I DO NOT Like Green Eggs & Ham...

And you shouldn't either. 

For example:

IF your family decided to go on a 4 day roadtrip,

and IFduring the early morning hours on the first day of the roadtrip your parents bought 6 Breakfast Jack sandwiches from Jack in the Box for breakfast-on-the-go,

and IF only five of the six sandwiches were eaten that morning because your little sister wasn't really hungry that morning...

I'm just saying...

IF, on the way home from your roadtrip during the evening hours of day four you discover that your sister had stashed her Breakfast Jack from day number one under the seat of the car,

and IF you realized that dinner time was nearing and you were feeling quite hungry,

IF this happened to you,

I would still recommend that you pass on eating the 4-day-old Breakfast Jack.

Strongly.

And,

had he asked,

I would have advised my eldest son the same thing.

And now he knows why.

Shortly after arriving home from seven hours on the road, my son experienced several rounds of the most spastic hurling he had ever known.

And I experienced the cleaning up of the first several rounds of it.

Once color returned to his face, my son recounted a not-so-hypothetical story about a boy and a petrified Breakfast Jack very similar to the example I just shared with you.

Very, very similar.

I would be a little grumpy right now except for the part at the end, when my son says to me "Mom, I am so sorry, you probably would have told me not to eat it.  I should listen to you more."

And then the angels started singing.

You can't buy that kind of education.

The End.

Buzz...

Merry Christmas!!

I have missed you! 
I hope that you are making wonderful moments with your friends and family like I am.

I am looking forward to spending more time with you in the New Year.  Until then, well, my holiday hiatus continues while I eat pie, then go to the gym to work off the pie... play with my kids, then hide the toys without volume control... make lovely meals presented on lovely tables to serve to lovely people... lovely lovely lovely... 

Be back soon!!
X's and O's

My Theme For The Week:

And I just love this one...

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us."

-Scholar, Joseph Campbell

It's All About the Ice Addiction...

The hundreds of naughty late-night runs to Sonic...

The gallons of Diet Dr. Pepper consumed...

(Be honest - Diet Dr. Pepper does not truly capture the essense of  "The Original Taste That I Love So".)

What keeps us running out at 10:38 P.M.

on nights when we really should be sleeping

because tomorrow is a holiday which means no school

which means all kids at home

which means I will need energy

and therefore sleep...

What keeps us running out to Sonic

paying for AND drinking soda that I do not love

on nights like tonight

is crunchy ice balls.

And large red straws.

But mostly the ice balls.

(I come from a lineage of notorious ice-chompers.)
(We promise not to do it if we are out to eat with you.)

I chug down soda after soda as a necessary evil to get to the ice.

Sonic + Ice Balls = Genius.

I would give up my car if I could have a freezer that made ice like Sonic.

I wouldn't need it anymore because perfect little ice balls would already be in my house 

(chilling every drink and not just bad soda)

negating any need for late night Sonic runs.

Is there a 12-Step Program for my ice addiction?

Happy Birthdays!

Two people I love are celebrating today!
You know who you are.

I Love you!

Love, Me.

Tricked-Out for Treats!

Happy Halloween!

Our family is still recovering from a weekend of sugar highs and subsequent crashes.  It is a lovely thing when Halloween  falls on a weekend.  I don't feel the need to pin disclaimer notes to my childrens' backpacks for what their teachers are about to experience...

For Example:

**Teacher Beware!**

Kids + Holiday + Sugar + Lack of Sleep + School = Disaster

I would keep my children home after holidays like these, except for that teensy part of me that considers these times payback for randomly scheduled half-days and teacher development vacations.

Ah well, this year we all got off easy. 

About The Costumes:

Grandma Loree decided to have a "Choose your own costume" theme party at her home, where the kids got to assemble costumes out of stuff she had "around". 

I am big enough to admit that I did not even need to see the costumes and I was already a little scared.

I am also big enough to admit when I am wrong.

(This time.) 

(Don't get used to it.)

The home-grown costumes were GREAT!

Have a look-see:

Secret Agent J

Dancing Queen:

My Mini Wahine.

Grandma Loree:

I thank you. 
My pocketbook thanks you.
Yay for grandmas!

Isaac adhered himself to this little lion costume during a trip to Old Navy a couple of months ago:

Little Lion

And I, I opted for the cop-out of diving into my dance gear for a costume. 

I love that I have several feet worth of hair, fake eyelashes, and flamenco roses at my daily disposal around the house. 

Note to self: Authentic flameco shoes are not designed for walking miles and miles while trick-or-treating with the kids.

The night ended with an intense round of commodity trading. 

.

Also, there were the customary parental fees and losses.

Especially Tootsie Rolls and Laffy Taffy which I convinced the children would cure my aching feet. 

(Okay, they weren't wholly convinced.)

(But I actually did feel better after eating a pound of Tootsie Rolls & Laffy Taffy.) 

(Try it.)

Do You Hear What I Hear?

The angels are singing!

The Amber Alert I issued on my camera has led to her safe return!

(Just stand up and happy dance with me for a moment...)

She is currently in the hands of the authorities (um... coordinators of my last dance competition...) and will be returned safely home in no time.

There are no suspects in the case, but she is completely unharmed in every way.  In fact, the authorities found her, "Jane Doe Camera", wandering the hotel ballroom alone and confused and unable to communicate.  It was almost AS IF she had been left sitting there wallowing on the ballroom table all along...

Hmmm...

Three Is A Magic Number!

Yes it IS!

It's a magic number!

Isaac

my baby

"The Caboose"

turned three today.

He will board a bus headed for preschool for the first time this Tuesday.

Wearing a miniature "Lightning McQueen" backpack.

He actually has refused to take the backpack off since I purchased it last week, so I guess I won't have to work too hard at getting him ready for school.

One of the magical (and I dare say, charming) things about 3-year-olds

is that the concept of ownership

(aka "MINE!")

becomes understood.

So...

because it is indeed charming

and also downright entertaining

I bought one of those cute Little Tykes shopping carts for Isaac for his birthday.

Now he is circling the house with all his other gifts and worldly posessions loaded up in the shopping cart like a homeless baglady.

While wearing his miniature Lightning McQueen backpack.

He has been doing this for hours.

He is happy as can be.

If you even look his way he walks around to the front of the shopping cart - blocking it from view and he warns "No Touching!"

And we listen.

Because "No Touching" = "I am happy and  P.S. This is Mine...  Breach the perimeter of mine-ness, and I will turn from darling dimpled birthday boy into The Incredible Hulk on Catnip

and unleash on you my ultimate wrath."

I will miss this age.

"Bag Lady Baby"

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy!

My Theme For The Week:

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."


-Michelangelo