Mommy of Many®

On the way to work, this morning, I got a phone call. On the other end was one of my kiddos.
They said, “Mom, I forgot something.”
I asked, “What did you forget?”
Kiddo-”I forgot something at home.”
I replied, “Ok. What did you forget?”
Kiddo (whispering into the phone)-”I forgot my underwear.”

Thank you to beautiful people who are willing to go into my house, rummage through my dryer, find the underwear, text me a pic to make sure it’s the CORRECT underwear and then deliver it to the school in a bag, under the guise of it being “lunch”.

Doing the Dance of the Children~

This morning I listened to an exchange between Gabi and Max that kept me giggling. Either Max just learned new nuances of sarcasm or he’s been faking us all out with this whole Aspergers bit.

Gabi was on the computer and Max was DYING to have his turn. Gabi was playing a “girl” game where you decorate a doll; pick out ribbons, hair, clothes, shoes, skin color, etc. Max had been watching her time and bugging her about finishing the game and giving him his turn. This is the usual banter I hear when one kid is on the computer and another wants to use it. I reminded Max that he would get his turn when her game was over.

All of a sudden, everything changed! Max leaned over Gabi’s shoulder and started saying things like, “Oh, long hair! Yes, that’s my favorite!”. Then Gabi would change the hair to short (to spite him) and he’d say, “Or short. Yes, I like short hair too”. Then came the ribbons-Max got right into it, “Pink! Yes, yes! I love pink.” And of course Gabi would change it and he’d play right along.

Gabi started yelling for me to help her. My simple response-”Just love him”. She said she didn’t know what to do with a brother that loved ribbons. I smiled even bigger. Max was brilliant!

She quickly finished her game, handed the laptop to Max and ran from the room.

Max is a mad genius! I love it!

Doing the Dance of the Children~

This is the statement I got from Max when I handed him an egg and cheese sandwich, orange juice and 3 sausages for breakfast.

Even though we don’t have cable, apparently his little mind has been filled with an image of what a “regular” family eats for breakfast.

Then he looked at me in my pj’s and my robe and said, “except that you’re not dressed”.

Sorry to disappoint, Buddy.

Here’s to being “regular” (I’m thinking it must have been the juice that sealed it becaue I cook for them about 50% of mornings and sometimes I’m even fully dressed and ready for the day)…even if for only one day.

Doing the Dance of the Children~

Lex is always thinking and planning and this morning his thoughts went like this;

Lex-”Mom, please don’t stop me from growing a beard.”

Me-”I don’t stop you from growing a beard. Your body decides when it’s ready to grow a beard and then you decide whether to keep it or shave it off.”

Lex-”Well please don’t tell me I can’t. I want to grow a beard so I can get out of traffic tickets like Mr. Smitty (family friend, who apperently got out of a traffic ticket because of impressive facial hair).”

Me-”Well, your body will decide when to grow a beard and I will let you decide whether or not to keep it. But when you start driving, instead of trying to get out of tickets, why don’t you just make sure you follow the rules and are a good driver and then you don’t even have to worry about it?”

Lex-”Never mind! I’ll just ride a bike!”

Better safe than sorry?

Doing the Dance of the Children~

A True Story-

We have a bin full of Thomas the Tank Engine trains, track and accessories. This bin was greatly loved and played with for a long time. But over the last 2 years, it’s pretty much sat untouched. Lex isn’t a train kid, though his brothers before him LOVED trains, all kinds of trains. But every time I’ve suggested that he go pull out the Thomas bin and build a track, he tells me it’s just not his thing.

Today we have a birthday party to go to for my 5 yr old cousin. When brainstorming gift ideas on a budget, I came up with the idea to give him the collection of Thomas Trains. Perfect! On the way home from church I was going over the things we needed to do to get ready for the party. When I mentioned packing up the Thomas bin, there was an uproar from Max and Lex; “WHAT?! We play with those! Those are OURS!” To which I responded, “No you don’t!. You haven’t played with them in years.”

The minute we got home, they pulled out the bin, set up a train track and to top it all off, they put in Thomas and the Magic Railroad to watch during lunch. WHAT THE HECK! They looked up at me from the floor and stated, “We LOVE Thomas!…Give him the puzzles!”

Doing the Dance of the Children with No Birthday Gift For My Cousin~

Gabi-”Why do pajama tops exactly match pajama bottoms and that’s ok? But in the daytime your clothes aren’t supposed to do that?”

The girl’s got a point!

Doing the Dance of the Children~

You have to smile when your 6 year old comes in and asks-

“How bad was Leroy Brown?”!

Seriously Good Stuff!

Doing the Dance of the Children~

You know I spend a great deal of time quoting Lex, but this morning I got a text from Mariah (18yrs old), who was in Oakland for business and is now in SF for business.

“Oakland is a scary place but at least it smells like Chinese food. San Francisco just smells like pee.”

She made me nod and giggle

Doing the Dance of the Children~

Lex came into my room looking like this and saying he was ready to go out and play. When I asked him why he was wearing “16″ shirts, he said;

“Max said there are bullies out there. So, I kept putting on shirts and punching myself until I couldn’t feel it anymore. Now I’m ready to go out.”

Way to be prepared!

Doing the Dance of the Children~

Lex developed a deep, chesty cough overnight, so I’ve decided to keep him with me for the day. After I dropped the other kids off at school he had this to say;

Lex-”Mom, just so you know, kids who stay home, sick, get lots of candy.”

Me-”Oh really? Who gives these sick kids candy?”

Lex-”The moms and dads do.”

Me-”Why would parents give sick kids candy?”

Lex-”Because they feel so bad for them that they’re sick.”

He’s getting no candy, but he does make me smile!

Doing the Dance of the Children~

This last week has brought a lot to my schedule. You never really know how much you can fit into your life until you start pushing things closer together to make room for more. This week I started working 3-4 mornings a week at a chiropractic office, picked up a weekly blogging gig AND joined the coolest team of people who are banning together to make new media work for small businesses in this area. It seems that juggling the kids’ schedules, running my website, building my Silpada Designs business and cleaning the house just weren’t enough to truly keep me busy. My hatrack is now full! I will not be taking on any new chapeaus for awhile. I’m super excited about all these new ventures! The chiropractic office offers me the chance to learn new skills (office work), the blogging feeds my love of writing and joining the team fills my love of being social. Yea! And not to mention that they all help me make that new car payment! Good Stuff!

Gabriella, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to think I’ve taken on enough. She spent an entire evening of keeping me in stitches while she told me why I need to get married and that it should be before Easter and then detailed exactly how I should go about finding this new husband. Did you know that looking at people’s faces in the grocery store is a sure-fire way to figuring out who a good life-mate would be?! Gabi thinks so! She walked through the grocery store with me making such exclamations as, “Look at him, he looks like Rod Stewart.” Or, “He already has a son, so he’ll know what to do.” Then she pointed out that the guy checking us out had a job and liked talking to me. Nice! I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard, in a long time. I also don’t think I’ll be taking her grocery shopping with me again anytime soon.

Doing the Dance of the Children and Enjoying my Hat Collection~

It’s Tuesday, December 6th and I’ll knee-deep in the realization that Christmas is speeding my way. Today is St. Nicholas’ Feast Day which means treats and goodies are to have been placed in the kiddos waiting shoes. Just one problem-after a little debate, they didn’t put them out last night and made the decision that it should be done ON the feast day. St Nick and I had a lil chat and we’re fixing the issue by his being gracious enough to fill their shoes while they’re at school today. Back on track we go!

This isn’t the only instance of me being a little off this Holiday Season. Check out my Advent Wreath;

Notice anything wrong?

Yep, that’s my, completely backward Advent Wreath. I’m deciding that my intentions are in all the right places but that my Left-Handed Mommy Brain has taken over and is keeping me slightly off balance. Kinda like the fact that Lex went to school this morning in a blue zip up sweatshirt with the words Old Navy in orange. Only problem-HIS Old Navy zip up is ORANGE with the words in blue. I guess my backward brain is catching. His teacher emailed me to let me know that it appears that Lex is in the missing sweater of a classmate and would I please double-check.

Don’t get me wrong, lots of Good Stuff is going on-I made a delicious breakfast sandwich for myself this morning.

Seriously, there’s lots of Good Stuff going on around here. My oldest 3 kiddos will be starting to arrive in less than 2 weeks. I have awesome friends and neighbors who constantly let me know they’re there for me with all sorts of helpful things. I’ve been having a GREAT time building my Silpada Designs business through home parties and craft fairs. I’ve decorated the inside of the house…mostly. And let’s not forget that my kiddos are always ready to add a little giggle to the day. For instance, this last Sunday, during Mass, Lex reaches into his pants’ pocket and pulls out a handful of sliced mushrooms that he’d tucked away for an emergency snack. All we could do was look at him a stifle our giggles at his practical goofiness.

Alright Tuesday, let’s you and me get back to the busyness of this house and try to get back on track.

Happy St. Nicholas’ Day!

Doing the Dance of the Children With a Little Stumble Every Now and Again~

This morning Lex called me into the bathroom and as his lil 5yr old self sat there finishing his business he says,”It should be, ‘Humpty Dumpty wasn’t so comfy…because he fell off that wall’”!

Gotta love lil minds contemplating Mother Goose!

Doing the Dance of the Children~

“Dear God,

Please help me to be a ninja when I grow up. And please help Tristan not be upset if I get to be a pirate/ninja so that I can do ninja-ing on the water.”

I love this kid!

Doing the Dance of the Children~

Last night I went to my daughters’ water polo banquet. I was so happy to see that the usual pasta and salad weren’t being served. Instead there was a fabulous spread from Phil’s BBQ. There were ribs, pork ribs, chicken, corn on the cob, potato salad, macaroni salad and onion rings. YUM! We were happy to dig in! After the great meal all I could think of was how in the world to get all that delicious food out of my teeth! I headed to the bathroom to dig through my purse for something, ANYTHING, to get all that was stuck, removed. I think I spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom. Once I realized that I didn’t have a hidden toothpick, Colgate Wisp, or dental floss, I started trying random objects-the edge of my key tag, my fingernail, a piece of paper. No luck! Finally I thought about my french wire earrings. That’s right! And let me tell you, I was more than happy they were there!

With clean teeth, a washed off earring and some freshened lipstick I went back to the banquet and had a bottle of water.

You can bet I’ve tucked some dental items into my purse, but I’ll never worry too much, as long as I know I’m wearing jewelry

Hey Phil’s, the food’s awesome and the handy wipes were great, but how ’bout including some toothpicks in future to-go orders?!