Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the abode, Only one creature was stirring, and she was cleaning the commode. The children were finally sleeping all snug in their beds, while visions of Nintendo and Barbie flipped through their heads. The dad was snoring in front of the TV, With a half-constructed bicycle propped on his knee. So only Mom heard the reindeer hooves clatter, Which made her sigh, "Now what is the matter?" With the toilet bowl brush still clutched in her hand, She descended the stairs and saw the old man. He was covered with ashes and soot, which fell with a shrug, "Oh, great," muttered Mom, "now I have to clean the rug." "Ho Ho Ho!" cried Santa, "I'm glad you're awake, your gift was especially difficult to make." "Thanks, Santa, but all I want is time alone." "Exactly!" he chuckled, "So, I've made you a clone." "A clone?" she muttered, "What good is that?" "Run along, Santa, I've no time for chit chat." Then out walked the clone - The Mother's twin Same hair, same eyes, same double chin. "She'll cook, she'll dust, she'll mop every mess. You'll relax, take it easy, watch The Young and The Restless." "Fantastic!" the Mom cheered. "My dream has come true!" "I'll shop, I'll read, I'll sleep a night through!" From the room above, the youngest did fret. "Mommy? Come quickly, I'm scared and I'm wet." The clone replied, "I'm coming, sweetheart." "Hey," the Mom smiled, "She sure knows her part." The clone changed the small one and hummed her a tune, as she bundled the child in a blanket cocoon. "You're the best mommy ever. I really love you." The clone smiled and sighed, "And I love you, too." The Mom frowned and said, "Sorry, Santa, no deal. That's my child's love she is trying to steal." Smiling wisely, Santa said, "To me it is clear, Only one loving Mother is needed here." The Mom kissed her child and tucked her in bed. "Thank you, Santa, for clearing my head. I sometimes forget, it won't be very long, when they'll be too old for my cradle and song." The clock on the mantle began to chime. Santa whispered to the clone, "It works every time." With the clone by his side, Santa said, "Good night. Merry Christmas, dear Mom, you will be all right."

Teaching

Here is a quote from my class today... Dr. Haim Ginott: "I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized." Since I feel much more like a mommy than a teacher, I can't help but think about how much this has to do with parenting and the home. Right now, I'm a bit stressed and I can't help but notice it showing on the kids. I guess that I have to keep this in mind and keep the seas calm.

Promotion

Jeremey got a new promotion!

Feeling a little dorky right now...

You Are a Question Mark

You seek knowledge and insight in every form possible. You love learning. And while you know a lot, you don't act like a know it all. You're open to learning you're wrong. You ask a lot of questions, collect a lot of data, and always dig deep to find out more. You're naturally curious and inquisitive. You jump to ask a question when the opportunity arises. Your friends see you as interesting, insightful, and thought provoking. (But they're not always up for the intense inquisitions that you love!) You excel in: Higher education You get along best with: The Comma

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

iPhone

Yay!!! I ordered my iPhone and it's on the way!!! Happy anniversary to me!

Keep them coming...

Sometimes I'm pretty sure that Jack is the funniest person I know: While discussing the fact that Gracie is small (and that he should be careful around her) the following conversation occurred. Me: Are you big? Jack: No... I can't reach anything. While sitting on my lap: Jack: ouch mommy... you shave? Me: Um, yes... but not lately... We took Jack to church. It's been quite a while since he'd been there. We were walking through the church and... Jack: Dat Jesus? Mommy? Me: Yes, that is Jesus (feeling very proud). Jack: I have Him at home. Me: Yes, we do... This one's my favorite. I was drying off from my shower and he woke up and came in the bathroom. He talks a lot in the morning and was going on about many things and asking lots of questions. This one caught me by surprise. Jack: Mommy? Your penis broke? Me: Um... no, I never had one. Oh my... you're only TWO! I am nowhere near being ready to discuss the birds and the bees.

Party time?

How in the world did I not know about this? A product to tell me if there is alcohol in my breastmilk... wow! Now I just have to get her to take a bottle, so that if the test is positive I'll have a back up plan.

Tailgate update...

Pomona P.D. says "there's nothing we can do." You mean that I've recovered my own stolen good and that's that?

Integrity, integrity where art thou?

A while back our tailgate was stolen. A couple of days before, I unlocked it. At the time, I was a little frustrated... trying to get two kids and a stroller into the truck and I couldn't figure out why on earth they make locks on tailgates and why my husband would use it. But yes, now I know. Please don't rub that part in. We got a check from the insurance company and started to get it all fixed but found out that the estimate had a used part. Well we had called and searched online, but hadn't found one, so we ordered a new one (well over $1,000 by the time it's painted). So we called the place that the insurance appraiser had found the tailgate. They still had it AND we were going to save a lot of money since it was the same color as our truck and only $450. I went to Oneway Auto in Alhambra (LA) and bought it. The guys were super nice and even put it on for me. The only problem was that there was a scratch on it. Before they had said it was in excellent condition. So James (yes we're on a first name basis) gave me $50 off. Great! The scratch isn't that bad... So I went to the car place to pay the return fees for the new tailgate that we had purchased and just for kicks, Jack tried my key in the lock. I thought that we were going to have to go to a locksmith to get a new key made. Well... well... well... guess who's key works in the lock? Yep, ours. So okay, that's weird. Jeremey called Toyota - there's a 1 in 4000 chance that the key would work (actually that was a few years back, the locks are even more unique on the 2007s)... And did we check the vin? The vin number is printed on the tailgate. So Jeremey went out to look... no vin on this tailgate, but you can see where it was scratched off. Holy cow! I just bought my own tailgate! I called James back and he refunded it all... Now we're just trying to figure out what to do next. Go through the insurance or the police...

Rough Day

Poor guy... Last Tuesday (7/1/08) we had a really long day. We started out the day at the car place, finding out about how to replace the tailgate. Then I dropped Jack and Grace off at the Hunsberger's where I left them with Ashley so that Lauren could bring me back from Auto Care Plus. This was the first time that I left Grace with anyone and boy was mom mad... Any who, they were just fine and when I got back, we ate some lunch. Then we went swimming. Jack was in the pool FOREVER. It was definitely more than two hours. When he finally got out, he was walking around the pool and miss judged a step. He fell in. He freaked out (although not as bad as I would have expected). Mr. H quickly had him watering the yard. Jack cried for less than 5 minutes and kept saying "momma got me, momma got me." That's our thing, it's more important to him than saying I love you. It's because of the book "Runaway Bunny," everywhere the bunny tries to hide, the momma "gets him." He loves that. Oh and I was nursing when this happened, so yep - when I got him my boob went flying out... poor Doug, Evan, Alec and Mr. H... After swimming we went to the library with Jamie and Aiden. Jack thinks that the library is school because when he asks to play with Aiden, I tell him that Aiden is at school. So, since he sees Aiden at the library, it must be school. After story time, they ran around the fountain during the running, Jack crashed. Blood was everywhere... I took him to the car and cleaned him up, it was just a fat lip and a scratch on the nose... They played some more and then Jack stopped and looked down at the ground and started crying. "I pee ground, I pee ground." I tried to reassure him, but he wouldn't have it. Jamie and Aiden left and I got him to the car. I was telling him that it's okay, accidents happen, no big deal... And he sobs "but I pooped!" So he pooped in addition to pee. Poor guy, he felt SO terrible. I think it was because he was so exhausted. He didn't have a nap and he was in the pool for SO long.