A time to read.

I see a book,
I think I'll like it,
I pick it up and then I buy it.

I take it home and sit down to read,
What comes next, my babies done the deed.
So off I go to change a diaper.
I sit down, then daughter calls for me to wipe her.
Flush the toilet, close the door then I go and try once more.

At last I think, I can finally read.
Then in comes my son at full speed,
Mom, come quick you gotta see.

First one thing and then another.
By the time I done with this book,
I'll be a grandmother.

My brother's humor

I have a wonderful relationship with my brother. We have always gotten along, even as children. He is four years older than me and has had his share of struggles. But through it all he has had the funniest sense of humor. Some may call it a dry wit. I love his sense of twisted humor and know that when he is joking around he never means it in a mean way.

He had me rolling on the floor this morning when I spoke with him. He had been talking with my mom who is trying to keep my Uncle Soupy to stay with them at least through the weekend. My uncle can get a bit cranky at times, like any 82 year old can. And with the surgery and being gone from home for so long he is a little bit extra cranky. Uncle Soupy has been wanting to go home now and wants Sister to drive him home today. He also wants her to go to the Dairy Queen and drop him off to visit with his cronies. She doesn't need to stay since all the women do is gossip. Now my brother hearing about this got Uncle Soupy on the phone. He said that he wouldn't be able to leave just yet, and if he tried that my mom was instructed to hide his walker so he couldn't make it to the car. Then my brother asked him what was going on at the Dairy Queen to make him want to go. Uncle Soupy just laughed and said he needed to visit with his friends. It was then that my brother said "Uncle Soupy, let me get this straight. The women at Dairy Queen just sit around and gossip. But you men don't gossip right, your just fellowshippin'. Do I have it right?" Poor old Uncle Soupy laughed so hard he made his chest hurt. He said my brother was right of course but he'd never thought of it that way before. And after all the threats of taking and hiding his walker, he thought he would cut Aunt Sister a break and stay a while longer at my parents house.

Leave it to my brother to make idle threats about walker stealing and comments about fellowship. Truly I do love his sense of humor. Does that make me a warped person also?

Spiderman 3

After weeks of anticipation by my oldest son, Spiderman 3 finally came out this past weekend. He has been begging for me to take him to see it since he knows mom likes these types of movies better than dad. Well scheduling finally permitted us to go and see it last night and he was so excited. What he failed to tell me was that his friends had already filled him in on all the cool things that happen in the movie. So for him it was not as much of a surprise as it was for me. It was still a great movie and he absolutely loved it. I thought it wasn't so bad either but really don't go for all the creepiness that seemed to be in this one. I think I will wait until my four year old gets bigger before letting him see it since it would probably give him bad dreams. For me it was just fun to get out and do something with just my oldest son, at his request. As he gets older, mom is always second fiddle to dad in his one on one time. But when it comes to movies, he knows he can talk me into them easier. That's okay, I'll take it.

Thankful Thursday

Since I really don't have much to say today I thought I would just do a Thankful Thursday post.

1. I am so thankful that my uncle has improved and was released from the hospital. Hopefully he will make a full recovery and be back to his old self in no time.

2. I am thankful that as this Mother's Day approaches this weekend that I still have my mother to celebrate it with. As well as my husband's mother. I have so many friends who have lost their mom's so I appreciate them more.

3. I am so thankful for my faith sharing group. It has truly taught me a lot more about my faith as well as brought me closer to a wonderful bunch of Catholic women.

4. I am thankful of my children and how they force me to slow down and do the simple things like paint together. It's messy but it reminds me that they need me in so many different ways.

5. And a silly one, I am thankful that I did finally find that lost book I was looking for. Now if I can find some quiet time to read it.

Trade you

Do you remember the days of trading? When you and your friends were convinced that you were getting the best end of the deal by trading that favorite marble or baseball card or maybe just your lunch. Some days you got lucky and ended up with the best rookie card ever and some days you just ended up with the team mascot. As you get older you stop trading these prized possessions. Instead they end up in a shoe box in the back of your closet waiting for you to find them again. Maybe if your lucky you will have a son or daughter that will want your collection that you saved for all these years. Then the process will begin again only this time it's your child and their best friend. Then the debates over the value of each card start anew. Such is the life cycle of trading. And I wouldn't trade watching my son trade baseball cards for anything.

Bad Memory

Where did my memory go? I seem to have lost it somewhere along the way. I can't remember any of the important things anymore as well as the not so important. I have been trying to remember where I put a book that I know I bought. I can't find it anywhere. And when I tried to enlist the kids help in finding the book I couldn't remember the title of the book or what it even looks like. I just know I bought two books at the store that day and I have only read one of them. Good gosh, how sad is that? Maybe once I get my memory back I will find my book. Sad thing is this isn't the first time this has happened to me with books. I always seem to find them months down the road and it's always such a thrill to me. So if I don't remember who you are and what your name is, don't feel bad it's just my memory has gone bad.

My sweet uncle

My sweet Uncle Soupy has had a heart attack. He is 82 and up until then has been going full force. He still mows his own very large yard. Him and my aunt Sister still travel around a lot and enjoy each other. When I heard he had a heart attack and they had sent him to the bigger hospital then what his town offered I was surprised. I don't know why, he is 82 after all. Well it turns out he needed a heart bypass (five of them to be exact). After the surgery he had a few more problems so they had to put him on a pacemaker as well. Now he seems to be making some improvement. Hopefully he will be out of the hospital soon and back home. But it just shows me once again how short life is. Watching my Uncle and my Aunt you would never know that they are 82 and 80, not until it's brought to your attention like this. I hope that his recovery will be a smooth and easy one and that it will not take a toll on my aunt as well. They have been such an intricate part of my life. Not just relatives from a distance. I feel for them and the worry that they are each going through. It is hard for them to imagine one of them not being there. After 63 years of marriage I know I would feel the same way.

Summer Schedules

When you have four children you must plan your summer schedules. If you don't you will sure go crazy. I have learned this from experience. If one of them has something going on then the rest of them will want to do something as well. So whenever possible I try to make sure that they are all going to be happy since that will ensure mom is happy. Sometimes it's easier than others. I am lucky that my children love Vacation Bible School since they can all participate at some level in it. Other things take a bit more work. Swim lessons required me to look closely at the available schedule. Finally after pouring over the available time slots I had success. My oldest will be in an advanced swim class at the same time as my middle children. That will give the kids two weeks of swim lessons without mom having to get in the water. Very important detail since the baby will still be there in the stroller needing me. Then of course we have the standard week at grandma's house in there somewhere. We will also be trying to visit my brother and his family since they live close to South Padre Island. Who can resist a beach vacation with family and no hotels. Not us. Peppered in there will be our lazy days spent at the pool and hopefully many playdates with other friends. So let the scheduling begin and bring on the warm weather of summer and let's enjoy ourselves.

Working in the Service Industry

I work in the service industry. I serve the needs of my general public. I do this by being a chauffeur to the many activities that I am required to attend. Such as sporting events, speech therapy and school. I am a shopping consultant. I am continuously on the lookout for the best deal to be found and that which will provide the most nutrition possible. I am a chef for a very difficult clientele. Their palettes are as varied as the individuals that I serve. Some are easy to please and always come back for more. Others are extremely finicky and don't like to try new dishes when put in front of them. I am the first response medical team. I decide how serious an injury is and what the best way to treat it will be. I am an accountant. I oversee the annual budget and decide what expenses are truly necessary. I am a teacher. I teach the difference between right and wrong as well as ABC's and 123's. I am a religion teacher. I make sure that the Lord is present in all that I try to do and am willing to share my faith with any around me. I make sure my children are growing up knowing of God's love for us. I am a mom. That is what my calling in life is right now. By being a mom I am emerged in every imaginable aspect of the service industry. It truly is a wonderful calling.

Another Great Contest

5 Minutes for Mom is hosting another contest, this one is for some very cute hair clips or bows for girls. My prissy 2 year old would love these. So, go visit if you are interested in winning. The clips are from Madison's Room, a very cute line of custom hair accessories. Go have a look.

What's that smell and where is it?

I have a serious problem going on in my oldest son's room. It STINKS! I'm not talking the normal little boy stink that goes along with having a boy. This smell comes and goes and we never know what we will face when we walk into his room. We have all been trying to locate the source of this smell for months. At first I blamed it on a dirty fish bowl since it smells a lot like fish food. But after cleaning the tank the smell would still come back. But we got rid of the fish, just in case. Mainly because I was so tired of having to clean the bowls out but that's another story. So then I thought maybe fish food was spilled somewhere and just needed to be cleaned up. I have taken that room apart, I have vacuumed and used gallons of ammonia to get rid of that smell. My husband has looked up in the attic in case something died up there but found nothing. So what the heck is this smell and where is it coming from. I have noticed that it only starts to smell when the light is on in his room. We can run the ceiling fan (to air it out) without having the smell return. I truly don't know what to do about this smell anymore. I feel so bad for my son although he doesn't really complain about it. At this point in time I would gladly trade this yucky fish food smell for something more desirable, you know like sweaty gym shoes.

Duck and Cover

Duck and Cover...what's that your wondering. Well it's the name of the drill that the elementary schools practice with the students in the event of bad weather. Which we had plenty of yesterday. Students duck under their desks and cover their heads until it is safe for them to get up again. When my oldest son finally arrived home from school yesterday he wanted to tell me all about the duck and covers they had to do throughout the day. The first one was pretty uneventful since it took place in his classroom and went exactly like all the drills they practice.

At the end of the day while waiting in the cafeteria to be picked up they had another alarm go off. He was separated from his friends that he car pools with. They were the lucky ones who went to the music room. Not my son, instead they directed him to duck and cover on the floor of the closet girls bathroom. Now for an almost nine year old boy, there could be no greater indignity. Having to duck and cover in the girls bathroom with a bunch of scared kindergartners really was to much for him. He informed me that they might as well have put him in the library with all it's many windows than put him in the girl's bathroom. He would gladly have suffered broken glass everywhere. After the alarm, my son made sure to inform all the teachers and any available adult that he really had no business being in the girl's bathroom. Some of the adults treated him as he had hoped with a little sympathy at having to lower himself to such levels and commiserated with him. Unfortunately for him, my husband and I found way to much humor in all of this so instead of the sympathy he was looking for he just found stifled laughter. My poor son, he really had it rough yesterday.

Tornados

Living in Texas you become familiar with tornado's at a very young age. Well at least most Texans. I grew up in El Paso, the furthest part of west Texas you can be, yet still be a Texan. In El Paso we were surrounded by mountains and lived in the desert so never really had the threat of tornado's. So as a child I never worried about them until I went to visit my family in the Panhandle. I vividly recall the time at my grandparents farm when my grandmother woke me up and said we had to go the cellar because the sirens were going off. I was in a panic. I remember being so scared and putting my jeans on backwards and being upset that I couldn't get them to snap. Once my grandmama helped me to get them on correctly she told me that the rest of the family was already in the truck waiting for us to drive to the next farm where the tornado cellar was. It was pouring down rain and super windy and of course it was the middle of the night. Once we got to the neighbors farm I continued to panic. Instead of getting out of the truck and following my grandmama and my uncle to the cellar like any child with half a brain would do I took off running in the complete opposite direction. Trying to hide from the tornado, I guess. My poor uncle was sent out to chase me down and get me back with the rest of the family. He finally succeeded and I remember climbing down into the ground and seeing all these faces that I didn't know. I just crawled into grandmama's lap and waited to be swept away by the tornado. The tornado passed us by that night and didn't damage any of the homes of the people who were in the cellar that night. But that night has stayed in my memory.

Now as an adult I wonder what the heck was I thinking? And I pity my poor grandmother who had my brother and me for a week of vacation that included the tornado. Granted my brother didn't cause a scene during the storm but still she was responsible for us. And naturally I cringe every time I think of my poor Uncle Bobby having to chase his runaway niece in the rain. He put up with so much from me that I'm sure he would have loved to have me swept away, but his patience with me was unbelievable.

Lately our area seems to be having it's fair share of tornado's. This time it's my children who are asking me tons of questions about what to do in if a tornado hits our house. My youngest son is extremely concerned about the weather and ask me on a daily basis if there will be tornado's today. And while I try to reassure him it will be okay I know how scary it is to him. All I can hope for is that if we do have to seek shelter some day that my kids will be more prepared to deal with it then I was. And if they are scared senseless like their mom was as a child then I hope I have half the patience that my grandmother and Uncle showed me that night.

Difference between moms and dads

We all know that there is a huge difference between moms and dads. Not only in how we do things with our children but also in how we perceive things. The way a mom changes a diaper is completely different from a dad's way but the smelly thing is always disposed of eventually. Our kids tend to be a bit tougher when dad is around instead of mom, and mom's are completely happy letting their son's play with dolls. Dad's however see this and immediately start to worry and send us mom's off to verify our child is normal in "The Manual" they give you when you leave the hospital. ( In case your wondering, no we didn't get a manual we got the "What to expect the first year book"). Dad's have this same reaction when they see their little boys show off their pretty toe nail polish at the same time as their sisters. Dad's just can't grasp that it's harmless and involves a lot less screaming for Mom if they go ahead and paint their sons toes as well as their daughters.

But recently I discovered that dads have a different view on baby pictures as well. If you were to ask any mom what they thought about a picture of a small bare bottomed, newborn baby with either wings or a big pretty bow on it, the answer would be that it was sweet and precious. Moms would totally get this concept of babies being a gift from God. Dad's are different, they look at the picture and ask why is the baby naked and what the heck did they put on them? Then if by chance they discover how much you spent on these pictures their jaws drop to the ground and their bodies would soon follow. Meanwhile mom's just know that these pictures are priceless, so we step over our clueless husband as they lie on the ground . So for all of us mom's of boys out there who let them play with dolls and paint their toes, I say "don't worry about it". After all I'm sure our husbands had pink polish on at one time or another, there just isn't any evidence of it in photographs like there is nowadays. In the meantime we can continue to try and explain to dad's why it is important to have both a salad fork and a regular fork when you sit down to eat. But I doubt they'd get it.

Cool Digital Frame

5 Minutes For Mom is having yet another contest and I want to win this one. Go check out Phillips and see if it's something you'd like also.

Great Poem

I just read the best poem about motherhood written by Corrie over at One Gal's Life in the Raw. If you get a chance then go read it. You'll really enjoy it.

Road to Recovery

We made it! We have survived another round of three out of four kids being sick at the same time. There were definite moments where I wondered to my self, will I survive this one all in one piece. And the answer is yes. I thought we were over worst of it yesterday but then the fatigue set in and all the little ones wanted to do was sleep and be held. So I let them and tried to reclaim my home which had been declared a natural disaster area by the governor. Pretty sad when you actually lose track of what day it is but my third grader reminded me and put me back into reality. Today I'm hoping to actually get out of the house for more than five minutes and enjoy the weather.

So here's to better health for my family and yours.

Cheers

The peaceful shower

For those of you with young children, I know you'll appreciate this. I never and I do mean never get to take an uninterrupted shower. With four children it just doesn't happen. Granted my oldest son never bothers me anymore but when he was younger he did his fair share. My children can tell the moment I step into the water and that is when they come running for one reason or another. My husband says "lock the door" but that won't work either. Because then you have three young children in tears crying and your dripping wet so you can't console them. So this morning as I stepped into the shower I waited...and I waited. And nothing, no kids coming in and out to check on me. Nobody needing to brush their teeth at that exact moment, no tattling on each other and most of all no crying. So I did what any unsuspecting mom would do. I enjoyed my uninterrupted time and got dressed. In record time I might add since I didn't have any interruptions. But I began to wonder what could possibly keep three children occupied for such a long time without needing mom's intervention. That's when the sinking feeling in my stomach began. So off I went in search of them.

My first clue was the trail of toilet paper my baby had drug through the house with her. Truly this is her favorite pastime so nothing new here, but this time it was wet. So I proceed to the other bathroom where I find that my 4 year old son and his 2 year old sister had been washing their cars. When I left them they were racing around the floor together so I guess they just got dirty and needed cleaning up. So they stopped up the sink and put the water on full blast. They did eventually turn the water off once it started to spill onto the counter. And in fairness they did try to clean it up as evidenced by the soggy box of Kleenex and roll of toilet paper everywhere. But it was an absolute mess, except for their cars , which were spotless. So this is where I am supposed to say kids will be kids and no I didn't get upset. But that's not really what happened so I won't even try. I will say that my house is back in order now and I desperately need to go and buy some more toilet paper and Kleenex. And next time I am having an uninterrupted shower I won't be so trusting of their good behaviour. It's a shame really, that the calming relaxing effect of my shower didn't last long enough for me to enjoy.

A friend in need

Relationships are tricky. You want to have friends but sometimes you end up in the middle of something that you really just wish you weren't in. We live in a very close knit neighborhood. To close I guess. There are always friends outside for the kids to play with and the parents watching them. Which means you find out way to much information and that you never really get a moment's peace during your time outside. Right now I have a dear friend who is struggling with the choices made and how it affects her family. It seems like it has put a strain on everyone around here not just that particular family. I am trying to distance myself from all the gossip that is going on but it seems to be the only topic anyone wants to discuss. I spoke with my friend yesterday and she is in pain. She is having a hard time forgiving herself and doesn't really believe that she will get God's forgiveness. In the brief few minutes that I spoke with her I tried to tell her that our God was bigger and better than that and that He does forgive. Since I have never been good at quoting scripture all I could do was tell her that He will forgive all our sins as long as we have a truly repentant heart. She seemed so surprised to hear this since she truly felt the person who she hurt was supposed to forgive her first before she could ask for God's forgiveness. I promised her it wasn't that way, but I wish I could have had some scripture locked away in my brain to quote to her to prove it was so, but I wasn't. She did share with me that for the first time in ages they are starting to go to church together as a family in hopes of healing. Hopefully they will have an open heart and hear God's words of love and forgiveness. All I can do is pray for them and continue to be their friend. And while I know this is vital to them, I just wish there was more I could do. So if you think about it please remember them in your prayers. I want them to truly experience all the love and forgiveness that God has to offer and become whole again.

Sounds that make me smile

Sometimes there are certain sounds that make me smile. They aren't the ususal sounds you would expect like children laughing or birds singing. Don't get me wrong I like these sounds very much but there are other sounds that I really like. I really don't like the wind but I do love the sound of a wind chime and have several of them in the back yard and even the front. But that really isn't even the sound that I'm thinking of that brings a smile to my face. It's the sound of sports that I am talking about. For whatever reason anytime I hear them they just give me a smile and a great sense of satisfaction. Even though it's not me causing these sounds. So I thought I would just list my favorite sounds of sports.

1. The smack of a baseball hitting the glove.
2. The crack of the bat connecting with the ball in that perfect spot.
3. The swish the basketball makes when it makes a basket.
4. The sound a golf club makes as it is slices through the air.
5. The sound of ice skates on the ice.
6. The sound the hockey stick makes when it hits the puck.
7. The sound the pins make when the bowling ball knocks them down.
8. The sound of football pads and helmets crashing together.
9. And throughout all these sounds is of course the cheer of the crowd.

And it's a good thing I enjoy the sound of sports. With two boys and a husband who like to watch sports all the time. I am always having to listen to these sounds. So just imagine the pain I would be in if I didn't like them.