BabyBean and CB Duet

This final performance is of my friend, CB, and her daughter, Baby Bean....aka...MB, SuperStar's Bestie Friend Forever girl. MB performed a very lovely song....her mom accompanied her. Now I pan away from MB at about half way through (or so I thought because CB told me it was about 3 minutes long) and try to get video of CB playing for her sister and dad to see. Only the performances was NOT as long as I was told (thanks CB) and in the end it looks like I panned away from MB and then just didn't care to go back. NOT THE CASE at all.........sorry MB!!

And she did FABULOUS by the way!!

Then there was SuperStar's Fabulous Four dance. They created this 100% on their own. I tried to give input........I think LS tried to give input..........SW might have too - but they completely 100% ignored us and did their own thing. Does that make them official choreographers?

This was also their final Elementary School Talent Show performance.......sigh.

Funny Shower Sayings II

The last time I posted about Shower Sayings it was BigGuy in the shower with TheKing. Usually the kids shower with BigGuy because it is convenient........well maybe not for him.......he is a big guy and the shower isn't that huge really.....so I guess it is only really convenient for me. So yesterday when I was showering at the end of the day - we had done a MILLION dirty type chores on a very "first of the year Hot day" - I remembered that TheKing had slipped through the "Time To Shower" child slot. He was loitering around outside the shower asking me questions about some super hero. I almost told him to go ask BigGuy because I know a very limited amount of super hero talk.......but instead I decided to be a good parent and clean the kid since he was so filthy. Yea me.

He stripped down and hopped in with his two super hero's. He was very sweet about sharing the water. His super hero guys were nice too. Mostly he ignored me - I soaped him down and figured the water would rinse him off - careful not to get my own soap in his eyes (his soap was eye friendly). Like I mentioned - most of his banter was to the two plastic guys in the shower with us. So it surprised me a bit when he noticed me.

"Maudy do you like spoons?" he asked.

"Well yes I do. Spoons are very handy aren't they?" I said back with a little giggle about how silly some 4 year old banter can be......and what are they thinking about all day?

"Yes, spoons are good for me." he said. Then he followed up with, "You have a very furry penis."

"What?" geez I wasn't wanting to teach anatomy. I was so tired by this point in the day - 8pm. "Well I don't have a penis. Penis is what boys have. I have a vagina." Keep it simple.....keep it simple.......keep it simple.....was what I said in my head.....he will start talking to the super hero's again.

"Yeah well that is a very furry vagina." he matter of facted.

"Some day you will have fur on your penis." I always figure some forewarning is a good thing.

"No, I will have a furry vagina." he stated pretty certain.

"Well boys have penis's and girls have vagina's." I stated completely certain.

"No, I am going to get bigger and then turn into a girl and have round things." he said as making a motion with his hands as to indicate the round things would be where his breasts would be - then he went back to his super hero's and plunged them into the waterfall.

Not sure how to argue the point.....I mean didn't a woman who turned into a man just give birth with his female man parts? Plus a week ago I noticed a woman who was gorgeous going into my favorite thrift store and wished I had the will power to stay on my exercise routine so I could be as nicely toned.....only upon closer inspection to find she was a trannie. Which made me even more jealous.....I mean here was a guy that made a prettier woman then me with very little makeup! And just a few months ago my family and I went to a waterpark in Wisconsin where there was more man breast visible then female breasts. There was so much Man Breast that I would have sworn men started having implants. So instead I said, "Well I think most likely you will not have breasts, but mostly I just hope you are happy with who you are."

TheKing then followed up with...."Your vagina is very furry."

So I said...."Yeah thanks for noticing."

"Maudy.....do you like forks?" was his next thought.

"Well yes I do. Forks are very handy aren't they?" I said back with a little giggle at how crazy this one can keep me on my toes and about how silly some 4 year old banter can be......and what are they thinking about all day?

It is Time for the Talent Show Postings.....

First up we have Spidey playing Alouette............sideways no less!!

eww eww eww eww eww

It has been a bit since we did an update on our hammies. No real reason except that once we finally figured out how to keep them from having babies we have just kinda had a normal Hammie Home. Then a few weeks ago it livened up again.

To be to the point..

I went to clean the Hammie houses. Cleaned the boys house first....normal...put them in their balls and they spent all their free time rolling into my leg. Not sure what they are trying to tell me....but that is what they do.

Opened up the girls house and ....... only one hammie. Curiosity (SuperStar named her) was there all happy and ready to get into her ball. Raven, however, was no where around. She is our escape artist so I wasn't completely surprised. I phoned BigGuy to let him know that she took off again. As we were talking I reached in to pick up Curiosity and put her in the ball and that is when I saw the fluff.

ewwww ewwww ewwww ewww!!!!!!!

Raven apparently did not escape. Raven died. Only there wasn't much of Raven left........ewwwww.......you get it right?

It was very hard to pick Curiosity up after that.

That night BigGuy broke it to SuperStar. It was after a discussion where we talked about what we would reveal about the whole thing. Obviously she was dead, but did we need to tell her that she was also eaten by her daughter? I wanted just dead, but we both knew how the conversation would go.

BigGuy, "SuperStar I have some bad news for you. Today Raven died."
SuperStar looked stunned......Spidey ran to the hammie house to see. SuperStar asked, "Can't I have her to bury her?" was the next question.
BigGuy responded with, "Well Curiosity ate most of her."

Really? That is the easy way to break it? I had to admit it was quick.....but not so comforting.

SuperStar cried....Spidey wanted to see.....and then all of a sudden SuperStar went to play a video game and they all kinda forgot.

The End.

Really?

So it Finally Happened.......someone made me feel used!

There is just so freakin' much to do in the month of May! It is the "end" of every committee, every club, every group, every class.........every every really. With 3 kids in 3 different classes in 2 different schools that can make for a good chunk of STUFF to do. In just the past 2 weeks we have attended a 4/5th grade school musical, a 2/3rd grade school musical, a Preschool musical, a Girl Scout Bridging ceremony, softball practices, baseball practices, math efficiency test (that was too darn early on a Saturday thank you very much!), school Alumni night and then the normal life stuff - class reading volunteer, class parent, PTO, hosted my Bunco group, had a GREAT group of friends and their 12 kiddo's over for an evening BBQ.....blah blah blah.....but generally I almost ALWAYS feel like I am on a team of people that are connecting together and helping one another. I never feel alone working it out myself.

Until just the other day.

And I was totally surprised that I was left with the feeling because the people who did it are supposed to be people that are on top of their game. Yes, everyone has a down time. I can forgive - and I will - honestly.

Just what do you do with the statement, "Well I am too busy working"? It was in reference to an activity that they agreed to be part of in every sense of the planning, purchasing and enjoying........yet when it came down to it 3 of the 5 people (I am including myself in the count) came back with a reference to "being too busy". Gosh, me too. One even started to list the events she had to attend for her child. Her ONE child. For a second I considered listing off the things I had to attend for my THREE children........but knew it would bring her to her knees crying - so instead I stifled my eye roll and smiled. "yes you are SOOOOO busy - how can you handle it?"

Then I decided to just do it myself. By the time I talked to the 5th person (who had a totally legit reason on to be able ot help - all the other conversations had been the same) I was just pretty much offering to do it myself and asking for cash. Her response, "Well we all have to go to the grocery store........can't these people pick a few of these things up there?" And with that I fell in love with her. She took a few things off the list - happily - sarcastically - fabulously!!! and I loved her for the help. Really her sarcasm made it all better.

But for the first time ever I felt used. I felt overwhelmed, but that was brought upon myself for overloading my plate. But this was the first time I felt that they were dissing my stay at home status as an open invitation to let go of their own responsibility........"oh she has all the time in the world.....she stays home."

Kinda like when I get the sheets back from school that list me as "No Job" - and I always cross it out with two lines and write in "Ruler of the Patty-G'Sell World".

When I Visit My Kids In the Future.........

Today I washed 2 loads of laundry.........well really I washed about 10, but there were 2 loads in particular that I find aggravating. Now I am not a big whiner mom, but sometimes I DO happen to know BETTER then my children.......BigGuy knows better then them sometimes too. And I hate to be telling tales on Spidey, but there are just some things that a person can't make their body do - and one of them is mature fast enough in some areas (and in SuperStar's case it is to make her body mature SLOWER in some areas - my PERSONAL opinion I am sure she would not agree with). For Spidey I mean the whole process of a person waking up in time to use the bathroom when they are sleeping. Spidey's body just won't cooperate with him in this area. We talk to him about wearing the "overnight" solutions, but unless he is spending the night at a friends (where he will enter the bathroom and very discretely change into this support aparatus) he won't budge on not using them. We don't feel we should MAKE him......and we know it is his body not being mature enough quite yet....still at the same time if he would just wear one of the "overnight" solutions everyone would be happy (well maybe not everyone, but since I am doing the laundry I would be happy at least).

Since this is the case.....and we don't want to push him....or embarass him (which might happen if he ever reads this post - although he never will - I don't think).....we have made an agreement with him - If he has any difficulty overnight then he agrees to strip his bed and take the sheets and whatever else into the laundry room for me to wash. Then he will take the sheets back in the afternoon/evening and make his bed.

In short most of this doesnt happen. We can tell when he has overnight difficulty because he will be sleeping with us in the morning. So I do know when to tell him to strip his bed......but he complains about it. And he almost never remembers - wait.....he NEVER remembers to take the sheets to his room. AND he never puts the sheets on without complaining up a storm about how hard it is.

So this morning as I am washing his sheets - TheKing's sheets (same reason) - SuperStars 100 loads of laundry (because she always waits 4 weeks to bring her laundry down no matter how many prompts) - baking brownies for the preschool program tonight - baking a cake for the GS Bridging - sorting through pictures for Spidey's First Communion book - cleaning around the toilets because 3 out of 5 people in our family can't hit the giant hole - sweeping up the rocks Spidey knocked out of his shoe before he left to school - wiping up the drips of cake batter from the ladel I told TheKing not to touch because I was still using it........etc. etc. etc................................

.............I decided that When I Visit My Kids In The Future I will........
1) Throw my coat on the floor of the entry way and walk into the house
2) Ask for a drink.....whine until I get it.....and then spill drops of it all over the counter as I partake in it
3) Leave the drink where ever seems the most inconvenient during meal prep
4) Sneeze into the food that is being prepared (I am figuring I am there for a meal)
5) Go watch TV in the middle of whatever conversation seems most important
6) Make certain the volume is SUPER LOUD (probably I will be hard of hearing from all the years my kids have had it on SUPER LOUD - so this will work for me to both hear it and annoy the kids)
7) Ask to stay overnight - no BEG to stay overnight
8) Create the most disgusting concoction of food possible with the items being served and then be certain to pour my beverage into my bread - eat it and announce how EVERYONE at the table should try it.
9) Go into the bathroom during the meal leaving the door open
10) Pee on the floor very CLOSE to the toilet, but definately NOT inside the toilet
11) Stick the end of the toilet roll into the back of my pants and walk out and across the house announcing that I have a tail....(yes, this has happened sooooooo many times)
12) Ask to go outside after the meal....no...half way through the meal - just get up and leave into the backyard jumping around and screaming at the top of my lungs for no apparent reason attracking the worried attention of the neighbors.
13) Come back into the meal and rip up my piece of bread (I am guessing we will have bread because it is all my kids seem to agree they like at every meal) and make certain it is ALL OVER the table and floor
14) Most certainly do not help with meal clean up - unless asked - andthen point out how it is totally unfair that I have to help when I know that no one else ever helps as much as I am forced to help
15) Remind them they said I could stay overnight
16) Demand the remote and sit watching shows that I have seen over and over and over again - and explain the plot line of these shows with "what will happen" right before it happens so that nothing about them is a surprise and all entertainment from them (if it is possible for them to enjoy the show at all) is taken away
17) Complain a lot about anything positive they say about me, BigGuy or anything in our lives
18) Go to bed REALLY REALLY late so that they have to stay up with us
19) Pee in the bed and then go to them in the middle of the night asking if we can sleep with them....or if they would mind moving to the futon so that we could at least sleep in their bed.......or if they say no (their spouse might be pushy) then ask them to please get up and make the futon up for us because we don't know how to stretch the sheets over the corners
20) Totally leave the soiled sheets for them to clean up the next day
21) Leave toothpaste all over the bathroom counter
22) Throw our towels about the place
23) Refuse to kiss or hug them goodbye because someone might see us and it would be embarassing for us
24) Leave making them wave over and over again
25) Forget something and call them from a truck stop begging them in a sweet "you have to help me" voice to bring me the item so I don't have to double back as that is totally bad luck

That should do it right?

BigGuy is the luckiest man I know......

I would place money on the fact that someone in Heaven is smiling down on my husband 24 hours a day. Yes, I know we all have this blessing, but I would bet money that BigGuy is being watched a little more then the rest of us......That support is just watching him and maybe helping to keep him safe, but he does that pretty well - but surely they are making certain that the things he procrastinates about aren't too terrible in the end. This past event was the perfect example.

See sometime last fall we began to look at one of our HUGE pine trees that sits just outside our deck. Since we have lived here it has always leaned to one side a smidge......but we began to think that perhaps it was leaning a bit more. BigGuy talked about tying a string to a low branch to see if it came closer to the ground as weeks past. But he never did. Then he talked about marking the base of the tree when we thought again that it looked more "leany". But he never did. Then in the winter - February I think or maybe March around my birthday - my mom came to visit. She spends time on the deck smoking - so she has also watched the Pine. She mentioned it was leaning more. BigGuy talked about tying his string again......but never did. Then a month later it looked certainly more to one side and he placed a piece of wood at the base to see if the tree would drive it into the ground as it leaned......even I thought that was kinda silly. TheKing moved that piece of wood the next day.

Now you might wonder why we just couldn't logically look at the root base and see that it was pulling up higher. Only the base of the tree continued to look EXACTLY the same. No roots were coming up.

Finally it became totally obvious the tree was leaning - I could reach the branches. I could NOT reach the branches when we bought the house. Shoot I couldn't reach the branches a month ago. So BigGuy made a solid plan (kinda solid) to cut the tree down. A friend had done it before and he talked of having him over the weekend I was going to be out of town and chopping the tree down with the guys chain saw and a tall ladder he would rent. We joked about having a video tape so we could video what happened when they accidentally caused the tree to fall into our house. Joking.....only I was kinda seriously worried. His plan included one guy holding a rope that was tied around the tree - one guy on the ladder with the chain saw - and one guy pushing around the base - not very safe sounding right?



Well we got lucky. None of that had to happen. The Thursday of my Bunco party we had 50 mile an hour winds. That morning the tree was leaning directly toward our deck. The projected drop would have caused the tree to just clip the edge of the roof in our dining room. I wasn't too worried if that happened, but it was not my choice outcome. We got lucky though - the winds were from the South East........which was blowing AWAY from our house. They were so strong that they redirected the angle the tree was starting to fall. It began to go straighten out and go away from the deck - but still I evacuated the furniture and toys from the line of fall. This first pic shows the tree when I realized it was coming down.....


Through the day I watched. It was so crazy windy that I fully expected to hear a crack and crash at any point. But that just never happened. The wind kept working the tree - first away from the house - YEA!! As soon as it was going into the yard I kept TheKing out of the back.


Then as the day went by I just kept taking pictures. These are the four that show you best movement of the tree. Slowly slowly slowly the tree just kinda leaned over. I waited for the giant "thunk" and a little movement of the earth like a tiny quake, but that just never happened. I phoned BigGuy and told him he could probably cancel the rented ladder......and just kept watch and taking pics.


It was fun. My bunco friends came over and we all walked about and looked at the tree. It eventually stopped its slow free fall........well really it can't be described as a free fall......it just kinds stopped slowly moving. The other giant pine held it in its embrace. Almost like they were saying "goodbye" to each other. And that is the way it stayed. Bunco happened and no crash. The next day I prepped for our GS trip to STL and nothing crashed. BigGuy had guy friends in the neighborhood come over to see what happened (see he procrastinated asking the work friend to help and the work friend had plans) and they ALL wanted to help. Typical boys - I didn't get to see it, but I think they had fun. Another neighbor asked me about it later.....he said as he drove by he saw three guys climbing the fallen tree and the other tree with a chain saw. He said he had hoped to find time to come back and help.....ha! Boys and toys - they just get bigger - both the boy and the toy.


In the end it was pretty cool though. The tree cost us NOTHING to take down. What could have been close to a thousand professionally - or if accidentally dropped it could have cost thousands to repair damage it could cost...and it was NOTHING. On top of that BigGuy got a bonding experience with neighborhood friends!! So someone was watching out for him.....because he is the luckiest man I know.

Happy Mothers Day!!