It's going to be one of those day.

You know the ones where nothing goes right and you shouldn't have even gotten out of bed. I woke up to the dog, the oldest one who is 10, chewing up a snow boot. I don't know what got into him he has chewed up my sandals before, when he was younger, but they were leather and I think they tasted like the rawhide chews we give them. So there he was biting little pieces of boot off and spitting them it a nice neat little pile, he looks up at me as if to say "Hey mom you should try this it's great!" and keep right on doing what he knows he shouldn't be doing in the first place. I took the boot away from him threw the bits and pieces from his stock pile away and told him "Doc you better straighten up. I am not against putting one of those boots right up your butt this morning." He just gave me a look like I don't have a clue what your saying, but I know he does, he understands everything else I say. So the boot has been dealt with and I make my way into the kitchen tripping over various items along the way, mostly toys and dog dishes, caught my little toe on something and darn near pulled it off my foot thinking the whole time "Please I just want some coffee!" I see the wonderful little machine sitting there on the counter calling to me and I give it a little pat and I am thankful that at least one thing this morning will go right. HA I make the coffee, go in and wake the boys up and go in to get their breakfast and the kitchen that was there a few minutes ago has turned into a pool of coffee. I grab a handful of paper towels and tell the boys to stay out of there, because the coffee pot must of broke. I get the mess on the floor cleaned up and retrace the trail up the counter, to the top and then to the machine it's self. Well nothing is broken, the pot is completely full sitting there waiting for me like nothing was wrong. I am baffled at this point and then David says "I didn't break the coffee pot mom" I told him I knew he didn't. He says "I just wanted to get your coffee ready for you. I'm sorry I made a mess mom" OH CRAP! He made my coffee and set the switch to auto, which went off at 4:30 this morning, because I never set it and Colton plays with it. So I didn't even think to check the pot for coffee as I knew I rinsed it out yesterday after my last cup. So there was his pot of coffee and my pot of coffee all in the same pot! "David you didn't make this mess baby mom did it because she just wasn't paying attention this morning. What do you want for breakfast?" But wait there is more, while cooking, does throwing something in the microwave count as cooking, Cam's oatmeal I hit the start button which if no one has played with the buttons should go off in one minute. I got David and Colton their cereal, got me a cup of twice made coffee, ran downstairs and got the boys jeans out of the dryer, came back up and the oatmeal is still cooking. I go check on it the timer says 88:54 I have no idea how long that bowl of oatmeal cooked, but there wasn't much left of it and what was left was a hard lump in the bottom of the bowl. I got fresh oatmeal and set the timer for the correct amount of time and got him fed. I did manage to get D and Cam to school on time, but I am waiting to see what will go wrong next, as I have only been up for an hour and a half.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, well almost

The past four days are still a blur, we were up early and down late. Well actually we had a practice on Friday, and then the games started on Sunday. This is our big tournament of the season, the kids usually play in house teams, but this past weekend was the Cowboy State Games. Teams from Rock Springs, Gillette, Douglas, and we had 2 teams for Casper this year the yellow, and of course the orange, David's team. I was really happy with the match up this year all the teams were pretty equal and evenly matched. Last year we had one team that ranged in age from 6 all the way to 9, which was really unfair considering our oldest kids were 6 and youngest were 4. Our first game was against Rock Springs, last year they played their little hearts our and took last place, they beat us by one point this year and went on to beat everyone else by a lot more. Then we played our own yellow team which is made up of kids David has played hockey with for the last 2 years. It was an early morning game and David just didn't skate very hard, he wasn't awake and just did not even try hard. So when he got off the ice I asked him what was wrong and he said nothing. So mom gave him a little pep talk that went something like this "David you need to try your best out there. I am not going to fork out all this money for you to play hockey if your not going to work hard and play your very best every game." Which seemed to work really well he played the next two games and he was all over the puck, and he just skated well, he didn't manage to score any goals, but he played awesome defense and stopped the other team from scoring everything he was out there. When he came off the ice after the 2nd games I told him I was proud of him for skating hard and trying his best, he said but I didn't score a goal mom. I felt like a mean mom at that point, because he didn't get what I was trying to tell him earlier. So I took him in my arms and squeezed him up and explained to him that I didn't care if he scored any goals as long as he was out there playing hockey and not visiting his buddies and spinning circles and laying on the ice like he had been doing in the first game that morning. He played even harder the next game. They managed to come away with the 2nd place metal this year, which is one place better than last years metal. All in all it was a good weekend of hockey, and by the time we got home last night I was wore out it takes a lot out of you to cheer your team on 3 times in one day! David was so tired he could barely move and was in bed by 7:45 without a fight! Now it is off to school, and if I don't get them moving we are gonna be late!

Wow it's already Wednesday

I don't know what happened to Monday and Tuesday, they have gone missing. Actually I know what happened to them, but they are just a blur. Monday morning we woke up and David and Cameron were both excited because they had valentine day parties. It is at this point, 15 minutes before school started that I remember I forgot to buy them the valentines day cards for their classmates. So I get them to school, come home jump in the shower, throw some clothes on me and Colton and we speed to the store to get some, we grab 2 boxes off the clearance table and pay for them. We then rush back to the school, sign in at the office run to the parent work room, and franticly begin filling out cards. I had about 2 minutes to spare until Cam class started handing them out. I threw his at him ran across the hall and gave David his, and then I went and helped Cam's class with their little party. They had ice cream Sundays and I got to spray the ready whip on the top. I managed to get more on me and the kids than in the bowls, so the kids thought I was great.
Yesterday I spent the day looking at trucks with mom. We test drove one with heated seats, and I now want a truck with heated seats, man that was a nice truck. We did our usually Wal-mart trip, and I found a new coat for Cameron that was 5 bucks. It is really ugly, but for 5 dollars who cares what it looks like. Then we had to rush to the school to get David. When we got home my sister called, she calls me on her way home for work so I can drive home with her. She called while I was in the middle of trying to fix the DVD player, the boys got Shark Tales for their V-day present and then the damn DVD player went to hell so they can't watch it. So I managed to fix the VCR part of it, which has not worked in about a year, but the DVD's still won't play. Steve walked in about 5:45 and said "why didn't you guys go to hockey?" I forgot David had hockey, plan just spaced it out. He has 4 days of tournament this weekend though so that will make up for it! Then Steve hands me his checkbook for his work stuff, he keeps it separate, his travel expenses and that kind of stuff, and it is 200 short. I looked and looked for about 2 hours and finally found a deposit that the bank didn't show, and now Steve can actually get a room and something to eat tonight.
So today I am getting caught up on my blog reading, maybe it will be a quiet day.
David had a hockey game last Sunday, he played awesome and scored 4 goals, he was stoked about that. Cameron will get his stitches out on Friday.

Oh I just got a call from the people who did the assessment on David and they have set up a meeting for next wednesday! I am curious as to what they are going to say. Hopefully they don't irritate me to badly or I may yank them all out of school right then and there!

HI HO HI HO off to the emergency room we go.

I was sitting at my desk, just minding my own business, and the 2 oldest were out playing. They were getting along, no fighting, no yelling at each other, just playing together well. When all of a sudden I hear a loud KUTHUD and a blood curdling scream. I bound from my chair leaping over dogs and toys, to the back door. David is running up the stairs yelling "WEEWOO WEEWOO alert alert WEEWOO WEEWOO" I push him out of my way as I am focused on Cam. He is staggering out form under the deck telling me "I fell off the deck." I grab him up and we run into the bathroom so I can get a good look at him asking him on the way "where does it hurt?" "MY HEAD" he bellows. I look at his tiny little head and see the blood pouring from it, get a rag and wipe it up and see the gash. "Oh baby we are going to have to go get stitches" I sat him on the toilet, with the washrag, run to the kitchen grab a bag of frozen squash, put that on his head, run back to my desk, call Steve and say "You have to come home right now Cameron just split his head wide open." I don't even think I listened for a response I just threw the phone down and ran back to the bathroom. Cameron had stopped crying by then. Steve made it home in under 5 minutes and off we went to the Emergency Room. This is the 3rd time Cam has had to go to the emergency room for stitches, the other 2 have never had to go, but poor little Cameron is accident prone, it is a good thing he is hard headed and just manages to do surface damage. He just amazes me once the shock of the fall wore off he never even whimpered, when they stuck him in his head with the huge needle he just sat there, when they started sewing him up he just sat there. The Doctors were amazed, the nurses were amazed, and Steve and I were amazed at just how tough this kid is. He required 5 stitches on the back of his head. Thankfully our emergency room staff here tries to get you in and out in a hurry. We were only there for about an hour and a half, then we had to stop off for ice cream on the way home. Then I am getting him ready for bed and take off his shirt and he is bruised all down his spine from the fall. He says his head is the only thing that hurts, but I am watching him to make sure. David took us out to show us what happened and they were looking off the side of the steps and Cam fell about 4 feet and landed in the wagon. Hopefully this well be his last ER trip, but knowing Cam and his accident proneness we will make several more trips before I get him raised!

tired of strep throat

Tuesday night we went to hockey practice, then we had to rush from there to get David to his school program. It was so cute his little group sang a song "Mousie in the snow". David wouldn't look at me while he was on stage. He just stood up there and pretended he didn't even know who I was! Could be because I was teasing him, making faces and sticking out my tongue at him, he didn't even crack a smile! So we got home from all of that and ate dinner then I got the boys to bed. At about 1 in the morning Colton woke up crying and having terrible pain in his stomach. He finally went felt a little better and went back to sleep about 3 and I laid with him to keep an eye out for fevers or anything. He woke up again about 6 and he said his throat hurt, so I knew it was strep, strep causes stomach pain in some children. So I took him to the Dr. and got him some meds. Now I am waiting for the other 2 to come down with it again. This will be like the 4th time this winter and I am so tired of it. I m trying to think who we have been around everytime we get it, but I can't remember what happened yesterday much less what happened a month ago!

Can't they stay little until their carters wear out

Last night I was sorting through cloth that the boys have out grown, and boxing them up to give to someone who can actually use them. Steve walked in and I held up a little shirt with dinosaurs on it and said "remember this" and then I said words to my husband I never thought I would say. I actually told him "I want another baby." I am barley able to raise the ones I have, I am an unorganized mess most of the time. I would have to say that being a mom is the hardest thing that I have ever had to do in my entire life. I looked at my husband and said "why did we decide not to have anymore babies?" he said "well you decided that not me." Then it dawned on me that if I had not gotten fixed we would be on number 6 now at the rate we were going. I don't think that I really want another baby, I wouldn't mind having one, but I think it is just the fact that mine are growing up so fast. Cameron just turned 5, Colton will be 4 in April and David is 6 and a half. David is already telling me "there is only ten more years until I can drive mom." I am faced with the fact that no matter how much I want them to stay little and need me forever they are going to grow up. There is nothing I can do to prevent that fact. I wonder what I am going to do when they grow up and leave me? I have no life outside my kids, well besides this box, they are the very reason that I breath. I look back and try to remember what is was like before I had them, and I can't remember what I did before they were around. Every dream I have is for them, every step I take is for them. I live for my boys, and I like it that way. They are my foundation, they are what I have built my life on, and they are growing up to damn fast for me. I can't have anymore babies, and to be really honest I don't want to have more, I just want the ones I have to stay little for awhile longer!

oh my what a mess


Ok angi you asked for it so there it is my mess. I have not cleaned off my desk since christmas. I think it is time I got busy and did that. Notice I have the essentials my cigs, ash tray and coffee and water right in the cleared off spot.

Random thoughts

Yesterday was groundhog day. This little "holiday" has always baffled and confused me, because no matter if he sees his shadow or not we are still going to have 6 more weeks of winter and then it will officially be spring. Whatever the weather is like, it could be 75 degrees from now until July, but from Feb. 2 until March 20 it is always winter. So why groundhog day?

Billy Dean's song Let them be little makes me cry everytime I here it. I don't want my babies to grow up and yet I have no control over it.

I don't know what I am going to fix for dinner. Steve is gone and I think we may have grill cheese and soup.

Tomorrow is this thing for David's class called math morning and I really wanted to go, but I don't have anyone to watch Colton and Cameron that early. It is at 8 in the morning, and everyone I know that gets up that early is heading to work.

My cousin got a brand new baby girl today and I got pictures she is beautiful. I wonder if they would give her to me? naw I doubt they would, they look pretty proud of her!

I told Angi I would post a pic of my blog space as soon as I empty my ash tray, and I have yet to do that so I can take a picture of my mess!

Jake gets more blind everyday, damn cateracs, damn diabetes. I hate that my little dog, 102 lbs, has to deal with it everyday. I love the fact that he loves me even though I have to give him shots twice a day. Dogs are so much easier then children sometimes.

I am so happy that I can brush my teeth in the bathroom again.
I stained the door today, it matches really well damn I am good!

I sometimes wish that my boys spoke the same language that I do. They make communication difficult sometimes when I ask them to do something and they stare at me with that look that says "we have no idea what your saying lady." I know they can speak English because they have no problems understanding me when I say things like "dinner is ready" or "Yes you can have a candy".

I love that Burger King commercial where the boss walks in and say "this is our last meal together, I have to fire one of you. I am thinking of a number between one and ten." that is funny.

and now a link for you to share some of the wonders of my beautiful state:

This little link pretty well sums up my beautiful, wonderful state. I love it here!

OH the joy

Every mother needs a place to go for 15 minutes of quiet time, a place to regroup and get herself together. Well my place is the bathroom, it is the only room with a lock on the door in our house. I enjoy waiting until Steve gets home from work going in locking the door and taking my shower. I have missed a closed door between me and the world while I am in the shower, our downstairs bathroom is not finished yet either, and there are no walls up yet, so the boys sit on the stairs and talk to me while I am in there unless I wait until late at night, and by that time it is just to freaking cold down there to enjoy the quiet time. Well I can brush my teeth in our new bathroom now instead of standing at the kitchen sink, for those of you that have never brushed your teeth in the kitchen try it, it is strange! I will be able to shower in there as soon as the caulking dries, 48 hours, the tube said, and I will be able to get up in the middle of the night and use the toilet without having to find my glasses to trudge down the stair into the cold basement, by the time I get back into bed it takes 30 minutes to warm back up! We would have put the toilet in last night, but we didn't have the wax ring and the hardware stores were closed when we got to that point! Soon very very soon I will feel like a normal human again and I am so happy!

This is what it use to look like. I hated those ugly yellow walls, but keep putting off painting them because Steve keep telling me he wanted to remodel it.

Woohoo I almost have a bathroom again!

the medicine cabinet and light

The new sink!

Five years, where does the time go?

My middle one is five today. I still can't believe that I have had him for five whole years. Cam is a daddy's boy, most of the time he would rather hang out with dad than me, but that is ok because the other 2 both are mama's boys. He would never tell me that he likes dad better though, because it isn't in Cameron's nature to hurt anybodys feelings. He will tell us "I love you all the same" and he means it. Cam is a very head strong child however, and he demands that things be his way. Him and I go around and around, out of all 3 of my boys I fight with him the most. He is the middle child and everything they say about the middle child is true. Most of the time he is ready to please you, he will bend over backwards to please you, but then he expects the same out of you. He is more demanding with my time than David or Colton. He just doesn't know how to play by himself, he has never had to he always has one of his brothers to play with him. He is the best at helping around the house. He helps me do the dishes, and pick up and do laundry as long as he is the center of attention things are fine!
Colton and I took cupcakes for the class today and Cam got to hand them out to all his friends, and they sang happy birthday to him, then he asked to open his presents because he didn't want to open them with David because David always hog them! So we let him open them up and then tonight we will go to McDonalds with Steve's family. Yesterday granny came and took him to birthday lunch and got him a new pair of shoes and a cap gun, cause that is what he told her he wanted so she let him pick it out. I am off to play with the new toys!

High as a kite!

Yes we are all walking around in our own little loopy worlds. We finished putting up the tile board in the bathroom yesterday and my house has the lovely smell of tile glue. Mom and dad came on Wednesday and dad and I got 2 sheets of the tile board up, and then mom and I went shopping. Colton went home with his granny, and she will bring him home tomorrow. We went to home depot last night and I got to pick out a new vanity, sink, and medicine cabinet. They don't have them online or I would link it up, but I will get the camera out after we get the faucet hooked up and the medicine cabinet up. We will put that all up today and go get the finishing touches, a door, the trim, and a hook the toilet back up and we will have a brand new bathroom! It will end up costing about $2,000 which isn't to bad really, unless your like us and don't really have that kind of money to be throwing around, thank goodness we have a gold card!

Yesterday I went on a field trip with Cam to kids works, it is an indoor playground, we had a great time. I am a little leary of enclosed spaces so there was no way I was getting in that cage thing they play in. Well I have to go back to work Steve is calling.

got this joke from mom and had to share it:
Hate needles?


A man walks into the dentist's office with a toothache, and after the
dentist examines him, he says, "That tooth has to come out. I'm going to
give you a shot of Novocain and I'll be back in a few minutes." The man
grabs the dentist's arm, "No way. I hate needles. I'm not having any shot!"

So the dentist says, "Okay, we'll go with the gas." The man replies,
"Absolutely not. It makes me sick for a couple of days. I'm not having gas."
So the dentist steps out and comes back with a glass of water, "Here"; he
says. "Take this pill." The man asks, "What is it?" The doc replies,
"Viagra". The man looks surprised, "Will that kill the pain?"

No." replies the dentist, "but it will give you something to hang on to
while I pull your tooth."

I'm melting I melting

I was in the shower and Steve was still in bed. It was a weekend, and I had gotten the boys up and gave David his breakfast and Cam his bottle. David must have been almost 2 and Cam was just a tiny baby, and we didn't have Colton yet. While I was in the shower I hear "got ocean mama" "Ok baby" I said thinking great we will have lotion all over everything. I hurried with my wash and rinse jumped out, grabbed a towel and scurried out to get the "ocean" away from the boy. There was David sitting in the hallway, his skin looked like it was melting off his face, my first thought was "Oh my god he got into something really bad." and I screamed for Steve he came running out just as I got to D. David held up an empty jar of vaseoline smiled and said "Ocean good ocean". He was completely coated in vaseoline, his head, his face, his arms, his legs, every part of him was thick with the stuff. I quickly wiped his eyes and mouth and nose off with the towel that I had wrapped around me, and then I started laughing. It was that moment that I knew kids were tricky and you have to watch them every minute of the day like a hawk. The vaseoline was on the top shelf of the closet, how he got up there I still don't know to this day, but I do know that all the dawn dishwashing soap in the world doesn't take vaseoline out of your hair. We washed him and washed him to no avail. He was greasy for weeks afterward. That was the day I stopped showering unless I put the boys in the tub with me, at one point I would shower with Colton in my arms and David and Cameron sitting on the floor of the tub at my feet. I had learned my lesson: never ever under any circumstances leave small children alone in a room and expect them to actually sit and watch TV or play with a toy it isn't going to happen.

Spring has sprung

It has been beautiful here the last few days. It has actually been in the mid 50's, which is almost perfect. The snow has all melted and the sun is shining. We have been playing outside the boys sleep better when they get outside. Woohoo for nice spring weather in the middle of winter!

They have started Davids assessments, and no one informed me until yesterday when I got an email from the teacher saying that they were almost done with them. I swear the school district has a real lack of communication skills. I wonder if anyone has taught them to pick up a phone or write a note and send it home with my boys, no wonder they have such trouble teaching children when it is apparent they can't read or write either! As soon as I can send Colton home with mom for a few day I will be going to sit with the class. Mom has had to work for the last 2 weeks. D scored a 98% on is last reading test so he moved up a level. He is now reading level 10's at school and about level 14 at home. I have noticed that if I hand him something and make him read it and tell him you can read it, he will read it. I think at school when they give him something he thinks is to hard he will just tell them it is to hard and they don't make him do it. He does everything better for me than he does for the teachers, because he knows I expect him to do it better. I have seriously been looking into home schooling him next year. I hate to take him away from all his buddies, but I am just getting madder and madder at the school district. We will see how the rest of this year goes before I do anything that drastic.
Colton has decided that he doesn't have to go to school after all, because they don't know nothing, I think his mom has made him cynical, can you tell that I don't have a very high opinion of the public school system!

Forming a sentence

It seems so easy doesn't it? I can't seem to write anything worth reading. There is nothing that seems to inspire me to write lately. I sit here thinking I need to blog, and get nothing. The last few months I have lost any humor that I once had. I can't seem to tell a story or even get my posts to come out with a hint of intelligence. Everything is jumbled in my brain and longing for escape, but somewhere between my mind and my fingers everything gets lost. My stories on the forum have sucked lately also. I just throw them together and post them without even proof reading them or giving them a second look. I am wandering in a fog that seems to get thicker the harder I try! Oh well here goes the details of my day.

I am not a morning person. I don't honestly believe that the day should actually start until around 11am. That way I can get up slowly and have my pot of coffee, and stare at the wall for an hour or so before I have to move to much. This morning I had an appointment with the school nurse to have D's health assessment that is the start of all the other assessments they plan to do, but have still not set a date for, or maybe they have just forgotten to inform me, either way they have until Monday to contact me or I am going to go right back to the school and throw another tantrum. I had to get up early so that started the day off wrong to begin with. Colton and I met with the nurse and filled out 15 pages of paperwork all with no, except for the one question "did you smoke with your pregency?" which was a yes, but not as much as I smoked with the last one, and that was even mild compared to the 2 and a half packs I have been smoking lately, but that is another story. We finished up with the nurse and I am behind on my volunteer time so I went down to Cam's class and signed in to do some time. That really turned into what was more like "run around like a chicken with my head cut off" because I couldn't remember a thing. I was making copies and ended up having to go back 3 time and ask how many of each page do they need, the scary part was I wrote it down twice! I got 3 hours today and still need 4 to get caught up, so I need to get in again this week to fix that before I get so far behind I can't get caught up. We have hockey tonight and I am attempting to cook a prime rib that I was suppose to cook when dad was here, but we got busy and I forgot. I am gonna go watch cartoons with the boys now, I need mindless entertainment!

Remodeling, shopping, and kids

Friday I went to pick up David from school, and Colton stayed home with dad. When I got home Colton was sitting on the stairs with his coat over his head screaming "I just wanna be the baby." and Steve was laughing so hard I thought he might wet himself. He said Colton was sitting there since I left going "whaaa whaaa I just wanna be a baby again and drink from a bottle and pee my pants." He was angry I had left him, but he wouldn't get his shoes on so I left him.

Mom and dad came this weekend so Daddy and Steve could work on the bathroom. If something could go wrong it did, but they managed to get the bathtub, the tub surround, and most of the sheetrock up. So now I have a floor and new linoleum, a bathtub, and some walls! We are actually just going to glue up tile board instead of taping and painting. It will be a lot easier and quicker. Steve has to go out of town to work this week so I may end up putting up the rest of the sheet rock and starting on the tile board. We are so close to having it done it is amazing!

Mom and I took the boy and we went grocery shopping. My boys are usually pretty good in the store, but the last few times I have taken them they have been little monsters. All three of them start running around and being wild. I think it is do to the fact that we have been below zero all last week and they had to have indoor recess. They were bouncing off the walls though and driving me insane. It is 40 today and they have been outside cause they have the day off of school. Tomorrow I have to go to the school and we will start David's assessment.

My mom

Ever since I had kids my mom has been looking for ways to make us all healthy. Really she doesn't even let me buy over the counter cleaning products anymore, because she read somewhere that they attrubite to cancer and all kinds of other health issues. She has now decided to get her own blog to tell the world about all the hazzards of living in a chemical world. Go ahead and check her out! I am always suprised at what information she finds. Mom's blog

JP said and lack of anything better to post

3 names you go by:
Jenn
Jennifer
Mom

3 screen names you have:
jennschall
jennschall1971
I forgot my msn screen name

3 things you like about yourself:
I can't think of one much less 3

3 things you hate/dislike about yourself.
My weight
My lack of organization.
that I am not great at anything.

3 parts of your heritage:
Swedish
Irish
Dutch

3 things that scare you:
Not being a good enough mom to my boys.
Someone hurting my boys.
My boys growing up and leaving me all alone.

3 of your everyday essentials:
David
Cameron
Colton

3 things you're wearing right now:
A big soft sweatshirt
my ugly pink sweatpant
my glasses

3 of your favorite bands/artists:
Tesla
Los lonely boys
Toby Keith

3 of your favorite songs at present:
Heaven by Los Lonely Boys
Rock Me by Steppenwolf
The way it is by Tesla

3 new things you want to try in the next 12 months:
Sky diving (doubt that will happen)
be a better mother
lose weight

3 things you want in a relationship (love is a given):
communcitation
a best friend
trust

2 truths and a lie:(no particular order to keep ya guessing)
I am happily married
I smoke to much
I once owned a 1971 mustange.

3 Physical things about a love interest that appeal:
eye
smile
attitude

3 things you just can't do:
say the words specific and linolium
chin ups
walk without triping at least once a day

3 of your favorite hobbies:
Blogging
Watching hockey
Playing with my kids.

3 things you want to do really badly right now:
go back to bed
choke someone and bury them in the back yard
get more coffee

3 careers you're considering:
I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, been trying to figure this one out for years.


3 places you want to go on vacation:
Hawaii
Alaska
Disney World

3 kids names (either boy or girl):
David
Cameron
Colton


3 things you want to do before you die:
Sky dive
Go to Alaska
learn to like myself

3 people who have to take this quiz now:
Angi
Tricia
Ren

My baby sister and her boyfriend

Some sneaky people!

I got a urgent phone call tonight the voice on the other end saids "Did you know it was Tricia's birthday?" Me: "No it isn't her birthday isn't until June." "No it isn't it is now!" At least someone remembers that I am an idiot and suffer from CRS (can't remember shit).



Why I thought her birthday was in June I will never know, but then I have a hard time keeping the boys' birthdays straight! So Miss Tricia I wrote it down so next year I will not forget.

Famous people who share the Tricia's birthweek:
January 3
JRR Tolkien
Mel Gibson
January 5
Marilyn Manson
Diane Keaton
January 6
Joan of Arc
January 7
Nicolas Cage
Kenny Loggins
January 8
Elvis Aaron Presley

Tricia girl you have pulled me out of some very down times, you have been my friend when I didn't think I had any. I feel like I have known you my whole life, and I have yet to hug you! You are the sweetest, kindest person I know. I miss our late night IM's, and tag comment games! I know that we have both gotten busy with life as it just seem to happen no matter what, but I want you to know that I love you Trica girl, and I will always been here if you need me for anything! I am so sorry that I forgot your birthday! Maybe it was because Steve was yelling at me all day about the remodeling job! YES that is it we will blame it on Steve!

remodeling is work!

So Steve is trying to get the floor out of the bathroom now, there were parts of it that had water damage and he side he is just going to pull it all up. He had to go to work though so I don't know if I will ever get a new bathroom or if I should just turn that one into storage.

If anyone is looking for a charity to donate to please seriously think about Savannah. They are quickly running out of funds and her hospital stay and all the testing they are having to do is costing a lot of money.Savannah's page at the caring bridge has a donation button. They accept credit cards, and pay pal so please do what you can. Savannah has been through so much in her four short years, and Renee has managed to keep her faith through everything they have gone through. I don't think I would have held up so well under all the pressure!

Angi

You were my 10,000 visitor!

We are suffering from middle child syndrome!

Last night was a night from hell. The last few weeks Cameron, the middle one, has decided that he does not have to listen to. He has told me several time that I am not his boss. Well normally I try not to let him bring me to his level. I try very hard to maintain my adult statis, and not argue with him like I am an almost 5 year old too. Last night this child managed to not only drag me down to acting like a 5 year old, he had me crying like I was 2!

The 3 of them were running through the house and being their normal boy selfs, when I asked them to pick up their toys out of the living room floor before the got broken with all the running around. David and Colton acted like they didn't hear me, which is normal. Cameron however looked me in the eye and said "NO" and then he spat at me. I spanked him and told him to go to his room. He told me "I don't have to. Your not my boss." to which I replied "Oh yes I am until you don't live in this house anymore I am." he kept smart mouthing, and I had to walk away from him. I have never been that close to smacking one of my kids in the mouth. I got my wits about me again and took him screaming and kicking to his room. He stayed there until bedtime, which was about half an hour. Then I got his brothers into bed, and he went and got into my bed, but could he keep his mouth shut? Nope, he started again with the " I don't have to do anything you say. I just hate you." Well I know he doesn't hate me, but it can still rip out my heart whenever one of my kids say it. So I did my best to ignore him and he kept at in. I was in the bathroom cleaning up so when Steve gets home everything will be ready to just put back together, and I dropped a large piece of sheet rock on the top of my foot. Still hurts today! Cameron is still going on and on about how much he hates me and I lost it. I told him "I don't even know if I like you anymore, so you better shut up and go to sleep, because I am seriously thinking about giving you away." Well that must of hurt his feeling as bad as he had hurt mine, because I didn't here another word out of him. Then I sat down in the living room and I cried, not because of the hurt foot, I cried because I had talked that way to one of my babies. I cried because I was stressed out and didn't control my anger at him, I cried because at the moment those words left my lips I had meant them. Afterwards I limped into my bedroom snuggled him up into my arms and said "I don't hate you Cam." he says "I know mom, I just make you so damn mad sometimes! I love you mom." "I love you baby with all my heart and soul." and he went to sleep in my arms.

I know that he was just feeling like he needed my attention, and missing his dad, and he has been stuck in the house all week, and I should not have let him get to me, but it happens they learn how to push those buttons and they are young and have lots of stamina. I am old and wore out it is like a wolf pack, they will always go after the sick or injured, kids are the same way they will always go after you at your weakest moments. I think they thrive on it.

The weather outside is frightful.

The snow is piling up and the thermostat is hovering at 3 degrees, when you factor in the wind chill it is -19 F. For those of you that are outside the US using that Celsius system, that would be -16 and -28 with the wind chill. I much prefer our way it doesn't seem so cold that way. I still don't understand Celsius, or metrics for that matter. I guess it is just because I am old and set in my ways. We are expecting 8 to 12 inches of new snow, which is good. They are offering a special this month at our ski hill. For $35 you get snow board lessons, all day lift tickets, and all day rental of your boots and boards. That is what I am getting Cameron for his birthday, both him and David want to learn to snowboard. I was going to take the boys sledding this weekend, but we have to finish the bathroom before we can do anything fun. It is to damn cold downstairs to have to shower down there much longer, and I am looking forward to a bathroom with a door and walls again! So maybe I will just let them skip school one day next week and we will go sledding!

Running behind today!

Well I got the boys to school on time this morning! I was impressed with myself! I cried when I left them, but I knew I would. Then I spent the rest of my morning talking to Angi. She is just as sweet on the phone as she is in this little box. I use to email her with all my raising little boys questions, now I am just gonna call her up! Don't change that number either Angi, I will just hunt you down!

Ok after having this minimized in the task bar at the bottom of this screen for the better part of the day, I guess I will get on with it!

I was late getting Cam from school, not to late though and his teacher is one of my friends so it isn't that big a thang! Angi and Wendy are both doing the lose weight thing, and that is one of my resolutions this year so I am depending on them to set a good example for me to follow! Last summer I lost about 30 pounds and I have gained it all back plus some! Oh god that is just scary! I have no idea where I was going with this earlier so I am just aimlessly typing away at this point so I will wrap it up.

Oh and Tim McGraw is hot, cowboy or not! Just checking to see who is listening! I do know your out there even if you do ignore me!

oh and Angi or anyone for that matter my AIM is jennschall1971 and my yahoo is jennschall.

I get a new bathroom!

Well yesterday Steve went in to fix the wall in the bathroom for me. He was going to fix a 2x2 section of the wall. Next thing I know the wall is completely gone. Then the more he got to working in there the more the walls seemed to come down. The only thing in the bathroom now is the rest of the flooring that is coming up and the sink so I have a place to brush my teeth, because I really enjoy brushing my teeth on a daily basis! We have a half finished bathroom downstairs, it has a toliet and a shower, but no sink yet. The plan was to finish that one then start this one up here. I don't have any walls where the stairs come down so you can actually sit on the stairs and have a conversation with the person in the shower, I know this because I have to sit on the stiars and talk to the boys when they are in the shower. They don't want to be down there by themselves. I think I can spend a couple of weeks like that to get me a brand new bathroom though! Steve had to go out of town to work all week and he took the credit card with him so I can't even fisish it up until he comes home to purchase supplies, oh darn it anyway!

this

this turned into.....

I just have to always stir the pot.

You may not like or agree with the things I am going to bring up today, but hopefully we are all adult enough to understand this is just the opinion of one woman and some logical thinking.

Last night Steve and I were watching VH1's I love the 90's, it was fun to remember all the stuff that went on. The one thing that caused a heated discussion in our house was of course the Waco, Tx. Incident, which brought up Rudy Ridge also. First off I think that David Koresh or however you spell it, was just a freaking loon, but that isn't where I am going with this. Where I am going is that if the ATF or the police or any form of the US government shows up at your house with a warrant for your arrest, the best thing to do it raise your hands above your head and walk out your front door and drop to your knees. If you decided to have a stand off people are going to die and the only person at fault is the person who's name appears on the warrant! People are so quick to blame the government, but what it comes down to is that there was a warrant, in both cases. In both cases the person named on the warrant chose to hold up in their home, to avoid arrest. I am not say that the government acted in the best possible manner, there is room for major improvement there, but it would have all been avoided if Weaver and Keresh had simply walked out and surrendered. The Weaver's claimed something like they didn't know who was out there shooting at them. Oh please come on your a white supremacist who has been selling sod off shot guns to an undercover ATF agent, either they were truly ignorant, which I highly doubt, or they knew exactly who was out there. I mean the jackets that said "US Marshals" and "FBI" pretty much gave it away! The branch dividens well we will give them ignorance, because I mean they actually believed that Keresh was some sort of profit in the first place, and well my views there are a little slanted. I think any woman who wants to let her 12 year old daughter have sex with her husband, a husband she shares with 20ish other women, is more sick than the man having sex with the 12 year old. I would kill anyone who tried that with my boys, you are suppose to protect your children from predators like that not throw them in harms way! So in closing if your every in a situation where the SWAT team surrounds your home, walk out waving a white freaking flag, it will spare your family possible death.

Happy New Year.

Resolutions

With the new year fast approaching I have reflected on the old and what I want to change in the new. I have several things I would like to change like I would love to have a boob lift and liposuction, but somehow I don't think they will make the top of the list this year, unless I find some anonymous benefactor who wants to front the bill for my plastic surgery.

So in the coming year I am vowing to lose weight, I always make that one, and it goes good for about a month.

I am going to go to the Dr, and find out what is wrong with me, I have been fighting these god awful headaches and then I get these tired spells and I get so cold I feel like a dead person. I hate the Dr. but as a good friend said "wouldn't you rather know what is wrong and get treated?" I am not to sure I want to find out I have something incurable though so I have put it off for quite some time.

I am going to be a better blog friend and visit you all more often, part of that has been the headaches, and partly because I have just gotten lazy. I am going to do better.

I am going to be a better mother, I always make that one to, and always fail miserably at that too! I am just not Betty homemaker. I am really good at playing with them and loving them, but the other June Clever stuff just is so darn hard.

I am sure I will have a whole list of my inadequateness, but that is all I can think of right now!

Happy New Year everyone please have a safe New Years eve, and don't put those keys in the ignition if you have had to much to drink I would hate to start the new year with the lose of one of my dear computer friends!

Christmas morning

The boys were all nestled snug in their beds, but they were restless. David was sure that if I didn't get in bed Santa would surly skip our house. Finally 2 hours later they were asleep, and the Jolly fat man did indeed stop at our house. I was made aware of his visit at promptly 3 am, when the light in my bedroom was flicked on and David began yelling "he brought me a digital camera! He really got it for me." and Steve saying "I told you he wouldn't last much past 3." I coaxed him back into bed and we dozed for another hour and a half and then I gave up and we got out of bed and rousted everyone else out too. Mom and dad were here and they showed up at our house just as we were getting out of bed. They stayed in a motel, because my house is tiny. One day we will finish the basement and it won't be so tiny. So we all are making our way into the living room and granny and grandpa were coming up the stairs when it happens. Colton see his stuff sitting on the couch, and the only thing he notices is that there is no damn singing elmo, the only thing he has asked Santa for. Well David has already gotten the singing elmo so Santa couldn't bring the stupid thing, so being the most wonderful big brother on earth David starts tearing through the packages under the tree until he finds the right one. He then takes it over to Colton who is now crying real tears in grandpas arms, and he says "here Colton open this one I got you the singing elmo Colton don't be sad." and all was right with the world again. I am not sure Colton will ever trust Santa again, but he has more faith in his brother now. They got so much junk I don't even have it all put together yet, and I need stock in batteries. They got Leap pad and books to go with it, they got a v tech smile and games to go with it, they got scooters, and roller blades, and games and trucks, they got more stuff than they will ever play with. The big hit was David got a boom box for his room and his digital camera. Cameron got his scooter, and Colton got a plug and play spongebob video game, I know I said my kids would never have them, but maybe I can get the computer back now! I am off to lay down I have a migrain again. I will try to blog hop tonight and check on you all. Hope your christmas was as great as the boy's had.

We wish you a Merry Christmas

The boys are excited for the jolly fat man to arrive, they can hardly wait and I can hardly wait for all the work to be over. It is an awful lot of work for one day, but the boys are worth it.

Please keep Savannah and her family in your prays as they will be spending this Christmas in the hospital. Next one will be much better for them. Savannah will be able to enjoy all the holiday treats she has always had to miss out on.

and for anyone who wants to track Santa norad tracks him every year, and they have a great website my boys love to look at so they know when it is time to get into bed so he will come to our house.
Track Santa

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas.

It has been another crazy weekend.

Wow Friday I had the meeting with the school. I met with the teachers and the principal. They are getting David all kinds of tests done for learning disabilities, and they are getting him some extra help with his writing, because writing is really difficult for him. After the testing is done we will all review the findings and decide the best course of action. They better have a really good game plan, because if they don't we will have another sit down and include the super intentent of schools, and if that doesn't work grandpa said something about lawyering up and getting shit taken care of! I still didn't get what I wanted to hear from the teacher, she still won't come in and give him any extra help. They went from saying things like ADD to now David is always tired and lethargic, which is a load of crap I have never seen him act lethargic. So that is just baffling to me how they can all of a sudden say one thing and then change it all up when the Dr. says he wants a detailed letter of why they think that. So that is where I stand with the school right now. All I know is that I will be there so much now that they will think I am on the payroll. It is sad that you have to supervise your child's education, when I was younger that would never have happened. I don't know what parents who have to work do to make sure their children are getting the best education possible. After that meeting I got to go to Cam's Christmas party that was fun, they exchanged gifts and did some other fun stuff. Mom came to town to watch Colton for me and then we went shopping.

Steve, me and the boys went shopping last night. David reminded me that I told him I would give him some money for doing some thing around the house and he wanted it last night. I asked him why he needed it right now. He said "I want to get my brothers their Christmas presents." He is such a sweet baby! So I got him his money. I gave him 20 bucks, and him and I started looking at toys. He was looking at some of the things he wanted and I was waiting to see what he would pick. He grabs this one car thing, and I said you want to get them that?

D: "yeah"
Me: "ok"
D: "Well no mom I really want that not my brothers. I want to get them something they really want."
Me: "Ok honey you just get them whatever you want to get them."
We go around the comer and there is that singing elmo. David looks at me and says,
"mom Colton really wants this a lot. He even asked Santa for it, do I have enough?"
Well it was a little out of his price range, but he was putting his heart into this gift giving thing. He wanted to be sure he made his brothers very happy how could I tell him no? So that is what he got Colton, then we walked around looking and found rock em sock em robots. Cameron has asked for that several times, and David remembered so that is what he got Cam. He loves his brothers, sometimes I wonder if my boys even like each other and then one of them does something like that and I know that they really do love each other!
Today is hockey and then mom and dad are coming to get David so he can spend some time at their house with them over the break.

Female

Jay and the recent events over at his house really got me thinking about women. No not like that get your mind out of the gutter.

I am no body builder, but I have always been tough. I have kicked the shit out of a number of guys in my time, and I have had the crap knocked out of me by a few, but I digress so back to the topic. When in life did we as women decide that men were the enemy and we had to prove that we are better than they are? I long for the days that men open the car doors for the ladies, or offered them their seat in a crowded room. I don't really think it is the men that have changed, but women. We have decided that we are capable of doing everything ourselves, we have decided that we will not be the weaker sex. A man tries to show a few manners and we back away like they are the plague. We have trained them that we don't want to be treated as anything other then equal at every turn, but what I ask is wrong with a little chilvery? I love it when Steve carries the heavy stuff in the house for me, and I love it when one of my boys holds the door open and say "Ladies first". I like the fact that my husband tells my boys, "get up and let your mom set there". I find it very attractive when a man can hold on to those values in a world where there are women who refuse those very values. I will continue to raise my boys to open doors for other people, and to offer their seat to a lady, and open and close the car doors for the women in their lives, and to treat a woman like a lady, even if she wants to be treated like a man. I am Steve's equal, I can do anything he can do, but I am also smart enough to know that it is just as good for his ego to let him take care of me as it is for mine that he wants to.

Oh what a weekend

David got a hat trick! Woohoo, well actually he scored like 5 goals in one of his games this weekend. I was such a proud mom! He did great. He had a total of 8 goals in 4 games, and got a trophy which he wants to put a picture of on the blog so my friends can see it. I told him I would get one of him tonight when he is in his gear. He is so proud of himself, and he was really excited because everyone came to watch him play. His Aunt Deb, Uncle John, Grandma Sherry, and Granny all made it to most of the games. He has decided that he could play for the AVS right now, and I told him he could play for them right now, because they are not even playing! I had planned on getting him tickets to an AVS game for christmas, damn NHL ruined that didn't they! Oh well there is always next year. I don't know what I will do next year I think all 3 of the boys are going to play. I will be busy busy busy.

I got an appt. to talk to just about everyone at the school on friday. They better be really nice to me or I am going to get really mad. I am off to the store I have to get bells for Cam's class. They are having a party on friday and will be doing the Polor Express, should be fun. I hope that the meeting is over by then!

Oh the joy of parenting

I am so pissed off. I did not receive word one from the school today! I spent half the day at the school, and not one word from anyone! So we went to the Dr, and again I was at the school in the office and not one word. I guess they think I am just going to go away.

Well I am not going away. I will be in the face of the school district for the next 13 years!

We went to the Dr. today and he said he just doesn't see ADD in my child, he said it may be a learning disabilities, but really the ADD is just not there. He wants a letter from the teachers that feel David has ADD stating why they feel he does have it, and he wants the school to do a psychological evaluation for learning disabilities. So that is were I am at with the David thing I am making a list of things I want to discuss at the meeting on Monday. Hope you all have a great weekend we have a hockey tournment this weekend so I will be camped out at the ice rink.

Updates on the day

Well I am working an a special post for tomorrow so I wanted to get this in tonight!

I picked David up from school.

Me: "Did you give that letter to your teacher?"
D: "Yep"
Me: " Did you give the one to reading teacher?"
D: "Yep."
I check his backpack for some kind of acknowledgement, I am looking for something that will redeem her in my eyes you know a little note that says something like "Jenn I received you letter and would like to set up a time to discuss your concerns." you know nothing fancy, nothing even well thought out, just something. There was nothing which made me madder.
Me:" did they say anything to you?"
D: "No mom. They know they can't be mean to me because of anything you say to them, because if they are they will get fired."
What a bright child he is oh yeah they will and probably the crap beat out of them as well! Don't mess with my boys! The grandparents and my sister are all ready to come up and straighten things out, and they don't handle things nearly as diplomatic as I do. I hope for the school's sake that we can manage to get it all worked out before they have to come to town!

Oh momma is a little upset

David's teacher sent home progress reports. This is what she said about my child.

David has a lot of potential as a first grader. He tries hard when working one on one with an adult, but has not yet established the independent work habits we expet of first graders at this point in the year. He requires constant reminders to stay on tasks by himself. I believe the scores which have placed David at risk from the beginning of his school career, and his current aacademic rank placement at the bottom of my classroo are a direct result of his inattentive behavior and lack of focus.

I have not heard anything about how he is doing in class since Oct. when we had parent teacher conf. She has stopped sending homework home, I get nothing. I assumed he was doing better. He is doing much better reading at home. His reading teacher has got it in her head that he has ADD, and I think she has convienced his teacher that he has it. He doesn't have it, but that is beside the point. I sent this letter to school with David today and I am sending it to the reading teacher, the principal, and the super intendent of schools.

teacher(not her real name),

I mentioned to our Dr. that reading teacher thought David was ADD. He said he did not think so, but we were there for other reasons at the time, not for that. I think ADD is an excuse used when confronted with difficult children, “let’s put the blame on the child because it could not possible be us.” I understand that David is a difficult child to teach, he does not understand half the stuff you are asking him to do, and when he does not understand something or is not interested in doing it, he will become unfocused and inattentive. It is your job as his teacher to make him pay attention while he is in your class. It is your job as his teacher to make sure he does not fail, because his failure is indirectly your failure.

I have talked to him about some of the things going on in class and he always says two things: 1. there is too much noise. 2. I do not know what she wants me to do. I have encouraged him to ask when he does not understand something, but he is his mother’s child and does not want to look “stupid” when everyone else gets it and he does not. He will not even tell you when he is sick. Just before Thanksgiving break, when I picked him up from school he was running a fever. I asked him why he did not go to the nurse he said he did not want to interrupt class. I was the same way in school. I was lucky I had teachers that saw the potential and they took me in before school and after school to make sure that I was “getting it”.

I talked to my mom and she said I struggled through 1st and 2nd grade with reading and writing problems. I still cannot learn something if I do not have a quiet, structured environment, David is the same way, and I do not see that in the classroom. Children get up whenever they want, there are groups of children roaming about the room; they need to be in their own individual desks being taught not in groups at tables where they are easily distracted. They need structure, not a fun environment. I am frustrated, and please do not feel that I am telling you how to teach your class, I am sure that most of the children are getting it, but I know mine is not and to many people want to place the blame on him and his inabilities. He is very able to learn if he has the right setting to learn in.

It is the school’s responsibility to find the best possible way of teaching him, if that means me bringing him 30 minutes early in the mornings for extra help or picking him up 30 minutes later after school, if that means finding a different classroom more structured for his needs then that is what needs to be done. I feel that the school is not doing everything in their means to teach my child. I entrusted the public school system, which my tax dollars pay for, to teach my child and they are failing him miserably. Everyone wants to discuss learning disabilities and ADD, there seems to be a lot of knowledge about the problems, but I have yet to see any improvement so to me that means you people do not have any solutions.

The schools do not know what to do with a child like David so they label them and try to find fault with the child instead of finding accurate ways of teaching. You mentioned at the parent teacher conference about headphones. You mentioned “at risk” meetings also, and I have not heard anything else about that. I have offered to do extra work with him at home, but you say that what the children are learning in class is not stuff you can send home. I have left my phone number and my email address, I am at the school at least 3 times a day picking up and dropping off children, I am not very difficult to get in touch with especially when it is concerning my child. I think my next step is to come in to monitor the class for a week and see exactly what is going on and what I need to do next to ensure he gets the education that he is entitled too.

Thank you,

Jennifer Schall

Busy weekends

Man I am glad the weekend is over! Saturday the boys I can't drag out of bed on a school day, were up bright and early at a little before 7. They were excited because Granny and Grandpa were coming to town, and for them that is almost as good as Santa coming. We all got ready and met them at the mall. When we first got there Colton started yelling "GRANNY, where are you Granny? Grandpa." as loudly as he could. We found grandpa first and all the boys hugged him and then Colton looked around and said "Where's my granny?" I think he would move in with his granny if I would let him. So we shopped and shopped and ate lunch, and before I knew it the day was over, it was almost 3 and David had a birthday party to go to, and mom and dad wanted to get on the road before it got to dark and the deer got thick along the highway. We took D to the party and then we went over to Kmart to do a little shopping. Well we were strolling along and who to my wondering eyes should appear, yep good ole Saint Nick himself. Cam went over and talked to him and got some stickers and some candy canes, but Colton latched on to me and said, "That is not Santa that is some guy in a costume." Well I am rolling on the floor, because we had just been to the mall earlier and Santa lives at the mall. Colton waved to that mall Santa and was all gung ho to go talk to him, but the line was a mile and a half long, so I will take him during the week when no one else is there. Anyway back to the "fake Santa" he tried to give Colton some candy canes and that child backed away like he was being offered poison, he wouldn't even take the candy Cam got for him from the fake Santa, he didn't want anything to do with him at all. Then it was time to go get David and we picked him up hurried home, and had to go to Steve's Christmas party, which sucked, the food was good we had prime rib, but I could have found something a lot better to do for 5 hours! I think that comes from having separation issuses. I don't like leaving my kids, in fact I have left them with a babysitter maybe 5 times in their lives since I started staying home with them. I will leave them for a few hours with Steve and go to the store or something like that, but I don't enjoy leaving them with a sitter. Sunday David had a hockey game and then we came home and put up the Christmas lights outside and the snowman, then we watched some Christmas specials with the boys, had dinner and went to bed.

I always liked this little story

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
Editorial Page, New York Sun, 1897

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
Dear Editor,

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O'Hanlon


Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

David's Hockey picture

Christma Past

“You awake?”
“Yep.”
“You think their up yet?”
“Nope”
“Let’s get them up.”
“Not yet, it isn’t time yet.”
“Come on lets go see if he came.”
“Not yet let’s wait a little bit.”
“Well I am going!”
“Ok ok, but let’s get mom and dad first.”

This was always the same conversation every year between my sister and me, and then we would sneak past the living room peeking quickly to see if the jolly fat man had left us some much-anticipated loot and of course, every year he had. We would then make our way through the dark house to mom and dad’s room and stand outside the door. Daddy always knew we were there. We would stand there a few minutes listening to see if they said anything.
“Let’s get them up” my sister would say.
“You go first.” I would tell her.
Then daddy would cough or make some sort of noise and we would run in yelling “He came He came!” and daddy would say “lets go see what he brought” and we would all go and check out the loads of goodies. It is funny how I can clearly remember most every Christmas we shared, but I can remember very few of the gifts I actually received.

Through the years living at home, it never changed, even when we were long past the age of believing in Santa. My little sister would come into my room and get me up and then we would go get our parents, still to this day she is up long before the crack of dawn waiting to open gifts, but most of the time now it is through phone calls that we share the joy of the season with each other.

I miss her waking me up on Christmas morning, and I miss sneaking into mom and dad’s room waking them up. I miss sitting around the tree opening presents with them. I miss mom and Jo in the kitchen cooking all day, all the while telling me that they didn’t need my help they had everything under control, because they knew I only asked to be nice I still hate being in the kitchen. I miss watching my mom make million dollar fudge for me. I miss going Christmas shopping with mom and Jo, and I miss Arby’s beef and cheddar sandwiches after we were done. I don’t know why, but we always seemed to go there after Christmas shopping. The three of us use to have a great time meandering through the stores together sometimes we didn’t even buy anything at all. The one thing I really want for Christmas, the one thing I can’t have is for my mom and my sister to live in the same town I do, so we can enjoy all of the Christmas cheer together again.

Want a 4 year old?

I am just about willing to give him away free of charge this morning. We woke up and everything was great. Everyone ate their breakfast, got their showers and got dressed, we were actually ahead of our normal schedule. We got in the van and listened to some Christmas music and laughed on the way to school, and then we pulled up...

Cameron got out with his brother and all of a sudden decided he was not going to school anymore. He started screaming at the top of his lungs that he wasn't going, and he latched on to the seat with a death grip. David being the helpful child that he is decided that he would try to drag Cam to school, and I am telling David "just go to class honey I will handle it". "Cameron come on your going to make mom go to jail if you don't go to school." now I have Cameron crying and screaming, because he doesn't want to go to school, and David crying because he thinks I am on my way to jail because Cameron won't go to school, and Colton sitting calmly in the passenger seat as if this is just a normal morning. I hop out and drag the child to the front door of the school; I let go of him to get the door opened and off he runs to the van, so again I go and get him. I take him to the door and this time he wiggled out of my grasp and back to the van. So I chase him down with David hot on my heals. Luckily Colton was in the van and let me back in because Cameron had me locked out at this point. I load them all up and drive around to the front of the school, and I grabbed Cameron out of the van and hauled his ass to the school into the front door kicking and screaming.
"David get your butt to class and quit worrying about Cam."
"mom I will take him with you."
"Just go"
Well David got half way down the hall and came running back as Cam tried to escape once again, but I was to quick for him that time. The office lady came out and helped me get him and she took him down to class and David walked with her. I left and didn't turn around once. It took us 20 minutes to get him into class today, but there was no way I was letting him come home with me, because that would have just taught him that he doesn't have to go just because he doesn't want to. Cam always goes to school without a problem unless he doesn't feel good, today was really different. I had times with David where he didn't want to go, but all I had to do was tell him he had to go and reassure him I would be there to pick him up and all was fine. Colton told granny on the phone, "Cameron almost made me and mom go to jail cause he didn't want to go to school, he may have to go live at the orphanage."

Let it snow

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I actually cooked dinner at home so it was just Me, Steve and the boys. I was impressed with myself, I didn't burn anything and everything was edible, and the turkey was tender and juice. All 4 of my boys decided I am almost as good at cooking Thanksgiving dinner as their granny that was the best thing they could have said to me! I was going to go shopping today, but there is about 3 inches of snow on the ground and it is still falling.

Hopefully it last through Christmas, because I love a white Christmas. Tomorrow we will turn on the Christmas music and dig out the decorations to start decking the halls. I love Christmas, but for some reason I always get so sad. My mom says that I have always been that way. She always tells me that when I was a baby we would go shopping, back in the days when they use to play Christmas music in the stores, and she would look at me and I would be crying. I will still cry for no good reason during this time of year, I will hear a certain song,or see something on the news, and just break down. I think that even as a baby and a child I realized that the world should be a peaceful and wonderful place and it isn't. I have always wondered why during the holiday season everyone tries just a little harder to be kind to each other, but the rest of the year they could care less. I didn't mean for this to be such a depressing post. Well I am going to shovel the sidewalk with the boys, and make snow angels and throw snowballs!

Sore throats

I don't know what is up, but the boys are all getting the damn sore throats again. They were just getting over them and now they are getting this crap all over again. I am thinking about getting the dogs a throat culture to see if they are carrying it around and giving it back to us. I have always gotten sore throats. I have overly large tonsils that should have come out when I was little. Luckily only Colton has the huge tonsils, but all the boys seem to be like me when it comes to picking up sore throat germs. They have all been exposed to chicken pox more than once and not one of them got one bump, but someone with a sore throat comes within 50 yards of us and we get it.
I am sure that the boys are probably picking it up at school, I see a lot of snotty noses and coughing kids when I pick up mine. School is worse than the hospital for picking up germs!
I have been trying to get my house cleaned for the holidays. I am actually trying to get all the crayon off the walls and shampoo the carpets, which is really useless with 3 kids and 3 dogs! I still need to wash out my cupboards and clean my oven, and clean out the fridge, so I better get back to work!

Hockey baby Hockey.

The players lined up anxiously awaited the zamboni to leave the ice. The normal chatter amongst players was nonexistent as I made my way to the stands. I found my seat as the door to the rink opened letting 30 some 4 to 6 year olds on the ice. Woohoo its hockey my friends, no not the NHL this is much better than any professional game you will ever watch; this is mini might hockey, and they are playing their first game of the season!

They skate around the rink warming up, the D man skates past the window where we are, and giving us the little head nod and smile that said “don’t worry mom we are going to kick ass and I am going to get my first hat trick.” That is all he talked about all week was getting that hat trick (3 goals in a game for the non-hockey readers), and his granny came to town to watch him get it. The teams both head to the bench get their line up and take the ice for the face off. The D man is left wing, the center hit the puck and D takes off after it getting to it first, he passes it off to another teammate who takes it to the net woohoo score for the Orange team! Face off the D man again is the first one to the puck and he skates passed everyone, looks at the goalie and slams it into the net. Then they have a line change, they have line changes every 2 minutes in USA mini mites.

They only had nine kids on their team so they end up with a lot of ice time in each game, which is good the more they play the better they get. It was David’s turn again the Red team took the puck and scored against us, a little girl who was on D’s team last year actually, so I had to cheer for her cause she is an awesome little thing. They face off, puck hits the ice and an Orange team kid takes off with it shoots misses, red and orange fight it out for the puck, red hits it out from behind the net. The D mans eyes never left the puck he skated up and stopped it. He looked around and slammed that puck, I thought oh he is gonna miss, “go in go in” mom and me are screaming. WOOHOO granny jumps up and down and I am beaming with pride as he scored his second goal. There is only one period of 13 minutes left, and the next two line changes David is stuck in defense, because he already scored and they try to give everyone a chance to score, he only got one more chance to get his hat trick the last minute of the game. He got the puck and away he went and BUZZ time is up.

He was excited his team won the game, but he really wanted that hat trick. He told me, I will just have to get hat tricks in ever game from now on mom.

Women are your equals

I was blog hopping as I so often do and when I came to Zelda's house I paused and thought just how good I have it because I am from the United States, more so because I am a woman in the USA.

Growing up my daddy use to tease my mom and tell her things like "and I expect you to walk 3 steps behind me and to the left." as a child I never understood that saying, but as I got older and started paying attention to how the world worked I got it. My mother being the strong, independent woman that she is would have never walked behind my father. She is his equal and he has never really tried to oppress her or my sister or me in anyway. Daddy always told us we could be anything we wanted to be. So it is always a little shocking to see things like the film Submission. As an American woman I sometimes forget that there are places that still view women as the lesser sex. If you have 11 minutes watch this film it is very tastefully done, but the shock doesn't end there it goes much deeper.

The man who made the film, Theo Van Gogh, was brutally murdered because he choose to speak out against the unequal treatment of women in the Muslim faith. I again as an American can't understand being murdered for speaking out against something I don't believe in. It is just unreal to me that someone died for making this film, and killed by religious fanatics.

I have read a lot of the Quran and a lot of the Bible, and it is utterly frightening how much the 2 books have in common if you sit down and read them not as religious text to follow, but as books of history. I have yet to find in either book where it says "Beat your wives into submission, and make them obey you." Yet both the Islamic culture and the Christen culture has been guilty of doing just that. Men throughout history have always tried to control women through religion. Most women in the Christen faith have broken the bonds and read the Bible and said "Wait that doesn't mean that at all." and that is really what the movie is saying "wait a minute the Quran doesn't say it is ok to beat me and oppress me." The film threatens the life style of some Islamic men to be in control, it defies their rights, the ones they gave themselves, not the ones the Quran gave them. These men do not like the fact that this film might make some women stand up and oppose them. It might band women together and give them strength in their God to help them over come the wrath of evil men. That is the very reason Van Gogh lost his life, because he opposed the cruel treatment of women and tried to empower them.

Two very opposing articles on the treatment of women and the Quran. It's all in the interpretation isn't it!

The Quran and Women

Quran on women

Veterans Day

Today is the day we honor the men and women who have served our country. I think that anyone who is willing to put on a uniform and put themselves in harms way to protect me and my children is pretty damn awesome, and I thank you with all of my heart. You are all in my thoughts and prayers not only today, but everyday.

In Your Honor

Unselfishly, you left your fathers and your mothers, You left behind your sisters and your brothers. Leaving your beloved children and wives, You put on hold, your dreams—your lives.
On foreign soil, you found yourself planted To fight for those whose freedom you granted. Without your sacrifice, their cause would be lost But you carried onward, no matter the cost.

Many horrors you had endured and seen. Many faces had haunted your dreams. You cheered as your enemies littered the ground; You cried as your brothers fell all around.

When it was over, you all came back home, Some were left with memories to face all alone; Some found themselves in the company of friends As their crosses cast shadows across the land.

Those who survived were forever scarred Emotionally, physically, permanently marred. Those who did not now sleep eternally ‘Neath the ground they had given their lives to keep free.

With a hand upon my heart, I feel The pride and respect; my reverence is revealed In the tears that now stream down my upturned face As our flag waves above you, in her glory and grace. Freedom was the gift that you unselfishly gave Pain and death was the price that you ultimately paid. Every day, I give my utmost admiration To those who had fought to defend our nation.

author unknown



Toby Keith
American soldier

I'm just trying to be a father,
Raise a daughter and a son,
Be a lover to their mother,
Everything to everyone.
Up and at 'em bright and early,
I'm all in my business suit,
Yeah, I'm dressed for success from my head down to my boots,
I don't do it for money, there's still bills that I can't pay,
I don't do it for the glory, I just do it anyway,
Providing for our future's my responsibility,
Yeah I'm real good under pressure, being all that I can be,
And I can't call in sick on Mondays when the weekends been to strong,
I just work straight through the holidays,
And sometimes all night long.
You can bet that I stand ready when the wolf growls at the door,
Hey, I'm solid, hey I'm steady, hey I'm true down to the core,
And I will always do my duty, no matter what the price,
I've counted up the cost, I know the sacrifice,
Oh, and I don't want to die for you,
But if dyin's asked of me,
I'll bear that cross with an honor,
'Cause freedom don't come free.
I'm an American soldier, an American,
Beside my brothers and my sisters I will proudly take a stand,
When liberty's in jeopardy I will always do what's right,
I'm out here on the front lines, sleep in peace tonight.
American soldier, I'm an American,
An American,
An American Soldier

Why must people piss me off?

It is like a goal for certain people in my life to piss me off. I can't get rid of them because well it doesn't matter the fact is they are always going to be around, luckily they don't come around that often.

I am a very easy going person it takes a lot to get on my bad side. I give the benefit of doubt most of the time, and I forgive people easily, but once you have crossed the line numberous times I am done with you. Well I have been done with this person for sometime now, but there is no way to get them completely out of my life. I am polite and nice when I see them, but I am not going out of my way to engage them in conversation's, and I am not going to show up at places they tend to frequent, and I really don't want them at my house. I think what makes me most upset about the whole thing is that Steve doesn't get it and he blames me, which just causes another struggle in our already going down hill marriage. He thinks I am a bitch, and I probably am, but there are just certain things that I won't get over no matter how much time has passed. There are certain things that I shouldn't be expected to get over especially coming from the people that said them. I think that if Steve respects me even a little bit he will allow me to have my feeling and leave it at that. I am not asking him to justify them or agree with them, but to just allow me to have them without getting upset because of the way I feel. Anyway I am done ranting about it, because well it isn't going to change anything anyway.

Playing Dr.

Well I finally broke down and took myself to the doctor today as my throat is swollen shut. It went something like this.

Dr.: "Oh it's mom's turn to be sick."
Me: "I am not sick, mom's don't get sick."
Dr. Shines light at me and tells me to open my mouth. "Yep your sick." Then proceeds to look in my ears and poke at my face.
Dr.: "How long have you had this sinus infection?"
Me: "I have a sore throat not a sinus infection."
Dr.: "NO you have strep throat, ear infections in both ears, and a sinus infection. How long have you had the sinus infection?"
Me: "I have had a sinus headache and stuffy nose for about a month or so, I don't know... awhile."
Dr.: "You have been taking over the counter drugs to treat it haven't you."
Me: "Yep"
Dr: "Well stop it."
Me: "Why?"
Dr: "Because I am the Dr. and I said." Ok he didn't really say that, he said, "You have stopped the infection from draining, which has caused the sinus infection to get worse and move into your ear canals."
Me: "Oh."
Dr. hands me a prescription slip and tells me not to take anything else from over the counter and if I don't feel better by Thursday to come back.
Well now because I have not taken anything for the sinus headache and pressure my eyes feel like any moment they will pop out of my head with such force they will break the computer screen, not to mention the pressure on my ears they didn't hurt while I was taking the over the counter crap, but it is draining right down the back on my throat gagging me everytime I swallow so I must be getting better right?
It seems like it has been one thing after another lately. If I were a dog someone would have taken me out and put a bullet in my head to put me out of my misery by now, and I really don't think that would be such a bad thing at this point.

Their coming to take me away heehee hoho

Well it won't be long before I am committed to a little padded cell, and at this point I really am looking at it rather as a little vacation than a place for crazy people. This morning we were hunting coats so we could go to school, and we can't find Davids coat, it wasn't in the house, not in the back yard, not in the van. It has vanished from sight. I say to him, "Now think really hard where was the last place you had it." He thinks for a minute lets out a big sigh and says "I had it on the play ground".

Great the play ground, we had a 4 day weekend so this would have been Wednesday of last week that he "had it on the play ground." I hand him a jacket, kiss him, and tell him "find your coat" as I push him out of the van toward the playground! I pick him up early because we had to go to the airport and get his granny, and he wanted to go with us. Well I go in gather him up, get his jacket, his backpack, and sign him out. We check the lost and found no coat we check the office no coat! The coat is gone, and I tell him, "well that was a brand new coat David, and your not getting another one!" to which this child replies, "I know mom because I would just lose it too."

We proceed to the airport, get mom, and head to lunch at the village inn. She went to see my baby sister in St. Louis MO., so she gives us all the details of the trip and daddy about falls asleep in his dinner, because he worked all night and had not been to bed. We decided to forgo any shopping mom needs to do until Sunday when she comes back to town. She gives David his new hockey skates, Hespelers, she found for $9.95 on clearance in St. Louis. They were marked down from 79.95 so that was a really good deal. Then her and daddy load up and to head home, which is 90 miles from here.

We start the journey home as well, and as we are passing the school I see like 10 coats on the playground. I said "David do you think that one of those are yours?" "Yes." he says somberly. I stop the van and tell him "You go look through all those coats and see if one of them is yours." "Will you come with me mom?" he says. "No David you need to do it yourself." I tell him as he is getting out. He runs to not the first coat or the 2nd one, but to a group of coats at the far end of the playground, he throws them around and grabs one and runs to the van yelling "I FOUND IT MOM, I FOUND IT!!!" When he gets back I check the coat to make sure it is indeed his, as I have written his name in it, and sure enough it was. I am amazed not because we found his coat, but because he knew exactly where he had left it and never thought to look there to begin with!

Wow what a week.

Last Friday we had Halloween parties at the school. So I went to Cam's in the morning and then D's in the afternoon. They were very nice parties, and Colton got to march in the little classroom parade so he was very happy.

Sunday we were getting ready for Hockey, and it was snowing and cold. I asked David where his shoes were. "I don't know mom." "Where is your coat?" "I don't know."
Then I remember he had been playing outside on Sat. "David are your shoes and coat outside?"
"No mom they are in the van." he says as he is making a beeline for the front door, and I am stomping to the back door. It was no surprise to me that laying in the back yard almost covered with fresh snow was a coat, a brand new coat. I spun around quickly thinking I might just choke him this time, he will strip down naked out there and just leave his clothes laying out there until I find them, but then it happened in mid spin my knees buckled and there went my back. "God damnit." I screamed as I clinched my fists and my face contorted into something I can only imagine as evil. Steve looked at me and took off down the stairs to retrieve the missing items thinking I might have finally reached the end of my sanity, and I may kill them all at any minute. David started pleading for his life telling me his brothers must of taken it outside, and all I can say is "get in the van." He was out the door like a rocket. I thought about telling them I needed to go to the ER, but then they were all behaving so well because they thought that they had finally drove me over the edge that I sat silently on the ride to the rink. Once there however it all ended because I couldn't feel my left leg at all, and the pain shooting down my right leg about had me in tears. I managed to get out and hobble to the door. Then Sunday night we went trick or treating, I love going with the boys, so I went. About 4 houses up I told Steve I had to go get the van, so that is what I did. I drove with my window down and watched my little guys trick or treat. Colton was so funny. He was a pooky doest, or in adult spooky ghost. He found some girls that must have been about 11 or 12 to chase around this car "BOOing" at them. It was funny. Then he would get to the door and say "Trick or treat, I'n a pooky doest...BOO." He got more candy then anyone, and he didn't want to quit he was having such a good time. Cam in all his logic decided that it is just as fun to go to walmart and buy your own damn candy, and a whole lot less cold that way too. David ran into one of his school friends and they proceeded to stand at one ladies door trading candy out of their bags as she was trying to put candy in. Monday morning I barely got out of bed, I had the Ozzy walk going on, you know hunched over shuffling my feet along an inch at a time. Thankfully Steve got to stay home with me for 2 whole days.
Well that is enough for now I suppose.

Election thoughts

This isn’t as political as it sounds.

Top 10 closest elections, by popular vote in since 1876. These are the times in our history that we were the most divided as a nation.


1876 Tilden beat Hayes by 252,224 votes, but Hayes won the Electoral College vote.

1880 Garfield beat Hancock by 7018 votes.

1884 Cleveland beat Blaine by 62,683 votes.

1888 Harrison beat Cleveland by 98,017 votes, but Cleveland won the Electoral College vote.

1892 Cleveland beat Harrison by 380,810 votes.

1896 McKinley beat Bryan by 567,692 votes.

1916 Wilson beat Hughes by 591,385 votes.

1960 Kennedy beat Nixon by 118,574 votes.

1968 Nixon beat Humphrey by 510,314 votes.

2000 Gore beat Bush by 540,895 votes, but Bush Jr. won Electoral College vote.


Top 10 Elections that were the farthest apart.

1920 Harding beat Cox by 7,004,847 votes.

1924 Coolidge beat Davis by 7,339,430 votes.

1932 F. Roosevelt beat Hoover by 7,060,016 votes.

1952 Eisenhower beat Stevenson by 6,621,249 votes.

1956 Eisenhower beat Stevenson by 9,587,720 votes.

1964 Johnson beat Goldwater by 15,951,296 votes.

1972 Nixon beat McGovern by 17,999,528 votes.

1980 Regan beat Carter by 7,497,819 votes.
1988 Bush Sr. beat Dukakis by 7,077,023 votes.

1996 Clinton beat Dole by 8,203,602 votes.


Out of the Presidents elected during the times we were the most divided Garfield, Mckinley, and Kennedy were all assassinated. There were 3 elections, the only 3 in history that the Electoral votes differed for the popular vote; Harrison vs. Cleveland, Tilden vs. Hayes, and of course Gore vs. Bush Jr. We the Spanish American war, WWI, and Vietnam.

During the times that we have been at our least divided Nixon got impeached, Clinton got impeached.

I could go on and on, but I really do have a point. This election was about average really Bush took the popular vote by about 3,582,326 give or take. I think we are just divided enough to keep everyone else on their toes, but we still are open enough to change that we don’t shut out other people’s views, and that is a good thing. We need to challenge our government, we all have a voice and we have the freedom to use it.

Sorry for the delay

I have screwed up my back, so moving is nearly impossible. About 2 years ago I herniated 3 disks in my lower back while we were elk hunting, and I reinjured them sunday, so don't blame me if this post doesn't make sense blame the vicoden. I am still not sure why I am taking the pills they make me tired and loopy, but do nothing for the pain. I am not suppose to pick up anything more than 5 lbs, I have 3 little boys who always want me to pick them up so I don't know when I will heal. Thankfully Steve has been home to take care of me. He drove me to vote yesterday. I am walking better this morning than I have all week, so Steve went back to work today. Well kiddies I am off to lay down sitting in this chair kills me.