Happy Birthday Ryan!

Ryan's birthday is today! Wah hoo!!!! And how do I celebrate the love of my life's birthday?

Why, by picking my parents and their friends up from the airport at 6pm. And then...that's it. Maybe a rousing game of Jenga or two. Courtesy of the kids. (It was one of his birthday gifts the kids picked out.) But poor Ryan. No hub bub surrounding his birthday this year. But I've got this....



What more could someone want?

Waiting for the bus

Claire loves school. She loves the bus. Waiting for the bus is her "silly" time. Ryan has been working from home for the past month and will go to the bus stop with us. I love this kid.



She took the photo. We were bored today.

CIND-AH!!!!

Today is my little sister's 30th birthday. She's fabulous! I love her so much. It's ridiculous. No matter what happens she's always there for me. ALWAYS. So there's not much I won't do for her.

When she told me she was a tad bit heart broken that my parents would be in Spain for her 30th birthday. I had to do something. You have to understand, Cindi is the baby. She has always been the baby. And she was very sad my mom wouldn't be here for her birthday. To sing happy birthday to her.

My mom always sings happy birthday to us on our actual birthday. She calls really early in the morning, hoping to catch us off guard. Because if you have ever gotten "the call" from my mom on your birthday, you'll know it's in a weird hushed voice and she sings it super fast so we don't hang up on her, and it's totally off key. But God love the crazy bat....she always sings to us. She says, "I may not be in tune, but I'm enthusiastic!" And she is.

So here you go my dearest sister. Mom and Dad may be in Spain, but they love you...and how could you EVER go without hearing the song?



Happy Birthday to my sweet sister Cindi.
And now I'm done being nice....and thoughtful....and now.....I'm just your big sister who is mean.

Cindi and her friend Sara in HS. They were synchronized swimmers. Isn't she cute? She's the Asian one in the front.

*sigh*

All is well with the liver. I don't have to go back for a very long time. Things haven't changed and I couldn't be happier. The kids will miss those little chocolate mice.

The nerves have gotten to me. Ugh

Well. Monday I head on down to the Mayo Clinic AGAIN for my annual liver check. Since last year was a semi clean bill of health, ie: not removing a large major organ, I am optimistic. However. The doctor who is seeing me on Monday is the one who thinks...TAKE IT OUT!

Ugh. So back I go for poking prodding scanning and all around making me uncomfortable. And then....the waiting. But the one thing I love about the Mayo clinic, you get results ASAP. That same day. So..the waiting is minimal, but when you're waiting to see if you have to have major surgery, it seems to take a bit of time.

Either way, I'm sick to my stomach with stress. It happens with me. I get so worked up with just the thought of it. I love to have Ryan or my mom come with me, but Ryan has to be with the kids to get them to school, and my mom, well that selfish such and such is in Spain with my dad. Lucky bastards.

So I'll be going it alone this time. I'm hoping for good news. If it's not, the 2 hour drive home is really going to suck ass.

On the upside of things, I'll get to see some dear friends from HS who live in the area. I grew up with both of them and it will be nice to see them for a bit.

AAAANNNDDD...I'll be getting the chocolate mice for the kids. They have the best chocolate shop in the mall there. And they make adorable little chocolate mice. My kids have grown to appreciate them when I'm at Mayo. I always get them. This way, at least someone is happy about me being gone for the day. Wish me luck!

I have MBPD. (Multiple blog personality disorder)

I can't seem to find a design for my blog, that I really like. I'm all over the damn place lately. I'll get it just right. Sooner or later. Until then....sorry.

What the hell is a tween? And do I already have one at 5 years old?

Claire has found a way to get around getting in trouble for sassing and pouting.

When she sasses us, she says, "I'm not MAAAAAD, I'm just joking." Of course the obligatory smirk is in place. But it doesn't always save her. Trust me on that.

The newest thing she does is stomp around the house when she's mad. Since installing the hardwood floors, it's obvious to us, and most of the neighborhood, that she's pissed. But as she's stomping around she'll say to us, "I'M NOT STOMPING!! THESE SHOES ARE JUST SO LOUD!!!" And yes, she's usually yelling.

For sure the tween, pre teen, and teen years will be SUPER. And what the hell is a tween? Another term to explain kids being turds earlier than when we hit our teen turd-dom. It used to be baby, toddler, kid, teen. Now it's, baby, toddler, kid, tween, preteen, teen and so on. Anything to explain why kids are brattier than ever and earlier than usual.

Poor Ryan.

On a side note, I'm convinced she has something against her barbies. That, or she's a bit psychotic.

Change is good

Sometimes I like to change the look of my blog. Because I get bored with the old look. Because I have nothing better to do. And because it's fun to confuse my sister. Who constantly bitches to me about posting.

I get texts all the time that say, "Blog blog blog!!!!" "I"m bored. Would you blog?" I tell Ryan about it, and he says, "Tell HER to blog." Ha ha ha...I should. Oh whoops...I guess I just did.

So. Here you go Cindi....and by the way. Hope you don't get confused and think this isn't MY blog. That would be funny. Although I may end up getting texts that yell at me about, "Where did your blog go?!?!"

*Update:

I received this text at 10:39 this morning:
"Tell Ryan to blog, you guys are much more interesting than I am. The new look is nice and it did throw me off at first. I didn't know whose blog I was going to." ~my sister Cindi.

I love that she's always there for me and painfully predictable.

SCHOOL!!!

I didn't think it would come soon enough! The last week of summer was about ready to kill me. Miles was a major turd to his sister all week. I mean...MAJOR. "But isn't that what brothers are supposed to be like?" Hell no. If so I didn't get THAT memo. Whatever.

Glad school started. That's all I have to say about that. Miles is a much happier kid, and a lot kinder to be around. He missed his friends and I fear he was "over it" with his sister. To be fair. They did spend a lot of time together in the house this summer. Between the heat and the construction...yikes. Maybe it was my fault. But then....I really don't like blaming myself. Heh heh.

Miles started off to 2nd grade without a hitch. He was off and didn't even look back. He came home each day and did his homework, played with his sister (voluntarily too) and just was all around excited about the beginning of the year. Ahhhh.....I know you heard that collective Teepants sigh. Seriously. This is the ONLY photo I was allowed to take of Miles this year. I guess he's still being kind of a butt.


Claire on the other hand, started the big bad Kindergarten. I know it's only half days. But it's EVERY day. And she's my little buddy. And now I'm trapped at home all day. I have 2 hours to do things without kids. I guess Super Target will see a lot of me, and my house will be spotless again after 7 years of being a toy shit hole. Or I'll sit on my ass watching tv and eating bon bons. Hmmm......the decisions!

Claire had orientation the day before school. She was very apprehensive, but thankful it was a parents-must-come-too-and-endure-this-BRAND-new-kindergarten-teacher-who-thinks-kids-are-either-dumb-babies-or-tiny-puppies. Or lord. I'm not kidding. If her voice was any higher all the dogs in the neighborhood would have been howling at the door to see her. Ugh. It was almost insulting. But...it was kind and kept Claire calm. So..thanks new teacher. On a side note, this teacher she has, is only a long term substitute. The REAL teacher is a lot like me. Strict and right to the point. She is very kind, but not sugary sweet like this one. The REAL teacher is on maternity leave until November. Oh those poor kids are in for a rude awakening. Claire on the other hand will be ready. She knows the other teacher and lives that life here at home. The others...will be baby deer in the headlights. Just like their long term substitue. Yikes.
Claire at her desk on orientation day.


Her first day of school was surprisingly smooth. Thanks to a "new friend who can blow bubbles with HER gum too!" Claire was excited to go. Ryan and I walked her to the bus. She hip bumped with Ryan and danced around for a bit.


We waited much past her pick up time and then the bus finally came. It came from another direction from when it picked Miles up 2 years ago. That little difference threw Claire a bit. But she saw the bus, got in and then sat down ASAP. That girl was NOT messing around. And I thought, "Wow! She's ready! And NO tears!!!" Then I snapped a quick photo of her actually ON the bus. Her eyes say it all.

OH.SHIT.


It's a much different photo than the one I took of her BEFORE we left for the bus. She was all pose-y and wanted to "check to see which one was the best." Oh lord.


Thankfully the end of the day came quick. Ryan and I drove up to school to get the kids. See I said...KID-S. Ugh. Anyway...they were so cute walking to the car together. I almost cried. The first thing Claire said to us when she got in the car, "WE HAD CUPCAKES BECAUSE SOMEONE TURNED 6!!!! I LOVE KINDERGARTEN!!!" And that was that. Happy as a clam the rest of the night. Almost delirious. Like all her stress had melted away and she was jubilant. I mean..that's the word. Jubilant.

On a side. I almost lost my shit after the bus pulled away. Ryan was giving me the "poor sweetie" back rub and I was about to bust, but then my nosey old neighbor was all up in our business. She was living the moment with us and I was not down with that. So....I chatted with her and went on with my day. Ah well...another kid in kindergarten and another time when I should have cried, but someone RUINED it for me. Ah....I'm sure I'll cry another time. It's not like my bawling doesn't happen on a regular basis.

And we're off.