Jacob!

Jacob!
So today is Jake's sixth birthday. I can't believe how quickly he has grown! Last night when I was tucking him into bed I told him "this is last time you will go to bed as a five year old!" To him this was an exciting concept. I am finally starting to understand all those old ladies that have stopped me in the grocery store over the years to tell me "enjoy them while they are young, because they grow up so fast!" They really do!

Things I love about Jake:
He likes to cuddle
He always has a plan, he is always saying "mom I have an idea!"
He makes me laugh all the time
He likes to help me cook (he's big on measuring, cracking eggs, and stirring)
He sings loudly and out of tune in the car and even does the air guitar
He loves books


Some of my favorite Jake pictures:
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Acorn wars

Last Saturday we drove up to Palomar mountain. The plan had been to go up to Julian for a day of apple picking. Luckily when I looked online for directions the website declared in large writing "Apple picking is over for the season!".

It was nice to learn that before we drove all the way out there. It's normally my style to get the kids all fired up about going somewhere, get them in the car, drive to the destination only to discover that it's out of business or closed for the holidays. My children are well aware of the that oh so fabulous feeling of pure and utter disappointment. I figure it's a good life lesson that will come in handy during those pesky teen years, a time ripe with disappointment! Instead of the apples we opted for a refreshing mountain hike.

The highlight of my day was the road side fruit stand that sold 2lbs of persimmons for a measly $1. I love persimmons. The highlight of the boys day was the spirited acorn war the whole family got into before piling back into the car for our long drive back home. Acorns are fairly painful when in the hands of determined 5 and 7 year old boys. We spent a good 30 minutes chucking acorns at each others heads much to the shock and dismay of a perfectly normal looking woman out for a hike with her dog. I bet she does weird stuff when no one is looking.


Here are some photos:

Jake being serious

Amelia is kind of dressed like David Bowie

This is the face Amelia makes when she laughs! I love it!

This is about the moment Andrew realized that Acorns should be thrown, as you can see Jake is mulling the idea over.

they are plotting....

jake made this face a ton during the acorn war. That's his signature war face. Andrew's war face is a lot more cool and collected

They crashed on the way home!

Mullet Free

After viewing some photos I took at the park yesterday I decided that Amelia's mullet had to go!

This is her yesterday:

This is Amelia during the hair cutting process:

The look on the hairdressers face is priceless. That's the look of someone who spends why too much time with cranky toddlers.

This is Amelia afterward:

She wasn't too excited when they put those bows in her hair. I think she looks like the fair haired version of Anais and Maelle. Of course Aaron had to make a comment about her looking like the guy in dumb and dumber so now I am partially regretting chopping the mullet.

And the award for worst human being ever goes to

I forgot my mother in-laws birthday. This is the 2nd year in a row. I am officially the worst daughter in-law ever!

I realized that I had forgotten yesterday while in the produce section of the grocery store. At the moment I realized that I was two days past due on a phone call/card/gift I said "shit!" rather loudly to the disdain of a woman and her toddler near by. I didn't take her glare too seriously because about two seconds earlier her son was running around screaming "I hate you, I hate you!", talk about awkward!

Amelia, who has become a parrot, said shit too. Not only am I a birthday forgetter but I also teach small children how to curse. It was a proud moment for me. As I tend to do, I am blaming this on my own mother who had no idea about Amelia's birthday until a few weeks afterward when I sent her the birthday photos. I am lucky if I get a card within the same month of my birthday from my parents. That's how things roll in my family. Our birthdays are always acknowledged just not quickly. I plan to make this up to my mother in law with a really cool present, one that has yet to be bought.

I called my mother in-law as soon as I got home from the grocery store. I bribed the kids with Halloween candy to belt out "happy Birthday to you." Of course after Jake was done singing he said "can I have my candy now Mom?" My mother in-law was still on the phone. Let this be a lesson that bribery always erupts in your face!

I am hoping that Aaron's brothers marry someone a bit more organized then me. Donna has always wanted a daughter and I am clearly not cut out for the gig. I am messy, absent minded, and am constantly sticking my foot in my mouth. She is soft spoken, put together, and carries a first aid kit among other things in her purse. She is the kind of woman who is prepared for anything. I am lucky if I remember to pack diapers in my purse. I am definitely not the ideal daughter in law. All I can do is try better next year.



Further proof of how miserable I am at being an ideal daughter in law, I let my children get filthy and take incriminating photo's of them. Also, Amelia has a mullet.

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Amelia is a grump

Aaron is gone on one of his diving adventures this week leaving me alone with the three little munchkins. Today consisted of free admission and birthday cake at my kids playhouse, a doctors appointment for Andrew, and afterwards a trip to the golden arches for dinner. After Andrew's appointment the nurse commented on how fabulously behaved my children are. They are always wowing medical personnel with their ability to sit still and quietly for extended periods of time. Now if only they could do the same during other social situations. They are an ornery bunch.



Today at my Kid's clubhouse (it's a play land for toddlers) Amelia thought that everything was hers. Her view of the world is simple: Everything is there for her and other people have no business touching her things. It would be hilarious if she weren;t my daughter. It was one melt down after another. There was a kid playing in the fire truck she wanted to play in, there was a girl pushing a shopping cart she wanted, and then there was the kid who had the audacity to ride on the horse she had her eye on. All of these children recieved Amelia's wrath. She growled and screamed and pointed rudely with her chubby fingers. For her it was tragic while for me it was downright embarrassing.

She spent the first half hour yelling at other children while I received a ton of dirty looks. Did I allow her to get away with this behavior? No. Did it continue despite her getting in trouble over and over again? Yes. Finally a little boy refused to acknowledge her shrieks of rage and persisted on playing with and near her. This was perplexing to Amelia yet oddly calming. After that there was no more growling. Who knew that one little trail blazing 3 year old was the answer to my problems? Perhaps she is cured. I can only hope.



Andrew's doctor's appointment was slightly discouraging. His hearing has not improved and our option appears to be a hearing aid. We have a follow up with his ENT and perhaps this doctor may have another surgical option. I asked if we could get one that is barely visible but apparently for young kids they use those chunky flesh colored ones. They also have colorful ones because everyone wants an enormous green hearing aid (it's like a kick me sign!). My concern is that he will be labeled the weird hearing aid kid. As of now he has a very audible speech delay. Somehow he has managed to fit in really well at school, mostly by being the funny kid. He is well liked and rarely ever bullied or teased about his voice. Sometimes kids will say "you talk funny" to which Andrew will follow with some sort of joke that will make the kid laugh. If he has gotten by so far without being teased I doubt a hearing aid will make any difference. We'll see. Maybe I will teach him some hearing aid jokes or something.

Pumpkins and poo

This weekend was our yearly trip to the pumpkin patch. It was like a million degrees outside. We went to Oma's pumpkin patch.

We went on a wagon ride that had nothing at all to do with pumpkins and everything to do with the smelly cows inhabiting the diary farm that houses the pumpkin patch. When I think of wagon rides I picture denim jackets, rosy cheeks, and camp fires. Instead we got sweaty pits, the smell of manure, and cows standing in poop. It was a fragrant ride to say the least.

The boys would not stop talking about poo and butts. Over and over again it was:

"whoa, look at all that poo!"
"That cow is taking a poo!"
"That cow is standing in poo!"
"Look at all their cow butts!"
and my favorite:
"That cow must have a lot of milk!"

They were mesmerized. To make matters worse, the driver stopped the ride to hop out and give us a nice informative history of the farm. He explained that the methane released by their cow's waste generates all the electrical power on the farm.

It has been a week since our pumpkin patch adventure and Jacob will not stop talking about it.

"can we do that at our house, use poo for electricity".

Andrew will no longer eat butter because he learned that the butter we buy from costco is made on what he calls "that poo farm." Aaron's grandparents are Diary farmers. they would not be proud!

speaking of butts!

My Amelia

Two years ago today Amelia was born.

She was tiny with a full head of black hair. Everything about her was miniature, her hands, her toes, and her tiny little nose. We were not expecting her so early so nothing was ready.

I had driven myself to the hospital the day before telling Aaron it was nothing, maybe a bladder infection and that I would be home in an hour. Upon arriving at the hospital I learned that I was 4 cm dilated and ready to have the baby. You would think that after going through labor 2 previous times I would be able to tell the difference between a bladder infection and contractions!

I can remember being so angry at first thinking about how I had done everything right. I had eaten right, taken my vitamins, gone to every one of my 8 million doctor appointments, so why was I in early labor?? I got over that quickly and embraced the idea that I was finally going to meet my daughter. Aaron and I named her only a few short hours before her birth. He was firm on Sarah and I was firm on Amelia. Neither of us were budging. We both agreed that Sarah Amelia had a better ring then Amelia Sarah but that we would call her Amelia until she decided otherwise.

Now Amelia is two with a full head of white blonde hair. She loves shoes and is partial to the color yellow. She loves books, her little red tricycle, and her brothers most of all. I can't imagine life without her.

I remember the day I found out I was pregnant. I called Aaron first and then Nicole. We were all shocked. I couldn't imagine taking care of three kids and starting all over with another baby. I was overwhelmed.

I learned to love being pregnant with Amelia. After the morning sickness wore off I started to enjoy my big round belly and the trendy maternity styles (you should've seen the clothes they made back in 99 when I was pregnant with Andrew!). I loved being pregnant with Nicole. It's pretty amazing to share pregnancy with a girlfriend especially when miraculously even though our due dates were 7 weeks apart we managed to deliver within two days of each other (she was 2 weeks late and I was 5 weeks early).

During our pregnancy, I remember sitting outside our houses under Molly's palm tree almost daily in beach chairs watching the kids play. Nicole would always have a plate of cheese and crackers or huge chunks of watermelon and I would have a whole cucumber sliced with a bowl of ranch. I would always manage to get food on my big round belly. Molly would sit with us and tell stories about the early days with her three kids. I was nervous about the whole three kid thing but somehow I managed. I learned that going from two kids to three wasn't so bad. Everything came easier the third time around.

My favorite thing about Amelia is the way she laughs. she tilts her head back and lets out these infectious little giggles. She's tough too. She's the kind of girl I expected having. She's girly but not wimpy. She likes to play in dirt but at the same time wants to look cute while getting messy. At the park she finds the most daring, scary, thing for a two year old to do and goes for it. She's my kind of girl!

Happy Birthday to the one and only Sarah Amelia!

The trip of all trips

If you drive south on the 1 just past the Hearst castle, on the out skirts of San Simeon, you will see zebras in a field with cows. I kid you not. My own mother didn't believe me! I was on the phone with her the exact second I spotted them and said "hold on Mom, what is that! Guys do you see that!?" I squinted my eyes and said out loud "are those zebras?" Aaron looked, Jake looked, and Andrew looked, and yes they were in fact zebras prancing around with cows of all things! How peculiar. "You better take a picture because no one will believe you." my mom told me. My camera battery died early on into our trip so no picture was taken. Nonetheless they were there.

Our trip to Big Sur was sprinkled with various animal encounters. It started on Wednesday with the condors. We were on our way to sand dollar beach, located just down the mountain from our campsite. We had pulled to the side of the road briefly, I can't remember why, and out of no where flies up this enormous condor with a pink head and the number 96 stamped, stapled (however they do it) to one of his wings, or was it his leg? I can't remember. He was fantastic and all of three feet from my car window. Not a minute later, another one arrived on the scene, and took his place next to the pink headed one. He was number 11 and he had a black head. I have never seen a real ,live, wild condor and it was pretty cool. Amelia kept saying "wow!," which cracked the boys up!

The next day we went to Andrew Moalver beach ( I don't think that's what it's really called, I can't remember exactly. It's Andrew M-something). The hike down to the ocean was a mile. On the way there the boys and Aaron sped ahead. I was left behind with slow poke Amelia, who insisted, as usual, that she would rather walk then be carried! The slow pace forced me to stop and notice everything from the elaborate branches on the trees, to the wild flowers, to the lizards, to the dragonflies, and finally to the song birds. There is something to be said about taking your own sweet time. I was really able to take everything in. The walk reminded why I love hiking so much.

On the way back Aaron decided to carry Amelia and again he sped ahead. I told the boys that if they were really quiet and paid attention they would see things in nature that they wouldn't normally notice (my dad always told me that when i was there age. In return I would roll my eyes and say "I KNOW DAD!"). Not two minutes later Andrew whispered "Mom,look!". There in front of us were four deer (one of which was a stag). I had never seen a stag before so it was really, realy cool. The two smaller of the deer looked right at us and we looked back for what seemed like a long time and then we quietly continued on.

Besides those animals, we saw more on the drive back home to san Diego (all through the car window). In all we came across 11 deer, four of which where running from a mountain lion that I didn't have the privilege of seeing. Only Andrew glimpsed that rare moment. I still kind of think it might have been a cow but he swears that it was in fact a mountain lion. "duh, what do you think they were running from mom! Why would they run from a cow." Andrew said rather snidely after I suggested the mountain lion was merely a cow.

my camera did not last long on our trip. I should've been more prepared and brought my back up piece of crap digital one. My film camera takes fantastic pictures and I didn't even consider the idea that the battery would die nor did I factor in the idea that ho dunk mountain shops wouldn't carry the battery my camera takes. My camera lasted all of two days and then I bought a disposable camera that was terribly overpriced. It made it through a day and half. I am trigger happy and tend to go through a roll of film, on an average day in about 1-2 hours. I couldn't bring myself to spend another $20 on a cheapy disposable camera. I really think that the reason my camera died was so that the next time we go back up to Big Sur we will be just as enchanted by everything. It will all be fresh and new with our lack of photo documentation to remind us of just how breathtaking it is (glass half full!). I think I can go as far as saying it is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

After trips or just plain normal days I always ask the kids "What was your favorite moment?" Always it is something unexpected and their view on what we saw and did makes the memory that much more brilliant. Andrew's favorite moment was collecting rocks at jade cove. He was perched on a big rock just over the ocean watching Aaron as he gathered handfuls of rocks and polished jade from the shore, each time a big wave would come Andrew would frantically yell and say "daddy be careful!". He liked watching out for his dad. Andrew is the protector in the family. He very much assumes the responsibilities that go along with being the oldest kid.

Jake said his favorite moment was hiking up buzzard roost and finding the baby lizard on the trail. Aaron liked seeing the condors up close. My favorite was going to Pfeiffer beach. I loved how much it resembled Ireland with it's greeness and large rocks jutting out of the ocean up to the sky. It is the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. There was a small creek there that lead into the ocean. Amelia and I had a great time wading through it. I think that was her favorite moment too, that and the smores!

Craftiness cause headaches

Today was Andrew's last day of school so I decided to go all out and make adorable cupcakes for the occasion. I was super crafty and made them in ice cream cones so that they would look ultra adorable.

They turned out adorable, we're talking over the top cute. I was amazed. I thought for sure that I would screw them up but shockingly nothing was off, they tasted good and looked flawless.

Unfortunately I forgot to consider two major factors:

1. I would be traveling with three children under 5, two of whom need to be pushed around in a minivan sized stroller. How the heck was I going to carry 24 cupcakes?

2. How would I travel with them in my car without them toppling over?


These things didn't cross my mind until after all twenty four cupcakes were iced and decorated to perfection.

After thinking long and hard I decided that I could do it. I came up with the idea of placing the cupcakes in a cupcake tin, thinking that the little pits would provide extra support. It wasn't the greatest option but it was the only one I had. There was only one problem with this idea: My cupcake tin only holds 12. I decided not to lose faith. I would simply knock on a neighbors door, explain my dire situation and weasel a cupcake tin out of them. My only obstacle now was getting the cupcakes into the classroom with all the kids. I decided that upon my arrival at the school I would pull into the side parking lot, just outside the classroom, put my hazards on, and hope to run into a familiar parent that would be willing to keep their eyeballs on the kids for 2.5 seconds while I dropped the snacks off. Problem solved or at least I thought...

Slowly I made my way outside with the first cupcake tin. Just as I got onto the patio one of the cupcakes fell. I reached down to grab it and two more fell face first onto the pavement. I remained calm. After all I had baked 24 and there are only 19 kids in the class. All was still okay. I made it out to the car and reached for the door balancing the tray with as much ease as I could muster and.......all of them fell on their sides, a few actually dropping to the dirty garage floor while others remained in the cupcake tin but their icing was smeared. It was a big ugly mess. They were no longer cute. They were definitely something a group of 7 year olds would turn their noses up to. I don't think I can even begin to explain my frustration. I now have 12 decent looking ice cream cone cupcakes and a ton of jacked up looking ones. One of my neighbors was outside wheeling his garbage can to the front of his home at the exact second the cupcake disaster went down. I seriously reacted as if someone had ran over my dog. I let out a stream of f bombs. I'm sure it was all pretty comical for him or he thinks I am insane.

I am done with trying to be crafty!!!! Craftiness is for people who plan ahead. Clearly I am not a planner!! From now on I will appreciate the craftiness in others but in no way will I ever attempt to duplicate their skills.

this is how cute they turned out:

Mary Lou

It is 10 pm and the boys have just gone to bed. Tomorrow morning while be hellacious. One of them will beat the crap out of the other and Amelia will go "ah ah ah" like 89 million times on the 30 minute drive to Andrew's school. That is just about the only thing she says when she is crabby. I will bribe them with my strawberry topped crepes and maybe, just maybe, they will behave themselves.



Things that were accomplished today:

Thrift shopping (greatest score was a $1 unopened star wars toy)

Target bargain shopping (two photo albums that are super pretty, each $5.)

Laundry (2 loads)

Returned movies to blockbuster

EBay auction picture's taken and organized by Brand and size

Cleaning of the nasty upstairs bathroom

ironing

A DIY hair cut to remove excessive split ends

Dropped off application for boy's V.B.S (VBS sounds like a scary venereal disease but luckily instead it stands for vacation bible school, am I a sicko?)

Cooked a home cooked meal (fresh vegetable/tofu stir fry over noodles)

Went to see over the hedge (the boys liked it. I thought it was not so funny)

consummation of an unreasonable amount of candy

built a really lousy tent in the living room that kept falling apart every 1.2 seconds

Got 1/4 of the way through the B.F.G.



Aaron will be home tomorrow afternoon and we did not live in filth. I cooked two dinners instead of getting take out and we rarely watched TV. I might be becoming one of them (you know, one of those pesky responsible people)

In unrelated news I can no longer walk around with this idiot red hair. I think I will get it fixed only I worry that they will peroxide the Mary Lou out of my hair ( I just made that term up, hopefully it'll catch on) and then I will look like a washed up wannabe Courtney love.



This is stupid, I should be sleeping.



Here is Andrew cracked out on candy after we saw over the hedge:

I am the irresponsible one

Starting today Aaron will be gone for three days at the island on one of his work related dive trips. When he is gone I live in complete filth. The kids and I pretend to be on a mini vacation. We get take out almost every evening and stay up late watching the Simpsons and eating otter pops on a big picnic blanket in front on the boob tube. It's kind of like when you were kid and your parents went on a romantic trip for a couple days and mistakenly left the eldest sibling in charge. Only in my case there are no crazy keggers and holes punched through the living room walls. I'm kind of like that eldest sibling only I'm really the mom and ten years older/wiser, a little messier, a tiny bit more mature, and a tad more responsible. I actually make them bathe and feed them vegetables but there is a lot less "rule" following then normal.


These are the things I plan on doing with them Monday-Wednesday:

1. Walk to Gaetano's for an Italian night and stop at the pool on the way home
2. Make a Tent out of blankets in the living room and read bedtime stories with their flash lights
3. Let them sleep in the balnket tent in their sleeping bags
4. Make hot fudge sundaes
5. Go to see over the hedge
6. Pay off the library so that we can check stuff out again

The kids will be super cranky every morning. They always are. That is the biggest drawback to letting them stay up late. One of them always has a complete meltdown about something absurd like an uncomfortable sock or too much milk in their oatmeal. I remind myself that this is the reason why, normally, I put them to bed at a decent hour. Even after the temper tantrums it's still all worth it because the night before they are all smiles. Sometimes it's nice to break out of routines even when you have to deal with the consequences.

By the time Aaron has come back We are all really relieved to see him again because then we can be normal and planned and the kitchen floor will not be sticky. I always spend the day before his return scrubbing and cleaning because I know that nothing is worse then arriving home to a messy house. Mostly all appears normal but then one of the kids open their tiny little mouths about how we had Chinese food two nights in a row and they start using a lot of Homer Simpson's catch phrases and my cover is blown. It becomes quite clear that I have let them rot their brains in front of the TV will feeding them too much MSG. Maybe this time I will actually make a home cooked meal. We will see how things pan out. I took pictures of our new pad before the living in filth phase begins:

Amelia's Fairy room, part of it anyway:

The boy's knight room:

Okay so mostly that's just Amelia sitting on Jake's bed with their dragon stuffed thing, the room pictures looked dumb

My horribly executed living room:

Lastly the Kitchen:

My room has been omitted from this posting due to its state of disaster.

That is all. I am trying really hard to only post two blogs a week because it is becoming some sort of sick addiction but with Aaron gone most of the week I cannot guarantee anything. Out of pure boredom I may end up with a million so sorry in advance.

Because it is Sunday

Today my father in law is wearing a woman's hat. It's not sort of a woman's hat or something that could possibly pass as a trendy male hat; it is undoubtedly, unquestionably, a woman's hat.

It's white and has a large turquoise flower broach pinned on it. Why he is wearing this hat I have no idea. He looks a lot like an 80's rocker minus the make-up.

After church we were walking through the mall and just about every single person we passed would do a double take. You could almost see them asking themselves...

"Is that a man in a woman's hat?"

After about thirty minutes I could not ignore it for a moment longer. I had to say,

"What is the story behind this hat? It has a very transgendered look."

Luckily he was amused and not at all insulted. He got a big long laugh out of it. That's what I love about Conrad; I can just get to the point without the fear of hurting his feelings. I don't know many other people who would get a kick out of me telling them that they look like a cross dresser. I think he finds my boldness hilarious or maybe refreshing, either way I am able to honestly ask him things that with most people I could never get away with. The only explanatation we received about the hat was:

"it was on sale and I just couldn't pass it by".

Aaron's question, which had me cracking up was:

"Did it come with the broach or is that part of your man jewlery collection?".

The answer was, it came with the broach attached. Hmmmmm! I have a feeling the hat will be around for a long, long, time. My father in law is a strange bird. Apparently so am I. People are always shocked to learn that, no he is not my father, but in fact Aaron's dad. I am always getting the

"I thought for sure he was your dad!"

In actuality my dad is pretty tame, very tame, and mostly wears Ralph Lauren. The most off the wall thing he has ever worn would probably be those European man sandals or perhaps something orange. He doesn't even do bold colors and mostly sticks to blue's and forest greens. He is, however, part of a Native American flute circle which is mostly absurd for an Irish guy. He plays a mean flute though! I think that Conrad comes across as my dad due to the hippie factor. For the life of me I can't shake that hippie label. Every since I was in grade school people have labeled me as the hippie. Everytime I go in for a hair cut I tell the beautician
"don't give me hippie hair!"

They always give me hippie hair. It's unavoidable. Conrad has long unruly hair and he lives in OB so he has that whole image down. I think Conrad and I are a like in a lot of ways. As much as I poke fun at and grumble about him, I do genuinely love him, lady's hat and all!

This is so boring

Amelia has gotten into the habit of walking around the house crying and tearing all the books off the book shelf. Mostly I say "what is wrong Amelia?" and "wow, your feeling destructive!" and then she cries a little more. It's getting tiresome. I want this terrible two thing to end already. DO you hear me people, MAKE IT END! At this very second she is in the pantry throwing tupperware on the floor. I should probably just move the tupperware to a higher shelf but there is a lack of room. I am having a hard time trying to figure out where to put things in our new house. I love my kitchen. My kitchen is the kind of kitchen you want to sit around in drinking tea and playing scrabble. (it's much cuter in real life! oh, and please disregaurd the mismatced chairs. We just bought that table off of craigslist and plan on buying more matching chairs at Ikea this weekend.) Also, there is a lot of red in my kitchen . Red is my favorite color. Blue had been on the top of my list for 20 odd years and then I came to terms with the fact that red needed to replace blue. My living room is unfortunate; really it is. I don't know what to do with it. The coaches are really far apart and one has the worst placement of any coach I have ever seen. As soon as you walk in the front door you literally trip over our lonely love seat that is way across the room from the other coach. It's very awkward. I think we need a sectional, that and a really cute area rug. Does anyone care?? I care.

I took Jacob out of preschool when we moved out here. I have to say he is one smart kid. Is that annoying to say?? I hate when people go around saying

"my kid is so advanced, blah, blah, they are on the honor roll, blah blah."

that is annoying! My mom has always been really big on not bragging about kids. She hates when people brag and I have picked up on that. Sometimes I wish she had bragged a little more about us(you know for self esteem purposes). Mostly I was a horrible student and had no real skills other then an uncanny retrieval of details from any book I have ever read, writing papers (although they always had grammatical mistakes but I got away with them some how), and anything art related. Not much to brag about there.

Back to Jacob, and no this is not bragging, the kid is a quick learner. He is a math kid. I find math disturbing and a waste of time but little Jake is somewhat of a math genius. He's always wanting me to read him his math book that has these addition flaps. I can't stand that book because it's not a story it's math for Pete's sake and mat h is well.... a big fat waste of time! He does this funny thing with his fingers against his face when he adds and subtracts numbers. It's really cute. It's not like I'm saying he's a prodigy or anything but he is a whiz. Okay, I'll admit I'm bragging a little bit about him. I think a small dose of brag is okay. Whatever!

I need an electric granmother

Right now I have a couple of wishes:

1. That tiny, little, cute, Amelia would stop growling every two seconds and flopping herself to the ground in dramatic temper tantrum frenzies.

2. That the 897836746376473 billion random idiot stuff that I have no idea what to do with or how to begin to organize into boxes would just magically grow brains and oraginize themselves!

3. That I could find the CD's in the garage ( I brillantly decided to pack them up last week) so I could listen to decent packing and cleaning music.

4. That my mom and grandma would magically appear and help me clean stuff.

5. That my idiot vacuum did not decide to break today

That is all! Just look at the state of my livingroom!!