My Birthday

My birthday rocked yesterday. I babysat for money for the McVan, heard from most everyone I love, did the Meals on Wheels route with a full van of 6 kids, told the coffee boys at Scooter’s to make my mocha espresso smoothie EXTRA FAT and got a little sunburn at the pool. I also got a crockpot I wanted and a French silk pie. And had tacos for dinner. And slept very well despite having 3 extra boys sleeping over in my family room for me to worry over.

And I got to hear “The Year of the Cat” on the radio … I dig that song, even though the guy has a freaky voice. Yeah, I know I'm a child of the 70s for sure.

Gotta go get ready for Joel’s 8th birthday party now … catch you tomorrow.

By the way, don't freak out that there's music on the blog now ... just mute it if you don't like it ... or go to the bottom of the screen to the Playlist and pick a different song!

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

I was born in Germany 38 years ago today and am taking the day off! Well, off from blogging, anyway. The plans for today are to "babysit" a couple of boys (ages 8 and 10), do our Meals on Wheels route, probably hit the pool, and get ready for Joel to have HIS birthday sleepover tonight with some friends. And clean the house for the party tomorrow.

Better take my Geritol ... haha!

Thanks for putting up with me all these years, Ma and Pa.

Samwiches

So Michael has named this in-utero baby Samwich (not Sandwich).

And guess what? For the last few weeks I don’t care about Mexican food anymore.

Lately I have to have really good, fresh bread with cold cuts, cheese and mayo. Even for breakfast, because nothing else sounds good.

I have to have Subway with lots of lettuce and banana peppers.

I discovered Jimmy John’s in Hays, Kansas (ah, the Beach Club #12).

I dig a good, thin hamburger (Steak and Shake) with tons of tomato and lettuce and pickle.

And it doesn’t count as a sandwich, but I can’t get enough of McDonald’s crispy Ranch snack wrap.

Maybe this baby will someday own a place called “Samwich’s Sandwiches.”

And will create a famous sandwich called "The Tiebreaker."

Decluttering Kid Stuff

We went to see my husband’s identical twin brother and his wife and 3 kids recently. They live 4 hours away, so we make it a weekend and stay at a hotel with a pool so we don’t get all up in their space and intrude upon their lives with all our special needs and little kids.

After a tour of the gorgeous remodeling they’ve done, something hits me. It’s the ABSENCE of toys. Their house isn’t all junked up with toys. Even the kids’ rooms don’t have a million toys and stuffed animals in them. The basement has one of those multi-bin set-ups, but it’s not nearly as brimming over as ours is.

I think of all the time they and the kids must save in picking up toys and of all the creative things the kids do instead of digging through tons of toys. I mean, my kids are pretty imaginative and play outside a lot, but that just makes me notice even more how many of their toys are rarely touched.

Some toys I’m nostalgic about or worry they’ll miss if I get rid of them. But I have to suck it up and JUST DO IT anyway or the toys will take over the house. Sure, I have a bunch of little kids and we homeschool, which means we’re home all day, but that doesn’t mean we have to have SO MANY toys to pick up all the time.

And they DON’T get picked up all the time. I get lazy about it and just let their rooms turn into messy pits when if I got rid of a bunch of stuff, their rooms would be easier to pick up for them AND for their little friends who come over and help make messes.

The leather ottoman I got for the living room was genius. “Kids and Friends of My Kids, throw all the toys in the ottoman.” When it overflows, toys either go downstairs to the bin set-up or upstairs to their rooms. When THOSE overflow, it’s time for some purging.

Purging pre-birthdays and pre-Christmas is a good idea, also.

So when I pick up that Littlest Pet Shop igloo they never play with (it goes with the huskies), I need to get over the guilt or the nostalgia and just put it in a giveaway pile for some kid who may stumble upon it at a thrift store and freak out with excitement.

I have to work on teaching my kids about STUFF being only material, well, STUFF.

Michael Always Cracks Me Up

I kept promising Michael he could have a pet for his 6th birthday since Joel got a hamster for his. Michael had a grow-a-frog last summer, but it died pretty fast.

So we went to our favorite pet store in Belton, Missouri called Sherri’s Pet Emporium and purchased a Betta fish named Feeadore. Not THEA-dore. FEE-A-DORE.

The other day Michael told me he was hungry and goes, “What do I eat for hungry?”

Here is his phonetic sea creature picture. For those of you who don’t read the language of Michael, the top right one is a peanut butter and jelly fish. Jelly is spelled “J.E.” because that’s basically how Aron always jokingly says it. The one on the left is a SGWID.



I think we need to stop saying “roast beast” and “pizgetti.”