My Kids

...are driving me nuts! Is it wrong to admit to just how much I am looking forward to the start of school? Honestly, most of the time they are ok, but then chaos erupts. Sam starts whining and insisting on crawling into my lap while I'm in the midst of doing something important, like putting on my make-up or finding the receipt to my food processor which has broken once again (that was this morning). And then as he is whining Ben and David re-enact their version of a World War and I have to go declare a stalemate and/or mop up blood.

I think, along with having them separated, I am looking forward to the schedule of things. I'm such a schedule nut the older I get! This is the first summer that I haven't homeschooled and I've been a little bit at loose ends. It's not that I don't have things to do, because I do. But I miss the daily schedule, the back and forth routine of housework and schoolwork.

So I started a new routine this morning. With the exception of one added thing, it's literally my same morning schedule. But I actually wrote it out and posted it on the fridge. I get up and my head swirls, because I never know where to start first. Now I have an order, and for some reason that helps me.

The thing I added to my morning routine (which will be dropped on the days I have places I have to get to in the mornings) is working out. Well, "working out" is a relative term, I suppose. But my legs felt somewhat jelly-like this morning, so I guess that would mean I "worked out!" I bought a couple of exercise (ok, dance) dvds last night. I spent today's allotted exercise time to learning the steps on the one - which was not that easy. Of course, it would have been easier if my husband and 11 year old hadn't been laughing at me and trying to snap pictures of me and my discomfiture. Grrr... I did the walking last summer and that was ok. But once it got cold, I couldn't really do that anymore. And besides, it was really, really hard to get up that early in the morning! I started taking a drug this winter for my headaches and one of its side-effects is grogginess, which makes the likelihood of me getting up super early even less likely to happen. I know I need to do something, exercise-wise, for my energy, as well as for my flabby areas that are appearing with more and more regularity. I eyed some Jillian Michaels dvds last night, but I passed her over. That lady is mean! I don't want to be yelled at first thing in the morning when I'm being virtuous by exercising at all. Besides, it's hard enough to exercise while my family is rolling around on the floor, holding their stomachs, and laughing hysterically.

Oh, speaking of dancing...the other night we were watching "America's Got Talent" which is my favorite summertime tv watching. Well, a pair of belly dancers came on stage to showcase their talent and hopefully get pushed to the next level of competition. So I was watching them swivel their hips and undulate their flat tummies when David spoke up, "Uh, Mom? We really shouldn't be watching this - those ladies don't have enough clothes on!" He's always been really sensitive to stuff like that. So I turned it, which made Ben mad, because he likes AGT too. But David is right. Just because something is a skill doesn't mean we ought to watch it!

The other day Ben was in trouble again. Catching him do things causes me more problems because he perverserates. He will tell me numerous times - literally like 50-100 times in one day - how he'll never, ever, ever do ______ again. It's just constant and so, so annoying. I finally told Ben, "I'm tired of listening to this." Ben replied, "Well, I'm tired of getting caught!" Hah! Isn't that the truth?!

The other day I opened up the fridge and Sam pointed at some egg cartons and exclaimed, "Eggs!" Then he added, "Chickens!" He just put that together last weekend when we were Council Bluffs. After years of not having chickens Paul's parents have a flock again. When I first met Paul they had them and that was honestly the first time I'd ever known anyone that had chickens. I'm such a city girl! I remember being appalled at their stench! Twenty years later they don't smell any better! Sam went with Grandpa to feed the chickens and collect the eggs and he thought that was so great. While we were there, a number of baby chicks hatched in the incubator and the boys got to watch the progress , from seeing the first crack in the egg, to having a wet, newborn chick within a few hours. So, anyway, that's why he was making the connection in my fridge.

Sunday we had communion and right in the middle of the solemn ceremony, Sam starts singing the "Cheeseburger" song (Veggie Tales)! I couldn't clamp my hand over his mouth fast enough! Oh, that kid!

We did go on a date last Friday night. I figured we were just going to our regular place, but Paul got home and said, "You want to go to a movie?" So first we went to this out of the way Italian place. Paul had worked on their air at once time, which was how he knew about it. The food was fine, the prices were good. The service was a little lacking, but we made it. I was enjoying my soup until I overheard the waitress comment to the next table that tonight's soup was bean soup, which was all they had. I about threw up! I was eating BEAN soup? Oh, gag me! Other than that, the meal was good!

We saw "Knight and Day" with Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise. It was really, really good - so funny and lots of action! It was PG-13 and I would love for the boys to see it, but they can't. And you know why? They used the "F" word one time in the movie. That really bothers me. You never used to hear that word outside of "R" rated movies. But it's filtering down into the lower rated movies. It's a sign of our culture (or the culture is taking its cues from the movie industry - whichever way that goes). You hear the "A" word now all over the tv and even our president thinks it's ok to use it in a tv interview. No class! But aside from that, it was a great movie and we laughed so hard! There was no sex in the movie - nothing inappropriate at all.

We were shocked, though, when we got out and realized it was after 11! Well, duh - the movie's show time was 8:45 and after they got through all the ads and previews, I'm sure it was after 9 before it started. We decided last Feb. when we saw a later showing of "The Book of Eli" that we are too old for those late night movies!

Well, that's all I know. I need to start supper soon because I'll be gone a good portion of the afternoon, taking Ben to his class and then running a few errands. Later tonight, I am meeting my friend Traci at Culvers, which is where Malissa and I went last night. Suppose they'll remember me? She and I haven't seen each other since Nov, so we are way over-due for some girl time. Traci has a son on the autism spectrum and attends one of our sister churches in Des Moines. My pastor and her pastor connected us. Malissa has several children on the spectrum as well. There are so many of us autism mothers anymore - sad.

The sun is struggling to come out. Maybe the weathermen will be wrong and today won't be gloomy after all. One can hope! Although, I'd rather have gray skies than what the Eastern half of the U.S. is dealing with right now - 100+ temps. Well, my brother and his family have that all the time in AZ, too. There are worse things than continual rain!