My Little Hero...

Last night, while I was coloring my hair, Eddie was playing the ps3 with his new blue tooth headset he bought himself. It was an online game so he was playing with 16 or so other people from around the world and the headset allows him to have a conversation with his fellow gamers. (isn't that just too cool?) Dave, being just as much as a child tormentor as I am, was doing his best to embarrass Eddie. This new headset easily picks up and broadcasts background noises so Dave started yelling random things in the background. Apparently the yelling downgraded into Dave loudly saying random "Your Momma..." jokes so the other players could hear. This got JonJon attention very quickly. The little guy ran into the room and told Daddy that he was being mean and that his momma wasn't dumb, short, fat, or ugly. Followed by "You better tell mommy you're sorry or else you will be in big trouble."

How do I know all this? Dave came in the bathroom, while I sat with stinky bright red goo on my head, laughing to tell me sorry. Awww my hero.

My Son The Future Author...

Every once in a while Eddie has a homework assignment for literature class where he has to write a short story. I have to share this particular one because it sums up his personality so well. Enjoy and read at your own risk.


What really happened to Humpty Dumpty
By: Eddie
There once was Humpty Dumpty, the egg, who enjoyed sucking on lollypops on an eight hundred ft. wall. When the egg wanted to go buy lollypops he would jump off the wall and land on a pillow, so he could go next door to the five cent candy store. This day was just the same as any day. The king was out hunting with his golden musket .the townsfolk were begging. The children were scurrying, screaming, and laughing. As the king shot his weapon it misfired, and blew Humpty into a million pieces. All the king said was “That was one lucky shot; no I mean we’ll all miss Humpty a lot.” And it was true. The townsfolk did miss him because he was the best breakfast they would ever have. Sadly, the king was dethroned and beheaded for killing the last Dou-Dou bird egg. Now that you know the true story of Humpty Dumpty you must join the F.B.I. or be devoured by the giant squid.
The end

*welcome to the F.B.I.*

Fun Now In Exchange For Years Of Therapy Later (aka I Love To Torture My Kids)...

A little over a week ago I hurt myself doing something um well stupid. My little mishap left me with a sprained/possibly broken thumb. To attempt to speed the healing I have been wearing a lovely flesh colored thumb immobilizer. For whatever reason this thing totally creeps JonJon out. He will pull his hand away and run around to the other side of me if he forgets and and holds my bad hand. He doesn't want me to touch anything of his with the wrapped hand. So being the loving mother I am, I torture him with the hand at all possible moments. After I tuck him into bed, give hugs and kisses, and do everything at bedtime with my good hand, I'll give him a pat on the head with the bad hand right before I walk out the door. I'll ask for him to give me 5 on the good hand and then switch hands while he is in mid slap. After pouring him a drink with my good hand, I hand it too him with my bad hand. Oh the fun is endless. And the fun is just not limited to the youngest child. Yesterday we took the kids to Toys R Us so Eddie could use his gift card he got. He also got all the money he has earned for the past year or so gathered together. All together it was quite a wad of cash. He beelined for the ps3 games. While he was deciding on what he wanted to spend his money on Dave and I noticed they actually had a couple wii in stock. We decided to offer Eddie to make up the difference if he wanted to put his money towards a wii. As we made said offer you could see the two little ones' faces light up. Erica immediately started rattling off games we could get. To all of our disbelief Eddie chose the ps3 game and headset he picked out. As we were driving home Dave told the kids that was their one and only shot at getting a wii. And I just couldn't help myself, I had to say "Thanks Ed."

In my defense, I'm a stay at home mom, I have to find my entertainment somewhere. Hopefully Dave will always have insurance that covers psychological visits we may need them in the future.

Oh Christmas Tree...All Over My Floor...

Dave hauled the two large Rubbermaid containers of Christmas decorations/tree up from the basement Monday night. I am 3/4 of the way done with the indoor decorations, which means the two very large Rubbermaid containers are still sitting in my living room. The tree is fully assembled and decorated and the mantel has been Christmased up. What is left inside is to wrap the banister with greenery and ribbons, decorate the kitchen with greenery, ribbon, and lights and make a wreath and hang it up. Oh yeah and plug in what I like to call my Corona Christmas tree. (you've seen the commercial) Then it is off to the great (frozen) outdoors to wrap the house in greenery, ribbons, lights and hang multiple wreaths. Every year I think how smart those that leave their lights up year round are as my fingers freeze and break off. But when it is all done, and the boxes are put away, I always love how pretty and festive the house looks. Now if I could only find a less realistic artificial tree, one that does not leave "needles" all over the place.

Zombie Grandpas...

Yesterday afternoon Dave and I were driving in the car with JonJon in the back seat. The child is obsessed with all things military, so when we passed up a VFW hall that had an old tank sitting out front it opened up a flood gate of questions.

JonJon: Is that an Army tank?

Dave: yes it is

JonJon: Did your daddy ride in that tank?

Dave: No, my daddy worked on airplanes and rode on boats (father-in-law was in the air force for a while then moved to the navy).

JonJon: Oh, Mommy did your daddy ride in that tank?

Me: No, my daddy was a sailor and worked with computers (probably insanely boring in the mind of a 5 year old who wanted to hear that our dads went to war with guns blazing taking out all the bad guys).

JonJon now disappointed: oh...did they get dead?

Dave: Uh, no. Mommy and Daddy's dads are your grandpas, they aren't dead.

JonJon sighing like we stated the obvious: I know that they are my grandpas. But they could be dead. I think they are zombies.

I'm A Big Fat Meanie Head...

Sometimes being a parent makes you have to be the bad guy. My oldest is currently upset with me. I told him he could not go to his survival camp out with the scouts tonight. It is supposed to drop down to 17 degrees and the only shelter they will receive is a trash bag. I know it is a survival camp out but come on. This is something that should be done when the weather isn't so extreme. That news resulted in the lovely teen reaction of "fine I'll just sit here with my lip stuck out and not talk to anyone". Followed by him going outside sans coat, shoes, and socks in the 30 degree windy weather we had and laying on the concrete driveway for 2 minutes to prove to me how tough he was. He almost convinced me with his logic, almost.

Will I Be The Creepy Old Person...

Just a few months ago my dear sister-in-law got me sucked into the Twilight series (oh lookie a pun lol). Before I started page one I was thinking that since these were written for teens that should hold my interest for all of about five minutes. Four days and three books later (darn family, always needing stuff like food slowing me down) I was well and truly a fan that could not wait to get her greedy hands on book four just to find out what happened between Bella, Edward, and Jacob. Now after the reading the last book and dealing with the let down of no more story I await the movie. The question is, do I go to the theater with the throngs of squealing teenage girls half my age? Do I take my daughter along just so I can look like I was the one dragged there? Do I wait for the dvd? (not sure I can hold out that long) Or do I just call up my sis-in-law and the two of us sit proudly in the seats of the movie and get our Twilight fix? Seriously I can stop at any time.

Those of you that read this that are Twilight fans, you might want to look into the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. It's similar yet made for a more grown up crowd.

Yay For Grown Up Night...

Tomorrow my wonderful husband has a birthday. Part of mom-in-law's present is she always lets all the grandkids spend the night so we can go out on a date. We decided to use our date time going out to dinner and going to the theater (maybe a trip to the river boat casino after if we feel like it). So for dinner we will be going to a lovely little Italian restaurant on The Hill (for you non-locals that is the area where many Italian immigrants settled) called Zia's. They have the most awesome toasted raviolis I've ever had and their salad dressing is to die for. If you ever come for a visit you MUST eat here at least once. Oh and it's on the corner of Edwards and Wilson, how perfect is that? After dinner we will be going to the Fabulous Fox Theatre to see Sweeney Todd. I don't really know what Sweeney Todd is about but the few performances I have seen at the Fox were wonderfully entertaining, I have no doubt this will be too. Besides it isn't often I can get all dressed up. And the great part about the kids spending the night is we don't have to rush home. There is always a bit of mommy guilt when leaving this kiddos behind but, it is oh so nice to have some time away where we can just be Missy and Dave instead of Mom and Dad.

I Can't Take Them Anywhere...

Every Sunday it is required that we take a trip to Wal-Mart (blah) to pick up things for the kids' breakfasts and lunches. Usually I try to make this trip sans kids. Anyone who has ever been to a Wal-Mart on a weekend will know it is absolutely insane there. Today we were all out and the store was on the way home so in my mind at the time it made sense to stop then. The five of us walk through the front doors and are greeted by our singing greeter. "Weeeeeelcooooome to Waaaaaaaallllll-Maaaaaarrrrrrrrrt!" I say my silent prayer that I am so glad I do not work there and have to listen to that all day long. Eddie grabs a cart and follows the rest of us to get toothpaste. Before ever crossing off the first item on my list my heels have been run over by the cart, and I've told both of the younger ones they could not swing off my arms today (I have pinched a nerve somewhere and have shooting pain down my arms, chiropractor tomorrow). As I slowly cross off items I have thrown in the cart Dave and I are rambling things like "Don't touch that! Put that down! Jon get over here! Where did Erica go this time? Eddie don't run into anyone!" We get over to the cheese where Dave is searching for some Havarti and the kids are still being a bit wild. Dave sees a hand sneak past him and grab for a block of cheese and he smacks it and says "Stop grabbing stuff!" The hand pulls back minus the cheese and suddenly a woman starts laughing behind us. We turn around and she is rubbing her hand and says "I take it you've said that a few times in here." Yes my husband smacked a strange woman. He was very apologetic and embarrassed. If I recall though the woman left without her cheese. At least someone listens.

Friday Find...

My daughter has always been one of those kids that got 100% on her spelling tests without ever having to study. Up until this year that is. Her first F on a spelling test devastated her. I frantically tried to help her study for her words for the next week. We said them out loud together, she wrote them 5-20 times each, I tried to teach her little tricks (like together is spelled to-get-her), and we even sang the words out. The next test a D. I couldn't understand what the huge difference was between last year and this year. So I asked her what her teacher is doing differently than last year. I found out last year every day they would play spelling games. So I have a light bulb moment and do a quick google (yes it is a verb now) of online spelling games. Spellingcity.com is one that came up. It allows me to type in her weekly words and then she can play a number of games like word scramble, hangman, and fill in the missing letter. It will also test her. She loves it and will play it over and over again. And the most amazing thing, the first week we used spelling city she came home with an A. Who knew you could learn more when you're having fun?

Thank God For The DVR...

Is anyone else ready for the election to be over? Does anyone else feel like it is particularly ugly this time? Maybe it is always ugly and we just have four years to forget about it. Between the debates, television and radio news shows, web sites, verbal sniping between the two sides and yard sign wars (personal pet peeve of mine-really does a sign saying vote for ____ really sway someone?) I just can't wait till November 10th (gotta give it the extra days to clear up all the whining and recounts by the losing side and all the high-fives, in-your-face talk from the winning side). But one thing I've noticed this year, I haven't had to sit through a single commercial saying McCain eats babies or Obama is the Anti-Christ. How did I manage this? After all I have a list of must see shows. Well for the past year we've owned a dvr, and I have to say I didn't think I could love it more. I mean really, I thought it was wonderful that I could watch a show like Lost after the kids went to bed so I wasn't interrupted five thousand times. Anyone who watches Lost knows you must not be disturbed or you'll miss something important. But this past month I've noticed something great. I get to fast forward through the commercials, all of them, even the irritating political ones.

HO! HO! HO! BOO! Huh?

I am so confused. When exactly did Halloween become one of the Happy Holidays? I've seen stores putting out their Christmas trees and decorations since September. The earliest violator being a craft store but I sort of get that, sort of. Now you walk into any of your WalMarts or Targets and what do you see? Aisles of spooky decorations and scary masks everywhere but what's that sound? Why it's Jingle Bells coming from the next aisle over where the multicolored lights are blinking to the beat. Never did I expect to see the inflatable Grim Reaper grinning eerily at the inflatable Santa. You can almost sense the tension between the big puffy bodies. It's like a sign of the apocalypse. In one aisle we have the witches, vampires, ghosties and gore. And in the next aisle we have Frosty, Santa, Rudolf and baby Jesus in a manger. What happened to Christmas starting after Thanksgiving? And who exactly is buying candy canes and Christmas trees in October? I think if I saw someone pushing a cart of Christmas supplies right now I'd have to fight the urge to take their roll of wrapping paper and whack them in the head with it. How's that for Christmas Spirit? But really, what's the rush? I'd like to get through the fall season of changing leaves, light jackets, bonfires, hay rides, and Trick or Treating before I start thinking of snowflakes, heavy coats, mittens, carols, and egg nog (yes they have that in stock too now). And what started this tirade? Why the fact that my favorite radio station is now playing all Christmas songs all the time starting from last week till the new year.

Take That, Nemesis...

Bwahahahaha...I win, I'm victorious! Now that you are done applauding for me "Victorious over what?" you ask. Let me tell you. For about 13 year (not counting 3 preganancies) my body has decided to stay in the same size clothing. Sometimes they fit a little loose, sometimes a little tight but always in that same size. Thirteen years ago puts us back around 1995. Think about the fashion of that time. Now imagine if you never wore out any clothing but added a few pieces every year. New t-shirt here, new sweater there, eventually 13 years later you find you have a timeline bulging out of every possible closet, drawer, and cubby hole. Add to this my not purging the other four people's clothing for the past 3 years and, holy moly! It became a chore that moved from my to do list to my apply blinders and pretend it isn't there list. This past weekend my dear sweet husband finally said "ENOUGH! I can't find anything any more." For those that don't know Dave is a neat freak that thrives in order. Talk about an odd couple. Together we tackled the massive amount of cotton, polyester, and various other materials oozing from every crevice to separate what we were keeping and what we were donating. Twelve, yes TWELVE lawn and garden trash bags and almost 6 hours later every person in a third world country should be well dressed, as long as they don't mind being a decade behind in fashion.

A Whole Hand...

Today my baby turned 5, a whole hand. I can hardly believe how fast it has gone. It is a happy day yet mom is a little sad. I know this is the end of an era. I will never have another little one who can proudly hold up just a couple fingers when people ask how old they are. The days of sitting in a quiet room at night singing softly while slowly rocking a tightly wrapped little one back to sleep are gone. I knew one day I'd look back on those sleepless nights and miss them. No longer do I experience the sweet freshly bathed baby smell. The days of cutesy clothes are long gone. With the rate he is growing he will be moving into the big boy 8-16 clothes next year. I haven't stepped foot in a Babys R Us in a couple years. No longer do I have to walk so closely behind a small child to catch them as they take their first steps. With walking came independence. They are able to go where they wish (within reason) which allows them room to explore. Explore things like throwing shoes away, flushing your sisters Leapster game down the toilet, coloring doors with bright orange crayons, and the infamous painting the poodle with peanut butter (I will never forget smelling peanuts while I was showering). Each event was highly annoying at the time as I was the one to have to clean up the messes. But now I can look back at all of those and laugh. As each year passes another finger gets to come up. As each finger comes up they become more independant. It almost feels as if when the hand birthday comes around they are waving good bye to the infant stage which makes one sad but they are also waving hello to the next phase of life. The next 5 years he will start school, meet new friends, and learn and grow just as much as the first five. I look forward to that. All I ask is you occasionally let me hold you on my lap, slowly rocking you while I sing you your song.

Bringing Culture to the Masses...

We recently took a trip to the Missouri Botanical Gardens to attend the Japanese Festival they hold every year. Usually the gardens are not a huge thrill for the children. I guess there just isn't enough action in seeing the flowers bloom. Personally, I love the place, so peaceful and beautiful. Every time we go I leave thinking I'd really love to get into botany, of course the reality that anything I plant dies soon sets in. This is the first time attending the festival and it was packed (and hot). There were all sorts of demonstrations--taiko drums, kimono fashion shows, ikebana flower arranging and bonsai ornamental pruning, bon odori summer festival dancing, budo and koryu bugei martial arts exhibitions, and don't forget the Sumo wrestling (the main thing the boys were interested in seeing). We started the trip parking as close as possible to the gardens, which was at least a half mile away. Did I mention it was packed? Yes, walking that distance with three kids, crossing multiple busy city streets, in at least 150% humidity is not as much fun as it sounds. When we finally arrive and get into the gardens there are many booths selling Japanese wares. Dave really wanted to get me a sugegasa, which is Japanese for one of those cone shaped straw hats. I declined the offer on the grounds of not knowing to what event one would wear a sugegasa. We found our way to the taiko drummers. I could have sat there and listened to the rhythmic beating all day. The kids and Dave on the other hand were done within just a few minutes. As we wandered through the beautiful landscaping JonJon saw a fountain that he just had to play in. Erica and Jon had so much fun running through the water. It was a good opportunity for them to cool off some too. We walked past the Koi fish lake and rock gardens.
Always beautiful. The English gardens were the least busy part there. It was very relaxing and shaded. While standing in the shade we watched a martial arts demonstration. After a few hours of wandering it was time for the Sumo demo. We sat as the speaker was telling us about Sumo and the lifestyle. I have to say, with the way she described it, except for the select few the life of a Sumo is not very glamorous. During the introduction she described how the Japanese view Sumo as heroic and honorable. She then asks the question to the audience of what word comes to mind when she says Sumo. The crowd was quiet until my lovely husbands shouts out...DIAPER. So much for culture, I tried.

Erica posing in one of the sculptures.



The Boys...

Being Hugged by Jesus...

My friend that I wrote about earlier has gone Home. She's been given a new body and a new life free of hurt, tears and pain.

Stacey your courage, determination, love, ability to forgive, and sense of humor was an inspiration to many and will be sorely missed. You left five beautiful children to carry on your legacy. They were the center of your world and the reason you fought as hard as you did. I will always keep them in my prayers.

I always told you that you had more people that loved you than you knew. I hope you look down from Heaven and can see that now.

Like a Show on Animal Planet...

"Here we have the common Couch Sloth. Watch while she sits on the shiny black leather and tap away at her lap top. Oh, wait, she is getting up to get her offspring and glass of ice water and a sandwich. Now, she sits back down upon the comfy cushion..."

So I got myself a pedometer and just out of morbid curiosity I have worn it today just to see how much walking I do in a normal day. I have been up since 7am and as of right this moment (approx. 1:30pm) I have a tally of *drum roll please* 793 steps. The recommend amount of walking to stay fit is 10,000 steps a day. At the rate I am going, and I could be wrong, but I don't think I'm going to make it. This evening I will give a grand total. Anyone want to make a guess? For fun I will post my total for the next few days. Maybe the sheer mortification of how little I move will give me the motivation I need to get in a habit. I am an anti-exerciser. Truly, I do not get joggers/runners and I live with one. I have never in my life experienced runner's high. I've experienced runner's pain, runner's tired, and runner's omg I can't breathe, but not the high. I'll tell you, if it were not for good genes (thank you so much mom) I'm sure I'd be one of those people Richard Simmons would come visit. So, does anyone else want to join me in counting their steps?

*edited grand 9/10/08 total 4931*

*edited again 9/11/08 total of 7904 (getting closer)*

You are Hereby Cordially Invited to the Party of the Century

Yes, the almost five year old has huge plans for his birthday. He has been planning this since at least June. Just yesterday he informed me I was to send birthday invitations to not only all the family (which he named every last Aunt, Uncle, cousin and 2nd cousin twice removed) but all his friends, all his brother and sister's friends, all Daddy's friends, and all my friends. Let me tell you if I manage to pull off all he wants this is going to be huge. I mean MTV's "I'm a 16 year old spoiled rich girl, throw me the biggest party ever Daddy" reality show will have nothing on this. We are to start the party at the local air force base complete with soldiers and an airshow. I thought this was going to be the hardest part but the birthday fairy must listen to the wishes of an almost 5 year old because the local air force base is hosting an open to the public airshow the weekend of the birthday. I lucked out on that one. From there the party is going on a road trip. We will all be meeting at Santa Claus, Indiana where I am supposed to rent out Holiday World. We will be riding lots of roller coasters. I am also supposed to make them reopen their water park so we can do some "awesome" water slides. After that it is back to St. Louis so we can all go to a Cardinals game. I'm not sure they are even scheduled to be in town that weekend but I'm sure a small phone call and I can arrange something. After the Cards whoop butt on whatever team happens to be playing we will all head down to the arch grounds to watch a "sweet" fireworks show. Once again I'm sure all it will take to shut down the barge traffic on the Mississippi River for about a half hour would be a couple phone calls or a really polite e-mail. Finally after the fireworks we will all come to my home where we will have a BBQ (and you thought I wasn't going to feed you), cake, ice cream and play games. Oh, and can't forget presents. He would like to receive lots of army men. Let's see, his birthday is the end of this month, I still have time to organize this.

Music Monday

Miss Stef from The Love Knot wants to know what music is speaking to me right now. Well I'm going to show my true dorky side. Laugh all you want but I am totally excited that The Block from New Kids is out. I haven't bought it... yet (please let me know if it is totally lame for a 30-something woman is buying the NKOTB CD). But I was so thrilled to hear of their reunion. I love their single Summertime and their video debut of the song on VH1 was the first time I've watched a music video in at least ten years. In some way the music of NKOTB lets me go back. Back to a time of friends, goofing off, slipping notes into my friends lockers, writing on bathroom walls that I loved Mark (I knew I didn't have a shot with Jordan), and cruising around with the buds in a stripped down Festiva singing acapella and making up our own words because it didn't even have a radio. So Danny, Donnie, Joey, Jordan, and Jon (and no, I did not name my youngest after him) thank you for making me feel like a kid again.

Those Gets a Bad Rap...

Poor those (and that). When did such an everyday common pronoun with synonyms such as thingamajigs and doohickeys turn into an adjective meaning incomprihensible evil or ignorant? You know a word that is emphasized with disgust when spoke and usually accompanied by an eye roll. Those parents, those people, those neighbors, those kids. (and of course the singular that boy, that girl) Just the other day while innocently out shopping (being a kept woman is tough), I was told I was "One of thooooose parents." Oh no, I've been lumped into the rank of crazies and serial killers. How did this happen? There I was standing in the middle of racks of resell denim when a woman came up to JonJon and me and struck up a conversation with the little guy. First words out of her mouth were asking him how old he was and why wasn't he in school. JonJon is my shy one so he just scooted a bit closer to me and just gave her a "Why are you talking to me?" look (my thoughts exactly kiddo). I bit back my "None of your busniess." retort and just politely said that he was only four and therefore not in school yet. That is usually good enough for the nosey ones, after all the child is the size of a third grader so I can see the confusion. But she just carried right on "Well, he is in preschool right?" By now she has thrown me by her persistence so I just answered truthfully that "No, he was not. I am a sahm and he is my youngest and I'm just not ready to give him up." That was the moment I became one of thoooooose parents.

Off to Learn New Tricks

Otherwise known as the first day of school. Ok, so I'm a bit of a slacker. Technically, the first day of school was like two weeks ago. I would like to tell you that my life has been sooooooo hectic that I just now found a spare thirty seconds to get the pictures off my camera and onto my computer. Unfortunately, I can't. Nor will I tell you that along with the kidlet's first day of school pictures I also downloaded our July beach vacation. As you can tell I'm so on top of things.

Here is the oldest all ready for 7th grade.


And the big 3rd grader.



A bit of (forced) sibling love.



And here is the death march *ahem* I mean the much anticipated walk to an exciting year of learning.



"Goodbye Eddie!"



Erica meets up with one of her BFFs. *squeeeeeal* *hugs* *giggles*



Ready to meet the new teacher.



Now it is just the little one, the doggie and me (and dad who works from home in the basement). JonJon is B-O-R-E-D and the puppy just sits by the front door all day waiting for her girl to come home. Me? Well this whole getting up at 7am is so not cool. Is it summer vacation yet?

Tears of a Clown

Sometimes life seems incredibly unfair. I knew the day was coming, but being a living in denial type person, the news that a friend of mines health has taken a turn for the worse felt like a punch to the gut. To say her past six years have been tough would be a severe understatement. She's not only had to battle a life threatening disease but those who should have been her rock abandoned her. But through her strength, positive attitude, faith and will to live she has touched more lives than she probably knows, especially those of her children. I've thought of those beautiful children many times since hearing the news. I can not imagine what they are going through. My thoughts turn to my own children. What are they learning from me? I hope they learn to find happiness no matter what life throws at them. I hope they learn that if they don't like something change it. If they can not change it then accept it but don't dwell. I hope they learn that there is a healthy balance between living for today (me) yet planning for tomorrow (Dave). I hope they learn to not fear change. Change is good, it is exciting, and adds adventure to one's life. And even if the change is not so good that it is a growth opportunity. And I pray they learn to love, protect, and nurture each other and their loved ones. Most days I'd say they've got that one covered (except for the occasional sibling battles).

To my dear friend I pray God gives her peace and strength for whatever time He allows her here. And I pray her children feel her love for all their years.

New to the Blogiverse

Well, here I am. My very first blog--ever. We've been told we have a fun house (I lean towards crazy house). I hope through this blog you can get a peek into our fun (or craziness). First let me direct you towards the center ring and introduce your entertainment. Dave and I married 13 years ago with huge plans and a well thought out future. Within 2 months the plans went out the window with a + sign on a stick and life has not been boring since. Eddie our oldest is quickly approaching the teen years (you have to have the word teen in the name for it to count to me). He is charming, goofy and very witty. Ed has already mastered the fine art of sarcasm and is pretty good at using it to be funny but not disrespectful. He also has my fantastic laid back attitude. Erica is my living breathing PDA. She makes sure everyone around her is doing exactly what they are supposed to do ON TIME. She is my little mini-me in looks but the polar opposite in attitude (should make for fun teenage years). But don't think for a minute the goof gene passed her by. She loves nothing more than to entertain. And JonJon, my little red haired, freckled nose, mischievous little (only in age) guy. He was the most easy going baby but as soon as he learned to walk I was in trouble. Thankfully he has outgrown the age of painting himself, the living room, and the dog in peanut butter and has turned into an energetic, always smiling and laughing preschooler. Now sit back and enjoy the show.