It was a great birthday!!!

We got the kitchen table at Buca di beppo friday night and it was a blast - great food and a great show watching the chef's cook! - And they sang me Happy Birthday when the yummy tiramisu came out!

We were right in the action

That was some garlic bread like I have never seen - it was covered with garlic but very yummy - don't kiss that baby!

On Sunday there was a performance by SuperBoy and SuperPrincess!!!

Then that night Ami and Jason our new friends that moved in down the street came over for cake and board games - We had a blast!

It was a great weekend! We were productive on Saturday: we planted a new tree - pictures to follow when it stops raining! and I made twelve sign up binders for the Nativity (with a lot of help from Sarah)

Happy Birthday, very funny

So they tell me its my birthday. An early phone call from my mom verifies this. I suppose I'll party because well, I love to party. But for the record I celebrated my final birthday last year. I stopped at 29.

And then there was a website

http://frisconativity.com/

Check it out and proof-read for me!

Lord of the Poop

One poop to ruin them all, One poop to scare her, One poop to cause the scream and forever after bind her.

So looking back I think one really bad poop has lead Maiya to 18months of constipation. I have talked to the doctor, read the books, reviewed her diet, tried to change it, and gave into MiraLax - I don't think its anything technically wrong her with except an underlying fear of pooping then subsequent refusal to let it come naturally. As you can see in these two videos she strains then holds back - this continues for the rest of the day. In a bad week she can hold it for days. I really wish I could reason with her. "Maiya - please poop now, then it won't hurt later" She needs to be in an anal retentive support group or something.

Woo Hoo

Kyle is on his second business trip to Las Vegas in two weeks. I am trying not to be jealous. My loneliness will be forgotten soon though because he just called and said he won an IPod Nano from one of the vendors. They had a Wii set up and the highest home run score was the winner. Obviously his hours of practice paid off!!! YEAH for me - I've already claimed it and he's not even home yet...

Frisco Storytelling Festival

I am using my blog to plug one of my favorite events here
Frisco Storytelling Festival - check out the website for details. I volunteered last year and I am volunteering again this year. I loved every minute of it. This year Target has sponsored Saturday so that day is free and there will be over a thousand craft kits for kids.
Don't miss it!!

Ella's First Field Trip

On top of the world
She insisted on a big one

Ella and her buddy Claire

Maiya found one a little too big

This one is just right

She is young enough to be excited that Lil Sis tagged along.

Class picture with Mrs. Bertalasio, who made them all "Field trip" shirts

You know that dream...

Where you show up somewhere naked? I had a huge embarrassing moment today. We were late for Ella's soccer game - so I didn't have my handy dandy chair to sit in. I am sitting indian style when I feel a hand fiddling on my shoulder. I don't pay it any mind because I think its Benjamin. I few seconds later I see one of the dad's out of the corner of my eye. - the next part happens in a blink of an eye. I turn my head to see what the heck he's doing, as he says "sorry I was just trying to get a spider off of you without scaring you" as simultaneously I see a hairy spider fall into my cleavage!! I FREAK out, jump up, and without a single brain synapse I start clawing at my bra and jiggling my junk to free this flesh eating spider. It isn't until I see a flash of my own nipple (but no spider) that I rejoin society and remember I am in public in front of a very comfy crowd of children and parents (and the opposing team). I return to the ground red faced and slightly psychotic with the spider still MIA. At the end of the game a non suspecting kid says "you have something on your shirt" I go ballistic once again clawing at myself - but more covered this time when I realize its food from Maiya's sticky hands. I left the field at that point, head hung very low.
Meg met me at the door saying "I had the most embarrassing moment today - I totally ate concrete in the parking lot - my bookbag flew about 10 feet away from me as I hit the ground. I definitely heard snickers, and then I was so flustered I couldn't find my car so my walk of shame included weaving in and out of aisles of parked cars." To which I reply (as I flash her) "IS THERE A SPIDER OR SPIDER CARCASS ON ME?"

Benjamin came home from school with this book. I am furious!!!

Camping

We had a GREAT camping trip this weekend. Never thought it would still be swimming season in October! The kids slept in their own tent right next to us - without whining! Maiya slept next to us and didn't join us during the night! We made some DELICIOUS dutch oven meals. It was a hike-in campsite so it totally killed unloading and getting there, but once there the kids could go exploring without fears of being by the road. We had some ginormous spiders hanging out in the trees above us but they never came down, and other than them that was the most insect free campout I've ever been on. They were better than citronella candles. We did have some annoying scouts next to us. One wimpy kid came over and asked if we could turn our fire down because "technically some of us have allergies and the smoke upsets us." To which I replied "Well kid you shouldn't go camping then!" - "Can't you just turn it down to LOW?" - "No hun its a campfire - its not a gas log" - Seriously what is wrong with America? Scouts are allergic to campfires? Luckily a leader never came over for me to have to confront cuz there was no way in hell after hiking in three loads of wood that we were not going to have a campfire.

There are more pictures on my Flickr account - just click on "I turn my camera on"

There is too much I will sum up...

Butttercup is marrying Humperdink in little less than half an hour...
I love random movie quotes...
To really sum up there is so much I haven't had the energy to decide what to blog. But I did want to let you know I am still here and surviving:
It was really nice to have Nana and Gram here and we had a lot of fun while they were here. It is so nice to be tourists in your own town. I swear there will be more pictures and info later.
School is going well. Benjamin seems so much more mature to me this year. He seems to finally get it - you go everyday and you have homework everyday - whining doesn't help your cause! He improved almost six reading levels since the end of last school year. I am so proud of him. He is also running for student council this year as a class representative. I don't know if I am ready for my little man to face a popularity contest. Ella is hmmmmmmmmmmm, learning. What she is learning is a whole 'nother subject. She was tested in the first week of school and she is at the reading level for entering first grade. They don't starting reading groups for kindergarten until January. So she has learned three new ways to throw tantrums by watching the bad behaviors of fellow classmates. She behaves perfectly at school she just tries the new stuff on me. The last tantrum included chewing on her clothes and drooling. It was a class act I nominated her for an Oscar. The teacher is really good and is starting her in reading early so I hope that challenges her. Maiya is starting to catch on with this talking thing. Her speech therapist was impressed with all the words she picked up when Nana was here. And just yesterday she mimicked about thirty words with Ella. Next is combining them and we will be cooking with gas.
Now my purpose about blogging tonight -- I have a new calling, well assignment really. I am the chair person for the annual Frisco Nativity Exhibit. I am excited but have quickly realized that this will be a 30 hour/week job until the first week in Dec has passed. So alas I will not be blogging at a normal pace for a while, if I get to blog at all. For all my local readers - Donate your Nativities for display and invite your friends!!

Total Momsense!

Nana and Gram are here

Nana and Gram got here Friday and we have been having a lot of fun and wearing ourselves out. We've all been to soccer games, the local flea market, out to have Texas barbecue, to church and we still have the museum and Ikea to go to. We also celebrated Kyle's 30th Birthday!!! - I bought an ice cream cake this year - didn't try to do it myself! I have a few more weeks to tease Kyle about being an old man until I am in my thirties too!

You know you are an animal lover when...

the last paragraph of this article makes you tear up.
Brainy parrot passes away

Can you tell what his favorite subject is?

Benjamin has been doing math fact battles for a while, but in the car today he did some with Daddy that even Mommy kept losing track on. In the car Kyle did some that were ten numbers long!!

Now a quick brag about Ella - She had her first soccer game today and she was on fire!!! She scored six goals and several major assists!! I was very proud and very annoyed at myself for not having my camera. The coach asked me what I fed her this summer. Now watch next game I'll have my camera and she'll pick flowers. It was funny at one point Kyle tapped my shoulder and said I think someone on the other team isn't so into the game and I looked and one kid was trying to do flips on the goal. I think maybe she should have been in gymnastics instead of soccer.

I could kill...

The person who invented wallpaper. I was on the fence about it but after this project I officially HATE the stuff. After trial and error I felt I had mastered the art of pulling down wallpaper in the last house so I went into this confident that taking down wallpaper would be pretty easy. Boy was I wrong. We have slightly textured walls. To compensate for that when putting up the wallpaper they spread an even layer of joint compound under all the wallpaper. So what was supposed to be the first 1/10th of the project took two days with four people - including Sarah (God bless her!)
But its done and although the green turned out to be a little more lime-ish than I wanted I still like it - and did I mention we're finally done?

The lovely joint compound
Meg scraping (and the mess that all of our home improvement projects create)

Me scraping

Kyle doing drumroll please...more scraping

FINALLY some color on the wall

Thank goodness for shur-line, don't paint without one!

Ta-da!!!

The curtain rod only took five installations with thre different types of screws - we never do anything the easy way!

Next up the master bedroom...after a vacation!

Martial Law

So school is going well so far - its amazing how hard it is to get information out of them when they get home. I think the bus has memory erasing gas or something. Ella has broken a new record for carrying home school germs. Yesterday she she felt hot to me and was being particularly grumpy so I checked her temp and sure enough it was 100.2, then at midnight when I checked it again it was 102.4 - so no school today for her. Although by 9:30 this morning you wouldn't think she was sick her temp has been normal all day and her head has stopped hurting. I think we just went through a 24 hour bug without any vomit -HOORAY
Benjamin's issue was the opposite it wasn't what he brought home from school its what he didn't. I got him a nice new lunch box with a tupperware sandwich holder and a spoon from home with his pudding - and like the boy that he is he threw it all away after lunch. He says he doesn't know what happened to it - but with my mom translation device in my head I know exactly what he did - got excited to go to recess and chucked the whole thing. Who knows for sure - of course today he forgot to check lost and found so I'll check it out next time I'm up there. Grandma the teacher assures me by the end of the first week there is about 40 lunch boxes in lost and found.
So onto the title - I am going to betray a blog rule and talk about our neighbor buddy TJ - He is a good kid and the kids all have a good time together playing but over time Kyle and I have noticed he has a case of sticky fingers we have intercepted contraband in his pockets, his shoes, his bulging socks, and my favorite right in his hands skipping out of the door "Benjamin let me borrow this" (not so) So today I invited him to have dinner with us and throughout the whole meal he is half pouting - then he finally says "Benjamin betrayed me from playing Rayman on the wii - and its my favorite game" To which Benjamin with chest sticking out "I banished him from Rayman because he begged to borrow Kevin 11 (a toy Benjamin was extremely fond of) and he has never brought it back" I wasn't quite sure how to respond. Part of me was surprised punishments are being handed out in the house without my input but another part of me was impressed that Benjamin came up with what I consider a fair arrangement to get his toy back. So I stayed out of it "Well TJ that sounds fair - bring back Kevin and you guys can play a game of Rayman" What do you guys think?

First Day of School Cookies

School

First Day
Tell us how you really feel about Mom taking a million pictures Benjamin So Handsome!!!

Thrilled beyond words - I think she has been ready for school since birth!!

Pals!

Someone was a little sad - she decided to have a sit-in after the bus left - that's ok Mom had to stay and cry a bit too!

Benjamin was vibrating the whole drive home - there is a surprise for you in the kitchen!
The house was immaculate - I am so blessed!
Back with the gangBefore

a little sad during

almost done

someone couldn't miss out on the attention

wow what a difference - I was liking her hair long so I was against it but it turned out really cute

Aunt Meg got a drastic new cut - it looks great on her!

Yesterday was also eventful besides being home and the new do's - I spilled a gallon of paint all over the kitchen. I want to paint the kitchen next weekend and I have learned from experience that the first thing that will kill a painting project is buying the paint the same day you want to start painting because you can stand in line for hours at any paint department! So in my infinite wisdom I bought the paint and for some reason the girl at the checkout bagged the paint - and the bag in its infinite wisdom gave out the moment I stepped into the kitchen with it. AAAARRRGHHH - oh well luckily it came up except for the splatter on the wall so we definitely will be painting now!

Going Home

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading. - Logan Pearsall Smith

Well its shift change now - Aunt Beth got here today - Mom saw the doctor and he made some adjustments in meds for Mom and methods tips and tricks are being shared. Mom is still in a lot of pain so it will be hard to leave tomorrow in that regard - but the gang will be glad to see us, and we have to get ready because school starts on Monday and Ella can barely contain herself she is getting SO excited.

Who blew that whistle?

My mom's body is in such a horrible state right now its beyond anything I should or could describe on this blog, and because of that fact the doctors have her on some heavy duty stuff - morphine. That combined with the anti-nausea medicine, and the chemo that pumps into her body all this week she has become a little loopy to say the least. Today she heard someone blowing a whistle in the waiting room, and she has combined what she hears on TV with conversations we have had. As of today I started keeping an official log of what medicine she has had and when - I don't think its wise to let her keep track of those things anymore. Tony and I have turned out to be a pretty great team. But no matter how great we are it is still the hardest thing in the world to see someone you love in excruciating pain. So I don't mind if she is one toke over the line, that is better than seeing her in pain!

Friends !!!

When it rains...

Don't ever assume you have enough on your plate, because there is always a second helping waiting somewhere. Mom and Tony woke up to what they thought was someone in the bathroom taking an extra long tinkle - but it turned out to be the upstairs neighbors washing machine raining down on their apartment. It was a frantic 45 minutes where maintenance was not here, and the people upstairs wouldn't answer their door. Apparently they started the washer and immediately hit the town. The hose going into their washer broke. Maintenance finally arrived without keys, left again and then eventually got in and turned it off. So now we have watched as the drywall in the bedroom has started to seep and now drip on the... drum roll please...computers!!! - The fun never stops.

The Spooky House!

Benjamin's Claymation video from computer camp. Ok so the bits and pieces of explanation we got was: There is an alien - the green thing with a blue head - which loses his head at one point and gets embarrassed. There is a black dog and a black bat which is on toothpicks to mimic flying. There is a white rabbit. The white ball with the yellow off shoots is a cloud with lightning. They fight the alien and throw him, but then they are friends then they all go to the spooky house and a cemetery- then they play ball - No one is quite sure but for three little kids working together I think its pretty neat.

Music Lovers...

So I am very into Brandi Carlile right now - My mommy got me the CD and as I was reading the cover I saw that the song that I love the most was not written by her. It was actually written by a male member of the band. I was very surprised and I have to say a little disappointed. I know I should respect the artist, especially for lyrics that I love, but I just pictured her writing them and I felt connected to her since I started listening. It is still an AWESOME song but I get a different vibe picturing a man with pen in hand.

Modern etiquette

If the Phone Doesn't Ring, It's Me

-Jimmy Buffett

Technology is awesome. I can contact people in several different ways at any hour of the day. I can look up just about anything online. I can't seem to remove the following sentence from my vocabulary: "I am not sure about that, I will have to google it". You can add your two cents on any topic in several forums. And its a great way to keep in touch. Its funny, Ryann and I seeing each other it hardly seems like we haven't lived in the same town for years - There is very little catching up to do. We see each other's blogs so we already know what is generally going on. - We can go headfirst into girl talk. So those are the good things ... now onto the shady areas...

"Comment" expectations:

Do you feel the need to respond to comments you receive? I love to get comments on my blog but I don't know the route to take to show my appreciation. Especially if I want to respond - do I comment back to my own blog - comment on theirs, email, etc. I have gotten complimentary comments on my Flickr photos and I was thrilled - but when I went to the sender's site I felt fake doing the "hey thanks I like your pictures too" thing.

"Sharing" expectations:

Who do you tell about your blog? I am never sure. I like to share,but I am not sure how to approach it. Some people I tell and they seem like they could care less. Some I email and it feels like the awkward "hey come look at my babies' pictures" thing. The other thing is that my blog can sometimes be irreverent and sarcastic as well as offer too much information. But like Popeye would say "I yam what I yam" so maybe I should just warn people.

"Communication" expectations:

So I like make-up, nail polish, chick flicks, and babies - but I lack one major "girl" gene. I don't like talking on the phone. And besides not being a phone person I have this weird thing about talking on the phone in front of other people. I don't know why. I don't have a fear of public speaking - I have spoken to crowds of 500+ people but talking on the phone in front of someone else even other family members makes my skin crawl. I apologize to most everyone - because I know for a fact I have at one point or another cut a conversation short, ignored a call, or not returned one. Now on to my point. I unfairly lean on my blog for friends that I phone-neglect to get information. Is that presumptuous of me to assume they are regularly checking the blog - and will get necessary info? Is it rude that I don't take the time to call?

Now that my editorial is over... A quick update:

My mom had a good weekend we even got to see Aunt Beth. But this week she started fully experiencing the side effects of radiation: severe radiation burns. And since she is being treated for anal cancer you can only imagine it is burns in the most fun places. I am doing my best to help including googling my brain out on radiation burn treatment, and picking up liquid morphine at the pharmacy. It is very, very hard to see someone you love in this much pain. Since breast cancer seems to be the "popular" cancer - I will abuse my blog for a public service announcement -- MOMS: Get the HPV vaccine for your daughters - this type of cancer is caused by a HPV strain. Everyone deserves the right to avoid this!

Things you like ...

that aren't things people normally like?
What is something that you like that is generally considered a bummer. Balancing the checkbook, commuting, washing dishes, yard work, being on hold?
I have decided I am ok with waiting rooms. It could be because I am a full time mom and waiting rooms are generally still and quiet places. I can relax, people watch, read, close my eyes for a second. Its not too bad. you?

Follow-up to the Jail house rock:
dancers

Some pictures for daddy...

You've probably already seen this...

but its just great, so in case you haven't seen it, check it out.