small moments of laughter

As I alluded to a few days ago – it’s been a rough week in my neck of the woods. I am TIRED. Tired of driving, tired of watching the clock and remembering which kid needs to be where and when, just tired. Luckily the end is in sight. And honestly, while it’s been crazy busy – it’s been fun too. Thank goodness because I needed some laughs:

1. J came downstairs and asked me to smell his 4 year old armpits. I hesistantly asked why and his response? “I put some of the girls’ chapstick on them to make me smell good.” He walked around smelling like cotton candy all day. (and then the complete and utter disgust from his sisters made me laugh even more)

2. Watching E at cheer camp. Cheer camp is pretty much what you’d expect – a bunch of girls clapping and jumping (but not wooing – no you do NOT ‘woo’ if you’re a cheerleader, you can holler “go” and flash your jazz hands but you never, ever ‘woo’). They do lots of chanting & cheering of course. But there are silly games and daily themes and ‘peanut butter jelly time’. This kid of mine ate it up. Just watching her grin was contagious.

3. J tried on his tuxedo for the wedding this weekend and decided he “looks just like Prince Phillip but not when he’s fighting the dragon, at the end when he’s dancing with Sleeping Beauty.” (just wait for the pictures next week – it’s too adorable)

4. Shopping with my cheer buddy Debbie while we looked for supplies for our spirit stick (the making of which will be another post all on its own). Let’s just say that two non-girlie, not-so-crafty women hunting around Hobby Lobby for spirity inspiration made for a lot of laughs. And while I’m talking about Hobby Lobby who the hell decided to put up Christmas decorations in JULY!?!?!?

5. My new music experiment with the kids is rolling along famously. They love Jimmy Buffet and can sing along to Cheeseburger in Paradise, Margaritaville and a few others. However, I’ve gained an important lesson myself: Why Don’t We Get Drunk is NOT a song you want your kids to learn.

And those are my Small Moments of Grace – #Who-the-Heck-Knows-It’s-Been-a-Ridiculous-Week. Keep your fingers crossed for good wedding weather and tubing time on Sunday. I should have some great pictures next week!

betty & veronica

I loved to read comics as a kid. I read them all superman, spiderman, Justice League, x-men but my favorites were the Archie series. Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica… I had such fun reading them all. And, I’ll admit, as a kid I was spoiled when it came to comics. My Dad owned a bookstore that sold comics. We weren’t usually allowed to have the new ones of course. But once the new shipment came in – we had our pick of the old comics. I remember my brother & I would clean out that rack at the back of the store. So fun!

A while back I was doing shopping for my 8 year old. She had received a gift card for her birthday and wanted a certain CD – she asked me to pick it up next time I was shopping, which I did. She still had about $3 left on her card and while checking out I saw a Betty & Veronica comic book. I decided that would be a fun treat and finish up her gift card so I bought it. My kids have never read comics before but E has really been getting into graphic novels so I felt safe making an unplanned purchase.

She is now convinced that I’ve been holding out on her. She devoured the comic and begged me to buy more. No problem, I said. That’s a pretty inexpensive treat and after hearing about these comic things, J wanted a superhero comic book. Sure! I said.

Sure… no problem…. HA! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a comic book? Grocery store? nope. Walgreens? nope. CVS? nope. Target? nope. I finally found another Archie book in the checkout stand at Meijer – not every checkout mind you, I had to search to find the 2 out of 37 lines that had comics in the rack. And there wasn’t a superhero comic to be found.

Granted, I have not yet looked at a bookstore – but I don’t remember seeing a comic book rack at a Borders. Maybe in the magazine section? I just can’t believe how hard it is to find a comic book! Such a fun, fairly cheap way to get kids reading and their visual imaginations flying. The best format to use with silly putty (which is also hard to find). And they are noooooowhere! So if you know of a comic store – fill me in! My kids are dying for more colorful, reading fun.

is it Sunday yet?

This week is knocking me on my ass. I’ve known this week was coming for a while but I consider myself able to handle a lot of hecticness before I cry uncle. I’m not crying uncle now either mind you – but I am so. damn. tired.

Jr. Golf. Basketball Camp. Drama Camp. Cheer Camp. Piano Lessons. Haircuts. Workout schedules. Work. Our schedule this week with various camps and commitments means once I leave the house I’m only home again for approx 90 minutes around lunchtime. (I do come back again for dinner) It’s meant dragging J around in the car far more than his 4-year-old-get-out-and-play body would like. It’s meant having some of the kids eat lunch in 12 minutes while driving between events. And the thing that scares me? I’m pretty sure I’ve got many more weeks like this in my future.

I’ve done next to no laundry. I’m squeezing in work projects whenever I can. And housecleaning? Forget it. Normally I’d be looking forward to collapsing on Friday night with a beer in hand but this week is also my brother-in-law’s wedding. So Friday I’ll be driving the family to the rehearsal dinner, keeping the excitement level high enough for the 4 year old to want to participate (all the kids are in the wedding). Saturday I’ll be getting all three kids ready for the wedding, entertaining them in the loooooong wait between pictures and ceremony – again keeping that 4 year old psyched to wear a tuxedo all afternoon on what I’m really hoping is not a sweltering Saturday in July. Sunday will be tied up with more wedding related obligations – though I’m really hoping to escape with the kids for some tubing on the river. Then Sunday night, after we’re all home, maybe then I’ll collapse.

dessert dip

The birthday party on Friday night was a big success – though I’ve heard some people don’t remember much from that night, hmmmmm. We ended up with a few more people than originally planned but I always make too much food so it was fine. At the last minute I decided to have a second dessert. Not everyone likes cake and frankly, when you’re hanging out on the deck and singing along to a good guitar player (thanks Eric!) cake isn’t always the easiest food to eat. Bring on my tried & true dessert dip!

Cream Cheese Dessert Dip

2 blocks of 1/3 less fat cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3 TB brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/3 package of mini chocolate chips
1/3 package of toffee bits

Mix the cream cheese thru the vanilla well with a hand mixer. Stir in your chocolate & toffee chips and serve with apples.

Quick, easy & hard to resist – that’s my kind of dessert!

360 degrees of fireworks

I swear this neighborhood I live in thinks it’s a mini-Texas – everything has to be bigger here. Halloween is like a movie with seas of people walking down the streets. Christmas lights go up shortly after Halloween and get bigger each year. And 4th of July… well the economy might be bad but apparently people around here aren’t cutting back on fireworks spending.

We walked outside and sat on our sidewalk to watch the city fireworks show – we’re lucky enough to be able to see it from our house. Before the city show even started however, we found ourselves surrounded by fireworks. And I’m not talking little fountains in the driveway or a few roman candles. I’m talking shot high in the air, big splashy fireworks. Literally everywhere we looked. By the time the city show started my kids were being smoked out and only one of them stayed outside for the whole show.

And of course the fireworks in Indiana don’t stop after the city show. I was up reading at midnight and could still hear things going off. Thank goodness the kids were exhausted from the birthday party the night before and fell asleep even with the bombs bursting in air going on across the street, and behind us, and one street over…

It made my sparklers and snaps look pretty lame in comparison. But really, why should I buy anything else when we’ve got the neighborhood extravaganza to watch around us?!?