The long and short of it

According to my friend Andy, it is possible that my previous blog is too long. Now I have had a few hours to think about this information, and here's what I decided- I am not changing it! Oh my gosh, do you know how long I spent putting those pictures on there?? Any tinkering I do to it could cause permanent damage. I just can't go through that again. So I came up with a terrific solution! If you find your interest waning, pretend I made two separate posts. One in which I bragged about Dillon and fussed about pets, and another in which I went on and on about Halloween. Then it would be two bloggs of perfect length. See, Andy? I'm such a genius.

Anyhow, time to move on. I have decided to do a little memoir of each of my youngins this week. That way I can look back when they are teenagers and remember what I love about them. Just kidding! Kind of...

It always amazes me how unique they are, and how they each shine in their own special areas. Is it wrong to envy your own children's childhood? Nah, I choose not to think so. Rather, perhaps its evidence that we aren't doing everything wrong, if I can wish that I had had a childhood like theirs. Most of you know I had, to put it politely, a rather unhappy childhood, and I remember back in the wisdom of my youth (and they are amazingly wise sometimes, aren't they, the young?) thinking to myself- someday I will have my own babies and I will know how not to hurt them. One of my strongest desires as a parent is for my kids to grow up with a different driving force. I know John and I make mistakes, but as a whole, we are helping to turn out some pretty amazing people. So I want to brag a little, and hold on to a bit of who they are at this time in their lives.

So keep an eye out for some anecdotes and personality highlights of Dillon, Talia and Caleb- though not necessarily in that order!

Blah Blah Blah Blog

Who knew that people would fuss if I didn't ramble? Of course, I was amazed to see it had been a month and a half since I jotted down my thoughts. No worries people, I still have them, I was just not sharing! So, at the request of more than one person (I know, I myself was shocked!), here is a stream of consciousness from my brain to my blog just for you.

Last night, the kids got to stay up for an extra hour. Why, you may ask? I will happily share. Dillon, our 10 year old, was reading out loud to all of us. I have a few things to say about this. First, this is one of those times in your life that you take a mental snap shot and hold it in your heart. John was over in the big chair, and kids and I were sprawled on the sofa, comfortably sharing our space. All the kids were ready for bed, and out of the blue, Dillon sits down, opens his book and just starts reading. That hour flew by before I knew it, and we all sat there listening raptly to him reading this story. Which leads us to my second thought: if you have kids in this age bracket, I highly recommend Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, or any of this series, this was just the one Dillon happened to be reading to us. From Caleb at 6 to John and myself at 30, we all listened with very few interruptions and laughed out loud frequently. The writing is superb. It's like a really great blog, from a kid's point of view. It is written in such a way that you believe you are peeking into the thought process of a youth, but a very witty one, with some crazy, clever ideas, and a million ways to make trouble for himself that seem to make great sense to him. And my third thought on this topic: wow, just wow. Any of you who have the opportunity to listen to Dillon read out loud should sieze it with both hands. I know, I know, I admit to being totally biased, and that's fine, but don't let that prevent you from experiencing this event. Many of you know Dillon is a voracious reader (what? I have no idea where he gets that!), and he has always read beyond his age level, and unbelievably fast. But last night, listening to him, was a whole new revelation. He was able to come across AS Gregory, the boy in the book keeping the diary. When Gregory was incredulous, Dillon's voice portrayed incredulous. When Gregory was excited, Dillon shared excitement. No matter the emotion coming across, Dillon managed to bring it out with tone and inflection, all while rarely stumbling or hesitating. You know how some people read aloud and it's like droning and you just want to beg them to stop? Yeah, not him. Nope, I am pretty sure we all could have happily sat there and listened to him read us the entire book. As it was, we hit about 70 pages before I remembered that a good mom makes sure her kiddles get enough sleep. I can't wait for tonight's reading.

On October 20th, Caleb lost his first baby tooth. Can I just tell you that caused me heart pain? I mean, he's in school now, and when he hugs me, his head nestles on my tummy, and he can read and write, and now, gosh darn it, even his teeth are telling me he's not a baby anymore! Enough already, I get it! Talk about rubbing it in. When we decided Caleb was going to be our last baby, we had so many well-reasoned arguments why that was the right choice. They all still hold, and I have Aiden to borrow to fill the baby void, but sometimes when I see them all getting bigger and bigger, it makes me yearn. The moms know what I mean. I just wanted to share that sadness.

OK, my baby sister turned 18 the day after Caleb lost his tooth. This makes me feel old. I changed her diapers and rocked her to sleep, cleaned the sleepies from her eyes and held her on my hip while I made dinner. And now she is a young adult. Which reminds me of just how grown up I now am. Odd as it seems, I sometimes forget. I know, that's silly, right? But sometimes I still feel young and insecure and lost. Then I am reminded by something like my baby sister hitting a milestone birthday, or Dillon wearing a shoe as big as mine, or someone calling me Ma'am....oh my gosh, I am an adult! No worries, I am sure I will adjust. Eventually.

Can I just tell you that it drives me crazy when we feed the pets, and immediately after eating, they walk around with their noses to the floor, licking up every little crumb they can find. You just ate! Stop that, dang it!

When the kids were little, I got to manage their Halloween costumes. I miss that phase. It went by too fast. Now we have to discuss and compromise. I'm the mom, I don't want to compromise. Too bad I care about making them happy though. Compromise it is. This year, Talia wanted to be a young Cleopatra. I think it was because she thought the picture in the catalogue was pretty. I told her we'd see what we could find. Caleb and Dillon wanted to be Star Wars characters. I lovingly pointed out that last year, despite my preferences, they were all super heros, and maybe this year we could settle on something that made us all happy. Since they like for me to be happy as well (occassionally), they agreed. Caleb saw a picture in the catalogue of the UPS guy and decided that was what he wanted. I was fully amenable to this request. These are my favorite kinds of costumes. Dillon didn't make up his mind for a long time. As time was drawing to a close on the decision making time frame, I asked him, "Dillon, have you got any thoughts on your costume yet?" "Nope." "Well, times runnin' out, bud. Might wanna get to thinkin'." "A BMX racer." "Hmmm, we'll see." That was our conversation. Well, we then had a difference of perspective. Because for me, we hadn't settled on anything yet, but for him, it was a set and approved idea. So he went to his aunt's house, and made arrangements for his costume without me. It broke my mommy heart. It was like he didn't need me anymore. I am not ready for him to not need me anymore. I mean, I know the time is coming. Just like I know that time is running out on being "Mommy" and I will turn into just plain, old "Mom". But I need more time! Well, I let him be what he wanted to be. But, since I like our kids to know that parents are people too, and we have feelings, I let him know that I was a little sad and hurt to be left out of all the planning, and that I enjoy being a part of the costume creating process. Then I told him I loved him and he could wear what he wanted. When we went costume hunting for Ta and Caleb, we found a Dorothy dress. Who has seen Ta? Perfect costume for her, right? After a nice discussion, we settled on Dorothy for her, and she was adorable. So, here I go trying to post a picture for your enjoyment.

Here's Dorothy. This was the best picture, so you can't see the basket and pup. We used a small picnic basket that is actually from the bathroom and holds extra toilet paper. And the puppy, while not quite a Toto look-alike, barked and whined.


Here is our BMX (sort of more motocross)racer. His helmet, boots and shirt are all courtesy of his cousin Brett. I think that might have been the most exciting part for him.

And finally, UPS guy. His trick or treat bucket was a box wrapped like a package that said "What can Brown do for you?" And I would like to point out his fabulous UPS badges. Hand-made out of felt, with love by Mommy. Do they look amazing, or do they look amazing?! Please note, there was only one option.

Okay, so that was a terrible experience. Next time, one picture per blog. Anyhow, that made me so frustrated, I can no longer be clever. More random ramblings to come. And for those who fussed about the lack of blogs, I refuse to promise any time-frame, but I will try to be more frequent. Ahhh, people who want to know my thoughts.....what's the world coming to?

Inappropriate humor for the younger set

It's bed time and the kids are cycling through the shower. Dillon is on the couch beside me reading and playing with my hair (he's trying to win the Most Adored Child Award) and Caleb is in his room getting on jammies and cleaning up. As I sit on the sofa reading my book, I hear Talia, fresh from the shower, go pounding through the hall and up the steps all the while chanting, "I'm done! I'm done! I'm done!" etc, etc. And lo, a shout from Caleb floats out, "mummble mummble mummble Vagina!" The vague words sink through my immersion in imaginary world, my brow wrinkles and my head pops up. I turn towards Dillon, my ever mature 10 year old, and say, "Did he just say vagina?" Well, maybe that mature thing is a bit premature because then he collapses with laugher, so overcome he can barely speak. And really, who can blame him because he is 10 and the word vagina has now been uttered twice. But he tops it off with "...*giggle* He said *chuckle snort* her towel *snort wheeze* smells like vagina!!" Sigh....note to self- next time don't verify these sorts of things with the 10 year old.

How do we get on the internet now???

So for those of you not familiar enough with my beloved John, here is a little background info for you- he is a sleepwalker. I mean, one of those fun ones, who gives you stories to tell. For example, when I was pregnant with Dillon, I developed insomnia, and a small case of tired and lazy. I would stay up late reading in bed next to John, and when I needed something, I would rouse him to a semi conscious state, and send him on errands of which he later would have no memory. And when Dillon was born, he stayed in the hospital room with me, but was unable to provide any actual help. See, once Dillon fell asleep on my tummy, and I needed to use the restroom, so I called John....and called John....and called John. Yeah, you get the idea. Finally he popped up from the terribly uncomfortable fold out chair, grabs his pillow and starts shhh'ing and cooing to it like it was the baby. Mhmmm....no help there. I took the baby to the bathroom with me. Then we got home and settled in, and thus follows the poor quality sleep that only a newborn can provide, and all of the sudden strange things start happening, like waking up and finding picture frames removed from the wall for no apparent reason. Well, over our nearly eleven blissful years *chuckle* John has not failed to add to his repertoire. From invisible invaders in the middle of the night, to chasing our own dog around the house (poor, confused Dizzy), yelling at her, demanding that she get out, and irately demanding of me, "Did you see that dog jump through the window?!?!", the entertainment is always varying and unpredictable. Ahhh, memories! Well, here is this mornings memory. Picture it: me, snoozing deeply in bed, only to be wakened by my wonderful honey as he asks, "Honey, I know this is gonna seem like an odd question, but....have you seen the router?" Now, tell me, would this not make your eyes pop open in confusion, or what? Mine sure did. And what do I see but a sheepish smile, bright blue eyes and a hand holding a lone antenna....detached from the mysteriously missing router. Not under the bed..... Not along the wall..... Not behind the curtain... Aha, there it is! Sitting on the nightstand, completely unplugged and wires all detached. Now, I don't know what middle of the night emergency led to the router removal, but I am sure it made sense to John, somehow. As for me, it is just another story to add to the Silly Stories Starring John book I am working on. Ten more years, and I will be all set to publish!

Ahhh-chooo! Bless me!

For the last couple of weeks I have had a, well, we will call it a cold. This afternoon, for the third day in a row, I was sneezing like it was going out of style, so I asked Caleb to go get me some toilet paper to blow my nose. Thoughful little guy that he is, he heads right off to grab some. As he is headed back to me, he says, "Mommy, I got you a whole square!" ....Thanks, sweetie, that's gonna go far. I love my little helpers!

Am I feeling relief, or am I in shock?

Soooo.....

There are no children in my house. That's right, my friends, for the first time in 10 years, all of my kids are walking, talking and in school all day on a matching schedule. No running to drop them off after lunch, no interrupting naps to pick someone up, no babies in my house at all. Period. Yes, I think it might be shock I am feeling.

They were all so adorable in their back to school outfits and new backpacks. I'd post a picture, but I still don't know how. I have begged my computer savvy, extremely loving and indulgent husband to figure it out for me, and then show me how, so maybe soon some visual aids will join my words. But until then, picture three mini me's, only way, super cuter, with great big packs on their backs and 3 boxes of Kleenex clutched in their hands heading into school. This is, unbelievably, Dillon's last year in elementary school in this district. It does seem like only yesterday, as we moms are wont to say, that I was taking HIM to his first day of kindergarten. Time surely does fly.

We had chocolate chip panckakes for breakfast. Talia's hair was braided and pulled back into pig tails. Dillon's feet are almost the same size as mine. The boy's shirts matched, but they had different shorts. Ta looked too much like a teenager for my heart to handle. My house is so quiet. Yep.....I am pretty sure it is shock.

Nope, they aren't the mail man's

Soooo....here is some irrefutable proof that the kids DEFINITELY belong to John.

Down the road we go, on our way to the YMCA for summer youth fitness, inconveniently scheduled from 6-7 in the evening, and from the back pipes up a little voice. "Mommy," my adorable girl child says, "do you know Queen Amidala? You know, from Star Wars?" Ummhmmm, I respond. "Did you know she was only 14 when she became queen? Just 14! Can you believe that?" Oh, I am not believing something alright, but it is NOT the queen's tender years. "And," adds my information source, "all her girls that served her, they were her age, and they weighed the same as she did, and they looked like her and were the same height." Wow, I respond. And thus begins a very rousing conversation in the back about where, precisely, the places can actually be found, and how they developed their weapons and machinery. You will be happy to know that it was established that Star Wars, its people and various locations are located in our imaginations. And this frighteningly informative pint sized sci fi fan is certifiable proof that these children are indeed the spawn of John Rowland.

10 Things I love About Blu

In honor of the return of Betsy Blu, carefully restored to her former glory, and seemingly no worse for the wear, I dedicate this post to her. For approximately two weeks, we tootled around in Loaner....that would be our rental, a grey Toyota Corolla which I did NOT love. Now that we have her back, we realized how important she is to us, so we welcome her home with this ode to Betsy in the form of 10 things we love about Blu!

10. She is such a pretty shade of Blu.

9. She has a clock. I know, it doesn't seem like an ammenity, but after a few weeks without one in Loaner, it is definitely something we came to appreciate.

8. Storage, storage, storage and more storage! Whomever invented Stow-and-Go should win the Nobel Prize. I nominate them.

7. The ability to place the kids out of reasonable reach of one another. The back seat of a midsize vehicle is just not big enough for three kids, trust me. Sound familiar to any other parents out there? "Stop touching me! Stop touching me! STOP touching me! STOP touching ME! STOP TOUCHING ME!" "AHHHH! Mom! He/she hit me!" Sigh...

6. The interior of the van allows space for sound dispersement. The back seat of the Corolla is just too darn close to the front seat, and too darn small for all that noise. I am fairly certain John and I had tiny aneurysms every time we went somewhere in the car, which also explains why we are now even more forgetful, so please don't mention it.

5. Comfortably positioned arm rests. Perfectly placed for premium arm propage.

4. Ideal steering wheel design. Who knew there even was one, right? But there is! And Betsy's is designed ideally for comfort in both one, and two-handed driving.

3. Power locks. Man did we miss them, and along with those....

2. Remote power locks and sliding doors. As a mom of more than one, these are such a must! I knew when we added Betsy to the family that this was going to spoil me, and man, oh man, was I right!

1. Finally, Betsy is a well-worn, well-loved member of our family. I know we are a bunch of funny bunnies for considering our vehicles a part of the fam, but we are okay with that. She always takes good care of us and gets us where we need to go sanely and comfortably. We sure did miss you, Betsy, and welcome home!

Rockin' the....pizza foot?

A couple anecdotes from the Rowland household for your enjoyment

Anecdote 1:

Last night for dinner was bow tie pasta with spicy alfredo sauce, topped with seasoned chicken. MMMMmmmmMMMMmmm good. Everything was ready and the kids were around the table helping me out by gathering plates, cups and what-not, and what comes on the radio?? Oh, trust me, you want to know! I mean, I don't know, or care, what your preferred genre is, this song is good stuff. How can you go wrong with a title like Rockin' the Beer Gut? Not possible! This song is a must sing along, as you can imagine, and if you can't something MUST be wrong with your imagination, and you might wanna have that looked into. As my children and I have excellent imaginations, we went to town. I squealed in girlish delight (...) and ran to the living room to blast the volume, and hustled back to the table so the party could begin. Picture it: the four of us dancing like loons, lip syncing our hearts out, while Dillon and Caleb accompany us on their guitars, comprised of a broom and a long wooden stick. When the chorus got to the line about it just being a little extra love around the waist, I actually picked Caleb up and wrapped him around my middle. Sigh....good times. For the uninformed, here are the lyrics so you can get the full picture! http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/trailer-choir/rockin-the-beer-gut-27372.html
Sometimes I wonder, am I warping them, or creating priceless memories? Then I laugh it off and get back to the real world!

Anecdote 2:

Yet again, it's dinner time. This evening, per petite request, is the classic Homemade English Muffin Pizza. Kids dig the zanniest things. When Ta came into the kitchen, she exclaimed out loud in her excitment, and I got the elusive "Oh, thank you Mommy!" with no prompting what-so-ever. So out comes the first sheet of pizza muffins, and I am getting the kids plates all together as I discuss with John his progress on heating up some leftover porkchops for me, which had been prearranged. Needless to say....John was emailing as he laid out on the couch, i.e. NOT holding up his end of the bargain. Therefore, it was my indisputable wifely duty to harrass him for his slacking. To which it was his husbandly duty to tackle me and slam me (in the most loving and non abusive way) up against the door. To which it was the kids childrenly duty to jump on his back and come to my defense. While this was all terribly enjoyable and laughter filled the room, the best is yet to come! Because the monkey on John's back led to him losing his balance and staggering backwards. Doesn't that sound inocuous? Well, unbeknownest to all of us revelers, Caleb had brought in his freshly served up muffin pizza and put the plate on the floor, in preparation for our family movie night, and said muffin pizzas had the misfortune of being in the path of John's enormous, hairy, MAN FOOT! As our poor littlest guy looked sadly upon his plate and uttered this miserable line..."My pizzas!"....John begins hopping on one foot, uttering a strangled "Ahhhhhhh! It's hot!" And me, being the loving wife that I am, collapsed on the floor laughing, and responded with..."Well, yeah, it's fresh out of the oven!" Ahhhh, good times!
I have a picture of the foot pizza, and once I figure out how, I will add it in here. Heh

I hope you have enjoyed this peek into our world, we sure enjoy being here!

Is it the universe, or is it the van?

So, when someone else's insurance adjuster suggests that you vehicle is bad luck, what's that say about the state of things? A few years ago, after adding Caleb to our brood, we correctly surmised that Dodge did NOT invent the Neon for a family of 5. This called for an upgrade. Thus, Betsy Blu entered our family (yes, we name our vehicles, among various other innanimate objects. Don't judge!) Boy were we in heaven. I mean, seriously people! We could do Wal-Mart AND Sam's Club in one trip, and still go shopping as a family. Well, approximately 4 months later, in what I hear was a lovely rainstorm, a very nice man lost control of his vehicle and came to a forceful stop- in the side of our beautiful Betsy Blu. We should have seen the writing in the sky then, but how were we to know that was just the beginning? In the four-ish years Betsy has been in our family, she has had, as of 1:08 PM, June 9th, been involved in 4, count 'em- FOUR, collisions. Here's a count for your edification: Our fault- 0. Repair required- 3. Children involved- yes. Rain involved (aka hydroplane. Come on folks! Let's slow down and drive with care!)- 2. Hit and Run- 1. So when Mr. Aaron Aust from Progressive chuckles over our ordeals and suggests that mayhap our minivan isn't the treat we thought her to be, can you blame me for wondering if there might just be a smidge of truth involved? Well, praise the Lord and pass the pudding because noone was injured but the van for the fourth time. And wise or no- I LOVE YOU BETSY BLU!

Oh, no, here I go...

OK, I held out on myspace for years. Then I piddled around on it and hated it to Hades. Then it was facebook, and I was resolute about not being drawn in. Look how well I can stick to my guns! No facebook here, no sirree! Then Kesha had this adorable blog...which I bookmark.... which led to link clinking.... which led to thinking. I know, dangerous right? So here I am, link clicking away, reading all these great stories about other families and the delightful little things so and so's cutie pie did today, and I realized something. OMG! MY cutie pies do things worth remembering, and my memory gets more faulty every year! All these beautiful memories would be lost in the miasma of my mind. That would truly be a tragedy. Well, to me any way. So there begins the thought- I could blog. I mean, it's like talking, right? And boy can I talk! And who cares if only I ever read it and laugh at my cutie pies funny doings? I'll be able to hold on to those moments for as long as I can back up my harddrive! Amazing. So, it looks like I have fallen into the blog trap. Let's see how well I manage!