Oh, we so made the right choice. I just love this puppy to pieces, even when he's rotten. I already want another newfie (his breeder has two moms expecting soon with some landseer pups expected! *sigh* I want one! Ray rolled his eyes at me.). He can be a bit stubborn, but he's so good natured and I have yet to feel nervous like he is going to growl or snap at someone.
My house smelled like a big ole dog yesterday so I bathed him and mopped the downstairs and it smelled good again- until this morning. Now I notice a doggy smell. Ah well. He's worth it. He starts his first training class tonight even though he knows sit, down, give, leave it (sometimes) and is learning stay right now. He is so happy to see the kids in the morning. Rachael was just rubbing his belly and he was laying on his back looking all cute. He goes for his walks and walks pretty nicely on the prong collar, he has his training sessions, he even does his tricks for the kids, he eats food out of his puzzle toys and he sleeps. He's really good. Well, he has his puppy moments of grabbing shoes, and he has been trying to play tug like crazy (which we won't play with him, he's too strong), but otherwise he's perfect!
I really don't have a whole lot to say. Hm. I just played Bakugan with Trevor and got my butt kicked- twice. It's supposed to storm today. after this wet wet wet spring, we haven't had any rain, really. So I am hoping for a nice storm. If it doesn't storm, we'll go to the park day for the homeschool group and I'll bring Rez (I asked beforehand if that was ok) since I want him to keep meeting kids. He was great the other day when I brought him to the park to meet some friends. He just chilled on the grass and ripped up the clover. He impressed everyone by being so laid back. He really is a laid back dog- he has two speeds, sleep and lumber along.
Rachael's bday is this sunday. Her party will be next week, though. I can't believe she is almost 6! My baby girl is almost 6 years old! How time flies. I cut her hair short last night (like chin length) and it looks cute and will hopefully be easier to brush since she HATES having her hair brushed. Trevor's hair is long- I trimmed about an inch off, but it is still longer than Rachael's. He does not want to cut his hair and I think it looks cute, too. After being self conscious he is now used to being mistaken for a girl occasionally and takes it in stride because he likes his long hair. I told him people who think he's a girl are working off a stereotype and it's silly to assume long hair means someone is a girl.
Anyway, that's about it from this end. I have stuff to get done.

Behind a cut ( Read more... )

Sunday, 28th was Trevor's birthday and we spent that day driving out to the breeder to visit the dogs. They had two Newfs left- both males and 14 weeks old. I did not plan on taking one home UNLESS we liked him. I was really planning on putting a deposit on the next litter. But one little puppy (ok, big puppy) was so cute. He was shy but let us pet him. His dad was so sweet and his mom was a doll. His grandparents were on site. All the Newfoundlands there were just sweet and wonderful dogs. So we ended up coming home with Reznor- yes, named after Trent Reznor of Nine inch nails.

He was shy his first week home, hiding mostly under our kitchen table. He ADORES the kids and, while the crazy "must be with them all the time" is wearing off, he lets them pet him anytime, he won't go on a walk without them, he follows them into the streams when we walk him down to them. In fact, he gets downright pushy in the water- if Trevor goes as deep as his thighs and then starts playing something rowdy, Rez follows him in and shoves his way between his legs or just sits in front of him looking concerned. He's already 50 lbs, so he's strong! He hasn't had too many accidents in the house, though, unfortunately, he views his crate as a bathroom and when I put him in it he either pees or poops in it. Makes for a messy dog everytime we get home. This is even when I walk him before we leave and he pees and poops. So I went out and got babygates for the kitchen (tall ones!) and we plan on leaving him in the kitchen so if he's going to go to the bathroom, he might as well not sit in it and need a bath every day.

But we made the right choice. He's been an excellent dog. He's got puppy energy, but he's also kind of lazy and settles down. We're teaching him "Give" for when he steals the kids toys and he is learning that even when the kids need something back. Not that he has been possessive at all. When we feed him, I sometimes feed him in his puzzle toy (he has to roll it around to get the food out) or we feed him, and then toss bits of food into his dish as he eats. I don't want any food/resource possessive dogs!! I was terrified the kids would bug him too much at first, but they don't. And he loves the attention when they do pet him. He's still a nippy puppy and he's learning. Sometimes he gets a timeout on leash when he is getting to be too much of a jerk. But all in all, he's a great dog. He sleeps leashed to our bed all night, which is also nice.

That newf drool, though! He's so cute! He drinks water and then trails drinky drink drool everywhere. He ate an ice cube this morning and then sat and looked at me and he had this one string of drool just chillin on his jowls. I'm sorry, the drool is cute. The only time it's gross is when he's eaten and he has food crumb drool and then he comes and sticks his head in my lap. That's a little ew. And I change his water about a million times a day because, well, the first time the cats looked in the water bowl after he drank (and left drool and slobber and bits of hair in the bowl) they were absolutely horrified. So I try to keep the water clean for the cats, too, though Chaos likes when Rez drinks after eating and drops food into the water from his jowls. Chaos fishes it out with his paw and eats it. lol He really is a good dog. He's smart in a slow, good natured kind of way and he's a little stubborn, he's attached to his kids (we're working on hide and seek come with the kids, treats and Rez and he loves it). He is worth every penny so far.

In other news, our summer is going well. We've been busy going places and hanging out. Ive been getting not nearly enough time in for school. Trevor is officially 8 but we are celebrating his birthday this Saturday with a couple friends over for a sleepover. He's such a big kid now- he placed and won his first bid on Ebay for a Level X Pokemon card. He was thrilled. We met some friends at the pool yesterday and he had a blast playing with a friend he hasn't seen yet this summer. Rachael will be 6 in a couple weeks. I don't know what we will do about her bday. Hm. Ariel just started SWIMMING yesterday! She dog paddled across a small section of pool, but it was real swimming no putting her feet on the ground! Very exciting stuff. She tries so hard to keep up with her sister.

My sci fi lit class is going good. I got an A on my first essay test and just submitted another essay last night. I need to do my french oral exam. I had the time set up for this Friday and then my teacher never answered the phone! Very frustrating. Anyway, the kids want to see a free movie today so I need to get showered and we need to walk the dog before we go!

This year Rachael, Sophie, Emily and I went to a girl scouts thing to interest people in scouts. Rachael and Sophie were totally into it, but alas, there is no troop at their school. So I asked what it would take to lead a troop.

So FFWD to now, like the whole school year later, and I just got back from the information meeting for those of us interested. Before the meeting I was a little scared about time commitments, etc. Now Emily and I are all ready to do it! We have to complete two training courses (that are free) and I will be leader and she will be co leader. We set our limit to 10 girls and we're thinking one meeting a month right now, with an extra field trippy type thing once a month. Sounds doable. We already know two other friends of Rachael and Sophie who are interested (make that, three, as one as at the meeting tonight) so we already technically have 5 girls in the troop.

Fun times! I am excited. I have a packet of stuff that I have time to pour over because I did my studying earlier today.

Tomorrow I volunteered for field day at the school. I told them I had Ariel, but I would be happy to volunteer my time for a couple hours. They put me down 9-12:30. I had to email her and say "um, yea, but no. Ariel won't hang out for 3.5 hours in the hot sun not doing anything. I can probably get two hours out of her TOPS, if I beg and plead and bribe." So she emailed me back and said she would work something out if we ended up having to leave. I am manning the obstacle course. Sounds fun! So that will take a chunk of my morning tomorrow.

Oh!! And Trevor's class... I love all those second graders. I did Grace Art this year for his class. I know I have blogged it before, but basically I got send a PDF of an artist I was teaching the class about every month. I had tons of info and an art project to do with them. My job was to take an hour, go in and teach about the artist/style to the kids and then we did the art project based on that style. So we did impressionism and did our own impressionist paintings, we did realism and we all drew a picture of a celebration in our family in a realistic way with lots of detail. We did bead necklaces, made etchings in foil, made "snowflakes", learned how to do 3D shapes on 2D paper. All kinds of fun stuff. So the other day Trevor said "Mommy, we all did a surprise for you!" and he handed me this big manila envelope. The kids had each written me a thank you note and told me their favourite project and drawn little pictures for me. It was so sweet, I loved it. And I maybe posted about that already. I can't remember what I have blogged and what I haven't. But it was wonderful to be recognized for my volunteering and it was wonderful how much they remembered doing throughout the year! I am totally doing it again next year! Now off to look over this girl scout stuff.

What a busy weekend. It was the end of the LL season and Trevor is greatly saddened by this. He has his last game on Saturday and I got some great pictures of it. I will post a couple here if I get around to it. Then we went out to Chickfila with his friend from school (and who's a teammate) and spent like over an hour in the Chickfila. I was brain dead by the time we got out, but it was fun. We chilled for a couple hours at home before heading out to run a couple errands---

We donated Ariel's toddler bed to Unique (the thrift store) because Ariel and Rachael are in a bunk bed now. It works MUCH better and frees up soooo much space in their teeny room. We also dropped off 3 stick horses and a bunch of clothing.

Then we went to a party thrown by one of the LL moms. It was an end of season party and Ray got a plaque (hm, that looks like the junk on your teeth, is it spelled differently?) and a card signed by the kids. He also got a 75 dollar gift card to Best Buy! He was THRILLED. He went out and got PRototype for the Xbox 360 and is currently playing it. It's a neat game. So we hung out and chatted for a while and the kids ran around until they were sweaty and exhausted. Then we all went home and crashed.

This morning we woke late (for us, 8:30am) and I finished up some studying for lit and Ray and I did crunches and then we pretended to jump rope and were generally silly with the girls. We realized it was WAY late and got to the LL picnic about 30 minutes into the All star game. The picnic was so well run- everything was free.. No tickets to buy for moon bounces, no vouchers for food, etc. All was just walk up and get it/do it/etc. Fantastic. Red Hot and Blue BBQ catered it and the food was great. So we chatted with people, the kids bounced on the moon bounces and played. Ray volunteered on the hot dog grill, then in the dunk tank. He got dunked a lot- even Miss Ariel dunked him! heehee. He made sure his team got to dunk him. heh. Then I volunteered and did snow cones for an hour. The kids ate FIVE snow cones and, understandably, felt a bit ill afterwards. We got to the picnic at 12:30 and didn't leave until after 4pm when it ended. Time just flew by. We're debating whether to do football in the fall or baseball again (they have a fall season). Trevor wants to do baseball, but he wants to do football. I have mixed feelings about football but understand there is a fall season for one sport and a spring season for another. So I don't know yet.

Then we got home for a minute and went to Costco for some essentials, like coffee. And we ended up eating dinner there. Junk food galore today. But it was a great weekend and we all got sun and I got a bit burned on my back. I love those weekends where we are outside a lot! Now it is time for French homework.

Oh, such a much anticipated event!!! Ray bought tickets for the NIN concert way back when they first went on sale. We had the kids spending the night at Danieh's and so we had no time limit for getting back! It was NIN's last tour (well, I hope he doesn't really mean that) and they were "opening" for Jane's Addiction. Let me tell you, I don't like Jane's Addiction, but oh well.
We hit hail and thunderstorms all the way out to MD- it took us 3 hours. But thankfully we didn't miss anything. MD crowds are weird. We went to see Mindless Self Indulgence in Towsend (sp, I think), MD and that was a weird crowd. They were so subdued. Then we went to see them at the final concert at the 930 club in DC and the crowd was way fun- moshing and dancing and everything. This MD crowd was so subdued! So I'm concluding that MD people suck ass for having fun at concerts. We weren't down on the floor, but no one was really dancing or anything.
But NIN rocked, as always. I have always been a huge NIN fan, though I was much bigger of a fan as a late teen when I knew all about Trent and his albums and everything. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Year Zero and listen to it all the time. I LOVED The Fragile but I don't have my copy anymore. I thought With Teeth was a bit too, well, upbeat for my taste. So I haven't heard ALL this latest stuff. But that was ok- he played tons of Pretty Hate Machine stuff, played stuff from Downward Spiral. He only played two songs I really hadn't ever heard. He was much more subdued, but that was ok. I saw him last in 1995 when he toured with Marilyn Manson and that was an AMAZING concert- though at the time, Manson was a little too out there for my tastes. When your first exposure to shock rocker type music is Marylin Manson *in concert*, it can be a little much, I had never heard of him before. (1995 I was 17). So, anyway, my wonderful Trent Reznor is, well, I guess pretty much quitting. I think he will still offer music for free on his site, but I dunno. That's ok, though- quitting while ahead is a good thing.
We went out on the lawn and joined Ryan and friends for Jane's Addiction since I didn't care whether I saw them or not. The lawn was super slippery and muddy from all the rain. We got home around 2ish, fell asleep 3ish and I woke up at 7 and couldn't sleep anymore so I got up and met the kids at school and picked up Ariel. I was way quiet in the house without the kids- even Chaos just meandered and meowed like he was looking for them. I took many pics- all on facebook. :P

On a completely opposite concert note- Rachael had her K end of year performance with the two other K classes. It was SO completely adorable! They sang the school theme song, and many many many other songs. Rachael was exhausted from her sleepover the night before but managed to yawn, giggle and be cute through all the songs. Then we enjoyed cookies and juice. Cute!!!

I am trying to think if anything else has been happening. I've been busy- esp with Little League for Trevor. His last game is this Saturday and our weekend is taken up with the game, the party hosted by a team mom that evening, and then the Little LEague picnic on Sunday. The no more LL. OMG, what will we do with our weekends? heh. School gets out next week, too, and I am looking forward to that- FINALLY!

Poor baby girl. She has been fighting a cold for a couple days. Mostly napping and being sneezy and sniffly. Well, we went to see Up at the theatre tonight. We were all excited because we have been wanting to see it. I did my normal volunteer time at the library then came home and put Ariel down for a nap. She slept almost 3 hours. That should have been my first clue. She was tired but ok when she woke up. We went and picked up the kids and she was ok this afternoon. But it was raining so they mostly laid around inside and looked at books. I cooked dinner at home and we went to the movie. Ariel didn't really eat much dinner and seemed tired again.

Up- at least the first 30 minutes, is sooooooo good and sooooo bittersweet. Totally over the kids' heads. They liked that part, but didn't understand the meaning behind it. When the movie first started, Ariel was squirming and gripping her belly and said she had to go to the bathroom. I run in with her and she doesn't throw up. I asked her if she wanted to go home and she said no. So she was ok in my lap for a while but clearly not feeling well. Then, RIGHT when the movie started getting to the more kid friendly part, poor baby girl upchucked on the floor of the threatre. Ack. The theatre was jam packed, too. I felt so bad for Ariel. So we rushed out of the theatre, I told someone about the vomit (the person shrugged and didn't seem concerned about it and when Ray went back in to get my sweater 10 minutes later, it was still there) and we had to leave the theatre. Poor scary Ari. I think just the movement of the movie and her not feeling good in general made her throw up, not because she has a puke sickness. Trevor was hugely pissed that we were leaving the theatre. To the point where I finally couldn't empathize anymore and I got pissed and told him that next time he was sick I would make a point to get angry with him that he was being lame and spoiling all our fun. Then he got all mad at me for turning things around on him. I told him to look his baby sister in the eye and tell her we should have stayed in the movie. By the time we got home he was still pretty grumpy. Where did his empathy go? Rachael is like "miss happy bouncy ADD kid" lately and, for once, it wasn't driving me batty because she was perfectly ok with leaving the movie and bounced everywhere like the energizer bunny.

But, OMG, we're going to see Nine Inch Nails in concert on Tuesday and the kids are spending the night at a friend's house. At the risk of sounding like Trevor, I am *so* hoping no one gets sick!

My children are being entirely too loud- esp the girlies. It's supposed to storm here and I have been waiting al freakin afternoon for it. It's supposed to be a storm watch with strong winds and hail. All we had was some sunny sprinkles. *sigh* I want a storm!

I took scary ari to Frying Pan park today and we saw itty bitty lambs and piglets and calves. Very cute. Ariel had fun meandering and playing. The peacock was out and he showed off his superb feathers.

I don't know what to do about preschool next year, still. I think it might be too late now? They changed the school schedule and next year school will be starting at 9:15 and ending at 3:55. I am not thrilled with it as I think we get home late enough as it is. BUT- it does allow me the extra time for an afternoon preschool session. I am thinking about seeing if that spot is still open in LANK, but for 450/month, I also need to reassess finances and make sure we can afford it. Otherwise, there is almost always something open at Frying Pan Park and I will just put her in an afternoon program (if something is open) because with the later times I won't be so rushed to get to pickup. That and with kids not in K, they just release them. So Trevor and Rachael will know to wait if I am running late and will be fine (in K the teachers release the kids a couple minutes earlier than everyone else and expect parents/bus/K&R to be there to get them). Stuff to contemplate.

I talked to the counselor about the vet tech program. I have decided to not do it this fall. the deadline for enrollment is the end of June. And I still need to get high school transcipts and have 18 hours observing in a vet office and they perfer that I am working in a vet's office or similar environment. Since I can't work right now, it's not feasible for me to do any of these things. What I CAN do these next few semesters is continue with my current degree and get some of the prereqs out of the way for the next one. I finally broke through in french this morning. What I need is morning study, not evening. I was much more effective. I will get lit out of the way this summer. I will study and take the math placement. Fall I will take Math for Allied Health and Chem 101 (or Chem 121- allied health- if Chem 101 won't be accepted for my AA for psych as well as for the vet tech). And need to take Fre 102 as well. There's three classes for fall. Spring I can see about getting something to work weekends or nights if I still want to do vet tech. I will also take Fre 3 and Math for the liberal arts. I think that seems like a decent plan. So if I do the vet tech it will be for Fall 2010.

And now the super simple meal of homemade mac n cheese, Belle and Evens chicken nuggets and a plate of raw veggies is done. I'm going to eat!

I finished lit just fine, made an A. Finished my Lifetime fitness and Wellness just fine- made an A. But French.. omfg. I am *never* going to finish. I have been stuck on Lesson 10 forever. I have watched the video three times. I have done the repetitions a millions times. I have reviewed key pieces in lesson 9 that go into lesson 10. But I am stuck. I asked for an extension and omg, I have been trying to get through this lesson FOREVER. I am seriously considering flunking the class and retaking it as a physical, in person, class and asking for grade forgiveness. It just isn't sinking in. this is the third night I have been doing the same damn lessons and I am still clueless as to WHY the answer is what it is and I am not getting it to the extent that I am not even memorizing the answer from the previous night. You'd think by the third time I would just have memorized the damn exercise, but I am not even doing that much (not that my goal is to memorize it, but still, you think I would have by now, right?). I am seriously frustrated by this and I am just ready to be DONE this class and I am STILL on Lesson 10! I'm starting to freak out a little here. *sigh* I am trying not to hate french because, damn it, I really do like it. I just wish it would stay in my head. At the end of my lessons, I feel rather like Ariel in my lj icon up there. :P

I am totally still around, just been busy busy. I should be busy now, but I dont feel like it. We went to New Bern on vacation and had a wonderful time. Pics are on facebook, so if you're on facebook, you can see them and if you're not, well.... you should be on facebook. ;) It rained the first few days of our vacation, but we managed to paint pottery and do lots of swimming in the indoor pool and had fun anyway. We went out of Ocracoke island to see the ponies, but ended up not being able to go on on the car ferry, we had to walk on the ferry. So we couldn't walk to see the horses so we missed out. The nice thing is that my parents own a condo in New Bern, outside of the timeshare we get everyyear. So we can go stay in their condo for free and make it back out to Ocracoke.

Cuteness of the trip- when Ariel and Ray were walking down the street in Ocracoke and Ariel said "Daddy, when are we going to ride the angel back to New Bern?" She meant the Ferry (fairy). It's so cute how kids think!

Rachael has hit a couple milestones. While we were in New Bern she learned to SWIM! Go Rachie! She just put two and two together and by the third day she dunked her head under and started kicking her legs and moving her arms! It was sooooo cool! I was so proud of her!

She also learned to ride her bike this weekend. We tried pulling her in the trailer and one point with her sister and it just wasn't going to happen. So we broke down and went and bought her a bike. We originally said she had to learn to ride TREVOR'S two wheeler and THEN she would get her won bike. It was total coercion. But it didn't work. But we saw this bike and Rachael was in love- pink with little grey cats all over it, even a kitty on the seat! It was used at the bike store. A nice bike- A Specialized. So we bought it and she learned that day! It was totally awesome.

So not only did Rachael learn to swim, she also learned to ride her bike. All in like a span of two weeks! She is getting so big so fast.

I had great plans to make a real update, but I guess it isn't going to happen. It has taken me two days just to write this much. On the school front, I made an A in my LIT class. I think I will make a B in my gym class, but I might luck out and pull off an A. I had an extension granted for my French course and I have had huge difficulty getting started again. But I am still plugging away. I am considering changing my major and going for a Vet Tech "degree" (it's a certificate that qualifies me to take board exams or whatever to be a liscenced vet tech). And I would still work towards my psych degree. But I need to talk to the counselor about it as it would require a 20 hour a week internship. It's something I looked into years ago and decided I wasn't ready, and I am ready to explore it more now, but not sure if I am ready to take that step.

In kid news, everyone else is doing fine. We're all just plugging along, being busy. :)

Ariel has been asking to go to preschool. And I want to send her. My first choice is a nice local preschool that has a good rep and isn't Montessori (all the M schools in our area make Jaguars look like cheap cars). I really would like to get her into this program. I few months back I put her on the waiting list. She was 8th for the morning Jr K program. I called them today to see where she was on the waiting list and if I had any chance of getting her in for the fall. They called me back and said they have an opening in their PM Jr. K program right now. But they release the kids at 3:35- the SAME time Trevor and Rachael get out of school. T&R could ride the bus, but I am not sure how thrilled I am with that, and what about impromptu playdates? This is 5 days/week we're talking about, not just a couple. The morning program starts at 8:45- so I could drop her off and then drop the kids off (or vice versa). It would just work better. In fact, I think I just talked myself out of the afternoon program. Also, Ariel is fresher in the morning, and I am too (for studying, which would help tremendously if she was in preschool).

Ariel REALLY wants to go to preschool, though. She asks all the time. She is bored and lonely at home. But she is shy, so she really needs a place she goes to regularly to help her open up and make friends. I dunno, there is one other school I can check out, but everything around here has a M label (in Reston, anyway) so it's all like 800/month just for a couple hours of preschool. I can't afford that. I think Ariel would be full day anyway, at M level because she is 4. So I dunno, this Feb birthday SUCKS! Esp a 3rd child with a Feb birthday. By the time she gets to K age, K will be boring. She is writing letters, knows her letters and numbers. Basically, besides math, she knows the basics of K. She socializes really well with Rachael's class, she joins them for lunch, plays with Rachael's friends, runs to them when we volunteer in the library because I go in when it is Rachael's library time there. She stays with them and I don't see her until it's time for them to go back to class. She is so ready for SOMETHING. But SOMETHING is so pricey!

Trevor was sitting on our bed the other day while I was getting dressed and he suddenly blurts out: "Mommy, when I get older I am going to get an apartment with Mutaz (his friend from school) and we are going to live together. But don't worry, I'll still visit home. And I don't want to play video games all the time- so I am going to play Club Penguin for 30 minutes only a day. And I will play Lego Batman on Saturdays and, ummmmmm..... Thursdays."

"ok, Trev. That sounds very responsible!" I say. Then he goes on....

"And I will make sure that I am not staying up really late every night so I am getting good sleep. Then I will make sure I am making healthy choices for me food and I won't be eating chips and candy all the time. I will have lots of fruit and veggies and will eat carrots and yogurt and stuff and drink lots of water and no soda."

LOL. I thought it was cute. And you can really tell what I emphasize to the kids! Sleep, healthy food, limited media. lol. Now, I wish he would feel the same way when he is a teen. But I was health concious, not a TV addict and I valued sleep. And, as a teen, I played video games galore, stayed up til 4am and mixed plenty of fast food and sugar in with my pita sandwiches and salads.

Trevor also lost his OTHER top tooth (he's lost four teeth now!) last night and, darn that tooth fairy, she forgot to come. We blamed it on the fact that he pulled the tooth out at like 9:30pm and it must have been too late for the tooth fairy to get him on her schedule and she would DEFINITELY come tonight. Really, the tooth fairy watched the season finale of Lost and was up way too late and collapsed into bed at close to midnight. Oops.

I have a new phone- an Iphone 3G. This makes me all happy! However, I am not new to the iphone- I had the old one a couple days ago. Ray went out of town. The day he came back into town, I took Brownie to Petsmart and, somehow, my phone fell out of my purse while I was there. I noticed pretty quickly- I took Ariel and Brownie to Lake Fairfax afterwards to meander and was looking for my phone to put in my pocket and I couldn't find it. After Lake Fairfax, we ran back by Petsmart and it wasn't in the parking lot, in the store and no one had turned it in.

The next day was awful- my period started and I got an absolutely splitting headache that no amount of meds would get rid of. I was unable to do schoolwork, clean the house, do ANYTHING. After Lego Club I was picking up Aaron from school to watch him for his mom for an hour or so. With a splitting headache. I couldn't call ANYONE because we have no home phone (we really want that Vonage system now- the whole center thing they advertise on TV). Oh, and Ray had called my phone a billion times and at 11pm we get this ghetto phone call. It's a woman and she says she found my phone in the Office Depot parking lot (the store WAY across from Petsmart). She said she couldn't return the phone now because her husband had been drinking (what a winner! It's Tuesday night at 11pm!) so she arranged to meet Ray at 6:15. Ray got up and went to meet her- no show. Thinking she meant 6:15PM, he went back that evening and- no show.

But-- Ray knew I had had just a crappy day because of the headache so he brought me home a huge bottle of ibuprofen since we were out. In the bag with the ibus was a new iphone! I have the 3G! The one that can run the geocaching app! Yay! I was very excited, and a little incredulous at first. Usually I do *not* get new technology- I get Ray's old stuff and HE upgrades. Because he usually makes more use out of the newer technology than I do. My mac is refurbished off the website- not new. My old phone was Ray's old phone and he upgraded to the new one. So this was MY SHINY NEW IPHONE! Woo! What did horrify me was how much information this woman who found my phone HAD- It was like stealing my computer. she had my email, my facebook, all my phone numbers, my text messages. Luckily my itunes CC had expired so she couldn't buy stuff with my phone. I went out and bought a Paul Frank bright blue skin for it so I won't misplace it in the bottom of my purse anymore. I am also getting a new, zippered purse! Argh.

This post is getting long, so Brownie will be a seperate post.

Poker night was a huge success! I am always a little nervous that no one will show. But I don't know why because we always have a good turnout. We had roughly 15 adults and 15 kids. Plenty of people in our house! The kids ran around and played and we heard hardly a word from them. They weren't underfoot, something I was also afraid of since our place is not that big. They were either in the moon bounce outside or upstairs. We had a movie going upstairs, and also they just played. We ended up turning on Burn out Paradise on the Xbox for a while for the boys. The adults meandered between the back patio and the kitchen. We cooked pizzas, had lots of dips and salsa and chips. It was very laid back and casual, everyone brought food to share and we ended up not having to even open out veggie tray or our salsa.
We started playing poker around 8 or 9ish. The guys played until about 10:30pm. I played Guitar Hero with some of the guys, then decided to join the poker table. It was so funny. I know how to play poker, but I am not a big poker player and not 100% on the game. We were sitting around the table and I realized I had a full house. John threw down his cards and Ryan threw down his and had beat John. Completely discounting me, Ryan jumped up and starts raking in the chips as he is celebrating his win. I laid down my cards and looked uncertainly at John and was like "Um, I think a full house beats Ryan's two pair, right? I think I maybe won this hand?" John starts laughing and Ryan was pissed (in a not for real way). I did that to Ryan at least three times. He would start to celebrate and rake in the chips and I would put down my cards an be like "Um, wait a minute, I beat you!" I ended up winning the poker game! It was luck, as last game I was out relatively quickly. But it was fun as hell playing. We played poker until around midnight. By then everyone but Ryan (and John, who's staying with us) ad left and we all just sat around the table and talking until almost 2am. The girlies had fallen asleep but Trevor, Ever and Gage were playing Mario Galaxy in the next room and "Weren't tired at all!" as Trevor exclaimed when it was time for bed.
As he left, Ryan invited us for breakfast the next morning. So at 10amish we went to his house and enjoyed mimosas and homemade sausage gravy and (nonhomemade) biscuits). I feel like I preserved my liver and am alcoholed out! Thankfully no hangover, but I was feeling good Sat night and had 3 mimosas (ok, Ryan's mimosa is like orange colored champagne) because I have a weakness for cheap champagne.

It was just such a fabulous weekend. Trevor cried when it was over, he was so bummed to be going back to school today. Poor guy. But we'll def be hosting another poker night!

omg, I haven't updated in like a week! It has been a crazy busy week. I went on a field trip to the zoo with Trevor on Friday. That was a blast. Me and another mom walked around with our group of 5 boys. It was gorgeous, sunny and not quite 80. We saw lots of animals, the kids got sick of walking and hungry. But still quite fun.

Thursday Ariel and I went geocaching with a friend, then that afternoon we spent at the playground with more friends. We were there until 5:30. As we were leaving Trevor says "Mommy, what books did you pick up for me at the library?" I had forgotten I promised to stop at the library that day and get him more books. Oops. Trevor has been a reading FIEND lately. We were at the library on Tuesday, I think, and he got 5 books- two novels and 3 graphic novels. He read them all by Wednesday. So I had promised him I would stop by the library and get him more books. Well, I PROMISED, so he was understandably upset- esp since he had wanted to go Wed after school by couldn't because we had a playdate with Rachael's friend. Then same thing Thursday afternoon. So I called Ray and he was on his way home by suggested that, instead of him starting dinner, we could just eat out and I would take Trevor to the library. So that's what we did.

My mom called me yesterday and she had gotten a new kitty. She went into Petsmart and saw the cats for adoption (from a local rescue) and fell in love with one. Applied and got approved. I was so happy for my mom, but after I got off the phone with her I cried. I miss Stripey, still, and, while I wasn't jealous or mad my mom got a cat, it just seemed so unfair. I want my kitten to still be alive. I know we can't replace Stripey, but I am going to talk to the vet about how long we need to wait to get another cat/kitten. We'll never replace Stripey, but the house seems so empty- even with Shadow and Chaos (and they get enough attention for 20 cats! They are spoiled).

Today is busy busy. John (Ray's friend) came into town last night. We went to Costco and picked up a keg, pizzas and dips/chips for tonight. Today Trevor has a baseball game, then we get ready for poker night at 5pm. So far we have about between 20-27 people coming (about half of those are kids). I'm hoping our house doesn't end up crazy small with that many kids. We moved all the toys upstairs, and will have the Wii and a small TV set up upstairs for movies. The weather is going to be superb today, so they can run around outside for a while, too, as well as (hopefully) us adults being able to be outside. We have a 1/4 keg of Summer Ale. We wanted PBR, but it only came in a 1/2 keg, which they told us was 167 glasses of beer. We just won't go through that many! 1/4 keg is was. So I'm looking forward to tonight, as are the kids!

This might in kind of in list form because I am exhausted. This has been an INSANE weekend and quite exhausting.
SATURDAY- Trevor had his Little League parade, which was in Reston Town Center. Lots of fun, TONS of kids. I had no idea Little League was that huge and organized. Trevor is the Mets and one step above T-Ball (he's in the 5-7 age group). We all had fun and we ended up grabbing lunch with a friend afterward.
I came home and Ray left straight for the LL first game of the season. I spent a few moments grabbing snacks and supplies for the game, the girlies cleaned their rooms a bit. Then back out to Trevor's first GAME! Oh, it was sooooo cute watching them! His division, because they are so young, does not keep score. They also use a pitching machine for four pitches and, if they don't hit, they use the T. So everyone on the team will get a chance to hit. It's very basic, there's no stealing bases, or home runs or anything like that. Trevor has an ARM! He is a great thrower, very accurate. He really enjoys playing baseball. Ray did great as coach and kept everyone motivated. He's having fun being coach this year, too, and it will probably be something he volunteers for every year. Next year I fully intend on having Rachael and Ariel play. They want to.
We got home and I was on a mad mission to clean up. Ray had to go out to the school to set up for the spring carnival. So I cleaned the house for the babysitter that night.
Wrote and typed my lit paper first draft, then showered and cooked dinner for the kids and picked up the babysitter and Ray and I went to a benefit for Malaria.

Doesn't that make us sounds so upper class and YUPPIE? lol. It was a party at a friend's house to raise money for a Net cause whose name has escaped me at the moment. But we all donated 10 dollars, enjoyed drinks and chit chat with people until about 9:30pm. Then Ray and I went out to Jackson's in Reston Town Center and ate some fantastic food. OMG, it was soooo good, but I wish we had been more awake to enjoy it. We were both so exhausted we barely had a coherant conversation. We decided to cut our night out short and went home after eating dinner in like 30 minutes. We both collapsed into bed.

This morning I managed to get my french quiz and composition done. Then it was time to volunteer for the spring carnival. I was there two hours manning the poorly planned Tie Dye booth. They had neglected to WELL advertise that people needed to bring their own shirts to tie dye. Lots of interest, but not many people had shirts. Ray came around 2pm, and we all meandered the carnival and had lots of fun until 3:30. The kids won many tix and got some prizes, played with friends, we bid on some silent auction stuff. Fun times. At 3:30 I was slated to volunteer again so I manned a really loud and annoying frog eats flies booth and then cleaned up for a while until I tore myself away to come home and/..... you guessed it...... cook dinner. It's about ready so I should be done this update.

Man, I am EXHAUSTED! This weekend will be no less busy, too. French oral exam tomorrow, written this week, PED test this week, Need to teach GRACE Art and start the PTA newsletter and submit my LIT essay. Tired.

We had a great Easter. But I came home to a very sick kitty. I feel like Stripey has been sick for a while, like he has been slowly deteriorating. But everyone told me he was fine! I noticed his fur was not feeling nice, he seem dehydrated (pulled up his skin and it didn't pop back quickly) and he was sleeping ALL THE TIME. But nice fur is relative and sleeping all the time? Ray was like "He's growing up, that's what cats do." My MIL said "He looks fine to me." as she picked him up and carried him around. I saw a cat who walked around like he was about to collapse from exhaustion, who didn't play, who wasn't eating much, etc etc. We went on vacation and when we came back he didn't greet us at the door. Shadow and Chaos did their normal "MEOW MEOW MEOW! You're home! Now give me more food! And pet me! Let me lay all over you when you sit down!" Stripey we found at the top of the stairs, looking unhappy (but happy to see us). I realized his stomach is HUGE and my guess is he has worms and it has made him anemic (hence the huge stomach, lethargy, white gums, dull coat, etc etc). I am hoping that's what it is. I made a vet appt for him for this morning. I locked him up in the bathroom last night with an empty box, food and water and a blankie. I was hoping he would poop in the box so I would have a sample for the vet. But he didn't eat and just gave me a really really concentrated urine sample. I'll call the vet and see if he wants that in case it isn't worms.

But I feel awful! I feel awful for listening to everyone and thinking there wasn't anything wrong with y kitty when I really knew better. I mean, this is the little kitten that would chase my shadow when I worked out, and once growled and ran downstairs to check out a noise when Ray was out of town and I was falling asleep. His lethargy and lack of zest for life is abnormal and I feel awful for overlooking it. I just hope I haven't let him get too bad.

My cats were horrified at the lack of the litterbox. I have two boxes- one upstairs in my room- it's a smaller, high sided box. The other is a (seriously) dog litter pan that holds 32 lbs of litter. I PUT 32 lbs of Fresh clean litter in there as soon as we got home yesterday. Chaos spent the night caterwauling at me, pawing at Stripey's bathroom door and then he shit in the bathtub. He doesn't even USE the little litterbox, it's too small for his 24 lb self. So thanks, Chaos, for paying me back by crapping in the tub! Argh. Hopefully Stripey will be ok, we'll find out today at the vet's office.

This spring break is making me miss homeschooling. The non rushed mornings, kids playing together, NOISE in the house. I am able to get a little school done because the kids are playing with each other. It's just been nice. That said, I had a headache that just wouldn't quit yesterday. I took 3 ibuprofen in the morning that took the edge off, then three more that afternoon that kept the edge off but the headache was still there. It lingered in the background all day and I was always aware of its potential. It SUCKED. Consequently, my planned trip to DC didn't happen. We ended up hanging around the house, going for a walk, reading, playing games. It was still a nice day.

I took a way too long break while my inlaws were here from running. I didn't run for four days. One of those 4 days I did crunches and stuff but nothing else. I walked around DC but I don't really count that. It's WALKING. My heart rate doesn't even rise a little teeny bit. So the last 2 days I ran four miles. Well, I do 3 miles, walk uphill 1/2 mile at a brisk pace, then run the last 1/2 mile. This morning I did 2.75 miles with 1/2 mile of that being uphill. I like the uphill walk. I thought I would feel it in my butt, but I don't. I most definitely feel it in my calves. i don't know if it is the incline or the speed. I also notice that my calves are getting more toned, which is definitely nice! i like shaving my legs and seeing defined calves. It's nice to see that, even though I am walking and I don't feel like I am working out that much, I am toning my legs.

For the myself, currently I send about a mile jogging at 6.5- I don't jog a whole mile. I take a couple .10 mile breaks. My walking speed is 4.0 mph. I spend a mile running a tenth mile at 8.0 and walking a tenth mile. I could probably reduce the walk to a fifth mile. I do quarter mile a 7.0 then jog 6.5 for a while. At 3 miles, I put on an incline of 4, then 6 and then 8. I could skip the 4 incline and go straight to 6 now. That last half mile, my legs usually are just done. so i do whatever will get the last half mile over with. Sometimes i do 8.0 intervals, sometimes I just jog. See, i have my treadmill down to a science. heh. If i don't set goals like that, I get bored and won't do it. I can't just jog for 3 miles, i would not ever finish it. So i jog some, run some, jog fast, walk fast, walk uphill, etc. It works well.

Now I have a friend's daughter coming over for the day, then Liz is coming this afternoon with her daughter and i think we are going to staple PTA stuff and I am hoping Trevor is going to invite his friend over, too. It should be a full, busy house today and I need to get moving.

We had a wonderful visit with my inlaws. We went into DC to see the cherry blossoms on Friday. They were GORGEOUS! We had never been to DC while they were peaking, mostly due to crowds and parking, etc. But we found free parking and a free shuttle. We went to the Jefferson Memorial, watched some indian dancers (India, not American Indians) and meandered the beauitiful path of cherry blossom trees. My period also started, which was not so great because I wasn't really expecting it and i was wearing a thong and I had no tampon. It's hard to use toilet paper as a stand in in a thong! Argh. It worked for a while, though, until we finally made it around to the first aid tent and, lo and behold, they had a tampon! i was ecstatic and enjoyed the day much more when I wasn't paranoid. The rain had swelled the Potomac up SOOOO much. It had splashed over the walkways and the benches were almost covered in water. The kids had a blast. Not only had we gone for a walk in the rain around our neighbourhood that morning (about a mile), we also walked more than that around DC. They rocked.

Saturday Trevor had Little League and then we wanted to go geocaching but couldn't find the park we had the caches loaded. So we went to Great Falls Park instead and looked at the falls and watched a crazy kayaker battle the rapids. Then we ate dinner at Buffalo Wing Factory outside in the beautiful weather. It was so sunny and nice this weekend.

Sunday was rainyish. We mainly just chilled. In fact, i can't really remember what we did Sunday. Ray's dad had to go to the airport and they put the shed together in the backyard. Monday i took my MIL to BWI. It took over 2 hours due to a accident on 95. Bleh. But Rachael and Ariel were so funny in the car. They both have trouble with /j/ and pronounce it /g/ (hard sound). Ariel was making a story up about Jupiter and she says "the man landed on GOOPiter!" I was like "Ew! Was it mucky and sticky and Goopy?" She was like 'Noooo, mommy! GOOPiter is not goopy! it is GOOP! GOOP-I-TER!" She was laughing and we kind do this a lot. Finally Rachael says "Mommy. Ariel is TRYING to say GOoPiter." I had to laugh because she said it just like her sister and I said 'I know! It must have been awfully goopy on that planet." Ariel laughs and says "No, i think they just landed on Mars." It was funny.

I got to be the volunteer spotlight person in the PTA newsletter this month. So Liz wrote an article about me. It was neat. Today i need to run to the store and a friend is coming over later (11, i think?) so i suppose I should get moving and go dry my hair. The kids have spring break this week so we are enjoying our time together.

Poor Trevor. My heart just about broke for him the other night. It was bedtime and Ariel was in her bed and they usually draw or read in bed before falling asleep. She had her new notebook that grandma had given her and she showed me a page on it. "Who wrote in my book?" she asked. In the book was a note 'I love you very muche!' I said I didn't know but it wasn't me. Then I read the note to her and said how sweet it was that someone wrote that for her. Well, Trevor came into the room and he sat down next to Ariel and told her he wrote it and gave her a hug. Well, I don't know what got into Ariel. Normally Ariel and Trevor get along wonderfully. They NEVER argue or fight about anything. Well, Ariel says "I don't want this writing in my notebook!" and proceeds to scribble it out. I didn't say anything, but Trevor got SOOOO upset. He started crying and said "I don't want you to erase my message!" and was just heartbroken. I felt so bad for him I almost cried. When Ariel realized what she had done and how upset Trevor was, she broke down in tears and started crying. Then she gave her brother a huge hug and they sat there and hugged each other for a moment. It was so sad and so sweet. When Trevor went into his room, I explained to him how Ariel was little and she just didn't realize how much the words on the paper meant. He understood, it still made him sad, though.

Then yesterday he was really grumping about going to school. He just didn't want to go. I explained to him how Friday was off school and he needed to go today and he would be off tomorrow. Well, I picked him up yesterday afternoon and he was all upset. Turns out the lunch lady had yelled at him for not remembering his number. They all have PIN numbers and they link those pin numbers to an account which has money on it so they can buy lunch. I HATE this system and barely use his card. I think it's too easy to steal the number and I don't think it makes for kids learning how to use money. So usually I send Trevor and Rachael with money for lunch. Well, the change is always put on the account. Since they had collected quite a bit of change on the account, I told him to use that and the lunch lady or his teacher would be able to give him his number. Apparently, the lunch lady was really put out by having to take 10 seconds to find Trevor's number and she yelled at him. He was SOOOOOO upset. Ray is going into the school to talk to the principal today. When Trevor told me about it yesterday I was too angry to speak to anyone. I mean, Trevor was so upset he started crying when he told me about it. I can understand the lunch lady getting mad if he used his card everyday and never remembered the number, but this is the first time he has used it in like 6 months or something! I am still PISSED. This lunch lady is grumpy anyway. She always gets mad when I give her anything bigger than a 5 dollar bill. Argh. So Ray will talk to them because he is better at being firm without biting.