Joking with Old People

At lunch today, Rhianna told me about a joke she told at school ...

Rhianna: And I said to this boy in my class, 'Crack my cracker!!!' Get it, Mama?! Crack my cracker! Crack my cracker! (she's laughing so hard during this she's nearly bringing her noodles up her nose)
Me: Uh, no, not really sweetie ...
Rhianna: (still laughing, but looking at me like I'm not too smart) You know, like a cracker that you crack in half? You know a "crack" in a cracker? Like a cracker that's cracked?
Me: I understand what the words mean, I just don't get the joke, babe.
Rhianna: Oh! (long pause as she stares at me) Well it's very funny to young people.
Me: Hey!
Rhianna: I mean people under 10 get it Mama; like 3rd graders. They think it's very funny.

I love conversations with my kids like this - they absolutely crack me up! :) Kids DO say the darnedest things! Not to mention that she's right, I'm not a young person, and that's why I didn't get the joke. But I'm not going to tell HER that. At least not yet. ;)

Ack! A Cat in the Bat's Belfry! (& Other Tales)

This picture of Sarah is too cute not to share - she climbed into Ronin's Bat Project. And as you can read from the sign over her head, Ronin's assigned bat was the Big Brown Bat. Apparently our lil' Sarah thought that the lovely attic Ronin created for his project would suit her JUST fine. :) As it does! We all love this lil' girl so much. She's such a personality; truly one of the funnest cats I've ever owned. :)

And since a post just about my silly kitten seemed well, short; I thought I'd show off my youngest latest tooth loss. :) Liam lost his 5th tooth last night (10/27/09). He's the 1st of my 3 to lose both top teeth. I am surprised and shocked it's taken this long for him, as he fell and hit those top two teeth HARD in preschool on a cement floor. Then at age 5 he fell off his bike and somehow managed to land on his front 2 teeth. Both times they turned black almost, both times they were x-rayed, and both times, with the help of Rescue Remedy and Arnica, they stayed in, and cleared from blackish, to gray, to white. :) Ah the power of Homeopathy! I will say, I think they've come out too soon still, as the 1st one out is only just finally showing a tiny hint of new adult tooth coming in, and this latest one - it's just an empty hole!

And last, but not least, here are my Texas Trips, in their Jerseys, for yesterday's Team Up Against Drugs day at school (it's Red Ribbon week - or drug awareness week I guess!). Rhianna is wearing Daddy's high school jersey and looking fine! Go Ft. Cherry Rangers! Liam and Ronin are Steelers, of course. :)

Pumpkin Patch Adventures

Yesterday I enjoyed a school field trip walk to the Pumpkin Patch at NWH UMC with my boys. Actually, I walked there with one boy and his class, and then met the other THERE, and walked back to school with him and his class. It was really fun, as always. They seem to never lose their enthusiasm for the pumpkin patch, and I LOVE that. Unfortunately, at Carson, 2nd grade is the last walk to the patch - so this was it for my boys, at least with their classmates.

And 2nd grade boys are FUNNY! Anyone with a 7 year old boy knows this - they are hilarious, silly, goofy, and fun. Of course, they do NOT hold hands with their moms - why that sorta shocked me I don't know, but it did. Liam looked at me like I was NUTS when I suggested it. LOL! I quickly regained my composure and just walked along with him and his friend, telling jokes and having fun. He was beyond glad to have me there, but too cool to hold hands. I understand.

Once at the Patch there was music, performed by Mister Mike, who just rocks year after year. The kids had fun, and all went home with a pumpkin. Liam picked a pumpkin pretty quickly and easily ... Ronin, who's class was 2nd at the Patch, had to look at every pumpkin in the place before making a decision. He's my shopper! Both had fun, and enjoyed getting away from school, and I really just enjoyed being with them, and loved the fact that I was still very much wanted at school field trips. :)

Coral Snaked Birthday

Is it, "red against yella, kill a fella"?? I don't know ... don't care, really. The Texas Coral Snake is SO purtty you forgive it it's poison. ;) Here's one I saved in my backyard (on my patio no less), from my two dogs. I was very impressed with how pretty it was. It wasn't until later I looked it up and found it to be poisonous... ah well, I would have saved it even KNOWING it was venomous as I hate to see a smaller creature get beat up on from two dumb doggies. Now, if the dogs were starving, or there was a baby crawling around, maybe I might not have picked it up and tossed it to the safety of our Yellow Jasmine. But that wasn't the case, and I saved this pretty snake.

In other news, Steve is once again old for 6 months - that means he's OLDER than me for the next 6 months; 6 months in which I remind him often how OLD he is. ;) Nice wifey, huh? He had a good birthday, complete with gifts and cake and even breakfast! Enjoy his lil' slide show...

And here's our lil' Sarah Smiles enjoying the wrapping from Steve's gifts. :) Ain't she a doll?!

Back To Pics from the Kids' MD Trip

You thought I forgot, didn't ya?! I didn't forget; life has been overwhelming and there's at least a million pictures to go through! :p

Here's one of my favorite pictures - this is my kiddos, with two of my oldest and dearest friends (Janet and Sam) and their kids (Nick, Delaney and Maddie). I so wish I could have been there! I haven't met lil' Delaney yet, and Janet and Sam had never met my kiddos. I am so thankful to everyone for setting up this afternoon in the Park, to meet my lil' guys. It means more to me than I have words to describe. :)




And now for a movie of the kiddos with our wonderful family in MD. The pictures are from the two birthday parties they attended there - Cousin Amanda's birthday AND Cousin Luz's birthday. How lucky is that? To have a trip filled w/so much fun and then also two birthday parties? They are blessed, to be sure. :) And uh, could Amanda's cake support ANY more candles?! hee hee hee!!

The Flu Bites [insert a comfortable and appropriate expelative here]!

The flu; the flu; the flu?! %*&*!!!! Oh what, what shall we do?!

In the past 4 years at our home, the words "the flu" were uttered, but without dread, or even fear of catching "IT". After all, each year, in September or early October, I went to Washington Homeopathic Works, and ordered our current flu season flu "vaccine". And with a monthly reminder on my Outlook calendar, I would make sure to dose the whole family from October to March, to prevent any of us catching the flu. For 3 of the 4 years it's worked PERFECTO! Last year, we did lose Liam to the flu, but I thought that wasn't bad - one kid in 4 years? Shoot! Those are odds I could live with! ;) Not to diminish bubby's bout with the flu - he suffered all right, but I also used the flu remedy to help him pass the stages of the flu more quickly. (It can be used as a preventative and as a medicine to move the symptoms along.)

Anyhoo - this year has been different. First of all, WHW doesn't have the 2009-10 remedy out and available yet. I *believe* they are waiting to add in the H1N1 as well. So it won't be available until mid-October. OK, fine I think. I dose the kiddos on September 1st, with last year's remedy, figuring hey, it's early anyhow, and this has always worked absolutely great. .Well not this year, at least not for us. I say US, because I mean the entire "Casa de Irish White Folks" in San Antonio. Oh! Here's a little sidebar - Steve and I, for our anniversary (lmao kidding), got flu shots together on Friday, September 25th, at my annual physical (S was with me, so he shot us both up - I didn't have the will to fight it) and I'm pretty sure Steve was surprised into it because he'd gotten to see my boobs earlier as I changed. ;) Now I haven't had a flipping flu shot for 4 years ... so lets just say I blame my old PCP Doc as well for all this. :p

Lil' Liam was the first to fall - he missed 3 days of school, and was sick with a fever on his daddy's birthday the Sunday before. Liam is the only one who went to the actual doctor ... and he was the only one FOR SURE diagnosed with the flu (not the N1H1 btw). Next Ronin fell, that would be on Monday night, when he developed a high fever. So on Tuesday I had two boys home, sick. Wednesday was the same ... then came Thursday AM - Liam returned to school, fever-free and tho no recess or P.E. was allowed for him, he was glad to get the heck out of our house. (I don't blame him, I wanted out too!) I woke as usual, but within the hour I was achy w/fever. So, now it's Ronin and me, and I'm getting worse by the minute. Eventually I ask Steve to come home, because I think I'm dying (have I mentioned I'm a TOTAL wuss with a fever?? Oh yeah, utterly ... I can bear a lot of pain, but fever kills me). Steve comes home, and he's still ok ... I asked him to pick up a script for TamiFlu for myself, that was originally for Liam (but Liam got better pretty fast, and never had a really high fever, so never needed it); I started taking it Thursday afternoon. Then our dear, sweet Babyluv came home from school, with the newly flu-free Liam, and she had a 101.5 fever. :( Oh no Babyluv ... :( And here I thought she and she only, would get to keep her P.A.N.T.S. on at school for having no days absent. How wrong I was. :( BTW - WTF up with this P.A.N.T.S. thing? Am I the only Carson Elementary parent who's fully offended by the "taking off of the pants" of a child who is out sick??? Anyhow, lovely big sister Rhianna came down with the flu too. So Friday AM, I am on the phone, getting scrips for TamiFlu for me, Steve and Ronin. I'm taking Liam's script, Rhianna is taking mine, Ronin and Steve are taking their own. Steve is taking his TamiFlu as a prophylactic ... trying to just keep it AWAY. I have procedures next week that I must be healthy for, so we're all working our butts off for health here.


Liam is up and at 'em, Steve is still great, I'm getting better, as is Ronin and Rhianna. For once, I am choosing Allopathic TamiFlu over Homeopathic Flu Remedy ... But I STILL cannot say the flu shot is a good thing, since I caught the f'ing flu w/i 6 days of receiving the shot. :p

Yay! Babyluv Loses Her 1st Top Tooth!

Rhianna-Banana-Bobana aka Babyluv, Babycakes, Rhi Rhi, Sweet Pea, finally lost her 1st top tooth! She was late - after her younger twin brothers - on losing her 1st top tooth, but I gotta say, she's cute as a freakin' button without it. :) It suits her sweet face just fine! Congratulations Babyluv! Lost on September 12, 2009 ... and the other top one is wiggly too!

Texas Trio's Trip to Maryland - The Bay & Ocean

My children (and I and hubs) were absolutely BLESSED this summer. This August they went to Annapolis to enjoy three weeks in of vacation, with my wonderful, amazing, patient, and beautiful Cousin, Amanda. :) (I could have gone on, but don't want to embarrass her!) I was and have been, having a hard time with severe depression, and as the summer wore on it got worse. Amanda suggested a trip to her place for the kiddos, that might do me and them, a whole lot of good. It was good for us all, however, I think that my children benefited in ways that cannot be thanked completely for, ever. They were exposed to DC, Ocean City, and a bevy of new folks. It was such a wonderful adventure!!!!

I benefited too, don't get me wrong, as did hubs. We even got to get in a wee vacation for our 10 year anniversary (1 month early), away, ALONE, together! Can you imagine?!?! We couldn't! LOL! It was a just a wee vacation to Corpus, but we enjoyed it very much, and knew we couldn't have done it without Amanda and her generous offer.

They were treated to so many things - honestly no way could one blog do it justice - and honestly, Cousin Amanda and Great Aunti M should be narrating, as I wasn't there.

The Texas Trio went ALONE, on their first ever plane ride that they can REMEMBER! (They have traveled twice before, they were just too young, or in the womb, and don't remember.) Yes, I was a nervous wreak, until they were in Amanda's hands. And until they arrived home, into ours. (see grainy slide show below).



Otherwise, I could not have been more confident that they were well cared for, well loved, and they had SO MUCH FUN!!! I mean, they were spoiled rotten!

So we'll just start with a few pics - as I said, I wasn't there and cannot really narrate this one. But I can show the pictures I was sent and given. :) Here are pictures from the two (or three) Chesapeake Bay trips and one trip to Ocean City, MD. They were UBBER impressed with OC, MD waves, as the Atlantic Ocean has WAY bigger waves than the Gulf of Mexico. And they loved the Bay Bridge, and the idea of being so close to the bay, that they could just go on a short trip by car to hang out in the water and sand.



Stay tuned for more. It could be a while, as I'm not very energetic, motivated or organized at all these days. However I'll try to share more and soon.

Mummies, Art, & Mysteries! Oh My!

My little ones went away for 3 weeks, to Annapolis, MD, to stay with my SAINT of a cousin and her family (including my Aunt and Uncle and various other cousins). I don't know if I mentioned it, or even when, so I'm saying it again.

Anyhoo - while there, they got a great treat of spending the night at their cousin Luz's Nana's house (my Aunti M, their Great Aunti M), and she took them on the adventure of a lifetime. To the Children's Museum. And since she is a wonderful, and poetic writer, I am simply going to be a lazy butt and link to her site. :) Ah ha ha! Genius, is it not? Most especially since she spent hours on a lil' slide show that is too cute. :) So, check out what the Texas Trio (as they are getting to be known), did at the Port Discovery Museum.... via Aunti M's blog "Insanity Prevails".

Loss of an Upper Lefty

Last night, Ronin lost his first upper tooth - the left one, just like lil' twin bro Liam. Now they have matchies! :) Unlike Liam tho, we can already see Ronin's new adult tooth coming in. So this adorable gap and slight lisp won't last long. :)

The tooth fairy visited, of course, and left a buck. She's a good lady (or Daddy in our case - he's best at altering his handwriting for a note from the fairy herself). :)

My big 7 year old, 4 teeth lost (or is it 5?) and starting 2nd grade on Monday! He's got a male teacher this year. He, from what we know of him, is a great guy. We're looking forward to a good year! (And more lost teeth!)

Lucky Number 21 Turns Into Lucky Number 22

And so, after 17 days of all three of my children being 7, my sweet, sweet Rhianna turned 8, on July 29th. :) She had a fabulous day, and choose the Rainforest Cafe for her birthday dinner, accompanied by a good friend, Sarah, her Grandmommy and her family. She asked for clothes this year, along with a cool chair from Justice for Girls, and received both (thanks to Grandmommy for the chair!!). She made out well, for sure. Her brothers and family took good care of her. And Sarah gave her the cutest carry around puppy ever. :) Enjoy the pics!




Oooo! Scary Tiger and beautiful Rhianna.

A big ol' collage from her birthday dinner. :) She had a wonderful birthday!

Mucho thanks to everyone for making her day special!

And then they were seven ....

And so it's come to pass, that my baby boy sons, have turned seven, on July 12th. Amazing, to me still, how quickly time passes with kiddos. In so many ways, it seems like just yesterday that we brought them home from the hospital, two lil' burrito baby boys, wrapped tight and snug in blankets. Seven years *sounds* like a long time, when you say it; but in the scheme of life, it's but a drop in the bucket, and it passes like lightenin'.

They received the most asked for pressies on their lists, and were ecstatic. Big sister, of her own accord, even planned a wonderful breakfast for them, complete with whipped cream for their waffles. It was a joyous morning indeed!


For their special day, a dinner out was planned, complete with Grandmommy and two close buds. Off to Chuck E. Cheese we went - "Where a Kid Can Be A Kid". I doubt I even need mention that they had a great time!






For their Mama, it was a wonderful birthday, however a bittersweet. The "sevens" in life are huge, in my opinion. 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and so on. They usually mark a huge change in one's life. I'm not sure what big changes they see lucky number seven doing in their lives, but I know for me, it means the solid end of babies and lil' boys. They're "big" boys now (in their humble opinion, they've been "big" boys for years now!); 2nd grade will start in a month, and the days of Sesame Street, The Wiggles, Dora, even Handy Mandy, are gone. Replaced by Bakugan, Pokemon, any kind of gun they can get their hands on, and worse, if they could talk me into it!

Happy Birthday my big boys; may you live long and prosper. :) I love you!

Nothing Is Fixed

I have finished Clane Hayward's 2nd book, a memoir, "Nothing Is Fixed". Her first book, "Hypocrisy of Disco ", which I read a year ago, brought me tears, brought up memories of my own past, and amazed me at how brave and honest Ms. Hayward was able to be with the world. Her 2nd book is just as honest, deep and brave. I thank her, for writing it. Once again, I could relate to her, tho in this book her life path verses way off and away from mine. But as in her last book, I could relate deeply to her desire to be normal, to be like other kids, and teens. I could relate to her constant and deep need to be loved, in any way she could - good or bad as it may be for her, at the time. Both books are worth the read. Head out and buy them.

There's a reason for this name

Chaos Ensues is my life. Lately the chaos has gotten worse, at least mentally. I'm delving into a past I thought I'd mostly left behind. Apparently not. The past has to be gone, forever, but I think you have to deal with it head on first. Which I'm desperately trying to do. It's hard, sad, depressing, and causes more chaos in my mind.