Feeling the Moment

While I was driving tonight, Daniel put his window down. The AC was on and I nearly said something but didn't. I'm always curious as to why he does things. Jack asked if he could do the same and I said yes.

As I drove I looked at them in my mirror and periodically looked back at them.

Jack had his arm draped out the window, a happy kid, relaxed, talking to his mum. He talks my ear off, which I love.

Danny had his hand outstretched, his fingers feeling every bit of air. He would wiggle his fingers in the breeze and raise his hand against the wind, recognising wind velocity and the pressure, feeling it.

I don't know what it means.  I just know that he's smart and aware. I'm going to tell him that every day. I'm also going to tell him that he's gorgeous, a lady killer. Because people say that to Jack all the time, but the little guy needs to hear it too.

Visit from Family

In two days time my mum & Tom arrive and I am so excited. We haven't seen each other in five years and they have never met Daniel. They arrive at 9pm on Friday and we are all going to the airport to greet them.

The last time I saw my mum was in September 2008 when she came for a visit with my Auntie Edna, who I love dearly. We went to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame & Niagara Falls.

The last time I saw Tom was in September 2008 when I went back to England with work. By coincidence, mum & Auntie Edna were in America on a a vacation tour. I didn't take any pictures of Tom and I at the time as I only saw him briefly. I did do a post about my BFF's wedding though.

So there you are. No doubt I'll post a hundred pictures while they are here. More than anything, I can't wait to see my boys interact with their grandparents. Just thinking about them knowing they are loved and being able to share memories with their English family makes me get choked up.

Witty Retorts

Craig and I are both on several Facebook forums and his comments usually make me laugh. One of my favourites was on a crime site where someone posted that they saw a police car outside the local McDonald's and they wanted to know what was going on (I live in a somewhat sheltered, paranoid community as you can see). Anyway Craig said "Maybe it was the Hamburglar?" Ha!

Tonight he posted a review of a local cafe that he ate at today and he didn't like. Someone suggested that he try a cocktail next time to make it more pleasurable. He replied "2 might of worked". Then the grammar police came out. A lady suggested that he should have said: should have, would have, could have, might have (instead of might of). Then she said it was her pet peeve and ended by saying "sorry for being an ass", like all passive aggressive people do. I hate passive aggressive people. No Balls. They do this kind of thing and when you blast them back or tell them to FO they act like a victim. I come across these people daily, mainly online.

So as you can imagine I saw this comment online and I typed up a scathing retort and had my finger poised over the send button when I saw that Craig had already replied to her.  He just said "In England we call it an arse".   I wish I could think of things to say like that!

Fathers Day & A Resurrected Frog

Craig said he had a fabulous Father's Day today. I am so glad! I always seem to mess up with gifts and things and by comparison he always gets it right and makes me feel super special (many of you are nodding your heads right now and saying yes Pam, you are indeed "special").
As well as wishing my husband a happy day, I called my dad and had a great chat for an hour and I called my step-dad too. I will see my mum & step-dad in FIVE DAYS!

But anyway, back to the topic. Here's a few pictures from this weekend ....

Feeding the ducks

After a full English breakfast, Craig took the boys fishing. I didn't make him do it I swear! He said he wanted to. The  boys made him books about what they loved about him, made him cards and got him some Harley stuff (saddle bags for the bike, a wallet and keyring).

Nice catch boys!

Craig said: "the biggest fish of the day was caught by a Go Diego fishing pole with a piece of broken line on it, a free bobber and a cheap, dull, old fishing hook". Nice one Daniel!

Too cool for the pool

After Craig took his Harley for a big ride it was swim time!  Who wouldn't want to hang out with this kid?

Pete the First. RIP.

This is "Pete" - our first frog from the tadpole tank. We were all really excited about him when he emerged yesterday. After talking with friends who know about frogs and those types of things, we went to the local pet shop to buy him some food. The lad at the pet shop told me that he had a pet tree frog and he sounded authoritative on the subject so I totally believed him.  He told me with great confidence to feed Pete crickets. I said "they look 4 times bigger than the frog". He said "I'll give you small ones". They were still 4 times bigger than Pete but I decided to believe in the pet shop lad and so bought them and put them in the tank. This morning - NO PETE. Crying children. Upset family. Four smug-looking evil crickets hanging out on the plastic plants and looking proud of themselves. Bastards! We were all so upset that Craig drowned them in the tank and left them floating like a warning to all future frog food. Serves them right. All day long Jack has been going to the tank, moving rocks, picking up plants, and saying quietly "Pete?" and getting upset. Craig told him that frogs are really good at hiding. I flat-out lied and said I'd seen him.  I turned every rock and scoured that tank when they were fishing and that frog was gone. That frog was set upon by 4 crickets (I Googled it, it happens). But then, tonight ....... wonders of wonders, there is Pete sitting on the rock again!  Happy children! Jack is overjoyed.  It isn't Pete of course, it's a new tadpole emerged. I saw him this morning, his stubby tail almost sucked back in. But shhhhhhhh, never tell Jack. So here's two lessons for you - (1) never ever believe anything a pet shop clerk tells you because even if they act intelligent they are not, and (2) never ever buy live food that's bigger than the thing that's supposed to eat it.

A Ranty Question, Some Lovin' and Some Wind

Tonight I chatted with a woman at the pool as we were queuing up for 50 cent hot dogs (yes I'm a classy woman). We were discussing the economy and lack of pay raises etc. I told her I worked in Agriculture and she said: "Well I'm not surprised there's no money - it's a dying industry, nobody farms anymore". After I picked my mouth up of the floor I asked her how she planned to eat for the rest of her life.  So my question is this - how have we got to a point where we don't even know where our food comes from?


Moving on. I LOVE him.

Danny D, being a dude

Tomorrow we have this to look forward to. Tornadoes, hail, floods and damaging winds. Once again I'm thankful I have a nice basement.

A Few Shots from Weekend

Jack got his orange belt on Friday night. He is really doing well at Tang Soo Do.

 On Saturday we switched the sofas around (from basement to living room) and I decided to clean under the big 10 x 12 rug in the living room. Look what I found. The rug is destroyed - there must have been 1,000 pee spots on it. The floor is ruined in some places....

So I spent 7 hours on Saturday cleaning and refinishing the wood floor. The boys played video games and watched TV all day but I'm sure it won't kill them. It looks a lot better but some spots are never going to go away.

On Sunday I took a friend's kids to the pool. She had a smoke fire in her house and has to live in a hotel for 2 months. She spent the weekend doing an inventory of everything that couldn't be cleaned that needs to be replaced. I can't imagine how crap that would be. Anyway, they are great kids so it was a pleasure but I was on my own with 4 kids at the pool so it was a bit stressful. I think we'll stick to playing at the park next time.

And the good news? Craig passed his motorcycle test, so is now a bona fide biker!

Cucumbers!

Craig was unpacking the groceries this week and when he took the cucumber out of the bag he looked at me and asked a funny question, which was a bit rude but I thought the kids were out of ear-shot.

This morning I was making the kids packed lunches and chatting with Linda in the kitchen and Jack walked in, grabbed the cucumber, held it up and said to me "Did you buy batteries for this?"

I thought I was going to die and Linda nearly choked laughing.

Dogs & Theatricals

Following on from my last post that was utterly depressing, it has been a good week so far, though Jack wants to come to work with me everyday and I'm too busy, so that has caused a bit of upset. We have both missed Coco and both cried about her. Jack asked "Can we make friends with the family that adopted her so we can see her?" And I had to say no and it was awful. But we have to move on - it was a good decision and I have to get over it. Back to our week.

Let's see.... Took Ben to the vet because his problem -  ear mites  - that I painstakingly researched on Google and bought medication for, turned out to be a yeast infection. Yep I should stick to growing grass. So that cost us $250 because vet visits always do.

Daniel continues to amaze me and make me laugh. This week he has had two play dates with his friend Asher and loved it. He also made me cry - we stopped by a Wendy's and Jack said he wanted a Frosty (malt chocolate soft ice cream) in a cup, I wanted mine in a cone and I asked Danny what he wanted and he said "What would make you & Jack happy?" Ugh! Punch right to the heart!  Needless to say we had a little talk about him doing things and choosing things he wants and not for the sake of other people. Then he said something very intelligent the day after  (I can't remember, I have mummy-brain) and THEN he said something else that actually made me ask his advice. I stood by the car and asked his advice on a subject because I genuinely thought he'd have the answer and he's 4. And he did have the answer! This kid will be a genius. I just have to work on the confidence stuff...

Jack, Danny & Asher get theatrical

Jack is doing great. He will test for his orange belt in Tang Soo Do tomorrow and he still loves it, so that's good. My challenge is to keep him reading and writing over summer. He is such a bright spark and so social but also such a flibbertigibbet! (to pronounce this go into "How do you solve a problem like Maria" mode).  His most recent thing is to wait until Craig gets up at 6 and then come and sleep with me, which I love. Snuggles with him in the morning cannot be beaten.  I am trying to make sure each day has something fun for them & Linda to do but it is hard when you work. Today I took them to Whetstone Park and it ended up raining hard on them but they LOVED it. It was an adventure - they thought it was was funny getting so wet. Tomorrow I will drop them off at another fun place for a few hours.

Craig is in the midst of his motorbike license training and will be doing that this weekend.

I am bogged down with deadlines at work and trying to get them done but also trying to make sure the kids are entertained this summer. That is HARD my friends.

As a bit of light relief I watched an amazing film tonight. I give it 5 out of 5. It was called "The Sessions" and it makes you feel good about life.


 

A new home

Well Char and Jan came and went quickly and we didn't get to do dinner with them. Our babysitter forgot and went to a big fairground 100 miles away for her senior graduation, so I couldn't be mad at her. We got to see each other a tiny bit but not much unfortunately.

Then it was another weekend of cook-outs, a play date with Danny's best friend Asher, the pool, friends, housework, DIY projects, yard work and general mayhem. The very good news that came my way is that my dad is okay after a bit of a scare and my friend's son got the all-clear after his operation  for cancer. That's two fabulous bits of news.

Tonight is the night I say on here that Coco is gone. We got her last August and she was the sweetest girl, but after 9 months of peeing and pooing and digging I had had enough. I make that sound like it was an easy decision, but it wasn't. I had been going back and to for months. She was such a cute dog but so scared of everything that if you even made eye contact with her she peed. Even if you spent all day with her in the garden she would come into the house and pee or poo somewhere - so it was fear and also behavioural and I was at my wits end. Our carpets and sofas are ruined. She peed on our bed weekly. Yes it's my fault for adopting a dog I didn't have time for. I do not have time to house-train a dog. It was also not the right environment for her  because she needs  to be a lone dog in a house where she is adored and it's not as loud and manic as this. She needs to be with my mum basically - someone who's retired, who loves to walk a lot and who loves dogs.

So last week after she peed again in the boys room I thought that maybe I could just do it and take her back. The thought of "taking her back to the pound" made my stomach turn but if you walked into my house the smell of pee hit you and I didn't know what else to do. I was definitely NOT doing Craigslist or local Facebook sites and I thought local dog rescue places were probably full and they would be mean to me for giving her up.

The night before I did it  (Last Saturday) I was texting my friend Maureen and she offered to come with me, which was a huge blessing, so we planned for noon the next day. All night and all the next morning I had these moments of "Yes it's the best thing for her and for us, "and then "What the hell am I doing? She's part of my family, I can't do this".  All the while my heart was heavy and my stomach upset. But I did do it. I took her to the pound and while Maureen stood outside with her I filled in the surrender paperwork, crying my eyes out and unable to talk to the staff. I took her to Gate 1 and a nice lad came and got her and told me not to worry, that she's get adopted quick, since she's so cute. I cried all the way home so Maureen took me back to her house for a beer and a sit in her garden. We sat and talked for a couple of hours and that really helped

I rang the pound every day this week because the man I gave the surrender paperwork to gave me a serial number so I could check on her. She is adopted. She found a new home yesterday.  I hope with all my heart and soul that she is with someone that can help her. We were the 4th family to adopt her so this is her 5th home and that breaks my heart. I never thought I'd give up, but I did.

Craig said he doesn't regret a thing, because our house was wrecked and she didn't bond with us really because she was so hyper. I don't think Ben misses her either because she wouldn't let him on the bed or couch. She growled at him if he got near to me and Craig. So I think Ben is actually happier. And Jack towards the end was getting fed-up with the pee and the poo, so he wasn't too sad. Although when I told him today that she had been adopted he said he missed her. I do too. I miss her and I feel terrible for taking her back but most of all I worry who has her now. Hopefully a loving person. I have to hope and pray that it's a loving person.