from the mouth of babes

We got the framed portrait of the boys back on Saturday, it's beautiful. Yago spent the weekend hanging things on the walls and making it look a little homier in here.

Schmitty spent last night at my parents' house. It's always weird when he's not here. We were talking the other night, sometimes he says the most interesting things. We were on the couch and he'd just finished clearing the table, I still had to do the dishes. I said something about how I didn't feel like doing the dishes and he offered to help. I smiled at him and told him that was really nice of him to offer. He said, "Well, I think when you help someone it leaves a little spot on your heart." I thought that was just about the sweetest thing I'd ever heard. I smiled and joked that I bet Yago doesn't know that. He replied, "I think he does. I also think that when you lie it leaves a spot on your heart, at least it does on mine." Geez, Mr. Philosopher.

not a word

We took Ralph for his 18-month well-baby visit the other day and there's a teensy bit of concern over the fact that he refuses to talk. The doctor tried to help us out with a, "But he says mama and dada, right?" No. "Is he in daycare?" No. "Does he watch a lot of tv?" No, not a single word. Hmph. I think he's just stubborn.

open house

A conversation overheard at Schmitty's open house last night:

A mother looking at an assignment hanging on wall...

Child: "That's for you to look at, not to be criticked."

Mother: "Critiqued."

Yago says I have issues but it was more for my own amusement. I thought it (I) was funny.

not very interesting

Lately my blogging has not been prolific but it's mostly because I've been swamped. It seems like there's always a task (or two) of the day. There's so much I want to do but right now I'm swamped with the mundane.

Yesterday I went to a frame store and chose a frame for a portrait of the boys that Yago had done in Iraq. It's a beautiful painting and I'm really excited to get it framed and hung.

Ralph is STILL in his empty-all-the-cupboards, watch-mommy-put-everything-away, and empty-all-the-cupboards-again phase. It's fun. (or it was for the first week)

there goes peter cottontail

Schmitty and I have a little routine in the morning on our walk. We know all the dogs that are out and say good morning to them. There are three dachshunds in one yard and we call one of them Sadie, "Good morning, Sadie." Then there's the most well-behaved boxer I've ever seen. We look for him every morning and say, "Good morning, Boxer." Finally, there's a bunny we see every morning that hops in to the same bushes. All we see is her little tail.

This morning we didn't see the bunny and commented on it. A little further up the road there was a squirrel that had been hit by a car. I told Sam not to look, just keep walking. Turns out it was a little bunny. I didn't have the heart to tell him. I was sad enough for both of us.

Last Saturday we drove up to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to visit Yago's best friend since kindergarten. We spent the night there and had a good time just hanging out. They have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and Ralph loved playing with the baby dolls and princess toys. It was funny. It was a little more difficult for Schmitty to entertain himself. After digging through Dora and Barbie Princess videos he finally found Schrek, Cars and The Fox and the Hound. We invited them down for a weekend and I hope they come.

going solo

Last night was Skate Night at Schmitty's school. I took him after his piano lesson and it was there that I learned (again) my little boy is growing up.

We went in and I paid for admission and skates for both of us. When we got to the counter to get our skates I asked if he wanted me to skate with him assuming he'd say yes. I was so confident that I'd already paid for my rental. "No, that's okay. I'll skate with my friends first." Oh. He went out there and I sat near the snack bar watching. I waited all evening for an invitation that was never extended. Gone are the days of the two of us holding hands and skating around as fast as we can, giggling wildly.

I spent his early years dressing him in argyle sweater vests and reindeer sweaters around the holidays. His hair was cut and gelled just so. Now he reads greek mythology books about vampires, wears a dragon necklace and his favorite school shirt is a t-shirt that says "Caverns of DOOM" under a bat. Throw in a flaming skull tattoo and he's ecstatic. The nerve of my little boy.

I couldn't help but laugh at the skating rink when they started playing YMCA and Schmitty thrust both fists in the air with index, pinky fingers, and thumbs extended. That was too funny. Oh and at the end when he tried break dancing, I nearly busted a gut.

ollie ollie in come free

Last night Yago and I searched and searched for the remote. I was upstairs looking in our closet, thinking maybe Ralph snuck it up there to play with while I was in the shower. Yago searched the pantry and kitchen cabinets. After much searching, Yago found it placed neatly inside our front loading washing machine. All I could think was, "Thank God I'm not the one that misplaced it."

In other tv adventures I called the cable company this morning to ask if there was an outage. Turns out Schmitty changed the input on the tv when he turned it off before school. A little embarrassing but at least I'm a girl, that's always a good excuse.

Tonight is Skate Night at Schmitty's school so we'll be heading over to the roller rink after piano lessons.

Ralph thinks he's funny slurping the broth from his noodles. He's got his face buried in his bowl. sigh

all over the place

I'm listening to Dr. Laura, as I always do. She's reading a letter from a woman in the Army who is separating to be a stay at home mom. She's describing her family care plan, I hated doing those. I've still got several years in the Reserves but I'm so happy I'm out.

I met some neighbors today They have two boys, a 3-yr-old and 18-month-old. I was happy to talk to them.

I went to the PTO meeting yesterday and everyone knew whose house we bought. I didn't know anyone but was introduced as the one who bought Susan's house. (it was weird because I didn't tell anyone that) Apparently, Susan was the PTO President last year. Is there anything this woman couldn't do? She kept an immaculate house, worked at the school and was the PTO President. Sheesh.

I'm reading one of Schmitty's books because he was so excited about it. Ugh. It's about vampires and half-bloods. I don't know if I can slog my way through it. He's always asking what part I'm on. blah

I hate those giant black crickets we have in Nebraska. I don't know how but they always manage to get in to basements which gives me the willies everytime I head down there. I killed one yesterday but they're big and gross. Yuck.

what's the word?

Forgetful. Sam forgot his lunch yesterday and today he forgot his shoes. He wears rubber boots in the morning for the walk to school and changes in to his sneaker. I got home this morning and found a message from the school nurse that he didn't have any shoes. I drove up there and dropped them off for him (thereby negating any carbon footprint reduction this morning's walk had accomplished).

I'm trying to go back on a diet and gained two pounds! I hate diets.

Oh! I have my first PTO meeting today after school. I have to take the kidlets but it should be fine. I'm sure it'll be a colossal waste of time but I'm going, nonetheless.

We had someone pull over and offer Sam a ride to school again. I think it's really nice and I feel bad for saying no. I also feel bad because I think they assume I don't have a car and I'm walking because I have to and not because I want to. The woman today got out of the car with her daughter and had her daughter translate for her. I thought that was muy amable. She even gave me her name and number.

I've got to mount my license plates and change a headlight while Ralph naps. I'd better get crackin'.

a while

It's been a while since I made an entry, not on purpose or anything. It's just when you skip a few days you feel like there should be a ton of news and a zinger entry but there isn't.

We bought a piano last week and that's been our exciting news. It's a mahogany finish upright, nothing fancy but a piano nonetheless. Jake, as you can imagine, loves it.

We went to the reunion in OKC and that was good. Nothing much to report from the trip though, just eight hours in the car with a grouchy baby.

Pretty boring. Sorry.

peach soup

We took my parents out to dinner last night to thank them for letting us use their van while we waited for our cars to make it across the Atlantic. We went to China Road and came back here for dessert and show them our house.

My peach souffles turned out to be more like peach soup in little ramekins. While they were baking Yago chased the midget through the kitchen and they collapsed. There were two left standing when Schmitty ran through, he took care of those. They bubbled instead of cracked but I finished baking them, sprinkled them with sugar, and served them anyway. I didn't mind too much, I like my rambunctious boys.

Tonight we leave for OKC, we're going to a family reunion. It'll be a long drive but we always have fun. I'll be back Tuesday-ish. Happy Labor Day weekend!

lacking

Today I'm lacking. Lacking in motivation to work out, put things away and recycle.

It was storming out this morning, complete with thunder and lightning so I drove Schmitty to school. Ralph has been a bear since he woke up and when I put him down for a nap I didn't feel like running downstairs and, well, running. I should though.

I've been trying to figure out how I require so much closet space when I don't feel like I have a lot of clothes. I can't find a way to neatly organize everything. Why do we have so many blankets? What are we going to do with them all? It's ridiculous.

I'm also lacking a lemon to make peach souffles for dessert tonight. I'll have to pick that up later because I don't feel like going out in public right now. (Note: I'm not very good at making souffles. They never turn out right but that doesn't keep me from trying.)

Tomorrow we're leaving for Oklahoma City to go to a family reunion. I should be doing laundry and packing. Ugh. I've done a lot but I don't feel like I've accomplished anything. There are still huge piles that look only slightly diminished.

I really love our house though. I really think it's perfect for us, I just wish everything was unpacked and decorated. (We got rid of the boxes but not all the piles.)

secret's out

I guess it's not really a secret that kids can be a giant pain in the behind. After enduring and afternoon of errands with Ralph yelling at me almost the whole time, I got home and discovered he'd lost a sandal somewhere along the way. I'm not even attempting to retrace my steps.

This morning on the walk back from school he threw his sippy cup out of the stroller. Of course I don't know where it is, I just know it wasn't in his stroller when we got home.

I really don't think he likes me.

i did it!

I finally finished reading The Three Musketeers! Holy crap, it took a long time. I was reading that book when I was pregnant. Most of my readers will remember me lugging it around last summer when I spent a couple months in the states while my husband was on vacation (in Iraq).

I want to run (on my treadmill) today but I'm seriously lacking energy and motivation.

Oh, something else we did that I didn't think was possible... we emptied all the moving boxes. That's not to say everything is in it's place yet but we're having all the boxes picked up this afternoon. It's mostly credited to Yago's herculean efforts.

Well, I've only got a few more minutes of Ralph's naptime to enjoy so I'm going to go do something.

complete chaos

I hate moving. The initial euphoria felt after receiving the phone call that our stuff was here has been replaced by inundation. I feel like I'm drowning in crap, my crap.

Yago has spent hours posting books and DVDs on swaptree. That makes him happy but I'm still feeling completely overwhelmed.

We found our scale last night. In two months my hair has grown about 7 lbs. I can't think of any other explanation. Ugh. Yago and I are starting the ol' diet program today but he is much more fastidious about it. He logs every calorie consumed or burned where as I procrastinate and forget. He also burns 600+ calories riding his bike to work which means he can eat a lot more than I can. It really stinks come dinner time when I don't feel full and he's drinking a beer and eating his second helping. Sigh.

big day

Yesterday, we went to the airshow and saw the Thunderbirds. It was a lot of fun, mostly because Schmitty had such a good time. Ralph startled when a jet flew by and ran to Schmitty, hugged him and buried his head in Schmitty's belly. It was very funny.

I got a good sunburn on the backs of my legs. Yago noticed I was burning and I applied SPF 50 but it was too little too late. My ears and neck got it pretty good too. The boys were slathered up good and early so they're fine.

Today's the first day of school. We walked. Oh my goodness. We left at 8:15 and I got home at 9:30. Pushing Tubby in his stroller, on the grass, at a side incline, up and down hills... not the best way to start my day. And I'm supposed to do it again this afternoon? I'm reconsidering my options, already. We showed up all sweaty and panting. It was actually a little humorous.

I enjoy the mornings with Schmitty and don't want to spend it with him sitting behind me in a car. I think it's mostly because of how much I hated dropping him off at daycare when he was two and three years old. Now I enjoy our talks in the morning. Eventhough Ralph is there, he's usually pretty quiet in his stroller and it feels like it's just Schmitty and me.

There was a parent that was walking her child in to the school wearing pajama pants. I absolutely hate people wearing pjs out in public. We went to Panera Bread for breakfast yesterday and a guy was wearing his Husker pajama bottoms. It's so tacky, I don't understand it. It doesn't pass as clothes and it's not cute. Please, let's put a stop to it.

waffle wednesday

Last night after dinner Yagopuchae attached Tubby's bike trailer to my bike and so began Waffle Cone Wednesday. We rode our bikes to the ice cream parlor/Subway down the street on the corner. (It's a Subway restaurant that has an ice cream counter.)

I have to say I was nervous about riding my bike, especially towing Tubby. I also don't think I've ever ridden along a road with real traffic. (And as stated in yesterday's post, there's no shoulder.) Anyway, we all got there and back in one piece and Ralph loved it.

I got my windshield fixed today and I'm really happy with the result. Now I can get my car registered and people can stop staring at my European plates.

Tomorrow is the last day of summer vacation, I'm a little sad. I'll miss hanging out with Schmitty.

you must be kidding

I've had a relatively busy day. After I went to lunch with my sister I stopped by Schmitty's school to see who his teacher was going to be. I also wanted to talk to someone about the bus situation.

I politely asked the front office what I could do about getting Schmitty on a bus. I found out the back corner of my subdivision is over 1.5 miles away and gets transportation. I asked if it would be possible for Schmitty to get on the bus if it wasn't full. Nope. I can try to enroll him in a different school outside our district that is further away. Then I could qualify for a bus. But, I argued, I want him to go to this school for several reasons that I researched and I live in this district. He's seven years old and there's no sidewalk or safe way for him to walk. There's not a shoulder or anything and it's 1.3 miles each way. If I walk with him I'll have a baby and a stroller and still no sidewalk. I don't get it. There's a bus that runs a few blocks from where I live that comes here that would be safer. Why can't he get on the bus is there's room? Nope. Liability issues. Is there a waiver process? (Can you tell I'm former military?) Nope.

It really doesn't make any sense to me. I'm trying not to think about it too much because the more I think about it the more extreme my thoughts get. (Keep reading.)

I also took Sam to a piano lesson today. Mrs. Meyer complimented him several times on being a good listener. She said, "I bet you like to read, don't you?" He said it was one of his favorite things. She asked him if he had all his school supplies ready for school and I told her that the school said they're providing everything this year and didn't give me a list. Mrs. Meyer said it was because of a lawsuit a few years back where a father said if he paid taxes and sent his kids to public school everything should be provided. He apparently won. That got me to thinking about suing for a safe walk to school.

I know it's not a big deal, I should just suck it up and drive him everyday like everyone else does. But I don't want to do that. It's not that I'm lazy, I walked him probably half a mile to the bus stop every single day in Germany. Happily. It's that they think it's okay for a kindergartener to walk 1.3 miles to school without a sidewalk? They keep harping on me about carpooling but I don't have a huge SUV or minivan. There's space for one more kid in my car, that's it. And when I walked Isaiah to the bus stop last year his mom was always late. Serenity now. I need to stop thinking about it.

son of a .... gun!

I went to St. Louis with Schmitty yesterday to pick up my car, woohoo! We flew out at 7:30 and arrived at 8:30. I'm not really sure why but I was on edge all day. It was an effort not to lose my cool for no particular reason which isn't the day I wanted to have. I got my car and we drove to the arch but there wasn't any parking, it was all roped off and plastered with no parking signs. I was thoroughly annoyed and left, I decided to just drive straight home (443 miles). I think I was cranky because I was tired, I can't think of any other reason. Maybe sometimes I don't need a reason...

Saturday afternoon/evening Yago and I tried our hand at canning tomatoes. We bought a big box of them at the farmer's market that morning and looked forward to preserving some fresh food for later use. We also shucked, cut from the cob and froze a couple dozen ears of corn. I just read Greek Tragedy and she canned fresh tomato sauce. She made it sound idealic and homey, she left out the part where you drop a slippery tomato on the floor and make a huge mess (stain) on an area rug or where you ruin a t-shirt. (It looks like I tried hacking a small cat to bits.) She also forgot to mention the part where at the end you wonder if you're doing it right and yell at your husband. Will the jars seal? Is it going to spoil because I accidentally touched something after it was sterilized.

And lets not forget about the pesky baby that wants to be in the kitchen with four pots of boiling water on the stove and all sorts of things to get in to. I guess her twins are more boring than my Ralph.

I almost forgot the best (worst) part of my story about picking up my car. I was within NINE miles of home when a construction vehicle in front of me kicked a rock up on to my windshield. I have a big ding and crack in my windshield. Grrr.

My Aunt Rita came to visit for the weekend. I wish we'd been able to spend more time together, she's pretty funny. Sometimes I'd like to go back to NY to visit but I don't have anyone to stay with, I'm not really close to any family back there anymore. It's been years since I've been back and seen people.

Time to make Schmitty breakfast and enjoy the few moments left before Ralph wakes up.

i called it

As predicted, I've been compulsively checking my email to see if the biological has responded with updated contact information. He hasn't. I need the info to have him served with paperwork but I know he doesn't much care.

I'm trying to just relax about it. I'll give the lawyer the address from Dec 06 and we'll take it from there. If he doesn't respond it probably won't matter anyway. The lawyer said even if he tried to contest it (which I REALLY don't anticipate) it'd be hard for him because he hasn't been involved whatsoever in the child's life.

In other news, my Aunt Rita is coming to town to visit for a weekend. We're all going to Mistress of Moomoo's house for enchiladas, I'm bringing stuff for peach mojitos. Yago and I realize we can't drink the whole pitcher ourselves this time, that was one nasty hangover!

I got Schmitty a couple of 3rd Grade workbooks to do, he's less than thrilled.