Rain... Rain...

It's a ghost town in the complex... buckets of rain predicted today and tomorrow.












No hockey...

It's nice to have a rainy day- to make us slow down- throw a kink into our plans...
Have a cozy... cuddly... hot chocolate morning? {This is about as "winter" as we get.}






My husband ran to the store- bought some hot coca and fixins for a home-style breakfast.

That's what I like to see... my men in the kitchen .. fixin breakfast!





I give it a few hours- and then the kids in the townhouses will be stir crazy... and be out at the park playing in the rain...
but for now..
it's nice.
Being all warm and cozy inside..


Well pull out the board games and puzzles, cozy down with a book and have a completely
"unproductive" day.

Yippee!

My Problem

I am organizationally challenged. REALLY!

Some people- most people I suspect- see an item and just know where it should go... they can "put things away".

Whenever I "put something away" I can't find it again. Because the places I think to look when trying to find an item... isn't the place I thought to put it away.

So to avoid this- I just like to keep everything out where I can see it. {Not a great system}

In college I worked/volunteered at a shelter on the weekends. It was a children's shelter and my roommate and I were "weekend houseparents". We took care of the kids and the home for 48 hours and were paid $50 a weekend. (So you see why it was volunteer work- we did get paid technically but not really a great hourly wage. ) It was rewarding.. anyway.. the reason I bring it up is... the house/shelter had this HUGE wall diagram "map of the house" and it was AWESOME! With so many different workers and volunteers in the house they had a map to show were everything was. Then a KEY of items listed alphabetically so if you were looking for a spatula it would say K-3... look on the map. K= kitchen and 3 was the drawer it was in.. Laundry soap? scissors? everything had a place.

I AM SO TEMPTED to do this! Because I make a place for something.. but then really.. I can't remember where I put it. Is that strange?

Here's some pictures of son4 (not baby- he's really too old to keep calling him baby).
"You do the crime.... you do the time"

Hockey Saturday

Today at hockey- I was just clicking too slow... and for some reason- my zoom was out of control. So no great hockey action shots.

I gave up.

We had a 9:00 am game, a 12:00 and 2:00pm. So we spent a good portion of the day playing at the water fountain.

One brother really got my oldest son really angry. I have one son that takes almost nothing serious and the other who takes everything serious.

I'll give you one guess who......

Birthday Party WINNERS!

Okay- I feel a little guilty.

I guess when you talk about your birthday and make a big deal about it on your blog-- your real life friends feel obligated to arrange a surprise birthday party. Thanks Martha that was really- really sweet of you! and I was surprised! i didn't think anyone knew it was my birthday! {wink wink} HOw on earth did you figure that out?

Here is my "swirl" cake decorated by friend and neighbor Crash.Contrary to popular belief- cake can be yummy Delicious even if it is NOT chocolate! Just ask my son who was double- fisting cake in his face.

Now onto the WINNERS!

While we ate cake- and my husband used his extending fork- to sneak cake off of other's plates.. we drew names out of the pirate goblet. {it's the black thing on bottom/ front on the picture.}

Few entries actually linked back to my site. {That was part of the "rules" of how to enter the give-away..} So we drew names of those who DID link back... and then there were a few prizes left over... so we drew names of those who posted on my blog wishing me a happy birthday....

Drum-roll

First Winner was CRASH- winning a free tennis lesson from our Tennis Pro!

2nd- AMANDA- winning the Christmas Cards...

3rd - MARTHA winning the cute- babylegs, arm warmers.

4th- EMILY winning the pearl.

5th- DARCY winning the How-to-draw Cartoon book.

6th - View from the Hill Top- wins the Candy Cane Kiss hat.

Please email me your addresses and at : www.bookclub4boys@yahoo.com and we'll get your prizes shipped to you!

Congratulations to all the winners and thank-you for coming to my Blog Birthday Party!

{I'm wearing the items off the Princess cake. I told the boys- NOT the tiara... but they couldn't understand why that made me feel silly. The whole "Princess" thing is a joke.. I don't really trot around pretending I'm the princess... honestly!}

Thanks again everyone. I had a very wonderful day yesterday. The best Birthday EVER!

{Now onto THANKSGIVING and CHRISTMAS!}

Birthday Celebrations!

My husband brought home this pink & purple, frosted confection of swirl and girly Princess Birthday cake... last night. I said, "Honey- it's perfect! But you know my birthday is not until tomorrow... right?"
He said, "I know, but last time I bought you a princess cake you only got to look at it for a few minutes and then we cut into it and it was gone. I thought if I got it tonight- you could enjoy it longer."
Isn't he a sweetheart! {This princess cake idea actually came from his sister.. who use to be the princess in her house. They would buy her a pink princess cake on her birthday. But now... she's been dethroned. They have a baby girl... she's the true princess now! Anyway- we stole this tradition from her. Thanks Nicole!}


My kids were acting a little strange this morning. My oldest son offered to make my bed for me. {???} I was making it... that is one of my fly baby routines and he said he would do it for me.

Then over breakfast son 2 said, "so.. you really don't go into your room the rest of the day , right?"
I said, " yeah, not much, unless I am doing laundry."
"So you wont be in there today.. right?"
"um... no I guess not, why?"

"WE HID YOUR GIFT IN YOUR ROOM! so don't go looking for it okay?" they are so excited they can't stand it... :0)

I said, "ya know what! I WAS going to clean my room today- maybe tell me where I shouldn't clean... ... and then I'll be sure not to find it."

then son 3 interrupts, "DON"T TELL HER! She's just trying to trick you!"

I promised I wouldn't' look for it. Honestly - I don't know if I would recognize it - even if I saw it. Is it some homemade project? { If I cleaned I might accidentally throw it a way...} Is it a book? please no cooking utensils... something from the dollar store?? could be.. they just opened one up in our small shopping center.

My friend Martha is fixing a birthday lunch for me today.. I thought that was super sweet of her. I just really have no big plans today. Just play with my boys, read and probably make some cards!!! the things I love best! NO cleaning or COOKING! {but maybe run a load of towels- we are desperate}

Also- shrimp truck- shrimp for dinner.. yum-o! I know it doesn't sound glamorous.. but seriously so good.

Thanks again for visiting!

Cleaning Lists

Yesterday the kids were home from school. I warned them a few days before that we would be doing some work around the house.


In the past- I make us work together.. but that hasn't been very pleasant. My husband suggested I just give each boy a list of work. When they are done with their list, they can go play.


It sounded so easy in theory- I thought it worth trying.


Son 1- clean out Van, wash it too, weed whack back yard
Son2 - sweep and mop floor, clean &vacuum bedroom, wash smaller car
Son 3- empty all trash cans & take trash to curb, clean toy room and vacuum
Mom- blog for a few hours, reply to emails... JUST KIDDING!
I had to clean 3 bathrooms, clean my room.


I was shocked- son 2 finished his list first! ( I thought I would have to prod him along) But he really caught the vision.


Son 1 is always reliable and plugged along and got his work done without complaint.
Son3... was a whimpering worker the whole time... except at the end... when we checked his list off. He said, "Wow! that wasn't so bad!" and he skipped off to play with friends.

So I was happy happy mom yesterday. That night- when I relayed the event to my husband. I told him it worked like magic! BUT - I had told myself.. I wasn't going to expect "perfection". (I'm a fly baby ya know.. it's all about baby steps.) I explained.. I just want them to get use to the idea and do it. I wasn't going to be picky about the job done. Hopefully the more they do it- the better they will get at cleaning.. but it's the "starting the habit" that is important.


He agreed that was a smart plan and then told me about a presentation he heard.. where ... when you delegate a project it will usually be done to 80% of your satisfaction.
:0)
I smiled, that's an interesting percentage honey...

Don't bother me... I'm bathing

Here's more pictures of my baby- to appease the grandma's.
(I am fully aware- he's way too old to be called a baby...)

"Don't bother me.. I'm bathing."

Look! I have a signature!

Happy Birthday to me.... okay- I can't celebrate until THURSDAY!

Book Club

Okay- I really really like this series by Dan Gutman. REALLY?... Yes REALLY! I Do! But I think my enthusiasm for this author has kinda turned my sons off.

My son, while he admits he loves Dan Gutman's Weird School series. ("yeah, those were funny.") He hasn't fallen in love with the million dollar series. (why? why? why?)

One boy in our book club today said, "Yeah- it was kinda boring.. because I already know everything about basketball so it's like... why read more about it?".

(what? I loved this book!? It's not all about basketball???)

I asked.. "Did you have a favorite part?"

"Yeah- the time they were in the hotel."

"Really, what did you like about the hotel part... specifically?"

 

"I don't know.. I just like going to hotels and they got to order food in and practically spend a million dollars just in the hotel..."

We have deep and meaningful discussions in book club. :o)

 

But this is our new book selected and I made all the kids promise they would read this book by Thanksgiving break... so we'll see.

(How to Speak Dragonese by Cressida Cowell. Last year we read books one and two: How to Train Your Dragon & How to Be a Pirate.)

(Today only one person had read the whole book. And it wasn't my son. So the discussion part of book club really struggled.)

Partly that is my fault. I need to be more on-top of getting the books to the boys and setting a firm book club date. (all the things I recommend on my site: http://www.bookclub4boys.com/.) It's great advice!

Whew... time to get ready for scouts now!

(Look at the little angel- starting his new book club book!

Laura

Different looks

This is me a little bit wind-blown after the photo shoot- but you get the picture.



She was able to still keep me 'natural' looking.


I didn't wear this jewelry with this top... I wore this earring and necklace with the black shirt.

(i know - It' s hard to picture it.. but please don't ask me to try-on all the outfits again..and put on the coordinating jewelry... I can't.... I don't know how models do it....)




This is a cute shirt from Walmart.. it has tucks and puckers in the front collar...


















I love this sweater.. the color... I took off the earrings- they match the pendant
















And then just a T-shirt with a funky red necklace.

So I defiantly felt like a girl today... They took some pictures of different "collections" for the spread. He took shots of just the boys. It was fun. SO MANY pictures for just one. Family Fun Magazine is only going to pick one for their spread. I didn't realize how much work goes into just a one page of a magazine.

There is a funny story that did happen- since Amanda asked...

I've kinda been keeping this all quiet- believe it or not. I mean- I did tell a few close friends- but it's not something I was broadcasting in my community. (Especially since we have the National Mother of the YEAR living in our community... )

I know... I know.. I'm not "broadcasting it"-- yet I blab, blab about it on my blog... yes my 3 followers and my mom and sister(s) already know about it.. so I don't really consider this "letting the cat out of the bag".

ANYWAY

When the photographer asked what day was best for me... I thought today- since the kids didn't have school . THEN I thought better of it- my kids don't have school... the whole townhouse complex doesn't have school... 40 or so kids running around.. ( We were going to try and take most the pictures close to home so could change clothes.. keep the kids happy and "natural" etc..) I tried to warn the photographer- but he thought it would still be alright.

THEN yesterday I find out the American Mothers chapter is hosting a Penny Carnival... right outside my door... during the photo shoot time.... So not just our neighborhood .. but our community ... just all here.. hanging around...

while we're trying to take pictures...

"HEY Laura! Can we use your hose for water?"

"Sure!"....

And you know how kids are with camera's everyone wants to be in on it... They've got all their photo gear... we're trying to take a few pictures of the kids on the playground-- because my 2 year old was being a pill and they thought, 'lets do something HE likes...'

Oh just get all the kids in the shot.. Mother of the Month should have a dozen or so kids.. it was a circus.. a true carnival..

So- so much for keeping it on the 'down-low'...

laura

Can't wait to see the spread in FEBRUARY 2009!