SchlegelRock

We’re headed back to Max again.  He deserves some time in the blog light.  I wanted to introduce you to Max’s girlfriend Jordyn.  Jordyn has been smitten with Max for a while and he finally came around a while back and reciprocated her feelings.  By reciprocated I mean he lets her hold his hand and I think he actually enjoys the attention.

It’s all very innocent and cute and I love watching them walk around holding hands.  Jordyn starts Kindergarten this year so Max is pretty much robbing the cradle but when they’re older a few years like that wont matter.  And we love Jordyn’s parents so even though the chances are slim to none that this will end up in marriage it’s fun to think about all the same.

When I get a picture of the two of them together I’ll have to introduce you to Abigail, Truman’s girlfriend.  But this is all about Max.

Laura, do you think this relationship is going to last now that Jordyn is going to school with all those boys?  Thank goodness we’re reinstating Thursday park day to keep the love alive.

Do you remember your first grade school boyfriend/girlfriend?

Update:  I went back in and corrected Jordyn’s name.  Good thing I caught that.

I decided this year that I wanted perfume for Mother’s Day.  I’m not a big perfume wearer but I happened upon some I loved the other day and I just had to have it.  So I went home and asked Scott if he would get it for me for Mother’s day.  I’m not quite sure but I think he actually told me that the laptop we just bought was for Mother’s Day.  What?  That was not in the negotiations although I’ve been meaning to blog about Laila (my laptop) and how wonderful she is.  I’m on her right now and she is my new love.  How did I ever live without her?

Anyway, I pouted and whined and eventually Scott said I could get some perfume for Mother’s Day.  Yippee.  So I haven’t been able to get to Nordstroms all week and I knew I’d never make it on Saturday so I piled the three kids in the car and had a long talk about how they were to behave in the store.

As we’re walking to the perfume section a lady from Chanel stops us and asks if I want her to do my eyes.  I stared at her for a second because nobody ever approaches me at Nordstroms.  Usually in the shoe department (I love Nordstroms’ shoes) the sales people literally walk away from me when I walk near them.  If I actually have shoes in my hands they’ll stop and help me but no “Hello, how are you today.” or “Are you finding everything OK?”  Nothing.  I feel like such a leper when I’m in there.

But this lady actually stopped me with my three kids and asked if I wanted my eyes done.  After the shock wore off I looked at my kids and she said, “Oh, they’ll be fine.  I’ll go fast.”  I stayed silent for a moment longer and then realized I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.  I pulled my iPhone out of my purse sat the kids on the ground and hopped in the chair.

Oh my gosh.  It was exquisite.  When I was a massage therapist my favorite part to massage was the face.  I always believed that even if all you got was a face and scalp massage everything else would fall into place.  So I sat there as her soft brushes slid across my face and just let my body melt into the chair.  At one point she asked me to open my eyes and look up and I thought, “Why?  Why would I do that?  I’m in heaven right now.”  But I did anyway.

During our visit two other Chanel ladies came over and asked about the boys.  Are they mine?  ”Oh my gosh, they’re being so good.”  One of the ladies said she saw me walk up and thought there was no way I was going to stop.  Fooled them, didn’t I.  I saw the opportunity to be pampered and I took it.  Kids and all.

Then we finished up and I bought the lip gloss because I had actually been looking for the exact thing she put on my lips.  How’s that for amazing?  We headed off to the perfume aisle and I found what I wanted and as I was checking out EVERYONE wanted to talk to me.  ”Three boys?” “Are the oldest ones twins?” “You’re so brave for going for the third one.”  ”Aren’t boys just wonderful?”  And so on and so on.  I honestly felt like I must have been videotaped or something because those ladies were so doggone nice to me I almost couldn’t stand it.  They actually treated me like I belonged there.

So I’ve been thinking since then about the outfit I wore and I just had on a v-neck t-shirt, some jeans and my new flip flops.  What could it have been that made everybody treat me so nicely?  I know Mother’s Day is coming up so they probably got a stern talking to about being nice but I honest to goodness actually felt like I fit in there today.  It was incredible.

So I took a picture for posterity of me with all of my make up on since no one will ever see me like this again.  Mascara and lip gloss has become my staple.  The Chanel lady did more than my eyes.  She did full coverage.  I don’t care.  I’ll wear it for the day, it doesn’t bother me.

So all in all with Oliver’s special Mother’s Day presentation at school and a huge card complete with stick figures that Truman made me this is turning out to be a pretty spectacular Mother’s Day.  And it’s not over yet.  How’s yours going?

In case you didn’t get it:

Two muffins were in the oven.  One muffin said, “It’s hot in here.”  The other muffin said, “Holy cow!!!  It’s a talking muffin!”

It’s all in the delivery.

Every day when Max and Truman get home from school I am in my room.  I have it set up so I can do everything from there so that’s where I spend most of my time.  My room is not very far away from the front door.  I can hear it open and I can hear little voices when they run in and I know they can hear me when I yell, “Hi boys!”

That’s why it’s a little surprising to me when my phone rings a minute later and I invariably hear, “Mom, where are you?”  It’s a ridiculous little game that Max likes to play with me.  He’ll walk up and down the hallway chatting to me on the phone, not looking in my room because that would be acknowledging my existence in the house.  Then the phone gets passed around so that everyone has a chance to talk to me, including Oliver who has been with me all day.

The first couple of times they did this it annoyed me because it made me feel like they felt neglected because I wasn’t waiting at the door for them with a plate of cookies but now I know that it’s just fun.  I don’t know about your kids but my kids don’t get to use the phone very often so this is a big deal for them.

Anyone else get silly phone calls from their kids?

Have you ever played a trivia game with a 4 year old.  It’s extremely difficult and you have to use all your wits because they play dirty.  Not on purpose of course but they sure don’t follow the rules.

I picked Oli up from preschool today and he had his hoodie zipped all the way up and wanted me to guess what shirt he was wearing.  You can see it in the picture.  (Don’t ask why his mouth is open.  He’s 4.) 

Here are the clues he gave me:

It’s mostly red and gold.

The guy has horns.

People, how on earth was I supposed to guess a blue Optimus Prime shirt from those clues.  To his credit, Optimus Prime is mostly red and does kind of have horns but I don’t see a lick of gold on that shirt.

I didn’t end up guessing right.  I cheated.  I turned around at a light and snuck a peak at the collar.  He saw me and told me I was cheating.  I admitted it but honestly I had no idea what shirt he was wearing that was mostly red and gold with a guy with horns.  He had me stumped.

Scott’s favorite restaurant is Benihana’s so Monday night we got together with his parents and headed over to Vallco to eat.  For those of you who don’t know, Benihana’s is a Japanese restaurant where the food is cooked at your table by special chefs who put on a show for you with their cutlery and cooking utensils.  We had such a great time.  The kids usually do well at restaurants but on Monday we didn’t hear a peep from them.  We did order too much food for them but that just made dinner Tuesday night so no problems there.

Benihana’s is pricey so we only go there every once in a while but when we do we absolutely love it.  Truman is asking if we can go back for his birthday in March.  I’m totally OK with that.  Beats Chuck E Cheese’s any day of the week!

Click here for photos.

You guys probably already know this but the aquarium is one of my favorite places to go.  We had a season pass a few years back before Max started school and I would take the kids every two weeks or so and I absolutely loved it.  Scott’s cousin and his family were down after Christmas so we headed down to the aquarium for the day.  It was so much fun but it was pretty crowded so our family was totally wiped out by the time we got home.  Thanks Gary and Elaine for dinner.  Scott also bought me fudge at one of the shops on Cannery Row.  Just one more reason to love him.

Have you guys been to the aquarium?  Do you love it?

Click here for photos.

Scott and I have been married nine years today.  Nine years!  Holy cow.  We were talking and nine years doesn’t seem long enough for all the stuff we’ve been through but it also seems too long.  How could nine whole years have passed?  We have been through some tough crap together and to be honest, like the rest of you, we’re going through some crap right now with the downturn in the economy.  And you know what?  I know we’ll be good because I have Scott and he can get through anything.

Scott brought me back from the gates of hell two years ago and we’ve been fighting a good fight ever since.  And if you think that’s an exaggeration, the gates of hell, you obviously weren’t around when it happened.  He was my anchor, my compass, my guiding light.  He nursed me through a time when I didn’t know if I had the will to live.  He put up with so much garbage from me it’s embarrassing to even think about.  We made it through the darkest of days together.

Scott has nurtured my love of comic book movies and spends a ton of time explaining back story to me.  He even lets me tag along with his friends every time a new movie comes out.  He takes me to Chipotle almost every Friday night because that’s my current favorite.  He even goes along with my crazy plans to eat at certain places and then go somewhere else for something else.  He brings me the most delectable pastries and doesn’t get mad if I accidently eat the one he bought for himself.

Scott holds our family together.  He is our rock and our foundation.  There isn’t anything that I could do to repay him for all of the love and hard work that he puts into our family.  He is custom made for me and I hope he feels like I am custom made for him.

I love you Scott with every beat of my heart.  You are my universe.  My world revolves around you and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I’m putting Come What May from Moulin Rouge on here for you.  When they say that “I will love you until my dying day”, you remember that we never truly die.  So I will love you forever and always.  ”Until the end of time.”  Happy Aniversary.

It’s all about Oli again.  He got the warmest t-rex jammies from Grandma Sandy.  He just looked so warm and snuggly in them that I wanted to share.  He wouldn’t cooperate with the picture though so this is what I got.

Oli’s class had their Holiday Party today and I went to check it out.  You guys, it was amazing.  He actually sang all of the songs with the other kids including hand motions.  He was totally animated and several times, no joke, he winked at me and gave me the thumbs up.  Who taught him how to do that?  He is a totally different kid than he was back in September.  He doesn’t fight me at all to go to school.  Not a whimper, not a whine, nothing.  He happily gets his shoes and coat on and very calmly walks to class with me.  Today he was totally interacting with the other  children.  He would go up to them and ask them to play with him.  He would have conversations with them.  It was incredible.  He is totally and completely immersed in his class.  I can not tell you how proud I am of him.  I’m sure this has been a struggle for him to break out of his shell.  I fought with him tooth and nail to get him to go before and now it’s second nature to him.  I am so happy with our decision to put him in to preschool a year early.  I think Oli needed this.  He needed a more firm nudge than our other kids did to get out into the world and explore.  He’s a very shy, timid kid and this has remarkably helped him at least get past that in a classroom setting.  My heart is bursting with joy right now.  It was just so spectacular to see him this morning.  Yay, Oli!!

My kids found a song on tv that they sing when they’re eating something they don’t like.  It goes, “You gotta eat it.  You gotta eat it, if you wanna be strong.”  Repeated about fifty times over.  So the other day I gave them a treat and they started singing different variations of the song.  ”You gotta eat it if you wanna be fat.”  ”You gotta eat it if you wanna be sick,” and so forth.  It was seriously cracking me up.  At least they know what they are and are not supposed to be eating, right?  Maybe I should sing their version to myself every time I grab a Pop Tart or a cookie or ice cream or a soda or… well I could go on all day.

Do your kids sing helpful songs for you?

Oh my gosh, you guys.  The weather is fabulous here right now.  When we were at the park skating there was a girl in a bikini playing sand volleyball.  A bikini!  In November!  The kids are just learning their way around skateboards right now.  Every once in a while Scott takes them out to the basketball court and just lets them play while he skates around them.  He tried to teach Max to jump and flip his skateboard over and then land on it.  He’ll get it.  But right now he’s just doing some great leaps into the air.

What did you guys do this weekend?

Tru got his cast off Tuesday.  I have to admit I was surprised by the immediate outcome.  I thought that he would get the cast off and totally be swinging his arm around and jumping up and down but that’s not what happened.  He totally cradled his arm so tenderly and it had sores from where the cast rubbed against his skin.  The skin on his elbow is completely gone.  It’s several shades lighter than the rest of his arm.  It’s Thursday now and we went to the park today and there were no complaints at all.  He did a great job playing and being a kid.  It’s nice to have a fully functioning child back.

This is a picture of Oli the other day.  I had woken him up from a spontaneous nap and he came out to the living room with me.  Next thing I know it’s silent so I went looking for him and he was totally asleep on the stairs.  Too cute so I thought I’d share.

Every year since we’ve lived here we’ve gone around our condo complex to trick or treat.  There are a ton of units that give out candy.  So much so that we only did four buildings before I cut the kids off.  You see because there aren’t a ton of kids around here and candy bags are so large people give out handfuls of candy to each kid.  And we don’t want that much candy in our house so I’m the mean mom that steers my kids home when their bags are half way full.  When they get older I don’t care how much candy they bring in but as long as they are little I like to carefully guard their candy to kid ratio.  I took this picture on the stairs coming down from one of the units.  In case I forgot to tell you before Max is Indiana Jones, Tru is Captain America and Oli is Iron Man.

 Halloween is so fun!  How did your evening go?

Every year Vargas Elementary has a Halloween parade.  The kids are allowed to bring their costumes to school and then by grade they parade around in a circle on the playground.  Siblings are allowed to walk so Oli walked with Max.  The picture of Tru’s head and hand is the only one I got of him actually parading about.  Bad photographer!  Bad!  The kids of course had a great time.  The rain stayed away too.  I sure hope it stays at bay tonight too.