i think i can, i think i can….

The kids annual birthday party has come and gone.

Gifts are put away.

Laundry is piled up for me to work on all week.

Kids are sleeping.

And leftover pasta salad is coming out of my ears.

I am off to bed,

Ready to start a new week!

Till next year!

When I had Lil’ Boy’s first parent-teacher conference his teacher mentioned Lil’ Boy’s love of racing, which I, and everyone else who knows Lil’ Boy, am well aware of.  The teacher mentioned that Lil’ Boy reminded him of the lead character in the live-action movie “Speed Racer.”  Lil’ Boy has a need for speed, anything and everything is viewed as a race, and to match he has a strong competitive sense. All this makes life very fast for us.

Before Lil’ Boy was born we moved to the town we live now.  It must be coincidence or fate that a dirt track is less then a mile from our home.  “Midget”cars are what they are called, and no midgets don’t race these cars, like I first thought.  No this is big business, this is how a lot of big name Nascar racers got their start and our town is host to the “Midget Car Hall of Fame.”

Almost every Sunday the boys make their trek to the race track to watch the races.  All the money raised goes to support our local fire department, which is a bonus for us.  Lil’ Boy comes home with stars in his eyes and some autographs from his favorite drivers.  A few weeks ago he was shocked to learn that there was a lady driver, so now midget cars earns an extra  star in my book.

Sometimes this need for speed can get him in trouble.  Lil’ Dad and I are trying our hardest to foster this obsession in a positive manner.   I know in a few years this obsession might pass, and we might laugh at his need for speed.  Or quite the opposite, I could be raising the next Jeff Gordon.  Only time will tell- and I have a feeling it is going to be quite a ride!

Happy Birthday to my racing boy!  Don’t grow up to fast.

Thank you to Jerry Coons Jr. for taking the time to meet your biggest and fastest fan!

Is it weird that I slept with my head at the foot of the bed?  With the windows open and the curtains too?  It was all because of the moon.  It was full and beautiful and I fell asleep under it.

At first I was annoyed, the bright light seeping through the part in the curtains, keeping me awake.  Someone was keeping me up with their porch light.  When I looked out it was the moon and all that annoyed feeling went away.  The moon captivated me.  I couldn’t look away.  I laid down, moving and shifting till I got the best view.  You would have thought I had never saw the moon before, that it was a rare star or a comet that comes once in a million years.

That moon last night was shining in this weird way.  Perfectly going across vertically and horizontally, the light from the moon formed a perfect cross.  And to me that was comforting.

I don’t know if it was some sign.

From God?

I believe in God.

And signs.

Whatever it was it lulled me to sleep like a mother’s hand on a crying baby.

I am getting old.  Older I should say.  The things that appealed to me just a short year ago no longer do it for me.  I don’t listen to the same radio station.  I hate most of the T.V. shows that I once carved out time for.  I’d rather read and listen to classical music.

I think I am feeling “older” because Lil’ Boy tells me what I do is boring.  My music. The reading.  The endless hours I can spend in the garden.  All these things I do, that are boring to a soon to be six year old, are all thing I found boring in a past life.  I have changed.

I like asparagus now.  And wine is something I savor, as opposed to something I slug it down in the hopes of becoming hammered.  My jogging pants are now yoga pants.  Yoga pants sounds so much “older” doesn’t it?

If I had a name like Samantha or Jennifer I’d want to be called such, as opposed to the child-like “Jenny” or “Sam”.  I let go of my childhood desire to become an actress, but will never throw away my desire to go to Italy.

If all this is getting older I will take it.  It is not so bad.

A huge struggle in our house is snacks.  Lil’ Boy and Lil’ Girl could eat them all day and that would be their breakfast lunch and dinner.  I pull out my hair at the 1 millionth request for chips, cookies and all the rest.  Now I have the solution…

SNACK BOWL!!!  What is in it is your snacks for the day.  When it is gone it is gone.  Fruits, fruit snacks and popcorn.  The bowl goes up a couple hours for meals and comes back down when plates are clean.

So far so good.  The kids like having their snacks out and I like not hearing the begging!

Once on the 4th of July, one of my first with Lil’ Dad, I had a gigantic mosquito bite on my forehead.  To better my description, I looks like a Klingon. Lil’ Dad laughed his head off, I was less then amused.  Now it could have been a bee sting or some other insect bite, I am not sure but on that night I was convinced the devil’s incarnate of a mosquito got me good.

I am a horrible itcher.  I itch them bites and scratch the hell out of them till they bleed.  I always seem to be the first one to get a bite and the last to see them go away,  That is till now.  Lil’ Girl has taken my “Queen of the Sketter Bite.”

She is covered in those pesky bites, from head to toe.  The ozone depleting spray didn’t seem to work.  The flames of the fire didn’t seem to ward those horrible creatures away.  Nor did the fogger.  Now we sit here with every cream, itch- stick, allergy medicine that is safe for a three year old, just to keep the itches away.

It is probably the worse part of summer, when all the critters take over and ruin the party.  Lil’ Girl and I had to leave our Sunday respite destination because those lil’ bugs took over.  Resting on our arms and legs leaving us with the desire to scratch like holy hell.  It is the one thing that keeps me wishing for summer 24-7-365.

I am near exhaustion but I only have one hour now.  One hour when the house is completely quiet- not a cry or a whine or a yell.  I am falling over, can’t keep my eyes open before I go to bed.  I must have the hour though, I’d do anything to stay awake, and that is why I am blogging.  Must stay awake…must stay awake.

I remember there was a time that this would be the start of my night.  We’d drink from  2 liter bottles of Mountain Dew and take caffeine pills to stay up all night, pre-21 days.   We’d be these annoying little hyped up sugar bitches- but it was fun.

I remember when I stopped doing the caffeine pill thing.  We were going over our weekend in the lunch line and a girl who was listening in told us about Jessie Spanos addiction to caffeine pills, I laughed at first.  But then I saw the episode and I freaked.

I was every SAD, MADD, DADD, FADD’s dream, I bought all the chasing dragon, egg frying pan, bad teeth, homeless, alone, eating my boogers, they sold.   It didn’t take much to keep me off drugs.

I learned to say “NO” from Zack Morris and the gang.  Yes, I am pathetic.

Pulling from the archives.  One cool blogger and friend is having a fun giveaway and this is my entry.  Go check out Toddler Craft for more great and easy crafts for kids!

Making these cute turtle is sure to please the kiddos on a rainy day. The supplies you will need are~

*Mini pie tins

*Paint

*Glue

*Construction Paper

*Scissors

*Googly eyes

*Sequins

~Have the kids paint the outside of a small pie tin, and let dry.

~As the paint is drying have kids trace mom or dad’s thumb for the turtle’s legs, cut out.

~Then trace a kitchen spoon for the head and cut out.

~Add two googly eyes to the turtles head.

~Free form the tail in a large tear drop, and cut out.

~After the paint on the pie tins, “Turtle shells,” are dry, glue on the head, feet and tail. A tip glue head, tail and feet with the shell facing up then add a little weight to the top of the shell till glue dries.

~ Add sequins to the top of your turtles shell.

Let the glue dry and now your little turtle is done.

A cute variation for older kids would be to use a waterproof paint to paint the turtles. Use craft foam sheets instead of construction paper for the head arms and tail. Follow instructions above, but this little turtle can be placed in your garden!

I am just rambling today about reading and other stuff on my mind…

Summer is shaping up okay.  It would be better if Lil’ Dad’s idea of fun is laughing and encouraging Lil’ Boy and Lil’ Girl to say words such as “fart,” “poop,” “diarrhea” and others I am too embarrassed to say.  I understand the need to make your child laugh until they are beet red and can’t breathe, but he doesn’t have to take them into Tar-jay and have other mother’s flip him the mental middle finger when their children laugh at his children and their dirty mouths.

I guess it doesn’t help that their favorite books are the “Captain Underpants” series, which has a lot of those same words in it.  Lil’ Boy was struggling with not liking reading and I thought those books would help him find joy in reading.  Well it worked, but now I have two kids wearing their underpants and blanket capes and saying “doggie do-do” all day.

I am keeping up with most of our planned activities.  Last week we didn’t go to the zoo because of the heat, the kids wanted to swim in the neighbors just put up pool and our own kiddie pool.  I didn’t mind, I finished two great book and kept my sanity.

I have juggled some things to make it a bit easier and less stressful.  I realized the chapter books are out- we are still working on our first week book.  The kids rather read the books that they picked out, which is fine with me.  They are gearing up to finish their first reading booklet from the library and moving onto the bonus reading booklet.  Me so proud!

Chocolate week was insane, in a great way though.  The kids loved all the sugar.  I loved the rose chocolate truffle that I got at the fancy chocolate shop.  Lil’ Boy And Lil’ Girl loved their chocolate frogs.  We also went to our local garden and they had a cocoa tree-which wasn’t even on the list of planned activities!

I have been reading up a storm.  In fact you might not see me for a couple days, I just started a book by Jodi Piocult-which you get sucked in ridiculous.  I use to read Jodi’s books like crazy, they are quick easy reads that keep you captivated.  I think I have read all her earlier books, I am just now catching up on her newer ones.

I am following Jodi and other authors on Twitter.  Part of me wants to grill the authors as I am reading their books, but then I feel like a total nerdy groupie.  I know I could be following people like @asphuck or @asphucks wife, but really I could give two poops what they’re doing.  Plus I feel like a little smarter for only following people who write.

There is a lot of new great authors and books I am discovering on Twitter, check out @julieklam and her book “Please Excuse My Daughter” and @joannerendell and her book “The Professors’ Wifes’ Club.”

Today on Twitter someone was asking for donations for some kinda something for something.  “$10 that is all” or something to that nature.  I thought “$10 that is a carton of milk, a loaf of bread and a stick of butter,” and a box of microwave popcorn for Lil’ Boy’s all popcorn diet.  That is how bad the economy is on our house, when I calculate $10 and what it means to my family.  I’d love to be at a point when I can give $10 or even $5 and not worry.  I love to fill donation bins and give back, but it is harder and harder to do.   I feel worse in two fold.  One because I have no money and two I can’t help those who are worse off.

That’s it for now.  Hey if I don’t see you have a great 4th of July.