31 is Great!

This won't be long. So far, 31 is awesome. What a great birthday. Honestly, I can't remember a better birthday in quite sometime. Lots of wishes from friends and family. 3rd graders singing "Happy Birthday" to me. Jeb thinking I was 16. Lottery tickets to scratch. A nice family dinner. Great cards and presents from the boys (can opener, blade sharpener, and snow flake lights). All of them picked out with love. Texts from saxophone players (HILARIOUS!!!!! Thanks Amy!!!) A phone call from Japan. My only complaint, I didn't have cake today. I'm a big fan of cake. Not to worry. There will be cake on Friday!!! I am very lucky. What a great day. I will go to bed happy and looking forward to a great year ahead!

Mraz, Sax, and Mayhem

Oh geez, I feel like a little school girl still. My heart is still all a flutter. Last night was the big Jason Mraz concert. The one I've been waiting for since July 30th when I bought my ticket. He did not disappoint. He freakin' rocks my world!

A little background. Amy, Steffanie, and I went to see Jason and Gavin DeGraw on July 17th. We were lucky enough to be front row center. I had a WHOLE bunch to drink and was having a super good time. The saxophone player and I talked back and forth the whole show. We asked him to meet us for the Chicago show. After a few too many facebook and myspace messages, he caved.

While we were waiting in line last night, Carlos came out to say hi. That was really nice of him. It would have been nicer if he would have invited us inside, but no such luck. It was freakin' freezing as you can imagine. Chicago, November, No coats, Not fun!

When we got inside, we were fairly close to the front. Because I have way too much time on my hands, and because I had been looking forward to this night for SO long, I made up signs for the show. One said, "Carlos You're Saxy", the other one referenced a song lyric that was pretty damn funny, but I'm not repeating what that sign said. It did make them laugh, so that made us happy, or at least me!
The concert was great. Jason is absolutely amazing, and I hope to see him again, although I don't know when that will happen. I acted like a freakin' idiot and it felt good.

So after the show, we talked to Carlos again. We thought we were going to meet the band for a drink. We ended up at this goth bar that would have been hilarious and probably a little bit scary, but I didn't care. My feet hurt so bad I just wanted to sit down! After a lot of screwing around, we headed back to the Gold Coast on the El. It was 12:30. What a ride!
2 guys on the train were obviously looking for trouble. The started beating the crap out of a homeless guy. We were super scared. They were yelling at everyone to stop looking. One of them ended up stealing his hat. We decided to get up and move to the back of the train. The jerks continued to beat random people on the train. They broke a guys glasses and kicked a girl to the ground. They finally kicked them off and we were on our way again. WOOPS!!! The train was an express and we ended up missing our stop! We had to get off at a random stop. No one was at this station. You could just hear random yelling and cussing down the way. We seriously thought we were going to get robbed or worse. I hid my rings in my pants and we were barely breathing so they wouldn't know we were there!!!! Scary!
FINALLY, we make it to our stop. We got some Jimmy John's and headed back to the hotel. We all got ready for bed, ate our sandwiches and hit the hay. We had just turned out the lights and we heard fire trucks stopping close by. We all got out of bed and looked out the window (from our room on the top floor). What do ya know? Firetrucks are right downstairs! We decided if anything happened, we would have a super long walk down 14 flights of stairs. We then called it a day. At 3:30 in the morning, we packed up and headed for home! This was the LAST picture we took of the evening. I made it home about 6:30 am, just in time to see Evan wake up and the sun rise. I haven't pulled a 23 hour night for loooooong time. All in all, I had a blast. The concert was great, the signs were funny, Carlos was nice and I have great friends who humored me! I'm not sure how they feel, but this weekend is going down as one of my all time favorites. Fun (and scary) times to remember! I wish Andrea could have gone, I'm sure that would made it that much more fun, but when it's all said and done, it was truly an adventure! LOVE IT!!!!

2 Random Jeb Stories

Story #1
Evan has been extremely interested in learning all about the body and the functions of each organ and system. Pancreas, spleen, endocrine system, you name it, he wants to know what it does. One of his favorites is the uvula. . . as a kid I called it a "hoodler". To be completely honest, I still do. For whatever reason, it is a fascinating body part. So, because Evan has been talking about the body, guess who picked up on that? That's right! Little Brother!
In the car today, Jeb asked me how babies come out of tummies (oh Lord)! Thank God I could tell him that the doctor cut my belly open to get him out. . .gotta love c-sections! He then asked me, "When I was in your tummy did I sleep or play?" I told him he played a little and slept most of the time. He then asked me, "when I was playing, did I play with your uvulas?" Gotta love that child! God only knows what he thinks my "uvulas" are, but it was just too funny for me!

Story #2
Jeb has started to learn songs for his upcoming Christmas program for preschool. He came home from school today talking about "little Lord Jesus". I asked him if he was singing "Away in a Manger". We worked on the song a couple of times together. I love love love to hear little kids sing that song. When Scott came home from work, I asked Jeb to sing it for dad. He did a great job with a little help from his mom.
This was his version:

Away in a manger
no crib for a bed
the little Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head
The stars in the sky look down where he lay
the little Lord Jesus asleep ON HIS HEAD!

Love it!!!

Thank A Vet

So, here I go, off on another tangent. Tomorrow is Veteran's Day. Probably not that many people think about it. Honestly, if I didn't have a kid in school, I probably wouldn't either.
Last night, Saving Private Ryan was on TV. That is one of "those movies" that never gets old for me. Every time it's on, I always watch it, and not just because I have a thing for Matt Damon. I am always amazed by what so many men (and women) sacrificed for our country. I'm sure it doesn't even come close to what actual war is like. I'm sure it is much worse. I can't imagine being brave enough to put my life on the line like that. Furthermore, as a mother, I can't fathom letting either of my boys go off into harm's way. I think about my grandpa who served on an aircraft carrier. He kept a diary while on board. That was a HUGE no no. They weren't allowed to keep journals for fear they might fall into enemy hands. It really is amazing to read. If I recall, I think they were bombed . . .it's been quite a few years since I've read it.
Tomorrow there is a Veteran's Day program at Evan's school. Every year that I go, I always get choked up. Sometimes I'm just overly emotional. What can I say. On the way out, after the program is over, all the vets line up by the doors and the kids and everyone else shakes their hands and thanks them for their service to our country.
So my thought for the evening is that everyone should thank a vet tomorrow. I think it's easy to become numb to all that we hear on TV about the war in Iraq. I just think it's super important to honor all those who have served our country and risk their lives for our freedom.
That's all.

Tangent over.

Seacrest out.

End of an Era

Well, he's all grown up. Okay, not really, but I can feel it coming. Evan lost his last tooth yesterday. No more visits from the tooth fairy for him. I feel so lucky that he lost all of his teeth before he "found out". She came last night for her last visit (amidst all the puking). She upped the ante by leaving 2 dollars as opposed to the 1 she usually leaves. She also wrote him a nice note that she only had to practice 7 times before it was perfect! : )

It read:

Dear Evan,

Thank you for all of your teeth. I will miss you.

Love,

Tooth Fairy

The worst part about no more teeth to lose is that it is officially time for braces. Yikes!! So far, Jeb hasn't showed any signs of loose teeth, although we have to check every few days! I can only assume we have another couple of months before her visits start up again.

Evan has also learned to make grilled cheese sandwiches, spaghetti sauce, bagels, pancakes, taco dip, and sugar cream pie. Yesterday he made his own breakfast and lunch. Even Jeb makes his own lunch now. Bologna sandwich with lettuce, cheese, ketchup, mustard and mayo. I am officially obsolete. Except for cleaning up puke. . . I'm still good for that.

Weekends Like These. . .

Weekends like these tend to suck balls. It wasn't completely horrible. I'm sure there were some good points; like kicking Scott's ass at Scrabble. Honestly, I don't know why he even bothers! Of course, we were home on a Saturday night (for the second week in a row) playing Scrabble. We're pretty happenin' people.

Anyway, one of the things in my top 2 things I think sucks most about being a mom (besides the stretch marks) is having sick kids. The number 1 thing is seeing your kids get hurt; physically, (requiring stitches or a cast, or surgery) and emotionally. It's horrible. This is why I always say, the first little bitch to break my boy's heart is gonna go down!

Woops! That was a tangent!

So, sick kids. . .The older they get, the worse the messes tend to get. Not cool. And why does it always happen in the middle of the night? Why can't it happen at 3 in the afternoon when no one is sleeping and I'm not making lunch or dinner? I mean, come on! Poor little Jebbie. Woke me up a 4:30 am to tell me he puked on his bed. As I went to clean that up, he didn't' make it to the toilet in time and got to clean up THAT mess. GROSS! I was up with him until 5:30 cleaning up stuff and getting him showered. Poor kid. I don't deal with puke and poop very well. He was pretty miserable all day Saturday. Right before bed on Saturday he spiked a fever. Thankfully he woke up today feeling better. No one else seems to have caught it, which is even better! Woot woot!

So another thing that sucks is being a dumbass. Let me preface this by saying my mom told me I was born with weak ankles. Saturday was so nice, I decided to clean out the garage. It looked like shit and was driving me crazy. I got it all cleaned. All the garbage was out, everything was put away and I even cleaned the floor. It was awesome. I was all done. I decided to take all of the summer stuff down to the basement. On my way down the steps, I missed the last one, landed on my ankle and thought for sure I had broken it. I didn't. Just sprained it. It seriously looks like I have a golf ball hanging out of my ankle. BUT I HAVE WEAK ANKLES! I think that's the third time in about 7 years that I've done that. I'm going to start telling people that Scott is pushing me down the stairs. At least that won't make me look like a dumbass who can't walk.

At 5:00 this morning, I woke up because my foot hurt so bad. I couldn't put any pressure on it. I turned on the light and my entire foot (including toes) were freakin' HUGE!!! Scottie got me some Motrin and rubbed some thera-gesic (sp) on my foot. What a guy! So basically, I'm just hobbling around like what? . . . a DUMBASS!

Possible the worst part of the weekend is as follows: My parents cleaned out the storage unit. I had to go over today and get my stuff. There were some books that I'd written in 1st grade. Pretty funny. But the pictures. Oh the pictures that were there. Well, perhaps there is nothing more to say. I'll just show you. . . . . .
What's up 1993!!!!!

Cedar Point

So, last weekend was the big camping trip. This weekend it was Cedar Point. Much more my style. I had been watching the weather all week long. The chances for rain just kept getting worse and worse. We left about 7 am. It rained the entire way there. Ron and Julie got a room at the Breakers so we could get in an hour early. We were there with plenty of time to spare. . . but that damn rain!!!!
It was pouring so hard, there was no point to go over to the park. We decided to go have lunch and see if it would let up. Nope. So we went back to the hotel to take the boys swimming. It's important to note this was all they cared about.

Cedar Point = Whatever

Hotel Pool = AWESOME!!!

We were at the pool for about 20 min. Thank God it was only 3 feet deep the entire length. Scott and I didn't have to get in! Of course as soon as we got to the pool, the rain came to an almost end. We let the boys swim a couple more minutes and headed over (about 2 pm)

Some of you may know that we scarred Evan for life by taking him on the Millennium Force 2 years ago. This may not sound like a big deal, but it was his first real roller coaster. Scott and I will never forgive ourselves for this! Evan is completely terrified and will not go near a roller coaster. He's totally down with the bumper cars.

Jeb on the other hand is a little dare devil. He LOVED the roller coasters. He'd only go on them once and he was done. He's goofy.

They had had enough of the park by 5 pm so Ron and Julie took them back to swim some more. Scott and I stayed to ride more rides. My legs still hurt from walking all day. And I walk fast. Abnormally fast I've been told. So I pretty much "power walked" for 8 hours. Now my hips are making me feel like I'm 86 years old!

Overall, it was a good day. We rode everything at least 3 times. We sat in the front of Top Thrill Dragster and got COVERED in bug guts. It was really pretty funny. Lord knows that is my ideal vacation. I'm way too type A. It's a great release for me. I feel refreshed after a day at Cedar Point. Scott likes it because I make him like it! Okay, that's not true. He has a good time too.

We've decide next year no kids. They can only last 3 hours and they don't really care about the rides. Therefore, they need to stay home so Mom can enjoy her day. Because in the end, they want me to go, they need me to go. Otherwise, I'm likely to smack them around more than is necessary. . .and that's really not good for any of us!

Camping is for Boys.

So, Saturday I experienced my first camping trip. Let me start by saying, I woke up at 5:45 am with a horrible sore throat. Jeb sounded as bad as I did. I didn't think he and I should go. Jeb started crying. Needless to say, we went. Four hours of fun in the car. Need I say more? My head was throbbing (that's what he said) and I couldn't get enough to drink. That meant stopping to pee every couple of minutes.

We got to the campsite and set up the tent. Guess what. It started RAINING!! Hilarious! After the tent was set up, we went to the canoe rental place. From there we had to follow the canoe guy to go drop off our cars where we would end the trip. Then the canoe guy took us on to the starting point of the trip. About half way there we realized we had left the boys' life jackets in the car. A $75 dollar fine for each! Back we went to get the life jackets! We FINALLY got on the river. Scott and I could not figure out how to steer the raft (not a canoe). We kept doing 360s. There was nothing to do but laugh our asses off. We did eventually get our act together and got it going straight. Jeb was in the raft with us and Evan was with Ron and Julie. At one point, we caught up to them. Jeb decided to JUMP from our raft to theirs. Very scary. I'm telling you, that kid has NO fear! We finished the trip, headed back to the campsite.

Scott and Ron got the fire going. Jeb finished off a bag of marshmallows for dinner. Chocolate was dessert! Poor Evan. Scott showed him how to crack a rock by heating it up and then pouring water over it. Evan assumed the rock would be cool and picked it up. He now has huge blisters on his thumb and index finger. Poor kid. Ron and Julie tried to get the boys to go to sleep. They failed. Finally, Scott and I went in the tent. I usually don't go to bed until 11 or 12. 9:00 was way too early for me. I laid there most of the night. BTW- not a big fan of air matresses. No one farted that much. That was good. Didn't hear any animals close by. Even better. My throat still was a mess and I didn't sleep well.

Probably the best part of the night came somewhere around 1:00 am. Scott and I both had to pee, so we went outside. I didn't feel like walking all the way to the bathroom, so I grabbed some paper towel and a near by tree. I tried to get my feet far enough away from any splatter. I neglected to realize the pee was running down hill. My freakin' pants got soaked by my ankles. It was disgusting. I was so pissed. Pun intended. Of course I wasn't going to sleep with pee soaked pants. So I roughed it out in my undies the rest of the freezing cold night!

We got up, packed up. I didn't brush my teeth or shower! Very hard for me to do! We got home about 1:00 today. At 2 I spiked a fever. I told Scott that I had a good time, but wouldn't be sad if he went with "just boys" next year. I'm pretty sure if I wouldn't have been sick I would have had a better time. Also if there was beer. Beer would have made it alot more fun.

Anyway, we all survived. Next weekend we're doing Cedar Point. That should be a lot better. I can deal with hotel rooms and heated pools!

Room mothers unite!

I don't really have anything worth while to say. . . do I ever? Anywho, I just felt like writing -er- typing a bit. So my excitement of the day was the big PTO meeting this morning. I volunteered to take care of the room mother assignments ; mainly because I have a small problem with holding grudges. I'm sure you didn't know that about me (all 2 people that read this). Anyway, the old b**** that used to do it, snubbed me when Evan was in kindergarten and it pissed me off to no end. Then she tried to snub me again in first grade. I wasn't having it! I totally got in and did a good job mind you! Unfortunately for me Evan had been in her daughter's class since preschool through second grade. Good news for me, they moved this year!!! So my ultimate revenge was to take over the organizing. I'm really excited to put my OCD to good use. Unlike that stupid lady, I'm going to be fair in my choices. Except for Evan's class. I'm putting myself as room mother for his class and everyone else can suck it! Evan is so lucky to have me as his mom. Poor kid. Oh well, next year Jeb will be in school there, and I'll start smothering him as well!

Back To School.

I am so miserably full right now, that the thought of going to bed is not even a possibility. That's what happens when you eat at the Mexican place in Webster I guess. I didn't even eat all of my dinner. . .but I did have a couple bites of Evan and Jeb's. Is that bad? So much for trying to lose 10 lbs. before Jason's concert. Oh well, I'll get back on track tomorrow. Besides, I cleaned all day, so I didn't take time to eat breakfast or lunch; and then rode bikes in the scorching heat today. That has to be worth some burnt calories. RANDOM!!

Anyway, Evan is officially a 3rd grader. I remember that year so well. Good ol' Mrs. Kroh. That happened to be the first year I got my name written on the board. I don't think they do that anymore. He had a really good week. I'm worried about some of the kids in his class, but Evan is such a good kid that I hope he will be okay.

He had to change into gym clothes for the first time on Thursday. He was so nervous. I don't really get it. The kid lives in his undies. Anyway, he said there was one little place where you could change and no one could see you. He said everyone was lined up! Too cute. He was super pissed when he found out he would have to learn cursive this year. I think he is secretly excited but doesn't want anyone to know. cursive = grown up.

He likes his teacher alot. That's good. She reads to them after lunch. I asked if she turned the lights out. He was so shocked that I knew that. Seriously. I remember 3rd grade really well!

Jeb is missing Evan while at school. We went to the grocery store on Friday right after dropping Evan off. We were home by 10:00. Jeb asked if it was time to go get Evan yet. He asked me 3 more times before we actually went to get him. He is counting down the days until he is back in preschool. I honestly don't know what I will do with myself. 3 days of 2 1/2 hours to myself is more than I can handle! I'd like to think I'll exercise or something, but most likely I will sit and eat. Then when November rolls around I'm gonna hate myself! Oh well.

Birthdays are OVER!!!

So all of the birthdays are FINALLY over. I know it's an exciting time but, 5 birthdays in 3 weeks is a lot! I always get so excited for cake towards the end of July and by the time Evan's bday is here, I don't want to see cake for long time.
So Evan had a bon fire for his party. He is such a funny (sometimes frustrating) kid. He had to invite friends and then spent the whole time off by himself. It brought back memories of his party last year when I swore I would not have another "friends" party for him. So seriously, next year it will be just family. He just likes to do his own thing. That's absolutely fine, but when you've got other kids there who want to be entertained it kind of sucks!
He got a Star Wars lego set that he needed desperately. He has done nothing but hang out in his undies and build lego ships. It's really sweet and I know soon enough I'm going to miss these days. He's 9, but he still gives me kissed and hugs. He does have to remind me not to embarrass him from time to time. I have a feeling those reminders are going to be coming more frequently soon.
So we're off on a bike ride right now. Both boys got bikes for their birthdays, an I intend to put them to good use. Not to mention mom need to work some of that cake off of her ass!

It Goes So Fast.

So today my little bitty baby boy turned 5 years old. This little boy born 6 weeks early has become one of the funniest human beings I have ever met in my entire life. I know in my heart he is destined for great things. He is a natural born leader. . .hopefully he will use it for good! It's hard to believe my "Little Pic" has grown so fast. He's pretty sure he found hair on his chest and that his feet have grown now that he's 5. Evan even said Jeb felt heavier than he did yesterday when he tried to pick him up. It's amazing how much you can grow overnight. Although he told me last night he was going to miss being four, he found comfort in the fact that 5 year olds get to learn how to read and get visits from the Tooth Fairy. AWESOME!

On another note, yesterday was the 12th anniversary of Laura's death. It's always hard to deal with the 26th of July and her death; and know that the next day I have to get excited for a celebration of life. I miss her still. It sucks not to have a best friend to share life's moments. I have friends, but I know I will never find that bond again. I lost it too young. I will always be thankful for the time we did have together and for the gifts she gave me (including Scott). I miss her. 12 years is a long time not to talk to your best friend. Wedding, 2 kids, life and she's not here. I know there is a reason for everything. I know that. 12 years. It sucks. (deep breath and. . .) HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEBBIE!!

Virgin Blog

So here is my very sad attempt to blog. Though still not exactly sure what the point of it all is, I'm bound and determined to get hip to what the youngsters are doing these days.
In actuality, I'm hoping I can use this to remember funny shit my kids do. I always think I will remember stuff, but I don't. Perhaps this will be my saving grace when I'm 93 and can't remember my own name. Good times. Good times indeed.
Oh, I might use it to vent about my husband when he pisses me off. Yeah, that sounds like a really good plan.