Aunt Colleen

Very few things in life even come close to being a mom.  From the minute the boys were born, I knew that there would never be a more important job.  Along with being the most rewarding job, being a mom is the hardest job.  You have to be a doctor, a coach, a counselor, a taxi driver, a teacher, a cook and a housekeeper.  You have to be well versed in everything from rattles to rattle snakes, Stride Rite to Nike, Colors and Numbers to Chemistry and British Lit.  It will never be easy, but it will ALWAYS be worth it.

The next best job has to be being an Aunt.  You don't have to know anything except how to be cool.  Michele and Cary have it mastered.  I'm starting to get the hang of it!  You don't have to help with homework, enforce curfews or worry if they've had a well balanced meal.  Being an Aunt means you can fill up on cookies before bedtime, deliver doughnuts without worry, ride up and down in the elevators just for fun....the list goes on and on.

Mom is still my favorite name.  Aunt Colleen has become a very close second. 

Here's Your Sign

Some weeks are longer than others.  This week has been filled with Mondays and I'm positive that it's been at least 14 days long...and it's only Wednesday.  When I left this morning for Columbus, I was a little teary.  It's not that I wasn't excited to see everyone, spend some quality time with Mom and have a sleep over with Reese.  I just wanted Jeff to join us. Again, can you tell it's been a long week.

So when Mom and I stopped for lunch at First Watch and this was the sign next door, I knew it was my sign.  That little light bulb went off, reminding me that the people you love the most are always with you.  They may not be standing right beside you, they may not be nearby, but they are ALWAYS with you.  They are the people that you draw strength from when you need it most, the people that make your heart smile even when they're not around. 

So thank you to everyone that made this day great....even those who weren't here. 

How to Make a Friend in 5 Days

Day 1 - Puppy hides under table, Willow guards the rest of the house from new intruder.

Day 2 - Puppy still hides under table, Willow lets her guard down.  No one hiding under the table can be that big of a threat.

Day 3 - Puppy ventures out from under table, barks at Willow.  Willow now in hiding.

Day 4 - H blocks access to under the table, puppy discovers toys.  Willow's not pleased.

Day 5 - Puppy and Willow are playing together like long lost sisters.

Don't you wish everything in life could be taken care of in 5 days? 

I Heart My Ipod

A picture is worth a thousand words.  This one, is worth 557.  That's how many songs are on W's Ipod.

I remember how excited I was with my first walkman...it was the first time I could listen to whatever music I wanted, without bothering Mom and Dad with songs like "Like a Virgin" and "Karma Chameleom".  Then Walkmans changed to portable CD players, but they were still bulky and required you to carry a case of CD's with you.  The worst part...you had to buy a whole cassette tape or CD to get that one song you really wanted to hear.  Talk about expensive!

Now, we're all addicted to our Ipods.  You'll never find any of us when we don't have it on us.  I was beginning to think the boys had them surgically attached.  Until they figured out they could plug it into the kitchen stereo and blast it though the house.  Which is what they do each evening as they are doing dishes.  Or doing chores.  Or just when they're in the house.  If Jeff and I leave the room....on goes the Ipod.  

And with 2,397 songs between us...it's just as expensive.

What's Missing?

Poor Kermit, always the model....even in the fairy set! 

It's been a long weekend.  Some days I'm just more creative than others.  My rocks turned out great (can you tell that I made them?), but something about the set just isnt' working for me.  The white pond will soon be replaced with the black mirrored one, so that's not it. 

So I need your help!  What's off.  Is it the background, too light?  Is it the greenery, should it be more ivy like or brown ground coverish?  I just can't put my finger on it.  So look at it, picture a cute little fairy sitting in Kermit's spot with a glowing wand...and maybe you'll figure out what's just not right. 

All in a Days Work

I promise, not all future blogs will be about the puppy(s) but she's so cute and so little, I just can't help but to snap her picture all day.  She'll only be this little for a minute, so I'm capturing all I can.  I have to say, I'm impressed with her, the boys, Willow and Jeff.  First day of new puppy and we still managed to get in Zumba, paint touch up in the basement, a recycling run, lots of laundry, grocery shopping, plaster of paris rocks and a new dinner recipe to try out on Allison.  Not bad while running the puppy outside every three minutes!

Four More

Being a family of four is great.  We can all fit in one car, a restaurant booth is made for us and if we wanted to, we could start our own barbershop quartet.  But as much as we love our little foursome, we love our four legged friends too.  Willow could be the next Roger Ebert with all of the movies she watches with us.  Fancy, well, she just kinda hangs out in the background, never far away.  And boy, do they all love the boys.  Five days home and they don't know what to do with themselves.  Five days gone and I don't know what to do with the sad faced golden that lays outside their doors, just hoping that they're in there hiding and will come out at any minute.  After much discussion and deliberation, we formulated a solution.

Meet Zoey!

The boys are thrilled, we are in love and Willow has another friend.  A friend to play with, grow with, entertain us with and someone other than old, boring me to play with when the boys can't be home.   

And then there were seven.

Imma Bee

I'm not sure that everyone will like my little pet, but I think he's cool.  I've been admiring him for a while.  He hangs out on my front porch chair and I finally got a chance to snap a few pictures of him.  The thing is, he's passed on (or he's really patient!).  The bee has been in the same position on my chair for about 4 months.  What I find cool is that he's weathered the the cold, the wind storms, the rain and he's never moved.  I can't use my chair for fear of knocking him down, but I check on him everyday.  I'm sure that Jeff is going to take care of him at some point.  But until then, I will admire him and wait to see if he wakes up.

Holy Hail, Batman!

Wow, not my best picture.  But as you're being pelted by little ice bullets, taking a straight picture was not a priority.  It was the strangest weather day I've seen in a long time.  Three different rounds of hail, a couple rounds of thunder storms, 70+ degrees to start the day and 40 degrees to end the day.  I guess this is spring weather at it's finest.  The only downside of the day was that during the last hail storm, Willow happened to be out in the mobile grooming trailer.  The groomer was fine, Willow - not so much.

Here's hoping that the col weather passes quickly and we're back to balmy temps next week!  

Just Right

Have you had one of those days that goes just right?  Not perfect, but just right.  Today was that day.  I got to spend the day getting sweaty and dirty helping Kristina with spring cleaning at the studio.  It always feels good to clean away the winter grime and leave things fresh and organized for the spring.  After showering the grime off of me, I got to spend a little time with H and W before they took off for the first day of baseball season for W (sorry you got hit with a pitch, W!). 

The Jeff cam home bearing a very special gift.  With all of the upcoming work in the studio, Jeff found a great new macro lens that is AWESOME.  Pictures are only as good as the glass that captures it and this is going to be so much fun to work with.  And as I start wandering, snapping away, Jeff points out that my very favorite outdoor plant has started to bloom (that's my sedum).  It's gorgeous all year long, but the spring growth is beautiful.  It's like a bouquet of little green roses. 

The day ends with all of us home, sharing what we learned and making plans for a great weekend together.

Life is Good.

Let the Craziness Begin!

Yep, it's baseball season!  Nothing says spring like a loud, fast moving thunderstorm to cancel the first scrimmage of the season.  A rain out gave me the opportunity to snap a quick picture of H before his uniform is grass stained and muddy.  It only looks clean for a moment. 

W's parent meeting and first practice is tomorrow, weather permitting.  And just like every spring day, there's rain in the forecast so we'll see how that plays out.

Every January, when conditioning starts and sign up forms flood our email, I kinda cringe.  With both of the boys playing, it can be a little overwhelming.  But once the grass starts to turn green and you see the boys walk in with their uniform on and their bag slung over their back, I'm as excited as they are.

Try Again

If at first you don't succeed, try again.  That's what every parent teaches their child, right?

One of H's chores is watering the plants.  As you know, the sun room is full of them.  The plants are a collection of surgeries, funerals, hand me downs and projects.  ALL of them have sentimental value....except those that hang from the ceiling.  Those were just cool plants that Jeff and I picked out along the way.  H is very good at taking care of them all, except for those that grow over his head. 

This weekend we replaced two hanging plants that have seen better days.  No amount of water could bring them back.  We're trying again.  

Perigee Moon

"Somewhere out there beneath the pale moon light, someones thinking of me and loving me tonight." - An American Tail

Isn't it beautiful?  Tonight's post was supposed to be about the Perigee Moon.  It's 18% larger than a normal moon...it's a supermoon!  Anyway, the last time it was this large was in 1993, just before H was born.  It's going to happen again in 2016, hopefully I be out shooting it then too.

But more importantly, I want to talk about those that are out tonight looking at the moon.  I couldn't be with H and W tonight, it's not our weekend.  Mom saw it too, but we weren't lucky enough to stand outside and see it together.  When you think about it, it's quite a feat that we are all outside, staring at the same moon while we are so far apart.  So for everyone that I couldn't be with tonight to look at it, know that I love you and I can't wait to see you.  While the moon may be larger tonight, it'll still be beautiful the next time we get to look at it together.  Hopefully it'll be soon. 

Signs

Signs that you are no longer a carefree teenager:

1.  You wake up before the alarm clock.
2.  You actually check in with your Mom because you want to, not because you have to.
3.  Coffee tastes better than Red Bull.
4.  Parenting has replaced babysitting.
5.  You need a comfortable bed, not just a pillow to fall asleep.
6.  Twitter is still something a bird does.
7.  You've had gift cards for more than 24 hours and they're not burning a hole in your pocket.  The same applies to $5.
8.  Doctors don't ask you if you take medication daily, they ask you what medication you take daily.
9.  Mowing the lawn is a chore, not an hour concert starring you singing at the top of your lungs.
10.  A quiet Friday night at home with a crossword puzzle is a choice, not a punishment.

Searching for Green

Happy St. Patricks Day, everyone!

In honor of the greenest day of the year, my goal today was to pay tribute to something green.  I searched high and low and came up with several ideas.  There was the Kiss Me, I'm Irish shirt, my Get Lucky clover covered socks, the grass (thanks to all of the rain!), the puppy's favorite rubber ball, the living room walls, the last $5 in my wallet....the list goes on and on.  Throughout the day, I looked and looked.  It wasn't until Jeff got home and I was letting the dog out when I realized that the highest honor that I could pay to green was the smallest, greenest little bud on our tree out back. 

Thanks to rain and warmer weather, spring has arrived.  I'm looking forward to the weekend so we can enjoy it! 

Tired of Technology

"Technology makes it possible for people to gain control over everything, except over technology." - John Tudor

Isn't that the truth!  Tech junkies...that's what we all are.  H, W, Jeff and I are addicted to technology.  Smart phone, laptops, gaming systems, Ipads...you name it, we have it.  We'd probably live under a bridge before we gave up internet access.  I know that W would gladly trade his bed for a new video game.  H actually called from Tech Jam this weekend, fearing that his phone was "imploding".  I'd make fun of them if I wasn't the same way.  If the internet goes down, Jeff and I don't know what to do with ourselves.  Sure, we can entertain ourselves without all of the devices, but the feeling that you have been cut off from the world is frightening.

But along with technology comes the headaches of keeping it updated and working.  At least once a month, someone in this house has a gadget issue.  Yesterday, my system backup blew up.  Over the weekend, H's phone showed signs of death.  Last week, W lost all of his phone contacts - which means no texts.  And we won't even mention Angry Birds or Wii.  Thankfully, we have Jeff.  Poor guy spends several hours a month (and that's an understatement) fixing, repairing, restoring and updating. 

Tonight, it's H's laptop.  Funny enough, things seem to blow up when you need them most.  In this case, it's the night before H leaves for Columbus to compete in the BPA Regionals.  Does he need it? No.  Can he live without it for two days? Yes.  Is he going to die when he gets here in 15 minutes and figures out that he won't be taking it with him?  Absolutely. 

So in case I don't say it often enough, thank you, Jeff.  If it weren't for you, we would live in the dark ages.

Spring Ahead

This week was daylight savings week.  On Sunday, we turned the clocks ahead an hour.  While I love my sleep, I was thrilled to usher in the season of longer days and warmer weather.  The longer days have started...the weather is right around the corner.  Unfortunately, every time I turn time ahead, I realize that we "lost" an hour.  Then I look at the boys and realize how precious that hour can be.

March Madness - Every 8th grader chooses a college and spends the month preparing items for their college/university.  It starts with a pendant and ends with a presentation to the class with details of your school.  W picked Boise State (I think he secretly likes the Smurf Turf!).  W and I spent the afternoon shopping for necessities and he came home and spent the evening making it perfect. 

While I was watching him, I got to thinking about H's March Madness pendant.  I swear we made it yesterday.  Really, we just made it.  It was for U of M and he was so proud of it.  Now, W's in 8th grade, making a college pendant and H is trying to decide which colleges to apply to.  Where did time go?

I really want my hour back.

Perspective

I've really gotten into the blog.  I rarely forget or wait until the last minute.  After 73 days, it's become almost second nature.  I think about it during the day, come up with a plan and at some point throughout the evening, I take a minute or two to type it out.  This picture was taken by Jeff.  It's my blog from his perspective.  According to him, it takes more than a minute or two and he's normally waiting for me to finish so we can move on to the next thing.  Now that I think about it, it's taken me entire evenings to write it so I'm guessing he sees this pose more than I would like to think.

H20

"Water is the only drink for a wise man." - Henry David Thoreau

I wonder if Thoreau would have an issue if the water is flavored.  We're all addicted to water. H likes his straight but Jeff, W and I prefer it to have a fruity flavor.  Thankfully for Jeff and W, they're flavors come in individual packets they can just pour in.  Mine, not so easy.  They only come in 2 quart mixes, so we have to make my water in batches.  And by "we", I mean Jeff.  When I make it, it's 8 or so at a time.  That gets me through about a day and a half.  When Jeff makes them, I get a case of water.  Much better deal for me.  The landfills may not like us, but Thoreau thinks we're wise.  

Yippee!

65 and Sunny!  That's what you call a beautiful day in March!  H is still of at Tech Jam and W didn't want to leave the house....he didn't get the memo that this would be the nicest day of the week.  So Jeff and I headed out for some geocaching fun.  It was sunny, breezy, warm and the perfect day to be out finding some hidden cache.  Unfortunately, we didn't realize that with it being the first gorgeous day of the year, EVERYONE would be out soaking up the rays.  Three caches, that's all we ended up with.  Traffic and muggles made caching difficult.  But no complaints here, we had a great time.  Let's hope the groundhog was right. 

20 Questions

I'll be OK, Mom.  Really, I'll be fine.  Yes, I know the rules.  Text when I get there, before I go to bed, once in the morning and before I leave tomorrow night to come home.  I have the GPS, I won't get lost.  Yes, I know how one way streets work.  Yes, I'll call if I have any problems.  I have to go, Mom.  I love you too.

That summarizes my conversation with H before he left for his first "work" weekend away from home.  Last year, he participated in Tech Jam.  This year, he's working at Tech Jam.  His long weekend includes set up until 11pm tonight, preparing for registration at 6am tomorrow morning and getting home at 11pm tomorrow night.  Long weekend, great experience.  He was really looking forward to it.  Me - not so much. 

I used to think that the 20 questions that my mom and grandmother asked me were annoying and really not necessary.  Now, it's the game I play with my boys.  They probably find them annoying and not necessary, but one day they'll understand. 

OMG!

Since it's SNOWING, I am going to assume that Mother Nature either has a bone to pick with me or is behind in reading my blog.  Either way, I have nothing left to say.

Ok, I have more to say.  It's now 11:05PM and the original forecast was for a dusting by morning.  The 11 o'clock news has changed it to 2 inches by morning.  Ugh! 

If there's no blog posting tomorrow, assume that I have left for warmer weather and a tiki bar that serves heavenly drinks with little umbrellas. 

Plea to Mother Nature

Dear Mother Nature,

If you're listening, please stop with the rain.  I've had enough.  The rivers are overflowing, the streets are now flooding, the dog has been covered in mud for weeks.  I'll soon need a canoe to get the mail, the moat around the house is growing and the boys are going stir crazy.  And for heavens sake, people can't drive in it! 

So if you can hear me, please bring back the sunshine, the warmer temperatures...even the clouds will do.  Just stop with the wet stuff!

Sincerely,

Soggy in Cincinnati

PS.  If you can't stop the rain, can you at least send Noah for me?

Teachable Moments

Who thought we'd we talking about football again before August?  When Mom called me tonight to fill me in on the upcoming press conference, I was surprised to say the least.  Quite frankly, Jim Tressel is one of the most admired coaches in college football and I am one of his biggest fans.  Don't let my Michigan buddies know that though!

Anyway, we watched the press conference, read the articles and listened to the ESPN "experts" give their take on the days events.  Suspended for two games, fined a quarter of a million dollars and NCAA penalties are still pending.  Some may think that the punishment fits the crime.  I'm not so sure.  Don't get me wrong, Tressel sitting out of a couple of games does nothing but benefit Michigan football.  But there is a lot to be said for intent.  Did he break the rules....maybe.  Did he do it to protect the kids that were in his charge...absolutely.

No one will know the whole story.  Or what they would have done if they were in the same position that Coach Tressel found himself in.  What I do know is that there is still not another coach in college football that I would rather have shaping my kids future.  There are a lot of "teachable moments" in life....I hope that the boys realize that sometimes following the rules is highly over rated.

Dog People (Part II)

Remember that previous post about dog people?  You know, the one in which I made fun of people that treated their dogs like children.  I started to realize (during that post) that we were beginning to meet the criteria of crazy dog people...right down to the overstuffed Christmas stocking.

So after that post, I started limiting our trips to PetSmart, stopped bragging to neighbors about how smart our little girl is and quit fluffing her bed before we called it a night.  And I was doing well, until we went out to the mall this weekend and we stumbled upon this wonderful little pet boutique.  After a few minutes of convincing Jeff that it wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg just to enter the store, we made our way in and started browsing.  Did you know that deer antlers are the "new" dog bone?  Apparently, they are filled with calcium and healthy nutrients...and they are naturally replenishing.  Who knew?

Anyway, we stumbled across this wonderful puzzle and just couldn't resist.  I mean, we'd have bought it for the boys so the puppy should have one too....right?  She's so smart, she'd figured out step one and two, we just have to work on step three.  Then she'll be ready for her youtube debut!  But she's just a dog.

Green

Most of you know Kermit.  Some better than others.  When the photography group announced the theme of "Green", I knew I had it covered as Kermit is probably one of my most cherished possessions.  Kermit doesn't actually belong to me, but I've been taking good care of him for as long as I can remember.  Actually, my first memory of Kermit is seeing him laying on Charlie's blue bedspread when we lived on Happy Lane.  Over the years, Kermit ended up with me instead of Charlie.  He sat on my bed in my first apartment when I moved away from home.  He sat on H's bed when he was little and W's after that.  I've tried to return him on a couple of occasions, but Charlie has been kind enough to leave Kermit with us. 

One day, I'll tearfully hand Kermit over to his rightful owner, Ryan.  But until then, I'll continue to cherish him and the memories he holds.

The Wonderful World of Disney

I've posted in the past about our love of Toy Story.  It's one of my very favorite animated movies.  Followed closely by The Lion King (could be tied with Toy Story), Cars, and The Little Mermaid.  If you have kids, you must love some, if not all, of the cartoon movies that they grow up with.  It's a parental requirement.

But then there are just the "made by Disney" movies.  Not the animated but containing adult joke movies.  The movies we've been watching have included The Narnia series, The Bridge to Terabithia and the Prince of Persia.  And funny enough, we've been watching them without the boys.  The boys have already seen them or have no interest in them.  Which makes you wonder why, since Jeff and I definitely think they are some of the best movies we've seen. 

My late blog posting tonight is a result of spending the majority of the evening watching The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian.  What a great movie!  The moral of the story....you're never to old for Disney movies.  

TGIF

I've been sitting here (in front of the fire) for several hours now, trying to think of a subject for tonight's posting.  It's amazing, the more I focus on it, the less I can think of to talk about.  But isn't that one of the biggest life lessons...a watched pot never boils.  So I've walked away and come back, still with little to talk about.  W is out on a date, H and James are at the Y playing basketball and Jeff and I are sitting here, thankful the week is through and that it's only 12 hours until we can sip on coffee and catch up on a show or two without anywhere to be.  It's the little things that make us happy :)

So today's posting is going to be about the little things that happened this week.  W got all dressed up for picture day, only to find out it's not this week (my fault).  H had exams and thinks he aced them all.  Mexican food makes a great Friday night, can't be bothered cooking, haven't been grocery shopping yet dinner.  We've had so much rain that the yard is a pool.  Jeff's been busy at work, but not so busy that he couldn't take a lunch hour or two to find the movie we've been waiting to see (the next Narnia movie).  I finally finished a book I started a couple of weeks ago...I love Patricia Briggs.

Happy Friday Everyone!  Have a great weekend!

Who's Hungry?

Most days, I love working from home.  That is, unless the crock pot is on.  Those days are torture.  Today it's beef stroganoff.  The wonderful smell has been permeating the house since mid morning.  I was ready for dinner at noon. 

Don't get me wrong, I think the crock pot is the greatest invention.  There is nothing like dumping a bunch of ingredients in one pot in the morning, plugging it in and having a yummy, home cooked meal in the evening.  It's definitely my kind of cooking. 

I'm not sure that I can make it a couple of more hours.  Good thing I'm leaving soon for Zumba!

Wanna Go to Wamego?

I've been waiting for weeks to take this picture.

A couple of weeks ago, I ran across an article on CincyMoms about wines.  Moms were listing their favorite wine names and one woman gave the name of "I'll Get You My Pretty" and it caught my attention.  She went on to say that she found it at the Oz Winery in the little town of Wamego, KS.  I immediately needed to know more. I checked out http://www.visitwomego.com/ and requested all the information I could.

Wamego, KS - about 100 miles outside of Kansas City.  It's the home of Toto's Tacos, the Oz Winery, the Tulip Festival, OZtoberfest and the annual Yellow Brick Road Bike Ride.  The Oz museum holds the largest collection of privately owned Oz memorabilia in the world.  The winery sells wines such as Witch in a Ditch and Run Toto Run.  Can you imagine the gift shop?

So this year we're heading to Blue Ridge.  Next year, I'm going to convince everyone to follow the yellow brick road...all the way to Wamego, KS!

Can You Hear Me Now?

Huh? What? Did you say something? 

That's what you hear when you live with a house full of males.  Some times it's because they weren't listening, some times because they were fighting too loud to hear you, sometimes it's selective hearing, but lots of times it's because they have headphones on or ear buds in and I didn't yell quite loud enough.  So when W asked for the Cadillac of gaming headphones, I about laughed myself out of my chair. 

Tritton Technologies - AX 720 Gaming Audio System.  Quite a fancy name for a set of headphones.  Until W explained that he could talk to his friend in Texas, while playing video games with him across the Internet.  Again, I feel old.  But W wanted them....enough to buy them with his own money.  And that says a lot.  W doesn't spend money unless he really, really wants something.

Needless to say, W won the headphone debate.  But not without a little negotiation.  I promised to buy them, if he promised not to ignore the rest of the world when wearing them.  I kept up my end.  Anyone want to wager on whether W will keep his?