because nana said so

This week is the book fair at school. Kyler was very excited to take his money and pick out a few books.

Kyler: I had to ask that lady in the book fair how much my book was. She said it was $7.00, but you know what?

Me: What?

Kyler: That was the price in CANADA! It was only $5.00 here. I still had money left over!

Me (because I love to hear how his mind works. . .): Why do you think things cost more in Canada?

Kyler: Because they have more money there.

Me: Oh, really?

Kyler: What? That's what Nana said.

And we all know Nana is always right. . .even when she doesn't remember actually saying that. . .

and that's the only difference?

Kady has officially hit the traumatic three's. One minute she's hyper, and the next, she's showing a lot of maturity. One minute she's inconsolable, and the next, she's reasoning very well for a toddler. Last night, she raced circles through the house. I caught her and accused her of being a monkey. She denied this, saying, "Mama, I don't have a tail!" I'm pretty sure that could be the only difference at this point. . .oh, except for that whole flinging poo thing. She hasn't done that. . .yet. Although, now that I think about it, she did fling the remote control last night. . .

and nana gets in on the action. . .

This is my mom's first blog post. She actually sent this out as an email. And, no, I don't think it's weird to feed saltines to horses. I once had a horse that loved cheeseburgers. Now, THAT was weird!

Just wanted to share a funny from Kady. She was at the house with me the other day and she wanted something to snack on. She was trying to stay awake and she has a really pitiful way of saying, "Nana, I'm still hungee" I was showing her what we had to eat and I asked if she wanted some peanut butter and crackers Papa keeps to snack on. She didn't want that, so I showed her saltine crackers....She said, "No, Nana, that's horse crackers!" Rachel likes to feed the horse crackers and Kady thought those were horse feed!

we survived. . .and have the scars to prove it

I hate children's birthday parties. I love children. I love my children, and I would do anything to make them happy--most of the time. Therefore, last Sunday, we subjected ourselves to 2 birthdays celebrating 3 children turning one year older. The kids had a blast, and truthfully, I suppose you can't complain about another excuse to eat birthday cake! However, awkward conversation with distant family members, one too many sugar highs, and a run-ragged Sunday make me wish we were through with birthdays for awhile. (We're not. We still have three this month. . .I guess you know what people here do in January. . .) As we left the last party on Sunday, Kady was heard screaming, "I no wanna go home. I wanna stay with Sissy! She's my best friend!" I'm pretty sure they're birthday'ed out as well--whether they know it or not. How about you? Do you live for children's parties or are you the official wall flower, like moi?

Need I remind you that the Hogs are still undefeated?! It doesn't matter that they had a week off. It's the record that counts! : )

can you hear me now?

My dad is not a fan of technology. He still has no idea how to work his VCR. Yes, that's VCR--you can forget about the DVD player! He recently got a cell phone. Now, when he's out and about, we're all subjected to random "Can you hear me now?" phone calls. Then, when he gets home, he calls from his home phone to make sure you really could hear him. . .I suppose that voice he hears on the other end could be someone from the cell phone company or government convincing you that cell phones really work. . .[sigh] Parents. 'nuff said.

It's probably not a good sign when. . .

you find chocolate on your bra and you're supposed to be on a diet. . .

you drop your child off late for the third day in a row. . .

you write a political blog post and nobody comments. . .

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Politically speaking, I am somewhere left of of many of you, and somewhere to the right of the rest of you. Now that that is clear as mud, I'm going to enter the dangerous politically-charged, on-my-soapbox arena. I watched with fascination as the warnings began posting on facebook: Obama to implement Hitler-esque youth brigade, etc. I clicked on links that took me to conservative website after conservative website searching for exactly what my son might be exposed to. Yet, I found no evidence that Obama was beginning to grow a funny mustache OR indoctrinate my son, although I was curious as to what exactly the text of the speech might be. I watched and read the speech yesterday, and I found nothing objectionable to me.

I do respect every parent's right to limit what his or her child is exposed to. There is much in this worldly world that I do NOT want my babies exposed to/influenced by, and I respect that each parent has his or her own belief systems. (For example, we do not read/watch the Twilight series. We stress creationism, despite the fact that evolution is taught exclusively in our school system.)

I find it odd that my son's school made the choice to not show the speech at all. We were not given an opt in choice. The speech was simply not shown. It seems that some parents threatened to keep their children home from school if the school showed the speech at all.

I do not always agree with the president. I didn't always agree with the last president, and I think it's safe to say that I will never agree wholeheartedly with any president 100% of the time. Growing up, I remember my parents voicing their disagreement with the president, but it was always done with a note of civility towards the rabbit ears on the tv. I remember a respect for the job that appears absent today.

What (apparently) started as a way for the highest elected official in our country to encourage our youth somehow morphed into an agenda to further criticize one point of view over another, to further split party lines, to disrespect the office of the president. As for me and my house, we WILL serve the LORD. We will also show respect to all people, regardless of their political, religious, cultural, or educational beliefs, including the man elected to lead our country.

That is all. Please feel free to comment. How did your school handle this subject?

scary times

I've been a little absent from this blog for awhile now. It's not intentional. I've said before that this is my therapy. This is my place to unwind, decompress, let it all out. Unfortunately, life is crazier than it has ever been. My office now has 4 people doing more work than when we were 9 people. Hmm, and they say productivity has improved in these tough economic times. How brilliant they are!

Anyway, I dreamed last night that I was laid off. I walked in one day and they were telling us to go home. The scary part is it happened to others this week. Thus, I think I should concentrate on work 24/7 just to be on the safe side (and don't even think about taking a look into my house right now!!).

My point: Thank you, thank you, thank you to anyone sticking around to read my sporadic posts that have become increasingly disjointed and odd. I shall post whenever possible, but I understand if you decide to stop following/reading.

weight loss update

12 pounds. I need to lose 12 pounds, so I can go on the cruise I promised myself. Other than cutting off a limb, does anyone have any other weight loss ideas?