what's happened to me?!

it's not like i'm sleeping any longer at night. or that i really have any more energy during the day. maybe i'm not running like crazy training for anything? maybe it's just because while missing two kids at school, there is a lot more stuff i can get done during the day.

i totally made salsa. i totally grated about 50 pounds of zucchini. then i made zucchini bread x8. i've deep cleaned the pantry, the fridge, and i'm working on the other cupboards.

what is wrong with me? besides being sorta homemakery, i'm turning into my mom. (which, i hope she takes that as a compliment, cuz you know, she rocks).

over the past couple of years, i really have never thought i would be able to keep up on housework. i thought i would always be lacking in that department. i mean really, 3 boys. 3 destructive boys! it's been hard to keep up on the laundry much less do anything else. but there is some sort of freedom with only having to worry about what #3 is doing. there is freedom in not having to go to the school 3 times a day.

and even better, is when i can get fussy down for a nap at 1, and the kids walk home and aren't home until 4. fussy can sleep for however long he wants and nobody will wake him up. making it much easier for me to get stuff done.

so now i get it. now i understand why women all go out to the park days, or out to lunch, or go shopping. i get how you can keep the house clean(er) and still have time for you.

i can't imagine what it's going to be like in 4 years when fussy goes to first grade!



*****************edited to add*************************

never feel too good about what you are doing. while i was writing this post on how nice it was only having to worry about one child, this same child, took an entire NEW jar of fish food and fed the fish. granted most of them were dead anyway, but it made me realize that you can never be too vigilant when you have a 2.5 year old.

july...in pictures.

the last day of school. better known as the last day under the reign of the terrible witch. see the happiness in his eyes???

on the other hand, this poor kid is going to miss his "favorite teacher in the whole world". and that is saying something since it was his kindy teacher.

i'm gonna miss her too, because honestly, she is awesome.

big d's birthday. i think he is 48 or something. i made him an awesome star trek cake. with fondant. because i am THAT cool.

here we have a series of photos taken up at "the condo". probably my favorite place in the world.

fuss driving a crane, a natural born crane driver

harry, taking a hike up the crane. i wasn't there for this one, but it does give me squirmy insides.

the pool. i mean THE POOL. the place where my boys want to be 99% of the time.

fuss, actually enjoying the water

harry is a crazy pool boy. i'm glad he is holding his nose though.

me, sackin' out with my middle, ignored child.

the wild flowers were awesome. so we picked all of them to make sure that nobody else would.

one of the hikes where fussy couldn't fuss anymore. he crashed hard. and by crash, i mean sleep. he is not dead in this picture, although he looks that way.

a more artistic shot of the deadness of the fussmeister

a self photo from my crazy 9 year old. he is so much like me, it's scary.

chilli and me on the trail. you wouldn't believe how much that kid talks.

again, at the crane. fussy still dead.

me, peeing my pants trying to be fun.

this time i witness with my own eyes. i see only broken bones and fractured heads. good thing neither happened.

the angry look? probably from me saying "please get down before you fall!"

i'm still concerned, although i look so carefree and awesome.

brothers

chilly was carrying fussy upstairs. they were playing some sort of game where fussy was being a doggy. chilly calls down to me and says that fussy is stinky and needs a diaper change. i yell up at him to change his diaper. chilly has never changed a diaper before. i am helping harry with some computer stuff. the next thing i know, fussy is coming down the stairs with a new diaper, and chilly is walking around as proud as can be. he actually changed his brother's poopy diaper.


of course, he left poopy wet wipes all over the bed. i thought that was pretty good for a first time diaper change.

the first day of school

the air is crisp, the leaves are changing and it's back to school time....wait...not really. i mean, yes really, the kids went back to school yesterday. and it only topped out at over 100 degrees. but you do what you gotta do.

chilli was excited for lunch, 3 recesses, and almost everything about being a "big kid". he was so happy to find out that his class room was harry's 2nd grade classroom. he was super excited to use his new star trek lunchbox. he was probably the most enthusiastic when he realized the girl he had a crush on last school year, is in his class this school year.

harry was excited when he found out his classroom was actually a portable. he was happy when i walked into his room to meet his teacher and noticed that i knew her from high school. he had a super big grin when i picked him up from school. later he told me that he KNOWS this year is going to be good. he knows that his teacher is 1000 times better than his teacher last year.

i am thrilled. i am happy that my boys are happy. i am only sad when i think that my summer is already over. no more late nights, no more staring at the stars, or going to movies, or being incredibly lazy. it's back to business for us. well, at least for a few weeks, until we go off track.

you know the movie is good, when the conversation is thin in the car on the way home. you know it's a good movie when the 6 year old has tears on his face. when the 9 year old holds your hand and you both squeeze so hard that you both lose feelings in your fingers. when you have to pee so bad, but you don't want to get out of your seat. when you think about parts of the movie, you giggle. when you can't wait to see it again.

and we didn't take pictures, but just know that we are all awesome. and reserved seats rock. and if the magical world was real, i'd totally have a clean house.

did you notice

my harry potter countdown ticker is totally wrong. shame on me. or shame on the "the leaky cauldron" from where i got the thing.

i've been looking forward to this movie for year. when they changed the date from november, i cried. well , maybe i didn't cry, but i was mad. and now it's here. i didn't think it ever would come. kinda like when you are 12 and you think about graduating from high school. it's just not possible.

so yeah, please excuse the wrongness. it's not my fault. or it is because it's still there. i'll take it down after i see the movie and then come here to complain about it.

or post pictures of my kids all dressed up. not me, i don't dress up for things, cuz that is what geeky nerds do, and i'm totally not like that at all.

why does the price of diapers stay the same, even when you move up a size, and the package is smaller, and the number of diapers included is smaller? is that just the incentive you need to potty train? as if dealing with 2.5 year old poopy isn't enough, it's like pouring lemon juice on a fresh paper cut.

yes, my child is getting old and could be potty training, but instead of being sympathetic to the mom who's child is making more poop now than he did when he was newborn; diaper manufacturers seem to want to bleed me for every dollar i've got.

if fussy hadn't grown out of his cloth diapers, i guess i wouldn't be in this predicament. or if i weren't so lazy. either way.

it must be a boy thing...

the other day, we were on our weekly trip to the d.i., when i looked down to see both chilli and fussy laying on the ground, peering under the women's changing room doors.

i don't think they were seen. i hope they weren't seen. it's embarrassing enough to drag screaming kids out the door. still, i can't help but wonder what i would do, or say, if i saw a 6 year old accompanied by his baby brother, gawking at me while i was trying on clothes.

another dilema

if you couldn't guess, we've watched a lot of star trek in the last couple of weeks. big d and my sister are plotting against me. she works for the library and puts us on hold for all the original series (TOS for you trekkers) dvd's. big d picks them up from the library and puts them into his itunes. which i am sure is illegal, but it's star trek right? ( i guess you could argue that he does own them by paying taxes to the library, but we won't go into that)

while we have been watching, i've even gotten into it a little bit. i must admit that it is terrible acting, and even somewhat silly. but it's star trek, which means you get sucked into the story. you end up wasting half an hour watching. the boys are ga ga over it, even fussy will demand now to "watch spock" which is both disturbing and hilarious at the same time.


school starts in just over 2 weeks. i know that sounds silly when we haven't even got out yet, but since i will have another "lunch at school" kid, i've been looking at lunchboxes. and, i'm sure you've guessed it, both are demanding a star trek lunch box.

now i can look at this in a couple different lights:

1. they probably won't ever lose their lunch box. no other kid in school is going to want to steal it. and everybody is going to know who's lunch box has kirk and spock on the front.

2. they are both going to be teased mercilessly

3. star trek just might be cool. or at least different enough that it could become cool. i'm not sure, but i think geeky has started to be more in style. maybe i'm just delusional from watching too much bad 60's t.v.

4. big d might be too jealous for them to actually take the lunch box to school, and demand one himself. if that is the case, i'm gonna be a whole lot poorer trying to find 3 of the silly things.

so the dilemma is, do i get them a couple of really great lunchboxes, have happy kids who might be bullied by their dad or the kids at school, but run less of a chance of losing their lunchbox.....or do i buy some other kind of random box that is totally bland and boring?

i like the idea of my kids being able to express themselves, and i'm really happy about the fact that they aren't into lame thing ( i know, this is totally subjective) like disney stuff, or hsm, or other weird crap like pokemon. i guess because i've grown fond of spock and kirk, maybe i should let my kids have lunch with them everyday.