Is there no end in sight?

I have been known to enjoy discussing my fascination with viruses and the way they manifest themselves in different people in different ways, even within the same family.

I am so over that. I just want whatever is in my house, and has been in my house for the last week, to leave. STAT.

This is what happens when we don't leave the house for over 48 hours with no end in sight, a quickly emptying fridge, and snow, yes SNOW, expected tomorrow.

Oh well, I suppose this an excellent way to start lent.....offering up the small crosses right?

Mutual Admiration Society

From Beanie:

"I love siblings! If I run around the kitchen with a cardboard box on my head my brother and sister, who are supposed to be finishing their dinner, will laugh uncontrollably. Then they will take turns beating the box to get me to come out and say something funny, which will make me laugh until I fall on the floor. Awesome!"

As my dad says, it doesn't take much to please a soldier.

I shouldn't be mad...

but I still am.

I just found out that my kindergartner got to watch 1 or 2 PG kiddie movies (Madagascar 1 and 2) on the way to and from his field trip today. They aren't horrible movies but I had specifically reviewed them and decided not to play them for my kids.

I am just annoyed that a parent wouldn't think before showing movies in her car. The school had no part in it.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

The Science Guy- Pillow Talk

Mom, you know how some burps are made up of water bubbles? Well, when they reach the air they dissipate.

(We're been doing a lot of burping around here with the swallowing of pennies by Bean and a recent stomach bug. We had to initiate a burping contest to make sure that a recent penny ingestion made it into Bean's tummy!)

Sometimes....

I don't really want to know what happened.....

like when I walk into the bathroom and the toilet brush is in the sink. It would be better if I never saw it. Really, ignorance can be bliss at least some of the time.

Gotta go find the bleach.................

Lent is just around the corner

A little math:

Lent starts Wednesday + the baby will be here by Easter Monday = I have a ton of stuff to do!

I am in total denial that this child is coming!!!!

Happy and Sad things about Dad being gone....

from the Conqueror:

For Dad:
-happy- he's having fun with all the other army guys playing games like poker!
-sad- he doesn't have us!

For Us-
-happy- people come to visit us! The new baby! ( I really thought he was going to say all the take out!)
-sad- we don't have dad!

Oh my sensitive boy!!! At least he didn't cry when Yaya left!

This is so true!!!

In case you haven't seen it- the latest from Danielle Bean at Inside Catholic:

http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5457&Itemid=48

It is entitled "Sleep is for wimps!"

Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

We were getting hair cuts the other day and the stylists handed out lollipops at the end. The best part was Beanie telling Biki in a high falsetto voice, "You say thank you for the lollipop, ok?"

She is a great imitator! I hear telling the conqueror to come and help her, "Please come here....1!...2!....3!"

A tiny seed?

Or maybe I am just getting overzealous-

I have heard Beanie on numerous occasions say that she was going to marry Jesus or God. I have no idea where she heard about this.

She'll just be in the back seat talking about it. "I marry God!" So, what the heck, I use that opportunity to talk about vocations. She's only 2, but we might as well start sometime!! : )

Maybe we'll luck out and not have to pay for any wedding's since Biki has already declared she's not getting married! In fact, her new plan is to "not do anything." When asked how she's support herself and buy food she explained she'll just go get some. And when asked how she'd pay for said food she had it all figured out. "I have lots of money in my piggy bank!" Then again, a wedding might be cheaper than supporting her forever!

Argh!

Pregnancy causes me to be a bit more irrational than I would be normally. This time around the whole economy tanking and stimulus package is really stressing me out! (I have to pick something....)

We're going to have a socialist country when this is all through! I feel so bad for my children and how they are going to have to pay for the mistakes of their forbearers. The deficit, socialized medicine, the fairness doctrine- when will it end? I am sure there are good people in Europe living the faith and surviving and thriving despite a really screwed up economy and society but I had hoped for better for the USA!

And while I am at it, I am thankful that I lived in simpler times. I have been doing a bit of photo organization and can't get over how I was able to be a total dork for 20 years. Ok, some of it was because I really was a dork, but there's something different going on now.

Just looking at the outfits, the hairstyles, etc. back then it seems that girls, children, were allowed to be kids. Now I look at the third graders and their emulation of Hannah Montana and it makes me cringe. How can I teach my kids, particularly my daughters, that being cool isn't the number one thing? It isn't that I didn't have desires to be like the other kids and have the cool stuff- I remember saving money for Esprit sweatshirts and Benetton rugbys- it is just that the cool stuff was so much more innocent. Now its all about cami tops and blown out hair and being a rock star and/or sexual object. Never in a million years did my friends and I want to dress like Jem- (jem is my name no one else is the same!) let's face it the clothes weren't available. Now, you can dress like Britney spears starting at 6 mos. Just check out the girls clothes at old navy- there are like 2 options out of 25 that aren't halters, spaghetti straps, or deep vs. This is starting at size 4!

I can't even watch network tv without being embarrassed- superbowl commercials with the kids anyone?- how can I let my kids do it? Then there's the whole technological aspects- sony psps, ipods and cell phones for little ones etc. 4th graders getting their own laptops. INSANITY.

Just had to get this off my chest. I think I need my more optimistic husband around to tell my like my dad, "Da%&*it Meg, the glass is half full!"

We're not in the north anymore....

Yesterday we went to the river walk and read all the little history and nature placards along the way. It was rather disconcerting to read about the "war between the states" as opposed to the civil war. I really felt like a Yankee!!

Cousin Conversation

Overheard between the two un-toilet trained two year olds:

"Do you poop in the potty?"

"Yeah, I poop in the potty."

"Sometimes I poop in the potty and sometimes I poop in my pants."

"I poop in my pants."

"I poop in my pants all the time!"

"Me too!"

Writing it, it isn't really as funny. But it was hilarious as they were having this conversation the truth came out and they walked away bonded over the fact that neither of them was anywhere near getting the whole concept! (Or at least caring!)

I should follow my own advice

We said a decade of the rosary in the car today and I had the kids take turns saying Hail Mary's. Let's just say one unnamed child wasn't really into it. When asked to say one the response was, and I quote, "Hail Mary, blah, blah, blah." I flipped it and "explained" that Mary is our mother and we need to treat her with respect. Then I went on to explain how much it hurt Jesus when we treat His mother disrespectfully.

Anyway, I was thinking about this incident and realized I could follow my own advice a bit more!! I am proud to say that at the most difficult moment of my life I dropped to my knees saying Memorares, but otherwise I am not as much of "Mary " person as I could be! Saying my rosary was always a struggle and still is likely to get less attention then it deserves, even if it does get said. St. JM always spoke lovingly of her and pretty much told everyone in OD to say the rosary every day no matter what else doesn't get done on the prayer list.

Anyway, perhaps we need to be instituting a little bit more Marian piety around here!! Say a little prayer for the above offender! They could use it!

Cultural Commentary

So, I thought we'd go out to dinner tonight so I could chat leisurely with the kids while we ate and I wouldn't feel antsy about getting up and cleaning in order to get moving on the bedtime routine.

We chose Pizza Hut only because poor Conqueror has 3 book it rewards certificates and has never gotten to redeem them. Bad idea. Why do restaurants have both a radio going and three tvs on separate channels all blaring? I got the waitress to mute the tv closest to us, but all of my kids were mesmerized by all the images. So much for conversation. It was like I was eating alone. I tried to get them to talk to me but you could see that they really couldn't focus on me with everything else going on. And you wonder why there's an increase in ADHD and autism.

On another note, why do two people go out to dinner together only to talk and text on their cell phones to (presumably) other people the entire time? WEIRD!

Just like their uncle....

I got an Ipod for Christmas and now we often listen to Itunes radio during dinner cleanup. There is an opera channel we listen to and I found all of them at various times during the night with their ears up to the speakers listening to the arias. So funny!

Thanks for the update.

Bean is finally weaned, but it was a long and arduous process, one I recommend having a husband around for. Well anyway the whole process has been fascinating for Biki. She talks about at school with her teachers. I was mortified one day at pickup when the teacher said that she heard no one was going to get any sleep that night since Bean was going to stop nursing. Hahahahahaha. I guess she could have told everyone I was having a nervous breakdown or something. Note to self: use more discretion.

Anyway, today Biki announces to all concerned in the 2nd row of the minivan that the way to wean a baby is to just stop nursing. "That's how you do it." Gosh, why didn't I think of that? I could only find it amusing because the deed if finally done.