Don't Mess with Mom

As I loaded three of my four kids into my car at the pre-school today, I found myself shouting passive-aggressively to them "Come on guys, we still have to go pick up the last one of my 'too many kids' from choir practice!" I did this because a too old and too skinny to have the 2 year-old that was with her displayed great annoyance at having to wait for my two children to enter the school ahead of me (she was behind us and I never go inside until I am sure everyone is in). I held the door for her behind me and was rewarded with a sarcastic "thanks." THEN, when she saw us coming towards her and her 'preshus' toddler (who was crawling around on the rubber doormat on the floor right in front of the main entrance/exit door) she said "Look out (insert filthy-from-doormat-dirt's name here), that lady with a whole bunch of kids is coming!" My first thought was to say "Well, I suppose if you're going to let you kid play right in front of a high-traffic area, maybe it's best if you limit yourself to just one." Plan B was to go with the "These kids are fed, clothed, educated, and even indulged in so many extracurricular activities I think my head might explode if we added one more. So butt out, it's my business." I guess it's good I stuck with what I wound up yelling in her general direction and kept the rest to myself.

The moral of the story...Don't mess with mom when she has PMS. Or better yet, just don't mess with mom at all when it comes to her kids be they few or many. Which is why I kept my mouth shut about the door mat.

(And while my daughter's pre-school is mostly spotless and a three-star facility, and while I am far from the germophobe many of my friends are, crawling on the floor right there at the front door just seems like a bad idea-even from a laid back mom like me.)

A Moment with my Daughter

So last night, I watched Desperate Housewives which I haven't done consistently since the 2nd season. I wanted to see what skipping 5 years ahead would do for the show. I was pleasantly surprised by it. Last night, I found myself getting emotional while listening to Gaby Solis talk, and who knew I had anything in common with her? But five years into her future, it turns out that I do.

Five years later, Gaby has 2 kids and a lot of my same worries. Like her character, I also worry about what I'm feeding my kids and whether or not they get enough exercise. I worry about how other people see me as a mother. I worry about how other people see me period. Lately when I look in the mirror, I see an older, chubbier version of myself that I barely recognize and that honestly I really don't enjoy looking at very much. So when Gaby talked to Carlos about her daughter's weight issues and how she didn't know how to talk to her about them because women get "like15 seconds to be pretty," I unexpectedly burst into tears because I knew exactly what she was saying. And even more unexpectedly, Natalie comforted me. She told me I was still pretty and that she would try harder to appreciate it when I serve healthy food. It was nice, and she didn't make any of the annoying comments she typically makes about what we had for dinner tonight. Then again, tonight was beef enchiladas with corn tortillas. Tomorrow night is Crockpot Quinoa. I'm thinking tomorrow all bets are off...

And I may have to start watching Desperate Housewives again too.

Week In Review

Reading-

What to Eat by Marion Nestle

I'm trying to eat more whole foods and I thought this book would help me with that. It is helping, but it also has three chapters devoted to the pros and cons of margarine. Much like the Martha Stewart homekeeping book, this may have been more information than I needed, but it was the only book in the healthy eating section at Hastings that wasn't a diet or recipe book of some kind.

Watching-

Heroes-

I was SO excited to watch this, and now I'm SO confused by it. This past Peter and present Peter are going to confuse me, especially since past Peter is hidden in the body of a bald, scary, bad dude who is on the run with a lot of other bad dudes. (And whose power is so scary that Jack wouldn't even tell Clare/Clair? what it was? Not good.) Also, are they really going to re-make The Fly with Dr. Suresh and think we sci-fi and comic book fans who love this show aren't going to notice? I certainly hope not. Hopefully tomorrow's episode will be better.

Grey's Anatomy-

This was a much more satisfying season premiere. I love how Shonda Rimes parallels whatever buzz is surrounding the show in the press right into her storylines. We've seen it in the past with T.R. Knight and Isaiah Washington on the fishing trip, and this time it was Seattle Grace's drop in teaching hospital ratings to parallel Grey's plummeting popularity with the viewing audience. While it is often Dr. Bailey who speaks for Shonda, I loved the chief's end speech about raising the bar-which was basically Shonda's promise to us. Not that I was going to abandon ship either way.
(Oh, and Rose would have been in SO much trouble for her behavior in a real hospital-she wouldn't have had to voluntarily transfer to peds. Or so says my sister the RN. I really don't care as long as she's gone.)

At the Movies-

Rent: The Final Performance-

Let me preface this by saying that since I was old enough to sit stille for 90 minutes, I  have LOVED going to the movies. I love the popcorn smell, the dark theatre, and the whole experience. To accomodate me, there is a new theatre in Moore that I adore. I try to go there and see something at least once a month or so. This month, I got to go twice! (Still haven't tried out a balcony film though, I'm thinking I may make Dave go with me when the new James Bond movie comes out and we can try it then.) Anyway...
When my friend Deborah and I went to see The Women last week (I still love Meg Ryan), there was a preview for this movie. Basically, someone taped the last performance of Rent on Broadway and released it for a limited engagement to theatres at a higher price. I had heard a little bit about it before, but when we realized it was only showing this week, we made getting there and seeing it a big priority (and with both our schedules and big families, I was impressed we managed to re-shuffle enough to pull it off). I really liked the movie version, but having seen this, I can see why other fans were disappointed. This was amazing! Tracie Thom looked great, I saw all the songs missing from the movie, and there really is just no substitute for the stage. The movie made me a little teary at the end, the play made me sob. It was worth the time and extra money to see it for sure. Bringing filmed broadway shows to movie theatres is a relatively new venture by Sony and I hope that they do it again because this rocked! (Someday I'll listen to "Seasons of Love" again without crying, right?)

Nights in Rodanthe-

In addition to the Rent preview, they also previewed this one. Since we were already at the theatre, another friend joined us and we watched this after eating lunch at The Warren Diner (which was pretty good). After something like Rent, I thought another Nicholas Sparks adaptation might fall short, but Diane Lane and Richard Gere brought some intellligence to it. Then again, I liked The Notebook as a movie much better than I liked that book too; so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by the quality of the film. I didn't get as caught up in the romance as I thought I might, but the mother/daughter relationship really appealed to me because I could relate to those same experiences. But since when is cute little Mae Whitman old enough to play a teenager. Wah!

Extracurricular Activities-

Hootenanny at the Harn-

Live music from Camille Harp, Tod Kelih, and Pinebox Serenade, Earl's barbecue, and a Friday night out away from the kids (not to mention winning some cool drawing items like movie tickets, zoo & museum passes, and a pair of vases that I really liked)...I loved it! I thought there was a pretty good turnout considering that Alison Krauss and Robert Plant performed at the Zoo Ampitheatre instead of in Houston on the same night. The weather, company, music, and food were all good; and you can't ask for better than that on a Friday night in OKC.

You Might be Too Much of a Sooner Fan IF

...you spend the entire USC/Oregon St. game so focused on what the outcome will mean for your team's overall AP rank that you completely miss all the 12 year-old boy fun that was to be had with the Beavers v. the Trojans. HOW could I have missed that?! I can't believe that it slipped my notice not only that day, but that I wouldn't have caught it at all had I not seen it in emails and on other blogs. Obviously, I'm either slipping or a little too focused on OU. I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed in myself. (But very happy for Oregon St. and my friend Jennifer B. Congrats girlfriend! You and the rest of Corvallis deserved that upset and not just for the sake of my Sooners-though they did play pretty well themselves today.)

Thursday Thirteen #54

When I was a Freshman in college, I spent my spring semester dating a high school senior (we joked that we were May/December, but only because those were our respective birth months) He unceremoniously dumped me (jerk!) the same month he graduated high school. I consoled myself by making out one night with his sister's 17 year-old prom date (the prom was the month before and they were NOT a couple, but I knew he would tell her and she would tell the ex). This landed me quite the undeserved 'Mrs. Robinson' reputation among my friends, and laughing about it lately has also given me my inspiration for this week's Thursday 13 list:

Thirteen of my Inappropriate Celebrity Crushes

My daughter and I sing along to this album together. Granted, he is about 18 and my daughter is 6.

Zac Efron-Oh please, do you know how many times I've seen some version of High School Musical or Hairspray? It was bound to happen.

Jason Mraz-We've discussed this one before, I think he might actually be over 20.

Lee Adama and Kara Thrace-OK, they might be legal, but my crush is on both of them. Hey! I labeled the list as inappropriate right up there at the top.

Initially, this was just Sean Cameron, some kid on Degrassi who liked Emma. But when he came back a couple of seasons ago-I became a dirty old lady. You might also recognize him as the football player from Juno.

OK, he may not be too young, but there is the whole gay, convicted felon thing to contend with, but I still love him! Always have, always will-especially when he sings "Faith."
(Speaking of gay men, did you know Clay Aiken was gay? I know, shocking. What a big secret. Glad he got the cover of People for that newsflash.)

As he has been dead since I was 5, I would definitely call this crush inappropriate. But VERY real, just the same.

I watched his parents' wedding, I remember when he was born. Definitely not appropriate.

Josh Heupel in 2000-Not coincidentally, this was the year my sisters and I finally got excited about OU football. I guess our age gap isn't super huge, but when he was a star QB and I had two kids under the age of 3, it sure felt like it.

Speaking of star football players-we won't tell my dad about my thing for Vince Young will we? He would never forgive me loving a Texas player, but how could I help myself?

OK, the crush is actually not on Robert Pattison, but Edward Cullen. Definitely inappropriate because he is perpetually 17, in love with Bella, AND a fictional book character. But he is easy on the eyes, no?

He's my age and I've loved him since we were about 13. But, he's happily married with children. Then again, so am I.
Hope you enjoyed my list! For other Thursday Thirteens click here.

Moments in Motherhood

Like most other days, I had to make a quick stop at the grocery store on the way home from school. And like most other days, I delivered this speech before we left the car:

"ALL we are here to buy is (insert obscure-dinner-ingredient-that-sounds-gross-to-all-children-under-the age-of-22 here). I have snacks at home so we are not buying any treats, we are not buying any drinks, and we are not buying any toys. We are only buying what mom needs for dinner. Everyone needs to stay with me, be quiet, and do what they're told in the store. DO YOU UNDERSTAND? Ok, then let's get this over with..."

Am I the only one who gives that speech?

The Most Annoying Thing

So, as my Twitter followers already know, I woke up this morning, put on my glasses, and spotted a frog climbing up the wall from behind my desk-and it wasn't Kermit. He jumped from the wall into my Master Bath and I heard his slimy little legs splat on the tile floor-eew! So, I did what any good mom would do, grabbed my four year-old and ran screaming from the room. Thank goodness my clothes were laid out in the living room because I had no intention of going back in there before leaving the house this morning. For good measure, Tristan stuffed a towel under the door crack to keep him from exploring our house.

Dave is conducting a more thorough search of the bedroom as I type this, but he hasn't found anything yet. I would swear off sleeping in my room in favor of the couch, but a mouse has been running in and out of a small hole in our living room fireplace that my cats have proven themselves useless at catching. Tell me again why it was I wanted to live in the country?

*Updated to add: The frog has been located and evicted. No word on the mouse...but I think the cats look too skinny to hope that it's gone too.*

Monday Night Hiatus

Tonight's regularly scheduled blogging has been interrupted by the Season Premiere of Heroes-though so far, I'm pretty confused by it...

Edited to add: I'm still confused and also will be very angry if the forshadowed mutations have anything to do with the old insect-in-the-lab trick. But it's more likely I just missed something. My kids have the unerring ability to completely lose it any time Dave and I are interested in something else, like good TV shows. Thank goodness for Tivo.

Weekly Winners Pt. 2

Here are the rest of the pics from our Seattle adventure. To see the first set, scroll to the previous entry:

The View from the Space Needle

Natalie, Molly, Libby, and the Breakfast of Champions

Looking down on the big city

"Look kids! The fountain is making a rainbow!"

And this was taken BEFORE she fell and scraped her leg

Whee!

The mini-bumps

Big fun!

DDR! Fun for the older kids

Until the next trip...

For more Weekly Winners, check out Sarcastic Mom.

Weekly Winners Pt. 1 Game Day

I took way too many pictures on the Seattle trip, so I will have to do this in 2 parts. Here is Part 1:

A Perfect breakfast spot for Elisa (heavily obsessed with mermaids)

And for Tristan (heavily obsessed with chocolate)

Northwestern Charm

or is it stereotype?

Favorite Uncle Bob & the next generation of nieces and nephews to spoil

Swimming upstream

Pitiful attempts at artistic photos

Bob's house key...aka the sign of a Sooner who has been in Washington too long.

At least he still owns a red shirt

The game at kick-off v. the game after half-time (where did they all go?)

Just about to score...

OK, OU may have a great football team, but do we have a view like this? Alas, no.

(Stay tuned for Part 2...meanwhile, check out more Weekly Winners!)

Seattle Trip: To Market To Market

The next morning marked our last day in town. Since our arrival, my cousin Eric had been pretty busy with visiting friends and the 49er game so I hadn't seen him yet, though he had apologized by phone for it a couple of times by Monday. (Which I thought was amusing-Dude, I work, I have 4 kids, and I'm in the Stake YW Presidency. I can certainly understand being busy.) So today we were going to take the kids to Pike's Market. It had been on the trip's must-do list all along, but it turned out that Eric lives about 2 blocks from there and that he had a space we could use in his parking garage which was certainly nice (as anyone who has ever tried to park in Seattle, or any other big city, can understand). I hadn't planned on free parking at Pike's Market. Again, I marveled at how quickly we could get where we were going now that Bob no longer lived in Redmond. We found Eric's apartment building with minimal effort. I loved the location of Eric's apartment, but he said now that he is in a relationship he may move when his lease is up-apparently, such a place is only fun if you're single. (Eric's life is SO the opposite of mine.) He came down to let us into the garage where we parked and went up with him to meet his puppy. Of the many adventures Eric and I had as kids in Seattle, several of them involved playing with a black lab by the name of Badger (he belonged to one of Deb's friends who lived with them on and off throughout my visits there). I remember things like that, but I don't expect it of anyone else. So I was really pleased that as Eric showed off his baby black Lab, he mentioned he had considered naming him Badger II. He remembered. (It's really the little things that make me happy.) Instead, he went with Samson which really seems to fit the little guy. Like all dogs, he saw that Elisa was just his size and jumped on her. Like all little kids, she freaked out and started crying. Since Eric had work to do and my child was melting down, I thought it best to start sightseeing now and he agreed to meet us for lunch later.

And then...we walked, and walked, and walked some more. The two blocks to Pike's Market were miserably full of "are we there yet" and "my feet hurt." Then we got there, and my children were just as enchanted with the place as I have always been. They ate some fruit, looked at the shops, saw the flying fish, and selected a little Japanese place to buy their souvenirs thanks to Natalie's summer performance in "The Mikado." Natalie got a small doll (she's at the age where she still likes them, but more as decorations than toys), Tristan got a plastic sword (that has been taken from him more than he has played with it-sigh), Caroline got a fan (just like the one Natalie has had since the show), and Elisa picked out some plastic mermaid bath toys that were randomly in the shop. (She's obsessed with Ariel right now, so it was no big surprise to me.) I got my souvenirs at a little Italian import shop whose products made me weep-both because I saw things I hadn't seen since I left Italy and because their prices reflected their scarcity in the USA. But I still found a few things to mail home with the Trader Joe's stuff. At about that time it occured to me that there was no way I was going to have time to meet my friend Katrina on this trip, but I remained in denial about it for a bit longer. I kept looking for a quiet place to call her, but it turns out that there is no such place at Pike's Market.

For lunch, we walked down to the waterfront which has been built up quite a bit since my childhood, but is still quite charming. Dave and I, of course, wanted seafood again but we had to find a compromise spot with the kids. Eric suggested Ivar's-it worked. (He then remembered a Red Robin was down there too, but we have one of those in OK so I didn't even tell the kids it existed.) If I had a do-over, I think I would have grabbed something from one window, let the kids pick something else, and just found a random spot to eat. (There were fish tacos and I didn't get to try them. They're my current food obsession.) But, we were meeting Eric, the kids were SOOO tired, and I just wanted to get them seated at a table for awhile sans whining. So we went with the chain and it was fine. Eric joined us, we chatted, the kids fed everything they hadn't eaten (which was a lot considering all the "I'm hungry" whining) to the seagulls, and then Eric showed us some of his favorite little shops on the waterfront. It's official-my kids love him. I knew they would. He went back home to finish up more work so he could meet us at Bob and Deb's for dinner later, and then the kids found another merry-go-round. Who was I to fight that? After their $6 ride, we went outside to look at the water and I finally got a chance to, at least, chat with Katrina. Maybe next time we'll actually get to visit. (I hope so!)

After we hung up, I thought about doing a lot of things: The Aquarium was right next to us, Eric told me about some easy hiking at Elliot Park that went right to the water, a Ferry boat ride, and still things back at the market that we hadn't seen. But, what the kids really wanted to do was go back to Bob and Deb's house. If I have learned one thing from traveling with four kids, it's that you have to roll with what they want and it had already been a pretty long day. So, we went home.The kids played with the dog, Dave went to a little coffee bar/shipping place to mail our groceries home (adorably titled "Ship and Sip"), and I rested a bit before starting to pack up for tomorrow's trip back to Oklahoma. Before too long, we were joined by Debbie, Bob, his friends Eric and Lyle, my cousins Eric and Megan, and Eric's girlfriend who I was looking very forward to meeting. (If he's thinking of losing the ultimate bachelor pad, she must be pretty amazing-and she was) We made chowder from last night's crab leftovers and just had a really laid back visit while all the dogs and kids played. The quintessential evening at Uncle Bob's and a perfect way to end our trip. And...rather than take yet another day going on about the horror that is flying with four kids (though everyone from the stewardesses and passengers to some random guy at the food court in the Las Vegas airport complimented me on their behavior), or how the Las Vegas airport has Southwest flights on two concourses and that we had to go back through security to change planes, OR how I was dumb enough to stick the over-priced sunscreen that I had to buy at the St. Louis Zoo into my carry-on back pack. So that I not only overpaid for it, but also had to throw it out at the Seattle security check-point; I'm just going to end my story at dinner surrounded by family and, being at Bob's, a couple of complete strangers I will likely never meet again but who fit the evening perfectly because...well...we were at Uncle Bob's. It was a good trip and worth the effort it took to get there and back again. And, as I still have quite the Seattle to-do list for my kids, I hope we make it back again soon.

Seattle Trip: Breakfast at the Space Needle

The next morning brought one of the moments I've been hoping for since Dave and I switched from AOL to MSN back in 1998 and he pointed me in the direction of some online parenting groups. From that came the HenHouse and later FRED. I feel like Natalie's first friends were the kids of the HenHouse moms, but the reality is that she has never met them. Of all my kids, only Caroline has really enjoyed the friendship of one of the moms I met online-and we are lucky enough to get to see them every summer. And each year as Caroline and I anticipate the arrival of Sky, Sandra, and Wilder (and Matt if he ever wants to come again); Natalie pouts that I never invite anyone her age to come and visit. So this time, Natalie was going to meet Molly (Libby's daughter if you follow my FRED adventures). and she couldn't wait! Also, she did not want to share, so there was much angst that morning when she realized that her younger siblings would be coming along as well.  Had we been meeting up at a local mall or some other, more tween-like activity; I might have left them behind. But, we were going to the top of the Space Needle and there was no way anyone was going to stay home.

Needless to say, the mood in the car was testy. Tristan gloated that he was along for the ride (because he knew his big sister didn't want him there) and Natalie shrieked at his every comment. I threatened everyone to be quiet or else and then we were there. (So glad we were only driving from Greenlake instead of Redmond.) We parked in a very impressive new parking garage. I had to laugh at it because it had its own coffee bar. My original plan was to feed my kids on the way into town, but Bob and Dave spent so much time messing with Bob's GPS that we had to go straight to the Seattle Center. Fortunately, the kids and I were too excited (once we got OUT of the car) to remember we hadn't eaten yet. I approached the Space Needle wondering if I would see Molly or Libby first...and if I would even recognize Miss Molly. It turns out that I did see her first and I knew her immediately. Libby was right there too-finally some Hens and chicks together! On the (very long) flight to Seattle from OKC and especially while I was cleaning puke out of my uncle's Caddy, I didn't think I ever wanted anything to do with a FRED and Family-type gathering. Watching Natalie and Molly together changed my mind immediately.

They were a little quiet as we all purchased our elevator tickets, but as if by magic, they were good pals by the time we got to the top. I have to admit that the Space Needle isn't incredibly novel to me, BUT watching my kids look through telescopes and ooh and aah and being "so high up" made it worth it. (My Uncle Bob has a membership at the Columbia Tower Club and took me up there last time we were visiting, I'm sure he wants it known that he rolled his eyes big time when he heard what we were up to, but I want it known that he used to take us to the Space Needle for that overpriced dry ice dessert at least once with every childhood visit. Until Cousin Eric and I turned 14 and became "too cool" for such silliness and preferred desserts from Denny's instead-what the heck was our problem?) All of that to say, I'm glad we went to the Space Needle cliched though it may be. Of course, no sooner did we get up there then we all remembered we hadn't eaten yet. I remembered there being a little overpriced cafe that I thought had some kind of breakfast food there. What ensued was me spending way too much on quite the breakfast buffet o'crap right in front of Libby and Molly. We took pictures to commemorate it. That will teach me not to buy breakfast food for my kids as soon as I get to Bob's house. (Even as kids the first thing Aunt Debbie did when we got there was take us to the grocery store to pick out our favorite cereal-but when you spend your first moments after arrival cleaning up after your nauseous kid, a trip to the grocery store doesn't really occur to you.) My kids dined on lemon bread, Rice Krispie treats, and surprisingly good Crayon brand juice. Dave felt that a little Starbucks was in order since we were in Seattle, and went with marbled hot chocolate. Only after we got all that junk to the cash register did I see bagels and cream cheese at the counter for $1.50. Yeah, once you've promised a kid junk food for breakfast-good luck getting them to eat something reasonably healthy. Oh well, we were on vacation right?

When I envisioned our day, I pictured Libby, Natalie, Molly, and I hanging out at the EMP and Sci-Fi museum while Dave took the kids to the Children's Museum. But once we finished herding everyone through the Space Needle gift shop (making endless pressed pennies in the process), I knew he wouldn't go for that and I didn't blame him. So, yet again, I skipped the EMP (someday I'll actually go inside) and we walked around a bit. En route to the fountain, we passed the carnival rides AND a temporary inflatable area (like Pump It Up). Oops! Libby and I had to laugh at how we were leading the kids through everything fun to go look at some water shooting into the air. Forget the merry-go-round and ferris wheel and ignore the inflatable maze: "Look kids, the fountain is making a rainbow!" (Another Libby quote for the book) The fountain turned out to be more distracting than we thought because there were about three kids playing in it, completely soaked. Oh great. Guess what Tristan wanted to do? I told him (truthfully) that I had no dry clothes for him and he would be cold and wet for the rest of the day. Then, Elisa slipped and scraped her leg and it seemed like some carnival rides would be a nice distraction. Besides, I've been on those rides many times myself and they are closing soon. It was nice to have my kids experience them too. I was amused at Elisa because she must have overheard Libby's comment about the "magical healing powers" of the merry-go-round. I say that because as soon as she got off of it, she touched her sore leg and said "but Mommy, my scrape is still there." Such a funny kid.

After throwing lots of money at rides, DDR, and some other games; we decided it was time for lunch. I still wasn't very hungry after the junk food fest at the top of the Space Needle, but the kids ate well. I felt kind of bad, there were still all kinds of fun things to do (Children's Museum, Pacific Science Center, etc...) but I wasn't sure how much more my kids were up for and I was very glad when Libby asked if Natalie could come over and hang out with Molly for awhile. That way, I didn't have to split them up yet, I could take the younger grouchier ones home and let them get some rest. So they went one way, and we went back to the fancy parking garage/coffee bar. Only in Seattle...

We went back to Bob and Deb's house. Bob was at the Seahawks/49ers game (not a good football weekend for Bob), Debbie was running errands, and the kids entertained themselves playing with the 3 month-old puppy, Dexter. I did an internet search for the closest Trader Joe's and found it was 10 minutes away. As much as I hated to inflict my crazy kids on the nice people at Trader Joe's, I needed some groceries to ship home, so off we went. We found it without a problem and were in and out of there in less than half an hour. The girl who rang us up was as sweet as she could be just even with Dave's OU hat and she was obviously a student there. I guess most Husky fans are OK, especially the day after the game. In addition to all my goodies to mail home, I finally remembered some milk, cereal, and other snacks. No more Rice Krispie treat breakfasts for the rest of our stay!

Later in the afternoon, I walked halfway to Libby's where she, Natalie, and Molly met me so I could walk Natalie home. I love Bob and Deb's neighborhood and I especially loved the way there were little independent shops and restaurants up and down the street and a McDonald's that had just gone out of business. It made me smile when I noticed it. I also loved having our girls together playing. I really enjoyed the time I got to spend getting to know Molly. She is adorable, sweet, and funny with a sense of humor that reminds me why I really like to work with the Middle School crowd when most people avoid it. She is exactly what I expected Libby's daughter to be-and I can't give a higher compliment than that. Bob and Deb are really bummed that they didn't get a chance to meet them-so I guess we have to go back sooner rather than later and remedy that. (And also visit the Science Center? My cousin Megan says we missed out on that one.)

The rest of the evening was pretty low-key, inasmuch as anything is low-key at Bob and Deb's house. Bob had two friends whose boat was docked about 20 minutes away and he picked them up for dinner. They brought crab that they had just caught and we thawed out more salmon from Bob's recent trip to Alaska. Then we made a big salad. I can't remember what we fed the kids because I'm sure they weren't having any of the seafood action-maybe they ate cereal. All I know is that I ate some good seafood, got to visit with my cousin Megan, and hear all about her life. (I used to be her nanny, she is 22 now, I'm old.) And I had worn my kids out so much that it was no trick getting the younger ones to go to bed. Bob grabbed Natalie and I and let us ride along when we took his friends back to their boat so that Natalie could see a real boat dock and houseboat. She seemed to have a lot of fun with it. Fortunately, Dave had talked Elisa into sleeping with the other girls downstairs, and he got to sleep in a real bed that night too. Even if it never really belonged to Christopher Columbus.

Seattle Trip: Game Day

Sorry for the overabundance of trip reports, but I love to travel more than just about anything else. For many years, I was too overwhelmed by the young ages of my kids to try more than Disney World (with family) or Dallas (on our own). Now that my "baby" is four, it's gotten much easier (inasmuch as traveling with four kids is ever easy). So, you will likely be seeing more of these. I would apologize, but I'm quite happy about it. I will spare you most of the travel day details except to say that the Tulsa airport is really small in comparison to most other airports, Tristan didn't figure out how to pop his ears, and the last 45 minutes into Seattle were miserable for both of us. They didn't get much better when we landed, Uncle Bob picked us up, and Tristan promptly puked as we drove through a tunnel in his Cadillac. Fortunately, he hadn't eaten much that day so it wasn't very messy and Bob smokes in that car (which I think is part of what made Tristan sick) so it already smelled bad. We cleaned it up promptly upon our arrival at Bob's house. I feared it was a bad omen, but it was just airsickness. The last good news was that it was no trick to get Tristan to go to sleep that night. Bob's new house in Seattle is much bigger than the place in Redmond, even though they bought it just after their daughter moved out. (My parents did the same thing. Go figure.) Tristan, Dave, and I bunked in the two extra bedrooms upstairs and we parked the girls on a King-sized sofa bed downstairs. Actually, Elisa slept with us the first night which meant that Dave wound up sleeping on the floor. We were in the antique bed rumored to have come to America on Christopher Columbus' voyage. It's the same bed that Caroline and I slept when I was last there. In fact, I almost titled this day's trip report "Christopher Columbus slept here," but we don't know that for sure. (And I am guessing probably not.)

After a good night's sleep, Tristan (and everyone else) seemed much improved. Favorite Uncle Bob took us to a place called The Lock Spot for breakfast and then to The Locks/Fish Ladder to do a little sightseeing. Of all the adventures Eric and I had with Bob as kids, he never took me there before now. The kids loved it. We saw salmon swimming upstream and lots and lots of boats decked out in either purple or crimson flags. We yelled "Boomer Sooner" to anyone with the right flag. I was careful not to wear my OU stuff out in public that morning, but Dave didn't care and neither did all the other Sooner fans at The Locks. Still, the mood there was friendly and laid-back (just like the Seattle I've always known) and gave me a false sense of security that things would be calm at the stadium.

En route to Seattle, I decided something. I decided I had no desire to apologize for Oklahoma City's hijacking of the Seattle Sonics (aka Oklahoma City Thunder). I didn't ask anyone to buy the team, my tax dollars go to McClain County so I pay for none of the Ford Center upgrades, and I would be really surprised if I ever go to a game. I could care less about pro sports of any kind (though I still will tune in if I happen to remember AD is playing, and I do enjoy the Super Bowl). I didn't want the Sonics, and if Seattle had really wanted to keep them maybe they should have gone to a few more games and upgraded their facilities. I'm all about my Sooners and I'm guessing most of us who flew all the way to Seattle to see them play feel the same way. So...I didn't want to talk pro-basketball at a college football game. As we returned from our morning adventures to change clothes, brief the babysitter, and get loaded up for our tailgate party; I pretty much decided that I wasn't saying 'sorry' and, if it could be helped, neither "sonic" nor "thunder" would escape my lips even once for the rest of the evening. And with that, I donned an OU shirt, introduced the kids to their sitter (someone who works for Bob, of course), laughed that I gave her half as many instructions for four kids as Bob did for his three month-old puppy, and rode with Bob, Dave, and a friend over to the stadium for some tailgating.

It was weird to watch Bob and his friends do all the cooking while I just sat there, but they were grilling salmon and I didn't have the first clue how to help with that. The food was great! Lots of salads, fruit, and other really fresh things. There were some pretty fancy brats too, but I was a little too impressed by the salmon to try them. Dave called it "upscale," I called it delicious. The chit chat was friendly even though we were surrounded by diehard Husky fans (Bob included-traitor!). Occasionally, some jerk would ask Bob why he was feeding us or what the heck we were doing there; but I thought it was all in good fun. I thought wrong...very wrong, as I would find out when we walked over to the stadium. The walk over wasn't so bad, but as we got closer to the stadium and separated from our party (they were sitting on the Husky side, Bob was classy enough not only to find us tickets, but to find them in the visitor's section). First, a bunch of drunk boys shouted really nasty things to us about our L-O--O-N-G, sad trip home. I just smiled calmly at them (I kinda knew how this game was going to play out, and, until that moment; felt rather bad about it), but that didn't stop them from saying things I would thump my son for saying in front of strangers no matter how old he was. Then, once we got through the gate, there was the infamous bully-shoving-shy-kid-into-the-locker manuver which happened (conveniently) the minute Dave disappeared into the men's room. Dave went in, I walked a little further along the stadium, and some drunk frat boy shoved me hard into the stadium wall as he walked by with a flippant "'scuse me." He didn't even look back. Sadly, it took three minutes for me to think of calling him a wuss who was too chicken to start something with someone his own size. Fortunately, everyone over the age of 30 was a lot better behaved. (With the exception of one dude, we'll get to him in a minute.)

We got to our seats (The UW stadium seats have seatbacks, what a novel idea! I'm sure I sounded like a little hick when I exclaimed over them quite excitedly. I don't care-they rocked!) and, while we were in the visitors section, we still managed to be surrounded by Husky fans. Sure enough the idiot in front of us punctuated kick-off with a "You stole our Sonics and we're gonna steal this game from you!" From that point on, I gave up being nice. I cheered at every score, and my boys gave me lots of reasons to make some noise. Most of our surrounding Husky fans were gone by halftime. I didn't miss them. Especially the Sonics fan who seemed not to realize that we were here to play college football, not pro basketball. Whatever Dude. And just for once, I enjoyed our Sooner victory with no worries for the other team's feelings whatsoever. (OK, I always enjoy a good Texas routing too.) Sadly, we had to leave by the 4th quarter because my Uncle Bob was no longer having fun. Poor Boy! That's what he gets for switching sides like that. Still, most of the players on the field were second string at that point, and we were fine with going. We had a nice chat with some elderly UW fans on our way out-they were classy as were the older couple who sat behind us. Ultimately, that eased the insult of my encounters with the dumb frat boys on the way into the stadium-but seriously, I thought we Sooners could be a little rude. We've got nothing on the younger Husky fans. And that's not a compliment. (A lot of similar conversations bounced around on the flight from Las Vegas to Tulsa, so it wasn't just me who noticed.) Just like I say to the young'uns at the OU home games, let's learn to show some class people. At the end of the day, it is just a game. (A game that, at 55-14 we won quite decisively, by the way.)

We got home to find the kids and the puppy intact and Aunt Deb returned from her errands too. We settled in for some quiet time and some catching up. While I wasn't kidding when I said I could skip the game as long as I saw the family, but I have to admit, the game was pretty fun after all.

Just a Quick One

We got into Tulsa early this evening and after my grandparents totally spoiled us by having dinner on the table when we got there, we got back in our car and made it in by bedtime. After running around the house like crazed lunatics for about half an hour, the kids have now fallen asleep which means I can sleep too. There's so much to write about that I can't get my head around it all, so tonight I will leave you with a couple of classic Me/Uncle Bob exchanges:

#1

Me: Well, Janet and I think that once Mom and Dad die we are just going to charge people like $5 a head to come into their house with grocery bags and haul away as much junk as they can. Once we've cleaned out what we can that way, we're just going to toss a match on the rest of it and start over-their neighbors will thank us.

Bob: Hon, that's really not something you want to tell an insurance agent.

#2

Before the quote, I must explain that Uncle Bob and Aunt Deb have always had an open door policy. I think this is the first time I've visited their house in my life that some friend or relative (or all of the above) weren't living there. This week, my family was sleeping there, but two of Bob's sailing pals were also there for meals each night. (They could dock where they did only if they were actually sleeping on the boat.) While I can't imagine living my life that way, I don't even think twice about it at Bob's. But before I met these guys, Bob was telling me all about them. One of them was from Canada. The following conversation ensued:

Bob: I just can't wait for you to meet these guys, Missy. They're old salty sailors and have great stories. L is from Canada, so we'll have you fluent in Canadian dialect before you go home on Tuesday.

Me: I think I'm as familiar with Canadian 'dialect' as I need to be.

(OK, so Bob didn't know why that was funny, but I couldn't resist the comeback. I could have explained it to him, but it's better that I didn't-as evidenced by my last quote of the night.)

#3

Me: Washington fans aren't like anyone I've ever met in Seattle before-they are SERIOUS about this stuff. One of them even shoved me before the game because I had on an OU t-shirt.

Cousin Megan: An adult?

Me: Nah! Some punk frat boy, I think. Definitely under 25.

Cousin Megan (worried): Dad didn't try to kick his ass did he? 'Cause he HAS had a heart attack and he's NOT in his 20's anymore.

Me: No, he missed it.

Cousin Megan: Thank goodness

Me: No kidding.

To Paraphrase the Ghostbusters

We came. We saw. We kicked some a$$! SO much to blog about, so little desire to be on the computer right now. Go Sooners! And to the punk kid who "accidentally" shoved me at the stadium, I've just got two three* things to say: 1-Maybe someday you will be old enough to hold your liquor, 2-I was old enough to be your teen aged mama, maybe pick on someone your own age, and 3-We totally kicked your Husky butt! Now kiss mine. (And stop shoving soccer moms at football games, had my husband not been in the bathroom when you did it, you would have missed the whole game instead of leaving at halftime with your tail between your legs. Next time you might not be so lucky.)

*A very stupid typo brought to my attention by Emily, clearly a very classy Husky fan. (Also, my kids are all going home with stuffed Huskies which they have deemed "much cuter" than OU's Sooner Schooner mascot-most often seen in the form of the tackiest foam hat ever to worn by a football fan. Just in the interest of representing both sides of things fairly here.)

Friday Flashback

• Camping trips along the Oregon coast
• Ferry boat rides to Bainbridge Island and Hood's Canal
• The 1986 World's Fair in Vancouver
• 4th of July fireworks in empty parking lots and at big Farmhouses
• Sprite Delights at Denny's
• The parade of random friends and friends of friends who moved in and out over the years
• Playing "mommy" to my baby cousin Megan
• Riding in the back of trucks or backhoe shovels, climbing to the tops of trees and then roofs, driving alone at the ages of 15, and other goofing off with cousin E over countless shared grins that seemed to say "our moms would NEVER let us get away with this if they were here"
• trips to the top of the Space Needle and roller coaster rides at the bottom
• Chilly rainy mornings and unexpected afternoon sunshine

Just some of the mental imagery that comes up when I plug the words "Seattle" and "Uncle Bob and Aunt Deb" into my memory. The football game will be fun, but we all know that's not really why I'm going. I hope my kids come home with some of this too. I can't believe this is only the first time we're going as a family. I doubt it will be the last.

Thursday Thirteen #53

I'm busily printing boarding passes ("A" Group again-I rock at online check-in!), packing, and all that other last-minute stuff that precedes a weekend trip. So tonight's list will have to be short. Let's go with: Thirteen Things I've Accomplished Today!

1. Shopped for and re-stocked the School Store. Snacks for a quarter at recess tomorrow, Kids! (It's SO much easier when it's my only PTA responsibility, well close to the only one anyway...)
2. Put on my prairie clothes and taught the first school group of the year. They were dressed up too which always makes that more fun!
3. Finally got recognized by the grants.gov system and successfully submitted the biggest grant I've ever written on my own (not that I didn't have wonderfully collaborative co-workers who helped me get it finished)! I wanted to put my drinkin' pants on when that happened!
4. Left work after giving more complex instructions that I do to a babysitter as to the care and treatment of some of the artifacts that need to be moved while I am out-of-town. (Seriously, there were several pairs of white cotton gloves, cloth diapers, and a four page instruction sheet. My co-workers must be so glad I'm gone!)
5. Picked up and dropped off all of my carpool kids (I do this daily, but with 7 kids involved-it always feels like a big deal)
6. Made a good dinner that used up a lot of the stuff in the 'fridge I would have otherwise had to toss before I left town. Thanks HillbillyHousewife.com! (And no, I didn't make collard greens, I went with beef and bean burritos. They were good-just like most of the recipes on that website.)
7. Pulled out three suitcases
8. Started a load of laundry
9. Began packing
10. Printed up 6 boarding passes
11. Started another load of laundry
12. Got four kids showered and in pj's
13. And I'm still packing...(and yawning)

See ya in Seattle!

For more Thursday 13's, click here.

Back to School

Of course, my kids went back three weeks ago. But tomorrow marks the back-to-school season at work when our first group of kids arrive for a field trip. Time to send in the grants, save the inventory for winter, and dust off the school marm's outfit. And the first person who makes some inappropriate comment about my work clothes...has got to realize that they really aren't the first person to do that. (Come on! I'm starting my 3rd year...I've heard it all at this point.)

Group Discussion?

I know I don't have the world's largest readership, but I'm wondering if there aren't enough of you with opinions to generate some chatter in the Comments section. I'm hoping that there are. Last night, we had our usual Monday Family Night (aka "Family Home Evening"). Lest you get some rosy, cheesy picture of how this goes; know that Tristan had already been disciplined for (VERY BAD) attitude by his dad within 5 minutes of starting which inspired Natalie to snarkily choose "We Are a Happy Family" as the opening song (which she sang it loudly as she could in his general direction). Now that I've set the appropriate scenario, we can get to the actual point of this post.

During the lesson, I have each kid take turns with the reading. I have never before included Caroline, but as she finished Kindergarten last year doing pretty well with sight words; I let her try for the first time. Apparently, she taught herself to read over the summer, because she was reading a quote by Pres. Monson (a short one, but still...) and only needed my help once. Way to be observant with my kids...It's funny, because when her sister was her age, I drilled her constantly with flash cards and sent her to a Montessori school as soon as she was three. I didn't do it as much with her brother (he wouldn't sit still), but I did push him as well. Both of them were reading before Kindergarten and both of them tested into the Gifted and Talented program at our elementary school.

When Caroline was born, she gave us quite a scare by developing RSV and pneumonia before she was 6 weeks-old. (I hadn't even had my post-partum check up yet.) She pulled through, but I noticed that I spent her toddler and pre-school years doing nothing more than treasuring the fact that she was still with us. I don't think I doted on her more than the other kids, but I really didn't care if she could read, write, or tell me what one plus one was as long as her asthma wasn't flaring up and her little lungs were working. Elisa has never been as critically ill as her sister, but I am similarly laid back about her academic progress. Oddly, as judgemental as I can be of myself, I don't feel like I've lowered the bar here. Instead, I feel like I'm finally seeing the big picture. I remember attending that Open House at Elisa's pre-school last year listening to other parents (most of them older than me, but whose first or only children were the age of my youngest) asking about the curriculum. I knew Elisa was enrolled in the right place when the teacher (using the nicest language possible) explained that the kids in her class were 3 years-old and learned best just by playing and being allowed to be kids. I thought about Natalie's pre-school experience compared to that of her baby sister's and I couldn't have agreed more.

But HERE'S the weird thing: I chatted with Caroline's 1st grade teacher at her Open House last night, and she is testing every bit as well as her siblings did when they were her age. (Now that she's in the 1st grade and such things are being measured). And I've noticed at home that Elisa is starting to read at the age of 4, just like her older siblings, even though neither I nor her Pre-K class have placed any particular emphasis on it. So my question for you all is what your opinion is on preparing our kids to be learners? How much do we need to do to get them ready for their schooling be it at school or at home? And based on my recent experiences, does what we do even make a difference. Please discuss...No really-I've got to pack for a trip to Seattle.

I Won Something!

I discovered Kim and Jason's site when I was looking for an off-the-wall wedding shower gift for my friend Lanie last year. (I went with the gingerbread cookie cutters, the gals at the shower know why...) I still check in there often to avoid my own case of 'adultitis'. Last Thursday I couldn't resist the contest for the "weirdest item on your desk." In my line of work, there's always several musuem artifacts involved in that. So, I did a quick scan of my desk and submitted my comment-not thinking I could top the readers of Kim and Jason's blog...but this week, I did! Yay me! And since my desk is also constantly covered in stacks of Post-Its, this is a prize I can actually use. Thanks Kim and Jason! (And if you've never checked out their online store, you should.)

Weekly Winners: St. Louis Trip edition

This wound up being a longer post than I originally planned, so I made many of the pics small. As usual, click on them to embiggen. With that detail out of the way, let's get on with the show:

We got a much earlier start and even with the I-40 shut-downs and detours, we still made it to the Arch around 9 a.m. It is way more massive in person than I thought it would be:

Also, it's heats up on the outside pretty quickly-OW!

I was a little iffy on whether or not I actually wanted to go up into the Arch, but I knew I could handle the Riverboat. So, Dave walked all the way down there and back, little knowing that we could have purchased everything inside the Arch itself. Oops!

Meanwhile, we watched the security line going inside the Arch get longer and longer. Dave made it back and we joined the line. By the time we got inside, the soonest ticket time to go up in the Arch would have conflicted with our cruise tickets. So, we toured the museum and bought tickets (in yet another line) for a later time to ride the elevator of 'death.' I was very impressed by the museum. Here are some highlights (for Libby, if no one else):

There were dioramas AND a continual loop DVD. Libby and I could have been mesmerized for hours!

There were also animatronic characters, I want to mock them but the picture on the right makes that impossible (and I wish I were a better photographer to have captured that moment properly):

There were a lot of exhibits that looked like they came from where Mom works:

and I personally loved the detail added to the wagon display

Before long, it was time for our hour-long cruise on the Mississppi

We took the Tom Sawyer, this is our view of the Becky Thatcher and the Arch as we pulled away from the dock.

I fell in love with St. Louis architecture while I was there. It truly is "where East Meets West" I can see why Rose, Esther, Lon, Tootie, and Agnes didn't want to move to New York City.

This pic is very misleading. Within 5 minutes of snapping it, they had all trooped below deck for the air-conditioned refreshement area. I stayed outside and took more pictures:

In one picture, an operational grain elevator is loading a barge and a partially submerged, retired military submarine is in the other. They have been trying (unsuccessfully) to raise it for years. According to the non-canned narration. (Our Tahoe boat tour was amusingly pre-recorded)

This is just a bridge I thought was pretty, and the other one is the only photo Natalie has consented for me to show from the boat ride. She cracks me up!

Once the boat ride was over...there was no more avoiding it. It was time to go to the top of the Arch. I am both clausterphobic and nervous in crowds. Labor Day weekend was a swell time to attempt this. But, we were here, so what could I do?

It turned out that by the time it was our turn, I no longer cared. Tristan had spent our entire half-hour in line throwing a fit because he had to ride up in the same tram as his sister. A few park rangers asked if he was scared of the ride. Nope! Just being cooped up with Natalie. He was NOT a happy boy!

He perked up considerably when it was our turn to go up...

(the rest of us just coped as best we could)

Once we got to the top, we were all the best of friends, even Tristan and Natalie

Here is what we saw:

Busch Stadium

The Mississippi

And also that it's good to stay at The Hyatt

As soon as I snapped those pics, I was ready to go back down. The ride and the height weren't bothering me, but the massive crowds were. Sheesh! If it's not one phobia, it's another. Still I'm glad I did it. It was actually fun!

As usual, a big hat-tip to Lotus at Sarcastic Mom for hosting Weekly Winners!

St. Louis Weekend Pt. 1

Rather than write a L-O-N-G blow by blow travelogue, I thought I would try to make it brief. It was a last-minute, quick trip, and I feel like that's how I should recount it.

~Friday~

Both Dave and I had the day off, I had every intention of just checking in at the School Store*, making sure there were enough people to run it, and taking off early to pack the car. Yeah right. I love that place too much. (Apparently, I'm not the champion grudge-holder that I once was.) I was there the whole day and so was Dave (You know...just "to help out"-because there were 'only' 7 people there working at one point. Dave and I used to have to run it with just the 2 of us.) What can I say? The School Store the most fun you can have as a PTA parent (or grandparent). And also, thanks to voting taxpayers, THIS year it was also air conditioned in there. We went into the office afterwards to check ourselves out pondering whether we would take the kids home early and get a head start on the road trip. While chatting with all the staff and being introduced (as a "VIP" no less) to the new secretary, one of the kids from my carpool came into the nurse's office feeling sick. Because her mom and I were friends, the nurse let me call the mom myself and tell her that she had a sick one and that I would just bring everyone home a little early that day-my kids included (so that we could get home and load the car). Since Dave and I only drove one car, I had to leave him at the school while I ran the other kids to their house. Then, we picked up Elisa from her school and went home.

As we pulled into the driveway, Dave and I told the kids to go inside, pick out three outfits, two DVD's each, and one favorite activity because we wanted to as soon as possible. But what the kids somehow heard was, "Everybody go inside, start running around the house screaming, and alternately rejoice/fight with your siblings in as frenzied a matter as possible so that Mom has to do ALL the packing while wondering if she REALLY wants to be cooped-up in the car for eight hours based on what she is seeing and hearing right now. And yet...an hour later we were on the road. They calmed considerably once confined to seat belts and boosters with their annoying Pokemon video of choice in the DVD player. And really, things stayed like that for the rest of the trip. We stopped every two hours or so (in the end, so Dave and I could get more caffeine and stay awake) and there was very little fighting or whining, though it was funny to hear all the ways that Tristan could ask "Are we there yet?" without using those actual words.

After a very pretty, but very winding, local highway exit; we rolled into Chesterfield, MO and our motel just after midnight.

~Saturday~

Given the late arrival of the night before, we got kind of a late start the next morning. I knew that I wanted to see the Arch, take a Riverboat cruise, and visit the zoo. I wasn't really worried about when we did what, but I had read that we needed to get to the Arch before 10 a.m. to avoid the crowds. Since we weren't dressed until around 9:30, we went with the St. Louis Zoo that day. The zoo itself is free, but it didn't take us long to figure out how such an amazing zoo could get by without charging admission. It's $10 to park, and there were fees for the Children's Zoo, a temporary Dinosaur exhibit, and the Sea Lion show (ours has a fee too). I understand that as someone who works at a non-profit, but a $10 parking lot? We didn't do it. We drove a couple of blocks and parked on the street for free. It was worth the walk. But I'm cheap that way.

I posted my pictures of the zoo on Thursday and all I really feel like adding to those was how impressed I was by the zoo, in particular the penguin/puffin exhibit and the enclosures for the elephants and rhinos (In my opinion, our big cat exhibit is better and our great ape exhibits are about the same-but their pachyderm space just rocks!) The kids loved it until about the last hour we were there. Then, everyone's feet hurt, they were hot, and there was much anger at mom because I didn't feel the need to buy them anymore junky toy souvenirs when I'm in the middle of getting rid of as much stuff in the house as I think Dave and the kids will allow. My thought was, they saw the zoo, we ate lunch rather than packing sandwiches (mostly because I was feeling lazy that morning), and I even sprang for the $3 Sea Lion show and that was enough. Once the whining reached a fever pitch, I decided that we had seen enough of the zoo (though we did NOT manage to see it all) and it was time to go. Dave nicely walked to the car alone and picked us up at the front of the zoo where his children had decided to amuse themselves by climbing on the entry statue/fountain. I could only fight them so much about that one as every other kid waiting on their Dads and their family vehicles were doing likewise. Here they are (above) before things got completely out of hand. You can see on their tired faces that they were DONE at that point.

Since our motel was close to a Pizzeria Uno, and we had never had that before, we called in our order on the drive home. Dave dropped me at a little Italian market (these are all over the St. Louis area-any reason?), but I couldn't get too excited about their import prices when I knew I would be shopping at Trader Joe's on Monday. I did get some Pomi tomato puree (Albertson's carried it, but when they all became Homelands, it disappeared) which I've already made some great sauce with, AND they had Bacio flavored gelato in their freezer. Pizzeria Uno's Deep Dish was different, but nothing I would drive too far for now that I've tried it-but all in all I was a happy girl and the kids slept very soundly that night thanks to all the walking at the zoo.

*End of Pt. 1*

I had intended to blog the trip all in one entry, but because I'm more interested in the OU/Cincinnati game than I thought I would be and because I want to post my Arch/Riverboat pictures as part of Sunday's Weekly Winners; I will just save the rest of the story for tomorrow...(Hey, at least I posted an update.)

Thursday Thirteen #52

#52 eh? I guess I've been at this for a year now. Or that I've posted a year's worth of them-some weeks I skip it. Anyway, I've got a Stake YW Presidency meeting tonight and those can take awhile, so I'm posting early. I took a ton of pictures at the St. Louis Zoo last weekend. So here are 13 of my favorites:

See look! There is a bear in one of my posts. Nothing more dangerous than a sleepy grizzly

Penguins! (It was COLD in that exhibit!)

More bears (still sleepy ones, though)!

Giraffes are still my favorite

Why did this make me want to sing the Veggie Tales Cebu' song?

Sea Lion show

Golden Pheasant-even with the wires, I HAD to get a picture.

Possibly my favorite picture of the day!


Rhino crossing (loved the habitat)

Zaboo?

The lioness wasn't very sleepy...

How did that wild animal get here? (We brought him home. Don't tell the zoo.)

For more Thursday Thirteens, click here!

Spotlight on Elisa

For a Mom Blogger, I've noticed I don't talk about the kids much. In part, it's because this is MY place to vent, dream, recount, and speculate. And sometimes what's on my mind may or may not reflect my daily life. Also, my oldest daughter has asked me not to discuss her too much and I try to respect her privacy (she asked me this a couple of years ago). Unless of course she makes me mad, then all bets are off! ;>) But my four year-old has yet to object, and she is quite a little cutie. So, here is a bullet-point breakdown of all the cute things she has done and said recently:

• Natalie was giving her a piggy-back ride from our car to the gates of the St. Louis Zoo. I think she was a little heavier or the walk a little farther than she had anticipated because at one point she told Elisa, "When we leave this zoo, you're going to carry ME on YOUR back." Elisa responded, "I can't do that, you're too tall." When Natalie set her down at the zoo entrance, she looked at her again with deep concern and said "Seriously Natalie, I can't carry you out of here!"
• Last week, I arrived at her pre-school just a little bit before she was ready to leave because there was a birthday party getting ready to happen. I didn't want to wait around for the party, so I asked her if she would rather have her Dad pick her up when he got home from work 45 minutes later. I thought this would deter her. Instead, she said "OK, and tell him to stop and buy me a new shirt because (as she eyed the birthday cake on the counter) I'm gonna get chocolate cake ALL OVER this one!" (as she pointed to her white t-shirt)
• It was chilly when we left the house this morning, and started raining as we drove to school. Once I arrived at the pre-school parking lot, she told me to "park at the front because I don't want to get wet on THIS day."
• Overheard from the back seat en route to St. Louis: "I'll rip you to pieces, Tristan!"
• She still sleeps with Dave and I about three nights a week. She doesn't sneak in or ask sweetly, she typically just marches over to the bed, climbs up, and throws herself between us while announcing "I SLEEP IN DA MIDDEW!"

So she's a little spoiled...she IS the baby, after all.

You Wanted Excitement...

After an enjoyable, albeit very routine road trip, we didn't do much around the house except for unload the car, unpack all my precious Trader Joe perishables, and get caught up on vacation laundry. It was some time late last night before I decided to put away all the T.J. dry goods too...and that's when I discovered it. A brand-new bottle of children's vitamins with an opened childproof lid and only 74 out of 100 vitamins left. Apparently, Caroline thought they were candy and ate them hand over fist for most of the drive home. I have already called poison control three times in my mothering career, so I made Dave do the honors this time. (No, it wasn't my favorite guy "Windy" who answered the phone this time. But I did talk to him for two of my three previous calls. You just don't forget it when you are freaking out and a man says "This is Windy, what I can help you with tonight, Ma'am.") Thank God for the fact that Trader Joe's doesn't put iron in their children's chewables. Thank God! Thank God! Thank God! She didn't have as much as an upset stomach last night. I wish I could say the same. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much last night. Interestingly enough, Caroline was the reason for our last poison control call as well. Only that time she had found my Chromium Picolinate tablets. What is it with her and vitamins?! So far, we've had to call at least once with each kid except for Elisa. Part of me wants to say "And maybe it won't happen!" But it's me-OF COURSE it will...

That was last night's adventure, today's was almost as much fun. My gas light went off as I pulled into the office parking lot. At lunch time, I realized that my purse was still sitting on the dining room table at home instead of in my back pack where I thought it was. I forgot I was low on gas until the light went off again in Moore (about 10 miles from where I needed to be). I shut off the a/c because I still had 6 kids to pick up at school (3 of mine, 3 from the car pool) and I not only had to make it there, but also to the house where 3 of them needed to be dropped off. I begged the car not to die on my for the next 20 minutes and only dared breathe again when I coasted into the Wal-Mart parking lot with three of my four kids (I left the little one at pre-school, why should she sit in a hot car with the rest of us?) and waited 45 minutes for Dave to show up with his Debit card. I felt like an idiot. My Dad seems to think of running out of gas as some kind of Olympic competition with points awarded for where and how you do it. (My favorite was a Kentucky highway on the way to Mammoth Caves one year-it was about 3 a.m., we were in the middle of NOWHERE, and he had to use a Coke cup because he never travels with a gas can. On our family vacation, it was never a question of IF we would run out, just when it would happen.) On the other hand, I hope it never happens to me for real. Those were the longest 25 minutes of my life, and I paid for my error in judgement by having to spend 45 minutes in Wal-Mart with my children. And THAT was punishment enough.

And on a completely unrelated note, saying things like "my kids will never..." is just asking for trouble. I may not agree with her politically, but I would warn those pointing fingers at Governor Palin and her parenting skills might want to take a closer look in their own backyards. It's been my experience that the quickest way to guarantee yourself some troubles on the parenting front is to question the abilities of another parent. And that's all I've got to say about that. (For now...)

Labor Day Meme

I found this at Rocks in My Dryer and, after spending a long weekend of intense bonding time while road-tripping with my four children; it seemed very appropriate! Don't worry, I'll spend the rest of the week posting about the trip, I'm sure. But for now, here we go:

How long were your labors?


Kid #1-12 hours (including three that she was stuck, I'd type 'Ow!,' but it seems like an understatement)

Kid #2-Just under 3 hours  (after Kid #1, this guy's speed made my head spin)

Kid #3-About 6 hours? Can't remember. My IV (and pitocin drip) popped out during the pushing phase and my body stopped contracting completely-much to the confusion of all until my sister noticed the fluid spilling out all over my numb legs and the floor. Once they hooked me back up, she came pretty quickly.

Kid #4-About the same as Kid #3, only this time they halted my pit drip on purpose so that the Dr. could finish a c-section and the nurse could eat lunch. As it was baby #4, I was completely unphased by the request.


How did you know you were in labor?

It was the crack of dawn and I was at the hospital signing papers and getting hooked up to an IV and pitocin. (All four were inductions, after going way overdue with the first two, we figured out that my body just doesn't trigger labor the way it should and I just stay pregnant. That's something Dr.'s can handle now, it was a potential death sentence 100 years ago. *My favorite answer to give people who criticize my decision to go into labor 'unnaturally.'*)


Where did you deliver?

Norman Regional for all 4


Drugs?

Yes. I remember being undecided about it in early labor with my oldest until I went to the bathroom and could hear the women in the room next to me, who was in hard labor, screaming "I CHANGED MY MIND! GIVE ME MY F***ING EPIDURAL NOW," which pretty much convinced me that I wanted one sooner rather than later. They screwed up the epidural with my son so badly that I did try and go natural with baby #3, but gave up by the time I was at a 6. I don't regret it. With #4 I got one before I was really even in pain and I don't regret that either.


C-section?

My firstborn should have been, but there were no available OR's by the time my Dr. figured out she was stuck and in distress. He brought in a surgical tray and an additional scrub nurse into my room, and they told me after the fact that he was prepared to do one right there in the room. He never discussed this with me or Dave, but when the anesthesiologist came in to refresh my epidural I remember being really confused about why he asked Dr. P "Which thing am I doing here?" (Giving me more painkiller or knocking me out completely.) Overall, I'm glad I don't have the scar or having to repeat one with each of my subsequent children, BUT Natalie and I would have been much better off if I had one. I ran into my labor nurse and one of the nursery nurses at a James Taylor concert 6 months later and they BOTH remembered me and the circumstances surrounding Natalie's delivery-so I'm guessing it wasn't exactly ideal. Having been there myself, I would have to agree.

Who delivered?

Doctor P delivered all four-one of the benefits of scheduled inductions. Kid #3 also had a large group of nursing students at the foot of the bed. I was the only one delivering that morning who didn't know the sex of the baby and they wanted to see the 'surprise.' Sadly for them, I just knew she was a girl all along and didn't even raise an eyebrow when Dr. P held her up and told me. He was a little disappointed in my reaction too. Oh well...