Max and Cheepers

We had a wonderful quiet Christmas at home, and the boys are pretty happy about how it all worked out. As you probably heard, Riley and Shannon were up at 4:11 AM hollering up the stairs, "Mom, Santa came, he left a computer and a cage with two pets in it!" Corey, who was snuggling with me, fearfully whispered, "Mommy, they're not MONKEYS are they? I don't LIKE monkeys!"

At this point I yelled for the boys to go back to sleep and two hours later we were all up to watch the boys destroy the house, I mean open presents. Here's how that went...

After opening presents, Ken was relieved to see that he only had one thing to assemble. Of course, he also had plenty of toys that required two players, so he kept busy.

Once things calmed down Ken and I took a little nap. (Ken just finished 3rd Shift the morning before, and I had been up all night doing what parents do on Christmas Eve.) We let the kids play and when we awoke, this is what the house looked like:

Well, that's about it. Oh, yeah. I forgot. Max and Cheepers? The two new guinea pigs? BIG HIT! Shannon is holding Max and Riley has Cheepers (who cheeps a lot.)

Christmas Eve

Every year I keep most all of the presents hidden away, but on Christmas Eve I bring a few out. Every year this causes great excitement among the kids, and all day long they beg to open one. Every year I finally give in and give each of the boys a present to open. Every year, the gift they open on Christmas Eve is a new pair of pajamas. Every year they are disappointed.

This year was no different, and even though I warned them not to be disappointed, you could tell they were. Until they saw that Mommy got a pair, too. Now they are thrilled!


Because it's not EVERY YEAR that Mommy gets one-piece pajamas just like theirs!

Winter Wonderland

I woke up to the most gorgeous day, everything was covered in fine crystals. Click to enlarge for an amazing view:

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like...

Well, it's definitely December! We survived a 36 hour 'blizzard warning' which of course included TWO SNOW DAYS off of school - MY FAVORITE! Aside from trying to keep the kids from killing each other, I've kept busy with a little baking and a little shopping in anticipation of Christmas, and tonight I tackled the first half of my least favorite Christmas task. I attempted to get a good picture of the boys for this year's Christmas cards.

I don't think any of them are stellar, (and my final selections never are,) but here's what I've gotten so far. Any suggestions are welcome, just please don't tell me to get a real camera because I can't afford one!

How Much Does This Cost Per Minute?

Okay, so a couple of weeks ago I signed Corey up for a single piano lesson, just to get an idea of whether or not it's something he could tolerate. I explained that Corey was a six year old with poor vision, erratic social skills, and a huge desire to conquer the world of piano. (Okay, a huge desire to learn how to play his favorite song on our Casio keyboard, at least.)

Anyhow, I made sure that they set him up with just the right kind of teacher and handed over my $19 and change for the one 30-minute lesson. The lady scheduling the lesson then walked me around the store and showed me a few interesting piano books that would work well for a beginner with poor eyesight. I selected two items (a book of Beatles ballads and a key chart,) and the nice lady politely rang them up for me. That's it, we were all ready for Corey's upcoming piano lesson!

Well tonight was the big night and Corey was SO EXCITED to get to his lesson. We got there early and waited. Then we waited. We waited some more. As the clock nudged past the 6:30 starting time, I finally asked the drum instructor, (funny enough, it appeared he had a slight hearing deficit,) if I should just take Corey back to his classroom. He escorted us back to a room where we were introduced to Corey's instructor, Miss J.

Corey climbed right up to the piano and found the middle C while Miss J asked him about himself. Then she turned to me and asked, "Where are Corey's books?" Books? Nobody in the 45 minutes that I spent browsing the store and putting this thing together had said anything about books. I reiterated to Miss J that we were just doing a one time lesson to see if Corey had any sort of aptitude for piano and that I was just told, "That'll be $19!"

Miss J then informed me that he has to have books to learn, then slowly (and my lord, I do mean SLOWLY,) stood up and started hobbling toward the adjacent music store. The whole time I'm thinking to myself, "There had better be a shared book used specifically for music instruction in this room..."

We got into the store, and I glanced at the clock and noticed that we're a good 7 minutes into our 30-minute trial lesson and Corey has yet to play a note. Did I mention I paid $19 for this 30 minute chunk of time? Miss J showed me two little kiddie books that Corey needed and started wandering toward the register with them. Naturally, as we passed the scheduling office in the store, I paused to talk to the 'professionals' who set up the lessons.

I quickly asked why I had not been informed of my need to purchase books before I showed up for the (ONE $19 30-minute) music lesson, and the lady at the desk gave me a blank look and said, "Well, they need books to learn. Besides, they're only $5, so that comes to... $11.61!" Wow. We're up to $30.61 for Corey's one $19 30-minute piano lesson, in case you're keeping track.

Once the flames stopped shooting out of my ears, I angrily asked again why this had not been brought up before the beginning of my son's one $19 30-minute piano lesson, especially after they ran me around the store showing me all kinds of useful books that were not required for piano lessons. Then I pointedly asked whether they realized that Corey's one $19 30-minute lesson was 1/3 of the way over and Corey had yet to do a thing? I then suggested that perhaps we should reschedule the actual lesson since they had completely wasted a good portion of Corey's time and was then condescendingly told, "Well. I don't believe we can reschedule at the LAST minute!"

Really. Miss J stepped in at this point, grabbed the necessary books and said she would hurry back with Corey to get the lesson underway while I once again went round and round with the staff of the music store. By the time the conversation was over, four employees looked rather embarrassed/ angry/ aloof/ superior; I don't know for sure what they were thinking. All I knew was that this was the last time I'd be dealing with them, regardless of what the manager will say when she calls me tomorrow at my insistence.

At this point, I had forked over my $30.61 for Corey's one 30-minute piano lesson, and went outside to calm myself. I headed into the waiting room after about 5 minutes of downtime, and I heard Corey yelling, "Mom, Mom, come listen!" I popped into the room and proudly and patiently watched Corey play the two little songs he had learned (during his 15 minutes of actual instruction as opposed to the one $19 30-minute lesson I'd signed up for.)

I asked Miss J if she thought Corey had the ability and dexterity necessary for playing the piano and she said she thought so, he really seemed to want to learn and had flat out memorized everything she put in front of him. She showed me what she thought Corey should work on next and asked, "So, Mom, what are you going to do?"

I looked at her and explained that I was having a hard time justifying $19 per one half-hour session as it was, and that the evening's events had me wondering whether I should look around or even pursue piano lessons at this time at all; four 30-minute lessons a month at $19 a pop really added up!

I kid you not, Miss J looked aghast as she exclaimed, "Well of course you realize that children of this age really need to be taking TWO lessons a week, especially when they learn so fast and become bored without encouragement!" I seriously almost laughed out loud when she said this, but I just smiled politely and said (okay, a little sarcastically,) "Yea, we'll give you a call. Real soon! Say goodbye, Corey!"

Corey's Turn with the Tummy Flu...

and he doesn't have very good aim with the bucket.

Ken's been feeling crappy for a few days lately, too, and tonight he debated whether to go into work or not. Funny thing, shortly after Corey barfed all over my lap Ken made the decision to head into work. Hmmm....

Quickly...

We just got back from our first Nebraska Thanksgiving in years, only to have Shannon start vomiting once he got home from school this afternoon. Yea!

He's been pretty good with his aim, but apparently likes to have an audience. He will carry his bowl into a room full of people and then let it all out. I now have him programmed to carry the bowl into the bathroom, vomit into the bowl, and wait for mommy to empty it.

After his first episode (as I dry heaved along,) he asked what to do with the bowl. I told him to let me collect myself and once I could breathe again, I would dump it out. Shannon thought he'd be helpful and started tipping the bowl into the bathroom sink.

Naturally I screamed, "Nooooooo," just about scaring him so bad that he almost dropped the full bowl altogether. Luckily he caught it and I showed him how to pour it into the toilet and rinse it out for the next round.

Everything was going smoothly, when an hour later Shannon showed up in the living room, barfing into his bowl as he walked, (how's that for coordination?) I directed him to the bathroom, and he finally declared that he was done and went to empty the bowl into the toilet. From about three feet above the toilet.

Well, it was only a slight splattering of a mess and I got it all cleaned up without emptying MY stomach as well. From there on out, every time he walks into the room and starts going at it, I guide him into the bathroom and wait for him to finish and take care of everything myself.

Pretty sure this is a one-day bug type of thing as Shannon's been resting well for a few hours. He'll be home from school tomorrow, bonus for Uncle Casey who followed us home from Nebraska to spend a little time with his nephews. Hopefully Uncle Casey steers clear of the bug though, because I'm pretty sure he's nowhere NEAR as vomit-trained as my little guys are.

Priorities

Lately I've been noticing as I shut up the house for the night that the sliding doors in the kitchen have been left opened and unlocked. In the summertime, when the kids are in and out all the time and the weather is beautiful, this would be expected. However, it's mid-November, and although it's not snowing out, it's not terribly warm. On top of that, even in nice weather I can't seem to get the kids to play outside without threatening them with the removal of their DS's (handheld games that have somehow become a fifth limb.)

Today Corey did something that made it all make sense... sort of.

We had a house full of people this afternoon, and as I was running around I noticed Corey frantically trying to unlock the sliders. Just as he reached down to remove the wooden stopper and throw open the door I ask just what the heck he thinks he is doing. Corey froze in his tracks, well as much as one CAN freeze when they're doing the 'I gotta pee' dance.

He gave me a desperate look and explained, "But mom, somebody is in the bathroom and I gotta go potty!"

Okay. The bathroom was occupied, the kid just really needs to go.

But I have a house with FOUR bathrooms. In the time it took Corey to manipulate the lock, remove the stopper and open the door (remember Corey has horrible fine motor skills,) he could have tinkled a little bit in the THREE available toilets and heck, even 'watered' my plants.

To top it all off, once I told him that he was not allowed to go pee off the deck and kill off my hostas, he shrugged his shoulders and ran back to play on the computer for another 1/2 hour. He NEVER bothered to go use a bathroom. (And he never bothered to shut the sliding door either. Surprise, surprise.)

Corey's Class Assignment

Here's Corey's commercial for a book he just read. He wanted to draw a stick person on a piece of paper and call it an advertisement, instead I sat and asked him questions about the book for 1/2 an hour until we put together this script. Quality is poor, but listen to his quazi-excitement.

A Song For You

A special video for those of you who are really missing Corey and Shannon. We have Corey 'stretching' while singing his favorite song (crank your volume before you press play,) and Shannon doing headstands and generally being a pest. Sorry for the poor video quality, but you'll like it anyway.

Press PLAY.

Target Practice

We had such a gorgeous day today so I suggested that Daddy take the boys out with their BB guns. They did so well, it's amazing the difference a year made.

Checking their shots.
Riley helping Shannon cock the gun.

If you look close you can see where the BB hit the can.

Shannon needing to listen better when his dad talks about form.

Daddy showing Shannon the ropes, Riley has it down pat.

One of our neighbors lent Ken a pellet gun, so after these pictures were taken, Ken led the boys over to the woods to find some moving targets. Riley asked if they could maybe shoot a bird and Ken said, "No we're not going to shoot birds, only squirrels. You don't shoot something unless you're going to eat it."

Lucky for us they didn't hit any squirrels.

Uh oh.

Well, for a minute there I was worried. Corey (my professional bedtime staller,) just came down and told me he had a headache. Naturally my ears perked up, because that bug that came around and shut the schools down for four days was famous for it's ability to produce strong headaches.

But this is Corey, my naturally snot-filled boy, and it's not uncommon for him to get to where his sinuses are a little backed up which then results in a headache. So I thought I'd research the issue a little more.

"Corey, do you hurt anywhere else?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
Blank stare.
"Maybe my tummy hurts?"
"Corey, do you feel really tired in your muscles, like you don't want to move?"
"Yes. I think I'm having a cold."
"Oh, does it hurt when you breathe?"
"Yes. It hurts."
"Hmm... does it hurt when I touch your back?"
"Ouch."
"Oh no! Does it hurt when I lift your leg up or when I push it down?"
"It hurts when you lift my leg up."

Interesting. I hadn't touched his back or his legs.

"GO TO BED, COREY!"

Halloween 2009

We went the cheapy route again this year on costumes and I let the boys decide what they wanted to be without any real direction. Riley's costume took the longest to make, about 3 hours, but he loved it and everybody recognized him. Shannon was REALLY easy, seems each year I get away with using one camo outfit. Corey's costume was quick too because I had made it before.

Riley as R2D2. That's a chip bowl on his head. The lid was a noise maker that sounded just like R2D2, so he slipped that under his shirt and gave it a whack every now and then.

Bowl: $1.00, felt: $.88.

Shannon goes Commando. Or Bomb Removal Unit Guy. Or Army Guy.

Hat: $1.00.

Corey wanted to be a traffic light again.
Felt, $.66.


All three.

All three.

Riley and Shannon headed out alone as soon as the other kids started out. 5:30 seemed a little early, but considering the neighborhood went quiet by 8:30 it was a good thing they got out there. While they were out and about I took Corey in the wagon, and painfully watched as he contemplated every single candy choice he was offered.

Once the boys had made their rounds, I offered to take the boys into the adjoining neighborhood for a little bit. You would think I told them that I wanted them to shoot a puppy! Anyhow, they finally consented and we did another two blocks before they declared that they were done.

We arrived home right at 7:30, only to find that Ken had killed all the Halloween and porch lights and had called it a night. I. Was. Furious. What a killjoy! So I kicked them all back on and Riley volunteered to hand out candy until the neighborhood went quiet at 8:30.

I tell ya, Halloween just isn't what it used to be. Nowadays, kids get about two cups of candy and call it good, kids as old as 16 have no problem mooching candy off of people, and everybody goes home before 9:00.

That never would have happened when I was a kid! We walked for MILES, and our pillowcases had better have been 1/2 full before anybody whined about the sleet or snow. You simply didn't consider stopping to pee, either. You went to every house, and if somebody said, "Take your choice," you grabbed a handful. (You certainly didn't play eeney-meeny-minny-mo for ten minutes.) And finally, people didn't run out of candy until at least 10:30, maybe 11:00 at night.

Oh well, I could complain some more, but the kids have finally fallen asleep so it's time to go pilfer the best candy out of the boys' bags. Now that I think about it, some things HAVEN'T changed since I was a kid.

And the Doctor Said...

...that I have bronchitis. Ta-daaaaa!

Mall Adventure

So Friday morning I woke up and Ken was still awake. Casually he asked if we should all hop in the car and get the boys the jeans they are so desperately needing. (The hand-me-downs are all loose-fitting Husky sizes now, not a good match for my little sticks.) Needless to say, I had an opportunity to have another adult assist me in shopping for the boys? I wasn't going to pass this up, so I threw clothes on everybody and we headed out in our grubby morningness.

After dropping off Ken and the boys and parking the car, I met them inside. No more than ten steps inside the door and Ken starts flailing his arms so I stop in my tracks. Ken bends over and grabs a wadded up a twenty dollar bill that I had been kicking around unknowingly. Good luck for us, it was shaping up to be a good trip!

Anyhow, since Ken has never shopped for boy's clothes, I headed toward the cheap, slim fitting CRC's that Sears has a lifetime warranty on. Ken goes off looking at some loose fitting Polo's that have been marked way down. We had a small argument over which style the boys needed, I won, and we grabbed three pairs for each kid. Then we headed for the dressing rooms... the dressing rooms that emitted a loud beep every time you crossed the thresh-hold.

Naturally, Corey did not like this noise and he was gone. He found a rack of clothing that was as far away from the dressing rooms as possible, covered his ears and demanded that we make it stop. Well, we weren't shopping for Corey anyway, so I told Ken to worry about Corey while I dealt with Riley and Shan. I threw them each their 3 pairs of jeans and told them to get to trying them on.

Shannon whined immediately that he couldn't snap the jeans up, and I spent the next ten minutes getting the correct style of jeans for Shannon - the ones that don't snap at the waist. At this point, you would think that Riley would have at least tried on a pair of jeans but no. After I got Shannon to start trying on pairs 4, 5, and 6, I had to physically go into Riley's dressing room to see what the holdup was. Surprise, he just didn't want to try on jeans!

After a stern warning, I exited the dressing room (BEEEEEEP,) grabbed Corey, and started looking for at some winter coats for the little guy. He had to move closer to the dressing room to try them on and of course Corey fought it all the way. We tried on one coat, and then I ran over to check on the boys. Shannon looked good in his 7 slims, so I asked Riley to show me how his looked.

Riley throws open the door whining, "They don't feel right," after which Ken and I rolled our eyes at each other in frustration. "Seriously, Riley?" I questioned. "Try not putting them on BACKWARDS!" At this point I told Ken to take Corey off my hands, the coat was fine, and I went into Riley's dressing room with him until all jeans were on and approved. 9 slims were Riley's fit, but they still fell off of him so we added a belt to the pile of purchases. Jean shopping was DONE! Now, time for boots...

Lugging three boys, six pairs of pants, a coat and a wayward husband along, we headed for the elevator. (Oh, look, gloves are on sale! Lemme grab SIX PAIRS for Corey while we're at it!) As we neared the elevator, Ken and Riley see the escalator and head that way. "Hello, we've got Corey today!" I holler, assuming this will explain everything. I guess it didn't because they were on their way, and I'm grabbing Corey up onto my hip with one arm as my other arm is naturally full of everything else we'd selected, and up the escalator we go. "Just close your eyes," I whispered to Corey throughout the accent, and he did okay.

We hit the shoe department, loud as can be, and the entire selection of boys' boots fell into view. All 4 styles. Crap. So I'm looking at the boots, and I think that possibly the one style with velcro straps might actually open far enough to accommodate Corey's leg braces with the inflexible 90° angle. As I struggled to force Corey's feet into the braces, Ken yells down at me from the INFANT department, "I don't think any of these are going to work!" Gee, ya think?

Anyhow, I actually managed to get Corey into a pair of boots! This has been an impossible task up to this point, so I was thoroughly excited as we (I) grabbed everything together and head back downstairs. Then I hear it. Ken. "Corey, you're a big boy, you can go down the escalator, and you're gonna do it." "No, no, NO, Daddy!" yelled Corey as Ken took him by the hand and went to step onto the escalator. Oh boy.

Corey collapsed his legs which meant that Ken was holding a dangling Corey in the air by the arm. ("Hey, he didn't get sucked into the steps, impressive," I thought.) "I want off!" screamed Corey most of the way down, "Mommmmmmy, stop Daddy!" I'm staring off to the side, mortified, and finally Riley yells, "Just hold onto the railing, Corey!" (Riley had had enough too.) So Corey rests his feet on the semi-terra firma and grabs the railing and everything falls silent. Just as we get to the part where the escalator disappears into the floor I yell for Ken to help him off and as easy as that, we are done with the escalator.

Naturally I was ready to check out, but Daddy must browse the tools while at Sears, and since I had taken forever to find the six pairs of gloves, I let him. The boys and I chilled in the Christmas aisles which gave me time to nix the big old coat I had lugged around for the past hour; we could find Corey a better one another day. Finally we were checking out and on our way home, thank God! Then Ken says to the boys, "What do you guys want to get for lunch?"

I rolled my eyes and knew we were simply NOT DONE for the day. When will Ken learn? You just don't ask a 6, 7, and 9 year old an open-ended question! We won't bother discussing the various drive-thru window's we met with that day...

School's Out

School is supposed to get out for the summer on June 18, 2010. Our district has cancelled classes due to illness for most of this week, Tuesday through Friday to be exact. I'm guessing that if we have a typical winter, we'll be seeing summer vacation sometime after Independence Day.

I am actually ill with something, Ken went through something a week ago, Corey may be sick or it could just be that he is (and always has been,) a snot factory, and Shannon may be ill or he could just be suffering from the earache-allergy mess that he is constantly contending with. The unifying factor for all of us is snot, chest congestion, coughs, and one day (or more) of headaches and the runs. None of us have had fevers, we are just generally miserable. Riley, though, has been 100% through it all.

If this is H1N1, I have to say it's not too big of a deal. I guess we'll never know because Ken's doctor didn't even suspect it, other local doctors won't test for it, and none of us are sick enough to necessitate a trip to the doctor. Now, if all of us were to start spontaneously and simultaneously barfing for a week straight and refusing food like we did a few years ago when Grammie came for her unfortunate visit, I might consider a trip to the doctor. But for now, a trip to Walgreen's for some allergy meds, pain killers and kleenex is the only excursion in my future.

Nebraska Born but not Raised

Riley had a Midwest States assessment today and he had to label all the states and their capitals. He got them ALL right! Well, he got them all correct except for one capital. You know, the one he was born in! Riley for some reason constantly eyeballs Lincoln, NE, somewhere just south of Yankton, SD.

He did okay with the question and answer section, only missing two insignificant problems. I still think he should have gotten 100% on the test considering his wonderful answer to #9.

(Technically, I'm not too sure he got #2 correct now that I think about it, do they still make cars in Detroit?) Hmm...

How's Tricks?

The set up: Ohio State, (my husband, Ken's, team,) is beating the snot out of Wisconsin, (my neighbor's team.) What to do?

1. Ken puts our Ohio State flag in our neighbors yard.

2. Neighbor puts up a tailgating scene in our yard, complete with a Wisconsin flag, two stadium chairs and a grill. Our Ohio State flag is place in the grill as if being cooked.

3. I return tailgating scene to the neighbor's yard, but add some Husker and Buckeye apparel to the scene. I also...

4. ...took their flag and taped it to the side of their house along with a few letters. This says "PWNED," which is a current way of saying 'owned.'

5. The neighbors then take the letters I made, and spell out this little diddy on the side of my house.

6. Finally I broke out the Christmas lights, and this is what the front of their house looked like by the end of the night.

Fall is Here

It's been a little busy around here with Fall barreling in; school, CCD, and Corey's doctor appointments fill our days. All I have to share with you from the past week are these pictures:

Riley makes the first cut.

We pulled in our first watermelon after the frost, it was extremely good! Riley (and mom and dad,) did a great job watering these all summer long. We ended up with four good sized ones and a bunch that weren't able to grow to maturity. The smaller ones may become Jack-O-Laterns, stay tuned...

A whole box of EXIT SIGNS!!!

As we got on the elevator at one of Corey's many appointments, a maintenance man was getting off. He had his hands full so he told us to take the elevator and he would call it back to get this box of equipment. If only he knew Corey, he wouldn't have left this box unattended. We made it out of the elevator, after much excitement, without pilfering a single sign.

Oooookay...

My husband, Ken, was being exceptionally sweet today, and while I have my suspicions as to why, (hunting and snowmobiling right around the corner, staying out half the night last night, or maybe the poignant homily at Mass this morning about strong marriages,) his attitude was bound to expire at some point.

We had a great morning and this afternoon I ran the boys around in search of Halloween costume ideas. As we headed out the door, Ken pointed out the hole in the rear of my (one pair of GOOD) jeans, and suggested I take the time to go buy some new ones while I was out. He also recommended I get a new pair of boots, as the sole was flopping around on the pair I was wearing. Ooooookay...

After a few hours of scouting out stores for costumes, I returned home empty handed save a few pieces of junk from the dollar store. Noticing the fact that I hadn't bought myself a thing, (and the fact that it was raining sporadically so hunting was out,) he told me to head out by myself and not to return without some new clothes. Oooookay...

I returned home a few hours later with two pairs of jeans and a pair of boots but minus $250, and we had supper and got the boys to bed. Ken decided to run to the store for his hunting license and I hinted that if he arrived home with a bag of Dove Chocolates today would just be too good to be true.

Ken returned home shortly thereafter but I noticed right away that there were no Dove Chocolates on his person. I asked him if he'd forgotten about my request and he looked at me and smiled. "You just spent $250 on two new pairs of jeans, and now you want me to buy you MORE chocolate so you can get even fatter and rip the butt out of those new ones too?" he asked.

Just before I smacked the crap out of him he ran to the car and grabbed the hidden bag of chocolates. And I'm not mad, just so you know, but sometimes the truth stings a little.

Fort Riley

I went to check on Riley before crashing for the night and found him surrounded by every single pillow and blanket he could find.

Riley's Observation

This evening I was laying on the couch covered in boys as we watched America's Funniest Videos. I'd hollered up to Ken a few times hoping he would wake up for work without me having to physically get him, but it just wasn't working.

Inspiration struck and I excitedly told the boys, "Whoever runs upstairs and gets Daddy to wake up first will get a big kiss!" Shannon and Corey, being competitive little creatures, jumped up off the couch and fought their way up the stairs to get their Daddy moving. Riley, still laying next to me, casually looked up and leaned over to give me a big kiss. "They're not too smart, are they, Mom?" he commented, and we both giggled.

High Aspirations

Yesterday was Corey's Star Day at school, a day where he was able to tell his class everything about him. The teacher walked him through a series of statements about himself and wrote it down for the entire class to see. Here is what you need to know about Corey:

No, my son does not want to be a police officer when he grows up, nor does he want to be a fireman. He doesn't even want to make cereal like his daddy, he just wants to make signs at a shop called The Sign Center. Just think of all the money we'll save when we need to have a... sign made?

All About Shannon

Back to school, time for my boys to tell their teachers awkward things. If you look in the sister and pet columns, you'll see that Shannon wrote, "I use to."