William Tell Overture for Moms

I saw this on a blogger friend's (lifeinfitzville.blogspot.com) site today. I laughed until I cried. Enjoy!

Wild at Heart Family takes to the road

It was a beautiful sunny Fall day today. We had a great time outside with the kids and their bikes. Mr. 4 yr. old got a new bike today and passed his "Pooh" bike down to baby guy. Tuba has this great special needs trike for about 7 years. I think we can squeeze out another year and then he will have to get a bigger version.

Is it Thanksgiving yet?

We've been counting days on the calendar to see "how many days until Halloween?". Our 4 yr. old is VERY excited for Halloween and wants it to "hurry up and get here". He wants to be a ghost and is asking every morning if we can go to the fabric store and make his costume, or....can he just take his sheet off his bed and cut eye holes in it. He's got a long wait ahead of him and NO, he cannot take the sheet off of his bed and cut eye holes in it. But, it's an even longer wait until Thanksgiving. We are getting in the mood early with a delicious dinner tonight. We're having turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries, broccoli and....oh yes....pumpkin pie! Yummy. If anyone wants to come on over for dinner or dessert....please do!

Play Date

Yesterday I took a day of rest from painting (since the kitchen is done and I'm not ready to tackle the hallway yet). We stayed in our pj's and played all day. The little boys and I did Play-Doh while Tuba played his video game. We had such a great time. After play-doh we made some real dough (chocolate chip cookie) and had a delicious treat:)

Even Mom got in on the play-doh fun.

Baby guy loves cutting the doh and later was using a butter knife!

I don't know if you can see the blue drool on baby guy's mouth...."stop don't eat the play-doh". I only said it about every 3 minutes.

This picture is for my sister-in-law/best and most fun Auntie who bought the play-doh. It only took 2 years....but the colors have been MIXED! I calmly allowed this to happen without as much as an eye twitch;) He's making a space ship and then spent at least an hour flying it, crashing it and recreating it.

Questions, questions, questions!

I felt pretty happy that so far we have escaped the "why?" faze with our boys. But.....now we have entered The Question Faze with our 4 yr. old. Here's a list of questions he asked yesterday. Let me say how tired I was....I went to bed about 15 minutes after the kids (8:15)!

What does God look like?
How did God make people?
How come we can't go to the rocket ship store and buy a rocket ship?
Where do aliens live?
Where is their planet?
How come we can't go there?
How long does it take to get there?
Why is it so far away?
Why are stop lights red?
That's all I can remember right now but there were dozens....no.....hundreds more of them:)

Our new command center

I've been busy the last couple of weeks working on our new command center in the kitchen. First I had to strip wallpaper....hideous...it's the third and final room in our house that I've stripped wall paper from. I will NEVER buy another house with wallpaper! Next I painted the kitchen. I'm still painting trim but should finish today. This morning I put up our new white board calendar and press on cork board. I'm not finished yet. I'm going to add an area for the kids "to-do" chart at the bottom of the area. The top area is to display the kid's art projects.

Here's a "before" picture of the wall.

The "after" picture! Isn't it much improved?

Distorted Body Images

My hubby and I were standing in the grocery checkout line this week when he commented, "this is insane". He was pointing to a magazine cover picture of Britney Spears wearing a bikini during her recent MTV performance. The headline read, "I look like a fat pig" along with accounts of her failed performance. My hubby's point was that she looked fine, in fact quite in shape. Britney does have her share of problems lately...train wreck comes to mind.....but she isn't fat....not even a little bit! What does this say to women and young girls when this is considered fat? Can I be this fat...please?

Also, I was reading a magazine interview with America Ferrera yesterday. I love America and have since I saw her in Real Women Have Curves. In the article she is being asked by the interviewer about being the new role model for plus size women. She answers the question politely and then says that she is a size 10 on the top because she's really busty and a size 6/8 on the bottom. Only in Hollywood is size 6/8 or 10 considered plus size! She is gorgeous and curvy but not even close to plus size. What is wrong with the media?

Help...I can't decide!

I once asked my husband, "If you could change one thing about me, what would it be?". Without a bit of hesitation he said, "Your inability to make a decision". I took no offense to this because I know it's true. I wish it were easier to make a decision. It's not that I can't decide, it's that I feel I have to make the "perfect" decision. Choice to me is somewhat overwhelming. I really think there should be about 3 choices in any category...well maybe a bit more but most of the time 3 sounds good. There is no worse place for me than at the paint store, standing in front of a zillion color swatches!!! It makes me get all sweaty and sick to my stomach. Too many choices! There really isn't any rhyme or reason to my indecision. Some things are no problems. Some of the big problem decisions for me are major purchases like furniture. I've been out shopping for new living room furniture. Some would think this is fun....not me. I came home with swatches and have been looking at them with my paint colors, carpet, etc. Last night I called my mom to "bend" her ear about my choices.....sofa and love seat or sofa and chair or two chairs?....color? all the same or each different?. Yes, too many choices for me. My mom laughed and said, "What? Aren't you going to visit every furniture store in the state before you decide?" She is referring to the 12 plus months I spent searching for the "perfect" china hutch. I did find the perfect one!
I guess I've progressed since then...or maybe I have too many kiddos to do that much shopping! I about drove my husband to the edge of insanity last year when I couldn't decide on the "right" shoes to take to Ethiopia. They had to be practical, weather proof, comfy and yet stylish. It was a really hard decision (yes it was C!). I'm always happy with my decision...when I finally make it. By that time I've analyzed (which means talking incessantly about it, showing the choices to friends and family, and obsessing some more) every detail of it so it is the "perfect" choice:) I'll be deciding soon on the furniture. I'm going out looking again on Sun. Wish me luck (luck translates to finding the perfect thing fast).
As you can see from the couches we currently own that I couldn't really go wrong no matter what I get....Yikes....good bye to "Spring Vomit" (my loving nickname for our couches that came with our house).

Oh, and here's baby guy while I was obsessing about my swatches in the other room!

More First Days

Today was the first day of preschool for Mr. 4 yr. old. He has missed school SO much over the summer and has been counting the seconds until he could start again. He had a great day and met lots of new friends.

Tuba the Acolyte

All of Tuba's dreams came true at church today. He got to serve as an acolyte on the altar! Thanks to our friend Subdeacon Romanos...who for many years has let Tuba extinguish candles with him...and told us that when Tuba was ready he would help him serve as an acolyte. Thanks to you Subdeacon...you made a little boy (and his parents) very happy:) Church is Tuba's favorite place in the world and you can tell by the HUGE smile on his face.
Getting fitted for his robe with Subdeacon Romanos

Getting the blessing from Fr. David

Holding his robe and "beaming"

Getting help from the other acolytes



Holding his candle during the scripture reading

Swaying away up on the altar

Assisting during communion

In the vestment room after the service with his acolyte buddies (who were a great help and very excited for Tuba). Thanks boys!

First Soccer Game

Listening to the coach

Kicking

Waiting on the side lines

Snack time

The Cost

Soccer registration - $65.00

Soccer shorts, shin guards, socks, shoes and water bottle - $60.00

Team snacks for game day - $10.00

The sheer excitement of a 4 year old - PRICELESS!


He insisted on wearing the shin guards to bed!

Middle School Boy

Tuba started middle school yesterday! The bus came at 7:05 a.m.......yes EARLY! I had to set my alarm clock for the first time in many years. I have been putting the boys to bed at 7:30 p.m. since we are all up at 6:30 a.m. now. It's going fine so far but I'm not looking forward to the really dark and cold winter mornings. The first day of school went well for Tuba. He was excited to see all his friends. He came home hungry since lunch is at 10:00 a.m. and he gets off the bus at 2:10 p.m. He was up before me today and all smiles about school.....me too:)

Boys, boys, oh.....boys!

"Pete" and "Re-Pete" having a great time playing Army.



Baby Guy gets in on the action too.

As soon as he picked up the gun he was making firing noises and pointing his gun!


At least one of them was enjoying the bonfire:)

Look What's for Dinner!

Well.....it is casserole season soon!