Ska is BACK!

Driving home from a girls night out, I discovered that a local radio station has ska on for 1 hour Sunday through Thursdays at 9pm. It was a wonderful drive home. Just song after song of new things that I was really enjoying. I fell in love with ska senior year of college. I listened to it off and on for the next couple years. Since then I have really only listened to old stuff I have. So.... after finding new songs on this station, ska is back in my rotation. I am truly enjoying this song Somewhere In the Between by Streetlight Manifesto. I'm so excited to have some new music, even if it isn't mainstream stuff! :) Streetlight Manifesto even does a cover of one of my all time favorite songs - Punk Rock Girl by the Dead Milkmen. Never fails to put a smile on my face. (That link's for you Rachel)

To top all this off, I was cleaning out a drawer and found a CD that I thought was long gone. A good friend from college made me a CD of Ska Covers my senior year. I loved his taste in music. I think I would have listened to anything he gave me. It was my very favorite CD for awhile and then it just disappeared. I'm so excited that I found it. Imagine ska versions of the theme from Laverne & Shirley, Brown Eyed Girl, Shake Senora, Hey I think I Love You, etc. Fantastic!!!!!! I am in ska heaven and yes I know I'm a big dork but a happy one!

10 and then some on Tuesday

1. My son is slightly neurotic. Andy and I have now learned that we have to do a "dino" sweep of Will's room before he goes to sleep. There is some switch in his little brain that instructs him to wake up anytime between 10pm and 3am to check his room for scary dinosaurs. This includes dino books and his stuffed 2 foot tall dino. They may be allowed to live in his room during the day but Will yells to get them out of his room in the middle of the night. I will give him credit for at least waiting until 5 minutes AFTER the Lost Series Finale to cry on Sunday night.
2. Weed whackers are fun. My arms are so sore but the weed whacker was kind of fun.
3. School is over today. I've been making a list of activities so I can pull out things to do for the kids over the summer (August especially!). We have so many random little arts and crafts projects and small toys and games that I often forget. This list should help.
4. The burrs that come in from our backyard are never-ending. It's our own fault for letting the weeds get to that point. KC pays the biggest price with burrs in her paws and around her mouth. She seems to find the worst spots to walk through.
5. Sarah got some new clothes last week. Are you sitting down..... BLUE and SHORTS! Ok, so the shorts were forced on her by me but she was actually very willing to pick them out and really likes the 2 pairs we got.
6. My mom came for a short visit last week. The kids LOVE going into wake her up and taking her to school with them. Will has asked me MANY times where she went and why she isn't here anymore. I told him she had to go home and that we'll see her soon. He hangs his head (in his true drama king fashion) and says I miss her. How sweet is that!
7. Andy and I have been debating our cable/phone/internet bill for some time. We are thinking about dropping the cable part. We know friends that have done it. We figure we could watch broadcast shows and we could catch up on missed things online. Mostly it would be the kids channels that would be gone but then - that's probably a good thing. While still debating, we figured out how to hook our Wii into our wireless network (MUCH easier than we thought) and are now streaming Netflix's instant play shows and movies to our TV. It's pretty cool. I can pull up Google on the TV. Not that we can go much of anywhere from that but it's still fun to see the Google search screen on our 8 or 9 year old TV. If only they would upgrade the Wii's browser, then we could watch hulu and cbs.com, etc. online through the TV.
8. Our fish, Goldie, is 2 months old now and going strong. She got a blue plant to add to her little bowl over the weekend. I'm pretty surprised that she's still around.
9. Sarah loves to write and illustrate books. She keeps saying that she needs to finish one so that she can put it in the school's library. I have to explain about how that's a great idea but you have to get published first so for now they will have to stay in our "library".
10. We've been playing Mancala a lot over here. Well, mostly Sarah and I have been playing. It's a bit too hard for Will to strategize. He understands how to move the marbles but that's about it. He's a good helper. Sarah is getting far too good at the game. Daddy (the master) better watch out!
11. Will is finally doing some more potty things by himself. This also means more mess in the bathroom but I'll take it, I guess. He's very proud of himself. We also removed the plastic sheet under his regular sheet over the weekend. He's been out of diapers day and night for several months but we finally decided he's doing well enough at night to go sheet free! He was very excited!
12. We painted our bathroom. The only problem is that we grabbed the flat paint instead of semi-gloss from the garage. OOPS! The good news is that our Master bathroom is very open so the flat paint should hold up just fine. I would worry more if it was any other bathroom in the house.
    
    
13. Sarah LOVES LOVES LOVES to listen to books on CD, especially Magic Tree House books. It has made quiet time in this house very enjoyable. I get a little bit of down time and she enjoys a book. She's even started trying to read along with the CD which is AWESOME.
14. The flip side of all the books on CD is that she's found some interesting topics. If you're not familiar with the Magic Tree House series - there are over 40 books and they are based on many historical events and times - like Pompeii, Ancient Egypt, Pilgrims, etc. It's great for learning but Sarah seems to lean towards the "darker" choices. Her favorite one is Civil War on Sunday, in which our main characters help to care for soldiers and meet a slave. She says it's because she wants to be a nurse. I'm good with that but still an odd favorite! Her other favorite is Tonight on the Titanic. I had to inform her that yes a very large ship did actually sink. This made her sad. We found a computer recreation of it happening on You Tube. She likes to watch it over and over and over. Weird but nice that she is curious about EVERYTHING just as a 5 year old should be.
15. And... since I didn't write a Mother's Day blog - Here is the cake Andy and the kids made me for.... Very pink (red velvet inside) and every kind of sprinkle you could imagine. Who do you think enjoyed it the most??
    
    
16. We've been doing some little science experiments over the past couple weeks. We did the mentos and Diet Coke thing a short bit ago. It was pretty cool but much shorter than I thought it would be:
    
    
    And that's all for this week.....

10 on Tuesday

1. I am always amazed at how, every Monday morning, it appears that a tornado has blown through our house. I may clean up and get some housework done over the weekend but it is still crazy with toys and anything else that has been pulled out by Monday.
2. My little man is a bit sick today. I must admit I kind of like cuddly, sick Will. He was so sweet yesterday afternoon with a fever and sounding so pathetic telling me, Mommy, I'm sick. Now he just wants to sit with me. I would love that if I didn't have dinner to get ready and if he didn't insist on watching Team Umizoomi over and over.
3. We flew kites over the weekend and could barely keep them up because it was TOO windy. We almost had some child/kite collisions on the ground. If you need a decent kite though, check out this link. We have 2 large easy flyers and they are awesome.
4. I learned over the weekend that the keys to tot loks do indeed melt.... I was putting a frozen pizza on a baking sheet. The baking sheet had just been washed and was drying. I picked it up from right under the plug where the tot lok was. I'm guessing that it stuck to the bottom of the sheet and into the oven it went. When I opened the oven, I smelled something kind of funny but couldn't figure out what it was until I pulled out the sheet and saw something weird hanging down from an oven rack. There was the melted key. Andy took care of it for me. We are now down about 2 or 3 keys. Most of our loks have been turned off but still, we only have 2 from the original 5.
5. Hoping to have dinner at Ruth's Chris for Mother's Day with our gift card from ages ago, even if it's not on Mother's Day. I don't think Phoenix can top the Crystal City, Virginia location overlooking Reagan National airport but a steak and yummy dessert sound soooooo good.
6. What happens when you let the kids each plant seeds in a pot and only 1 pot sprouts?? We may find out. Send us good plants vibes in hopes that Sarah's seeds sprout by the end of the week.
7. How many activities are too many for a little kid??? Andy and I sat down over the weekend to plan out Sarah's fall and see what it will cost. I feel like it's too much but it's all things she likes - karate, dance (0f some sort), swimming (we need to start up again), and piano (she wants to learn and Andy and I insist on music lessons). I guess we'll just see what happens. What if she decides to try soccer with school?!?!?
8. June is my month. For 2 weeks, the kids will be in school at the same place during the same hours. Watch out world, here I come. 1 drop off is my dream. I can live it for at least 2 weeks and then I have to wait until Fall of 2011 or so.
9. The heat has arrived with May and it's making kids go crazy! Not just mine but it seems ALL kids. I never knew 90 degrees could have such an effect.
10. My kids do not go to the movies often but we've really been wanting to go. I'm dying for Toy Story 3 and June is too far away. I don't think Sarah cares too much about How to Train Your Dragon and I don't think Will would sit through it.

10 on Tuesday - Better late than never...

So, I'm way behind... here's a 10 on Tues with a lot of pictures to bring us up to date!

1. One Difference between boys and girls - stickers from the Dr. Having been to the Dr. and the Dentist over the past couple weeks, the kids picked up a few stickers. Is it an age thing or a gender thing?? Sarah likes to save her stickers and do something with it later. Will has it on his shirt usually pretty high up where he can barely look at it before we are out of the office. I have put a few stickers in the wash too forgetting they are there.
2. If you have a budding artist in your family, you need this book or anything by Ed Emberley. Sarah borrowed this from her teacher for the weekend and the animals she is drawing are fantastic for a 5 year old. Each animal in the book is presented step by step using shapes, numbers and letters and dots. It's pretty cool. Since we had to return it to school, I'm looking into getting Sarah her own copy soon.
3. Sarah is taking karate lessons and truly loves it. This is a completely unexpected interest. Here she is....

4. Easter in San Diego was a blast. The kids had so much fun hunting eggs in Gammy and Papaw's front and backyard. The Easter Bunny got a bit creative with his placement. It worked out since the same said Easter Bunny had to help the kids get to his eggs. :) (Look about a foot in front of Will's feet if you can't spot the blue egg.)

5. Our yard a month ago - befores and the after. I just want it known that I mowed all this down. It was hard manual labor but it felt pretty good.


Sarah Standing

Sarah Sitting with the dog. I spy KC... do you?


And after. The funny strip is where I was going to go for a 2nd round and cut it down even further but then decided against that.

6. The school's disco fundraiser was a few weekends ago. We like to dress up so here we are. Many have noted Andy's resemblance to Fred from Scooby Doo and now we are contemplating that being next Halloween's costume. I know a friend who did the whole family in Scooby and it was super cute!

7. One of Sarah's favorite games right now is Pretty, Pretty Princess. I think she mostly likes getting Daddy to play with her. He only puts on the jewelry when she makes him or when I just put the earrings on him. Will also loves this game.
8. Sarah's reading is going well. I caught this picture of her reading to Will awhile back. It was Dr. Seuss' birthday at school and she was dressed "wacky" for it. Will is actually pretty good about sitting still when she wants to read to him. He's very patient with her.
9. How long does this last??? I'm hoping for a long time. They are such buddies right now with the occasional fighting.
   
   
10. For fun.... A picture from almost exactly 5 years ago of Sarah and one of Will at the same age. Fun to see the difference.

Sarah at almost 5 months

Will at almost 5 months (love the big bald noggin!)

10 (5) on Tuesday - The RIP Edition

I am dedicating this 10 on Tuesday to those who have passed on.

I have found myself crying a bit yesterday and quite a bit today as I prepare a condolence package to mail. The mother of an old friend of mine passed away last week from cancer. I only reconnected with this high school friend over the past year or so but I feel this death more than I expected so here it goes...

(I apologize ahead of time for the downer theme)

1. To Miss Georgia (the mom mentioned above) - Much like my own mom, she was always around in high school. 1 of a team of moms helping us do everything and get everything the most out of our high school years, in a good way. She always had a smile to share and even after years of not seeing her, a huge hug to share. I was blessed to see her last fall/summer? looking well and enjoying time with her beautiful grandchildren. May her family find peace and keep warm memories.
2. Which reminds me of Andy's mom and that's probably why I'm crying. I think what makes me the saddest is knowing that my kids didn't get quite enough time with her. They remember her but her memories will fade. Which brings me to...
3. While sad, I am so wonderfully grateful more each year for my own parents. I love seeing the adoration in my kids eyes in regards to their grandparents.
4. It seems every time someone passes I think back on my own grandparents who have all passed on, the last one 15 years ago. I cannot believe it has been that long. I still get tears every once in awhile over that. I wish they could have stayed around longer.
5. That also makes me grateful to be an adopted granddaughter to Andy's 3 living grandparents. They have truly treated me as one of their own and it is a lovely feeling.

So with that, I end this - I figure with such a heavy subject, 1/2 of 10 is better than a full 10.

I wish love, hugs, happy memories and peace to anyone who has lost a love one both recently or years ago. It is character building for better or worse and each loss becomes a part of you and travels with you.

Much love. S

March Madness 2010

It's that time of year again. Last weekend, all 4 of us created brackets, even Will. I'm not able to post a scan of the full brackets but I will list our Final 4 picks. (Also, the brackets are all marked up from the 1st round.)

Will's picks:

Final 4 - Georgetown, Morgan State, North Texas and Siena

with Georgetown taking on Morgan State for the win.

(Poor Will has already lost all 4!)

His strategy, as far as I could tell, was to pick teams with names or full names over states. North Texas was the only one that slipped through. His choice of Georgetown was a no brainer since his favorite animal to sleep with is George the monkey. He was a big fan of Sam Houston and Murray State too.

Sarah's picks:

Final 4 - Maryland, Montana, Florida and St. Mary's

with Montana taking on Florida for the win.

(Her final is already gone but oh well!)

Her strategy - I have no clue. She picked places she knew - San Diego, California and after that, I have no idea.

Andy's picks:

Final 4 - Maryland, Kentucky, Syracuse and Texas A&M

with Texas A&M taking on Maryland for the win.

His strategy - Some upsets, some obvious winners by their rank numbers, and loyalty to places we have lived before, hence his final 2.

My picks:

Final 4 - Maryland, New Mexico, Duke and Kansas State

with Maryland fighting Duke for the win.

My strategy - More upsets than Andy, leaning toward the underdogs and some loyalty to Maryland who won the whole thing while were living out East (many years ago!).

And.... who is in the lead after Round 1??? That would be me. YAY! We'll let you know how it goes. For now, I'm the most obsessed with checking the scores.

Also - I know I'm way behind in blogging so I'll try to fix that this week.