Owen's Birthday/Family Fun Day!

Family Fun day at Cobb Park in Marietta was almost 2 weeks ago. The boys and I headed down Friday afternoon since the festivities were to start at 9:30 Saturday morning. That's an ungodly hour for us to be put-together and arriving on time, but we did it!! We picked up my mom to come with us, since I'm a wuss and rarely like to go alone with my 2 boys! So she was a huge help :) So good to see sorority sisters again, and good to see so many friends and family in support of Kari, Lyle, and Dominic Judson. We assembled up the hill at a pavillion, and then headed down to the park for the dedication of the bouncy ride-on car and park bench in honor of Dominic's twin brother Alexander. And I was fine until I saw Alexander's portrait, which was the same as the one at his memorial service in January. And then I just lost it. Embarrassed to be crying before the dedication even began, I headed over to my mom who was with Owen and Erik, and she rescued me with tissues! So I missed the meaningful words that were said, and I'm sorry for that. But at the same time was trying to keep Erik away from the crowd. They saw the car tied up in a blue ribbon and wanted on it ASAP! I could reason with Owen, but Erik was making a beeline for the crowd and I just knew he was going to climb up on it before the ribbon had even been cut! So I tried to quiet his screams without looking like an abusive mother, egads! But in the end, the boys finally got to ride, whew!

Rock is on vacation this week, and he claims that's why we're getting so much rain. I told him if we actually WENT somewhere on his vacation, it might not be raining THERE! Luckily each day, the sun has peeked out after the rain, and we've been able to go swimming with the boys and actually cooked out for Memorial day. Nothin' like burgers and dogs on the grill, yum!

Today is Owen's 5th birthday! Hard to believe! It was like Christmas this morning, with him wanting to open presents first thing! He and Rock started playing the Mario Kart game he got for the wii, and Erik was content to play with the Planet Heroes (?!) and tear apart the Transformers Owen got. The boys have never had any of the Planet Heroes, but the big toy sets were on clearance at Toys R Us, so that's what they got! And what's up with Transformers?!?! Owen wants to keep them in vehicle form, and Erik wants to pull them apart. I think a graduate degree in something quite technical is required to transform them back. What was I thinking?!

The boys have never been to Chuck E. Cheese's, so that's where we were going to celebrate the big 5! But first I wanted Owen to get a haircut. He's looking seriously shaggy, and I knew we'd be taking loads of pictures from today and through the weekend, when the grandparents are all here. So we went to Snip-Its, which is where Owen likes to go. We get there and are told the wait will be 30-45 mins. Urgh. I already feel antsy, but we sit and wait anyway. 2 hairdressers. 2 people already in the chairs. One pre-teen in line. One pregnant mom with THREE girls to have done. Us. Another lady with 2 kids. Pre-teen gets seated and THREE girls go to the other hairdresser. Once pre-teen is done, hairdresser disappears to the back. And then I see the receptionist show her shirts, skirts, etc, from a bag she's pulled out. Receptionist returns, but hairdresser doesn't. Um? What are we waiting for?! Then somebody else walks in and gets seated with the missing hairdresser. Are you kidding me?! Do they DO appointments here? I don't know if the other gal seated with her 2 kids is ahead of me or not, and I've totally lost patience at this point. So I tell Rock we're leaving and put Owen's prize card on the counter. As I'm dragging him out the door, he's asking, "where's my prize?!" and I practically growl, "you don't get one if you don't get your haircut, let's go!" so as we're packing the kids in the car the receptionist came out and apologized to Rock and said Owen was next. Whatever. There's a Great Clips up the street that I'm pretty sure charges less and is about 10 miles closer. Good grief.

Then, it's on to Chuck E. Cheese! Where you would think my mood would become even more foul, but we had a GREAT time! Didn't hurt that it was just before 3pm on a Thursday, I guess. We had a coupon, so appeared to save about $10. The pizza was really good!!! And Rock loved the free beverage refills. We had 100 tokens and after 2.5-3 hrs, had spent every one! Usually the boys see machines/games when we go places and I always tell them no. It was freeing to hand out tokens like they were jellybeans! The boys had fun, and we did, too! Who knew?! We came home and had cake, and lit sparklers in the backyard and played more with the toys and wii. Originally I'd felt guilty about not having a big party with assorted kids, but our family day was really great! :)

God Bless Those with Tender Ears!

I've accepted I won't get a decent night of sleep for years to come. Erik showed up in the middle of the night after crashing at 8pm. And he talked. and talked. and talked. So I was sleepy this morning, and would have loved to go back to sleep after dropping Owen off for Dirty Day at school. But no... i needed to pack to head for GA. i was aiming for a 1-2pm departure, but was wondering if the parents would be upset if i didn't head out til 5. grumble.
Our tivo is ready to bite the dust, so my dad suggested I bring it with me and take his back. So with the threat of losing all our recorded programs, Rock and I plopped down to watch the Lost finale. So sleepy. But we finished it, woohoo!
Got packed and ready to leave before 2, but stopped by Sonic for Owen's Friday after-school treat. and lunch. And he peed before we left, but by the time we were maybe 15 miles down the road, he had to pee again. Geez. Didn't feel like pulling off the side of 85 was safe, so made it to an exit, where we pulled into a gas station. And here's what a wacky thinker I am... I would rather he pee in a cup in the car than to drag both boys into a dirty public bathroom. so he pees in the cup. I feel like I can't just pour pee in the parking lot where we sit, so the cup goes in the cupholder. Don't worry, I'm not going to accidentally drink it! But while we're there, I get him in a pull-up in case he falls asleep or so we don't have to do this again. So we get back on 85 and head for the parents'.
I've never seen so much crap in the road! Owen thought it was a blast as I swerved to dodge tires and flower pots. Criminy! Then I end up behind somebody in the fast lane, who is the opposite of fast. Or rather, inconsistent with her speed. ARGH! So we could be tooling along at 75 and then be doing 50-something. WTH?! I think it's totally rude to pass on the right, so I toughed it out and she finally got over, at which point I got past her pronto. I usually fancy myself a savvy driver, but somehow managed NOT to get over in time for my exit. $*(&! Well, since I'm savvy, I just got off at the next exit and let my inner compass guide me. Worked just fine :) This was around 4pm, and I didn't feel like doing 285. Not sure my choice was any better. Oy. And I somehow got hooked up with a lady in a Honda with a handicap tag, not that there's anything wrong with that. But this hooch almost took me out not once, but TWICE!!! that's right, she was a lane changer, but not a looker! just a no-signal-i'm-coming-over-anyway hooch!! #$%^@!! I knew that cup of pee could come in handy. And between PMS and traffic, I was ready to use it! But instead, I "used my words". Just not good ones for the tender ears in the backseat. I apologized to them and told them I was sorry for using bad words and not to repeat any of them! And the words really ran the gamut. But surely they were preferable to assault via cup of pee, right?! I was seriously ready for a drink by the time I arrived at 5. Didn't have one, but man, sure coulda.

Book Signing!

So today started out busy. Dropped Owen off at school then dropped Raven off at the groomer. Caught the odometer on the car at 70707.0! Coolio, right?! But still, I felt cranky as hell. And I had a girly day planned! What's the problemo?! Michele and I were going to a book signing by Jen Lancaster, how cool is that?! I'm a newbie reader of hers, and starting out of order with book #3, borrowed from Michele. I checked out Jen's blog to get some background info and found we were supposed to be in 80s attire! Eek! My options there were somewhat limited. So I opted for preppy attire so I could pop the collar of my shirt up : ) Thought I'd make up for the lack of costume in hair and makeup! I curled my bangs and teased 'em up and put on LOTS of makeup... eyeliner, blue eyeshadow, etc. So we arrived in Huntersville around 5 or 5:30 and got some tasty dinner at Brixx. Then headed back to Barnes and Noble around 6:30 to buy my book and get in line. We formed a line that snaked through the CDs, but once the star of the show arrived, we were herded in front of her for a reading and Q&A. The first 3 rows or so sat on the floor. That meant us. Enjoyable and funny, though after an hour on the floor, my back was killing me! At 8, it was time for the signing and the rows of sitters were "supposed" to stay in line somehow, but we all merged and ladies were bitching about the order we were in and how we weren't moving at all. Criminy, I was really hoping I'd left the whining at home!! BTW, big thanks to Rock, who took the day off work to stay with the boys while I went on this daytrip with Michele!



Here is my awesome pic with Jen! And man, my big hair and loads of makeup really don't look as outlandish as I thought they did at home. Geez, I just look like a 30-something mom and not a flashback to the 80s! I think this pic was taken before I told Jen that her book makes me choke as I lie in bed at night reading. Should really read funny stuff sitting upright!

And since I went before Michele, I didn't get a frontal shot of her chatting it up with Jen. Luckily one of the B&N gals got a good shot of them.

So that was our fun daytrip!! I'll save the new book for my June girl's beach trip, and in the meantime keep reading #3 at my slow pre-bedtime pace :-P

Stroke waiting to happen!

I'll get to the stroke waiting to happen, but first.... Let me say what a wonderful Mother's Day weekend it was!! The weather was fabulous! Rock was going to go buy tomato plants for our garden and he was going to take Owen, as usual. Which leads to Erik crying because he wants to go, too. Lo and behold, Rock took 'em both!! So I got lots accomplished before they got back. No fighting the kids off the vacuum! No screaming over toppled stacks of folded laundry! No plucking cars and animal/people figures from the dishwasher! It rocked! My mom also arrived from GA just before the kids and Rock got home, yay! We spent the rest of the afternoon in the backyard, where I finally planted my flowers purchased the previous weekend. Ah, it was great to dig in the dirt. The kids ended up in the pool and Rock blew up their bumper boats. Fabulous fun. My mom and I picked up dinner from the Dixie, which is one of my favorite new places! And it isn't really new at all, just newly down the street from us. Gotta love being able to get meat and veggies at a drive-thru!
Mother's Day was another gorgeous day! Rock occupied the boys in the pool again while Mom and I got lunch together. She brought grape salad and corn souflee (i think?), I made Paula Deen's Cheeseburger Meatloaf (YUM!) and broccoli, and Rock's mom brought her always-fabulous deviled eggs. The boys ate great, makes a momma proud to give them seconds of broccoli!! Then we spent the rest of the afternoon poolside again. Rock's mom called me after she got home and said she'd looked through the boook I made for her again and that she'd cried, which made me cry! I'm glad she wasn't indifferent about the gift. I just never know!
Owen's 5th birthday is still two and a half weeks away, but he'll be out of school then, so they celebrated in his class today. My mom brought letter and number cookie cutters, so our grand plan was to cut sugar cookies in the shapes of 5s. I hardly had any flour, but added the required amount to the dough and then spread some on my rolling sheet. after i rolled out some dough, I noticed all these black spots! ACK!!! Kinda noticeable in sugar cookies! So I tossed the dough, thinking I couldn't poison the kids in the 4K class. Turns out the black spots were actually ground coffee. I'm sure that wouldn't fly well for the class either. Sugar AND caffeine?! So I was pissed and we had to start over with another batch. the cutter wasn't working great since i had to toss my flour. So nix the 5s and do round cookies instead. Bummer! Of course we were doing this at 10 o'clock LAST night, so my options were limited! I think they turned out cute even if they weren't the original plan.


Now for the stroke waiting to happen. Let it be noted I've been to the doctor twice in the last month and a half or so to monitor the blood pressure. My first visit was actually because I thought I'd had a heart attack! And I may be a hypochondriac at home, but it takes a serious illness to get me to the doctor. Anyway... Erik has a cold, so had me up during the night. He ended up sleeping with me, so my quality of sleep was not great. My mom and I took Owen to school this morning, then she headed back to GA, and I headed back to sleep!! Rock didn't mention that he was going to retrieve Owen when the time came, and I was still snoozing while Erik was awake. Not good. I didn't wake up til Rock and Owen returned home and said, "WHAT SMELLS LIKE VICK'S?!" Erik had gotten into the Vicks VapoRub (the smaller jar, thank God) and smeared it on his and Raven's bodies. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! I should have known the rest of the day would be in the shitter. The weather outside is cool and wet, so we were inside all day. Small house. Trapped Indoors. Because I'm certainly not taking these 2 anywhere. I've never heard so much screaming, whining, and fighting, or witnessed so much hitting, throwing, and spitting. Owen got popped and put in time out once, but I lost count with Erik. The last thing I remember before hauling the 2 of them to bed is that Erik got into my generic Pepto Bismol. He didn't get the whole cap off, but somehow, there was pink liquid on him and some on the floor. So this is what is going to lead to my having a stroke. I'm thinking on my next blood pressure check, medication is going to be demanded. Is it wrong that summer hasn't started and I can't wait til fall when I'll have TWO 5-HOUR DAYS TO MYSELF?!?!