You're Eight

Today you are eight years old.  I don't know how that happened. 

You are playing on a basketball and football team.  You downhill ski.  You fold your clothes (when repeatedly told).  You get your own breakfast.  You shower yourself.  Your reading is amazing.  You are a champion speller.  You are blossoming and becoming quite a lovely young man. 

You had your First Reconcilliation last night.  After practicing on your mama (thank you for trusting me) you got your nerves under control and made your first confession.  When you were done you walked over to me with your wonderful smile beaming and said, "I feel great!"  I was so happy for you.

This past year has brought so much growth to you.  Not only physically, as anyone can see how you continue to sprout up, but emotionally and intellectually as well.  You are truly striving to be a good boy.  You try to be a good brother to your siblings, though that is a tough job for you sometimes.  Your brothers are both the bane of your existence and your very best friends in the world.  You are completely smitten with your sister and tell her every five minutes how pretty and sweet she is.  Both your brothers and your sister are so very fortunate to have you as their oldest brother. 

You have boundless energy.  It is difficult to wear you out.  You are always on the move.  Always ready for action.  Every day when you come home from school the first words out of your mouth are, "Can I go play outside?"

You are a friend to all.  And everyone is your friend.  The minute you meet someone you tell me they are your friend.  Do you know their name?  Nope.  But they are your friend.  It makes your mama both very proud of you and very nervous at the same time.  But this is always who you have been.  "That's my friend!" has always been in your vocabulary from little on.

You do all the things an eight year old does. 

It should be easy for me to believe.

Today you are eight years old.

I don't know how that happened.

Happy Birthday, Joey!

I love you!

Just Thursday





Outside my window... It is rainy and foggy.  The perfect day to sit around and do nothing.  If you don't already have a million things to do.  Which I do.  Boo.

Today I feel... Tired, sore, lazy, and blaahhhh

I am thinking... about what to make for dinner tonight.

I am thankful...  for the way life has worked out.  I'm such a lucky lady.

Tomorrow I am going to... Do a bunch of laundry.  Shop for Joey's birthday.  Workout.

I am wearing... Spandex shorts, a ratty t-shirt, and my running shoes.  Pretty hot, right?  You should see my hair!  HA! I didn't have enough time to shower after my run because the kids woke up early from their naps.  Now I have to wait until Todd comes home from work.  And I stink.  Yuck.

I wish... Todd and I would have thought about expanding our small family room when we were originally building so that we wouldn't have to do it now, which will be a lot more work.  Duh.  Oh well.  It will be great when it's done.  *sigh*

This weekend... can't come soon enough.

I am reading... many blogs but I'm not commenting much.  Lately I feel like I don't have much to say.

I am working on... myself constantly.

Yesterday I... still had a touch of the flu.

I am hoping... the renovation of our family room goes super quickly.

I am hearing... the kids playing in their blanket fort.

I bet you didn't know... that I can't stand it when people say "irregardless" or "expecially" or "libary" or "melk" or "samwich" (the list could go on and on)

One of my favorite... television shows is Survivor and it just started again last night.  And OOOOHHHH BOY, it was a doosey!  So good.

If I could travel anywhere, I would choose... somewhere warm and tropical and romantic for the hubby and I.  We've never been to Hawaii and have always said we'd go for our 10 year anniversary, but things being as they are it doesn't look like we will be able to.  Ah well.  Someday.

A Good One

On Friday night Todd surprised me with these: (although there were originally 6.  I ate two before I could even get my camera out.)

And this:

It was a wonderful surprise after a long day.  The man is lovely.  And smart.  He is a good one, for sure.  It was a perfect way to celebrate Valentine's Day a little bit early.  He knows me well.

The rest of the weekend continued to be lovely, despite having a slight case of the flu on Sunday.  The weather was in the upper 40's all weekend, which may not sound great to some of you, but to us Wisconsinites it is AWESOME.  We were very happy.  The kids spent a lot of time outside with Todd and I got some very much needed alone time on Saturday when I traveled to Madison to audition for Listen To Your Mother.  I read this piece (with some modifications) and it seemed to go well.  We shall see. 

After the audition I went to the mall.  By. Myself.  It was amazing!  I can not remember the last time I got to stroll through a nice mall all by myself.  I tried on dresses.  I bought Todd some Packer stuff for Valentine's Day (nothing says romance like Packer football!).  I bought little treats for the kids.  And I even bought some new underwear at Victoria's Secret.  I can't tell you how excited I am about that.  I have lost quite a bit of weight lately and I had no idea what size bra I should be wearing.  After being properly measured and given the right size bra I feel like a brand new woman.  I am so comfortable now.  And I look much better, thankyouverymuch.  When I got home that afternoon everyone was happy to see me, and that is always a good thing.

Sunday was a bit of a struggle because I had the flu, though I think it was a mild case.  When my stomach settled down some I was able to take a bit of medicine and then I felt much better.  Todd had taken the boys to church and then to the store and lunch so Grace and I got some quality snuggle time too.  When Todd and the boys returned they brought a brand new printer/scanner/copier with them to replace the one that the boys had previously broken (they must have jammed something up inside of it cuz it was seriously damaged).  I was very excited. 

The rest of the evening was spent making Valentine's Day cards and coloring.  And I made Todd's favorite soup, because he certainly deserved it.  And even though Todd started to come down with the same flu I had we are all feeling healthy and well again this morning, just in time to enjoy the "day of love".  I gave the kids their own special little valentines and the day started out as it should, with excitement, and happiness, and hugs.  Then I bundled them up and shuffled them off to school to enjoy more Valentine's Day madness.

Yep.

It was a good one. 

I hope you have your own "perfect" Valentine's Day too!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Another Year

Bright blueberry eyes always smiling.

So slow to anger,

So quick to forgive.

A happy boy.

A loving boy.

I remember your sweaty, little head resting against my shoulder.

Your soft curls would tickle my cheek.

You wrapped your arms around my neck and 

Rested your round belly against mine.

I can still feel you there.

Warm breath in my ear. 

I wanted to hold you like that forever.

And now another year has past. 

No longer a chubby little baby

But a boy, long and lean.

So slow to anger,

So quick to forgive.

A happy boy.

A loving boy.

With bright blueberry eyes always smiling. 

Happy Birthday, my dear Benny boy.  I love you so.

Superbowl Hangover

I have such a hangover today, which is strange because I really didn't have anything to drink yesterday (well okay, I had one drink that I nursed all day long in between serving food and being a hostess and watching the game and wiping butts-my kids' butts that is-and eating too much food and feeding my kids and and and).  But I feel like I've been run over by a truck, none the less.  However, since the Packers WON the SUPERBOWL yesterday my aches and pains and sore throat and tired body just don't matter.  It was a GREAT day.  And a fabulous party.

We had such a great group of people cheering our team on.  We ended up with about 35 people in our house for the night.

Everyone was feeling so festive!

Green and gold was everywhere.

The kids had a blast playing with all the party favors.

Tommy loved cheering on his favorite player, #52, Clay Matthews.

Gracie even cheered and danced for the Packers.

Joey was crazy and hopped up on too many sweets and lots of other fun kids to play and chase around with.

Todd was calm and happy for the first half, and a little less calm (that's putting it mildly) for the second half.

I was happy that I could actually get my kids to sit still for a few seconds to get a picture of all of us.

And then the Packers pulled off a victory!!!!!!!  And the crowd went wild! This shot was actually taken a few minutes after they won.  I was too busy screaming and jumping up and down to take any pictures right away.

Then we all danced around like a bunch of goons.  It was awesome.

After the party crowd dispersed it got really crazy at our house.  It was the latest we had ever let the kids stay up past their strict 8:00 bedtime.   They were so exhausted they began bawling over the smallest and weirdest things.  After we were done cleaning up the food and the mess we attempted to get the kids to bed.  Joey was bawling and crying so hard he could hardly get his jammies on.  Tommy began freaking out and then suddenly threw up all over his bed and the floor.  Then he ran to the bathroom and threw up two more times.  Once we cleaned up the vomit and got everyone to bed the boys fell asleep in two seconds.  Gracie, however, continued to talk in her bed until close to midnight.  I'm sure she was going over all the fabulous plays the Packers had and was just too wound up to sleep.

Finally, Todd and I headed off to bed a little after midnight (once we knew Grace was finally asleep).  About a half an hour later as I was falling asleep Ben began screaming for us.  We ran to his room and he yelled at us, "I have to POOP SO BAD!!!!!!"   We raced him to the bathroom, sat him on the toilet and then he proceeded to cough so hard he almost threw up.  That went on for a half an hour.  We gave the kiddo a little more medicine, put some Vicks on the chest, and carted him off to bed once again.  Tommy and Joe slept through the whole incident (even though Tommy and Ben share a room) and at last the night was quiet.

We got about 4 hours of sleep before Joe woke us up.  We are tired this morning.  Tired and happy with many wonderful memories to last us a lifetime.

I am so happy for my Packers.  Such a great group of guys.  After such a year of struggle and injuries and craziness they pulled it off.  No one expected the Packers to do anything this year.  Most teams wouldn't even make it to the playoffs with the injuries the Packers had.  No one would have dreamed.  But they did it.  They brought the trophy home!  Congratulations, Packers!!!!!!!

Bring It Home

In a few hours there will be approximately 40 people in my house, and I am still in my pajamas.  I've been too busy finishing up my decorations and cleaning to worry about getting dressed.  Or eating.  Or brushing my hair.  For the past two days all I've been doing is decorating. 

I decorated the front hallway.

The front door (and the library door too).

I decorated the dining room.

The kitchen.

The living room.

I even decorated the basement.

All over. 

Every window is covered with green and gold (even the bathroom windows).  There is more food here than I think we could ever need.  Soon I will strategically set the food out and warm it up and arrange it neatly.  Then I will wake my children from their naps and paint them in green and gold.  Eventually I will get dressed and maybe even brush my hair. 

There is so much excitement in this house I feel it could burst.  And the guests haven't even arrived yet.  This is a big day.  I am so pumped that I'm startin' to feel sick.  Butterfly sick.  But I'm ready.  And I hope they are too. 

GO PACK, GO!!!!!

Hurray! January Is Over!!!!

It is February 1st today!  Yahoo!!!!  That means bad old, dreary, long, cold, miserable January is gone for another whole year!  That makes me a happy lady.  Plus I love February.

February is such a fun month.  It is filled with birthdays and Valentine's Day (and that means chocolate covered strawberries for MEEEEEeeeee!!!) and the Superbowl!  It is a nice, short, little month that makes me feel spring isn't far away.  Every time I think about February red and pink immediately pop into my head.  It makes me feel so warm and fuzzy.  I love February. 

And today for a special treat we are part of the massive snowstorm that is sweeping the nation.  The school district called for an early release day today and already cancelled school tomorrow.  Yippee!!!  I love snow days!  It may be too cold to actually play out in the snow for very long but we'll manage to find some fun anyway.  Movies and popcorn and a nice, cozy fire.  Oooooo.   Oh!  And snow ice cream!  Have you made it?  We will definitely be making some tomorrow.  It's easy peasy and a sure-fire treat that will really get your kiddos excited. 

Snow Ice Cream
4 to 5 cups snow
1/2 cup powder sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk

Mix the milk and vanilla together and add the powdered sugar and snow.  Tada!  Easy!  Add little spinkles to the top or chocolate syrup.  It's awesome!



Ahhhh, February.  Thank you for coming.  I'm so glad your here.