Boston, Mass.

I'm looking forward to a little getaway with my husband. It's fun to think about eating out: which means no planning, preparing, serving, clearing, washing, sweeping.....just eating! I love that. It will be nice to not have to worry about any complicated bedtimes: no need for hurrying, bathing, washing, scrubbing, diapering, dressing, guiding (more like pulling, yanking, dragging), pleading, yelling, kissing(I may miss that).....just sleeping. The traveling will be a breeze: no 2 days of packing, planning, preparing. No need for strollers, crayons, books, movies, paper, pencils, markers, blankies, dolls, wipes, diapers, band-aids, drinks, or snacks..... just me, and maybe snacks and a couple of good books. This weekend will be great. Oh ya, I guess there will be something else: running, running, and more running. 26.2 miles to be exact.

No Parking!

So what does No Parking actually mean? Does it mean that a vehicle can never be stopped at or around a No Parking sign? Is there a time limit? How about 1 minute or 30 seconds? Is that okay? What about if you never leave your vehicle when "parked" there? You don't even get out of the car. So obviously No Parking means No parking, but I think that it is okay to be waiting in a No Parking "zone" if you are still in your vehicle.

Soooo, why all of this talk about the definition of parking? Because the other day I had an angry old man tell me "No Parking! (pointing to a sign) You stinkin little BIT**!" Yes, he did. At least he called me little. Of course, I was in my van so I'm not sure he meant it as a compliment about my size. So, let's go back a few moments before that awesome outburst. I was picking up a couple of girls from dance and I wanted to park where I could see them come out of the door and they could see me. No need to get out of the vehicle, just a little honk and a wave over. Less work. There was a nice spot by a tree. Shade. Perfect. No Parking sign posted on the tree. I'm not getting out. So park on.

Well, I saw this car about to back out of a parking spot. I glanced and noticed that he had plenty of room to back out with a turn and head on his way even with me "parked" directly behind him (I was at least two car lengths away). He backed straight out then went forward, turned the wheel a small degree, backed straight out again, forward, turn, back straight, then forward. This was crazy! Is he serious? I watched through the corner of my eye, because I could feel his angry devil eyes on me. At first when I saw him drive back and forward once I thought about moving for him.....even though anyone, even a 10 year old could have backed out of that spot with me "parked" there....but after the second attempt, I knew he was driving like an idiot on purpose. He didn't like me parking there. And he wanted me to know it. So I sat there and laughed. He finally pulled up along side me. And spewed those delicious words. I just sat there and gave him a smile and a shrug. I wonder what more he would have done or said if his wife wasn't sitting right next to him. Ouch! I was dying, it was actually quite humorous.

So parking or no parking? Well, to tell you the truth if a cop would have been anywhere nearby I wouldn't have "stopped" there. So there you go.

It's a boy....finally!

Some of you may know that Shayne and I have discussed adopting a baby. A boy baby, because we are not able to produce one ourselves. Well, we decided to go ahead with all the paper work a few months ago. We have kept it sort of hush-hush since the selection process can take a while. It happened a lot faster than we expected. I guess the birth mom felt bad enough for Shayne having to raise only girls and picked us because of it. We are pretty excited. I'm not sure I'm all ready for the whole newborn thing again, but I have a lot of little helpers. Here's a picture of me and the little guy. The verdict is still out on the name. Good thing Shayne didn't release our list of boy's names yet.




Actually, this picture is of me and my newest nephew, CJ. I got to spend a weekend with my little sister who just had a baby. It was so great! I guess I was a lot of help. I'm a big advocate for breastfeeding. I enjoyed nursing my 4 girls and worked at WIC for a little while helping other moms with breastfeeding problems. Since this is her first baby, I offered to come and help her out with the whole nursing thing.

It feels good to make things really truly easier for someone, just by giving of myself. My knowledge. My time. It wasn't hard, but it came from me. I did help her with breastfeeding. I know she would have done it and done it well without me, but it was nice to help her gain her own confidence. I was able to take away a lot of the guess work and endless questions we have when it comes to nursing a newborn and that allowed her to be able to focus on recovering and healing. I got to spend two amazing nights sleeping with a beautiful little infant laying on my chest so Sadie could get a few more hours of desperately needed sleep. What's the perfect gift for a new mom? Definitely sleep. I enjoyed my quick stay immensely and would have loved to stay longer, but Shayne held down the fort at home with the 4 female brats that we call our children, long enough. Thanks for letting me come Sadie and Christian. And thanks for making me feel so good.
***Also about what's written above the picture, keep looking up and make sure you notice the date of this post. Just a hint.

Has anyone else been wondering?

So if you live in St. George or Washington County for that matter you may have noticed that "The Other Boleyn Girl" is not in theaters here as it should be. Well don't fret I've discovered that it will be coming March 21, thanks to the questions and answers section in the Spectrum (local paper). I know I'm so lame that I emailed that question but I was curious alright and I'm sure others out there were wondering as well. So that gives all of you that haven't read the book yet, one week to read it. Good Luck!

Great Reads!

So I have read a couple of really great books lately. I want everyone to enjoy them as well.... at least one of them. So here are your choices:






1. "Pillars of the Earth"
by Ken Follett

• Soooo good.
• 1000 pages.
• But sooo good.

2. "The Goose Girl"
by Shannon Hale

• Soooo good.
• A quick read.
• Loved it!

Now that you have your two options. Get reading. No excuses. Everyone should read "Pillars of the Earth" sometime, but if no time is the problem read "Goose Girl"...NOW! Enjoy!

Husbands are dumb

Why do husbands not get it? When we go to them and tell them we are about to LOSE IT! They think we are just being over dramatic. I mean how hard is it to blog, watch girl t.v, read, eat cookies and treats, nap, and play with 4 perfectly behaved children all day? Not hard, right? Wrong. Of course the children aren't perfectly behaving all the time, but even if they were, it would still be hard. Why? Because. Because it is the day in and the day out. Same and the same. Always thinking. Always planning. Always worrying. It's the build up of days that then end in a meltdown over another small unfulfilled expectation.

I have found that I tend to tell Shayne about the hard stuff that happen in my day. The fighting, the whining, the messes, ALL the problems. And then when I tell him, I might exaggerate it just a little. Like when the girls have a couple of friends over. The whole neighborhood was here. And when we have PB & J again for lunch. It's the 4th time this week. (Of course sometimes I truly don't exaggerate.) But why? Why tell only or mostly about the negative? Is it because I think staying home and being "just" a mom is easy? Honestly? Sometimes. Easier than what he does? Sometimes. Maybe I do this because during those few moments during the day when things are good; laughter, play, amazing firsts and discoveries. I feel guilty that I am the one that gets to be there to see it. Yes, that is PART of it. But the part that ends up getting me to the LOSE IT stage is that all encompassing feeling of being under appreciated.

All us moms know ALL the things we do every minute of every day that go unnoticed. Just little things, usually not physically hard things, but add them up. Yep, hard. My kids are great. And every once in a while we get a sweet note, or hug, or a "okay mom" with no argument, that makes me feel appreciated. But usually what I want is a little acknowledgment from my partner that what I do every day matters, that what I do is hard, that I do a great job, and I haven't permanently scarred my kids. Is that so much to ask? Well, if you know Shayne, you won't get a compliment when you ask for it. Soooo, I'll just have to wait and hope that either my LOSE IT mood passes, Shayne gets to urge to acknowledge all my pains, or I'll just have to end up calling my mom. The only thing she knows how to do is compliment me. "Mom...."

Parly Sue

Parly Sue is 8..... wait did I say 8? Wow... seems more like 15. She is growing up so fast. Sooo, Parly has always been very social. I don't think it is possible for her to go a day without seeing or talking to one of her bazillion friends. Because this is the case, we have found the perfect punishment for her when she gets into trouble... no friends. Yep. She can't stand it.

Well, we have been trying to instill in her the importance of being responsible. She has to tell us where she is going and where she is if plans have changed. She also has to be home on time ...usually at 5:30 p.m. She has her own watch and she set the alarm for 5:25 so she has enough time to get home. Our rule: If she is in the door after 5:30, no friends the next day.

She hasn't been late very many times. In the beginning, if she was going to be late one of her friend's mom would call and say that Parly was on her way home and that she (the mom) had lost track of the time... so it wasn't Parly's fault. I've always wondered if Parly got so upset about being late that these moms thought going home late meant she was getting a beating. Well, we discussed this and decided that it was not the mom's responsibility to send Parly home at the right time. This worked for a little while, until the weather got nicer and they would play outside, thus ...the excuse became I was outside and didn't know what time it was. So that's where the wrist watch came in. And with the watch... no problems. It has been fun to see her bursting into the door, out of breath, but on time.

Well, the other day we had our first issue since getting the watch for Christmas. She forgot to wear her watch. Parly came home 3 minutes late. Sad. Yes, I know 3 minutes. Late none-the-less. No friends tomorrow. Then came the pleading and tears. Sorry. Then came the anger and excuses. "I left when the clock said 5:25." We called Kendra's mom. What does your clock say? Okay, thanks. Sorry still late. "I left when Kendra's watch said 5:25." Called Kendra at another friends house. What does your watch say? Still late, sorry. We called to see what their clocks said thinking maybe the times would be different. Nope. Well this was Thursday. And on Friday she had a birthday party (she had already RSVP-ed to) and then a primary activity to go to. And then on Saturday another birthday party to go to. So... we told her that she would be grounded from playing with friends on Friday and Saturday. Later that night her friend called to see if she could help babysit at a neighbor's. We said yes, only because we thought this would be another chance to learn about responsibility. She had a choice : go babysitting but you will still grounded on Friday and Saturday, or don't go babysitting and no grounding. She chose to go babysitting. It turned out that they waited but weren't able to actually babysit. Of course, Parly then called and asked if she could go to her friend's sister's basketball game since she wasn't able to babysit. What? No. Come home. Tears. Why? Where do we begin, right? Well here's the letter she wrote us that night.

Like I said Parly Sue is 15 years old.

Want to see a great movie?

I just saw "Juno" and loovvvved it! So good. Go and see it!

Say it isn't so.

So I just finished the final book of the Gemma Doyle series, "The Sweet Far Thing". Soooooo good. This one I absolutely could not put down and just had to pretty much pull an all-nighter.
I have a question though : does Trilogy mean only three or can it mean four, possibly more?
I want ... no I need this series to continue.
So Libba Bray if you are out there... another book, please!!!! This cannot be the end of Gemma's saga.

What does a Kia Sedona have that the Honda Odyssey doesn't? Unautomated Doors

The other day I was taking Clayre and a few of her friends to dance. After they all filed out I asked the last girl to please close the door for me. She says sure and proceeds to pull the van door handle forward and then runs off. I just sat there. How does she not know that the door does not have a mind of it's own and you have to follow through with the first step of pulling the handle and then continue to pull it all the way shut? How does she not know this? Because she has probably never actually ever pulled a door all the way shut in her whole life. She has grown up with automatic doors. In fact as I watched all the girls run in to dance class, I realized my little Clayre is the only one that knows that some doors actually don't close by themselves.

We live in a great neighborhood. If we could marry our neighborhood people would say that we married up. Yes, we are one of the very few here that don't have a 3 car garage or drive around in a Honda Odyssey. And let me just say there is nothing wrong with either of those and our neighbors and friends couldn't be nicer. That being said.... we will serve a purpose living here. We will teach all our kids friends that some doors don't close by themselves when ever they get a ride in our Kia Sedona.