. He wants to have the ceiling done and walls painted before the in-laws come on Thursday. A simple task aside from the fact that he has to work all week-end. I've been invited to help him start scrubbing the walls in preparation for paint! Lucky me. But if it means the project gets done, then I guess I'm game. I just don't know when I'll get to cleaning the house, but visitors around here are used to hearing that, right?

Good Fences Make Great Neighbors

Who wrote that poem, Frost? I dunno, but whenever I hear that phrase I think of the Wilson character from the "Tool Time" TV show. Now I have something else to associate it with!

Ken said the neighbors just told him that they were putting up a fence this spring! I have been going crazy lately watching the snow melt and layers (and I do mean layers) of doggie-poo materialize in its place. On top of the mounds of gifts my two neighbor dogs leave behind, they also scare the heck out of Riley and Corey and assume my yard is a dog run. Although I love the neighbors and they are great people, this situation would have had to come to a head by summer! Soon to be rectified, I hope.

Ken worked on the ceiling again tonight. I only had to rinse one chunk of drywall out of my eye for ten minutes today and I'm pretty sure there's no lasting damage. Thankfully the drywall is all up because I just can't seem to keep myself from looking up when assisting and I'm not smart enough to don protective eye wear. Oh well, now we're on to mudding and luckily Ken has no faith in my ability to do anything related to this task. Darn.

Music of the day is "Flash Gordon," in relation to the new "Shannon wants you to know..." feature on the sidebar. It was suggested that I let the kids enter things they might want you to know, and so far Riley and Shannon have complied. Shannon, in particular, had an interesting school day. Enjoy, everybody!

Uneventful Day

Today was pretty uneventful. We went to Mass this morning and we were the family that took the offeratory up to the Priest. Although Riley was mad that he had to pay attention to the service and Shannon was mad that I made him sit away from Corey, everybody did a nice job pretending that we were one happy family as we paraded down the aisle. Riley carried a container of hosts, Shannon carried the collection basket, and Corey held my hand nicely. After we passed everything over, Corey just pointed at the exit sign nearby before following us back to our pew, as opposed to making a run for it during Mass.

A major enlightenment occured this morning that was so amazing! Who knew that Shannon would be so well behaved at church if you just completely infuriate him during the entrance song, (which just happened to be Amazing Grace?) He glared with his arms crossed for half the Mass and didn't say a peep! It was a little embarrasing the way he was pouting, but it was so much better than the giggling and semi-quiet taunting that usually occurs.

Ken worked really hard on the basement today, just a little left before he begins to tape and mud. The boys are loving it, they never want to leave the basement now that Dad's always down there! Last night Riley and Shannon slept in the new bedroom for the first time. They did really well although Corey was a little confused this morning when he woke up first and couldn't find his brothers!

Ken's Ceiling Take 2

Well today I've been in a real funk, but Ken has the energy of all three boys put together! He tore down his low-clearance drop-ceiling that he'd just installed, (a compilation of hundreds of dollars and numerous man-hours,) and began hanging drywall in it's place. All I had to do to help him was to run to the tool rental store, unload the drywall jack I rented, and assist in stacking tiles as they were removed. I think I put 40 minutes into today's work and Ken put in at least 8 hours! After the bedroom turned out so nicely, Ken decided that textured drywall was worth deconstructing a months worth of work in the play room... and I think he may be right! He's become a mini-expert with drywall and this ceiling is going up extremely fast! To top it off, Ken decided to help the neighbor with his basement installation after an already full day and I haven't seen him in two hours.

The kids were pretty good today and I had plenty of time to sulk by myself. I don't know if it's the long winter, February in general, or just PMS, (it DOES exist,) but I'd slap myself if I thought it would cheer me up! I finally forced myself to do a little housework and to make an actual dinner, but even my 'Famous Dave's'-style ribs and cherry cheesecake dessert couldn't bring me around. Ken was starving at least, so the decent food made him smile. Of course the first thing Riley did when he got to the table was remind me that he hates my food and just why do I cook stuff like this?

Yes, the Mommy Monster materialized. Yes, Riley survived my wrath. Yes, he cleaned his plate.

Some day they will all learn the lesson my siblings and I never had trouble comprehending: Mom doesn't care if you like it or not, if it's put before you, you had better just eat it!