Livin' the dream

Have you ever had one of those days when you feel like you're living in a dream? Today was one of those days. It started out like every other day of my life. More snow. Wish it was July. Cabin fever. I decided it was much riskier to stay indoors than to brave the snow and get out for the day. So I went with friends, Kelly and Colleen, to the Kids Barn to let the kids get some wiggles out and let the moms have adult interaction. (The Kids Barn is a place with inflatable slides and jump houses.)

After pizza and 312 trips to the potty we headed for home. But I wasn't ready to call it a day. If I have to spend one more day in my house with all five of us I'm going to have to be insitutionalized (again)! So we hooked up with more friends, Jenna and Kayley, and went swimming. I'm very brave, I know. I didn't swim though.

We came home. I made dinner. We ate. The kids ran for the basement after dinner because they've learned that if they are out of sight, they are out of my mind for bedtime. So Eric and I started watching Jaws. Eric decided to tell me something important.

Eric: "Have I ever told you that I know how I'm going to die?"

Me: "Really. That must be nice to know in advance."
Eric: "I'm serious."

Me: "Uh huh."

Eric: "I'm going to die in a shark attack."

Me: "Good to know."

Eric: "I'm serious, Laurie."

Me: "I'm sure you are."

I guess that should be good news seeing that we live on the side of a mountian in a desert. Though we should probably be wary of the very scary Land Shark from SNL.

I must be still dreaming. Cameron and Eric are decorating the house for the big birthday party tomorrow. Star, Adam's Webkins dog, is having a birthday tomorrow. They're planning his birthday breakfast and what they are going to do to celebrate. Cameron wants to buy him a 'just medium size' cage for his present. Maybe I'm lacking imagination but I can't understand cooking for something that doesn't eat and caging an animal that can't move. Perhaps we should buy a bigger cage and the kids could get in with him.....I wonder if they sell locks too?

Red Sox Lottery Tickets to Opening Day

My husband is asking a big favor from everyone....The Boston Red Sox have announced they are doing a lottery this year for the chance to buy tickets to Opening Day.

When you click on the link below it will ask you which Red Sox tickets you want to win. Select the first box. You'll also need to fill out the personal information it is requesting. They are going to start drawing names on Monday. You need to sign up for this by Sunday. The tickets he really wants are for Opening Day.

He's trying to make his annual Opening Day trip to Fenway Park . This year it will be tough because they're coming off a World Series title. They have so many requests for tickets this year that they are doing it lottery style. He's asking that you and your husbands signup (they only allow one entry per person).

Please call me if you are selected on Monday so my husband can instruct you what to do. He promised to buy lunch for me and anyone that wins...

Link:
http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/bos/ticketing/y2008/tickets_form.jsp

Student of the Month

Yesterday Luke came home from school so excited to show me what his teacher gave him. He reached into his backback and pulled out this picture of himself doing his worksheet. Dead asleep.

Feelin' Fancy

I have read blogs where people dedicate a post to a farewell to their old cars. Some people tell stories about how much they loved their trusty vehicles and how hard it was to part with that little car. This is not one of those posts. This is more of a 'get that piece of $#*! car out of my garage' post. (Sorry for the language.)
Yesterday Eric went in to get the safety and emissions test done for our 1995 Honda Accord and it didn't pass. This has happened for the last two years and we've repaired it figuring that the repairs were worth it to not have a car payment. But this year we're done.
We have been pretty darn frugal with our cars. Neither of us is too flashy and all we really care about is having transportation. If you've ever gone for a ride in the mentioned Accord, you'd know what I mean. I swear that thing had been submerged in water before we owned it. Sometimes the windshield wipers would turn on for no good reason. If you locked the car doors, the locks would go up and down consistently until you unlocked the car - so we never locked it. The paint was chipping and I have backed the minivan into the side of it three, yes THREE, times resulting in the drivers door not opening quite all the way. (Gosh I hope the dealer that gave us a trade-in isn't reading this.) I realized just yesterday that it is older than my first car when I turned 16. That's OLD.
One of Eric's best qualities is that he isn't a showy person and doesn't mind driving a 'practical' car. But even he was embarrassed driving it. It became no longer practical to drive. So we got a new car today!!! Well, new to us anyway. (Our practicality hasn't gone completely out the window and everyone knows how impractical it is to buy brand spanking new.)
We got a 2006 Volkswagon Passat! I'm so stoked that it has leather seats with seat heat. It's my favorite feature. However, I'm equally thrilled that the timing belts don't scream when I back out the driveway and I can lock my car. How fancy is that??

Pooped

What a day. This morning my mom came over to visit with the kids so they could show her their pictures of the trip. Adam was sporting a very stylish SpongeBob Band-Aid on his neck and my mom asked if a vampire had gotten him. Very matter of fact he said, "No, I didn't see a vampire in my backpack but I heard a ghost. He said OOOOOoooooo!"
These kids and their spooky obsession... Sheesh!
The boys were off to school (not without a tantrum or two) by 11:30 and Cam was out the door by 12:00. On Wednesdays the kids school times overlap by an hour and a half so I get together with friends every Wednesday for lunch!
When Cameron got home from school we decided to go swimming with Jenna and her crew. I haven't been back to a swimming pool since we got the dreaded parasite over the summer. I have to say, I'm still a little creeped out by the pool. But that didn't stop me from getting in with the kids. All was fun and games till Adam spotted poop floating around, very Caddyshack-esque. With a roll of my eyes I reported it to the lifeguard and decided to keep my suspicions of the culprit (Adam) to myself. Yet when I checked his swim trunks they were clean and so were Luke's. Is it bad that I'm almost hoping it was one of my kids because then I'd at least know they didn't have the parasite?? Either way, GROSS! Now you understand why I'm pooped.

"It's my money and I want it NOW!"

"It's my money and I want it NOW!"

I could hear Cameron yelling this and getting the boys to yell along with her. She kept saying it over and over and in different voices. That girl doesn't have a dime to her name, nor does she understand the concept of money, so I was baffled about what the heck she was talking about.... Until the JD Wentworth commercial came on TV. Apparently if you have been injured in a car accident and you're getting monthly payments, JD Wentworth can help you get a lump sum settlement. Why are they advertising this on Nickelodeon? Why has Cam decided this is her new catch phrase? Oh the mysteries of my life....

We're back from our fun in the sun. Back to so much snow I can't leave my house and the decision that it's time to buy a 4WD car for me. Anyone who would like to make cash contributions to make my dreams of driving around in the snow come true, please feel free. I'm in a complaining mood right now. I'm sick of snow. I'm sick of the minivan. I've been home from vacation 24 hours and I already have cabin fever! (Starting to wish that I'd been injured in a car accident and was receiving monthly payments....)

Isn't Adam about the cutest thing you've ever seen in your whole life?? Even with constant bumps and bruises on his noggin he's pretty darn cute.

Back to the main reason for this blog entry. The rest of our trip. After two days at Disneyland we headed south to San Diego to stay at Brett and Melissa's house again. On Thursday we went to Sea World. Our kids love it there. It's not quite as exciting as Disneyland, but fun still. We were sitting, waiting for the dolphin show to start when a Sea World employee approached us and asked if Cameron would like to be part of the show! How cool is that?? So she and I went back stage and put on giant galoshes and got front row seating for an amazing experience. I even got a pretend husband for 20 minutes. They do a little thing where our "dad" falls in the water at the end and a few dolphins had to rescue him. Our part was less scary than falling into dolphin and killer whale infested waters. I got to feed a dolphin and Cameron got to feed a killer whale! It really was awesome!

Yea, that's us with our pretend dad. I think I'll keep the one I already have.

What an amazing experience for us! And I just have to mention that I went to buy a $6 bucket of popcorn and they just gave it to me for free! Take that bunco girls - I won something! It was a really fun day.

Then we went to the beach a couple of times and spend lots of time at the park. It felt so good to be outside and feel the sunshine again. I am a seasonally depressed person. I hate the cold and the dark, so it's all in the name of therapy, right?

One last thing - can anyone give me some good book recommendations? I have book club tomorrow night and I have to bring a list of some books that we should read in the coming year. Please give me some ideas!!

Greetings from the happiest place on Earth!

This is view from our hotel room! Not too bad huh? I took this picture with my fabulous new camera (thanks again Mom). I'm slowly learning.

For those of you who haven't heard about my widely publicized vacation plans - we're in California again! We came here with Paige and Taylor's family and met up with Brett and Melissa and we're having a fabulous time!

We quickly learned that having potty trained kids slows down a road trip considerably. We were stopping about every thirty minutes the entire way here for potty breaks. I feel fairly confident that I could fill a book with reviews on public bathrooms along I-15. We also learned that kids are content with the simple things on vacation. I mean, what's more fun than having Dad push you around a hotel on a luggage cart??

If they had that much fun at the hotel, things were definitely about to get better when we went to Disneyland the following morning. (Yes those are palm trees and blue sky reflected in her glasses.)

Paige and I were so excited to go on the Matter Horn!!

Cameron was most excited about a High School Musical 2 performance at California Adventure Park. This picture is of her and Eric groovin'. Eric would like me to mention how handsome he looks in his new Celtics t-shirt. He would like everyone to leave a comment about it, please.

All my kids had things that they were excited to see at Disneyland. Cam, of course, wanted to see all the princesses and Adam wanted to go on the Nemo ride and Luke really wanted to go on the Haunted Mansion ride. Both Luke and Adam have a freakish obsession with Halloween and ghosts, skeletons, bats, spiders and pretty much anything that should scare typical kids. The first temper tantrum (and certainly not the last) came when it was announced that the Haunted Mansion was closed for repairs! Poor Luke. But never fear - we found something else that he's equally obsessed with...

It's still hard for me to understand how my boys can love spooky things so much and still be scared of anyone in costume. But they are terrified. Which made for fun times at Disneyland where you can't walk ten steps without a mascot (that's what they boys call them) trying to give you five and shake your hand. It was fun threatening them, "if you don't finish your lunch I'm going to go get Goofy..." We're kind of mean, huh? This Goofy picture is Cameron and her cousin Carter. My boys were hiding and screaming behind me while I snapped the shot.

We had such blast in the magic kingdom for two days. But two days with 9 kids, 3 mommies, 3 daddies and traveling is a recipe for exhaustion.