Nothing exciting but I said I'd post

It's been a couple of days now. Nothing exciting going on at home. I went to a lovely wedding of an old friend from nursing school tonight. It was good to see some old friends. And it was very nice to come home to 4 sleeping kids! I guess I should get some sleep tonight. We have cousin M's birthday party tomorrow.

Happy Anniversary and some random thoughts

Today is our anniversary. First of all, I forgot all about it, but in all fairness, I had no idea what date it was. I just knew it was Thursday. If I had realized it was the 28th, I would have remembered. Gerald remembered. I didn't think much else of it. We usually don't do anything too fancy and this year money is tight right now, seeing as I"m temporarily unemployed (and loving it-I'm dreading Sept 8th but that's another topic). So, G comes home from work today with a card, a cake, and the best present ever...a pint of Ben and Jerry's Brownie Fudge Ice Cream -with a cute little bow on top. I felt really bad that I didnt' at least get a card. Usually, I always do cards. He's having fun making me feel bad that I dropped the ball today. I can't wait to eat my ice cream tonight-it really was a good gift. Thanks G. I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now some random thoughts

1.) An update on Brandon's first day (yesterday). According to his teacher, there was some oppostional/defiance issues. And some kind of incident with water at snack time. Yeah, I kind of forgot to tell her that he has an obsession with water. He could make a mess with water all day long. The first day he refused to hold any kid's hand. But teacher said today wasn't perfect but it was better and when I dropped him off I saw him walking in to school holding hands with 2 little friends. Not bad Brandon. Yesterday, I asked him about school and he got mad and said, 'I don't like my teacher'. I asked him why and he said 'she won't let me have water' in a very pouty voice. Luckily she had already told me the water story and I knew he couldnt' have more water only after the 'water incident' had occurred.

2.) Gerry likes school and is doing well. Thank God for that.

3.) Samantha is doing well. Not perfect but good. She's had 2 pee pee accidents and thrown up once all in 4 days. They don't pay those teachers and aids enough money!

4.) I just realized that Samantha talks like a pirate. Tonight she got out of bed and said, "My blanket be falling off" I couldn't stop laughing and just kept imaging her saying that with a cheesy pirate accent....arrrr my blanket be falling off!

Back to School!!!

What a wonderful title-what a wonderful day! The kids were so great getting ready this morning. Today was Samantha and Gerry's first day back. Over the summer, we didn't have much of routine and it seemed to take us like 2 hours to get out of the house. I was determined to start the school year off right. We woke up and they all ate together. Then all the kids got dressed at the same time and all brushed their teeth and made their beds without any fights. I think Gerry was really excited and so he was compliant and the others kind of followed along. Everything was going well until we stated to walk to school. We got to the end of our street and Gerry said his pants were falling down. Sure enough they were and I couldn't send the poor boy to his first day of Kindergarten in that condition. I ran back home and got a new pair. By then I was worried about being late if we walked. I like to start walking early so we don't have to rush-it makes everyone happier. Then we get to the end of our street again and Abera says he has to go #2 and it can't wait. Ahhhh I hate being late. I started getting rushed and told them all that we now don't have enough time to walk-we'd have to take the car. Sammy lost it. She wanted to walk so bad. She sat down on the sidewalk and just started screaming. So after the potty, I decided to take a chance and still walk. We had to rush and Sammy unfortunately cried almost the whole time because she couldn't keep up with her brothers. Usually it's not a big deal because we make it a slow walk but she just couldn't keep up the pace. She had composed herself by the time we got to school. She found her teacher (whom she adores) and never looked back. Gerry was actually excited. He's been so nervous about things lately but today he didnt' seem that scared. He let me kiss him goodbye and found where his class was waiting outside and found his old friend and that was that! They both had good days today they said. Gerry said kindergarten is very fun!

So in the afternoon, I decide to walk to pick them up and we finally get to school and Samantha wasn't there. After checking with a couple staff members I discovered Sammy was put on the bus. I have no idea why but she was listed as a bus rider and even had a bus #. We don't get bus service from our house because we live so close to school but Samantha qualifies for the special ed bus. But I told everyone and their mother from last spring on that she wouldnt' need the bus because I'd be taking Gerry to school everyday anyway and they won't let him ride the special ed bus so no use in sending Sammy on the bus if I have to take Gerry anyway. Anyhooo, the bus came back to school quickly and Samantha got right off and saw me and said hi. She didn't think it was strange that the bus took her and brought her back. She had had fun. The whole walk back Gerry and Abera kept saying "next time please take the car". It was hot out by then and they were being lazy... Oooh and Abera picked up a dead bird!!! Luckily it was near our house so I grabbed his arms and ran inside and scrubbed his hand off for a long time. I don't like dead animals!

Well, sorry this was so long. Just felt like blabbing about the first day back. I'll have all the details of Brandon's first day back on Wednesday(should be real interesting). Abera starts after Labor Day.

A Major Award!

All I could think of was the dad from a Christmas Story when he won that lamp. The other day the library called and said Brandon won a raffle prize from the summer reading program. He won a goody bag from the library. I told him about the prize and he was sooo excited. We didn't know what would be in it and the next day we went to the library to pick it up. When we got it and he opened it up he kept saying, 'I'm so happy!' and 'This is my lucky day!' He carried that bag around the whole rest of the day and showed it off to everyone he saw.

There was a wooden puzzle. 2 books. A coloring book with crayons. Lots of rubber bath toys. A beach ball and an inflatable spider. I hope I didnt' forget anything :)

Here's a picture of him with his 'surprise' (not prize) from the library.

What do these things have in common?

I was changing Brandon yesterday at the pool bathroom and there is an echo in there so he started having fun and screaming random words. This is what he screamed:

Daggone Cars!!! (that's what we call the Disney/Pixar Car movie)
(pause)

Speedracer!!!!
(pause)

papertowels!!!
(pause)

goldfish crackers!!!!!!

It reminded me of that old gameshow where you'd have a word and the person kept naming things to describe the word so the other person could guess.

Oh and I also forgot another conversation we had:

Brandon: Mommy, I have girl friends
Me : Oh good, it's nice to have boy friends and girl friends
Brandon: Yeah, I'm not afraid of girls anymore.

Samantha's Birthday

Samantha had her party this weekend at a local petting farm. It was a beautiful day-a tad bit on the hot side but only in the sun. It could have been alot worse. I'm too tired to run upstairs and get the camera so I don't have any pictures to show. Maybe tomorrow night. Samantha did get a bicycle with training wheels and is doing really well. Her right foot was having some problems slipping out and she would end up pushing the pedals backwards and braking when she was trying to pedal forward. She was getting frustrated easily but ended up doing much better by the end of her first ride. Other than that, we went to the pool this weekend (very cold water!) This week we will be getting ready for school. School doesnt' start until the 25th but this week we have an open house/meet your teacher day. I also need to get all the last minute school supplies that we need. Oh and I never ordered a Care Bears backpack so I guess Brandon will have to use his ugly scary Incredible Hulk backpack. Sorry, nothing exciting going on lately.

One mom's review of Tropic Thunder

A very wise mother went to see the movie the other day and wrote her review. I think it was very well written. This will probably be my last Tropic Thunder post and then I'll go back to my usual postings.

http://rejenerations.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-saw-tropic-thunder.html

It's a very well written review-please take the time to read it.