ExTercise

My boys are really into exercise these days, or as they call it, extercise. It all comes back to wanting to be big and strong like daddy, or Spiderman, or Batman. I have been exercising in the mornings and while I try to get up and do it before they wake up, this is a seemingly impossible feat, as they wake up around 5 am most days and while I am dedicated to getting in shape, I am not 5 am dedicated, at least not yet.

The other day we came home from picking Anthony up from school and they went to play in the play room. Not 30 seconds had passed before they were back in the kitchen, shirts off, showing me their muscles. I told them they should do push ups to make those muscles stronger. So they did. If you have never seen a 4 year old or a 6 year old do a push up, you really must. I showed them the modified version (knees bent) and that seemed to help their form a little, but not much. They soon moved on to lifting things. It started out small, a single toy or chair from their little table. Then Anthony got the idea to fill their toy shopping cart with toys and lift that. That proved much harder, but he did it several times. All the while stopping periodically to show me his muscles. Eventually for reasons known only to them they were only wearing their underwear and were not longer extercising.

Then at one point Dom comes into the kitchen and says "I am going to go extercise some more. Oh, I better put on pants."

Right now both boys are at running club at Anthony's school. They do it every morning, kids come and run around the field and for each lap they get a ticket to be redeemed at some point for something. But it is a great way to get their wiggles out and get them ready to learn. Dom wanted to go with Anthony today so I have a quiet morning at the moment. The baby is still asleep and I am going to go drink some coffee. I already did my extercises for the day so now it is on to other things.

Oldies but goodies

I decided to copy some of my blogs from a previous site in here, mostly for posterity's sake. So, enjoy some of my older postings about life in general.

Oh Costco, my Costco
I am sure most of you have at least experienced the madness that is a trip to Costco. I will admit, as a mother of three, being able to go one place for pretty much everything is kind of like winning the lottery or getting a really great new lipstick or something. It just makes life better. However, I have always been skeptical as to whether or not it is truly worth it to buy 1000 rolls of toilet paper as opposed to 12 and if I am really saving money.
My last trip to the vortex (as I like to call it) I decided to do some comparing and I realized that I was actually saving money, to some degree. But at what cost? Having a 2 gallon jug of olive oil really does make it much easier to saute pretty much anything for the rest of my life, but I have essentially had to remove a shelf from my cabinet to fit the darn thing! And don't get me started on the looks I get from friends when I hoist out the keg of red wine. Is bulk really the way to go or is it simply feeding our uber-consumer mindset? Do I really need that much olive oil and wine, no matter how great a deal I might be getting? And is having to add on to my home worth it in order to store the 1000's of rolls of toilet paper that come in a package?
Now let's chat about the strange check-out customs that go along with being a "member" (and don't get me started on that.) First of all, they only accept 1 kind of credit card? And let me just be perfectly honest, most people shopping at Costco are the not the folks who can afford the $100 yearly fee to have an American Express card. I don't care what kind of perks you get. So, I have to use cash, or in my case, the wonderful debit card. Checks? Huh? What are those? And then there is the fact that they try to stuff all your items into a box built for Snickers bars so you find yourself precariously balancing your 3 lb bag of spinach atop your 10 gallon jug of laundry soap while pushing your bathtub sized cart at the same time. And don't even think of putting your receipt away like a normal person, no, they must check it and put a smiley face on it (I think they only do this so they can laugh at your acrobatics as you exit.)
Then there are the items that they only carry for a short time. They do this because unlike other superstores they only carry a certain amount of items at a time, as opposed to a place like Walmart that has the ability to bilk its employees so it can carry that cd player you want ALL the time. So, you go there, get your 50 pack of Perrier and then you spot it, the grill you have always wanted, or that toy for you child that is usually $50 more at Target. You think, like any normal person, I will come back later, after we get paid, yada yada yada, but alas, you return and the item isn't there, they don't know when or if they will carry it again! NOOOOOOOO!!! So the next time you spot it you buy it, even if you don't have the money or it isn't your child't birthday. You have to have it. Costco has created a monster!
I will still shop there, I think I have finally found a happy medium of purchasing what I need coupled with the occasional book or underwear purchase (they are in the same section after all.) Oh, and maybe some DVD's, oooh, and a new blender, but that's it. Oh wait, trail mix is on sale, no one likes it in my family, but it's on sale!!! Oh crap, I lost my receipt.

Going green has me seeing yellow
I try to live as green as a mother of three boys in an old, highly energy-inefficient home can. I try to do laundry and dishes in the evening, I turn lights out when leaving a room, we bought new doors and windows to make our house a little more tight, not much, but a little. So, a few weeks ago we did some things to the house, including getting new lighting in the kitchen. We did track lighting so we could turn all the lights on from one switch rather than three. We also bought the good kind of light bulbs that are supposed to last 9 years and save tons of energy. We have them in most other lights all over the house but could never find ones that fit our old fixtures in the kitchen. Now, keep in mind that our house is old, around 60 years old or so, so things are, well, old. The kitchen has all the original cabinets and the person we bought it from just dipped the entire house in glossy white paint before we moved in. I didn't mind the gloss white so much when we had our soft white mood lighting in here, but now with the new bulbs everything looks yellow. I mean everything. I was just cooking some white fish and it turned yellow before my eyes. Before the light change it would turn more of a golden color, like it was browning, but this was just plain yellow, not very appetizing.
Anyway, didn't know if anyone else out there wishes the environmentalists could at least make some flattering light bulbs. I mean, look how far hybid cars have come.

Bars of Soap
My family went to Vegas recently. It was actually our family, my husband's parents, my husband's sister and her family, and my husband's sister's husband's parents. Did that make sense? Anyway, there were a lot of us spread over three two bedroom condos off, off, off the strip. Our first night there a few of us went to Subway to get some food and we left the kiddos with one set of grandparents. Upon returning we were told what is so far one of my favorite stories involving my kids to date. So, at one point both kids went to the bathroom (they usually do this together, they are kind of like women at a bar, they have to go together for some reason.) Upon finishing they went to the double sinks (a novelty in itself) to wash their hands. My 3 year old was immediately confused. You see, at our house we use either Purell or foaminig soap. The hotel had only bar soap. My oldest proceeded to open up the bar, I guess he knew instintively that it was soap, but in my 3 year old's defense I will say that it did look like a piece of cheese. As he watched his brother unwrap the soap he got upset and asked where his cheese was. Grandma explained that it wasn't cheese, it was soap, and that he just needed to rub it on his hands. So, he did what we was told and immediately got frustrated and said, " it doesn't work!!" Grandma had to control the laughter as she explained that he had to get his hands wet first, THEN rub the soap on them. So, he did that. As he was washing grandma told him to smell his hands, the soap smelled like oranges. He smelled his hands and said without pause, "smells like cheese." So, I admit, my child has never seen a bar of soap. It does not make me a bad mother. But it sure makes for a good story.

Oh, snap!
Today is one of the saddest for me on record as a mom. I mean, I have plenty of them, well, I guess I should calculate more in minutes rather than days, but today I was kicked in the but by my middle son.
Let me preface (and this is not a sorry attempt at an excuse) by saying that I lose all patience when I am in the car. I could be in the best mood and as soon as I start the engine and get into "CA driver mode" I am suddenly overtaken by some road-raged lunatic!! So, add three kids to that mix and you can guess that many car rides are stressful, especially when they happen to occur close to nap time.
Ok, so, we are on our way home from the mall, it is WAY past naptime (my fault, but when you need diapers you have get diapers), and before leaving the parking lot Dom started freaking out because I wouldn't let him buckle his buckle by himself. He can do it, sort of, but it sometimes takes a good 2 minutes, which is an eternity in a busy parking lot with people waiting for your spot. So, I did it for him and he threw a fit. Add to this fit the fact that he is exhausted (still waking up at 5 am because of daylight savings, or maybe it is just to torture me, who knows) you can imagine what it sounded like in the car. The baby is crying because he is hungry and tired. Luckily Anthony was behaving and just minding his own business during all of this.
So, Dom is having a fit and so in an attempt to quell his madness I tell him, rather sternly, that if he doesn't settle down he won't be able to buckle his buckle himself for the next 10 times we ride in the car. This didn't work, he was already too far gone, so in a vain attempt I told him that if he didn't calm down he wouldn't be able to earn back any of the toys he had taken away earlier that morning, but if he was quiet the rest of the way home he could earn one toy back.
That at least quieted him down for a second, I thought we were in the clear, I couldn't believe it! But then he started up again. I lost it. I yelled, I scolded him, (totally useless with a three year old, much less an exhausted three year old). Then he responded with what will undoubtedly go down as the worst thing my kids have ever said to me "why are you mad all the time?" Wow. Is that how they saw me? I mean, I am the mom, it is my job to teach them right from wrong, how to be responsible, I make the rules, etc. But did that mean that I was forever the mad lady in the house? I don't want that to be the case. I try really hard to do things rationally at first, but when the third time rolls around and they still haven't done what I asked then I sometimes lose it. Any mother who tells you she hasn't is lying.
So, I am sad. I don't want my kids to think of me as always being mad, but I also don't want them to think they can get away with anything. I just needed to share. Kids are tough.

Curse you Ben Franklin!!
I am up at 5 am. I despise daylight savings. My kids have been up between 5:15 and 5:45 for the last two days (apparently they started daylight savings a day early, just for laughs). I mean, I had just gotten used to them waking up at 6:30 and being ok with that, it was just how their internal clocks worked. But now, now am I in for months of being up before daylight?!!!
I think part of my problem was I didn't sleep all that well the night before last because I kept waking up to see if the kids were awake. Then we forgot to change the clock in our living room so I kept thinking it was 9:45 rather than 8:45 and I was tired so I went to bed. So, I am up at the crack of dawn and luckily, none of my kids are up yet, so, perhaps they have adjusted. Too bad I haven't.
So, daylight savings, I think perhaps this needs to be one of the issues the presidential candidates take head on. Since I am still on the fence as to whom I am voting for, this could really put one candidate over the top for me. I know Stephen Colbert would have made it is 1 priority. Ok, hope you are all sleeping soundly. I am off to google some old friends.

Grace like a child
As a parent you find yourself apologizing, a lot. I mean, we are only human, we make mistakes, and the 1 thing I want my kids to learn from my mistakes is that making them isn't necessarily bad, but not apologizing for them is. I mean, from as early as they could grasp the concept of being sorry and asking for forgiveness we were hammering it into their brains (still are). The key part in all of this being the asking for forgiveness part. That was HUGE in my house growing up. It wasn't enough to just apologize, you had to ask that person to forgive you as well. That is hard to do. Anyone can offer a half-hearted apology, but to ask that person to forgive you means you own that hurt, you know you did wrong and you want to make it right.
Yesterday I needed to ask my oldest for forgiveness. It started out as a pretty standard thing. I asked them to get ready to take a bath, they ignored me, didn't hear me, were pretending I was speaking another language, whatever, they didn't do what I asked. I asked again, a little louder. I started doing that counting thing parents do that never works yet we do it anyway. I threatened to take away their favorites toys. I actualy took away said toys. Nothing. So, I grabbed my oldest by his shirt collar and marched him to the bathroom. The youngest followed us as soon as he knew I was serious. I said some harsh words, harsher than needed to be said. They took a bath and I cooled off and when they were done and cozy in their jammies I took my oldest aside and apologized to him for being too harsh with him. I asked forgiveness, he gave it, we moved on to teeth brushing and quiet time.
Then he did something that took my by complete surprise, he asked ME for forgiveness too. Without any prompting he said, "mommy, I need forgiveness too. I didn't listen to you and that was wrong." I mean, yes, it was true, he should have done what I asked, but this was so huge. My 5 year old got it, he totally got it. He knew that even though his transgression wasn't huge, it still hurt my feelings and that was wrong. I started crying and I think that confused him, but we hugged and everything was fine.
As I lay in bed that night I thought about our exchange again and a tear came to my eye. I realized that if I have done nothing else right in raising my children, at least I have taught them forgiveness, both giving and receiving. Let's hope it sticks.

Dominic
I am three
I am strong small and sweet
I move as though propelled
I live life without thought of tomorrow
I think Superheroes are real
I will be one someday
My back is afraid at night
but my heart feels warm
I will get bigger and bigger and bigger
I will be strong like daddy
I pray for Anthony, and mommy, and daddy, and Nicolas,
and Spiderman
Sometimes you call me, what kind of ball is it?...goofball
I want to give you a big hug and kiss
I am three

Talking to the kitty Category: Life
I often marvel at my children. Mostly it is when they remember to flush the toilet or say thank you unpromted, but sometimes I simply marvel at them, just them. Babies are born so fragile and unfinished and within a few months they are smiling and interacting and controlling their limbs rather than their limbs controlling them. Within a year or so they are walking and talking and understanding pretty much everything you say to them, even if they can't respond in complete, or any type, of sentences yet. In just 2 years or so they are talking, legitimately talking, and interacting with you and other people and they are learning how to be polite and share and be a human being in this big big world.
This beginning talking and conversing phase is probably my favorite of all, at least so far. And the beautiful thing about kids is that they want to talk to anyone AND anything once they realize that the words and sounds coming out of their mouths create many different reactions. Their little foibles are adorable and they LOVE that. They have no idea why them replacing their "th's" with "s's" is so cute, but they certainly love when us adults give a hardly laugh or smile when they make those funny noises with their lips and tongue.
When my oldest son was a little over 2 he was playing on the floor while my husband and I were talking. Out of nowhere he said, "I am going to ask the kitty where she is going." He then proceeded to follow our kitty as she sauntered towards the kitchen. But rather than say "where are you going, kitty?" which is what both my husband and I assumed he would say, he said "meow meow meow meow, Roxy?" Complete with the inflection at the end indicating he was asking her a question. We were both tickled pink and laughed out loud at the sheer magnitude of our son's cuteness. Later on that night I was reminded of his little conversation again and after another good laugh it occurred to me that he was speaking her language. Somehow, in his little 2 year old brain, he knew that simply asking her, in his own language, wouldn't work, she simply wouldn't understand. So without even thinking about it, he spoke to her in her language, and you know what? She listened! She stopped in her tracks, turned around, sniffed his cute little nose lovingly as if to say, "thank you for asking mini-person, I am going to pee in my litter box now." And the other amazing thing was, he waited for her response. And when she sniffed him, he smiled, satisfied that he had made contact and been understood.
This reminds me of how our Heavenly Father speaks to us in our own languages. We each have our own "heart" language I believe, the language we hear that prompts us to look outside of ourselves and see the bigger, greater, more wonderful picture that is this world. The language that we need to be spoken to in if we are to recognize the error of our ways or feel truly loved and understood. And He always waits for our answer, waits for us to simply acknowledge He has spoken at all, waits for us to sniff his nose and tell him we are going to the potty, thanks for asking. For you see, even He cares about the minute things of our lives. And that is a comforting thought, at least for me.

A smile is worth a thousand time outs
Consider this an addendum to my last post.
Life is better, not totally better, but better. I suppose life is never perfect so I am trying to remember the good times more than the bad times. This week has been pretty good so far. We have implemented some new tactics when dealing with the older boys and so far they seem to be working, at least a little bit. They are screaming less and listening to me more, so that is a bonus. However, something else has started happening this week that makes their bad behavior almost disappear. My baby smiled at me. He has been kind of smling for a week or two now, but this week he has actually been smling AT me. When I pick him up or just talk to him he grins so huge I feel like he wants to laugh or talk to me but just can't figure out how. So, at least this week, it doesn't matter how many times the other two jump on the bed or throw toys at each other. I just look at my little one, he smiles back at me, and all is well with the world. It is as if his smile makes the rest of the world stop, at least at my house. Yes, I have had to deal with a few more bumps and bruises since I am not quite on the ball with the other two, but that smile, oh that smile! It is worth it. If you have never had the pleasure of having your baby smile at you then you might not understand why it means so much. But if you do have kids, then you know. You know that a smile means they know you, trust you, and think you are the entire world. Even though it only lasts for a year or two, it is a pretty good feeling to know that for at least one of my kids I can do no wrong. I am his superhero and I love it! The other two, well, sometimes I am Wonder Woman and sometimes I am the Wicked Witch of the West. But either way, at the end of the day it is still mommy who they want a big hug and kiss from before bed. I will take that.

Not ready for this

This weekend I realized something, something that I have been noticing for a few months now but never wanted to admit was actually happening. My 6 year old is growing up. Duh, you say? Well, it isn't the growing up that bothers me so much, as it is the growing away. I thought I had a few more years before he would pull his hand away if I tried to hold it, wouldn't run with wild abandon into my arms when I asked for a hug, would answer me with one syllable phrases. Now, he still calls for me when he gets hurt, even though kissing the owies isn't needed anymore. He still wants a big hug and kiss before bed, still gives a huge smile when I pick him up from school, and I am learning to appreciate these small things more and more. I take all the cuddles and sweetness for granted most of the time. Today I spent most of the day holding or cuddling with at least 1 of my other two boys. Luckily they are cuddlers by nature anyway, so perhaps their growing away will come later. A mom can dream, right? Now I know this is all part of their growing up and growing into independent, confident young adults. They might not need as many hugs as they used to, but they do need to know that I am always here, ready and willing to give one when they need it. It is hard to transition into that role, the role of taker rather than giver. The role of the hugee rather than hugger, but again, I know it is part of life. I just thought I had a few more years.

Now, on the other side of that coin, my kids are still kids when you boil it all down. This morning Dominic (4) was up at 4:30. I think he went to the bathroom and then had a hard time falling back to sleep. Anyway, I went up and layed down with him which usually helps him either fall asleep or at least rest for a little while longer. I don't mind at all, watching my kids sleep is one of my favorite mommy rights. As I lay there listening to my oldest two children breathe and snore I was reminded of yet another thing about Anthony that makes me smile. He laughs in his sleep. He has done it for a few years now and it is simply hilarious! But what struck me today was that whatever he was dreaming about was making him happy. I really enjoyed that. He was having a good dream and would wake up with all those happy laughing feelings. And he did.

I hope you all have happy dreams that make you laugh, even if no one is there to hear you.

Tips and tricks I wanted to share

Hi everyone. This is going to be an educational and hopefully usefull blog. First off, let me introduce you moms out there who don't already know about Momfaves, to, well, Momfaves. It is an awesome website where moms can post recipes, quotes from their kids, fave restaurants and shops and websites, pretty much anything. So, go sign up, www.momfaves.com. It is also run by a friends of ours, Josh and Rebekah Unfried.

Ok, so in the spirit of sharing secrets and tips I will share some of my own. It occurred to me to write this today because I have been sitting on my couch staring at a HUGE chocolate milk stain left by, well, he shall remain nameless, but I think you can all imagine. So, not only is it chocolate, it is milk, stinky milk, and pretty much an entire glass. My first attempt didn't work, which was store bought foam cleanser. I was getting ready to lug out our carpet extractor, but thought I would check online first to see if anyone, anyone at all, had another solution. Turns out, they did. Some mentioned other store bought cleaners, but then I ran across one that seemed different enough to work. Rubbing alcohol. The great thing here is, it doesn't soak in because it just evaporates. But is also really gets the stain out, without discoloring or anythng. So, I poured about 1/3 of the bottle on the stain, then soaked it up with a towel, it really worked! I did another 1/3 and even more came up. I am going to wait until it is completely dry to do another round, but it has gotten about 90% of the stain out. I figure the last little bit will have to get the extractor, but that is ok with me. The majority of the stain is gone.

Another little trick I learned from a friend is to mix your dish soap with water in a squirt bottle. The squirting action kind of foams up the soap for you and it actually saves you so much on soap. I do almost 50/50 water to soap and a regular size bottle of soap lasts about 4 times longer!

Another good trick for making yummy smoothies is to slice up your bananas (very important that you slice them first) and then freeze the slices. This acts as the ice part of your smoothie and makes it nice and thick without watering it down.

One more for now, kool aide water colors. Lightly mix your chosen flavors with enough water to make it usable ( you can always add more, but you want it to be colorful). Then ask your kids to paint a picture of whatever the "paint" smells like. It is scratch and sniff art !!! They will love it and if they eat some, so what!!! You can also draw a picture for them, of fruit, and then let them paint it with the appropriate color/flavor. So much fun!

Hope these help or inspire you.

Tears and birthday cookies

Today is Anthony's 6th birthday. I really am still in shock that he is that old, that I am that old! So, we did our usual birthday morning wake-up with cupcake and presents. Although, Anthony was already awake, but played it off very nicely. I seem to remember at about age 6 and 7 being about the time I would wake up before my parents came with the birthday banana and presents, so he is right on schedule. So, we sang, he opened his prizes and all was well. That is until Dom wanted to try out his new presents. We kind of let them figure it out on their own, partly because they need to figure this stuff out and partly because we were too tired to deal with it at 6:15 in the morning. They came to some sort of agreement but that soon ended when Anthony realized his new toys would be up for grabs while he was at school all day.

Now come the tears. Every morning we have a ritual where whoever is leaving stands at the door and hugs and kisses those who are staying home. So, weekdays this means Anthony and Daddy give big hugs and kisses to mommy, Dominic, and Nicolas. We assembled everyone together and Dom tried to give Anthony a big hug but for whatever reason (he is complicated, what can I say) Anthony wanted to Dom to give Daddy his hugs and kisses first. Dom would hear nothing of it and held on to Anthony for dear life until he finally gave in and reluctantly gave him a hug. Anthony and daddy left and the other two boys and I went back to our regular morning routine of breakfast, coffee, and getting dressed (the coffee is for me, don't get worried.) As I cleaned up the kitchen I heard a faint little voice crying in another room. It wasn't Nicolas, he likes to make known his unhappiness so of course it was Dom. I finally found him and asked what was wrong and he said through tears he was trying to hold back, "Anthony didn't want to hug me and I am sad." What does a mother do? I just held him and told him I would give him as many hugs as he wanted today. That seemed to help, but my heart was still broken for my little sensitive heart. He can be pretty tough but when his feelings are hurt you know it. So, we snuggled for a bit and then everything seemed to be ok. Then Dom realized that the cookies we had bought for Anthony's birthday had left with Anthony for him to share with his class. The tears started again and then Nicolas joined in. After all, if someone is going to cry and get attention he doesn't want to be left out.

At the moment everying is fine, no one is crying, well, the baby is crying in his bed but he is tired and needs a rest so we will let that one slide. I am getting ready to snuggle some more with Dom and maybe, just maybe, finish my coffee.

More about school and life in general

So, week two is coming to an end and so far Anthony has come home every day with a huge smile on his face, excited to tell us about what he did at school and the friends he has made. I can't tell you how this eases a mother's heart and mind. I am confident in what he will be learning, confident in his teacher, but you just never know how the social and emotional aspect is going to turn out. So far so good. I realize it has only been two weeks, and it is kindergarten, but you just never know. When I pick him up everyday and see the huge smile on his face, see him carry his "beary nice" card that he received for being a good friend and fellow student, hear him start into all that he did that day, I feel such a huge sense of relief.

Life isn't quite so sunny for the two that get "left behind" each day. Not that life is bad, well, it depends on who is telling the story I suppose. Dominic has actually been doing pretty well, until about 8 am (Anthony leaves at 7:30), then he starts into "I'm bored, I'm hungry, Nico's bugging me." Now, the part about Nicolas is almost always true, I often hear myself thinking or saying the same thing throughout the day. My point is, they miss their brother. I miss their brother. So, now that we have a better feel for what our weekly routine is I am now faced with the task of finding things for these little rascals to do. Dominic will do either a sport or some sort of martial art. Nicolas will just have to settle for time at the park for his exercise. We wish we had the resources at the moment to put Dom back into preschool, but that will have to wait for after the new year and maybe even next year. Although, with his social neediness I am considering putting him in kindergarten next year. We shall see how he is at the end of this school year, if he seems ready enough to start real school or if another year of preschool would be better.

Nicolas, oh Nicolas. Part of the problem is he is entering into the terrible, I mean terrific twos! He wants to do everything himself, he doesn't want to do anything you tell him to do, he throws himself on the floor, all the good stuff I have gone through twice before. Actually, only once before really, Anthony was not a usual two year old. If anything he throws more fits now than he ever did as a toddler. So, the majority of my day is spent keeping Nico away from all the things he isn't supposed to get into, like the phones, my computer, the cabinets, our bedroom. It is as if all the toys we have all over the house are invisible or something, unless of course one of his brothers is playing with something, then he HAS to have it.

We wil figure it out, it just might take a little while to do so. The hardest part is that the baby still needs a nap at some point in the day. I try to hold him off until Anthony gets home, but he doesn't always make it, which means Dom is stuck at home during this time bored out of his mind. I mean, a meddling baby brother is better than no brother at all.

Back to school night andthe CA education crisis

Last night was "Back to school night" at Anthony's school. You know, you go and listen to the teacher talk about what they have planned for the school year, what the kids do each day, how the grading works, etc. The FFA (basically our PTA) and the principal also gaves talks on fundraising, the budget, and how things have changed drastically this year due to huge educational budget cuts.

As I sat there listening to them go through the list of things that had to be cut, things like recess and lunch time supervision (yes, the state seems to think that having our kids supervised during these times in unnecessary), a nurse, a vice principal, a guidance counselor, etc I was reminded of the amazing elementary education I recieved. We had a wonderful art department, I mean, a full art room with supplies and we did art each week, same for music and PE and things of the like. Now the teachers are told they HAVE to teach certain things but they have to provide the supplies and curriculum themselves.

So, needless to say they FFA has promised that many of the cut items will still be provided, but it requires monetary pledges from the parents in order to make it happen. Obviously this years' pledge drive is much higher due to the number of things that are needed.

Again, I am sad for my kids, sad that they will not have the same experiences I did. Luckily Anthony's school has an amazing FFA and set of teachers who go above and beyond, so he will still get PE each week, a science lab, computer time, and art as well. But this isn't the case with most schools in CA. We are lucky to live in an area where the parents care and also have the means to give to pledge drives such as our school is doing. Many schools aren't so lucky, in fact the vast majority of the ones in our district alone are in low income areas where the budget cuts have caused severe problems. High classroom numbers coupled with lack of materials and supplies means our kids are getting the raw end of an already bad deal.

I don't know who to blame, if there is anyone. Could be the high end educators who get 6 figure salaries and God forbid we should cut any of that! Could be that people just think education happens, supplies, well paid teachers, art programs or not.

I am so grateful for the amazing edcuation I was lucky enough to receive all those years ago and I can only pray that my children will get a chance to have even half of what I did. I know that I will have to pick up where the school system drops off and that is fine, I just wish it wasn't so.

I will say this, I absolutely love Anthony's teacher. She has been teaching Kindergarten for 20 some odd years and you can tell just by how she talks that she is still passionate about what she does. She doesn't decorate her room all cutesy, she didn't have photos of the kids hung up for last night, but what she did have was a heart for children and teaching them how to succeed throughout their schooling. She emphasised reading with your children, sitting them close to you and having that time. She spoke about how she worries about the kids when they have bad days and celebrates each milestone with them. She and the other two teachers in her section work together to add things to enrich the childrens' learning experience, things like performing arts (she teaches them dance and yoga), and extra science curriculum, all added to the already full curriculum they are teaching. But these are things they feel are vital to the children learning and developing on track. So I rest easy in that. Anthony is in good hands at the most important level of education, his teacher whom he spends each day with.

Superfriends to the rescue

This weekend was the big weekend, the big superhero party for Anthony and Dominic. Since we aren't going to be home for Halloween this year (the older two boys are in a wedding on Nov.1st and the rehearsal is on Halloween) we decided to let them have a superhero birthday party where they, and anyone else, could dress up. We had so much fun. Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Supergirl, and even The Flash showed up. We had cupcakes and a pinata and superhero pizza and juice boxes. The boys got so much attention at the beach where we had the party. I guess San Deigo doesn't get a lot of superhero visits. They wore their costumes all day and would have slept in them as well if we had let them. I think they will be wearing them from now until forever, even at the rehearsal dinner on Halloween (I asked the bride, she said that would be SO CUTE!). Here are just some of the highlights of the party and a few others thrown in for fun. (The hulk underoos are courtesy of Grandma Pat.)

Frist day of school, part I

I hesitated to even write. Today is Anthony's first day of kindergarten. It started out great. I thought he would be up with the sun, ready to go, since that has been the norm over the summer. No sleeping in, not for my kids. But for whatever reason he had to be woken up, but he woke up happy and ready to go. He got dressed and came down for breakfast. Auntie Erin sent a special first day of school prize for him to open (which he loved by the way, thanks Auntie!). Then we talked about what he might do today, we got his backpack and lunchbox all ready to go, said a prayer, and were out the door. We took two cars, which was our first mistake. Anthony and Dom wanted to ride with daddy, so they did. I knew parking would be nuts, especially on the first day, so we left with what I thought would be plenty of time for both of us to park and walk to Anthony's class, take some pics, give hugs, and be on our way. Well, I underestimated how many parents would be there and how many cars would need to carry those parents. Luckily Joe found a spot in front on school and was able to get Anthony to his class before the bell rang for school to start. I was not so lucky. I drive around for 10 minutes trying to find a spot and when I finally did I was bombarded by all the parents EXITING school because the bell had rung and school had started.

I didn't get a goodbye hug on his first day, I didn't get to say good luck, I didn't get to take pics as he went into his class. Anthony could have cared less, Joe said he just walked right in and had to be reminded to give Joe and hug goodbye. That part made me feel better. I knew it would go that way, but I guess deep down in my mommy's heart I had a secret wish that Anthony would be crushed if he didn't get to give me a hug goodbye. So, I was the only one shedding tears this morning, and it wasn't just because I was sending my little boy off into the world, it was because I didn't get to do it the way I had hoped. I will try again tomorrow and hopefully it wil go better.

School starts and so it begins...

Tomorrow is Anthony's first day of kindergarten. Wow, re-reading that makes me feel so many things; proud, scared, old, nervous, excited. It hasn't been the best labor day and I mostly blame myself and Joe for that. While most parents would have spent half a minute planning at least something to do, we chose to make it a slow day, one where the kids inevitably get to a breaking point of boredom and begin showing signs of cabin fever mixed with ADHD, mixed with a little spite just for fun. They begin hurting eachother, throwing toys, throwing fits and best of all, pretending that Joe and I aren't here and anything we say goes into some sort of toddler vaccuum. So, at about 2:30 pm we finally decided maybe we should take them somewhere, anywhere! As soon as we were in the car we knew it was a bad idea. Anthony was already crying for whatever reason, the baby was crying for another reason, and Dom, well, Dom was ok, at least at this point.

We went bowling, and everyone seemed excited when we arrived. There was hope for the day after all! Well, that soon ended when Anthony learned that in order to rent shoes you had to leave one of yours as collateral. Being tired mixed with being a little nervous about tomorrow and we had one grade A fit on our hands. He sat in time out his first three frames. Then it was Dom's turn to sit in time out for climbing on the ball return and not listening. Oh, and all the while Nicolas is screaming in the stroller but there was NO WAY we were letting him out only to chase him down the alley and who knows where else. So, we bowled one game, I broke a hundred, we left the bowling alley with no one crying. That soon ended as well. Again, you mix tired, nervous, and bored and you have one volatile mixture on your hands. It isn't a coctail you want very often, that is for sure.

So, now we are home, the baby is sleeping, the boys are playing with legos and being fairly good for a change, and I just managed to beat another song on Expert in Guitar Hero.

Back to school starting. Joe was planning on taking Anthony out for dinner tonight, and little man to man before starting school tomorrow. I am not sure if that is still happening as Joe is holed up in his office playing Medal of Honor to blow off some steam. I don't blame him. Now don't get me wrong, we love our kids, we really do, but days like this help put things in perspective. I hope they help Joe at least understand what I go through day to day, especially in the summer. I suppose I could try to be one of those mothers who has something planned for every day, activities to do at home or out and about, but let's be honest, I am not one of those mothers. I am lucky to get them all dressed on any given day rather than staying in their jammies. So, tomorrow is the first day of school and while I hate to admit that my child is anything but uber excited about starting this milestone, I must force myself to acknowledge that he may be a little, just a little, nervous and stressed about the upcoming change. It will sort itself out and it may be a rough couple weeks as we all adjust to the new schedule, but eventually it will become routine.

Now let's chat about MY nervousness. And Joe's as well. I mean, this is it, we are sending him off into the world for 5 hours WITHOUT US! Without our watchful eyes and ears to make sure he is being kind, to make sure others are being kind to him. He will hear things we don't want him to hear, he will learn things we don't want him to know. This scares us to death! This world is not what it used to be. But at the same time I have to have faith in our parenting abilities and trust that we have and will continue to prepare him for whatever he encounters. I don't want to shelter him from everything, I want him to be confident in his ability to face the world head on and be the person we have raised him to be without thinking twice. I realize kindergarten isn't going to be the toughest grade for him by far, and if his academic career in any way mirrors my own, he will have his fair share of being ostracized and ridiculed, but as Joe so wonderfully put it, it is all about confidence. If you seem confident, people notice, which makes you more confident, which makes more people notice. So, confidence in the key. As well as whole lot of prayer and stress on our part. But again, I think that is part of parenting. You teach them things, send them off, and then worry your brains out the rest of the time!

I will post more tomorrow, after the big day.