Would it be wierd if...

... I set aside some of the cooked ground turkey, that I was making for spaghetti, so that I could just eat a little bowl by myself with a little salt and pepper? Maybe it's not weird, but I always feel funny when I do that. (but I know Mandy's done it before, so that makes me feel better...)

... my kids entertained themselves for an hour this afternoon by collecting rocks from a pile of rocks, putting them in a bucket, and then relocating the rocks to another part of the yard? Would it be weirder if I stood inside and watched through the sliding glass door as they did this? (but I'm okay with it.. I mean, at least they were not watching anymore tv and were working together...)

... one of our "activities" today included mopping (not watercoloring, the sandbox, or bike riding- typical "stay-at-home" mom things). Literally, Will, Em and I took turns mopping the floor. (You should know the stupid floor is white tile. It HAS to be cleaned at least 3 times a day. Period.)

... my son ASKED me to go to work so that he could go to daycare and have lots of other kids to play with?

... my daughter thinks, no, believes that she is living in a Disney musical? She sings requests for chocolate milk and even argues with her brother in full song. She dances quite well for a kids who's never entered a studio, too, I might add.

... I spent half the day thinking about how I wanted to rearrange the garage? Really, wouldn't it make more sense to park the bikes along the left side and use the center to park a car?

... all I could think about, when I'm not thinking about the garage, is what kind of new Flair I can put on my Facebook page? (That is the craziest fun I've had lately!)

... I had to wash both one set of sheets and the cushion covers from the couch and clean the mattress and cusions because of pee - all from one day? (Thank the Lord for pretreated, Scotchgarded cushions! Liquid basically rolls off!!)

... if I sat down to think about all the wierd things that happened to me lately and then blog about it?

Facebook Me

I finally gave in this morning, in a weak moment, and became, what seems to be, the last under-80-American to join Facebook. One of my first "friends" was our pastor's MOTHER...
Mostly on-line I email, shop, blog, shop...
I've put off becoming a part of this for years. First, it was because I was teaching and didn't want to become "one of those teachers" caught up on-line in some controversy with their students. Second, I knew I'd be addicted and didn't want to commit all that time to figuring it out (when I don't have time to keep the laundry caught up... I mean, I have two kids and have refused to scrapbook too because I know I haven't had the time to do it and do it well. Their "scrapbooks" are actually "scrapboxes".) And, thirdly, everyone else was doing it, and I wasn't sure I wanted all these people from my past to find me... I mean, if you really need to contact me, you'd have my email or cell number already.
But, Scott's day off is Monday, so this morning, in casual conversation, he asked me what my myspace page was (years ago he made one for me just because I had said I didn't want one) and I couldn't remember if it was myspace or facebook, so to end the debate I we went to "look it up," and I ended up creating a facebook account, thus wasting hours of my day in the end.
Because, of course, the stupid thing starts connecting you to people before you've even had the chance to decorate your page, it sucks you in. It's like having a party and letting your guests in before you've finished putting up the streamers. And, come to find out, people LIVE on this site! So, while I'm running around the site trying to figure it out, people keep "popping in" and joining my undecorated party...um, page.
Then, I had to have a profile picture (and how do you choose just one picture to exemplify who you are to those people you haven't seen in years...as if I wasn't stressed already). Next, because everyone else does it, I had to create some kind of picture album. Uploading pictures and creating captions isn't easy work for someone who has recently spent her days making play-doh people and pumping up bike tires. And, well, the kicker for me-the most time wasted- was on my flair. If you don't have flair, in my opinion, you shouldn't "facebook" because THAT is the funnest thing about it.
Now, the excitement comes in with my phone... because in attempt to keep in touch when we moved West Coast (and because I thought it was cool) I got a Blackberry that "bings" whenever I get an email. And, if you facebook, you know that whenever someone invites you to be a friend or accepts to be your friend, you get emailed. Can I remind you I was the last person to join facebook, so people were "binging" me left and right- evidently I was a hot commonditiy today. Finally, Scott had to turn that feature off so my phone would stop "binging".

I'll give facebook one thing: I didn't feel this popular in high school! I'm now addicted. If you don't see me out in the future, look on-line. I'm either looking or cheap airline tickets or facebooking. And, I hate to admit it, I'm on a quest to have the most friends in the world.

If you haven't already, check out my flair!

I've officially become my mom

As I knelled on the living room carpet with a coffee cup full of Oxyclean and hot water in my left hand and an old wash cloth in the right, it hit me.
I'd already had coffee and washed that cup out. Three little girls were running around me with baby dolls, the washing machine was going full force as it cleaned the pee out of the towels, bathroom mats, and panties from an earlier unfortunate accident accident, and I'd already swept, mopped, and done a load of dishes... all this and it wasn't even ten in the morning. Will had been dropped off at school, driven by me in the bike trailer, I'd come home, showered, blown out my hair, and fed five people a small breakfast. The back patio has been swept, too. Then, "brown baby" had to be hand washed since the unfortunate pee-all-over-the-bathroom incident had rendered him, well, wet. Next, snack time. And, now that I've fed two girls Fiber One and Zone bars, grapes, and juice and one little one her organic yogurt and a jar of baby food, it was time to clean up a mess, spilled water all over the kitchen floor, before giving the baby her milk, packing three little girls in the car, buckling them up, and going to pick Will up from school. When we get back: lunch time...
Mom, you're my hero.

And then there were four...

I've started a temporary babysitting job for a friend. Her mother-in-law usually watches her daughter (2 and a half) and niece (1 and a half) while their mothers work, but she has had to go out of town for six weeks... so here I am. Four kids aren't too bad (when I get to send 2 home at the end of the day!). And the girls are precious- both are mild mannered, sweet, and in a good routine that fits well with our schedule. It's a bit of work to load everyone up to drop Will off at school and Em (only Tues and Thurs), but everyone is cooperating well. And God bless the mini-van- what a blessing! (Another thing you never thought you'd say when you were in college and pre-children stages of life.) Em's adjusting to sharing EVERYTHING of hers with the little girls, but she likes having other kids around. As for Will, this has sealed the deal for him, and he really wants a baby brother.
Did I mention the girls both speak Spanish and a bit of Korean (in addition to English)? They are being patient with me, and I'm learning all kinds of nouns in other languages. (By the way- "po po" -like what we call the police in the South- and "poo poo"- like what we all call poop- seem easily confused. Especially when "po po" is Korean for kiss...)

Watch out Scotty- Will, Em, and I may be talking you into another baby before you know it!

I never meant to go this long between posts, but....
Okay, so school is finally in for both the kids. Will started KINDERGARTEN last week and Emmie Ann went to her first day at preschool today. That's two mornings a week where I won't have any kids with me! So, I scheduled an interview for a job tomorrow morning. I miss work- that's one thing you never think you'll say- and I don't intend to confuse anyone- I don't want to work full time, but I do like it. I mean, this afternoon I helped Scott make a sock puppet... This is an Education Specialist position where I'd only work a couple days of the week (like Scott's day off so we wouldn't have to get childcare) but still get used to the CA ed system, curriculum, etc. Not sure if this is just a "scanning" interview or what, but I'm looking forward to finding out something about the job and what possibilites are out there!
Will is totally loving school; his teacher's name: Mrs. Learn. I ask him when I pick him up (did I tell you that you have to pay to ride the bus in CA and that you can only ride if you live farther than a mile from school, which like no one does...) how his "day" (half day K in CA...) was. "Good." I ask, "What did you do?" His reply, "Everything." Well, at least he doesn't say "nothing." He tells me who got their pin moved down to yellow or red. Of course, he says, his has stayed on green all day. His favorite part of school is the playground, and he does not want us to walk him inside in the morning. He just wants to be dropped off.
Emmie Ann even told me that I "could leave now" when I took her to school today. She's been ready to go since Will started. She'll wake up and ask "is today the day I get to go to school?"

We've kept busy lately- the CA State Fair and Demolition Derby, Gold Rush in Old Sac, birthday parities, soccer practice, church events, back to school shopping, bike riding...
Now, Demolition Derby... to think we moved 3,000 miles to watch something so redneck... At the State Fair, there is a Demo Derby- and it is packed in the stands. We went with two other families from church- 8 kids total; 5 boys (8 if you count the dads who were just as into it) and 3 girls. Four of the boys are between the ages of 4 and 6. There is something excilerating (especially to the boys) about watching a bunch of already banged up cars drive around a ring, rev their engines, ram into each other, and sling mud into the stands (thank goodness we got there early to claim seats at the top of the stands and avoid the extra dirt).