Why?

I have one day of the week when I can sleep in. It's called Saturday. Bless-ed Saturday. School isn't calling, church isn't calling. There is NOTHING calling me on Saturday mornings and one of my greatest delights is being up a tad late on Friday night knowing that on Saturday I can sleep in.

I'm not talking about the sleep in of my high school days when I would pop my eyes open around 9am and then just stare at the walls until I felt like getting up around 10am. I'm also not talking about the sleep in of my college days which consisted of finally rolling out of bed at 12:30pm just in time to hit the cafeteria before it closed for lunch. I'm talking about maybe an extra hour of sleep…..like waking up at the oh-so-late hour of perhaps 8am. I would even appreciate 7:30am.

My littlest, Richie, enjoys sleeping in every day. Such to the point that I have to physically drag him off of the top bunk at 6:50 each morning while he whines and cries and refuses to move even one muscle to help me get his sleepy behind up!

But on Saturdays? For the last three weeks IN A ROW, Richie has burst into my bedroom BEFORE 6:30am cheerful as ever and needing something right-that-minute from me.

WHY?????

His standard requests at this terrible hour are:

1. "Can I have a snack? " For which there are follow up request such as "I can't reach it!" And, "Can you open it for me? "
   
2. "I want to watch a show!"--which implies in MY bedroom while he sits on MY pillow with HIS blanket and all other manner of his comforty items. This also has the standard follow-up request of "Turn it up!" He could at least offer a "please"…right?
   
3. And today's request…"My controller is out of batteries." My response…"Get a different one." Seriously. I shouldn't have to walk him through that process at 6:30am on Saturday. It hearkens back to the morning of the "nunCHUNK" in the toilet.
   

Help. Me. Please!

I’ve been tagged…

I have tagged by one of my blogging friends, Me-Moddy. I'm not really sure what being "tagged" means. It's conjuring up images for me from elementary school that I'd rather just forget.

But being the good sport that I am, I have decided to play along…albeit a fortnight and then some overdue…sorry for the delay, Kara!

To participate in the tagging I believe I'm supposed to list six random things about myself. Feel free to grab a cup of coffee and settle in.

1. I skipped a grade. It was Kindergarten. You might think that since it was such an early grade that it doesn't count as really skipping a grade, but it does. I graduated from high school two weeks after my 17^th birthday. Yeah, I was always a young-un. Not only did I skip a grade, early on I was in a self-paced learning environment and soon paced myself right out of two additional grades of math. So, while my fellow 12 year olds were learning to use their protractors in sixth grade, I was in the 7^th grade getting my algebra on with the 9^th graders. Talk about not knowing where you belong! You might wonder what I've done in my life with all that early mathematical aptitude…well, aside from acing my university calculus course, pretty much absolutely nothing.
   

   
   

   And, in case you were wondering, I would not recommend allowing children to skip grades no matter how genius they may be. It gets to be a social quagmire right around jr. high. At least, I blame my personal awkwardness on being the youngest of my peers. But, perhaps it is just my awkwardness itself that should be blamed…I had more than my fair share, I think!
   

   
   

2. All of my children were born on Thursdays. Maybe just a coincidence, but special to me!
   
3. I border on Road Rage. I have several driving behavior pet peeves, but here are the three most likely to earn somebody a stare down.
   
   1. Driving under the speed limit. There is no excuse for this.
      
   2. Riding my bumper. I will brake randomly and suddenly. Be prepared.
      
   3. Driving in the left lane being passed by drivers on the right. Can you not see that people are passing you ON THE RIGHT??? Move over!!
      

   I feel like I need to repent after making this confession.
   

4. My dream job would be teaching. I taught two semesters at a local university a few years ago. Loved it.
   
5. Ironically, my nightmare job would be home-schooling.
   
6. In the five houses I've lived in since getting married, I've personally painted a total of 21 rooms. The most recent was my kitchen this past weekend which I have now painted twice.
   

There you have it. Six random things about me.

Perhaps I’ve taken it a bit too far…

My kids eat healthy (well, with the occasional exception of Richie who I trick into eating greens by buying the little veggie-gummies at the health food store). We eat veggies. Fruit. No high fructose corn syrup. No sugary juice. Natural peanut butter. Fish. Organic when reasonable. I think I've actually unintentionally offended some family members by my vigilance over what my children are allowed (or NOT allowed) to eat.

The kids have been so great about all the "healthies" I pack in their lunch box. Yes, they do get treats, but it's usually very special when we do.

But, something tells me I may have crossed some sort of line…the one that takes me just ever so slightly past "responsible mommy" over into "uh…dude…your mom's a total health freak."

Today was Domino's pizza day at school and Carson and Avery were both allowed to order a piece. I packed them fruit for snack and organic chocolate chip cookies for dessert. The first words out of Carson's mouth when I picked him up from school were…(in full whine) "MOOOOMMMMM…you didn't pack me any vegetables!!!" I didn't realize I was raising a full-on herbivore.

THEN…

5 minutes later in the same car ride, I told the kids we were getting Chinese for dinner. They were THRILLED. And, in my chipper, generous mood, I decided to announce that since it is Friday and they've had such a great first week of school that we are going to have SODA with our dinner. Richie shouted…"SODA???? What's SODA?"

I ain't lyin'.

I may have gone too far.

And so it begins…

…the beginning of the going away. My little girl is growing up and spreading her wings a little more tomorrow. As I tucked her in tonight, I prayed over her that her path would be smooth, that her mind would be open to all that God has for her and that her relationships would grow in new and exciting ways. Then, I got a little misty-eyed as I told her that this was her last night as a non-school girl…at least for the next 15 or so years. She snickered as if it was nothing. I set her alarm clock, turned on her music and gave her our traditional tickle. I kissed her goodnight and kissed a sweet goodbye to the way it's been since her birth.

Tomorrow, a new world begins.

Date night, second edition…

So, a few days after my first date night with Avery, I went out with one of my other favorite buddies, Carson. We decided to hit The Wal Mart again for school supplies, but chose one that we don't normally frequent. I was sure we'd be in and out in a flash like we were with Avery, but I think I have to say that The Wal Mart we went to might be one of the most dysfunctional and unorganized I've ever seen. I actually felt like I was in K-Mart…which I have found to be notoriously sloppy. And, of course the first grade list was substantially longer than the K list, so we were on the hunt for more obscure items such as Styrofoam spheres, legal-sized construction paper, and poster-board….any of which I could have found easily in my local Wal Mart, but which took us 3 laps and a host of blue-vested helpers to find. I couldn't even find the Wet Ones, for heavens sake and trust me, I'm normally able to sniff those out anywhere!

Once we had secured our 5 bags!!! of items, we headed out to the mall in search of a nice belt. Since he's required to wear a belt every day, it couldn't be just any belt. Last year's supposed "genuine leather" model from Target was shedding its evidently man-made outer lining toward the end of the year. I think we found one that'll work a little better.

Dinner at Nakato was in order…Carson loves the Hibachi grill and the Japanese noodles. And, with our bellies full, we headed to The Palace (land of the $2.50 movies) to watch the delightful Nim's Island—two Abigail Breslin movies in one week! That girl is so cute.

All in all, a SUPER date with my little man. Such a gentleman he was, opening doors using all of his manners. He even kissed me twice without prompting and told me that he loved me at dinner.

I can't believe his first "summer vacation" is coming to an end. The speed of life is beginning to startle me.

Date night, first edition…

I believe it's becoming a tradition….last week had two dates with two of my most favorite people! The school supply lists came in and so I scheduled solo Mommy Dates with Carson and Avery. Talk about fun!

First, I took Avery. She is what I describe as tentatively excited about Kindergarten. She knows her teacher (same angelic teacher Carson had last year) and so that helps. It also helps that her Big Brother will be right nearby to help her if she should have need of anything. She knows that she's supposed to be excited, but I don't know that it's quite sunk in for her yet how big and wonderful a change is around the corner.

Well, for our date night, we grabbed her school supply list and headed to The Wal-Mart. We had everything picked out in a matter of mere minutes. She was like lightning with her decisiveness. I'm pretty sure that everything that could be pink is pink - including her new monogrammed and personalized pink backpack and lunch box which we ordered online.

We jetted out of The Wal Mart up the road to The Mexican Restaurant where we thought it would be cool to sit on the same side of the booth like big girls. We shared cheese dip and tacos and on the way out, the cashier gave her a quarter to buy one of those gigantic hallow balls of purple bubble gum…which we rarely let the kids have…and which she later regretted saying it went bad too fast.

After that, we sped down to Branson to the only theatre in the area still showing Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. I highly recommend this movie to anyone with kids! It was fantastic. It'll definitely be on the "buy and watch a million times at home" list for when it comes out on DVD.

After securing our tickets, popcorn and M&Ms, we embarked down the hallway to our theatre. We were giddy that we were the only ones there! We marveled together at the idea of having the whole place to ourselves. Avery took her liberty and tried out nearly every seat in the room searching for the best view. Once she found it, I settled in while she ran up to the front of the theatre and began dancing to the movie commercial music – it was her usual Pre-school Hip-Hop meets Beginning Ballet routine.

I was delighted and as great as the movie was, I would have rather watched her all night. She is one of my best friends on earth. I couldn't be more thankful for the gift of mothering her. A true treasure of heaven right here in my own home. Amazing.

I wish I could take credit for this…

I hate role playing video games. You know, the ones where the players get sucked into some virtual reality where they have a little character who has some sort of "gift" (like healing or magic or the ability to turn living things into rocks…and what-have-you). And these little characters (and their owners) spend hours on end "upping" their skills and their level by sitting around virtually practicing their particular craft (such as making bows and arrows, leatherworking, or perhaps needlepoint). Then they run around the virtual countryside and pick fights with one another.

It's a completely ridiculous notion of how to spend one's free time – in my opinion.

I could go on and on and on about how and why I loathe such forms of entertainment, but that would leave you bored and me breathless, so I'll move on to the funny part….

Richard has been playing what I consider a cousin to the role playing games described above. He and his buddy get "online" at nighttime, don their headphones and little microphones and join each other out on some military expedition two or three nights a week. I don't think you level, rather you get a score for how many people you take out…evidently. There's quite a lot of shooting and bombing noises and the whole thing can be rather graphic and alarming.

It's not as heinous as some other games I've observed, but nevertheless….time wasted – in my opinion.

The game is called Call of Duty.

Richard informed me that earlier this week little Richie has been talking about the game.

Richie calls it "Cock-A-Doodie."

Seriously, I can't take credit for that, but oh I wish I could!

It's a brilliant insight for a little 3-year-old don't you think?