Taco Tuesday!

So we started theme nights at our house for suppers. This came about due to my desire not to be a short order cook as well as my desire to increase nutritious food intake and decrease bribing and negotiations every night. I assigned each kid a night and they got to pick the theme for supper. So now we have Pizza Monday, Taco Tuesday, Pasta Wednesday, Potato Thursday, Breakfast Friday, International Saturday and Wild card Sunday. It really has worked out well, we are going on 4 weeks now, and the kids are eating better. The rule is if you don't like the meal for a particular night, then you get the substitute. The sub is a cheesy roll up. No more cooking 3 or 4 meals a night. Anyway I really need a leftover night, things keep building up. Actually Dad's night is international and he pretty much gets screwed...no Chinese, Mexican or Thia foods yet. Tonight is breakfast so I should probably get cooking.

To-do list

So I knew it was time to tackle the nastiness that had accumulated on my bathtub. I called my hubby and told him to get some comet and yellow and green sponges. I was prepared. But of course I procrastinated a while. Not willing to commit the time or maybe effort to do it. Well then I got some news that was unfortunate and really annoyed me; actually pissed me off. Well nothing better than being pissed to get some cleaning done. So after 45 minutes of scrubbing and soaking and scrubbing some more I emerged from the bathroom feeling renewed. I mean I thought I had completed a major feat but was surprised when my oldest son came out of the bathroom and commented on how nice the tub looked. Nice that he noticed, it was sweet. Then my 9 yr old was like dude what happened to the tub? Yep few hours later my 5 yr old said wow mom the bathtub looks so different. But the funniest story was my 6 yr old who rushed out from the bathroom and told me of some ghosts that hid behind the shower curtain and cleaned the bathtub. Ok so how dirty does the bathtub have to get for 4 out of 5 children to notice and comment that it’s been cleaned? Maybe I should stick cleaning the bathtub a little higher on my to-do list?!

So its 2012

I decided one day that I would buck the system, go old school, resist the temptation and deactivate my facebook account. It was such a relief to not have to update my status or check my newsfeed during bathroom breaks. All was going well. Then I started missing things. Oh it was little things at first...a co-workers meal...a friends wardrobe choice...an old schoolmates daily horoscope. Then I started walking into half missed conversations. I hadn't missed the conversation, it had taken place on facebook. I started leading and ending conversations with "I'm not on facebook". Then the excuses started. I missed bridal showers, baby showers, 48 hour sales, birthdays, anniversaries...people were getting haircuts, new shoes, new spouses. People started getting married and having babies. All of this without my knowledge. Craziness was happening. And I was blind to it all. So after 6 months of this I decided to return to facebook, atleast to a select group of people. I dropped most of my friends, well on facebook anyway. They may very well still be my friends in real life, although some of them I wondered who they were, and how we were "friends". But I whittled my friend list down to just the family. Anyway my point is upon returning go facebook I rediscovered my blog. So here we are blogging away in 2012. Welcome back, dear readers.

Oh to soccer we will go...

Just a quick note as the boys are getting ready for their soccer games. Apparently I was very dedicated for all of 4 days with this blog. Now it is 10 months later. Wow! I will need to catch up with a few things on future posts, but off to soccer we go. Hunter is playing on the traveling boys team this year and had the opportunity to play forward this last game. He has set a goal to well... get a goal this season. The last few years he has played defense (left back) and so making goals haven't really been his priorty more like stopping goals. Jax has moved up to u-10 and has really met the challenge well. He is the smallest kids on the team, but no one told him that! Brodyn, well he isn't quite sure about this soccer thing. This is his 3rd season, and he is improving but I am not sure if he even likes it or not. He wanted to sign up, but somedays he really doesn't want to go to the games and the next day he does. What to do? Well off to soccer we go...

excuses

The boys are off to school. ITBS is wrapping up this week for my 3rd grader. My preschooler tried to convince us he needed to stay home from school today. First he tried flattery..."I would get so much smarter if I went to school at home with you Mom, you can just read me home school books." When that failed he tried a medical approach..."Uh oh I have the hiccups, you can't go to school with hiccups!" Then somewhere during the morning rush he had a change of heart and suddenly announced, "I am ready to go to school today!" Hmmm...don't know what is up with all of this as he loves to go to school without hesitation, and normally gets upset on the 2 days a week he doesn't have school. Maybe his little brother has been filling him in on how super cool Mom is and how much fun we have everyday at home? So we don't home school but my youngest tells everyone he goes to Mom school and his brothers tell everyone that he goes to school at home. So there in lies the confusion.

My 8 year old is turning 9 soon, and we are having a few friends over for a sleepover Friday. I suppose I need to get some work done. Laundry, the supper dishes from last night that I somehow neglected to get done...the boys did a great job of cleaning their bedroom last night, so that is done. I also need to decide if I am going to bake or buy a cake. Thursday's are allergy shot days, so I will be picking the boys up from school and driving 40 min's to the dr.

thanks

Thinking of all who have fought to give us our freedom, on this Veteran's Day. Called my brother who served in the Army and thanked him for just being him.

Someone mentioned to me that they didn't think we should have a special day to thank our military. I thought that was crazy until they explained that we should be thankful everyday not just once a year. That hit me...yep we definitely need to keep our troops, past and present, in our thoughts, hearts and prayers everyday. But I still think that we need, no they need, one day a year that as one a nation can come together and honor those who have given us our freedom.

The boys attended an assembly at school today for Veteran's day. That was cool, because it opened a dialogue about why we should be thankful and what the day is all about.

one sunny day

Company...company...company. Had a nice visit with Mom today. She came this morning to hang out with my youngest and I. My brother is also visiting but he went to hang out with Dad today, this was due to the normal level of confusion that occurs in our family. My in-laws were also suppose to be dropping by this afternoon, but unfortunately they were not able to make it.

We had a nice relaxing day catching up on work, friends and family. We were blessed with a beautiful fall day, so we spent some time out watching the ducks and chickies. Later my 3 yr old, entertained us by laying in the rectangle of sunshine on the kitchen floor. First it was his bed, then his swimming pool. Kids are so resourceful they really do not need all the fancy gadgets we buy them, give them a cardboard box and some sunlight and they are good. Ironically he wanted waffles for lunch and my 4 yr old woke up asking for a hot dog and cookie crisp. A breakfast surly made for champions. My 6 yr old came home with a note indicating he is reindeer #4 for his Christmas concert and he has a short line to learn. I asked him if he was Vixen, but he assures me he is reindeer #4. Cool.

Not to leave out my 8 yr old, who is taking ITBS this week and is pretty excited about it. I was concerned about # 2 pencils but he just looked at me, with his "Oh Mom" look and said the teacher has them. He was stressed tonight because his birthday is soon and he doesn't know what he wants. This led to tears prior to bed, and led me to be thankful that I have boys. I can only assume that this scenario would have been worse if he was a she. I am probably being naive and if I had been blessed with 4 girls would be taking the opposite side. But for now I choose to believe.

Oh I almost forgot... at supper, grace was led by my 4 year old, who pretty much gave the standard verbage, then my 3 yr old said "me next" and folded his little hands, closed his eyes, bowed his head and said "thanks for the chocolate milk".