Karate Master!

Jake did FANTASTIC at karate today. He did the entire class and was so proud of himself. When we were pulling out of the parking lot he said "I love karate!" He's always slow to get into things but I knew he'd love it once he tried it. He's so excited to show Grandpa Dan and Uncle Mark when we're out in California with them next month. Not that he's not excited to show Grandma Dena and Aunt Debbie too but it's a "guy thing" for Jake.

I sat and watched him through the entire class and it was so adorable. I had promised him I wouldn't leave the spot where he told me to sit and that he could turn around and look at me anytime he wanted to. He was so excited. I was grinning from ear to ear like a cheeseball and often had tears in my eyes as well. I couldn't believe how proud I was of him. He did GREAT!

Karate / Good Parenting

Tomorrow morning Jake has karate again. Last week I took him and he participated in the last 10 minutes of class (a huge success!). The week before Lincoln took him and he cried so hard he got a bloody nose (Jake, not Lincoln). I told him that I would like to take Jake tomorrow because I really think I can get him to participate in the entire 30 minute class.

I'm the "mean" parent usually. Lincoln is the "nice" one. I'm quickier to discipline and have a more "I mean business" tone to my voice. Lincoln sometimes gets disparaged by the fact that the kids don't listen to him quite as much as they listen to me. He's definitely more tolerant than I am. I don't think this is a bad thing. Kids need that balance. Lincoln is by no means soft with them....he's just less "scary". They don't need two strict parents and they CERTAINLY don't need too lenient parents.

I think Lincoln and I are a perfect match. We both agree that the children should never play us off of each other and we never disagree with each other in front of the children regarding a disciplinary action or punishment. If Lincoln says "no" to Hannah and then she tries to ask me the same question for a different answer she not only doesn't get what she wants she gets twice the punishment for trying to manipulate Mommy and Daddy.

I have no real point to this post other than the fact that I think Lincoln felt a little down earlier when I said I wanted to take Jake to karate in the morning because I think I can get him to do it. Lincoln is a FANTASTIC father. But more importantly he's the yin to my yang. He may be the "softy" but he's no pushover. I respect him so much as a father and I wouldn't want my children to be raised by anyone else.

I love you honey. But I still want to be the one to take Jake to karate in the morning. Unless this cold I'm fighting decides otherwise.

I now have competition for Mother of the Year

Every now and then I will refer to my children as "little shits". NEVER in front of them but if someone asks me how the kids have been lately and they've been acting up I'll say "They've been acting like little shits lately." No kid is ever perfect 100% of the time and I'm sorry but if you think your kid is then you're probably ruining him or her for life and he or she will be rejected by society as an adult for being obnoxious and undeservedly arrogant.

Anyway, a co-worker of mine came into my office today and I asked her if she had stayed home with her baby yesterday (due to the icy conditions) and she said "Yes, but man was she a wicked bitch."

I almost died laughing.

Lincoln's comments on the daddy/daughter dance

I was telling Lincoln the story below and he said: "She better not settle for anything less." I fully agree.

Names have been changed to protect those with no soul

Co-worker M: So, what are you doing this weekend?

Me: I'm taking Hannah to get a dress for the daddy/daughter dance next weekend.

CM: The what?

Me: The daddy/daughter Valentine's Day dance. I think I'm going to get her a little corsage too.

CM: What is that? Like prom with your father?

Me: It's cute!

CM: It's creepy!

Me: It's not creepy. You just have no soul.

CM: No, it's not. You're going to scar her for life.

Me: And how's that?

CM: Because she's going to grow up and expect every man to treat her as wonderfully as her father.

Me: She's going to expect that anyway.

CM: I'm telling you you're going to scar her for life.

Co-worker A: Wait, how is she going to be scarred for life by having a good father?

Co-worker L: I'm scarred for life! But that's because my dad was never around.

Me: See!

Guess who is in charge today?

It occurred to me this morning that every single senior staff member that I would defer final major decisions to at work regarding the building or the office is in L.A. or on an airplane today.

For today, and one day only, the buck stops here.

My Slanket

I know they're cheesy but I love my Slanket. I wanted one for Christmas and Lincoln bought it for me. It's fantastic. It's a huge blanket with sleeves and the only flaw I've found in it so far is that after spending time under the slanket and then getting up you get very cold because of losing all the heat you had trapped under the blanket with you. I've tried to put a "this is Mommy's....don't touch" command on it but of course the children ignore me.

Here is Jake cuddling up with my slanket.

Ice, Ice, and More Ice

After yesterday's snow and ice fest our driveway (and presumably the roads) are completely iced over. There is a 2-hour delay at school today which always makes me nervous. If it's icy enough that they can't start the buses on time what makes them so sure the ice will be gone 2 hours later?!? Buses don't have seat belts and the roads around here can be narrow and steep with lots of sharp curves. Not a good combination.

I'm not one to normally complain about winter unless it intefers with my plans (i.e. I'm trying to get on a plane and there is a blizzard). It's a pet peeve of mine to hear people complain about all the snow we get in the winter. Hello!!! You live in New England. The land of four distinct seasons and many profitable ski resorts. Of course we get a lot of snow. If you don't want a lot of snow move to Florida! But after my near accident a few weeks ago I must admit I'm sick of driving on icy roads. And today I'll have the kids with me in the car which I'm very scared about. I just want this winter to be over with so I have 9 months to forget how scary that day was.

Like Father, Like Daughter

Hannah: What are you watching Mommy?

Me: Countdown with Keith Olbermann. You know, the show that Grandpa Dan always watches.

Hannah: You mean the one he falls asleep watching.

(about an hour later Lincoln comes downstairs after tucking the kids into bed)

Link: What are you watching?

Me: The Rachel Maddow Show......but I'm falling asleep.

Jake's new pajamas

Jake got new pajamas for Christmas that have a picture of a gingerbread man on them and they say "I'm One Tough Cookie". He just came down from bath time and started beating his head on the arm of the couch saying "I'm a tough cookie" while Hannah and I were snuggled up watching him.

Me: Where did we go wrong with him?

Hannah: I don't know.

Then Hannah got up and Jake flung himself on me and started bouncing up and down.

Me: Ow! What are you doing?

Jake: I'm a tough cookie!

Me: Yes but I'm a delicate flower. Stop that.

I have taught her well

Sometimes I ask Lincoln a question and give him the illusion of having a choice. I'll ask him his thoughts and when he answers I'll just stand there and keep looking at him until he changes his answer. He's pretty good about it. If he truly wants to stick with his original answer than we'll discuss it and come to a mutual decision but usually he lets me get my way. Oftentimes I ask him the question because I think I want him to answer but then when he answers a certain way I realize that I really wanted another thing.

For example:

Me: Honey, should we go see Movie A or Movie B?

Lincoln: Movie A.

Me: Really?

Lincoln: Movie B?

Me: Good, that's what I was thinking too. Once you said Movie A I realized I really wanted to see Movie B.

Anyway, this whole story is to explain something that happened tonight after dinner. We have a cauldron of candy in the kitchen (a plastic Halloween decoration where all holiday, birthday party, and random candy ends up) that the kids get to pick a treat from after dinner. It's mostly filled with dum dums and tootsie pops. Each night the kids usually pick three different suckers and tell one of us to keep picking until there is only one left and then that's what they eat. Tonight Hannah presented this dilemma to Lincoln while I was in the next room. All of a sudden I hear:

Lincoln: How do you women know how to do that!?!

I asked Hannah what she did and she said that she asked Daddy to pick a sucker for her but when he tried to pull out the one that she really wanted she just held them really, really tight until he started to pull out the two that she didn't want.

She's obviously learning through the powers of observation and I couldn't be more proud of her.

Not the mail!

I'm all for cutting government spending these days but please don't take away my mail delivery. I love getting the mail. Even though it is usually all bills and catalogs I still think it's like a little mini-Christmas morning every day (except Sundays, of course). Apparently the U.S. Postal Service is thinking of cutting back mail delivery to 5 days a week instead of 6 days a week in order to save money (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28897426/?GT1=43001).

I think my love of the mail goes back to when we moved from Iowa to Seattle. I loved getting mail in Iowa too but usually it only came for me around my birthday. When we moved to Seattle I was always excited if a letter came from one of my friends. You never knew what would be in the mail when you opened the mailbox. I still love that feeling. I hate Sundays because there is no mail and God help me when there is a holiday on Monday because that's two days in a row that I don't get anything! It's also why I hate when our mailman plays prima donna and won't deliver when it snows.

This is going to make me very, very sad if it comes to pass.

Ahhh.....the future

Hannah and I have perfected the art of mock trash talking when we play Wii tennis. It's all in fun and we come up with some pretty random things. One night Hannah told me she was "going to give me the boot and give me the foot for free". Tonight I kept dancing in front of her and telling her I was going to "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" (yes, I know that is boxing and not tennis). She did not like that one at all for some reason and so of course the madder she got the more I did it. And then Jake started doing it. Aren't we just one loving family?

Me: Okay, okay, okay. Let's stop tormenting Hannah for now.

Hannah: Let's stop tormenting Hannah period.

Me: Nope. I get to torment you all I want until you turn 18.

Hannah: And then I'm going to torment you by moving out.

Me: Sorry sweetheart but that won't be torment......although I will miss you. And actually, since Jakey will still be home it might be torment because he'll be bored without you. Or maybe it won't be torment because you guys won't be fighting anymore.

Lincoln: Oh I'm sure he'll be away at military school or juvie by then.

NOTE: For those of you that have not actually met one or all of us in person, please know that our conversations like this are all in good fun. Hannah is a great sport and has a wicked sense of humor. She can easily tell when someone is joking or not and is always in on the joke. Jake on the other hand usually questions everything with "Are you joking?" to which we explain that yes, we are. As for always saying that he's going to end up in jail, you would just have to meet him to understand. We don't really think that he's going to end up there (I hope) and we certainly don't make him feel like he's a bad kid but he does have a diabolical sense of humor and takes great pleasure in being naughty. He is definitely going to give us a run for our money....particularly though his teenage years.

Foul Language Alert

I am now at "pro" level on Wii Tennis and was playing a very hard match in the back living room earlier. Jake was in the front living room (which is about 10 feet from where I was playing).

Me: F#@k!

Jake: I'm not supposed to hear that! Because then I'm gonna say it.

Snow Day

Today we're all home with a snow day. School is cancelled and my work is closed. Lincoln has been conducting business calls all morning talking people through problems with their systems but he hasn't had to leave the house yet. I have to say, I'm doing my best not to cry as I watch the driveway fill up with snow and ice again. After all the snow comes down it's supposed to turn to freezing rain and make a sheet of ice over everything. Oh joy.

We have fuel!!!

The oil truck made it up the driveway yesterday (Thank God!) and now we're $450 poorer but at least we don't have to worry about losing heat. It was just in time too, we have another storm coming tomorrow night which will revert our driveway back to the way it was before Lincoln and I spent the weekend clearing it.

Obviously we have some work to do with him

As previously mentioned on this blog, back when Hannah was about 3 years old I taught her to say "I'm sorry that I lost but I'm happy for you that you won" whenever she lost a game. For some reason we skipped that lesson with Jake.

Tonight we had a boys vs. girls race and Hannah and I beat Lincoln and Jake. Jake was whining that they lost so Lincoln and I told him: "You're supposed to say you're sad that you lost but you're happy that Hannah and I won."

Jake: But I'm NOT happy that you won.

Hannah needs to get cracking

According to my archives Hannah has only been included in 194 posts and Jake has been in 209. Lincoln has only been in 100. Hannah obviously needs to step up her game. As does Lincoln.

What a day!

After all our work today we're finally getting ready to leave the house to run some errands and grab some dinner. Hannah, Lincoln, and I were all in various states of undress throughout the bedrooms and bathrooms as Jake wandered around.

Jake: Why are all of you naked?

Me: Because we're getting dressed to go. Why are you still in your pajamas?

Jake: Because I don't know how to get myself dressed....And I'm tired..... And hungry.

Hannah: He always has excuses.

What a crazy weekend

This weekend has been crazy and it's not even over yet.

Yesterday Jake had karate which actually went pretty well. There was no crying and screaming and he actually participated in the last 10 minutes of class. Definitely an improvement. Last weekend he cried so hard he got a bloody nose.

On Friday we were supposed to get an oil delivery but the delivery truck couldn't make it up our driveway. Our driveway is about 250 feet long and is on a hill. During this time of year it is never in direct sunlight so when ice freezes on there it pretty much stays there for awhile. Luckily Lincoln and I both have vehicles that can easily get up our driveway so it's not much of an issue for us. Unfortunately the lack of an oil delivery is a huge issue. We're desperately low on oil and each day Lincoln is going out and filling a 5 gallon fuel can with diesel and then pouring it in our tank. That will keep us going until we can get an oil fill up.

Since we need to get the oil truck up the driveway we spent a good portion of yesterday out there trying to chip through tons of ice. Poor Lincoln was out there for about 7 or 8 hours yesterday. I was out there for a couple too. We went through about 5 bags of Driveway Heat (which isn't cheap) and purchased 5 more for today. Lincoln and I are just about to head out and start tackling that project again.

This morning I sponge painted the master bathroom. We painted it last Monday but I just didn't like the way it looked. Everything that I have for decorating the bathroom is very rich in color and texture and the paint just looked flat and blah. I decided to sponge paint it - which I've never done before - and now I'll have to start decorating. Hopefully the finished product will be as great as I'm envisioning in my head.

After Lincoln and I tackle more of the driveway today I have to take Hannah out to buy fabric for sewing class. They're making a pillow case next week and she's very excited.

I guess I should stop delaying on going outside. As we've learned, it's not going to melt itself.

Wish us luck!

No wonder our economy is in the toilet. Seriously, how do these people live with themselves?

He's such a punk

Despite Jake's weekly fit that he threw this morning about not wanting to go to school this was his response tonight to "How was school today?"

Gooood. Good. Good. Good.

Fun new office supplies!

I am a post-it addict. I can't function without them and there is usually a dozen or so of them stuck to any surface of my office at any given time. Today my former runner, Aaron, brought me in the greatest new post-its. Each one has origami instructions on them so that once I'm done with them I can turn them into some fun designs. I can't wait!

I really must do too much shopping online

Earlier today Lincoln needed me to call him with my credit card number.

Lincoln: Is that a Visa?

Me: Nope. A MasterCard. It starts with a 5. MasterCards start with 5, Visa starts with 4, and AmEx cards start with a 3.

Lincoln: But don't AmEx cards have a totally different sequence of numbers?

Me: Sort of. All credit cards have 16 digits but Visa and MasterCard put them as 4, 4, 4, and 4 digits. AmEx does 4, 6, and 5 in a grouping.

(silence)

Me: No, I didn't really know that off the top of my head.

Lincoln: Yeah, I think you did.

TWO NOTES:

1. The reason I knew about the 3, 4, and 5 rules of credit cards is from working at a travel agency during college. Similarly all store department cards will start with any digit other than 3, 4, or 5 unless it's a store card operated through Visa or Mastercard.
2. I was wrong about AmEx having 16 digits. If you add 4, 6, and 5 together you actually get 15 digits. But I was right about the number of digits in each sequence.

Our Thursday morning routine

Jake goes to Grandma and Grandpa Snow's Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday each week. On Thursday and Friday he goes to daycare (or as we call it, school). He throws a fit every Thursday morning because he doesn't want to go.

Jake: I don't want to go to school! I hate school! I want to go to Grandma and Grandpa's.

Me: The only reason you don't want to go to school is because Grandma and Grandpa let you do anything you want on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and at school you have to follow the rules.

Jake: I hate school!

Me: You know, you're a very lucky kid. You get to see your grandparents three days a week and you only have to go to school for two days.

Jake: Why don't other kids go to their grandma's house?

Me: Not all kids live by their grandparents. Or have grandparents that can take care of them. Some kids have to go to school all five days a week.

Jake: That's just sad.

Me: Yes, it is.

Jake: But I don't want to go to school!

Me: You have to.

Jake: But I don't want to!

Hannah: Jake, aren't you listening?!? You're lucky. You only go two days. You get to go to Grandma and Grandpa's three days a week. Pay attention.

Me: Thank you Hannah.

As Lincoln likes to say, it's so tough for poor Jakey. He has three parents he has to deal with.

Wii Tennis Elbow

Is it possible to get tennis elbow from playing Wii? Hannah and I have been playing so much tennis on there and we really get into it. The girl has a killer return. It's hard getting my ass kicked by a 7 year old.

Such a talker

At dinner time Jake chatters away constantly and Lincoln, Hannah, and I sit and eat without bothering to try and get a word in edgewise.

Hannah: May I please be excused?

Me: Yes.

Jake: Why does Hannah always get to be excused first?

Me: Because you spend all of dinner talking and not eating and she spends all of dinner eating and not talking. Now finish your dinner.

Happy Inauguration Day!

Me: Hey Jakey, guess what? When you come home today we'll have a new president!! All will be right with the world and there will be unicorns and rainbows everywhere.

Lincoln: (mumbling under his breath as he leaves the room) We'll see.

Me: (laughing) I heard that!

Jake: Were you just joking Mommy?

Me: Yes Jakey. Mommy was joking about the unicorns. Unicorns don't exist. But if the sun comes out we still have a chance at rainbows.

I really am the luckiest girl in the world

Today Lincoln and I are painting the master bathroom. Hannah is at a playdate and Jake is over at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We're redoing the master bedroom and bathroom with stuff that we've purchased on our various trips over the years. The bedroom will have all our stuff from Greece plus stuff from Singapore, Venezuela, Aruba, Ireland, England, etc. The bathroom is being designed around our trip to Istanbul. I bought these beautiful bathroom tiles at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul that we're putting up and everything is going to be decorated with stuff from our trip to Turkey.

Our original plan was to go to Greece for our 10th wedding anniversary but since we went for my 30th birthday instead I told Lincoln we needed to start thinking of where we'd go for our 10th anniversary. I told him it would need to be a special trip to celebrate 10 years of my being lucky enough to have him and for him to celebrate being able to put up with me for 10 years. As I told him, everyone always wonders how I got so lucky and how he manages to put up with me. I know I'm not easy to live with and the man is a saint.

His response?

"What these people don't know is that everything I have and everything I love about my life is because of you."

I wanted to cry! He truly is the sweetest man ever and I am so lucky to have him.

Another busy holiday break

Thanks to MLK Jr. Day I have another long holiday weekend in which to get stuff done around the house. It's going to be another busy one.

Yesterday I spent pretty much the entire day working on the yearbook for Hannah's school. This is the first year that the PTO has done one and it's definitely a learning process with the software. This is totally different than how we used to do it when I was in high school.

Today my plan is to get all the bathrooms cleaned and the laundry done. Our sheets were washed yesterday and I need to strip the kids' beds today. I also wanted to go out today and get all of our supplies for painting the bathroom tomorrow but I don't know if that is going to happen. It's snowing pretty hard right now so we may have to wait until tomorrow. I had really wanted to get the taping done today so we could jump right into painting tomorrow. Taping the bathroom is such a pain because there are so many things to go around (two doors, the window, the tile on the tub, the shower, the medicine cabinet, and the mirror) in addition to just taping the floor boards and the ceiling.

We also have to finish moving our bedroom around. There is one big piece of furniture that needs to come out and I still have to stain all the unfinished wood that I purchased at the Mill Store. I got different shelves and quilt racks to use around the room to display our stuff that we've collected from all over the world. Then I need to pick which pictures are going to be enlarged and put into frames so that I can get those ordered.

On top of that we have a few "odds and ends" projects that need to be done around the house. And since none of the things listed above will get done if I don't stop writing I guess I should go get started.

Fight #2

Lincoln and I very rarely fight. I mean very, very rarely. I can count on one hand the number of times we've had a "serious" fight in the past 9 1/2 years. The first one was in NYC at P.J. Carney's bar (it was the night I bought a drink for Trevor Rees-Jones, the sole survivor of Princess Diana's car crash) and that fight was over gun control. Obviously those two details were unrelated but that's how I remember the night. That was such a serious fight that it even made it into Lincoln's wedding vows ("I vow not to discuss the 2nd Amendment while drinking"). The second one was while we were living in our 750 sq. ft. condo and discussing building our house. Lincoln wanted to build an apartment above the garage and I didn't want to. His argument was that it would be nice for our kids to know that they had a place to move home to if necessary when they grew up and my argument was that the kids were welcome to move back home into their old bedrooms if they needed to but that they would not grow up with the idea that it was okay to fail and they'd have a fully furnished apartment with a separate entrance waiting for them when they did.

That brings us to tonight:

Lincoln: Hey Jake. Tell Mommy where you're going to live when you grow up.

Jake: Here.

Me: What? What about when you're all grown up and married with kids? Where are you going to live?

Jake: Here.

Good loving. Lincoln has obviously wooed Jake over to his side of the argument. You would think he could let it go by now.

Rent

If you haven't ever seen the musical Rent you really should. It's a fantastic play. Even my husband, who usually only tolerates my love of the theater, loves going to see Rent. We've seen it quite a few times. Tonight on my way home from work I was listening to the Rent soundtrack in my car. It's truly fantastic.

I remember the first time I went to see Rent. It was the weekend I flew out to see my friend Stephanie when she was going to school on Long Island. I remember booking my last minute ticket when Northwest Airlines used to do their Cyber Fares which were posted on Wednesdays for flights that following Saturday with a return on either Monday or Tuesday. I remember going to a party at Four Seasons (four party apartments in college...not the luxury hotel) the night before where I participated in my first, and only, beer bong in college. I even have a picture of that somewhere. They were also doing keg stands that night but I didn't try one of those. I remember going into the city with Stephanie on the train from Long Island. It was only the second time in my life that I had been to NYC. I've always loved Steph's singing voice and I remember her singing me some of the Rent lyrics from the song La Vie Boheme (Why Dorothy and Toto went over the rainbow/To blow off Auntie Em) and from Happy New Year (You can take the girl out of Hicksville / But you can't take the Hicksville out of the girl) . I remember paying $20 for standing room only tickets and standing in the back of the theater in my high heel boots completely enthralled with every minute of the show. The entire thing was magical.

And then I remember taking the train back out to Long Island and falling down the stairs coming off the train platform. But that's another story for another day....and no, it doesn't involve a beer bong or alcohol of any sort but it does involve a bag of frozen peas.

Hannah's first sewing project

For Christmas we signed Hannah up for sewing lessons. There is a lady here in town who does lessons for kids 9 and older but she agreed to do a special class for 7 and 8 year olds because I managed to find two other mothers who wanted to participate too. From the way she made it sound the kids would only be tracing patterns on paper and not even using thread for the first four weeks or so. Well tonight was Hannah's second class and she came home with a very simple little pouch that she had made by sewing two pieces of fabric on three sides and then flipping it inside out. Then she took a marker and decorated the fabric. It's a fantastic little pouch and I immediately put some receipts that had been on my desk in it and put it in my drawer. It works perfectly. She's very excited because I guess next week they're going to make a simple little pillow.

I really hope she continues to enjoy the class. I would love to know how to sew and unfortunately my knowledge is very limited. It truly is a lost art among my generation.

He's only 4 but he knows me so well

I HATE the grocery store. I mean I really, really hate it. I can't get out of there without sending Lincoln a text message about how much I hate everyone in the store. Often times he'll tell me to abort the mission and he'll just go to the store later. It really is best for all mankind when that happens.

Here is my problem with the grocery store. When you're shopping you tend to go in a systematic up and down pattern of the aisles. Because other people are doing the same thing you usually run in to the same idiots in every aisle for 15 aisles or so. You know those people....the ones who stand in the middle of the aisle or who won't move their cart out of your way. Fifteen aisles of idiocy is way too much for me. Then when you get to the checkout you usually have some teenage girl who is more focused on flirting with the bag boy than ringing up your groceries. And don't even get me started about the bag boy with the raging hormones who is more focused on the checkout girl than separating your household chemicals from your raw meat or putting your eggs on top of your bread. My blood is starting to boil just thinking about it.

Anyway, Lincoln often cooks pancakes and sausages for the kids in the morning and yesterday we realized we were out of syrup. He put it on the grocery list but didn't make it to the store in the afternoon. This morning he was making breakfast for Jake and had to tell Jake that we didn't have any syrup.

Jake: That's okay. Mommy can watch us and you can go to the store.

See, he's smart. He knows there is no way in hell Mommy would be going to the store.

Finally...a worthy opponent (and 700 lbs of paper)

The last few days have been a little crazy both at work and in my personal life. First of all, the company that I work for has a division that is opening a new venue here in Boston. Because the venue isn't built yet we're housing some of their employees in our office and taking deliveries for them. Unfortunately, even though I am the Office Manager, no one bothers to tell me anything. Yesterday I had 705 lbs of stationary delivered for them with a COD order and had no idea what to do with it (and no check to pay the COD bill). Luckily I was able to figure something out and found a place to stash 700+ of letter head and envelopes but it wasn't easy. Today they sprung 4 employees on me looking for desks, computers, and phones but hey....all in a day's work, right?

In addition to that I was trying to book our trip out to Needles, CA to see Mom and Dad in February. Mom and Dad have c0-rented a house in Needles with Mom's brother and sister-in-law for three months. Art and Karen have the first 6 weeks and Mom and Dad have the second 6 weeks. They're practicing being "snowbirds". Our original plan was to go out and visit them during Hannah's February break. I had (or so I thought) two free tickets on JetBlue which meant we'd only need to buy two tickets to get the four of us out there. On JetBlue you need 100 points for a free ticket. I already had one free ticket and then I had 97 points towards another one. It appears that my points post on the 13th of every month so I was waiting until Tuesday to book our trip. I could have purchased the additional 3 points for $70 and would have been happy with that since it's still a cheap ticket but since it was almost the 13th I decided to wait. All day on Tuesday I kept checking my account to see if they had posted. By the 14th they still hadn't posted so I called AmEx and was told I had points in my account and they'd be released but I had to call back in an hour because their system was down. I called back an hour later and he said I had points in the system and he would release them immediately. He said they usually take 24-48 hours to post to my account but he would expedite them and they'd post that day. By afternoon there still wasn't anything in my account so I decided to call AmEx back and see what was happening. At that point the lady told me that in fact there weren't any points in my account but that I had credits in my account that would eventually lead to more points. Basically the two people I had spoken to in the morning were either dumb as rocks or completely full of shit. Well at that point I lost it. I had already waited an additional week to book my ticket (and the price of the tickets we were paying for had gone up by about $40 each) and I had wasted 48 hours updating my computer screen every hour on the 13th and 14th waiting for the points to be released. I laid into the customer service lady. She was actually kind of a snot so I didn't feel too bad about it. At one point when I was ranting about something and she kept trying to interrupt me so I finally said "No, no. I am the customer and therefore I get to be the one that talks." I finally asked to speak to her supervisor. I went a couple of rounds with her before she finally said "Ma'am, how many points do you need for your free ticket?" I told her I only needed three and she put me on hold. When she came back she said "Mrs. Snow, I've put four points in your account. The extra one is just to make sure you don't have any more trouble. You're all set. Have a nice day." Like I said in a previous post, I've been spoiling for a fight and I have to say she was a worthy opponent. It was a victory well earned.

Of course then I went in to book the flights and there was no award travel available for the dates that we wanted to fly out there. At that point we decided to scrap the dates around Hannah's February vacation and look at going either later in the month or in March. Mom had told me that Deb and Mark were coming out over Deb's birthday on March 1st but I also knew that their house in Needles wouldn't hold all of us. I called Debbie and asked her when her exact dates were so that we wouldn't be there at the same time and she actually suggested that we DO come at the same time and they would be willing to get a hotel room in Needles. Of course that required working out all the details and making sure everyone was on board before booking the tickets. That involved a three-way conference call between Debbie, myself, and Mom (who was the airport in Las Vegas flying back from being down at the house in Needles) and an IM conversation between Dad and me while I was on the phone with Debbie and Mom. Add in Debbie calling Mark on her cell phone while talking to me and Mom and me texting Lincoln to make sure he was game with changing the plans and it was an exhausting round of technology abuse. In the end we worked out all the details and I booked our flight out there. As exhausting as all that was I really need a vacation now.

Add in my PTO meeting last night and you can see why I've been so busy the past two days. Thank God I have a three day weekend coming up!

Hi! My name is Diane and I am an addict.

I am apparently a Tivo addict. Lincoln is out right now purchasing our 5th...yes 5th...Tivo. This will be our third dual tuner. I can now Tivo up to 8 shows at one time in 5 different rooms.

1. Living Room
2. Kids Playroom
3. Our Bedroom
4. Our Bathroom
5. Home Gym

More posts coming

I know I didn't post anything yesterday. That's because it was a crazy busy day yesterday. Of course crazy busy means I have some good stories to tell. Just nothing I have time to type up now. More later....I promise.

He's such a retahd...what a wicked pissah

Me: You think they could get a better actor. He's not very attractive and he's a total retard.

Link: Wow. You totally sounded like a true Bostonian.

Me: What? Retahd?

Link: Yeah....that's what we call Iowans.

Hardy har har. It's a good thing I love his dry wit.

By the way, he loves my Iowan roots. He has even mentioned moving there in the past. Not to mention he tolerated my cancelling our annual trip there in 2008 because of our trip to Europe in the spring but if I tried to pull that stunt two years in a row I would hear about it. And in 2005 I actually flew Lincoln back to Iowa for his birthday surprise because he loves it so much.

Dear Jacob 2025: I was just kidding. No need to discuss this in therapy.

Mommy: (Giving Hannah a kiss good night) Good night sweet pea. Who does Mommy love the mostest*?

Hannah: Me!

Mommy: Yep. And who else?

Hannah: Daddy.

Mommy: Yep. And who else?

Hannah: Jakey.

Mommy: Most days, yes.

Hannah: uncontrollable giggling

Mommy: Just kidding. I love all of you more than life itself.

Hannah: I love you more!


Yes, I know "mostest" isn't a word.

Monkey See, Monkey REALLY, REALLY Want to Do

Tonight at dinner we were talking about our annual trip to Iowa. Every summer we go back and Lincoln and I go tubing down the Upper Iowa River with Rachel. We didn't go back to Iowa this past summer because of our trip to Greece/Turkey this past spring and Hannah was a little disappointed because she is finally old enough to go tubing with us. At dinner we were talking about how she'll get to go with us this coming summer.

Hannah: Will I get my feet wet?

Mommy: Yes, you'll get your butt and everything from the waist down wet.

Jake: (whining) I don't wanna go!

Mommy: That's good because you're not allowed to go.

Jake: Why not?

Mommy: Because you're not old enough. You won't be able to go until you're older like Hannah.

Jake: (very matter of factly) Okay, I wanna go.

He's Back!

The Evolution of Dance guy has come out with Evolution of Dance 2. It's not as great as the first one but it's pretty cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inLBPVG8oEU

Happy Birthday Grandma Lentz

Today would have been Grandma Lentz's 95th birthday. I wish she was still here.

It's a good thing we don't live in Wisconsin

Jake was sick over the weekend starting on Saturday evening through last night. When he gets sick to his stomach he gets put on the BRAT diet and taken off of chocolate milk. For those non-parents out there that is the Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast diet. Dairy is not good on a sick stomach and Grandma Snow must have had to repeat that to Jake a lot throughout the day today. Tonight Jake's obsession is what comes from the dairy.

Jake: What are we having for dinner tonight?

Link: Chicken.

Jake: Does that come from the dairy?

Link: Nope.

Jake: Then I can eat it.

Link: We can try it. I also put applesauce on your plate.

Jake: Is that from the dairy?

Link: Nope.

Jake: Can I have orange juice?

Link: No.

Jake: Why, is it from the dairy?

Link: No.

Jake: Everything that is not from the dairy is good for me.

Link: That's not necessarily true. Some things that are not from the dairy still aren't good for your tummy.

Jake: Do we have chocolate pudding?

Link: No. And you couldn't have it anyway.

Jake: Why?

Link: 'Cause it's from the dairy.

Jake: Aww man. (long pause) Are candy canes from the dairy?

The Golden Globes

I thoroughly enjoyed the Golden Globes last night but man do I have a lot of movie watching to do before the Oscars. I haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Revolutionary Road, or many of the other likely to be nominated movies yet. I have seen Rachel Getting Married though and as much as I've wanted Kate Winslet to win awards in the past I really wanted Anne Hathaway to win last night. We'll have to see how the Oscars play out.

Awards Season

The only good thing about late winter/early spring is the fact that it is Awards Season. My two favorites are the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards. I have a little ritual that I do every year and I was majorly bummed when the Golden Globes were cancelled last year because of the writers' strike. I used to get dressed up to watch the awards but now I just get a glasses (or glasses) of champagne and a tray of pigs in a blanket and I sit on the couch and watch all the pre-show action. It's really not about the awards themselves, it's about the dresses. The champagne is self-explanatory since it's an awards show. I'm not sure how the pigs in a blanket came around. Maybe I should have Lincoln dress up as a waiter and occasionally walk into the room with them on a tray like they were butler passed hors d'oeuvres at the fancy after party.

Yeah, I don't think I could get him to do that and he's willing to do a LOT for me that most husbands wouldn't. It's a nice thought though.

Oh dear...I'm in trouble

I have a major TV addiction and I have four Tivos that can Tivo up to six things at one time. Of course while I was out on holiday break there was nothing on TV because everything was in reruns. Now that life has returned to normal all of my shows have started up again. Between Tracy's surgery, being back at work, and my PTO board meeting this week I have not had a chance to watch any of my shows that taped during the week.

Friday night I was able to play a little catch-up but I'm still working my way through the Tivo. It's usually times like this where previous favorites are put to the test and I decide to stop watching certain shows. I was pretty sure that was what was going to happen to The Bachelor this season. I just didn't feel like getting involved but today I decided to watch it while I took a bath (yes, I have a TV and Tivo in my bathroom). Now I'm hooked again. The episode itself was only so-so but the previews for the entire season look fantastic. I can't wait. And the horrible thing about The Bachelor (and The Bachelorette) is that I also get sucked into the message boards online. This is going to be a major time-suck.

What a good sport

When Hannah was younger I used to make her say the following words whenever she lost a game: "I am sorry that I lost but I am happy for you that you won." I totally forgot about that until we got the Wii. The Wii Fit can be fairly addictive because of its competitive nature. There is a Top 10 ranking on each event and I love when I beat either Lincoln or Hannah at something. If the person that I've beaten is Hannah she'll look at me and say "Congratulations Mommy. Great job." Apparently making her say "I am sorry that I lost but I am happy for you that you won" when she was 3 years old really stuck in her brain.

I wonder if it's too late for Jake. I never taught him that because usually I'm just happy if he isn't beaning somebody with a weapon if he loses.

Boy/Girl Night Part 2

Last night's boy/girl night was lots of fun. Jake crapped out on Lincoln pretty early but to be fair he wasn't feeling very well yesterday. Hannah and I had a great time. We climbed into bed with a bowl of popcorn and chatted all about school and Hannah's friends. After that we watched a movie and went to sleep.

It always amazes me when I sit down and have a conversation with Hannah just how articulate and well-spoken she actually is. Usually conversations take place on the fly and I don't always get to enjoy them. Listening to her talk last night about her love of Social Studies because she "can learn all sorts of fascinating things about places all over the world without leaving home" was pretty cool. Then she was telling me all about this device they've been using in science class and how it was put together and exactly how it works. She really does love to learn.

I really hope these nights continue to happen each month. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to the next one.

A hand me down you can really use

Somehow today we got on the topic of "when Jake is X age, Hannah will be Y age".

Hannah: When Jake is 10, I will be 13.

Me: Yep.

Hannah: And when Jake is 15, I will be 18.

Me: Yep.

Jake (piping up out of nowhere): Yeah! And Hannah is going to pass me down 7 when she's done with it!

Boy/Girl Night

I have decided that we are going to start having what we call "Boy/Girl Night" in our family. On the 2nd Saturday of every month Hannah and I will have a sleepover in our bedroom. We'll curl up in bed and watch a movie and talk about whatever she wants to talk about. While we're doing that the boys will be doing whatever they want to do. The plan for tonight is for Jake and Lincoln to play video games and sleep in the living room.

My hope is that it creates a great bonding experience for us between Lincoln and I and the kids but more importantly it keeps an open line of communication between us. I want to make sure that as the kids get older they're comfortable coming to us to discuss anything they want to discuss. I'm sure that every generation of parenting is daunting to the parents involved but it seems to me that as time goes on children grow up faster and faster. When you're hearing stories about elementary aged kids getting into trouble on the school bus for performing sex acts on each other I guess it's never too soon to make sure you're able to communicate with your children on ANY topic.

When my children get a little older I plan to sit them down and tell them exactly what my mother told me in junior high. I don't remember her exact words but basically she told me that I needed to know that I could tell her and Dad anything and that it was important that I communicate with them. Essentially she said that they knew that I might be out doing things that they didn't necessarily approve of but that it was better if they knew about it because in the case that anything went wrong they would be able to get any help necessary in a timely fashion. I don't know exactly what she had in mind when she said that but I always took it to mean that teenagers experiment with situations that may or may not turn out badly. I was a pretty good kid (other than being a real brat every now and then ). I didn't drink when I was in high school. I don't think I actually drank alcohol until the summer before I left for college. They knew I drank in college. I didn't smoke cigarettes and I never did drugs. I didn't even experiment with pot which is pretty much a college staple. I think the fact that I didn't feel the need to do those things to rebel against my parents really helped me get through life. I'm hoping to have that sort of communication with our kids as well.

Jake's First Karate Lesson

Jake HATES change. I mean he really, really hates it. He hates anything even relatively new. When spring comes he'll pitch a fit when we try to put him in summer sandals instead of his regular shoes. Then come fall he'll pitch another fit when we make him stop wearing sandals. The same happens with his winter/fall/spring coats. He hates trying anything new but usually ends up loving it once we force the issue. He just absolutely HATES change.

Today we took him to what was supposed to be his first karate lesson. He was not happy about it before we left the house but we told him that Hannah could take the first class with him and he seemed to be relatively fine with that. We were told to get there 30 minutes early so they could fit him for his karate outfit and we could fill out some paperwork. Here comes the dislike of change part. They made him wear a special outfit. Oh dear God the world was out to get him. At least that's what you would have thought if you could hear him screaming. And screaming. And screaming. With a little shrieking thrown in for good measure. It took a lot of coaxing, and a little forcing, and we finally got him into the outfit. He curled himself into a ball and refused to even look at himself in the mirror. Finally we got him to calm down and agreed that he could sit outside of the classroom and watch the class. He seemed to enjoy watching the kids and he says he's willing to give it a try next week. We'll see how that goes.

The thing I really like about this place is the emphasis that they place on general respect. When the instructor, Tim, greets Jake he makes him shake his hand and look him in the eye. He has Jake answer him with "yes, Sir" and "no, Sir" but he doesn't do it in a mean way. He's fantastic with the little kids. I think this will be so great for Jake if we can just get him to participate. They are so accommodating there and Tim has offered to give Jake a few free private lessons to get him more comfortable with the whole situation before we sign up for lessons. He even let us bring home one of the outfits today even though we haven't purchased it yet so that Jake can get used to the uniform. They are just really, really fantastic people over there and I hope that we can get Jake involved.

In related news, it's a good thing we signed Hannah up for sewing classes because apparently we will need to sew patches on Jake's uniform.

The greatest invention ever

For my New Year's Resolution I've decided to try eating a little bit healthier and to also spend less money by not eating lunch out everyday. In order to keep me from the convenience of local restaurants I had to come up with something that was tasty but also easy to make. Enter Ziploc Zip 'n Steams. These things are the greatest! I buy chicken tenderloins and put them in a little ziploc bag with some marinade in the morning and bring them to work. At lunch time you drop them in a Zip 'n Steam bag and zap them for about 2 minutes and you've got a juicy, tender, well-flavored piece of chicken. Today I ate it as a regular piece of chicken. The other days this week I've shredded the chicken after cooking it and rolled it up in a tortilla and ate it as a wrap. I also plan on using them to make sandwiches. It offers variety and they're easy too! I'm very excited about this. Now let's see how long it lasts....

My Wii Nemeses

Everytime I play tennis on the Wii.....which I love to do.....I always end up playing against Shouta and Hiroshi. And they always kick my ass. I'm happy to say that with a lot of trash talking and even more hard work I managed to beat them this morning three games out of five!!!

Woohoo!!!!

Don't mess with me

This story is primarily for Ricky, Steph, Rachel, and Jen (to name a few) because they have seen me in my glory and can probably picture this scenario perfectly. When I mean business you don't want to mess with me. Right guys?

Back in December I purchased a number of items from iParty for our company holiday party. I ended up not needing to use any of them because the place where the party was held was already sufficiently decorated. I've been dreading doing this return because it was quite a few items and I suspected they'd give me trouble about returning seasonal items. Everything I purchased had snowflakes on it and nothing was holiday oriented at all so I figured I could pitch a fit over the fact that even if it was seasonal, it's still winter and that was a season the last time I checked.

I left work a few minutes early tonight and headed over to iParty on my way to my PTO board meeting. The last half of my day at work hadn't been ideal due to some computer issues and whatnot so I was already cranky when I headed over there and since I knew they were going to give me trouble I was spoiling for a fight.

When I first arrived there was a young girl working the register and she said she'd need to call a manager to see if the stuff was considered seasonal. When the manager came over she started to give me some crap about it being seasonal and not allowing me to return it so of course I pretty much told her to look out the window (where it was in fact just starting to snow a little). She must have seen on my face that I meant business because she backed down pretty quickly. As glad as I was to get the return done without too much trouble I have to say I was a little disappointed in her lack of spine. I need a good opponent every now and then to keep me entertained.

Wii Fit

For Christmas my parents got us a Wii Fit to go with our new Wii. That thing is awesome! I've been using it for a week now and I have to say, you forget that what you're doing is good for you. So far my favorite activities are the balancing ones. I like the skiing ones the best. The aerobics ones are great too. Hannah ran a mile the other day just running around the first floor of our house with the Wii controller in her hand.

If you've never tried a Wii Fit before you should really give it a try.

Early morning phone calls

Hannah's school district has a new program this year where you can sign up to receive a phone call notification from the school in case of a school closing. The first time we received a call it was pretty neat. It was a Thursday evening and they called to say that on Friday the schools would operate on a half day schedule and that school would close early in anticipation of the coming storm.

The second time the call came at 4:50 a.m. and scared the living daylights out of me. Calls at 4:50 a.m. are not usually good ones.

The third time was this morning at 5:00 a.m. The call came saying that school would open 2 hours late. This time I knew exactly who was calling and I rolled over and picked up the phone without even saying hello. I listened to the message and then curled up with the phone to go back to sleep (I was too tired to put the phone back in the cradle).

Me (mumbling/half asleep): School is delayed 2 hours.

Link: We have got to get off that list.

You can think a lot of thoughts in less than 10 seconds

Ever since my Uncle Linus passed away in a car accident back in November I have been haunted by the image of how it must have happened. I have an hour commute in both directions when I travel to and from work which allows for a lot of time thinking. It's not unusual for me to think about Linus's accident as I drive and it always makes me sad and a little freaked out.

Last night we got a few inches of snow and then this morning everything turned over to a nasty icy slush as it started to rain. School had a 2-hour delay this morning and my office even opened an hour and a half late in order for people to get to work safely. Lincoln and I both left the house about the same time. He had the kids and was taking Jake to Grandma and Grandpa's and then dropping Hannah off at school (I won't let her ride the bus on icy days) and I was heading straight to work. I pulled out of the driveway first as he was finishing up clearing off his truck to get ready to leave. Our road, the short little extension street that we live on, wasn't cleared yet and was pretty slushy and icy but I got up it without any trouble.

I turned onto the secondary road, one of two that I have to take to the highway, and it had been plowed and was in better condition than our street but was still a little slushy so I was being very careful as I drove down it. I wasn't talking on my cell phone, reaching for my radio or adjusting the temperature in the car. I had both hands on the wheel and was concentrating on driving down the road when all of a sudden I went into a horrible slide and started heading into the ditch and right towards a fairly good sized tree. As I started chanting "Oh my God. Oh my God." and correcting my steering while pumping my brakes (as any good Minnesotan will tell you to do) I managed to get back up on the road but my car started to spin and lean to the right as though it was going to tip over. When all was said and done I had spun around almost 180 degrees and was straddling both sides of the yellow line. Thank God there wasn't any oncoming traffic (or anyone behind me) or there could have been a serious accident.

They say your life flashes before your eyes in those situations and that was very true. Every thought I had was about my family and they certainly are my life. During those horrible few seconds...it had to have been less than 10 seconds because it all happened so fast....I had the following thoughts:

1. "Oh my God....my babies!!!" (as in they're going to be motherless and I don't want them to be sad and not because I thought they were in the car with me.)
2. "Thank God my babies aren't in the car with me."
3. "Lincoln! He's going to be so sad and he's going to have to raise Jake and Hannah without me."
4. And as the car started to tip I thought about Uncle Linus. I just had a vision of him and thought "Oh my God, this is what it was like for him. How horrible."

Luckily nothing bad happened. I corrected the car and it didn't flip over. I didn't hit a tree or another car and no one was hurt. Thank God. And quite possibly "Thank you Uncle Linus". I honestly think he may have been looking out for me. Maybe the vision I had of him was him actually coming down to protect me.

Once I caught my breath and got the car back on the road (heading back the way I came since I was completely turned around) I looked down and realized I didn't have my seat belt on. What the hell? I always have my seat belt on. I usually back the car up into the turn around at the top of our driveway and then put my seat belt on as I start pulling forward to go down the driveway. This morning I got in my car and backed up into the turn around but then realized that I had rain droplets all over my glasses so I took them of and was using my shirt to wipe them clean. I must have driven off then without noticing that I didn't have my seat belt on.

I guess God really does look out for idiots and fools. And Uncle Linus looks out for family.

The bubble has popped

Despite my euphoria from being on vacation for 17 days Real Life came back rather quickly. By Tuesday morning I was awake at 4:17 a.m. with thoughts of everything that I have to get done at work, at home, and for the PTO. Ah....stress......gotta love it.

The morning started off a little hectic anyway since Jake had his 4-year old physical. About 20 minutes before we had to leave for the doctor's office he managed to run full speed into the kitchen counter (he claimed he didn't know it was there!) and ended up with a huge purple bruise and a cut on his cheek. A lovely way to take your child to the doctor for a check-up. Luckily his black eye was long gone.

Jake's appointment went well. He gained 4 pounds and 4 inches in a year which puts him in the 88th and 89th percentile respectively. In other words, he's a tall boy. The good news is he's proportionate so he doesn't look like he's a "big" boy. His BMI is actually a very healthy 16%. Jake was not terribly happy about the appointment because he had to get one finger prick (for his blood test) and three vaccinations including the flu vaccine. With his current obsession about skeletons he started crying and asked "Do I have holes in me now?"

After Jake's appointment I managed to get to work just in time to slip into staff meeting without being late (to staff meeting, not work....for that I was an hour and fifteen minutes late). Since it was the first one of the year it was a long one. Then in the afternoon I had five interviews back-to-back-to-back. Needless to say I didn't get much work done.

After work I headed over to the hospital to visit my friend Tracy. She had surgery on Monday afternoon to replace a bulging disc in her neck. It was a pretty intensive surgery and her recovery is going to be a long one but at least she'll hopefully be able to function without pain from now on once she's healed.

This morning I actually have a little time to catch up on things around the house and for the PTO. We have a nice little ice storm right now so the office is opening late which helps out a lot. Tonight I'll go visit Tracy again and then tomorrow night is my PTO board meeting and Friday morning is pre-school Open House where we hope to get Jake enrolled in the program for next year.

Is it time for my 2009 holiday break yet?

Jake's obsession with skeletons

Jake is still obsessed with the idea of getting old and becoming a skeleton. The other night Lincoln was getting him ready for bed and Jake noticed some old clothes of his up on a shelf in his closet. He asked Lincoln what they were and Lincoln told him they were some of his baby clothes that we were going to get rid of. Jake burst into tears and threw an absolute fit at the thought of getting rid of the clothes. I had him come and sit with me for awhile and once I managed to dry his tears and get him to calm down I realized that he thought if he didn't have his baby clothes anymore that he was "old" and would become a skeleton soon. He really is troubled by this.

Back in the Groove

I actually managed to get back into the groove today without too much trouble:

• Pants - check!
• Curled hair - check!
• Makeup - check!
• Commuter road rage - check!

See...everything's back to normal.

Back to work tomorrow

I can honestly say that in the last 17 days that I've had off of work I can count on one hand the number of times I've worn something other than sweatpants or yoga pants.

1) Christmas day (I wore my black jeans)
2) December 27th (I put on jeans that evening to go out shopping)
3) Last Monday (I actually wore DRESS pants to go out shopping and to lunch with Hannah)
4) Tonight (jeans for a trip to the grocery store)

We have a very casual dress code at work but not that casual. It's going to be hard to actually get back into wearing "fancy" pants again. And by fancy I mean jeans.

Fun Video

Remember this one? I haven't seen this video in years. It always makes me laugh.

Don't call Jake in the case of an emergency

Jake: Mommy, what happened? Why is Daddy hurt?

Me: He fell on the stairs and busted up his knee.

Jake: Is that all?

Me: Yes, isn't that enough for you?

Jake: No...that's not enough for me.

Me: What would you like to have had happened to Daddy?

Jake: I would have liked to see him roll down the stairs.

Grandma and Grandpa's Hotel

Since my parents live in Seattle and we usually see them either here at our house or at a hotel somewhere else in the country Jake firmly believes that they live in a hotel. This is only slightly different than the fact that Hannah used to believe that they lived at the airport because she always saw them at various airports in the country. Hannah was in 18 states before she turned one and we did a lot more traveling back then because she could travel for free as a lap infant. By the time Jake came along we had to pay for Hannah's ticket so we had slowed down quite a bit. Before that we used to meet Mom and Dad all over the country....Ft. Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Seattle, etc.

Anyway... Jake, Hannah, and Kiki are playing "hotel" right now and apparently Grandma and Grandpa's hotel is right next door.

If only it were that easy to get people to see that Prop 8 is wrong

This is a funny video. Enjoy.

(For some reason when I embed the video it only shows half the screen. Here is the link instead.)
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more-from-fod-team-jack-black-craig-robinson-john-c-reilly-and-rashida-jones

And now it's over...

Today is my final day of vacation. I have been on vacation since Friday, December 19th and it's going to be hard to get back into the swing of things tomorrow morning. Hannah goes back to school, Jake goes back to his usual routine at Grandma's, and I go back to work. Lincoln is the only one whose routine really hasn't been altered too much in the past two weeks.

I suppose I shouldn't complain too much about having to go back to work. I did, after all, get a paid 2+ week vacation.

Case in point

Me (to Jake): Will you love Mommy forever and ever?

Jake: Yes.

Me: Even when you're all grown up and married?

Jake: Yes.

Me: And you'll always side with Mommy no matter what?

Jake: Yes.

Lincoln: You better rethink that if you want to stay married.

A daughter is a daughter all of her life, a son is a son until he takes a wife (subtitled: Diane's over use of parentheses)

That is what I fear with my children.

I love watching Hannah grow up and it amazes me, and scares me a little, as I watch her grow up. I look at photos of her as a baby...as a toddler...as a kindergartner....and it scares me that someday she won't ask to fall asleep in our bed or to have a sleepover with Mommy. She promises me now that she will always be my baby girl and that she'll always be my best friend but I know better. I've been the pre-teen girl. I've been the teenage girl. I was a horror to my parents at times. I can admit that now. Freely. And apologize for it. But it's also part of growing up and I know to expect it.

I don't know what to expect with a son. I was looking at Jake tonight as he stood in the doorway between one room and the next. That doesn't seem terribly dramatic in and of itself but he seemed so big. So grown-up. He was debating between going into a room that had a T-Rex on the TV (which he was afraid of) and running to me in the next room (to comfort and protect him). He stood there....on the threshold....and he didn't move. He didn't advance towards what scared him and yet he didn't run to Mommy. And in that moment I flashed back to four years ago...when I sat on the very same couch I was sitting on tonight...and thought about him as a teeny, tiny baby. Breastfeeding and looking at me with infant eyes. Where did those four years go? Where did my baby go and where did this young boy come from?

As I told Lincoln later in the evening, this is what scares me. I don't necessarily fear losing Hannah. I'm sure there will be tough times throughout the years but ultimately she is my daughter and I will always have her. I'm not sure the same is true for Jake.

As they say...."A daughter is a daughter for all of her life....A son is a son until he takes a wife."

Being a daughter (and a daughter-in-law) I can see the validity of that statement. I am certainly still the daughter of my mom and dad. How many times, on this blog alone, have I said "I want my Mommy". How many times, in life in general, have I called my Mom because I'm sad or sick or scared. It doesn't change. I am 31 years old and I will always be my parents' baby....as evidenced by the fact that when I am sick or scared I call her Mommy and when I want to feel secure or babied I call him Daddy.

But now I have a son....and I am married to a son of another woman. On one hand I want to believe that if my son grows up and marries a woman that I don't approve of he'll defer to me, his mother. On the other hand, there have been times in our marriage that I have asked Lincoln to choose between me and his mother and I have fully expected him to choose me. How do I draw that line? How do I balance being a mother and being a wife (and eventually a mother-in-law)? How does that work?

Such heavy thoughts for tonight but tonight Jake has seemed so grown up and Hannah is off on her 2nd ever sleepover. I feel them both slipping away little by little.

I don't want more kids. Lincoln asked me that tonight when I was telling him my thoughts (it was a test since we can't actually have more kids for self-selected medical reasons). Neither of us do. And having more kids certainly won't keep them from growing up (although, as I pointed out, having more kids would give us more options to provide for us when we're older) but it was his way of pointing out to me that we're happy with what we have. We have a beautiful and wonderful baby girl and a handsome and wonderful baby boy and we couldn't be luckier. They are fantastic and I wouldn't trade them for any other boy or girl in the world. Yes, they will get older and yes, life will change, but as Lincoln pointed out to me earlier, the sooner they get older, the sooner we'll have grandchildren.

My husband...he's a wise man...I may not want to let my children go but he's right. It's a circle. Without letting my children grow up to be the adults that they will eventually become I can't become a grandma. I want to be a Grandma. I want to be a Great-Grandma. I see such joy in the eyes of my parents when they look at my kids. And I see that same joy in the eyes of my 95-year old Grandmother when she looks at her great-grandchildren.

It's life. And it continues. And there is so much magic in every stage. It's just important that I enjoy every stage...every moment...every second. They truly are fleeting.

Rough Day at School

Lincoln is working today and since I'm still feeling run down from being sick I decided to take Jake to daycare today. Also, since I've had to pay for these last two weeks even though he hasn't attended I figured I'd get at least a little of my money's worth. It was a nice day for me. Hannah and I hung out and watched a movie this morning (Harry Potter, naturally) and then I took a nap while she played for awhile. I dropped her off at 4 p.m. at her friend Natalie's house for a sleepover tonight and then went to get Jake from school. The poor kid had a black eye and a bloody nose.

Apparently the kids were "bowling" in the classroom and he got hit in the nose with the bowling ball which caused the bloody nose. Once they got that stopped Miss Kathy sat down to write up the accident report and while she was doing that he tried swinging between two tables and fell down on his face on the concrete floor thereby giving himself a black eye. I would feel terrible about it but he didn't seem to care. It doesn't faze him any. This, of course, is the kid who got staples in his head last year and happily played in the ER waiting room for three hours. A bloody nose and a black eye are all in a day's work.

Boring. Boring. Boring.

I just have to say that there is really nothing to report today. I'm still too sick to be productive and yet I'm burnt out on watching movies and reading my book. On the up side, I only have one more Harry Potter movie to go until I've finished my Harry Potter movie marathon.

Happy New Year!

We made it through last night without anyone going to the emergency room this year but I did come down with a nasty cold. I certainly didn't make it until midnight last night....I think I was in bed by 9:30 or so.

Being down and out with this cold certainly wasn't on my list of things to do and I'm bummed it is slowing me down but it is allowing me to do one of the things on my original mental "to do" list for my vacation. I'm curled up on the couch participating in a Harry Potter movie marathon. It has been years since I've seen the first few movies and I don't think I've seen the last couple that have come out. I'm doing my best to get caught up today.