Claire Huxtable Revisited....

It has been almost a year since updating my blog... Yeah, so what, I'm lame AND very busy. Just had to share this one story that reminded me that blogging can be fun.

So, last week Sunday shortly after my hero arrived back in the Carolinas, we were rudely interrupted by a "Mom! I need to eat!" through my bedroom door. I chuckled at first because this child had no idea what was in store.


I gave him a talkin' to about how he shouldn't be addressing his mother in a disrespectful and demanding tone. And that if he's old enough to decide what he would like to eat, then he's certainly old enough to fix his OWN lunch or snack and doesn't need to depend on his Mama for EVERYTHING!!

skip forward 6 days (today)...

I'm on the computer, researching why neither of the monster's iPods are not working. I've been tech-ed out for the last two and half hours on this stuff! This time in the midst of all my frustrations with Apple, Dell and CNET techies, I hear...."Mom! I'm hungry!!"

And it was a flashback all over again! Oh good lord I didn't hear some child demand I come to his rescue to beat down the hunger beast in his belly....Did I????

I quickly rose to my feet, trotted myself to the kitchen where he stood and I just glared at Thing 2 like he just ate MY lunch (lol).

Thing 1 says: Uh, I just got in trouble for talking to Mom and saying the same thing.
Me: What did you just say to me?
Thing 2: Mom? I'm hungry????

Now he could see from the look on my face that I was NOT happy. Yeah, I let him have it. He knew better. He quickly remembered that he was perfectly capable of making himself a sandwhich or grab a lunchable or heat up left overs out of the fridge.
I was Claire....again. I'm posting the clip again from a previous blog. I swear.....One day, these monsters I love so much will catch on eventually.

I'm So Excited!!!!

Okay, so I come home from work (not as late as I have been) and I go check the mail...Wow! Tons of it there! As I sift through it pulling it out of the mailbox one at a time, I see a letter from West Virginia University. I applied to their Master's program in OT this year....it's been a doozey of an application process! Let me tell ya!

So of course this is like the third of seven pieces of mail that I pull out of the mail box and I'm anxious and scared at the same time to finish getting the rest of the mail before opening the letter. I fumble through to find it and begin worrying that they are just thanking me for applying. I turn it over, open the envelope and then pull out the letter (two pages). If I had a thought bubble, you would see.....Gee, how bad is it when they need two pages to tell you you are lame and are being royally rejected? LOL!

I open the pages to see CONGRATULATIONS! You have......and that's all I needed. I didn't bother reading anything else. I just did a little dance in my driveway and ran around in circles and contemplated running next door to tell my neighbor's Dad the good news since he witnessed me acting like a complete moron in the driveway.

I immediately called my hero because I just couldn't wait until he was finished watching his movie that had just started. Too bad! He was just going to have to be one of those people who talked on the phone during the movie! It was such good news! I proceeded to call my boss who had written a letter of recommendation for me and thanked him so much for all of his support.

I of course then called my sister Amber. Cuz afterall, it's her house I'll be crashing each weekend I'm up there! By the time she answered the phone I had made my way into the house. I had just hung up with her not 15 minutes prior, so she had to be wondering what the deal was. I started tell her just as Destry greeted me with a hug and a smile.

I said to Amber, "Hey, I got accepted to WVU! I'm so excited!" Destry is right in front of me just about to hug me when he says, "Mom. you're spitting in my face!" Of course Amber could hear and she started cracking up and so did I. I really lost it....too funny! If you could imagine what someone looks like when someone else might be getting ready to shoot them with a small water gun and fires off one or two sprays. That's what Destry looked like! I laughed so hard! I apologized and told him that that's what happens when you're tall enough headbutt someone in the mouth!

My lil' Sis was excited for me and I could even hear Dave in the background sounding happy for me. What a great day with a touch of comedy! I wish I had a few pics to share or even a video of it, you would've died laughing too!

In honor of what will soon be my alma mater....I will put up a couple of logos and pics. I hope you don't mind me sharing a pic Amber. If so, I'll take it down...but it's just so cute!





Go Big East!!
(sorry Honey, I really mean to say go big ten)

How We REALLY Celebrated Destry's Birthday!

Okay, anyone who knows us, knows that we are HUGE Minnesota Vikings fans. What better way to celebrate Thing 1's birthday than to share it with thousands of other people rooting for our favorite team?

It all started when my bff Chris sent me a text message asking if we would be interested in buying tickets to the Vikings / Jaguars game in Jax Florida. Michael and I were like, YEAH! What kind of question is THAT??!!

So, we discovered that game day was Destry's birthday and of course we cleared it with him to make sure he didn't have any qualms with celebrating it at the game. Okay, not that any of that truly mattered......we were gonna go anyway....But Destry knew the correct answer and had the best outlook for his birthday. He was excited to go to his first NFL game!

We took the trip down to Florida and had a blast at the game. The Jaguars were not having a good day at all, and we were most excited about it. Sorry losers!



So, it was my bff Chris her husband and 4 boys. Yes! I said FOUR boys and our fam including Patrick, the au pair. It started out to be a cool kind of day, but by the end of the 1st qtr, it got pretty warm! The players were taking a much needed breather and having fun doing it. Minnesota hadn't been doing exceptionally well on the road, but this one proved to be a good outcome. Final score 30-12.

The game actually started off mega crazy with turnovers and scores...it was so much fun and guys on the sideline were pretty cool with it.

I cropped the pic so you can tell who's who....not that any of you non-Vikings fans care...


In no particular order (but I'll put my favorite up there first!) #28 Adrian Peterson (aka All Day) #40 Jim kleinsasser, #90 Fred Evans (DT), #69 Jared Allen (another one of my faves), #96 Brian Robison (DE), Mr. Coolness himself, Sidney Rice (he reminds me of a young Randy Moss but not quite as fast.
#5 Chris Kluwe the punter, and last but not least #12 Good Ol' "I give myself concussions" Gus
Frerotte.

By the end of the game, many Jaguar fans were gone. But it just didn't start off well for them. We were living it up over this stuff! If you miss football, cuz it's basketball season, you might enjoy these highlights!
http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d80cbde20

As you can see by the last highlight with 6:55 left in the game, many fans decided to leave. They didn't see him coming! Good ol' #28 just did it in for them!

By the time we left, we thought we were in Minnesota! So many fans were there in Florida! How 'bout them taters! I love the good ol' days!
Our Fam with bff Chris and her Fam after the game.


My Hero (wearing Greenway's jersey) meets up with fans for a pic!

All six of them, all rambunctious....but only two are mine tho!
Aren't they all adorable?? They will all have the girls following them around soon enough!

Destry sits down after the game and devours a birthday treat!

A bear is about to get attacked! Too many Vikings fans around here! Watch your back! Your friend is trying to save you....let him!

Whoops...too late. We've got you surrounded!

Oh no! The bear fights back with a bear hug! LOL... The little guy was so brave!


There were lots of Jaguar fans in this happy-time sports hang-out, so we got a couple of odd looks when we showed up in our purple gear. It was a nice end to a great day! I asked Destry about his special birthday, and he said, "It was awesome!" I think he'll want to do this again next year...

SWEET!!

G'bye

He Got Third Place!!

I'm am....(or should I say we?) are extremely proud of Destry today. I was so excited to be invited to the Civic Oration they were having at his elementary school today. It was the Modern Woodmen of America School Speech Contest and it was fantastic! Well, at least it was for Destry!

Very plain and simple....
The theme this year was "A Person Who Has Touched Many Lives" and Destry chose JFK. Now, I'll admit, I was a little baffled why he chose someone he hardly knew or heard of since so many of his classmates were picking family and non political figures. But the idea was to get them to do research on someone they may find interesting and go through the process of filtering out information and organizing it for a speech.

I'm not going to tell you how bad of a procrastinator he is and how this speech almost got an "F" but that just makes for unnecessary drama.

Destry was really intrigued by his famous quote of "Ask not what your country can do for you; Ask what you can do for your country." So it began there.

He got an "A" on his speech and then was asked to be one of the four from his class to represent it in the school contest. He was chosen out of 123 students overall who had to do speeches. Only 17 made it to the school competition and that is where he placed third. YIPPEEEE!! The first and second place winners get to compete at the county level. I do believe Destry would do well there. A couple of girls beat him out and maybe their speeches were a little more compelling.

First place spoke of how Jesus touched many lives and the second place winner spoke on how her grandpa touched her life and how that influences her. Hmmmm JFK competing with Jesus??? Uh, I don't think so! LOL!!


We couldn't photgraph or videotape during the oration so I don't have any video. I do have some pics of the event before and after. I will let Destry read it if you guys comment and congratulate him.

His teacher called him "a natural" and that made me smile. He's a ham alright!


Here they are waiting for the judges to arrive. I was getting nervous and he's just too calm.



The awards table. There were First, Second and Third Place, 12 Honorable Mentions and everyone got a certificate for participating.



They went from the lowest to the highest. I don't remember which kid was called first, I guess that's not important. But they asked for the top three to stand up. They didn't realize that they were in the top three until the presenter said, "If you don't have a certificate, stand up." I chuckled because when they began calling out the names, I kept saying to myself "Don't call his name. Don't call his name." And when they got to the point for the top three....I didn't care where he placed, just that he placed. Woo Hoo!

All the students did very well, the judges deliberated for over 30 minutes! I certainly didn't want to be in their shoes!

Destry gets his certificate and plaque.



Showing off his pin!


Showing of his plaque! He said he had no idea he would place at all! (awww so modest)


His classmates and his teacher. They all did an awesome job at this contest. Kudos to everyone!


We all celebrated with Destry's favorite sweetspot......Cold Stone Creamery! YUM!
He had his first Cookie Minster and it was tr`e-fab! Of course he didn't say that, but it's late and I'm tired and recovering from a horrible stomach virus that disintigrated my insides....yuck!!

But it was such a good day!
Congratulations Destry! Your Dad and I are super proud of you and love you very much!

It was a dramatic pause..........a very long one indeed

I do apologize to the readers, especially Mom, Dad and lil Sis Amber, for taking such a long pause. Things got kind of crazy which made me lazy and it's nothing you haven't heard before. Don't know if I should pick up where I left off, but for sure there's much updating to be done. Let's start small.....
Thing 1 had a birthday last November. He wanted to have it at Recreation Station, a much lamer version of Dave & Busters, but better than Chuck E Cheese. He was all about the laser tag, roller skating and video games. It was a small party.....(an expensive small party), but he still had a blast. The photos aren't great, but at least they are decent.

Destry cuts his cake!



Declan, Dylan, Destry and Tyler take a break from skating and falling down!


Hmmmm......cake!


What? It's time to open presents?

I Was Claire Huxtable for 10 Minutes!

Last week, the incessant nagging finally got to me. Thing one (Destry) had been bugging me FOREVER about having salmon for dinner. I kept putting it off because it's impossible to find it fresh here and the farm raised isn't really my style and this stuff ain't cheap either. I was also putting it off because it takes a lot to fill the tummies of monsters and my endless pit because the three of us LOVE IT!! My forever Hero could certainly do without it and was happy that I was preparing it on a weekend he wouldn't be here.
So, I take a trip to the store pick up some salmon and ask the boys if they wouldn't mind salmon, green beans and mashed potatoes. These sides were what I already had in the house so they were going to have to deal with it. I usually prepare a stir-fry and rice with it and change it up regularly as to not bore them with having sides at all! They would certainly just eat the salmon.

Be back in a while. Having lunch with Cindy today.....Hmm..Mexican.....Hmm...margaritas....I feel like Homer Simpson.

Okay, so I made it back and it was a fun yet stressful day today. Another blog entry in the making for sure! Just saw the movie "The Haunting of Molly Hartley." Disappointing to say the least. I wasted my free movie tickets! Arrrggghhh!

Okay, back to the story. I get home, fix dinner and then I hear from the broccoli lover himself (Declan despises it), "That doesn't look like green beans, Mom."
"I know dear, but it would've taken longer to fix them up nice and tasty. We didn't have the right things to season them anyway."

Thing 2 (aka Declan) concedes and proceeds to wash up for dinner. They both sit down after a short bit and I hear this from Thing 2:

Thing 2 - Uh, Mom, my mashed potatoes are yellow.
Me - Well, Declan, they're three cheese mashed potatoes, I'm trying something new and they are DELICIOUS!
Thing 2 - Oh yeah, well I could do without the cheese.
Thing 1 - Mom, the potatoes smell like vomit!
Me - Oh, I'm sorry. I guess you're eating vomit for dinner.
Thing 1 - Mom, I really don't like them, they smell funny.
Me - Eat your dinner! Enough about the potatoes.

Thing 2 dives in and begins eating his least favorite item....broccoli! He LOVES mashed potatoes but isn't really feeling this dish.

I see that Thing 1 is playing with his food after devouring his salmon and broccoli. And Thing 2 offers some advice:

Thing 2 - See Destry, you need to eat your least favorite food first and then work your way up by getting the one you hate over with in the beginning. Isn't that the right way to eat, Mom?

Me - There really isn't a right way to eat your food as long as you eat it!

Thing 2 - Destry, I saved the best for last and now I'm eating my salmon, Hmmm....Hmmm it's so yummy for my tummy!

Thing 1 - Mom, can I have more salmon?
Me - No, eat your mashed potatoes first, and then I will give you more salmon if there's any left by the time you're done.
Thing 1 - UUGGGHHHH! But they taste bad!
Me - I'm sure they do, but you let them get cold, now they taste like cold vomit! (I laugh at him and he wasn't happy)
Thing 2 - Destry, they really aren't that bad, but you should've ate them first.
Thing 1 - "Have eaten them" Not "ate", Declan! Mom, could you heat them up for me please?
Me - Okay, but when I do, you will have two minutes to eat them or you won't get any salmon.
Thing 1 - Aww man!

I heat them up, add a little more butter, salt and pepper and place them in front of him. By this time, I'm cleaning up the kitchen and Thing 2 is on his second helping of salmon.

This is my left over plate I made for work, so it's not exactly what our dinner looked like.


I promise you the potatoes were a deep yellow almost orange in color. The pic is somewhat faded.

So, I'm cleaning and hearing a lot of sighing going on at the dinner table. All movement comes to a halt when out of my son's mouth comes:

Thing 1 - Mom, could you NEVER make this again???!!!???

I lost my mind and had a conniption in the kitchen. My head spun around completely and I turned into Claire Huxtable!



I guess I entered a paralell dimension because nearly 10 minutes went by and Thing 1 was looking sad. I had just finished saying...
"Let me tell you something, Destry, I gave you life! Your Dad and I bought this house for you to live in, I go to work everyday to pay for that fork your holding in your hand that our DNA made! I clean the house, pay the bills, I do the grocery shopping, prepare the food, cook the food and even fix your favorite food for dinner sometimes. I give you choices! What other parent gives their kids choices??? Huh???"
Thing 1 - Uh.... But....

Me - Don't you interrupt me when I'm trying to make a point!

How are you gonna tell me what to make and what NOT to make in MY kitchen, in MY house? This is my domain, you just live in this house because I gave you permission..... Do you want to pay for it? Should I let you try to get a job so you can support me from now on? I know it may come to that when I'm old and decrepit, but we got some time now. Maybe then, you can fix whatever YOU want for dinner and you can tell me to eat my dinner or go to bed. Would you like that?

Thing 1 - Actually...
Me - Boy, don't you say another word. I smile politely and say.....Now, are you ready for your second helping of salmon?

The phone rings and it's my Hero. He asks me why I sound different and I tell him that the Claire Huxtable came out of me for a bit and I just finished lecturing HIS son on how the one with the responsibility makes the decisions. And when he can do what I do day in and day out, HE can make dinner. But by that time I'm sure he'll be in his own house with his own wife and she'll be making the decisions anyway.....LOL! Some things may never change! Just kidding!

Well, who knows what will happen. I just know that he caught me a little of guard. It left such an impression on me that I had to tell this story all week long. It may seem a bit harsh, but I wasn't yelling. I had a calm, even tone just like Claire Huxtable. But I meant what I said and that's why he teared up. He knew he wasn't getting out of eating those "vomit smelling" potatoes! Very funny!

Good night!

It was Booo-riffic!!

Take a look at this! I love my monsters. Since they were little tykes (uh 'em, I mean monsters in training) my hero and I have always had fun with Halloween.


We loved football and we loved Halloween, so why not combine the two for fun!
They didn't look like they were all that excited about it, but hey, it was probably late and they knew I was gonna eat all the candy! LOL Not really, Destry was not yet 2 and Declan was 9 mos. Not much candy eatin' there!!

By next Halloween, Destry could tell me what he wanted to be for Halloween. I couldn't believe my ears...Really Destry??? You want to be a what??

Okay, okay....he really wanted to be a pumpkin! I didn't understand and my Hero was a little myphed because it was not very masculine but what do you expect? He's 3. Declan spent much of his time being a pirate. We love pirates in this house! Declan certainly had the voice down. One of his first sentences was ARRRRGGGHHH, I'm a pirate!! Too cute!

Okay, movin' on....
These pics are really old and I wanted to share them because I've been missing that stage before they became monsters. I'll share a couple more from Halloweens past and end telling you a short story from my weekend.



The boys have always chosen what they wanted to be for Halloween and it's always been an adventure since they typically change their minds every other week. Sometimes, it was every day!! You will see a bit of a trend here until this year.





My Hero! Or should I say my heroes!


And this year I was without my Hero Boo-Hoo :~( so it wasn't as fun as it could've been, but we managed to enjoy ourselves.
My next door neighbor and I had decided to do something a little different. We both decorated our yards like graveyards (not different) but decided to put a graveyard walk between the houses (very different). That way the kids didn't have to travel down one drive way and walk up another to get to each other's house. We put our make shift graveyard thoroughfare up Friday afternoon using tarp and canopies and whatever we could find. On the outside, it looked pretty hodge-podge but the kids had spooky-licious fun on the inside. It was kind of a maze on the inside. Here are some pics: By the way, the monsters have named the creepy characters that don our front yard and porch. I guess they feel akin to them....hmmmmm...fancy that.

See, not so scary during daylight!
But this is scary no matter what light! Hi Patrick! You Prom King Zombie! Hi Sunny.. (Demon-spawn Killer of Sunshine needs no costume)! That's her registered name, we call her Sunny for short.

Okay, now for the story. Bear with me, I know this post is a long one already.
This year, the monsters chose to be anything but monsters. They chose an Army soldier and a Ring wraith (from Lord of the Rings). Okay, no problem! No changing your minds boys! So, the Ring wraith was easy, but the soldier wasn't so. Destry wanted to carry a bazooka too! What an imagination that kid has! I shopped around and couldn't find the one that he wanted that was his size and didn't look totally wimpy. And of course a bazooka isn't something the toy companies just make thousands of, right?? It came down to the wire and I was shopping on Halloween-eve so, I sent him a pic of a costume I found and he thought it was GREAT! I couldn't believe his reaction. Didn't think he'd like it. But he was actually excited about it! Of course it's not a pumpkin.....ha ha ha ha ha! But it was orange! See for yourself...


Okay, I'm terrified y'all. This kid actually LIKED being someone who "Got Busted" for that is what is written on his back. And that is the name of the costume! And what's with the ghetto-fied jailhouse pose?? I'm gonna pull my hair out! He refused to let me make him look older with a beard and mustache and barely agreed to the dirt on his face. He wanted to carry a gun so he can say he was an Escaped Convict. He also told me that he didn't want to be an old man in jail because he wanted people to think he did something really bad to get in jail! Okay....I'm trading this kid in for a new one! WHAT???? I quickly told him that kids his age don't go to jail and he piped back, "No Mom, they go to Juvie!" I spent the next 20 minutes lecturing to this kid and finally let him go on his merry way. I told him that the whole scenario was not cute and he agreed and reminded me that it was just pretend. Should I worry folks? I dunno...I guess monsters are truly scary, especially at Halloween.

Leaving you with some pics from decorations at my job. Our department won the decorating contest! Yippee!!

Halloween was great! Can't wait to decorate for Christmas!