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?