I'll take it as a compliment

Ri: "mommy you look just lovely"
Me: "thanks Ri"
Ri: "even when you were mad, you looked just lovely"

Back to school appreciation

This morning went surprisingly well. I must admit, I was expecting a very slow morning with a lot of "hurry-ups", "don't be pokey" and all the other "have you ......'s?" that go along with a typical morning. To my delight, things moved smoothly. I even got the back-to-school picture with all 5 kids! Never any easy task especially with Simon's dislike for group shots.

Supplies were labeled last night and backpacks filled. This morning lunches were made and children fed and not once did anyone (that's me) lose their cool. Woo Hoo!

The kids walk to school, so although it was drizzling a bit we were out the door (without umbrellas, they are on my to-buy list) by 7:55. Only had to step over 2 piles of dog poop on the sidewalks (seriously people, clean up after your dogs) and 1 pile of puke (poor little kid must have been really nervous).

Simon, Mary Kate and I came into a quiet house (well with the exception of a barking dog) and sat down for some breakfast. I checked my email and had a wonderful note from hubby that made me cry.

Just wanted to tell you that you are a Very Very Good Mother and Wife! Our kids are very blessed to have you as their Mom. Getting our elem school aged children out the door fully prepared, while offering to help the teachers, while entertaining the youngest, while getting them to after school sports, while responding to calls and emails from friends, while making my lunch and coffee, no complaints....etc.We are all blessed to have you and you should get a big dagum gold star. I love you. BP

I had been holding things together so well watching Andrew lead the pack as a 5th grader and Riley venture into a new building as a 3rd grader and then little Nolan, how did he become a first grader? The kids are all growing up so quickly and it was this morning that I wish I could make time stand still. Can't I hold them close a little bit longer? Do they really need to grow up? Thankfully, all the boys still seek out a big hug and kiss from me and like to be tucked in at night and snuggle on the couch for a good movie or sit at the table for a competitive game of cards. I pray the days never come to an end. OK fine, someday they'll have to snuggle on their couch with their own kids, but I hope to be held in their heart as they do these things with my grandchildren (gulp!).

Now as I sat at the kitchen table typing, Simon and Mary Kate have been sitting across from me with paper, crayons and scissors quietly playing together. All of a sudden, I felt this very strong tap on my shoulder and I looked up to find Simon cutting Mary Kate's hair!!! Now I believe this tap was Mary Kate's guardian angel. I said a "no" that had to have been 5 syllables long to Simon. He got the point and put the scissors down a little shocked that I would stop his hair cutting. Fortunately, not much was cut and it really isn't noticeable at all, but enough to warrant me taking a picture of the clump I collected.

Here's to a continued good day with creativity on paper rather than hair :)

Warning for Riley's future girlfriends...

Riley: "mom I'm never going to marry a girl that burps, pukes, toots and gets sick a lot"

Whew, glad we got that covered. Hopefully, he'll be a bit more forgiving when his wife has morning sickness....

Mary Kate may have a future in Mary Kay

After dinner tonight we were all sitting in the family room watching The Flintstones movie. Mary Kate was sitting very quietly on my lap (well actually it was more like lying alongside my hip). It wasn't until I looked over at her that I saw what was keeping her quiet.
It was most definitely a picture moment. Thankfully, the camera was charged and hubby was able to find it.

Biden's job description according to Riley

Riley: Mom I know what a Vice President does
Me: What's that Riley?
Riley: Well if Obama is sick then the Vice President fills in. Kinda like a princess filling in for a queen.

This is one of the reasons I enjoy taking Ri to do errands on the weekends. You just never know what he's going to say :)

Add "shoe sales" to my job description

This Summer the kids have been earning quarters for doing different chores and as a way for us to recognize respectful behavior towards their siblings and (more importantly) me. It has been working pretty well. There are times when they have to pay me (yeah), if the warnings have been given and the negative behavior continues. When they start paying Mom miracles begin to take place, their behaviors improve dramatically.

So we've been chugging along giving and taking quarters for a few weeks now and all the while I've been tripping over shoes. Shoes? Yes, shoes. Not sure of what the change has been, but all of a sudden the kids have stopped putting their shoes away. It really isn't a difficult task. We pull the van into the garage and right there in front of us is a shoe rack on the door as we enter the house. Pretty straight forward - shoes off, hang them up, close door, done!

So now the new rule is if Mom (that's me) or Dad find the shoes, we will take them away and in order for them to get them back they have to buy them from us. Yesterday, we were getting ready to leave for an afternoon at some friends house when I noticed Andrew walking around frantically looking for his shoes. Cha-Ching! Pay up buddy. A quarter a shoe and momma just made 50 cents!

Do ya think this is a taxable income?

Would someone please tell my daughter she's a girl

I knew it would be tough raising a little girl to be girlie when she has 4 older brothers, but some days I wish I could go back to the times when she would let me put the frilly dress of my choosing on her. The day usually begins with her removing her pj's and putting on whatever pj's of her brothers that she finds laying around...

Then once the boys are off at school or camp, she likes to raid their rooms for a little change of clothes. Most recently that entailed going into Andrew's baseball basket and putting on his baseball socks to have with her morning cup of yogurt....

At least I got her past the stage of wearing Andrew's football cup all the time (can't find the picture of that one) and of putting Simon's pull-up over her clothes...

There are many a day that I'm just thankful she's wearing something, because she'd certainly prefer to live in her birthday suit. Why be restrained by clothes?

I think the picture that most accurately captures my little girlie-girl is when she was outside swinging Easter morning with her dress flying in the air as she was grabbing her gun....

Love note from the Hubster

On Thursday mornings, the hubster is out of the house at 2:40 am to go to a Holy Hour Eucharistic Adoration, back home around 4:25 and heads straight downstairs to workout. He showers and then is off to catch an early train all before we wake up. Surprisingly, he is able to do this without waking up the house. When I woke up Thursday morning, I found a sweet thank you note on the table for him since I had made his lunch the night before. When I sat down with my laptop to have my morning coffee and catch up on emails, I was greeted by an email from my hubster with the subject line that read "Don't be freaked out but...." Oh sure, I won't freak out. What the heck, what in the world happened?? Here is the text of the email from him...

There is something living in the workout room. I was riding the bike and looked up and saw a black figure scurry across the door toward the furnace. Real nice that when in the middle of my Rosary I yell "Holy S__t!" I went to check when I was done with my workout and didn't see anything. So we should keep an eye out. I think it is probably a mouse like we have / had in the garage (might be the same one).I am catching the 5:56 train this morning.BP

Note to self, exercise isn't really THAT important! I'll be sticking to walking outdoors.

Coloring Nolan's world

Nolan loves to color. That is actually an understatement. Nolan colors every day, numerous times a day and will color anything. As you can imagine, we have a lot of crayons and with 2 younger siblings that like to break crayons we have more broken crayons than whole. The quantity of broken crayons is a problem with Nolan because he will dig through our tub-o-crayons until he finds a full size crayon in the color he needs. Nolan's addiction to crayons is actually comical. He tends to hoard crayons. He has been known to hide a box of crayons up in his top bunk away from the crayon-breakers. Hmmm, maybe I should seek out a "CHA" group for him (that's Crayon Hoarding Anonymous to you and I). Anyway, so when the pencil boxes from school were brought home and the number of broken crayons greatly increased, Nolan and I sat down to a little crafty fix to this problem. We made crayons! Not rocket science, but fun nonetheless.

We started by separating out all the broken crayons. Then we started peeling all the paper off of the broken crayons. This is somewhat tedious and great fine motor work.

Did I happen to mention that we have A LOT of crayons?

Once we had everything separated, I took an old mini-muffin pan and sprayed it lightly with Pam. If I had paper muffin cups I would have used them in addition to the pan.

We broke the crayons into smaller pieces and mixed up some of the colors. Put them in a preheated 250 degree oven. The melting time will vary. You will see there is a big difference between Crayola crayons and the cheap ones that you get from restaurants. Yes, we are "those" people that take all the crayons with us that they hand out to keep kids happy before the meal arrives.

Voila! Here is the final product. The mixing of the colors makes it fun. It would be neat to try different shapes/molds. There a few crayons that all but a small area melted, so there is still a crayon stick in the circle (as can be seen by the yellow one on the bottom left). This is because of the varying melting times. The yellow crayon must have been a Crayola!

Note, the above picture is not Nolan's normal coloring! He was just trying out all the colors and scribbling. Below is a sample of Nolan's coloring....

MK's chicken is my kitchen.

Me: "Good job getting undressed Mary Kate. Where does your pullup go?"
MK: - walks into boys room and throws it on the floor -
Me: "No Mary Kate, it goes in the trash"
MK: - surprised look - "Oh da twashhh"
Me: "Yes in the trash in the kitchen"
MK: - questioning - "In da chicken?"
Me: "In the kitchen, the trash can in the kitchen"
MK - "Oh, ok. In da chicken"

She continued to mumble "in da chicken" the whole way down the stairs.

Spaced out on Spaceballs

While the kids were eating their not-so-nutritious-artery-clogging meal from Mickey-D's, I searched the tv for something for the kids to watch. I'm looking for a somewhat peaceful night before they head off to bed. Wishful thinking, I KNOW! A woman can dream though....

Me: Ok guys, I have a hilarious movie you can watch. It's called Spaceballs.
Ri: No.... is it cartoon?
Me: No
Ri: I don't want to watch it (with a lot of WHINE)
Me: Fine, I'm going to turn it on and if you don't laugh in the next 30 minutes then I'll turn it off.

5 minutes later....

Ri: Mom are you recording this?
Me: Yes
Ri: Good!

So I won, however now that I am hearing it, I'm really beginning to rethink who won? Too many words that they kids don't need to hear ;( Why did it seem ok 20 years ago and now not so much? It's amazing how much kids change things for you...

Nolan seeking bride. Must be Amish.

Nolan - Mom, when I get married, I know where I'm going on my honeymoan (yes that's the way he said it!)
Me - Yeah, where?
Nolan - Dutch Wonderland
Andrew - Don't you think you should take her somewhere more relaxing?
Nolan - Like where?
Andrew - The beach would work.

Submerged

Saturday was a very big day for Riley. We went to a neighbors house for the afternoon to be a part of their yearly Memorial Day weekend gathering and to open the swimming season. My kids LOVE the water. Riley is probably the one that has always loved water the most, but what has always been interesting is that he has never gone all the way in the water. Ri doesn't think a hotel is worth anything unless it has a pool. Doesn't matter if it is 5x5 in size. Doesn't matter if it's indoor our outdoor. Just as long as there is a pool.


With all the love he has for pools there are somethings that he has never liked about them. Being splashed and putting his head under the water top the list. Big splash or a sprinkle of water, if he's not doing it to himself, he's not interested in it. Putting his head under the water is a NEVER! Even in the bathtub, he refused to go under the water. Showers are new within in the past few years and truth be told only because he wants to be just like Andrew. There have been many times that I've had to re-rinse his hair because he didn't like standing under the shower.


Well Saturday was a new day! The neighbors pool was packed and it was impossible to avoid the splashing, although he tried as best he could. I was at the baby pool with Mary Kate when I looked over and Riley was IN the pool up to his neck in water. WOW! I made a big deal about it, well as much as he'd allow me to without crossing the line of embarrassing him. A bit later, the hot tub was packed with a bunch of little bodies (because where else would you be on an 85 degree day, but in a 102 degree hot tub!). Riley was beginning to get a bit more daring in the hot tub and before we knew it he was completely under the water with goggles on and plugging his ears.

He was so proud of himself. When he came above water he immediately started telling me who I needed to email the picture too and then started calling people over to see him do it again and again and.... well you get the picture!

It is days like Saturday, that remind me of just how far Riley has come. His sensory processing disorder has kept him from so many things, but when he is able to learn to work through them the possibilities are endless!

Don't mess with his Mary...

...no matter how much she stinks! I took Simon and Mary Kate on some errands this afternoon and then rewarded them with a stop at a McDonald's with a play-land. There was another little group of boys around the same age that were playing there. Simon and Mary Kate were happily chasing each other throughout the play-land. About 10 minutes passed when I heard the other little boys laughing and pointing.

Simon: "HEY STOP TALKING ABOUT MY MARY!!!!"

The boys continued to laugh and point. Mary Kate was oblivious to their teasing and went on about her business of flirting with another little boy that had just shown up.

Simon: "I SAID LEAVE MY MARY ALONE, YOU ARE BULLIES!!"

OK now I figure I should see what's going on.

Me: "Simon what's wrong?"
Simon: "Mom those boys are calling Mary Kate stinky monster"
Me: "hmmm, do you think she pooped her diaper?"
Simon: "ummmm, yeah"
Me: "well I'm thinking it's time to go 'cause she is a little stinker, but those boys should have not been teasing her like that and we shouldn't make fun of people."

Now this is where I am REALLY proud of myself because when I looked up, I saw one of the younger boys in the group wearing his sisters princess shoes and I didn't say "hey Simon look at the little girly-boy". Now THAT would have been setting bad example wouldn't it?

OxyMORON

I was driving all over the Northern Virginia area today and while on my way home was stuck behind a car with the license plate that said "Vick 7". OK apparently he's a Michael Vick fan. No big deal. We are a house of Hokies and although we don't condone what he did, at a time we were fans. Maybe this drivers' license plates hadn't been up for renewal while #7 has been behind bars. Then while waiting for the light to change I realized that the below "Vick 7" was "I am animal friendly" with a little cat and dog on the side of it. Really? Must be a starving comedian.

Ummm, No Thank You Ri

Riley: "mom can I put fertilizer on you?"
Me: "no"
Few seconds later...
Me: "Ri, why do you want to put fertilizer on me?"
Riley: "so you can turn into a chicken egg and I can heat you"

Obviously, Ri is learning about the life cycle of the chicken at school. Clearly, we need teach the difference between a person and a chicken.

Simon's idea of a fun hike

Simon was getting ready to head out to preschool when I told him after school we'd be going on a hike. He got all wide-eyed (if you know Simon, you know the look well).
Me: "we can look for butterflies and flowers"
Simon: "but I want to look for snakes and lions"

I of course will be taking my camera along. I'm hoping to not come home with pictures of snakes and lions.

Ri needs to work on his photography skills

I was passing out the kids dinner tonight when Riley said he wanted to take a picture of me in his brain. He held up a an imaginary camera and gave a big "click".

Ri: "Ok, lets see you are wearing a Hokie shirt, glasses, sneakers and a little bit of pants..."
Andrew: "Ri she has her pants on, you can't just a wear a little bit of pants"

I will say that Andrew was just as shocked by Ri's photographic memory and even turned around to make sure that I was in fact wearing pants.

For the record, I was wearing a pair of capri pants.

The bad Angel made him bite his nails.

Me: "Nolan are you biting your nails again?"

N: "Yeah, I'm sorry. I'll try not to"

Me: "Good"

N: "It's just that the bad angel on my shoulder told me to and the good angel told me not to, but I listened to the bad angel"



If only we all could explain so easily why we choose to do things we shouldn't do.

Kudo's to the "A-Cups"

I went for my first mammogram today and much to my sister's dismay didn't take pictures or have a live video feed available for her comedic enjoyment. When my dear sister went for her first mammogram a few years back apparently she found it funny to imagine how it would even be possible for me to get into the boob-squishing machine and wanted to be there to see it happen. About 6 weeks ago, I felt a lump and after ignoring it for a week, I made an appointment to see my OB/GYN. It's funny I've never seen him for the "GYN", but always for the "OB" and as a matter of fact this appointment was really my 6-week postpartum check-up. I was only 2 years late :) Dr. Scott Forrest laughed and said he figured I'd just call my 6 week check-up in since I'd done it so many times before.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about the mammogram, I think it was a normal reaction and one that was mixed with many different variables. What if they "found" something? What would the future be? What if they laughed at me as they tried squishing my overly petite girls? What if it really did hurt as bad as EVERYONE told me it would? What if I really was THE smallest patient the doctor and mamo tech had ever seen (and at 5'7" I'm not talking about my height)? How would I handle any of the above scenarios?

Well today God sent Karen into my life and she was a true blessing to this nervous lady. Karen was the technician that did the looking, smooshing & pushing. I did get nervous at the beginning when she tried setting me up on the machine and had to stop and put a smaller "smoosher" on (as you can see, I am not hip on technical mamo-terms). She didn't even laugh at me and later told me that I could tell my sister that I got to the number 3 on the smoosher (I let Karen know that I was pretty sure M.O. would have made it to a 9 or 12).

It was the longest 90 minutes EVER, but 6 images and a sonogram later, I walked out of there with GREAT news, all clear! My petite girls and I are some happy campers tonight. There really was no pain, just some discomfort. So maybe the smaller the better is the rule for mamo's ;)

Cheeseburger Joes get 2 thumbs up!

Last week the Kraft Food and Family magazine arrived in the mail and it was loaded with lots of good recipes. I've been getting this magazine for a few years now and have found many recipes, but alas they've never been made. Not this month! I tore the magazine apart and placed the recipes in my handy-dandy-to-do-binder. Easy organizing, but unfortunately many a recipe have ended up in the binder never to be seen again. Well it is the second day of the school week and I'm on my second recipe.

The Cheeseburger Joes are basically sloppy joes, but no need for a can/envelope of "joe" mix. All the ingredients are already on hand. I of course had to double the recipe, so here it goes...

2 lb. ground beef - browned and drained
1 cup bbq sauce & 1/2 cup ketchup mixed together
Add sauces to beef, warm and serve on buns with cheese.

Add some cucumber slices and carrot sticks and dinner was served in under 20 minutes ;) That's my kind of meal.

Lions and Tigers and Bears.... OH MY!!

Yesterday we took a little Park Family Field trip to the Catoctin Zoo up in Thurmont, Maryland. We've driven by the zoo plenty of times on our way to visit friends in Pennsylvania, but have never stopped in. On Saturday afternoon, the Baker Family called to see if we'd like to tag along with them to the zoo. Without much thought (you know like what it would take to get 7 people out of the house for 7:30 am Mass, packing up a change of clothes for the kids and snacks for the car ride) we agreed. I've found these are the best kinds of outings and actually the most relaxing (yes that word can be used in the same sentence with "outing" & "5 kids").

The overall review on the zoo..... The Park's will be monkeying around at The Catoctin Zoo and Wildlife Preserve again! The kids were able to get far closer to the animals and see them much better than they ever could have at the Washington Zoo. No there are no pandas, but truly we've been to the Wash. Zoo before and never seen the panda's. Also no giraffe's or elephants. So what did they have? Monkey's galore, reptiles, lions, tigers, bears, wolves, fish, birds, jaguars, and the best part (according to the boys) were the 2 playgrounds situated throughout the grounds. We were there on the opening weekend, so there were actually a lot of animals that weren't back from their winter siesta's. It was still an awesome time. It was pricey and I think the next time we go we'll be purchasing a yearly pass. Yes, the kids had THAT much fun!

At least Beamer won't have cavities

Well we know Beamer has an affinity for sweets, but the good news is he's trying to practice good dental hygiene.

These tooth brushes were found a few hours after the "little" syrup mishap. It's not as if the kids leave them laying around on the floor, but Mary Kate is known for going into the bathroom and brushing her teeth with whichever tooth brush she can get her hands on and then passing it along to Beamer. She likes to share, we just need to focus that towards something other than the kids tooth brushes.

Poop Economics

Kids these days just don't understand how to make a few pennies. Back in my day the rule was "penny a poop" and boy did I learn how to make money. Our little "Gus" was a good pooper and better yet, I was a smart kid. I learned fractions at a young age and realized that the pooper scooper could also cut poops in half and therefore one poop became 2 or 3 poops! Now obviously I wasn't a rocket scientist or I would have also realized that I could have made up any number because no one was going to actually count the poops to verify the amount I had picked up. Hmmm, the money I really could have made.... Oh well!

So yesterday, the rain had stopped and the weather had warmed up a bit so I figured it was about time I ventured into the mine field of poop that had taken over the back yard. I was having a panic attack just thinking about the amount of poop I would be scraping off of Mary Kate's shoes if I didn't get out there soon.

Bag in hand, away I went about scooping Beamer's poop when I flashed back to Virginia Beach circa 1984 and all the poop I picked up each weekend before Dad would mow the lawn. Andrew has done some pickup for me, but it is usually because I'm busy and the poop-bomb is in his baseball running path in the back yard. His pick-up usually involves plenty of gagging and whining and carrying on. Surely, I never behaved that way? I was all about the money after all. When all was said and done yesterday, I figured my kids could have easily earned a few dollars and even more if they chose to do some chopping o'poop. I wouldn't have verified the amount, but would have been mighty thankful for the job being done. They may have even been able to pull a thorn or two.
I have to look at the funny side of things or I would really drive myself crazy some days and as I've said before, I do tend to grab my camera to capture some of the crazy things. Last Fall, I was cleaning up the backyard when I came across Nolan's missing plastic frog. He would never be able to play with the frog again, but I had to take a picture of its final days....

Beamer does have a history of eating things other than his food. I've found star wars Lego's protruding from his poop bombs along with Mary Kate's colored rubber bands, broken balloons and the absorbency from diapers. This dog loves diapers. The dirtier the better and the absorbency actually continues to absorb and comes out a nice fluffy looking poop.

So aside from the money that the kids could make and then use to help boost the economy of the local 7-11, there are many a laughs and gags that can be had from pickin' up the poops!

I have now exceeded my use of the word "poop" for the day!

Bill Clinton in need of a 6th grade sex ed class

Former President Bill Clinton needs to lay off the "O" Kool-aid, it's killing his brain cell(s) and making him look like (more of) an idiot than he already does. Apparently, he needs to dust off the Websters dictionary and maybe sit in on a basic 6th grade sex-ed course. He sat down for an interview with Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN to discuss Obama's allowance of further embryonic stem cell research.

Clinton: I think - the answer is I think that we'll work it through. If - particularly if it's done right. If it's obvious that we're not taking embryos that can - that under any conceivable scenario would be used for a process that would allow them to be fertilized and become little babies, and I think if it's obvious that we're not talking about some science fiction cloning of human beings, then I think the American people will support this....

With all due respect Mr. Clinton, YOU ARE AN IDIOT! Let me dumb it down for you. First step is an egg is produced. Second step sperm comes in contact with the egg. Third step the egg and sperm become one and then the cells begin splitting and ta-da you have an embryo. So in case I lost you, ONCE THE SPERM IS CONTACT WITH THE EGG IT IS FERTILIZED! So in reference to what you were quoted as saying above, it IS a "conceivable scenario" and they would become "little babies". So NO we will NOT support embryonic stem cell research.

Truly, the evidence and research is not even there for embryonic stem cells. There have been more cures and steps ahead in medicine as the result of stem cell's taken from other areas of the body that do not involve the killing of embryos. What about "cordblood"? They are full of numerous "adult" stem cells and could be incredibly valuable to research, but instead they are usually just discarded post delivery. How many thousands of babies are born each day? Imagine the research that could be done with all the stem cells that are literally thrown in the trash each day?

I'm all about finding cures and advancing scientific research. However, I don't agree with the destruction (Mr. Clinton that is another word for "killing") of embryo's. Especially, when there are other options.

For another thought/view on Obama and his undoing of the restrictions put forth by President Bush with the use of embryonic stem cell research check out this guys site. He's my new favorite read.

I'm scared of heights

Came across this nifty little height calculator and filled in the blanks to see what my future holds. I'm afraid, very afraid!
Andrew - 6'1"
Riley - 5' 11" (obviously very dependent on how well he eats)
Nolan - 6'2"
Simon - 6'2"

Mary Kate was too young to get an accurate height. Oh my goodness though, I do believe we have some recessive genes at work here. I'm only 5'7" and the hubster is 5'10". Maybe I need to start being a little nicer before they literally start looking down at me...

Simon Says "I gotta pee"

Well Simon says that ALL the time. I truly believe that his bladder is the size of an ants. This afternoon we had to pick Ri up from school and then I stopped by the house to wait for Simon to get home from pre-k. Simon hopped in the car, climbed over the back seat into the very back of the van to help himself to "one" Capri-Sun. Off we went to the allergist office to get Ri's allergy shot (only about a 15 minute drive). Riley was called back within 2 minutes of signing in, had his shots and then Simon announced he had to go to the bathroom. No big surprise. Riley took him to the bathroom and then back to the van to head home. 2 in-the-van pit stops the first at McDonald's for Ri, Simon and Mary Kate and then to Chic-fil-A for a salad for me. While in the drive-thru for MY lunch, Simon announced he had to pee. Really? Played this game before. "Simon we aren't getting out of the car. You just went and you are going to have to hold it for 5 minutes."

The crying and frantically grabbing at this pants begins (does that really stop it?). I patiently remind him again that he just went and we would be home in a few minutes (the calm voice was in over drive since at the same time I was putting my order in). Now remember I'm not dealing with a newly potty training child, he's been potty trained for 2 years now. Once we had pulled through the drive-thru and the crying calmed down, I actually thought maybe he finally "got it" and realized we'd be home soon. HA! Joke's on me.

We pulled into the garage and Simon was looking at me sheepishly.
Me: "What's wrong?"
Simon: "I peed my pants"
Me: "Why?"
Ri: "Well you told him too"
Me: "Thanks Ri, but I didn't think he'd do it"

OK so fine while using my calm voice, I may have said (very sweetly) something to the effect of "well then I guess you are going to pee your pants". I didn't think he'd REALLY do it!

Once he was changed and I was done eating, I went out to clean out the car and discovered that the "one" Capri Sun was actually THREE!! No wonder he had to go to the bathroom. I guess he doesn't have the bladder the size of an ant, but he just drinks too much (secretly). We'll be adding that to the list of behaviors to change.

Why Riley won't be a Pirate

Ri: "I don't like Pirates because they drink a lot of alcohol, they don't follow Lent, they say a lot of bad words and say the Lord's name in vain"

This conversation all came from him seeing an A&W commercial in which people were drinking out of a barrel. He must have drawn a connection to Pirates and then felt it necessary to reassure us that he wouldn't become a Pirate.

Some day I'll just need to write a book about Riley. He cracks us up. I've said it many times, we are so blessed with him and I think every family should have a Riley ;)

Beamer's Sticky Mess

Yesterday morning I was full-throttle into the Tuesday morning rush when everything came to a sticky screeching halt! I had just let Beamer in from being in the back yard and he seemed to cower away from me. Very strange since more often than not if I'm moving he's right under my feet. As I was running to take a shower, I found Beamer "hiding" in his crate and he wouldn't come out. I was thinking he's either sick or he did something REALLY bad. I pulled him out and there was a familiar smell, but not one that would normally be associated with dogs. Hmmmm, did he get a hold of Simon's plate of waffles? He sure did smell like syrup. I ran downstairs and was reassured that Simon's plate of waffles had not been attacked by the dog, BUT the Costco size FULL bottle of syrup that was on the pantry floor was now 1/4 full and laying nicely on it's side (the cap was left inside the pantry as he was trying to drag this into the other room)....

Fortunately, for the dog and kids sakes I tend to have a semi-decent sense of humor about these situations and choose to grab the camera before reacting. Like the time I heard the Costco size box of Frosted Flakes being dumped on the floor by Simon. Maybe what I need to do is stop shopping at Costco??

So I ran upstairs, camera in hand, planning to snap a picture of Beamers sad face, but instead found him getting sick. DUH! A bit too much sugar for you? It was 9:15 and I had yet to get showered and Simon needed to be in Chantilly at 10:00 and Mary Kate wasn't yet dressed. After smearing the syrup all over the floor with a roll of paper towels, I grabbed the vinegar and voila! the sticky mess was gone. Beamers crate would have to wait until I got back.

I left the back door cracked so that Beamer could come and go as the syrup was working its way through ;) This I would find was going to be a blessing and burden. When I walked through the door at 12:30 he was running around in the backyard terrorizing the poor neighbor that was gardening. Beamer came running into the house and it appeared as though he was wearing some kind of camoflauge dog sweater. NOT! That "sweater" would instead be all the leaves that were not raked up 3 months ago caked to his body! Beamer was now a walking leaf pile. No I did not get a picture of that, you may use your imagination.

I won't lie, I did take some pleasure in bathing him and not-so-gently pulling the leaves out of his fur. Love this dog, but seriously it's like having 3 toddlers!

It's in the bible

After watching the movie "School of Rock" with Andrew tonight, I asked if he thought Ri would like this movie and he said he would.
Me: "yeah, but we have to make sure the bad words aren't repeated like A - double S"
Hubby: "well it's in the bible"
Andrew: "yeah, Jesus road the ass down to Jerusalem"

Riley's thinking ahead

Ri: "when I grow up my job is going to be the president, but if I lose then I'll be a priest"

Have I said yet today how much having Riley around rocks? Every family should have a Ri ;)

Lenten Sacrifices

This year I've done decided to do things a bit differently for Lent. In years past, we've abstained from meat on Fridays, given something up (candy, coffee) and worked on something personal (usually held within our hearts, but not spoken of). We've never required any sacrifices from the kids other than abstaining from meat. For the past few years, I've seen many ideas floating around the internet full of great ideas of things families can do together in preparation for Easter, but I've always been overwhelmed at the prospect of implementing anything. Not this year! I've been confined to the house since Monday afternoon with sick kids and this has allowed me to put some plans in place. No errands to run. Caught up on the laundry. Today, Ash Wednesday, was the perfect day!

It's really nothing spectacular to the outside world, but for me I feel as though I have had quite an accomplishment. I found a site for making a "Crown of Thorns" and enlisted the help of one sick child to help place the thorns (grandma also helped out when she stopped by). With the leftover salt dough, I made crosses for each child. I then typed up a list of our families planned sacrifices. Later tonight, everyone will sign the list and it will be posted on the pantry door to remind us of the sacrifices we'll be making to help draw us closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pumpkin is the flavor of the week

This past Sunday since we were planning on going to the later Mass, I made a nice big breakfast for the family. Pancakes, eggs, bacon and a batch of pumpkin pancakes. The kids avoided the pumpkin pancakes (I didn't complain because truth be told I made them for me:). When we got home from Mass the hubster was helping himself to the leftover pumpkin pancakes when Nolan decided he would try them, then Andrew jumped on board the eat-from-dad's-plate train followed quickly by Simon and Mary Kate. They loved them and unfortunately for dad, they ate them all up. They chose to eat them without syrup and revert back to medieval times by using their hands to clear his plate.

I have since been asked to share this recipe by a few people so here goes...
2 cups Bisquick
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
Mix above ingredients and set aside.
Thoroughly mix the following ingredients and then stir into the Bisquick mixture.
2 eggs
1 12-oz can evaporated milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Scoop onto a hot griddle. The batter is VERY thick in comparison to regular pancakes and I ended up adding about 2 tbsp. water to the batter. When I scooped it onto the griddle, I had to spread it out a bit. I LOVE my counter top griddle! It looks something like this, unfortunately I don't think they make my version anymore. I consider the griddle one of the most important appliances in my kitchen since I can do 8 grilled cheese sandwiches at one time!!

Got Laundry?

Guess what we were up to today?

I'm usually very good at keeping up with the laundry, but for some reason I am much better at doing it during the week. I guess because it is just part of my daily routine. When the weekend rolls around, routine's are more of a distant memory and then I get knocked over Monday morning with the reality of a large family. This past Sunday I did realize that I had yet to run the washing machine all weekend and thought about starting a load, but instead put it off until Monday. Well Monday rolled around and my Costco shopping list had become far too long to put off any longer. Fine, I'll work on the laundry after Costco. Well the van was unloaded and grandma was getting ready to leave (the list was too long to have had kids tag along with me), when the phone rang and Nolan was running a fever and needed to be picked up. Did I mention that I had yet to get a shower in and it was now 3:00? I picked him up, lined up a babysitter to watch him while I took Andrew and Ri to CCD and then to Karate. Got home, put kids to bed and the last thing I wanted to do was attack the mountain o'laundry. So this morning, while Nolan and Simon were laying low with fevers, Mary Kate and I decided to start the laundry. I don't usually take pictures of my dirty laundry, but this pile was just too much. I am happy to say that it is now 3:00 and all the laundry is washed and folded (with the exception of the one load in the dryer) and will be put away when Mary Kate is up from her nap!

This is how I define a successful day!

Vlasic's anyone?

We went to a late Mass yesterday and were heading home around 2:00 trying to figure out what to have for lunch. But the kids were thinking ahead...

Andrew: "hey mom what's for dinner"
Me: "hmmm, I'm thinking horse poop and pickles" (side note - my mother referred to this as "HS&P" when I was growing up, so at least I didn't say "s")
Nolan: "but I don't like pickles!"
Simon: "I like pickles, I want pickles mom"
Hubby: "but how about the horse poop?"

Clearly, the kids just don't have the same immature sense of humor that we are still clinging too. Not one of them even giggled about what we were saying. Instead, when we got home and I was putting everyones lunch on the table, Simon looked at his pizza and said "no, I want pickles". So out came the jar O'Vlasic and eat away he did. Oh in addition to curry chicken salad and leftover pumpkin pancakes and then finally the pizza I had initially put in front of him. Yes he is the family garbage disposal (when it isn't being fed to the dog by Mary Kate).

Where does pee go Simon?

May seem like an appropriate question if you are asking a 3 year old potty training little boy, but for a 4 1/2 year old? NO! However last night, we had a busy night of dinner out and taking the kids to the school book fair. As you can imagine the boys were completely wound up when we got home and it was already inching past their bedtime which can result in some bizarre behavior. I was in the kitchen when Nolan yelled down the stairs "Mom! Simon peed in the trash can!" At this point I took the steps 3 at a time, only to find Simon standing at the top of the stairs saying he was sorry with the grin that can melt your heart and make you want to scream all at the same time spread across his face. Apparently, there wasn't enough room around the toilet (I really should consider on-the-wall urinals) and so he just shot it into the trashcan. Now I don't know what is worst, the fact that he did it or that Andrew looked in the trash can and justified it by saying "oh it's just a few dribbles mom".

For the record, I don't consider enough pee to cover half the bottom of the trash can as "just a few dribbles". Clorox wipes to the rescue :)

In case he swallowed a dry erase marker

I was standing in the kitchen this afternoon when Simon walked up, grabbed the bottle of cleaning spray for a dry erase board, put it up to his mouth as if it was breath freshener and sprayed away. I was speechless for about 3 seconds and then screamed for him to stop it.
Me: Simon why did you do that?
Simon: I don't know.
Well OK then. I don't know what kind of response I really expected. It's a Simon thing!

You Decide, Compliment or Insult?

In the van heading to Mass
Nolan: "I smell something good"
Andrew: "Yeah mom you smell good"
Me: "thanks it's the cologne you bought me for Christmas"
Andrew: "I thought it smelled familiar"
Simon: "Yeah, I smell gas"

Thanks Simon! It's a good thing he sits in the very back of the van :)

Future Custodian

I was coming downstairs after getting Mary Kate up from her nap when Beamer greeted us on the stairs with an empty Capri Sun in his mouth. Great! Nothing like finding juice all over the floor. I looked around the kitchen and found Riley with a sheepish grin on his face as he was pointing to the floor. On the floor was a napkin with "Wet Floor" written in pencil across it. I asked if he had cleaned up the Capri Sun, nope that was from the water he spilt. Now I'm just waiting to find the puddle of fruit punch flavored Capri Sun. Oh and of course it isn't the dye free juice!

Crazy Food Names

Crabby Patties, Pink Fish and Frog Sauce could be on the menu any lunch or dinner in the Park house. Sound gross? Well don't be fooled by the name, it just takes a bit of creativity to put some excitement into meal times. We started the naming of meals back when Andrew was a toddler and at the time many things were named after The Wiggles. He is now one of my best eaters :)

So for those of you haven't been visiting during meal times and/or may be watching my kids during meals here are some definitions..

Crabby Patties are taken from a Sponge Bob episode, but I believe they were burgers in the show (I'm still trying to figure out that show). Nothing fancy for us, just a chicken patty on a bun with or without ketchup and sometimes with a slice of cheese. We've also been known to use these crabby patties for making "poor-man's chicken parmesan" - layer sauce, crabby patties, slice of provolone cheese, more sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese.

Pink Fish to most people is boring old salmon. The kids will eat baked salmon, but for a quick meal, I take a can of salmon (Costco's is the BEST), add a little mayo and sprinkle with Emerils all purpose seasoning. Spread on Ritz crackers and a meal with a good amount of Omega -3 fatty acids is ready :)

Frog Sauce was born out of desperation for making pesto sauce sound like something the kids would like. What boy wasn't going to get a kick out of frog sauce? It worked and they love it on noodles and tortellini.

Which child should we leave behind?

While researching a possible family trip to Florida via the Amtrak Auto Train, I was given the following error message...

"We were unable to process your request: Please correct the error(s) shown below and resubmit.

Problem with Too Many Children: Our fare rules provide that no more than two children per adult may travel at the children's discounted fare. Children exceeding that 2:1 ratio must travel at the standard adult fare. To continue, please use the Fare Finder tool and re-characterize any children exceeding the 2:1 ratio as "adults". Please note that infants (under age 2) do not count as children for the purpose of determining an acceptable adult/child ratio. [Error ID: 540S]"

So either Andrew becomes an adult or Mary Kate doesn't count as a child because she's under the age of two. Then what is she and is it time for Andrew to get a job to help pay for the vacation???

I'm A Wonder Poacher

The kids had "silly dinner" tonight, also known as pancakes for dinner. I really wasn't in the mood for pancakes, unless they were pumpkin pancakes and I knew that there would be at least one member of the family that wouldn't have eaten them anyway (if you guessed Ri, you were right). The hubster came home in time to take two of the boys to karate and I took care of bathing the 2 boys left behind. Mary Kate likes to stand outside the tub and terrorize the boys by threatening to turn the shower on (I know she has succeeded when I hear the blood curdling screams).

While waiting for the inevitable scream to beckon me to the bathroom, I figured out what I wanted for dinner. Poached eggs! Random? Yes. I knew we had an egg poacher that I believe was given to me by mom back when we first got married, but getting my hands on it and trying to remember how to use it was a whole other story. Google to the rescue. I panicked when the only links I was coming across involved boiling water and slowly pouring cracked egg into water?? Uh oh, I was now desperate to find my poacher and directions for how to use it. I did find it and saw that it was made by Duncan Hines, I guess they used to do more than cakes and brownies. I finally found directions online for the "perfect poached egg" using a poacher.

Kids were out of the tub and gathering up books that I had promised to read after I ate (I really was obsessed with eating the poached eggs). In under 5 minutes, I had 2 slices of toast with butter and 2 poached eggs PERFECTLY made! Definitely hit the spot, so when hubs got home he was treated to my poaching obsession too :)

A funny conversation while I was eating...
Mary Kate: "zat momma?"
Me: "that's mommy's eggs Mary Kate"
Nolan: "Mommy how old are you?"
Me: I told the truth, not sure why he needed the age though "34"
Nolan: "Mary Kate, when you are 34 you gets eggs too"

The "hair cut" that made me run

Simon: "Hey Mom, Mary Kate is cutting my hair!"

I turn around to find that Mary Kate is "cutting" Simon's hair with the egg covered fork and knife that were on my dinner plate (see previous post regarding my dinner). Great! Go figure he had JUST gotten out of the bathtub too.

Don't worry though, Beamer was sure to help with re-cleaning Simon's hair. I was sitting on the couch reading a pile of books to Nolan, Simon and Mary Kate (OK, well she was actually just getting up and down off the couch while everyone else was trying to listen to the book), when Beamer perched himself up behind Simon and was licking away. He too liked my poached eggs :)

Educating telemarketers

A paid telemarketer calling on behalf of SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving) called the house this evening during a time when I had a little bit of time on my hands, so I decided to finally answer the call. See for the past 3 weeks the same number had been calling 508-281-6565, but never leaving a message. I was a little intrigued by their persistence.

Fortunately for me, I have my laptop in the kitchen and google was already open and ready when I picked up the phone. When she told me she was calling on behalf of SADD, I immediately typed in "SADD and Planned Parenthood" into the google search engine ( I LOVE GOOGLE). Up popped a list of links and sure enough I found exactly what I needed all before she was done reading her script.


caller: "....so can we count on you to give $25 this year?"
Me: "um no..."
caller: "how about $10 like you gave last year?"
Me: "well actually, while you've been talking I have learned that SADD is linked with Planned Parenthood and I can not in good conscience provide any more financial support to your organization"
caller: "we aren't affiliated with planned parenthood"
Me: "if you'd like to go to your website and to the links, scroll 3/4 of the way down and you will see that SADD provides a link to planned parenthood for teen pregnancy"
caller: "wow I wasn't aware of this at all...." (she then went on to babble about teen pregnancy)
Me: "I'm sorry I can not and will not support something that has a link to planned parenthood. Planned Parenthood is responsible for 50 million deaths in the past 36 years. I like Whole Foods and I can't shop there because of their outright link with Planned Parenthood. I would love to do a "race for the cure", but I can't support Komen foundation because of their work with planned parenthood. I highly encourage you to search company "xyz and planned parenthood" if you'd like to see affiliations"
caller: "thank you and if you ever have any questions please ....."


I tuned her out at this point. Do you think she really heard what I was saying. Part of me says she did. She was a little shocked when I first said something about it. I'm just trying to make baby steps in the pro-life movement for all those babies that were never given a voice.

Now does this mean I support students going out and drinking and driving? Of course not. Do I think that all the money that I donated to SADD last year (the whole whopping $10) went to fund an abortion? No. But what I do know is that if a girl in a crisis pregnancy happens to visit a Planned Parenthood, they will do everything to protect the man involved and make her life "easy" with an abortion. So no, I can't support the telemarketers that call when I am able to point out an affiliation with Planned Parenthood. Will SADD remove the link because of little old me? No.

I am always very pulled because I have dear friends that have been effected by abortions and people that have lost loved ones to drunk drivers. When will businesses stop affiliating themselves with the evil that is Planned Parenthood? Maybe when more people educate themselves and stop providing them business.

Nuggets with a hint of lavender

I was emptying the dishwasher this evening while also dishing out the kids very nutritious dinner of chicken nuggets, doritoes and grapes (ok so there was some nutrition in the meal) and calling them to the table. Once the kids were all seated and debating whether or not Ri would eat the nuggets, I found something I never thought I'd find in a dishwasher. Apparently, Mary Kate must have wanted a little more flavor washed into our dishes because she put 2 lavender scented fabric softener sheets in the dishwasher. I must say they held up pretty nicely though during the wash, they were still in once piece at the bottom of the dishwasher.

Buon Appetite!

Movie time guessing

Kids are pooped after playing in the snow, so they are settling in for a movie. Instead of the usual battle of picking the movie, I decided I would pick and there would be no arguments. These kids are nuts, typically when I put a movie in they will guess the movie within the first 10 seconds of the first preview on the DVD.

So the guessing begins... "I know" is unanimously screamed. I tell them to come whisper in my ear. Andrew says in my left ear "Journey to the Center of the Earth" while at the same time Nolan was whispering in my right ear "I don't know tell me". Nice try Nolan! However I will give him props because by the time he got back to the couch and they were 15 seconds into the first preview sure enough he yelled out "RV!" Righto!

Happy Chinese New Year

Simon: "ouch"
Me: "did you put them up your nose?"
Simon: "yes"
Me: "Simon you don't put chop-sticks up your nose"
Simon: "OK"
Nolan: (from the other room all matter-of-fact) "hey remember when I did that with french fries?... (mumbling something)..... but we still got ice cream"

May rethink this college thing

Ri: "hey mom do colleges have recess?"
Me "nope"
Ri: "oh that's boring"

Feeling the love

We were just finishing up dinner tonight when Simon came back to the table to say he was hungry.

Me: "Hmm that's interesting Simon, maybe if you had stayed at the table and eaten with us then you wouldn't be so hungry. Your plate's been cleared and we are done eating, looks like you'll be hungry until breakfast"
Simon: "No, I'm hungry, you go away mommy"
Me: "Sounds good to me, you can finish up the dishes"
Hubs: "OK, I'll go on the internet and look for a new mommy. Maybe from Russia."
Andrew: "hey how about Puerto Rico"

Gee Andrew thanks for the love and support! Oh and he's not going to bed hungry, he decided to have a cheese stick and yes he had already eaten half of the dinner we had given him before he decided he wanted down from the table.

Riley on the weather

After school today with big concern-filled eyes Riley came up to me and said "mom, I'm very sad".
Me: "What's up?"
Ri: "It's warm out and you know it's winter, maybe Mother Nature made a mistake and did this wrong"

And then he was off to play outside in this unusually warm weather. 60+ degrees in January, I'll take it for a quick break from the freeze. I am still holding out for a school closing blizzard though :)

Serving the Customer

This past Wednesday I had lunch with an old friend. I say "old friend" not because of her age, but because I worked for her 17 years ago when I was employed at "The Lodge" in Lake Forest Mall. I was a high school senior and it was my first real job (other than working at pizza hut in Virginia Beach). During lunch we got to talking about customer service and how there just seems to be a total lack of truly serving the customer in this day and age. We reminisced about the days of bending over backwards to help customers and how we had repeat customers that would come back because of the fun and friendly environment we provided. We truly loved our job and it showed. (Side note: we were NOT on commission sales, so it really didn't pay to do all we did. Our paychecks were going to be the same regardless of how we treated the customers.)

In my opinion, that kind of customer service is very hard to come by. Sure you could go to some of the big fru-fru stores at the local malls and get some decent service (realize though that they are receiving a commission which explains the ridiculous prices), but be sure you are dressed in your best. If you want some attention, don't even think of stepping foot in one of those shops without your Coach bag, make-up on and the most expensive designer jeans you can get your hands.

Now on a positive note, I have had two very good experiences recently. First, if I ever have a choice of taking kids to a fast-food establishment during the day there is one place that has top-notch service - Chic-Fil-A off Liberia Ave. in Manassas. If you go through the drive-thru you hear things such as "how may I serve you today" and "I look forward to serving you at the window". WOW! Then when you drive up to the window and they are smiling and appear to be truly happy to be serving you, it takes you by surprise. But it's not just the drive-thru where their customer service shines. Go inside and they are just as pleasant at the counter. Have a seat and within a few minutes, a very nice woman walks by and offers to get refills for you. Double WOW! The only downside I can find with Chic-Fil-A is that they use peanut oil, so that keeps us from being able to take Ri. Not a big deal and certainly not a deal breaker with regards to being a customer of theirs (he wouldn't eat there anyway since waffle fries aren't on his "like list").

My second positive customer service experience happened this morning at Payless in the Chantilly Crossing Shopping Ctr earlier today. I was in the shop with my 2 young escape artists trying to fit Mary Kate with new shoes (apparently she takes after her Godmother and is VERY picky). The first thing the sales associate said to me was "how can I help you, would you like me to measure anybody today". Fabulous, usually I'm wrangling them down to get their feet measured (the kids and sales associates). Off we went to try shoes on and within minutes she was over to provide further assistance all the while helping the 2 other families that were in the store. When it was time to pay, she said "so where are the rest of the kids?". I had to think a minute, did I leave someone? did someone really escape? No, she actually remembered my whole crew plus my 2 nephews coming into the store back before Christmas on a Sunday afternoon. Now THAT is good customer service. Makes me feel special and no I don't think it has ANYTHING to do with the fact that my kids probably terrorized the store that Sunday afternoon and more likely that it was that she remembered what angels they all were. WAKE UP MARGARET YOU ARE DAYDREAMING AGAIN!! I do so enjoy visiting la-la land every so often ;)

I do think that it is important to recognize good customer service and to spread the word when you receive superb service. This can be done by word of mouth to friends/family, by filling out customer care cards, completing surveys that can be found on your receipt or making a call to the store to speak to a manager. I think the positive feedback goes much further than negative comments.

"Only"

WARNING!!! I'm now putting on my nutrition/fitness hat. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about the use of the word "only" and what a negative meaning that 4-letter word can have or imply.
"I only lost 2 pounds." "I was only able to get a 20 minute workout in today."

How depressing and deflating those statements can be. Since I have been providing some help and guidance (hopefully encouragement too) to an online diet group, members have been reporting in their individual weight losses and I must say they've been doing GREAT! But it saddens me when I see the "I only lost x pounds". ONLY? No it should be emphatically "I LOST X POUNDS!" Woman beat themselves up enough as it is and unfairly compare themselves to others that maybe the "only" comes in response to not feeling as successful as the others that may have lost more. One of the members of the group, provided a great visual when she said she likes to look at the weight loss in sticks of butter. 4 sticks of butter = 1 pound of weight. Awesome way to look at it! Next time you "only" lose 5 pounds, go buy a 5# bag of potatoes and carry them around for an hour. How do you feel about the 5 pounds now? There is no belittling the weight loss, rejoice in every ounce that is gone and consider it banished!

Only a 20 minute workout? Well that's a heck of a lot better than zero minutes! Don't diminish the work put into the workout with an "if only" kind of a statement. Positive outlooks and thoughts will produce positive results with the desire to keep on keeping on!

March For Life

I am at home reflecting on this day in history and how many millions of lives have been lost to abortion and the numbers of lives forever changed because of a choice made. Was there really a "choice" for these woman? What were they told their choices were? Adoption? To think the number of empty arms that could have been filled with the babies that were taken by abortion. Were the babies given a choice? Did they choose to have no future, no voice? Oh how I wish I could have been down in DC for the annual March for Life, to give a voice to the millions that were never given the opportunity. Instead, I'm home praying for the future demise of Roe v. Wade, for the nightmare called FOCA and for all the babies without a voice of their own.

I'm looking forward to Barbara's blog entry and pictures of today's events. Lord knows the mainstream media won't be providing any detailed coverage of the March. How did we ever get by before the internet?

The marriage - job link

Nolan, my 6 year old stereotypical middle child, gave some insight into the economy this morning. He stated very emphatically, "Well actually, I do want to get married cause I want to get a job". Hmmm, where do you go with that one? If everyone would just get married, then everyone would be employed? Get married and get a job so you can be out of the house? A marriage will be his job?

I chose to just stop with my deep thoughts and chuckle at the funnies that are always coming out of their mouths. How blessed we are, when we listen to their deep thoughts instead of our own.

He's a walking commercial

This morning Riley was eating his 23 french toast bites, (yes you read that right, 23, he's on a weight gain diet), when I guess he realized it was time to educate his mom (that's me:)

Ri - "Hey mom you need to get me some Arthur books"
Me - "Arthur books? Sounds good, but why Arthur?"
Ri - "because they are at the local library and we can find Arthur books and other cool things at the local library"

Maybe he has a future working for PBS. Apparently, Riley hasn't figured out that I have a very strange phobia with public libraries and that is why we always order from either scholastic or amazon.com!

Downsizing hits the Park house

OK, no I didn't leave a kid at Target or follow through with the threat of giving the naughty one to my neighbor for a few weeks, but downsizing has hit our house. Now most people would not be too concerned that their kids vitamins went from a 220 count to a 200 count bottle, but in this family with 5 little ones that take 2/day that just cut us from a bottle that lasted 22 days to now only 20. The good news is that we don't always remember to take them, so I may get 30 days out of a bottle. Thank goodness for Costco!!



It is good to look carefully at packaging though. I was buying pasta a few months ago and noticed the size of the box was much smaller. After a closer look, I figured out that the boxes were now 12 oz packages versus the 16 oz (1 lb.) boxes that use to stock the shelves. Now I ask you, how often do you see a recipe call for 12 oz of pasta??? No, it usually a 16 oz box, so now do we split noodles?

Clearly, I need to retrain these boys

We are having a lazy day here after a quick trip to and from PA. I'll set the scene of the latest conversation that reminds me I NEED to retrain my boys thinking...

I'm sitting at the computer in the family room, Hubby is at the kitchen table on his laptop. Before I sat down to the computer I had put waffles in the toaster for Andrew. Once I was all comfortable and "working" away responding to emails and checking in on the diet group , Andrew came into the room and this is where the fun begins..

A: "Mom, my waffles are ready"
Me: "And....? Can you not get them and put peanut butter on them?" dripping in sarcasm
A: "No, I broke my hands while I was downstairs" he said with an equal amount of sarcasm. Where did he get THAT??
Dad: "What about me, why didn't you ask me?"
A: "Because you are working"
Me: I'm now facing the cabinet with my hands up in the air looking at the ceiling.
Dad: "And what is Mom doing?"
A: "Well right now she is praying for Mercy"
Dad: "The year is 1952, Ladies don't bother your husband with your problems, because his problems are far worse......"
Me: At this point I tuned him out as he continued to repeat the email that circulates every few months about life in the 50's and how woman were to act.

So we all had a good chuckle, but it really does show me that the kids see very distinct roles here in the house. It's not that dear hubby wouldn't have taken care of the waffles or sippy cup, or bottom that needs wiping, or diaper change.... It's just that as a Mom who is here 24/7 and has always done everything, that is the role they see me do the most. I'm OK with it, but sometimes it's good to say "hey, go ask your dad!" I know for certain that if I weren't here this morning, you know if I was off getting my nails done, shopping and having a cup of coffee (WAKE UP MARGARET!!, you are daydreaming), the boys wouldn't have starved because they wouldn't have hesitated to ask daddy for anything.

HOKIE Training Camp

Apparently, I missed the memo that the training camp for future HOKIE football players was to be held at the Park house this morning. Last night, before bedtime, the kids were listening to songs off their Dad's IPOD and specifically "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. He told the story of how before every VT home football game the fans and players would be jumping up and down to the first part of the song prior to running out on the field. Andrew picked up our HOKIE blanket and started practicing with his brother's running through the blanket. Once we had them wound up enough, we put them to bed and reminded them to sleep in until AT LEAST 8:00 am. Well that was wishful thinking! I heard them all in Andrew and Ri's room with the door closed as I snuck down to make breakfast at 7:30. At around 7:40, I heard music start to vibrate the floor above me and ran up to quiet the boys down before they woke up Mary Kate. Well to my surprise when I opened the door, I found all 4 boys jumping up and down on the bed to "Enter Sandman". My oldest and oh so intelligent one, quickly jumped off the bed to tell me how he was teaching the boys how to be HOKIE football players before they enter Lane Stadium.

Now how could I argue with that?

Husbands Delight is...

DELIGHTFUL!!! No worries this a totally G-rated post :) About 6 1/2 years ago I helped put together a cookbook for our Parish to help raise funds. I typed in over 700 recipes and remembered seeing this particular one "Husbands Delight" and thought that was interesting, but never went back to it. Then a few weeks ago, I was talking with a friend that has a copy of the cookbook and she had mentioned that she made the recipe and that the family loved it. Always willing to try something new, especially one with a catchy title. "Hey hon, I'm serving up some Husbands Delight for dinner!" He was on the next train home :)

So the vote was cast and came back with a resounding "make it again mom"! Mary Kate ate the most. After finishing her own 3 helpings, she got out of her highchair and went to the table to help Nolan finish eating his ;) Ri stuck with his Mac-n-Cheese (ONLY Kraft and ONLY the blue box please). Hubby also went back for seconds which speaks volumes because he rarely has seconds since he dropped 30# last Fall.

So for anyone interested here's the recipe (or if you have the book it is on pg 105 in the St. V's cookbook)
Brown & drain 1- 1 1/2 lb ground meat. Add 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1tsp each salt & pepper, 1 Tbsp sugar, 2-8oz cans of tomato sauce and 1 med. onion (chopped) {NOTE since my hubby thinks that onions are made by the devil, I omit them and instead sneak in 1 tsp onion powder}. Let that simmer covered for 15 minutes. Meanwhile cook as directed egg noodles. Mix 8 oz pkg of cream cheese and 8 oz sour cream. In greased casserole dish, layer 1/2 noodles, 1/2 meat and 1/2 cream cheese mixture. Repeat layering and then top with 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Cover & cook for 30 minutes at 350. YUMMMM!

Oh and nutritionally speaking, I did use 93% lean beef (you could use ground turkey), light sour cream and 1/3 less fat cream cheese.

Going nutty

Spent a good 20 minutes on the phone this afternoon with a kind gentleman from General Mills trying to figure out if there new product, "Honey Nut Cheerios Snack Mix", is peanut/treenut free. I know you would think that with "Nut" in the title, it would be an obvious answer, but NO!! The label makes no mention and only warns for "Wheat, Milk & Soy ingredients". AHHHH!

If peanuts or treenuts are present in the product or have the potential for being present due to cross contamination in the manufacturing, they would BY LAW have to label it.

So the phone representative I spoke too clearly understood the seriousness of knowing if it was a safe food for a child with nut allergies. He said he did not feel confident in telling me to trust the packaging, so now we wait. He sent in a request - to who? I'm not sure, but someone that apparently has the inside information on nuts.

Hopefully, I'll get an answer quickly. We are one month from little guys weight check and he has decided to move Oreo's from his "like list" to his "do not like list". Seriously, I question his genetic makeup?? Oreo's and milk would be at the TOP of my LOVE FOR ALWAYS AND EVER list!!

SLACO'S.... It's what's for dinner!

Sloppy Joes were on the menu tonight and I knew there would be a struggle getting my second boy (aka WORLD'S PICKIEST EATER) to eat them. However, he does like taco's and will easily eat 4-5 of them in one sitting. So we made a deal, I would put the cheese and sloppy joe meat in a taco shell. He was not buying into it.
son - "Mom, what happens if it's not good"
me - "you are setting yourself up to not like it, you have to think positive"
son - "but what if it's bad"
me - "Hey it's slaco's, it's what's for dinner"!
2 of the other boys joined in on the slaco brigade, one of them even ate 3 of them!

I'm happy to report that my darling picky one did in fact have 2 slaco's! This is HUGE, he may even add it to his "like" list of foods. More on that list later...

It's how I (blog) roll...

The first one is fairly new. I began receiving the Faith & Family magazine a few years ago and is a great source of information for this Catholic family. The blog is like a live version of their magazine. Lots of discussions and fun things to read. http://faithandfamilylive.com/blog/


http://daniellebean.com/ is the very first blog I ever read. She is an incredible writer, woman and mother to 8! I was first introduced to her books "Mom to Mom, Day to Day" & "My Cup of Tea; Musings of a Catholic Mom" a few years ago. She's funny and it is easy to relate to her and the craziness she talks about in her household.


I came upon my favorite blog, http://mommylife.net/ about a year and a half ago and was able to follow a journey of a woman as she made some major life changes. I now consider her a friend. There is a huge amount of information on her site from politics, religion, parenting to dieting (which is where I'm a bit involved).


Believe it or not there is another mother out there that has more boys than me and she writes to about it. Visit http://www.testosterhome.net/ for a great laugh!

I began following the story of Nathan & Tricia Lawrenson a year ago and it has stuck with me and brought me to my knees countless times in prayer. http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/ It is an incredible love story and double miracle with the birth of their little girl at 24 weeks and then Tricia receiving new lungs just a few months later secondary to CF.

Elizabeth Foss is a parishioner of ours and local author. She has a wonderful blog on motherhood, parenting, Faith and homeschooling all intertwined and generously shared with readers http://ebeth.typepad.com/reallearning/.

Another blog written from a man's perspective and one that I stumbled upon via Google Reader, http://www.mattlogelin.com/, is another one that from the very beginning was heavy on my heart and what that I read to remind myself to pray for this man and his daughter. He lost his wife 27 hours after the birth of their first child and so the blog chronicles him getting on with life and raising his daughter.


Finally, the last blog is a satire written by a friend that lives in Maryland. He's funny (but I don't let him know that I think that!) http://votenomalley.blogspot.com/

So that's about it. I grab my cup of coffee in the morning and hop on to see what's new on these blogs through Google Reader and then usually again during nap time before it starts to get crazy around here. Which it is now about to do! The buses are arriving so it's time to start homework, come up with a dinner plan and then scoot the two oldest off to karate.

I'm raising a school of sharks

3 of my 4 boys have had the distinct pleasure of trips to the dentist to have their first teeth removed, nothing serious just that the baby teeth are holding on for dear life even though the adult teeth have already come through. Not much pain involved with the extraction and then the rest of the teeth typically do what they are supposed to do and just fall out (read: sometimes get hit out by a younger brother).
Well now my oldest is pushing the gross button a bit far and has been walking around with a mouth that resembles a great white shark for awhile now. Adult tooth on upper left has come in but baby tooth was still hanging on for about 2 months now. A few weeks ago, out popped the teeth on either side, but that stubborn baby tooth was determined. Until today that is, when Andrew greeted me with 1/2 of his tooth while I was cooking dinner. Great, I thought, now I have to take him to the dentist to get the remaining piece out. Oh be patient Margaret, because as we all found out while he was eating his grilled cheese and tomato soup the remaining half of the tooth came out.
So now the question is, does he get more from the tooth fairy because the tooth is now in two pieces??

Penguins in Virginia

Well here it is, my first post.... the thought has been brewing for awhile and yesterday morning when we awoke in a frozen state and swore that there had to be penguins in our bedroom, the morning "Park Antics" began. Apparently, mischievious Mary Kate pulled a chair up to the thermostat on Sunday and not only turned the heat off, but turned the AC onto 61 degrees. We were FROZEN!! I did as best as I could to warm the house up - fireplace on, baking Riley's breakfast in the oven. I called Ri over to the table and found him laying on the heat vent trying to warm up. Sweet Mary Kate had no problem keeping warm because she has a space heater in her room and nice fleecy footed PJ's!

Once we were all thawed out, I was talking to a friend on the phone and when I told her the story her first words (after the laughter) were "you need to write a blog". I have also recently started to dust off the RD books and remove the cobwebs from the nutrition side of my brain to help Barbara Curtis of http://www.mommylife.net/ with the diet group that she has started. Barbara Curtis also gently encouraged me to start my own blog (thanks Barbara). I have another dear friend that I talk with daily and have been providing lots of surviving-pregnancy and parenting-boys advice to for the last 4 years, until recently she always referred to me as "I have this friend with 5 kids and she says..." She's told me countless times that I should write a book (yeah, No!) So here goes.... Who knows what this blog will become. I hope the Park Antics will provide some laughter to you. You can count on not finding a perfect writer, there will be many grammatical errors. Most things will be lighthearted, but I can get deep too!



Enjoy!