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!

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.

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!

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!

I have no outside obligations today. Beyond picking the kids up at school this afternoon, I have no errands to run, no places I need to volunteer, no one to visit. This is seriously WONDERFUL. It is rainy and chilly and I am going to cuddle with my little girlie and read many many new library books we picked up yesterday. I also think we will bake some butterscotch/chocolate chip cookies. I also need to finish lesson 6 on French and take notes on why Franklin was an Enlightened man, but that's ok. I meed to write my article for the PTA newsletter, but that shouldn't take long.

In other news, Rachael is really doing well reading! We are getting phonics readers at the library and she has been reading those to me. It's awesome how much she is learning at school. I'm totally impressed. She enjoys reading them to me and has even been helping her sister sound out words. It's way too cute. Because of her sister and brother, Ariel will be writing before she starts school! heehee. She counted to 30 the other day for me, too. Wow, go Ari!

I have signed the paperwork to get Trevor testing to hopefully get him some extra help in math. I should know in a month or so whether or not his test scores will place him into a need category for special assistance. I am hoping so. If he continues to struggle in math and doesn't qualify for assistance, I will have to re-evaluate public school for him. He is neutral about school, he likes it and he doesn't like it. But he HATES math, he really struggles with basic facts and picking out what is important in a problem. I am really thinking he will qualify for assistance. he was singled out because his reading level is above grade and he's doing REALLY well on that portion, it's numbers and math he struggles with and scores below grade level. Since there is such a contrast between the two, the teacher noticed and brought it to the attention of the powers that be so he can get tested. Everyone's been super nice and it's been a positive experience. Trevor is wanting extra help, we've explained everything to him and he is optimistic about not struggling so much in math. They are doing subtraction with carrying right now and he really struggles with it.

Anyway Ariel is calling me to read books so I am off to start my laid back day!

Not only will my head explode if I have to think about the enlightenment and rich white men ANY FREAKIN MORE, I will just collapse and cry if Ariel keeps bugging me.

I am HATING HATING HATING American Lit. I picked it because I thought we would read NOVELS by american writers. Like, I dunno, Hemmingway, steinbeck. I don't know who's american, but I thought we would read NOVELS. Instead, this is a horrid, BORING as hell HISTORY class. I thought I was all done history. I took my western civ 1 and 2, suffered through it and passed with A and B. Now I have to freakin read about it all over again. I am about to DIE. Basically this class is short autobiographical accounts of the colonists who settled America. American lit is like starting with the colonies. We got a few Native American tales in there. But that's it. A couple women's accounts in there, but not really. If I have to read anything else by Puritans or Quakers I am going to die. If I have to read Franklin going on and on about how great he is, I am going to eat my lit book. I don't want to read about the Enlightenment. I want to read The Grapes of Wrath, dammit!

I have to write an essay on why Franklin is a man of the Enlightenment. OR why the Declaration is a document of the Enlightenment. I'm sure I can, but I am just sick of all this history. I want some fiction. I want to analyze symbols, etc in some books.

It also isn't helping matters at all that Ariel has been superbly demanding and grumpy lately. I feed her something, she eats one bite and whines for something else. She insists on playing right in front of me LOUDLY and when I request she move to another room, she acts like I killed her dog or something. I realize I have been studying a lot and volunteering a lot and doing other stuff a lot. But I also spent 2 hours this morning on a walk with her, geocaching and she had a blast. I could study a whole lot easier if she would give me just 30 minutes where she wasn't whining at me, or standing there staring at me, or hanging on me or asking for something every 30 seconds. I understand why a great many full time students have their children in day care. It is literally IMPOSSIBLE to get any kind of quality work done right now. I am so tired I could cry and so stressed out I could cry. But what good would that do, so I won't. I'll just plug on and try not to lose my mind and count the days til this stupid lit class is done with.

I am making an effort to blog more. I stopped there for a while but I really do like looking back and I will be disappointed if I see I haven't been journalling. Today I went to the school and helped Liz put together the Earth day carnival packets. It took us about 2 hours, I didn't get out until 11am and Ariel was sooooo tired. I thought she was just tired because she hadn't slept well. Well, her eyes were all runny, and her nose was runny. Then Ray commented that his alergies were crazy today. "ahhhh, allergies!" I thought. So I went and got Ariel some Claritin after her nap. It did clear up her eyes and runny nose, but she is sleeping and miserable. No fever. Alas, I think she has what Trevor had the weekend before and what Rachael had last week. It results in no fever, no sickness, but VERY VERY sleepy- like sleeping all day sleepy. Ray got it, too for luckily only a day.

I hate to say I am *happy* Ariel is sick and sleepy/sleeping, but it has been wonderful for studying. After spending all morning in the school volunteering, I came home and studied French. And studied and studied. I have studied literally almost the entire afternoon. I am just now finishing so I can cook dinner. Thankfully Rachael had a playdate, and I just let Trevor play on lego.com because I am stressed, Ariel doesn't want to do anything and Trevor just wanted to play on the computer. Sadly, I am ok with that right now.

I am soooo nervous about this test. I ca remember the verbs and it's not really that that's a problem. It's that I think in english! So I mentally translate everything before I feel comfortable saying it. I also get confused with when to use things like Il faut..... Or Elle va avoir... or when I am using a negative, when to put the verb (like parler) in the ne pas and when to put some other verb in there and use parler as the infinitive. It's making me CRAZY! I'm sure I will do OK, but I always super stress out before an exam.

My house is trashed, my baby girl is sick, my son has had too much computer time, I am stressed and I think I put the corned beef in too late to be done for dinner. Ack! heehee...

My little baby girl is four years old today! I can't believe how fast that four years has flown by. I feel like I just had her yesterday (well, maybe not quite yesterday!).

She is thrilled it is her bday and we will celebrate with just a small family party tonight. Ariel and I will go out today and get her a big balloon because she wants one and we'll pick out her cake. she decided she wanted a Whole Foods cake instead of me making one, the little gourmet. heh. Then We'll decorate a little and Ray will bring home Rubinos pizza (also her request), we'll eat pizza and cake and open presents. Tomorrow we will go see Hotel For Dogs and go out to eat. She gets two days of celebration since we can't go to the movies tonight.

My cutie little girlie. I can't believe she is FOUR!

(and is it just me or is Amelia Bedelia freakin hilarious? I always find the stories funnier than the kids do)

Ariel is turning 4. FOUR on Wednesday. How cool is that. So today I was talking to her:
me: Ariel, How old will you be this week?
Ariel: FOUR (only she says FUR!)
me: And when you wake up on your birthday are you going to be different?
Ariel: No, I will STILL wear these pants! (points to her pants she's been wearing like all week)
me: But, you won't wake up and be as big as mommy?
Ariel: NO.... When I am 91, THEN I will be big like you.

31, 91, I guess it's all the same in the eyes of a kid. lol. We are planning on seeing Hotel for Dogs because she wants to see a movie and then we'll go eat at Red Robin. It's her favourite place because she gets a balloon there! We thought about doing a party and then decided not to because Ariel just wasn't keen on it. she wanted to go DO something on her birthday. Heck, I'm fine with that. We'll probably get them to sing happy bday to her at Red Robin, but I'll make her a carrot cake, too, per her request.

I can't believe my baby girl is about to turn FOUR!

We went to Ikea last night. But it took FOREVER. I was under the impression Ray was getting off early (4:30) and would be home by 5pm. He said he had to run by and spend like 10 minutes setting up some Pinewood Derby stuff. OK, I'm thinking that's at any time when we are leaving. Ray doesn't leave WORK until 5pm, then he tells me he is supposed to meet the boy scout dads at 6pm for this Pinewood derby thing. Then.... then... we pull into the school parking lot and I am like "This is xxx elementary school. Are you sure this is the right one." And Ray says "It looks like it. Yes. This is it." Sometimes there really is no point to arguing with Ray because it makes me sound like a naggy bitch. So I'm thinking "OK, whatever. Ray must know what he's talking about because I have never been to the school and he has." 30 effing minutes later Bill calls him and is asking where he is. I'm SURE this is the wrong school and Ray is insisting we're here and Bill and EVERYONE there must be blind or invisible or SOMETHING because he's looking in the cafeteria and there's no one there. Bill is insisting they ARE in the cafeteria. I finally end the debate by saying "Look, we're at xxx elementary school!" And I hear Bill say "Ohhh! You're at the wrong school! You need yyy elementary!" And Ray is still saying "Well, I know that, but they look the same!" Um, yea. We are in cookie cutter suburbia and this is a new neighbourhood. Of COURSE all the schools look the same---- EXCEPT the HUGE GLARING NAME ON THE FRONT OF IT! I mean, all the houses look the same, why wouldn't the schools? heh. So, then it took like 45 minutes to get everything done and none of us have eaten dinner, it's 7pm, the kids are tired and I am trying REALLY hard not to be grumpy. We make it to Ikea at 8pm after driving through McD's for dinner. Bleh. McD's seems ok while you're eating it, but man, do I feel nasty afterwards- like I ate salt soaked rocks or something.

But..... We got Trevor his bed and we got the essential parts for the kitchen we were missing (shelf holders, and something that holds the drawer front in). Got home around 10 with really exhausted kids. I got to bed aroubd midnight. Bleh. Then back up this morning at 6am so I could make waffles for the much anticipated ice cream for breakfast day! Trevor had to be at Pinewood Derby by 8am.

Trevor did well in the derby. It was his first one and he placed first in two heats, I think. I was not there Rachael and Trevor went and Ariel insisted she wanted to stay with me. I warned her I was painting and it would be more fun to go with her siblings. She insisted she wanted to stay with me. Man, did she regret it. She's had a cold and been tired and last night's late bed, early rising and sugar for breakfast didn't help matters. She was a weepy mess by the time we got out of Lowe's. It started because she LOVES getting paint chips. But while we got the paint, she only got brown ones. As we're walking out to the car she realized she only grabbed brown and wanted to go back. I had like 10 gallons of paint and other goods, was tired from last night and wasn't about to go back into Lowe's. So I said next time she would be able to grab some. She got weepy. Then she says "Are we going to the house to paint? I'm hungry." OK, we'll run by our rental first and grab a snack. "But I don;t wanna paint! I want to see daddy and Trevor and RACHAEL!" *weeps*. She was an emotional wreck for an hour. She sobbed all the way home (like sobbed, not whined or tantrummed... upset, life is ending SOBS), then into the house. I cuddled her, we called daddy and left a message. She sobbed through her snack. She didn't want a nap- and she ALWAYS takes a nap if she is tired, she never tells me no if she is tired. So I didn't push the nap. Ray finally called back and everyone talked to her and then she felt much better. So yay! I was able to paint! She danced to music, and lay down for a while and I got the bedroom painted. Then when Ray got back I got some of the downstairs finished. Only, like, the REST of the FREAKIN house to go. NEVER will I paint a whole house again. One room, yea, I can do that. A whole house? No, I'll pay some one. It SUCKS.

First off, Ariel is sooo cute. She kind of reminds me of my sister in that, everytime we get somewhere where there is NO bathroom, she has to go TO the bathroom. And, being winter and snowy and bare treed and cold, squatting in the woods is not an option. A couple days ago we walked to the stream and THE MINUTE we got there Ariel had to go pee. She's rocking back and forth, grabbing herself and telling me how she has to go. I started to get a little frustrated, and could feel myself about to lecture when I looked at her and just broke out laughing and all I could think to say was "You're just like my sister." I have childhood memories is having to drag my little sister everywhere with me (she's three years younger) and whenever we got somewhere, she'd have to pee and we'd have to go home and I would get SOOOOO mad. One time I refused to go home and she peed in her pants and I got in trouble and then I was SOOOO mad about that. lol. And I used to to the same thing as I do to Ariel- "Kris, pee before we leave!" And she wouldn't have to go.... until we got there. heh.

We got snow here today and last night and I was wishing for a snow day but alas, it was not to be. The kids went to school on time. Which was actually ok, because I watched jelazakazone's daughter for an hour while she ran to an appt (are you ever not rushing or running somewhere? ;) ). Her daughter is way cute and she and Ariel actually PLAYED! Which was also cute. When they weren't being passive agressive with eachother. Or, actually Ariel. Jela's dd2 was very forward about what she did and didn't want to share. Ariel didn't want to share Creepy Lifelike Cat she brought with her (her FurReal Friends white cat). But is dd2 tried to touch it, Ariel would find a reason that CLC needed to be held, or moved somewhere else. It was kind of hilarious. Then I talked about sharing because Ariel wanted dd2's pretend phone and dd2 wanted the cat. So I said "Why don't you guys trade?" So they traded and Ariel looked at the phone for a minute, and dd2 pet the cat. Then she wanted to take 'pictures" of the cat with the phone. She she took the phone back. Ariel sat there for a minute, watching dd2 take pictures. Then it dawned on her that she had neither phone NOR cat. So she grabbed the kitty. It was just amusing to watch them interact. I can tell that Ariel is used to playing with kids who are better negotiators and who are better at humoring her because she is younger. She rarely plays with other 3 yr olds- instead hanging with Rachael's friends and sometimes even Trevor's. She doesn't know how to always get by when the playing field is developmentally equal, I think. heh.

Then Jelazakazone made me a wonderful yummy omelette and salad for lunch and it hit the spot! Esp since I had nasty Dominos pizza for dinner. Bleh. *sigh* Rachael had a little friend over after school, and Trevor played with MArcos. The Rachael's friend's mom stopped by for a few minutes to chat before heading back out. All in all it was a nice afternoon. Now I need to finish watching my Lit video so I can absorb more of this stuff. I totally though Lit would be all Steinbeck and Dickens and stuff. No, it's journals and histories written in the 1600s about the Puritans who settled America. *sigh* Not exactly what I was expecting. MORE history. Don't get me wrong, it's not boring. It's just kind of dry and when your expecting to read novels, reading journal excerpts from stuff written when the put a silent "e" on the end of like every word, well.. *sigh* again. heh

Poor Ariel was just along for the ride. School was NOT delayed this morning, though everything was still all icy. This ice is kind of keeping us inside- Trevor and Rachael do ok. But it is damn slippery for me and I have a lot farther to fall. And Ariel can't walk on the ice to save her life. It's like watching a bad slapstick comedy or something. Ariel seriously falls like every second step, and then scrambles to get back up, only to fall two more steps down the ice. And by ice I mean snow under a nice crackly layer of ice that *I* can seem to break through, but Ariel doesn't. So I spend my time holding her hand for dear life and hauling her pitiful self back up while I waver between getting frustrated and laughing at her. "Can't you walk on the ice AT ALL, Ari?" Apparently not.

Right before I dropped the kids off at school, I went to the bathroom. Nothing awful, nothing clogging. But I flushed the toilet and it started overflowing everywhere. Gross. Trevor had gone and it got clogged and he didn't tell me. I threw the last of our clean towels over it and decided to deal with it later. So once I dropped the kids off at school I had to run to Whole Foods and Michaels. Ray needed poster board and markers for a Boy Scout meeting tonight. Came home long enough to put the groceries away and head back to school to help in the library and meet the kids for lunch. Came home and put Ariel down for a nap. I read my Lit assignment until 2:30ish, threw in some laundry and took the now awake Ariel to the grocery store for Swiffer stuff and some other various things I cannot get at Whole Foods. Picked the kids up. Came home read them their library books, and they had computer time and I finally got around to cleaning the bathroom, then cleaned the upstairs one, then washed lots more laundry and cleaned the kitchen and cooked dinner. Then Ray came home and asked me to write the Boy Scout posters out since I had neater handwriting. Did that (because I do have neater handwriting!). The girls took a bath and Ray, his friend visiting (John) and Trevor went to their meeting. Now I am sitting here and thinking I need to finish more laundry. And I would like to read my book.

It was pretty darn productive today. Even though, man oh man, did I wake up GRUMPY. I was like a hamster about ti eat its babies or something. I know that doesn't sound very fierce, but, since hamsters do eat their babies when stressed and I was pretty close to being that way, I figured it was a good analogy. I think part of it was Trevor being up most of the night, whining an tossing and turning. Then Rachael woke up and went into some lengthy explanation in a very loud voice at 2am as to why she had to sleep in my room (where Trevor was at that time). Then Ariel came in. And Trevor still slept badly. And Rachael was a noisy, snotty breather and by morning I was just exhausted. (as an unrelated side, Stripey is obsessed with the kids bathroom and is currently pounding laps around the plastic bathtub making a racket. Then he says "errrr?" and stops for a minute, before starting all over again. It's hilarious.)

So after I was REALLY grumpy and awful this morning, I apologized to everyone. Trevor pulled like a muscle in his leg or something and so I decided that, since he was exhausted from the night before, getting a cold and his leg hurt, I just went ahead and kept him home from school. He needed it. He chilled on the couch, read and drew and wrote. We played Uno and Zingo with Ariel. We ate lunch and then both kids took a nap!
Anyway-- here's my list:

Took Rachael to school and dropped her at Kiss and Ride instead of walking her in.
Came home and read some books to the kids.
Couldn't stand my gross house- cleaned the litter boxes, vacuumed all three levels, started laundry, brought clean laundry upstairs (never got it folded), cleaned kitchen, tidied up in general.
Played Uno and Zingo.
Made grilled cheese for lunch.
Put the kids down for a nap and they slept!
Played a little scrabble, watched my English assignment video, took a french quiz while they slept.
Trevor woke up great, Ariel woke up tired and feeling yucky.
I started bread, beef stock and put in my mom's spicy pecans to bake more. Kids played Club Penguin and Webkinz (each got 30 minutes). Ariel was truly grumpy during Trevor's computer time. :(
Trevor and I played Battleship.
Picked up Rachael from school with a tired Ariel and feelin good Trevor.
Came home and gave Rachael a snack, read a couple more books.
Rachael got picked up for a playdate with Sophie.
I finished reading the books and then Ariel was really just achy and tired. I sat down with her and Trevor and I proceeded to spend the next over an hour reading quietly while Ariel fell asleep again on my lap.
5:30pm I got up to cook dinner. Ariel woke up feeling a bit better for a moment.
Trevor helped me cook dinner.
Rachael home just in time to eat.
Enjoyed a noisy dinner where everyone sang, told me stories, etc. Ariel felt bad again and didn't eat dinner and lay on the couch.
Cleaned kitchen, ushered kids up to bed. Ariel clutched her stomach and squirmed. "Do you have to barf?" She shook her head no, then ran to the bathroom and barfed in the toilet. Poor baby girl. Glad she didn't eat dinner.
Got ready for bed, read a bit of our chapter book but stopped because everyone was very tired and squirmy.
Ariel is asleep- she fell asleep like 5 seconds after hitting the pillow. The older two are reading. We're all waiting for daddy to get home from his business trip, which should be any minute now. Yay!

Rachael is like totally rocking the social life lately. Yesterday I watched Danieh's kids briefly on the playground afterschool and Liz joined us with her daughter. So Trevor and Racahel both had friends to run around with in the 40 degree overcast "feels colder" weather. I also had moms to chat with that day, since Danieh showed up shortly after school let out and we all hung out a while. Then Rachael had a playdate right after school with her friend, Charlotte, and tomorrow she has a playdate with Sophie at her house, then Friday she has a playdate with Katie at her house. I will seriously miss her. Actually, I *did* miss her tonight.. until we all got in the car to go home after I picked her up. Then she chastized her sister for adding two numbers incorrectly (Ariel was adding numbers to herself "7+7 is 9! 1+3 equals FIFTEEEEEN") and they argued about that- Ariel didn't want Rachael's input. Then Rachael crawled over Ariel to get out of the car instead of waiting for Ariel to get out and that pissed Ariel off. *sigh* I hate to say it, but after such a peaceful afternoon, it seems Rachael is the instigator, even though it ends up looking like her brother is.

And Trevor has been king of awful sleepers tonight. ARGH. (Can you tell I am PMSing? OK, not PMSing... since it is not "Pre" anymore). But, omg, he's been tossing and turning and randomly whining all evening. He finally started and wouldn't stop so I went upstairs to see what was wrong. I thought maybe his nose was bothering him, or his leg- I think he pulled a muscle in his leg as he's been complaining it hurts. I gave him ibuprofen before school and he said it didn't help and I told him there's not much I can do, he just has to rest it until he feels better. I went upstairs and he is thrashing and fussing and basically having a tantrum in bed. He wouldn't tell me what was wrong, but he was pretty awake- awake enough to respond "No!" when I ran down the list (bathroom? nose? bad dream? etc). Took him to the bathroom. He cried and fussed the whole way. Took him back to bed. His sisters were both awake by now. I was also just DONE with the whining. Told Rachael to let me know if she was being bothered by his fussing. Told Trevor that I would be happy to help him as soon as he let me know what I could help him WITH. Went downstairs. Couple minutes of thrashing/crying: Rachael wants him moved somewhere else. Trevor is awake enough to freak out even more because he doesn't WANT to sleep by himself in the next room. At this point I am getting just over this whole bit. I go upstairs and tell Trevor FIRMLY "Why are you crying?" "WAHHHHH!" "No, you THINK you're talking to me, but you aren't. WHY are you crying?" "I don't know! WAHHHHHH!" *thrashthrashthrash* Rachael looks on dubiously, wondering if she should exit the bed lest she get kicked. "OK. If you DON'T know why you're crying, you don't need to cry. Stop. Just.stop.crying." "WAHHHHH" *thrash thrash* !@##$% "Trevor, if you don't stop crying NOW I am moving you. you are choosing to cry and you can't tell me what's wrong. No one wants to hear you cry for no reason. Stop. Everyone wants to go to sleep." Trevor says "FINE then." Crosses his arms in a pout and goes to sleep. Just like that.

Go figure. Isn't it so effing frustrating (Though it kind of amuses me now)!

Christmas was wonderful, full of champagne and turkey and eating and eating and preparing food and eating. An opening presents. I put pictures on the homeschool blog. All in all it was a fabulous day.

But I have to post a cute Arielism while I am thinking about it. Involving, what else, poop. Ariel got this cat for Christmas- it's a Fur Real Friends cat that meows and blinks its eyes and everything. She adores it and carries it everywhere. I find it kind of cute in this really creepy kind of way. Well, she took it to the restroom and went poop and needed help wiping (isn't life with kids wonderful sometimes?). So I went in and there's her cat sitting next to the toilet and I exclaimed "Wow, Ariel! That's a big poop! Did the kitty do that poop in the potty?" and she said "No, I did!" and I asked her "Did kitty go poop, too? How come the kitty didn't do that poop?" And she looked at me like I was a moron and replied "Mommy, the kitty is not REAL." She just said it so matter of factly. It was hilarious. Especially after she had been carrying the cat around and brushing it and hugging it and treating it like a real cat all day. lol.

Scary Ari threw up last night. So now it's Ariel and Trevor. Ray felt pretty damn awful for a while and I had horrible stomach cramps and that "Well, maybe I will barf" feeling. It seems to have passed and been replaced by a general fatigue from being up all night and the feeling that I might regret eating the toast I just ate and drinking the coffee I am about to drink. Ray was feeling better this morning, not fantastic, but he took Rachael to school. Rachael was horribily disappointed to realize we were not meeting her for lunch.

The good news is I finished my parents Rome photo book and it will be here in a couple days. I guess I am going to do a bit of shopping online since getting out to the store isn't going to happen. Argh.

I am just tired! I didn't get to work out this morning, which also bums me out. My goal was 5 days this week of cardio and this would have been my fifth day. Maybe we'll all feel superfantastic tomorrow morning.

And strippy stripe cuteness, too. Ariel and Stripy are like best friends or something. Well, she is best friends with him. But her adoration is not always returned in the same exuberance she doles it out. But one thing Stripey does love is our laundry basket- the blue plastic one I tote the clothes around in, not the cloth laundry basket where we put the dirty clothes. Everytime I break out the laundry basket Stripey is right there, and boy is he ever horrified if he bounds in and there are *gasp* CLOTHES in the basket! He gets all offended and leaps out and stares in the basket like, if he stares hard enough, the clothes will disappear. As soon as I am done emptying it out, though, I put the basket on the floor and he leaps in it and chases his tail, does kitty somersaults, sticks his paws through the little holes on the sides. It's so freakin cute. Then Ariel comes in and this way cool new game starts for him. Ariel thinks it's wonderful Stripey will hang out in the basket while she pushes it around the house. And he LOVES it. Chaos and Shadow, they would leap out the moment one of the kids started pushing the basket. They've tried. But Stripey is thrilled. Ariel pushes him around, going on about him being in a boat, and Stripey looks through the holes, trying to attack the ground as it moves by, he sees his tail flick back and forth and attacks it while his "boat" is moving. It's sooooo cute. He is like number 1 best kid's cat EVER. Well, he's also number 1 kid's cat because he will let them carry him all over the place and he doesn't squirm, too. Ariel picks him up and he just hangs there until he is put back down (they pick him up properly, my kids have grown up with cats ALWAYS around them).

So that's Stripey cuteness. It was also adorable this morning. He joins me for mmy workouts and he gets mad if I don't bend down to pet him. He's kind of a pest while I work out. He sits by my leg and will suddenly leap up and grab my leg if I don't pet him every so often. Today I bent down to do a lunge and he put his paws up on my knee, touched my cheek and gave me a kitty kiss on the nose. It was cute. Then at another part I happened to look behind me and, here I am sweating like a pig, and there's Stripey, laying on his back, watching my video with his eyes half closed. All he needed was like a beer or something. Still kitten.

And miss Scary Ari-- she is sooo funny. I don't know if I blogged about this. But I went into Michaels about a week or so ago and got some supplies. They had spatulas there and I picked up a two pack because mine was broken. They were holiday ones and one had these little gingerbread men inside the silcone spatula lining thing. Ariel fell in love. I gave her that spatula and she carried it everywhere. We went to the park and spatula was there going down the slide. We went to the stream, and spatula was there washing in the water. She went to bed and spatula had to be right there. We went to NC to visit the grandparents, and after I tucked in Ariel she asked anxiously "Where's spatula, mommy?" and we had to find spatula (in the car) and give it to her before she went to sleep.

but alas, her love for spatula is over. Spatula is like so last week, now. For yesterday I went back to Michaels for xmas craft stuff. And Ariel picked out, all for herself, a piece of sparkley yellow green felt. Low and behold, she was in love. Feltie, as he was named, came home and "Look, mommy, the sidewalk is so pretty now!" then Feltie went down the slide numerous times. Then Feltie's name was changed to Fuzzy "But it will be Feltie later, mommy" and he went in the stream and "wow, mommy, Fuzzy can get wet and he's still ok!" Then a partially desparkled, slightly muddy looking Feltie picked up Rachael and Trevor. The love for Feltie did not last as long as the love for spatula, it was more like a fling.

But between her playing with Stripey, a laundry basket, a spatula and a piece of sparkly green felt, who needs toys?

So I took Shadow to the vet. First he got out this morning and I didn't know it. Shadow is declawed and he's not supposed to go outside. But with three kids in and out.. well, all my cats (except the kitten so far) get out occasionally. I called him and called him and couldn't find him. Then, over an hour later, right as I dialed the vet's office to cancel my appt, he showed up in the back yard. He ran from me, but I grabbed him when he tried to jump a fence. Bad kitty! The vet could not get any urine from him, he was too grumpy and he had none to give anyway. She gave him a once over and rx'd me some painkillers, saying he was probably licking himself excessively due to pain, and some abx. She will check him again before we leave for Rome to see if she can't get a sample then and see how things look. All I can say is: thank god for those treats you stick the pill in. So hopefully he will be feeling better soon. On a kitty cat diet note, he lost almost a pound! Go kitty! I have been giving them better food, too, with added salmon oil. Mainly for Chaos and his mat-prone coat. While Chaos has been turning his nose up at his food for a couple days, Shadow has been scarfing it down. He'll have a nice coat! heh.

ANYWAY-- I was one my way HOME from the vet. Driving down 7, minding my own business when the van in front of me swerves. What the...? I glance at the van, then look to the road and.. too late, this huge THING was looming in front of my car. I had nowhere to swerve anyway. So I hit it straight on. I have a sport model to my car- it has a pretty low ground clearance. I wonked up over this thing, heard a lot of noise and instantly pulled into the gas station. It popped out the back of my car as I pulled in. I smelled all kind of burning plastic smell. Yuck. This gas station was right where the stuff I hit was. I look and the thing has taken out the bottom grill, pulled something almost off the bottom of my car so this big hunk of plastic is dragging, and I see something that looks like a vent is really bashed in (this turned out to be the radiator, I think). I look back and what I have hit is a huge spool of fiberglass twine. Now, the whole time I was pulled in, these three day labor looking guys are standing by their big white truck with big white uhaul type trailer and watching me. They look nervous. One ran out and grabbed the twine and brought it back and they were looking it over. I was going to go talk to them, but I figured I would call Ray right quick. As soon as I picked up the phone, they looked at me again, threw the twine out, jumped in their car and drove off. Thankfully Ray had picked up by that time and I had him write down the license plate numbers of the trailer and truck. I didn't see it fall off their truck, but they sure acted like it was theirs. And they went from chillin by their truck to speeding off in a hurry really quick when they saw me get on the phone. So Ray ended up coming out, we called the cops and filed a report. We called the insurance company who is also going to follow up with the plate numbers and try to get their insurance company to pay for repairs. I don't know if anything will come of it. It's too easy for them to say it wasn't theirs. I didn't witness it falling off their truck. Ray drove my car home and it is running but needs to be fixed. I drove him back to work in his truck and then Ariel and I went to get a hot cocoa at Starbucks in the Safeway where I needed to pick up a few things. But, man! What a day!

And a cutie Ariel thing: I was tired after dinner and didn't feel like doing the kitchen (Ray gets the kids ready for bed, I clean the kitchen). So I snapped my fingers and called out "Oh, maid!? Any maid here?" Ariel came running over and said "Yes? I'm the maid!" "Ariel, do you know what the maid does?" I asked. "Yes! She kisses?" and she proceeded to hug and kiss me. It was really cute. But she didn't clean the kitchen, I still had to do that. heh

Maybe poor Greystripe because we call him Strippy-stripe all the time. (Despite the fact that he is actually kind of spotted, not really striped. He's got like these really broken up thin spotty slashes instead of stripes, maybe they will be stripes later?). ANYWAY-- Ariel had taken a bath earlier and I had finished washing her hair and she had gone into her bedroom to get her PJs on. I came in a few minutes later to find her standing naked by her dresser, talking to herself, with no drawers open or anything.

"Ariel!" I exclaim "Aren't you COLD? Put your PJs on! You haven't even gotten them out yet!"
Ariel looked at me and smiled and said "OK. But kitten needs to come out of the drawer first."
Huh? Sure enough, she has stuffed Greystripe into her pants drawer and shut the drawer. She wasn't talking to herself. She was talking to him. I opened the drawer and he was fine, and I kind of thought it was cute. The kids are always carting him around and I call him our little purse cat. heh.