Hunting Excursion

My two handsome hunters.

It was Shannon's turn to attempt a hunting trip with his daddy, and after much preparation (thanks, Colleen,) Shannon ran out the door screaming, "This is the BEST day EVER!" He had on three shirts, a heavy camouflage jacket, jeans, snow pants, two pairs of socks, boots, a hat and two pairs of gloves. To entertain himself, Shannon brought along a wooden snake and Spiderman.

Apparently Shannon and Ken had a great father/son chat along the way... Shannon really does like girls and he likes them blond. "But don't tell anyone, promise, Dad?"

Arriving near their destination, they trekked about a quarter mile into a cornfield to get to their spot and all went well until Shannon decided it was snack time. Snack time just happened to coincide with the rustle of deer movement, and it all went south from there. The boys were back in the car heading home before dusk began to fall.

Needless to say, they were both frustrated with each other by the time they got home. All Shannon had to say by this point was, "This was the WORST day EVER and it's all DAD'S fault!"

Prep

I've made up the fluff (fruit salad,) baked a double batch of pumpkin pie, and I'm waiting on two loaves of pumpkin bread to come out of the oven. Now all we need is for Casey to arrive safely and we're set for Thanksgiving. Well, we'll be all set once Mom cooks the turkey and the makes the rest of the side dishes, that is. Too much work for me!

Money Maker

Yesterday Riley made $5 shoveling the neighbor's driveway. It was fairly cleaned up when he called it quits after one hour of hard work, and I gave the driveway a quick touch-up before the shovels were put away.

I figure I'll let him get his practice in throughout the neighborhood, and when he gets really good at shoveling, I can put him to work clearing MY driveway for free. Ah, forced child labor. I knew there was a reason I ended up with three boys.

Moving Snow

Today was the first official shoveling day of the '08-'09 winter season. I only had to move a little over an inch of snow, but dang, was it ever cold out there! I curse this bus stop all winter long...

Pushing 40

Okay, I'm officially 30 today, but it FEELS like 40.












I didn't fool anybody with that, did I?

I got TWO alarm clocks for my birthday today. They woke me up at 7:20 AM this morning (I'm usually up at 6:45,) blaring, "Shouldn't we be in the bathtub by now? Isn't it a school day?" I named them Shannon and Corey.

There IS such a thing as a stupid question.

Ken just called me from some field in Southwest Michigan and asked, "Do you want me to stay out here and hunt tonight?"

"Uhh...?" So we had a little discussion about properly forming questions, and he just didn't get it. He keeps trying to trick me into encouraging him to stay out hunting from dawn to dusk rather than just telling me that he's going to stay out hunting. Because no matter what I say, he's going to do it anyway.

His variations on hunting requests go something like this: "Should I drive all the way home just to go back out at 3:00 AM or should I just stay out here?" or, "If I came home, I'd just sleep, and I could sleep here." Actually, these statements/questions are really annoying and soon I DO just want him to stay away.

Finally, after he played dumb for about five minutes I said, "You know what? I'm scrubbing toilets. Do you want to come home and help me scrub toilets?"

It worked! Ken gave up and said, "I want to stay out here and hunt, okay?" Which is what he should have said in the first place.

15 Minutes

The boys just went back to school today after a (way too long) four day break. The first two days were pure insanity, and by Saturday morning I'd instituted a new rule to quiet things down around here. The minute anyone yelled, fought, hit, whined or talked back, they were immediately sent to their room for 15 minutes. Wow, are my timer-setting fingers ever tired!

Saturday turned out to be a very quiet day. At any given time, one to two boys were upstairs serving their sentence. I couldn't believe the silence! By Sunday, the boys had mellowed tremendously, so I treated them all to a bubble bath in the Jacuzzi tub. They loved it:

You'd think that after two days of strict punishment, the boys would have had it all figured out. Well, it snowed pretty good last night, so this morning at the bus stop the boys went a little nuts. Rolling in the snow, eating it, picking it up... things I don't allow them to do in the mornings as they're waiting for the bus. (They get too wet and cold, and I am not about to supervise 20 kids having a snowball fight at the bus stop.)

Needless to say, when Riley and Shannon get home tonight, they each have a 45 minute time-out waiting for them. I guess they didn't realize the rules also applied to school days.

Halhairious!

This site is so dang fun - it even entertained the three boys for an hour! Try it!

Ken with a jehri curl? Not so much...

There is a reason I liked the 80's/90's so much!

The boy's having a little fun at Ken's expense.

One Angry Buckeye

Ken was not impressed with the "N" drawn on his favorite cap with a permanent marker. Riley fessed up, and after Daddy gave him a talking to, it was Mommy's turn.

"Next time you want to desecrate a Buckeye item, get me and we'll think of a non-destructive way to do it, okay? Now... High-Five!"

Conferences, etc...

Ken insisted on going to school conferences with me today (10:00: Corey, 10:20: Riley, 10:40: Shannon,) and I wasn't really too excited about that prospect. He wants to be 'involved' with their schooling, as long as it doesn't involve helping with homework, reading to the boys, or transporting them anywhere - basically he just wants to be at their conferences and hear how good the boys are doing. So I found a babysitter, which wasn't easy.

Then this morning when I tell Ken to get up and get ready to go, (after I'd woken up at 6:30 AM, showered, bathed all the boys, fed all the boys, drug Riley and Shannon to their dental appointments, ran to the gas station and straightened up the house a bit,) Ken asks whether he really has to go with me, or could he just stay home and sleep? Wanna guess how angry I was?

The boys are all doing pretty good, so the conferences went well on that end. However there was one thing I asked Ken not to say at the conferences, and of course he went and said it. "So, is Shannon doing better than his classmates?" Embarrassing. And that was my morning.

Other things brought to my attention today:

One teacher said she thought our family was the Brady Bunch judging from the glowing reports Shannon was giving her at school. I guess that's better than Shannon telling the teacher I'm a frustrated psycho-mom who yells all the time.

Riley informed me (in a non-malicious way, I promise,) that if I would just leave, the boys could rule the world! At least until Daddy got home.

The new fluoride procedure our dentist uses is just gross, according to Riley and Shannon. It even made hot dogs taste bad (as if they weren't bad enough on their own.) We don't recommend it.

Three boys, with two beauticians, can get their haircut in under 30 minutes if you dangle the right carrot in front of them. A trip to the toy store. Corey didn't even flinch when the clippers started up.

When I gave the boys a choice of where to spend their $5 savings, Toys R Us or Walmart, they started chanting in unison, "Walmart! Walmart! Walmart!" Weird.

$1.97 X 10 = $19.70. Why I thought Riley could buy ten bags of marbles and it would only come to $10, I just don't know. Maybe I should be working on those flash cards, too. Maybe I should also look at the receipt before I leave the store.

I asked the boys to give me some Christmas ideas as we browsed the toy department, and it looks like shopping wont be as hopeless as it had once appeared. Of course, Riley insists that if he could just get a camcorder (and ONLY a camcorder,) he would be the happiest boy on earth. Riiiight.

A 30 minute period of calm in the house does not necessarily mean it's a good idea to host a sleep-over. The boys refuse to get along, and I'm certain that at any minute their friend is going to give up and go home.

When you're hosting a sleep-over, you just can't go to bed until all the children have. And it's going to be a long night.

Riley Hears What He Wants to Hear

It's one of those cold, rainy fall days where you just want to stay home and nap all day. I tried to get away with a mid-morning nap, at least, but soon responsibility was screaming in my ear. Inevitably I got off my butt, and I've been up and running since 10:00 AM. Finally, upon returning from numerous errands and Corey's therapy appointment, I had a few minutes set aside to relax before the bus showed up with the rest of my loud and demanding children. Hallelujah!

Right... I couldn't be that lucky. The phone rang as I picked up my latest book, and it was the boys' school on the line. They were calling to inform me that Riley was waiting for me at the front office, where I was expected to pick him up. I wondered aloud what on earth made Riley think I was picking him up, and the lady on the phone really couldn't say. I assured her that I'd be in to get Riley as soon as I loaded up Corey and got Shannon off of HIS bus, which was due to arrive in 5 - 10 minutes.

When I finally got to the school (45 minutes after dismissal, no less,) there was Riley, chillin' in the hallway. I figured he'd be upset with the mix-up, especially since he'd been sitting around for what must have been forever in child-years, but no, he was nonplussed and staring off into space.

When I asked why he thought I was picking him up today, Riley argued that he had heard an announcement over the PA that requested he go to the office. The poor office lady just looked at me, completely baffled, and said, "We didn't page him, but there was a sub today... maybe that led to some confusion?"

Maybe. I doubt I'll ever know.

Number Crunching

Shannon just informed me that Zero the Hero came to his classroom today. This character always shows up on days of school that end in zero, (10th day of school, 20th day of school, etc...) and helps children understand the value of numbers. I said, "Oh, really? What was it, the 30th day of school?" "Uh, no, Mom," said Shannon, as if I were some kind of idiot, "It's the 50th day of school." Can that even be right?

I guess time really must be flying, because according to my new Christmas Countdown timer at the bottom of this page, there are only 44 days left until Christmas. Can that even be right? I've been feeling the crunch, and just this morning I trekked out to the Teacher's Center and Toys R Us to get a feel for the crap, I mean toys, that they're pushing this year. Wow, we are screwed! There is nothing out there! At least nothing age appropriate, stimulating, or sturdy and containing less than 2,342 pieces or requiring fewer than 8 AA batteries and a 9V. Ugg.

And since we're on the subject of numbers, Riley just informed me that Obama promised to bring down the price of all video games to $5.50 apiece. I remember some campaign promises that made me scratch my head a little, but this is a new one. I did tend to tune out a lot of the campaign, so help me out here. Did he by any chance promise stay-at-home moms a three week all-inclusive vacation to somewhere else? I should have been paying more attention.

Dennis The Menace

Shannon reminds me so much of Dennis the Menace, and not just because he insists on wearing his over-halls every time they're clean. It's the little things, like the fact that he's always antagonizing his brothers, (no Mr. Wilson next door,) or getting dirty, or doing something absurd. Like stirring the toilet water with a marker to make the water change colors. Not only was that absurd, it was NASTY!

Dandruff

Riley is in a state of euphoria, and I'm beginning to spiral into my annual funk. Yep, winter is here...

Those are snowflakes in his hair.

Wake Up Call

I woke up today to the boys screaming, (at 7:30 AM on a weekend,) "It's snowing outside! Mommy, wake up! It's snowing outside!"

That pretty much sums up my day.

Getting Things Done

So I just got done mowing my (very green) lawn, just in time for the wind to kick up and cover it with leaves. Other people's leaves - we don't have a tree on our property. Okay, I did plant two of those swirly pine trees last month, but they don't shed. You get my point.

I had thought I was done mowing for the year - we haven't had rain in ages and we've had a few freezes. Well, my neighbor mowed yesterday and of course this accented the fact that MY lawn needed trimmed. So I did it. I mowed my lawn the day AFTER I hung up my Christmas lights on the front of the house.




I know, I know: it's too early for Christmas lights. But if Star 106.9 can start playing Christmas music 24/7 on November 1, then I can hang up my Christmas lights. Take THAT, neighbors!

A Curly (and OLD, Apparently) Version of Me

Okay, here is the curly look...

Cruella DeVille

Ever since I, in a postpartum funk, allowed Leigh to add a couple of highlights to my long curly hair, I have been dying my hair progressively lighter and lighter. Well, there was that one exception, where I went brown all over with weird red highlights. That lasted about 40 days.

Yesterday I made the decision with my NEW hairdresser to take my hair color in a different direction. It's much darker than before, and when I wear it naturally curly, the product makes it look jet black. I like the hair color quite a bit, but I'm guessing some of you will hate it. Here it is straight, and at it's lightest:

Please, no skunk or Cruella references...

Mommy had a Costume, too...

The neighborhood Halloween party was tonight and I actually borrowed most of my outfit from a teenager. The leg warmers are MINE, though. Did you see how much snowfall we get in Michigan? You need the leg warmers just to handle the cold!

Colleen wishing this hairstyle was still cool. Shoestrings rock!

Trick-or-Treat

What a perfect Halloween! Great weather, no whining, lights off by 8:15 pm, and a bonfire next door.

Riley is Luigi, Shannon is Mario, and Corey is the evil spider.

Who are Mario and Luigi, you ask? Game characters.

My Three Sons.

I finally got to carve my own pumpkin(s,) cannibal style.