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 was watching TV while getting ready for work a couple months ago and happened to stop on the Today show when they introduced Carrie Fisher (Princess Leah from Star Wars). Among other things she spoke about being bipolar. I loved hearing her speak about bipolar because we share a lot of the same views.
She talked about the stigma of bipolar and said she didn’t understand it because to live with bipolar “takes balls”. Amen to that sister. Why should I be ashamed of people knowing I’m bipolar when I’m living a functioning, adult life? Sure I have my hiccups and my bad days but I’m taking care of my husband and raising three healthy, happy children. What more could you ask for?
Matt asked Carrie about bipolar being a daily struggle and I feel like my last episode is still so fresh and raw that I do deal with it every day. Every little change in my body sets off alarms that make me hyper vigilant to what’s going on in my body. So I’m not changing from manic to depressed on a daily basis but I do deal with bipolar daily.
How beautiful is it that she describes bipolar as the weather. As moods that happen independent of the person feeling them. They just come on and you have to deal with them even though they are not who you are or necessarily how you are feeling.
It took me weeks to get this video off of my Tivo and formatted right so YouTube would play it correctly. I really wanted to share this with you because it spoke to me. Mostly because I saw someone else who wasn’t ashamed of being bipolar. My gosh, we didn’t ask for this but we sure as heck are doing the best we can. What is there to ashamed of?
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!
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?
We had a really great Christmas this year. All three of the kids were old enough to know what’s going on and experience some anticipation and excitement. We split Christmas up between my mom and the Schlegels and it really worked out nicely. Brandon and Maria were down from Sac and it was fun to have all the cousins together again. The biggest hit of the season are the Nerf guns the Walker’s gave us. So much fun We had the kids up in the hallway and the adults behind the couch and madness ensued. It was wild and crazy fun. It only got crazier when Scott took apart all six guns and modified them so that they shoot further and harder. I’m telling you we have never had this much fun with at Christmas before.
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.
If you have not been to Stan’s Donuts you haven’t had a truly spectacular donut. Stan’s Donuts is in Santa Clara on Homestead in between Kiely and San Tomas. I’m telling you. If you go to Stan’s you’ll never want any other donut again. The only drawback is that they keep the operation small so there’s only one fryer. Some days you may have to wait for a glazed. And I would suggest waiting for it. There are always cake donuts lying around but that’s not where the moneys at. The money is in the glazed. The donuts are on the big side and they have a wonderful thick texture to them. Like you’re actually eating something.
Fridays for Seminary (early morning church) were donut days and that meant Stan’s. No substitutes would do. Stan’s has obviously been a family favorite for years.
Now I know at least one person who’s been to Stan’s and lives out of the area. Found anything to compare?
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!!
Do you guys have a baby? Is he growing up? Mine is too. Oliver turned 4 this last week and he got three days of birthday. Grandparents Schlegel took our family to Chuck E Cheese’s where all four of my kids had a great time. I have a great time too running around with them, watching them play games and ride rides. Then on his birthday we went to the park with our friends for Park Day. Oli’s favorite thing to do is swing so I made sure to push him a ton when we first got there. Then he got to pick his birthday dinner which was pancakes. At least he made it easy on us, right? Then we had cake and ice-cream the next day with the local grandparents. Oli loved all of his gifts and had so much fun being a birthday boy.
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.
Once upon a time there was a fair maiden who had a brand new Pilot. She loved her Pilot so much. She used to have a van, which she also loved, that had a handy little tissue dispenser that hung from the passenger side seat. This tissue dispenser did not fit in the Pilot. She despaired and thought, “What will I do that I may have tissue in my new car?” Alas, one day the thought came to her that she should just throw the tissue box in the center console. It might not look very pretty, but you never know when you will need a tissue.
The next day the gorgeous maiden and her super fabulous son were driving back from Safeway when the little one cried out in agony, “Mommy, open my door!” ”I can’t open your door,” said the majorly hot maiden, “I’m driving.” ”There’s a booger on my finger!” said the sweet, helpless little boy. Our dear heroine reached into the center console and handed her spectacular child a much needed tissue.
The smart, intuitive maiden recognized the beauty of following the prompting of the day before and vowed to always (well, as much as possible) follow the promptings she receives in the future. The day and the car were saved.
And there was much rejoicing!
Now I know what you’re thinking and no, I’m not drunk. Yes, I am on drugs, but only the ones my Dr. gave me. I know I’m not over here much and I thought you might be feeling neglected so I thought I’d share a story with you. It’s hard work trying to get a blog off the ground so I’ve been spending most of my time over at Blog the Day Away. Please forgive me and know that I’m tying to find more things to write about. Thanks for hanging in there with me. I really do love blogging. I’ve just got to find some balance between my two blogging loves.
OK you guys, I’m calling in a solid, because you love me, favor. You know I have my other site, blogthedayaway.com. Well, we have a page on there called Twilight Sisters. We started it because we didn’t feel like Twilighters and we didn’t know anyone on the Twilight Moms site so we thought we’d start our own fan group. Now, I am asking you to join my group. Only if you at least like the Twilight Series. Right now we’re just putting pictures and short blurbs about why you love Twilight but if we get enough people we might be able to start more discussions or even make t-shirts. My feeling is that if there are more than just Laura and Julianne and I in the group, more people will feel comfortable signing up. What do you think? Is that something you can do?
If so, just send a picture (could even be a family one) and a short paragraph about why you love the series. That’s it. Simple. Easy. You could do it right now. Then check out our Twilight Sisters page to see the fabulous group that you belong to. Our email address is go at blogthedayaway dot com.
Want to know what mine is? For sure it’s our couch. We bought it when we were first married and have loved it every day since. I spent a grand total of nine months of bed rest on that puppy. The color is a beautiful cranberry/wine and the leather is as soft as butter. Want to know where we got it? JC Penney. Yeah, can you believe it? It’s held up almost nine years now and we have not a single complaint about it. Not one.
Now, I’m afraid we’re going to see some wear soon because the kids use it as a jungle gym. I know there are some of you out there that are appalled at that but we live in a tiny condo. There are very few places for the kids to horse around so we allow them to jump on our furniture. So even they love our couch. It’s our meeting place. Where we hang out and it’s served us well.
So, what’s your favorite purchase? Your home, your car, your cell, your vacuum, the haircut you got when you were 17 and haven’t been able to replicate since? Come on, tell me.
So, if you’ve known me for a while you know that I’m not the biggest fan of Thanksgiving. I have no problem with the seeing family part but I really do not enjoy the food. I don’t know when this started. Possibly childhood. I can’t think of anything traumatic in my past that would lead me to such un-American taste buds but here we are.
My mom called yesterday and said that she would rather go to Black Angus, our local steak house, than cook. Holy crap. That was the best news I’ve heard in a while. When her parents were alive they would go there occasionally, so she thought it would be nice for all of us to go. I was doing back flips in my heart just thinking about a big fat steak and fries for Thanksgiving. Since I don’t like the food you can imagine that I don’t experience the Thanksgiving stuffed feeling that comes from gorging on the traditional meal. I decided to change that today. I ate my meal, filet mignon with sauteed mushrooms and blue cheese on top (I get shivers just thinking about it) and asparagus. Then I went to town on the kids fries and ranch dressing. I had three refills on my Coke and ate all the bread and butter I could get my hands on. It was heaven. Then we went back to my mom’s house for carrot cake and butter pecan ice cream. This will go down as the best Thanksgiving ever!! I could actually feel my stomach popping out. What a great feeling! No wonder you guys look forward to Thanksgiving so much.
Now, it doesn’t end there. Scott’s parents had us over for dinner tonight for a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Elaine did a great job with the spread and everyone ate up. We got turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. Then for dessert we had Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake. Ooooh, droooool. It was so good. Then with a couple of games of Uno it was a perfect end to a really great day.
Do you guys play games with your kids? We only play when we go over to the Schlegel’s but it is a hoot to play with our kids. They’ll throw a Draw Two down with maniacal laughter and just get the whole table laughing along with them. I had a really great day today and I’m so thankful that we have two sets of parents here to visit with and enjoy the day. Happy Thanksgiving!
What are your favorite games to play with your 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.
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.
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.
