worst mom award

i am the worst mom ever. i'm pretty sure of it. i am so mean and demand such crazy things.

reasons i am the worst mom ever:

1. i throw away broken crayons
2. my children have to make their beds in the morning
3. i throw away or give away toys that are not used
4. school papers that are not meaningful get put in the trash
5. my kids take lunch to school instead of buying
6. i don't put desserts in my homemade lunches
7. my kids have chores besides making their bed

so .....what makes you the meanest mom ever?

:)

i love being mom

if i am to be totally honest with myself and you, i cannot say that being the mom is easy, always fun and instantly gratifying. some days are definitely more difficult than others. with perspective i know it's worth it and is so rewarding that i can never say i hate being a mom. it's finding that perspective that proves tricky sometimes.

as i organized pictures on my computer this week, i looked through the recent photos and felt gratitude for the chance to be a mom. it's these little moments that give me the perspective to look beyond the current commotion and drama and realize the amazing eternal calling as mom.

boys reading on the metro. one with the sports section, the other with comics.

the look of pure joy on this girls' face

baby e rocking out with speakers on his ears

boom boom pow

on thursday i picked baby e up from school and headed to our friends house to pick up princess grace. e was mad that he couldn't go straight home so i let him ride his bike to pick up his sister. i drove along side watching him (an overprotective mom moment that i was happy to have). a short distance from our friends house he hit a large stick with his bike, over corrected and crashed........hard.

i stopped practically in the middle of the street and ran to him as he darted across the road. blood was dripping from everywhere, and he was freaking out. my brain went completely into that mode of "fix now, cry later". we rode to our friends house and cleaned him up. he was inconsolable. it's hard to survey damage when kids are crying. i was not sure what the damage would be, so we iced him up and we went along our day. 

i taught piano and voice, prepared for my rs lesson for that night, cooked dinner and kept baby e on ice, tylenol and rest. i left and got a text from hubsters that baby e could not open his jaw and that his teeth and mouth were completely misshapen. we had numerous text conversations during my rs class debating on what to do. hubsters called the pediatrician who told us to go to the er. i knew that the er was not the place to care for this poor little guy. we called our amazing dentist, who called us back at 10:30 at night after getting off an airplane. he recommended a "sister" practice to see him first thing in the morning. we decided that a dentist would know more about tooth and jaw issues than an er doc, so off we went to a new dentist.

baby e is used to his amazing dentist with flat screen tv's on the ceiling and nick jr, playing in the lobby. this was not like that....at all. the tech took x-rays and 3-4 other techs were checking out the x-rays too commenting on them. the dentist came over checked the x-rays and checked his teeth. she was perplexed. she said that we needed to go see an oral surgeon. ok?....... she walked into the room next to us and called the oral surgeon. the conversation was someting like this " i have a six year old with a mouth injury that you need to see asap. i dont know, i've never seen anything like it. it's ...unusual" ummmm....hello! i'm right here. tell me what the problem is.

i didn't care, i paid my $80 for their "time" and went right over to the oral surgeon. much nicer place, great staff. $200 , 3 x-rays, 2 doctors, 4 techs and about 15 miles baby e has a severely bruised upper gum line forcing the teeth out of place and forcing his jaw out of alignment. it should set back into place on it's own, and his teeth will either fall out or re-set. we are grateful they are his baby teeth otherwise the story would be much different, and he would look way more redneck than usual.

he's been a trooper. liquid diets are not very exciting, but he's making due.

the helmet he was wearing deserves to be bronzed. we know it saved him from what could have been a nasty head injury with the way he fell. he is excited that he gets a new motocross helmet this week, which gives me hope he may ride again. which means, i just may be riding along side of him for the rest of his life.

sshhhhhh dont let them know

i play while the boys are away. it's so so dang fun.......and addictive!

see this....

this is my cordless phone from home hanging out on my wiper after driving around for roughly 20 miles.
it's that whole mom a.d.d. thing. you know what i'm talking about, right?

you go downstairs to pick up toys, and on the way down you spot clothes on the floor, so you pick them up and throw them in the washing machine, you change loads and you empty the lint trap, only to notice that your garbage can is overflowing so as you take the trash bag to the bin you see the kids' bikes are in the driveway, and as you start moving them you notice the grass needs to be mowed. bikes are put away, grass is cut, some laundry is done, but.......you never picked up the toys in the basement.

oh well.


as scarlett o'hara would say: "tomorrow is another day"

or maybe that's just me that has the disease?

after

after a long 8 days my stitches came out. yipee!my babysitter came this morning (thanks mom) and I took off to the doctor. it was the first time i had been alone in the car in nearly two weeks. i turned the radio off, and silenced my phone. i enjoyed the silence for about 10 minutes, and then i got bored. i'm so lame!
i was minutes late, but the nurse took me right in. i told her i had posted a picture on my blog and had my faithful blog readers count the stitches. she asked how many you all had guessed and i told her 14. she said, well that's a little low because i've already done 14 and i'm not done yet....gulp. she also said, "it's really quite big". yeah, thanks......i get that a lot.
the biopsy came back normal and i can resume some physical activities, but not full until 2-3 more weeks when the internal stitches have dissolved. sigh....
again for you voyeurs.....
look at that my hair is growing back in too! yay!

avert your eyes

i have had a bump, a cyst on the back of my neck for roughly 10 years. when i first noticed it, hubsters and i, were in the process of moving to hawaii and had no health insurance. we were going to pay cash until the doctor started nickel and diming everything. we couldn't afford it. if it had been something we were freaked out by we would have done it, but we decided we could do it later. the bump got smaller and smaller and basically disappeared so we forgot all about it. it has since reappeared and i have just dealt with it.
well since we are making an effort to take care of our health this year i made an appointment with a dermatologist.
finally.
they lasered off some skin tags and some warts and made an appointment to excise the cyst on my neck.
after 10 years and while the p.a was removing it i could feel the pressure being released. i even commented during the procedure that my neck felt lighter. i had no idea that it was bugging me :)
finally after 10 + years and it is gone and i have the frankenstein scar to prove it. i didn't ask how many stitches, but did look at the cyst they removed. it was 4 x 2.5 cm.
the scar will be bigger. here's the picture for you voyeur's .....you know who you are.



my neck is swollen still, and if you click on the picture it will make it ginormous and you can count the external stitches yourself. :) i double dog dare you!

ps - my hair is now it's natural color. black/brown. shocking.....i know.
pps - we should have the results of the biopsy soon. no one expects anything from it.

smore bars

my mom said the picture of the brownies we ate too much of looked good so....
just for you mom..... :)

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 hershey's milk chocolate bars (1.55 oz. each), unwrapped
• 3 cups miniature marshmallows

1. heat oven to 350°F. grease 8-inch square baking pan.

2. beat butter and sugar until well blended in large bowl. add egg and vanilla; beat well. stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until blended. press half of dough in prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes.

3. arrange unwrapped chocolate bars over baked layer, breaking as needed to fit. sprinkle with marshmallows; scatter bits of remaining dough over marshmallows, forming top layer. bake 10 to 15 minutes or just until lightly browned. cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.

poor poor lucy!

what? you didn't know my car's name was lucy?
this is what happens when mom is in a hurry to get out of the house on time. i backed out of my parent's driveway right into their neighbor. in my defense he was sitting at an angle in the middle of the the private drive.
i was so sad! so, so, so sad. i have a very personal relationship with my car. i spend more time with her than with anyone. plus she takes nicely to me....occasionally.
this is technically my first accident. i've backed out of a garage with a door open, and been a passenger in other accidents, but those don't really count. i had to get a rental and the only car they had was a hummer. seriously? a hummer. it was an interesting week to say the least.

grandparents

i will brag nice and loud and say that i love having parents/grandparents close by. everyone should have parents live close by. i realize that we are spoiled and i love it. i love that my kids have such a great relationship with their grandparents. i love that every food that they get at grandma's house is called grandma-(food name) grandma cheese, grandma juice, grandma snack.....you get the picture. the kids love going to grandma's house (and yes, it is grandma's house, sorry dad, dont take it personally). we get to eat at their house, we can ask for occasional babysitting, and the boys have even spent the night at their house all alone. it's so much fun, so i will say it again. we love having the parents/grandparents close by.

now....if only some cousins lived closer...

commune with nature

over the next few days i will be communing with nature along with 108 young women and 12 adults. i may make it back in one piece, but if not let it be known that i went by my own free will and choice. (maybe i should have checked with a therapist first?)