moon ko photography

all before noon...

1. one kid is home from school due to strep.

2. one kid forgot to take her violin to school only after i reminded her 15 minutes before she headed out to school.

3. one completely unnecessary trip to the school.

4. one dentist visit.

5. one doctor's visit (see #1)

6. two trips to the grocery because one store doesn't carry apricot preserves.

7. two emails to teacher.

8. two facebook status updates (rare for me)

9. one kid dropped off at preschool and then picked up three hours later

10. one photo album loaded onto site and only 2 more to go...

11. one babysitter confirmed to come tonight so i can have a date with husband.

12. one happy mama.

so, how's your wednesday going so far?

thankful journal?

so i'm seeing all these posts on facebook about what people are thankful for and i thought to myself, oh i am SO not doing that.

:P

i know. there are times when i even think that i'm not right in the head. like, how can someone be such a negative nelly, a debbie downer about everything when there is SO much in my life to really be thankful for? so i decided while i was in the shower that i'm going to start one. i'm only 4 days behind, pretty typical of me but i'm going to keep it simple. simple and easy and non-stressful.

as i stepped out of the shower and dried myself off, i lifted the lid to the toilet and noticed that it was FLUSHED (because i can't brush my teeth in a bathroom with a dirty toilet; weird, i know) and thought to myself, thankful journal entry #4.

it's the little things, people...and because normal people on facebook posted all the most ADORABLE pictures of their little ones on halloween and i posted this:

:)

turning the big four-oh.

well, i turned this yesterday:

surprisingly, it wasn't as devastating as i thought it would be. i got wonderful cards from my family which included several gift cards from my favorite store of all time-Target. and i got a nice text from my sister and sister-in-law wishing me a happy birthday. and an odd call from my parents. they sounded happy-almost giddy. it's odd because my dad is never happy, let alone giddy. and for them to be together AND happy? well, there's always a first for everything, right?

:)

and i received lots of birthday wishes from my FB friends. i tell ya, they know how to make an old gal feel loved.

so thank you all!

in response to a recent comment.

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later that someone would post what a mean mother I am to Charlie and that maybe I shouldn't have had him. When I showed Richard the comment, he chuckled and said, "Well, if you don't want to be criticized, don't put it out there."

And you know what? He's completely right. But I only came to the realization after I got over the fact that he didn't immediately come to my defense (how dare he not defend his queen...). But he knows me. He knows what kind of mother I am. And better yet, he knows what kind of person I am so to him, the comment didn't even register on his radar.

My blog isn't called "The best parent evah!" nor is it called "Mother knows best <insert hearts and exclamation points here>" It's almost the opposite. It's more of all the mistakes I've made and will continue to make as I journey through this road of motherhood. I will tell you this, I am a stern mother and it's something I struggle with. all. the. time. Not just to Charlie but to the girls as well. Just ask my friends. They'll tell you. But I don't think I've ever considered myself as a "cruel" mother. I feel horrible and guilty after I have to punish any of my kids. It's one of the worst feelings in the world. It makes me remember another thing that Richard once said to me after an especially hard day with the girls. He said that anyone can be a parent, but it's really hard to be a good one. None of my kids were born easy. My mother would disagree because she obviously doesn't remember the all the times we would have to discipline them. To her, they were just born that way. Yep, they came out of the womb being good listeners and respectful and kind and most of all, EASY.

I don't write a lot about the mushy stuff but they do occur, believe it or not. I don't write about how sad I'll be when I will forget how Charlie's tiny hands feel in mine. Or how he curls up into my chest when I lay down with him for his naps. Or the look on his face when I pick him up at preschool. Or the fact that my kiss, and only mine, can make his boo-boos feel better.

I guess this layout kinda says what I feel:

I am a work in progress.

The End.

 

this is me dropping the ball.

As with most with grade school aged children, today would be the day when all the Valentines Day parties would occur. It was so for my second grader. And for some odd reason, I forgot to do her cards with her. I remember thinking that I should be doing them but then I got distracted with something (TV) and she went to school with nothing.

This is me dropping ball #1

The same second grader lost a tooth on Monday. She didn't get her money until Thursday and I forgot to take the tooth. I didn't take the tooth because I forgot the tooth was upstairs in my office. When the second grader woke up that morning, I told her to check under her pillow to see if the Tooth Fairy left her money. She told me she couldn't have left her money because she didn't put her tooth under her pillow (doh!). When she found the money, she came to me and said, "You put the money under my pillow, didn't you, Mom? It's OK if there really isn't a Tooth Fairy."

This is me dropping ball #2.

My fourth grader is fixing her own dinner because she's tired of take out pizza that I had the man go out to get.

Ball #3 is falling.

I forgot to send a snack in with my second grader for gymnastics tonight. Did I mention she's still recoving from having strep?

Ball #4...

I gave my three year old some diet coke just to keep him from bothering me: Here, just take the can and go over there. Just don't be here.

Nice.

Not my best week and probably won't be my worst either. Hopefully none of this will be retained in their long term memory.

Sorry guys.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

visiting harry potter

I have 10 minutes before I have to drop off one daughter at gymnastics and pick another daughter up from swimming and keep two little boys occupied in the car from killing each other.

I don't like Tuesdays.

This time last week, the girls and I were at Universal Studios visiting the world of Harry Potter. It was awesome. So awesome that I think I have the man conviced to come with us next time. He just wants to wait until Charlie gets old (and tall) enough to remember and enjoy the trip.

I did a quick monthly photo collage that Rebecca Cooper gave out (for FREE on her blog) to create this for the month of February:

All the photos were taken with my Canon PowerShot SX110 IS.

Now I'm off to deliver children. Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday!

suck it, winter.

I really hate winter. I hate everything about winter. Seeing as how Christmas falls on a winter month, you might as well throw that into the "Hate" category too. 

Bah-humbug.

I wish I could get excited for Christmas. I really do, especially for the kids' sake. I do buy them gifts and I wrap them up and I put them under the tree (which my husband and children put up every year). We set cookies and milk out for Santa. We hang up our stockings. We watch Elf. But none of those things really puts me in the Christmas spirit.

Maybe it's because i'm miserably cold for the entire time.

So I'm doing something about it this year. I'm going to Florida, not once but twice. The first will be a  solo trip (i.e no children) and the second trip will be with the girls (i.e. no Charlie). I'm not taking Charlie this time because he just turned three. And he still eats his boogers. And he's not going to care or remember seeing the space shuttle, or Harry Potter World, or Shamu the whale. But in four years, I'm going to take him. I promise.

thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving! I thought I'd jot down 10 things I'm thankful for.

1. My children: yes, they drive me bonkers sometimes. yes they seem to have an aversion to putting things in the trash (even though there's a can in every room in the house), flushing the toilets and actually putting dirty clothes in the laundry baskets (even though there is one in every room in the house-even the kitchen). i love them even though i've told them COUNTLESS times that the recycling bin is NOT the other trashcan one uses when the real one is over-flowing. In spite of it all, I'm so lucky that they are all healthy and happy children.

2. my husband: for putting up with my craziness. he never complains when i have to work late and he has to take care of dinner AND the kids all night. he can sense when i'm getting ready to crack by giving me alone time. he finally got a CPAP upon my request and wears it every night so he no longer has snoring and sleep apenea. and he never makes me go camping and will always trade dinners with me if i accidentally order something that has cilantro in it.

3. my in-laws: for watching charlie on wednesday mornings so i can either volunteer at the school, go to a photo shoot, go to medical appointments, have lunch with a friend or sometimes do all of the above.

4. Modern Family: it's on wednesday nights at 9:00 and i look forward to it all week. it is, hands down, the funniest show on tv right now.

5. Dancing With The Stars: its unnatural hold over me is now gone. Jennifer Grey. Shocking. Didn't see that coming. Zzzzz.

6. no taveling this holiday season. my parents decided to go down to their new vacation house in Florida and spend all winter down there so that means we don't have to go up to Indiana. at all. 

7. stretchy pants. :)

8. Canada: thank you to our northern border country for not bombing us, unlike some other country right now like North Korea. What's up with that?!

9. McDonald's large coffee-5 creams & 5 sugars: just one a day makes it all OK.

10. friends: even though I've never met some of you face to face, you make me feel less hermit-ish. i don't think i would ever come out of my shell if not for you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

me vs. a semi truck.

This past Saturday morning, I was in a bit of a fender-bender. Well, it was a bit more than a fender-bender. I was rear ended by an 18-wheeler oil tank truck that was probably going around 45 miles per hour. And was going 0 miles per hour, in front of a red light. I don't think he realized there was a light there or that it had turned red. I didn't hear any screaching of breaks so the impact came as a complete surprise to me (and to him, I'm sure).

Before I called 911, I called Richard to let him know what had happened. I'm surprised he could understand what I was saying as I've never really perfected the skill of crying and talking at the same time. It felt like I was living my very own On-Star commercial. Scary.

Since Saturday, I've been to the chiropractor twice and have had several x-rays on my neck and everything seems to be normal. I'm just sore and my neck is getting better for the most part. I'm just really relieved I don't have to wear one of those neck braces.

And now comes the really hard part: picking out another vehicle. It's like trying to find a pair of shoes that you know you're going to have to wear every day for the next ten years. Can you imagine? Oh the pressure...

On a lighter note, here's my latest layout I did for Write. Click. Scrapbook:

I'm sure I looked a little like this this past Saturday.

:)

turds.

My son and nephew.

On most days they get along really, really well. They're the best of buds. But this past week, they've been at each other's throats. And I'm pretty sure the instigator is my son. Yeah. The little one on the right of this photo. The only reason I call him a turd is because I can't type what I really call him in my head when he does turd-like behavior. But let's just say it something like "turd-head".

For instance, this morning, we had to quickly go and pick up my nephew because my sister over-slept and was running late. It was cold outside and I asked Charlie to put his jacket on since we were both in our pajamas. He told me no. I didn't have tiime to argue with him so I just told him to get in the car. And while we were driving, I rolled down all the windows and I FROZE HIS LITTLE BUTT OUT.

Oh, yes I did.

And so I asked him if he was cold. He said that he was. I asked him if he was going to wear his jacket the next time I told him to put one on. He said he would.

Victory is MINE.

Boy, it sure would make my life easier if they would just accept the fact that I AM ALWAYS RIGHT.

:)