VACATION!!!

Well we have decided on our family summer vacation.  I am excited.  We always go to the same place but I love it.  We are going to Disneyland!!!  We are going to go with my husbands uncle, aunt and cousin.  We are going to take their RV.  This way we will save on food and hotel, but probably end up spending some of what we save in gas.  We are going for a week.  That is by far the longest we have to Disneyland as a family. We may have told the kids prematurely though.  We were all talking, the adults, about when we will leave and come back.  They heard Friday mentioned so now every Friday they think we are leaving.  Guess it time for a count down of some sort that they can see. Now comes that panning.  What to take for entertainment on a 22+ hour trip.  We usually take my laptop, because it has a blu-ray player.  Last time we took Alice in Wonderland, Tangled, Despicable Me, Barbie and Bambi.  I think probably those again and maybe a few more plus some games since they will have a place to play them. I'm not sure if we will only take card games or try to a board game. Then comes how much clothes to take?  They have laundry facilities where will be staying but do I want to waste vacation time doing laundry?  Probably not lol. Of course we will need to buy luggage since ours got ruined, or maybe just use some of the 12 backpacks that we have in our house.  No I'm not exaggerating we literally have 12.  Don't ask why I didn't realize we had that many until recently.  Possibly from my oldest wanting a new backpack every school year.  We usually get her one and that leads to getting her sisters one too.  Of course nothing fancy or over $20.  I sure my youngest stops wetting the bed by then.  She has been doing well but if we don't go right before bed, like a minute, then she will wet the bed.  Hmm, maybe some night time pull ups???  She may not like that idea but I really don't wanna get peed on in the middle of the night, or sleep in a wet bed.  I guess just hope for the best.  Or maybe some chux.  Like the hospitals use, then nobody or bed gets peed on.  I know we aren't leaving till the last of August but I'm soo excited!  Can I skip next month???  Hehehe, well and still make money and pass my classes.

It just can't be!!!!

It can't be, my little girl is six.  It feels like just yesterday her stubborn self didn't want to come out.  It two days of being induced before she made her arrival.  Now my little sweet pea has lost six teeth and in first grade in the fall.   Yesterday we went to Wal*Mart and she picked out what she wanted as far as cake.  She wanted to make cupcakes instead of buying a store made cake.  So that's what we did.  She picked red velvet cake with strawberry frosting.  It sounds kinda iffy but turned out to be pretty tasty. She will be getting a copy of Wizard of Oz on DVD.  She loves that movie and wore out the VHS. She wants to have a bowling birthday party; I still need to set that up.  Yes I know, bad mommy. I'm sure her special day was great though.  She got a special dinner that she picked, spaghetti and meatballs with cheese toast. She played with her cousins and they always have tons of fun.  

Essays???

Oh my!  What a day of school work it was today.  We were assigned to write an analytical essay.  It had to be answers to questions that were given by the teacher. The catch for me was it couldn't be my opinion and on the president.  Ugh, trying to word it so it didn't sound like my opinion only took me six hours.  What a challenge.  I tried to do it earlier in the week but could not wrap my head around it.   Then to top it off I saved it and uploaded it to the teacher.  I kinda forgot that I had saved it "essay 3 analytical   I hope" and uploaded it that way. Oops hope the teacher finds it at least amusing.  I tried my hardest and hope I get a good grade :x

Respect

What ever happened to Respect?  I'm serious.  People today are disrespectful all the darn time!  From the neighbors setting off high pitched noisy fireworks at 1am to the bratty kids of the neighborhood.  I remember when I was a kid, if I would have even thought of doing some of the things I've witnessed lately I would have been a goner.  My husband and I teach our kids to be respectful.  If they don't like it too bad.  I have told my oldest on more than one occasion that you don't have to like so and so but you can't be disrespectful.  I have gotten many complements on how well behaved and well mannered my kids are.  I always say thank you but really they don't get a choice.  Today we took the kids to the pool at our apartment.  We were all having fun and so were all the other people at the pool.  Then came some pre-teens and maybe one kid was maybe sixteen.  Then things started to go down hill.  They jump in, fine by me, and start rough housing.  After a few dirty looks from me and a few others they stopped.  Then they pull out a football, not a Nerf football, a pigskin.  These kids start tossing it around and still I could care less.  Then it gets out of hand.  They threw it in to a lady's head.  She asked them nicely to stop.  They called her a b%tch, she didn't hear but I did. Then they started again with the football and hit a lady in the back.  I could hear the thud from across the pool.  She told them to stop and they of course gave her attitude.  Here is the part where my mother would have pulled us out by our ears and we would not have been swimming for a few days.  But these kids were unattended.  Which is against the rules that are posted, along with no horseplay.  So of course everyone is getting annoyed and the mood changes.  The kids continue to play with their football in the pool and almost take out a few kids, then start jumping in trying to catch the football mid air.  They almost landed on my youngest.  SO of course my husband tells them : hey you guys need to be careful, you almost landed on my kid".  Instead of " oh I'm sorry" like we would have done as a kid, they say " no I didn't"  ummm excuse me what?!!! My husband says "yes you did!! and if you want to play football go do it outside of the pool.  You can play football in the grass but you can't swim in the grass"  The oldest kid says to my husband" that's what I was telling them"  well since I don't speak Russian I don't know what he was saying, but I find it hard to believe since they went back to causing havoc in two or three minutes.  So I start watching from the side of the pool, waiting for them to mess up.  I have decided that as soon as the mess up again I'm going to make the management come out and do something.  I never did though because someone must have complained.  One of our maintenance guys that is Russian comes out talk to them in Russian says something about trespassing and they get out. After about five minutes they all leave and everyone goes back to having fun.  It just makes me wonder  where are their parents?  I assume they are at work but they shouldn't be there with out parents.  Kids under 16 aren't allowed with out their parents.  I assume that the reason being to make sure stuff like this doesn't occur.  What makes these kids think its ok to be disrespectful to their "elders"? In this sense I miss the days when I was younger when stuff like this was not stood for.  When the kid outside, who I saw scratch my car with his bike, wouldn't lie to me and say I'm a liar and he didn't.  That alone makes me want to punish these kids like their parents obviously aren't.  Is it soo outlandish to expect kids to behave, and show some respect??  I've seen on Dr. Phil and a few other shows where kids say things like you have to earn respect.  As in their parents should earn it.  Ah NO!!!!  In my opinion they should be showing respect from the get go and can earn it when they do things like get a job or do chores.  What the hell did these kids do that they think THEY deserve respect for??   Where did peoples parenting skills go so off track that a generation of brats are being raised?    Oh and a side not on the kids at the pool today, last year they got kicked out of the pool for using foul language and hoping the fence to get in, since you have to have a key they give residents to use to get in.    Oh I could go on about this subject of rude and disrespectful kids for hours but I'll stop here.  hehehe

We did it! We did it!!

No not that! Get your mind out of the gutter.  We paid of my van.  Yes it is a 1999 Dodge Caravan with a few dents and a crack in the windshield, but it is all mine.  Yay!!!  Hello extra $336 a month, nice to meet you.  You will be meeting my savings account.  We still had another year on our contract but we got the money together and now have the title.  I still need to go to the DMV and get it changed over but I have the title in my hands.  I haven't had the title to a car since 1997.  Yeah, you read right 14 years ago.  I had by far my favorite car. A 1970 Chevrolet Nova, it was my baby and I loved it. I spent a lot of time and money on that car.  I eventually gave it to my brother, because with a baby on the way I didn't have money to put into a car that needed a new engine.  Not to mention it didn't always start when you wanted it to.  It was temperamental like me. lol  My husband has had the title to a car in his name about 3 years ago but the transmission went out so it was done for.  Especially when it only Kelly Blue Booked for $300.  But now I have a van that is paid for and works well.  OK works well most of the time.  Hey its 12 years old it won't be perfect but I don't expect it to.  I know a few people who would run right out and trade it for a newer model but that makes no sense to me.  Yes it would be newer and everything would work right, but then comes more payments.  So now I plan to run this van  or "coupie" as Iris used to call it until it dies.  Of course my oldest want to do things like put in a dvd player and all this cool stuff.  Not me it runs and stops that is all I need.

A director in training?

I think I may have a couple of future directors in my house.  My two littlest girls have in my opinion, a odd way of playing.  They like to pretend like all kids, the difference is that they like to give directions.  I hear things like  " OK now you come through the door and pretend to be the teacher.  You are gonna teach us a song."  I didn't play like that is a kid.  I hear things like that from both of the younger girls all day.  It cracks my up.  The only time it isn't funny is when they disagree how to play.  It can get heated.  One girl wants to be a teacher while the other wants to be Rapunzel.  It makes me wonder if they will grow up to be the next Steven Spielberg and direct a great movie like ET.  Some days I try to get it on "film" with my digital camera but I'm never sneaky enough.

   

Summer is here =]

Finally summer is here. Yay! The sun was out and shinning, it was warm.  We loved it, including Noah.  Poor little pup is exhausted after playing in the sun.  He's snoring on the couch as I type.  We tried to swim at our community pool but fail it was closed for maintenance.  So we headed over to my husband's uncle's house.  They have above ground pool at their house.  It's something like 10ft by 30 inches so perfect for the kids.  We lubed the kids up with Coppertone baby sunscreen since the spray on stuff doesn't work.  We bought that Banana boat spray on 50spf in the spring during softball season.  Let me just say don't waste your money.  We spray our oldest and us with it and we all fried.  Basically useless.  The kids played and we visited with the family.  It was fun.  Noah really enjoyed playing with their dogs in their backyard.  Then we picked up Chinese food for me and pizza for everyone else.  Oh and by the way, I love Safeway.  I don't usually shop there but i happened to be across the parking lot and thought I'd see if they had something I had been searching for.  They did!!!!   I finally found E.L. Fudge cookies by Keebler.  I know what your thinking no big deal.  I have been to 4 different stores and they are the only ones in my neighborhood that carry them. I've already eaten too many.  The weather is going to be soo nice for the next week.  I'm excited to be able to have my windows open and not freeze.  It was almost 80 today and perfect :D  I can't wait to do tons of swimming and park time.  Maybe some picnics and definitely a lot of bbqing.  Summer is hear and since it is not a here in the NW very long we will be taking full advantage!