Salt...

I want salt.

Lots of salt.

Yummy salt.

Find me something to eat with salt on it. Stat!

Thanks.

On A Roll...

I've been posting quite regularly lately (DAILY!), which I think is awesome. But tonight, I am tired. And I'm torn between writing an awesome post or not writing at all. Well, obviously, I chose to write, but I think I'm dropping the awesome part. Sorry!

Getting up at 6 AM is HARD. I think I might have to start getting up 5:45 AM though in order to get both girls ready for school next week. DREADING IT. Well, excited to have them both in school, but dreading waking up early. This is the main reason I should be in bed right now.

The Dragon had her kindergarten testing today. She loved it, loved her teacher, and finally tried to use the bathroom and flush the toilet all by herself. She IS potty trained (for the record), but strange bathrooms bother her, and she hates the noise that the toilet makes whenever she flushes it. But she did it, and now she says she can do it all by herself when she is at school. This is a huge relief to me, because I had my doubts that she would be able to "hold it" from 6:30 am until almost 4:00 pm.

The Princess still seems happy in school. She doesn't have much to say about it, but she's not complaining about it either. This is a good thing.

We, meaning The King and I, have a lot of decisions to make about our future. Nothing bad, I promise! We just have to sit down and decide what are priorities are and then make some financial decisions that will hopefully enable us to reach our goals. It's gonna be hard! We have so many things we want to do, but not nearly enough money to do them all or quickly.

Tomorrow is Back-To-School Night. I love meeting with the teachers in the classroom. I hate the all-school parent meetings that take place before that. BORING!

And now, I'm off to bed. G'night, everyone!

The First Day Of School (Part 1)

Today was The Princess' first day of school (she's in THIRD grade)!

Despite all of the whining and complaining we have endured for the past 3-months, she appeared to be very happy and excited to go to school.

Waking up at 6 am was not a problem (despite not going to bed until 10 pm the night before - oops!). Getting dressed was a breeze. She ate breakfast quickly (even cooking it herself - instant oatmeal). She even let me do her hair WITHOUT complaining! (Who is this child???)

And... to top it all off, when she came home from school, she actually seemed HAPPY! (Seriously, what happened to grumpy?)

She seems to think that her teacher might be OK (she has been complaining and complaining about the teacher all summer long - and she doesn't have a choice because there is only one teacher who teaches her grade in this program), and she seems OK with who she sits by in class.

She took a math test today and thinks that she did OK.

I asked her about classroom rules (because she thinks this teacher is going to be super strict), and she said that they are not allowed to play with colored pencils at their desk and that they can get band-aids whenever they want, but that they CANNOT leave all the little band-aid wrapper pieces all over the classroom. They must go in the trash.

Yeah, tough rules. I have a feeling that there is more, but those are all that she would tell me.

She had homework, but she got it done during class, so all she has to do tonight is read. And she does that every night anyway. They don't even have to read a certain number of pages or for a certain length of time (yet), but they do have to record how many pages they read.

One day down. 179 to go?



Stay tuned next week for The First Day Of School (Part 2), starring The Dragon.

Sisters

I only have brothers. I know I fought with them as a child, but it seemed to me that it was very short lived. We yelled at each other, and then it was over.

The Princess and The Dragon are fighting ALL. THE. TIME.

It is typically over little things, but it goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on... OH! Sorry.

It reminds me of the book Where The Wild Things Are...

... they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws ...

... except, when I tell them to "BE STILL!" they don't. (Oh, if I only had the power of Max! Then I could be queen of all wild things.)

I know that children will fight. I don't expect them to be perfectly well behaved all of the time. But does it have to be so darn explosive?

Worse, they are very rude to me. Talking back is becoming a huge issue around here.

I don't know how to deal with it anymore. It's getting embarrassing to go places with them, and school starts on Tuesday for The Princess, and about a week later for The Dragon. I don't think The Princess will act up in school, but The Dragon will. I am scared!

I send them to their room when they get out of control, but it doesn't seem to be working.

My Mom used to wash my mouth out with soap. I am not sure that worked with me.

If The King were around more, he would probably "whip them all soundly and send them to bed." And no, our children, FOR THE RECORD, have never been whipped. But that's how bad it's getting around here.

This is not a once or twice a day kind of thing. It starts within the first hour of them waking up, and I would say it happens at least once every 3-hours. Some days it happens almost every hour.

I want to have fun with my kids, but they are unbearable to be around. HELP!

The Birds and the Bees

Arrivals of new babies are still very hard for me. They remind me of Nemo.

I try to be happy and gracious, and I usually pull it off well. But on the inside, it still hurts.

When we went to visit my sister-in-law in the hospital, The Dragon took one look at the baby, turned to SIL and said, "My Mommy had a baby in her tummy and it died."

I didn't really know whether to laugh or cry.

My SIL, thankfully only said something along the lines of "I know."

The topic of several discussions since then has revolved around babies, and if/when we might have another one, etc, etc, etc.

I honestly don't remember what I said that prompted this, but at some point during one of the conversations, The Princess turned and looked at me with a startled look on her face.

Her comment? "You don't get to pick when you have a baby!"

Apparently, they are just placed there when the time is right. I'm still waiting.

Karen Needs...

Step 1: Go to Google
Step 2: Type in ((your name)) + needs
Step 3: Post the results on your blog

Karen Needs:

Karen needs help. [Why yes! Yes I do! Are you offering?]

Karen needs feedback. [If you don't leave comments, you are a loser. Just kidding!]

Karen needs more CS training. [That could be true.]

Karen needs some gin. [True, but I don't drink.]

Karen needs a new job. [One that makes money, preferably.]

Karen needs a website. Tomorrow. [Well, I already have one, but I DO want a new one.]

Karen needs a lobotomy. [Um, no. No, I don't.]

Karen needs to get her ass off the ground and actually do some work. [Oi. This one is painfully true.]

Karen needs to start carrying a flask. [Were you not listening to me? I don't drink!]

Karen needs to write something here in her own words. [Now wait a minute! I write in my own words all the time!]

Karen needs to stay. [I hope you really do feel that way!]

Karen needs support with her pregnancy and when her baby is born. [Ummm... do you know something I don't know?]

Karen needs Dr. Pelvic's knowledge. [Well, if he knows anything about this surprise pregnancy, um yeah, I might...]

Karen needs something to boost her self-esteem. [Yes I do! What do you suggest?]

Karen should get out there and bite some people! [Oh yeah! That's my kind of night out on the town!]

Karen needs to get her message out! [Buy scrapbooking supplies from me!]

Karen needs to crawl back in the cave she lives in and let the rest of the world progress towards the future. [Ouch!]

Karen needs more than her head examined. [Hmph! Fine, be that way! I'll be ending this post now!}

Karen needs to stop crying. [AGGGGGGGGGH!]

Welcome To The World...

... and would you please stop terrifying my children?

Abigail Fay (our new niece and the girls new cousin) entered the world on August 20, 2008.

We visited her in the hospital yesterday, and the girls were able to hold her for a few minutes.

A few hours ago, The Princess reported a bad dream. In this dream, she was holding Abby and Abby turned into a monster that hurt The Princess and The Dragon.

Only a few hours old and already wrecking havoc on the world. I wish her parents plenty of good luck!

Heavy Weight

The girls set up a zoo today. I, of course, attended the grand opening and was given a spectacular tour.

After visiting each animal, I was encouraged to ask questions.

The elephants prompted me to ask the girls exactly how much an elephant weighs.

The girls replied, "Oh, most of them weigh about 100 pounds, but some of them weigh as much as 200."

Lisa may be an apple, but I, apparently, am an elephant (plus some).

The Interview

Lara interviewed her children the other day, and I thought it was a really cute idea mostly because I remember my Dad doing interviews with me when I was a kid. So here are the results. Some of the answers are dead-on, and some of the answers were simply amusing. I must clarify one thing, however: I have NEVER made zucchini bread. The King always makes it around here.

1. What is something mom always says to you?

The Princess: Clean your room.
The Dragon: Get your fingers out of your mouth!

2. What makes mom happy?

The Princess: When I clean my room.
The Dragon: When I am nice to people.

3. What makes mom sad?

The Princess: When I yell at her.
The Dragon: When I don't do what she wants.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?

The Princess: By tickling me or singing a "pickle" or a "skunk" song.
The Dragon: By tickling me!

5. What was your mom like as a child?

The Princess: I don't know.
The Dragon: I don't know.

6. How old is your mom?

The Princess: Thirty.... uh, four!
The Dragon needed some prompting:
          Mom: Am I 5?
          The Dragon: No, you're older than 5.
          Mom: Am I 100?
          The Dragon: No, you're less than 100.
          Mom: Well, how old do you think I am then?
          The Dragon: Hmm. Maybe the number before 100?

7. How tall is your mom?

The Princess: I don't know.
The Dragon: Super tall! Well, to me she's super tall! [Stands up on chair] Well, now I'm taller than you!

8. What is her favorite thing to do?

The Princess: I don't know. Um... sniffing sunflowers? No! Typing on her computer.
The Dragon: Clean and play with me and The Princess.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?

The Princess: Go to stores. I think.
The Dragon: Clean.

10. If your mom became famous, what would it be for?

The Princess: The fastest typing person on the computer.
The Dragon: Money. You would have a lot of money and gold and silver.

11. What is your mom really good at?

The Princess: Typing on the computer.
The Dragon: Cleaning.

12. What is your mom not so good at?

The Princess: Remembering not to write cursive when she is writing to me.
The Dragon: Sewing.

13. What does your mom do for her job?

The Princess: She takes care of me.
The Dragon: Take care of kids and even teach them what to do and what not to do.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?

The Princess: I don't know. I really don't know. Unless maybe it's chocolate?
The Dragon: Zucchini Bread?

15. What makes you proud of your mom?

The Princess: When she helps me with my homework.
The Dragon: When she makes me zucchini bread.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

The Princess: Daisy Duck because I don't know... it's just the only thing I could come up with.
The Dragon: I don't know.

17. What is something you and your mom do together?

The Princess: We don't do much, but right now we're doing some questions!
The Dragon: Play "clean up the house."

18. How are you and your mom the same?

The Princess: We both like chocolate and we both have long hair.
The Dragon: Sometimes we do the same things, like, we both eat zucchini bread at the same time.

19. How are you and your mom different?

The Princess: I don't have glasses or contacts.
The Dragon: Well, you make the zucchini bread and I don't.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?

The Princess: She hugs me and gives me kisses and makes me laugh.
The Dragon: Because you tell me!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jog!

We're home!

I am glad that we are home, though our vacation was nice.
I am sad that my house is a mess.

The Princess starts school in a week.
The Dragon starts school about a week later.

I have a million things to do and no desire to do them. One of those things is to post a few pictures of our vacation. But I am tired and don't want to do it tonight.

One last thought, however. Did you know that clouds look like cotton candy and planes can't fly over mountains? NO? Apparently you haven't talked to The Dragon recently. I had the opportunity to sit next to her on the airplane, and I don't think she was quiet for more than a minute during the entire 3.5 hour flight.

Oi!

What Actually Happened...

On Saturday night, we gathered up the kids and headed in to downtown Chicago. We invited many people to go with us, but the only one who accepted the invitation was The King's grandma, "Nana".

I had found a ticket package that included tickets to the John Hancock Observatory and a 90-minute boat tour, but The King's mother said that she was afraid of boats and didn't want to go. I was under the impression that she wanted to go to the observatory with us, so I didn't push the boat issue anymore. It turned out, however, that she didn't want to go at all. So we didn't get the boat ride AND The King's mom stayed home. Oh well.

We took the "fastest elevator in North America" up 94 floors to the observatory. The view was absolutely incredible. One thing that was REALLY cool was that everyone got their own little Palm Pilot (it probably wasn't a Palm, but it looked and acted very similar) with headsets, and you got your own personal tour of the city. As you walked around the observatory, there were numbers posted along the walls. When you reached one of these numbers, you stopped, entered the code into your machine, and listened to a brief narrative about Chicago. There was an adult version and an edited down version for the kids. The kids really loved this! I thought it was a great idea, because it seems that the usual reaction of kids on a sight-seeing tour is, "I'm bored!" No one was bored here, and the only time I heard from any of them is when The Dragon would ask, "Which way is left?" or "Which way is right?" They were able to find several landmarks in Chicago, though I daresay that it is easier to spot them during the day than at night.

One of the fun facts we learned is that Twinkies, Sundaes and Cracker Jack were all created in Chicago. Well, that's according to The Princess. I don't remember hearing it on my recording - but I was listening to the adult version.

We got there in time to see the fireworks on Navy Pier. That was a strange experience. The fireworks seemed very far away and very tiny, and they were in slow motion. When you think about your firework experience from the ground, well, it's very different. We could still hear the loud booms during the finale, but they weren't that loud.

Thanks for the tip! The John Hancock building was great!

(I took pictures but they are not on my computer yet. I will try to post them when we get back to Utah.)

I Just Don't Know...

...how to do vacations where you sit around and watch TV most of the time.

We "partied" at Uncle Stevie's house, and most of The King's family proceeded to get very drunk and make some great plans for today.

Two problems with that:

1) No one remembers the plans that they made.

2) Even if they do remember, they are too drunk to execute the plans that they made.

We are sitting around and watching TV. And I am bored.

I could pull out my computer and happily entertain myself, but then I am "not with the family." Frankly, I don't see the difference. (Why am I posting then? 'Cause The King pulled out HIS computer in an attempt to find something for us to do... and I hijacked it.)

So, um, today is kind-of boring. I really don't have a problem with boring days - but I think I got myself psyched up for a fun day, and now, well, it's just not.

Serves me right for listening to drunks.

I like the idea of Chicago at night. Thanks "Old Man" for the suggestion. I am going to go do some research on it now, and maybe we can bust this joint for a few hours this evening.

I think I am declaring Monday a sight-seeing day because we have really got to get out of here and do something. The girls are really bored.

What? No Comments?!?

Wow. I thought I'd get at least ONE comment. Though if you e-mailed me your comment, I can't get it until I get home. Boohoo! Nah, it's OK. I don't post regularly when I'm HOME... why would you expect me to post regularly when I'm on VACATION?

Yesterday was rather uneventful. We drove around visiting people, and that's about it. I also learned that it's much easier to make 16 sandwiches than it is to make 2.

Today we are headed to Six Flags Great America! WOOHOO! I am looking forward to this! The Princess wants to ride all the roller coasters, The Dragon wants nothing to do with the Roller Coasters and both of them want to see Scooby Doo.

I hope we have a great day!

Chicago - We Are Here!

We made it to Chicago!

Our plane ride was uneventful, but difficult because three of us got placed on one row (me and the girls), and The King sat behind us. It was a very full flight.

Flying with the girls was fun. I think the passengers immediately surrounding us were rather amused with the girls. I mean, how can you not giggle when two little girls are squealing "Wheeeeeeeeee!" during take-off?

Another priceless moment was when The Princess commented "I wish we could open a window so we could grab a cloud." Um, no. I'd prefer for the windows to remain shut. We had a brief (no, the plane will explode if you do that) science lesson, and so her comment got revised to something along the lines of wishing we had a magical plane where we could roll down the windows and catch clouds without exploding.

Our hotel seems decent. All of the hotels we looked at seemed to only have rooms with two double beds. I was hoping for two queen beds. Maybe this is standard and I am just clueless. At any rate, the room appears to be decently clean, and we enjoyed a free breakfast this morning. Good thing we got there when we did, because they really do stop serving breakfast at 9:30. Not that they really serve anything, but right at 9:30 they marched in and took everything away! That didn't stop me from grabbing 4 extra muffins for later though!

We don't know what our plans are for today, yet. We'll be deciding on something shortly.

Leavin' On A Jet Plane...

Today we are flying to Chicago! The girls are so excited. I think they mostly just want to ride on an airplane again. The Dragon doesn't really remember it, she wasn't even 3 the last time we flew. I'd have to look through a bunch of photos, but it is quite possible that she wasn't even TWO!

It's going to be an interesting trip for me. It always is, for in a matter of minutes, I become the only white person in my family. I'm not complaining - this isn't a bad thing - but boy, do I get teased a lot. Ebonics is the 'norm, along with a lot of slang that gets tossed around, and I may as well be blond because I have no idea what they are talking about. And, well, that makes me a target. A well-loved target. *smirk*

Another interesting aspect is that we will be meeting The King's mother. I've never met her. Neither have the girls. Another interesting aspect is that we will be meeting one of The King's grandmothers - another woman whom I have never met. And again, neither have the girls. As I said, it will be interesting. You know that Michael and I have been married for 10-years, and have known each other (dated) for almost 16-years, right? Um... yeah.

And on Friday, the family is having a big BBQ. The one thing I know I can count on is LOTS of good food. Yum. The interesting part will be all of the "family" that is going to come to the party. Probably half of them will be no relation to anyone there. I think that's cool - but I'm always trying to figure out who is related to who, and when I don't know three-quarters of the people there, and then one-half of all of the people there aren't even blood relations - well, it's mighty tricky. LOL!

It should be a very interesting trip!

Overdue

Saturday, April 12 was the day that The Princess was baptized. Unfortunately, that day I was also busy dealing with a miscarriage (we knew it was likely to happen over the weekend), and I was just grateful that I was home when it happened, rather than happening AT the baptism.

Anyway, this was a very big day for Sara, and a big day for me... you know, 'cause I'm her Mom and all that.

I took her to get her pictures taken, and ended up making this collage last week.



The Princess loves it. I love her.

Boopity Boo, I Scared You!

This song is stuck in my head. Enjoy!