party fun and Halloween preperations

so yesterday was my son's birthday party. we had it at an indoor playground with those huge bounce houses and slides all over the place. you know, an air conditioned Florida type party where the parents can have free wifi access and coffee while their children run around like maniacs for 2 hours. it went well.
it was so great, in fact, that another of his friends was having his birthday party at almost the exact same time. the other little boy is not in my son's class this year, so I didn't feel too embarrassed that we were both there at the same time and a few of the boys were party hopping from room to room because they had been invited to both. we finally just opened up the connecting doors and the kids had fun having a bite of his cake and our cake, our pizza/their pizza, they had soda, we had juice boxes.all in all, it was a lot of fun for the kids and my 9 year old had a blast.

the birthday boy in blue with some buddies(and yeah...he's a head taller than everyone and these boys are all the same age)












today was spent with me putting together a Lego race car. (my sister bought this for my son, and yes, he attempted to put it together and then had a whole handful of extra parts left over and the wheels wouldn't move and the only thing that looked right was the driver. so, I snuck it away and re-assembled the thing.)hey, I only had 4 parts left over when I was done. and the wheels spin.
now my daughter has decided she wants to have her birthday party here, too. fine. easy. except she has 10 months until her next birthday. she's a planner, that one.
speaking of planning, the kids have their Halloween costumes decided upon already! oldest son is going to be a Dementor(a present) and is thrilled. he is not so thrilled that I refused to buy the Dementor dead hands that can be added to the costume. they're creepy looking dead hands with long nails. we'll pass.
daughter has gone from being a princess to a dead princess to a flying monkey to a karate girl. she can wear her brother's karate outfit and that's pretty easy. little man will be a monkey. the whole costume is very fitting as I extract him dailey from high places that I was sure he could never reach and he does so with apparent ease. he also happens to love bananas. and, hey, the costume is cute.

PTA fun

OK, let me preface this statement by saying that I am not THAT PTA MOM that we all know. and you know what I'm talking about.... the Mom who is at school every flipping day and knows every member of the front office staff and cafeteria by first name and looks like she works there, but no, she is just hanging out at school everyday. I'm there maybe once a week. well, every other week.
so anyways, I volunteered for a job for the PTA. officially, every parent has to volunteer 15 hours per child enrolled each year at our school. not a lot, when you consider how long the school year is. an hour here or there. you can take home stuff from the teacher's to do at home.(I just cut out 22 "forms of transportation" for my daughter's K class). OK, so I can write down that I spent 1 hour cutting out shapes. easy, right?
apparrantly not.
apparrantly it is really difficult to even fill out the freaking form. the form that consists of your name, your child's name, and the teacher's name. mind boggling.
and how do I know it's so hard? because it is my job to add up all of the volunteer hours for the K parents. so I have gone in 3 times to do this so far. after the first time, I saw that the majority of the K teachers did not even HAVE the forms in the folders. I sent out an email to them, asking if they had them in their rooms? drop them off to Mrs. so and so and I will get them and I will file them for you.
no response.
I went in the second time, no changes.
I went in today, yeah...no changes. so, I asked the receptionist to print me up all of the K students names by class. I sat my butt down and filled out forms for all of these lazy ass parents and the book is now complete.
now, wanna hear the funniest thing? another Mom was there doing the same thing for
3rd grade. (and yes, my form was in there! lol) this Mom was huffing and sighing and making all of these exasperated noises next to me. I asked her if she was OK.(really, I wanted to say, "can you shut up? I'm trying to get this done and get out of here!") so she said, "ugh! half of these classes don't even have all of their forms! there are 3 forms for this class, 5 forms for this one. is that all the students that the 3rd grade has?". umm, no. 3rd grade is one of the largest groups. there are I think 6 3rd grade classes. so I tell her what I did, and she says, "oh, I didn't realize this job was going to be so taxing."
this job is taxing?
really?
what are you used to doing? going for pedicures dailey?
if that job is taxing, I would LOVE to know what this woman does all day.
oh, and I finished and left. she was still there, breathing heavily.

I have a 9 year old today!

my oldest is 9 today!!!!!!!!!
he is getting so big(tall big, he is as skinny as can be) and is loosing that babyish quality. his face is changing. he has different sized teeth all over the place. his hair is forever a mess. and he cannot make his bed for anything.
but, he is so much fun. he has such a good sense of humor, and loves to joke around with me:) he will tell me these intricate, long details about a certain Pokemon and I will listen intently and nod and oooh and ahhhh.
and then, he will finish and say, "you don't know what I am talking about at all, right, Momma?"
"no, not a clue".
and he will shake his head and laugh and laugh......
we had chocolate cupcakes and milk for breakfast. his favorite dinner is spaghetti, salad and bread sticks. and more cupcakes. he is having a party on Saturday with kids and then family....I can't believe next year I'll have a double digit little!!!!


first day of Kindergarten






first day of 3rd grade

so, perhaps I am having a midlife crisis

it just occurred to me that maybe that is what is happening to me. I am 38, turn 39 in January. I assume that qualifies me as middle aged.
let's see. I decided to write a book. I have had this thought in my head for a long time, but this is the first time I have actually committed myself to sitting down at least 3 times a week to seriously write it all out. the story is all in my head. but, it's long and it takes a lot longer to write it all out than what I had thought. but, I am working on it and I am happy with it so far.
I also just recently signed up to participate in the 2009 Walt Disney World Half Marathon. yeah, me. in an organized sporting event. go figure. I am doing it with a group from church for a charity and will post more info on this soon. (I have not gotten all of the info yet) so, yeah...13 miles. I can do that, right?
let's see, what else? I went blond and traded in the family mobile for a shiny red sports car.





yeah, that last part was a lie. I can't fit 3 kids into a shiny red sports car. and the man wouldn't fit in a shiny any color sports car. his legs don't fit in sporty cars. and, I don't have the patience for the upkeep on roots.



so all in all, writing a book and walking/crawling 13 miles for charity isn't so bad for a midlife crisis. I've seen much worse on TV.

yet another Houdini hamster

before I started this blog, we had an incident with an escapee hamster who went missing in our house for 7 days. we(well, I)was sure it had become a cat snack and that the hamster was long gone. we were so sure, in fact, that we got a new hamster. and then, I found the hamster in the garage at the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket. very hungry. very thirsty. and very loving and happy to see her owners again.
so, fast forward a couple of years and we are now on hamsters #4, 5 and 6. the latest addition, #6, otherwise known as Willow, has decided she can do what Puddles could do and do it even better.
she has figured out how to open an opening that was secure, and then close it so that when I walk by the cage to check on her and see that there is no hamster in the hamster cage, and yet the cage is completely shut and secured. she has done this successfully 3 nights in a row.
the first morning, I did not notice her until I walked by the kids' bathroom and saw her sitting on the closed toilet, on her hind legs, looking at me as if she were casually saying, "oh, hi Momma". I had to do a double take to make sure it was Willow, and not some stray mouse that had somehow taken up residence on one of out toilets.
the second morning, she was simply gone. we found her a few hours later in the kids' closet.
the third morning(yesterday), she was again, gone. we found her behind the TV.
I made the decision to move Willow from the cute little pink Princess cage that apparrantly is crap for containment to the blue, sturdy, unescapable(in 3 years)other hamster cage. so, we now have 3 female hamsters living together. I am going to find the same brand cage (bigger) so that they have a bit more room. they all get along well, so I'm hoping there are no hamster wars that break out.
the daughter was not happy about getting rid of the pink cage. however, after being forced to crawl around the house on her belly with a flashlight 2 mornings in a row to find her little friend, she agreed that Willow needed a stronger cage. on a more positive note, we found countless bouncy balls, cars, Barbie clothing and 2 spoons during the hamster searches.