Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Rachelisms


I told Rachel I was signing her up for soccer & that she'd get a uniform. Her eyes lit up as she incredulously asked "I get a unicorn in soccer?"

That child is funny without trying! Thank heavens for Rachelisms!


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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Perform...In Public...By Choice?


Lauren dropped the bomb on me that she wants to be in the talent show at school! Whose kid is she? I mean seriously...perform...in public...by choice? What is wrong with that child? She obviously didn't get that from me! But she's a good dancer and if she wants to show off, I'm not going to stop her.

HOWEVER, she informed me of this desire on Monday night and the auditions are being held Monday through Thursday. 2 days to throw something together? Welcome back from Florida mom!!!

She wrangled a buddy into joining her and I got to help them put together a dance performance at 7 o'clock last night. Fortunately, Lauren still remembered most of the dance she did at Disneyland a year and a half ago. We just had to work out a few kinks and teach her friend all the steps. After a couple hours of practicing they seem like they have it down.

Another stroke of luck is that Wendi, our favorite dance teacher, is willing to loan us the props we need. Now I just get to try to slam out a couple of pink tutu's tonight & they are set.

As I said, I am happy to help her perform...just don't make me get up and do it!

Crack Creeper



Rachel "what swimsuit should I wear to school Friday?"

Me "I don't know...which one do you want to wear?"

Rachel "probably the flower one...cuz it doesn't creep up my crack. That would probably be important."

That girl can't keep her "cheeks" covered no matter how hard she tries. Last summer the only sunburn she got was on her rear end (I failed in my sunscreen duties)! I guess I should just be grateful that she realizes it's important to TRY to keep her booty covered up!


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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Glimpse of Retirement


Hurray for business trips! Rob had a conference in Orlando and I got to tag along for the week. We went out a couple days early and hit Disney World. Now let me just say that humidity & I don't get along very well. It makes my hair CRAZY curly and I feel like I'm being smothered when I breathe. But that considered, I had a magical time!

You may be wondering what we did with the kids for the week...Happy Mother's Day to my Mom. She got all four wild things for all 8 days! To her credit, she survived!

I'll admit Disney World just wasn't the same without the kids...

We didn't have to stop to talk to even ONE character. I didn't have to console anyone when a line took longer than it should have-although there were times I worried about Rob;). We skipped Fantasyland and Toontown without any heartbreak. The ONLY thing we did in Hollywood Studios was ride Rockin' Rollercoaster again, and again, and AGAIN!

I confess I did miss them a tiny bit. We kept taking pictures of the things the kids would have loved. I missed them most at Clearwater Beach. Rob was at meetings with his boss, Dean, for the latter part of the week; so Marla, Dean's wife, and I ventured to the Gulf. We got lost in Tampa (thank you Google maps for that detour) but eventually found our way to Clearwater. It was BEAUTIFUL! The waves were so small it made me want the kids there to play with down in the water. They would've loved it. I was happy there was no oil in the water or on the beach from the BP oil spill.

We considered going to Cocoa Beach out on the Atlantic, but the space shuttle launch was scheduled and we decided not to try to fight the crowds (the news said they predicted over 300 thousand people would go out there to watch it-and to get to Cocoa Beach it's a single lane road...YIKES)!


One of the highlights was that we got to visit with some long, lost college friends. As luck had it, Craig & Tammy Youngs were in Orlando for a business conference at the same time we were there. We met them for magic hours at Hollywood Studios and rode Rockin' Rollercoaster with them for awhile, then headed to Downtown Disney for dinner. We sat outside talking for hours. I wish they didn't live in Michigan-they'd be fun to hang out with more often than once every 12 years!


We got to go out on an airboat ride and see some gators. The amount of bugs that were in the air freaked me out-I just got the creepy-crawlys thinking about it. Not my favorite thing we did, but worth doing once. We saw more alligators in the lobby of the Gaylord Palms, the hotel where Rob's convention was, than we saw out on the airboat.

On a random side note: Rob has become the king of self-photos. We worked our way through Florida with Rob's long arm snapping pictures along the way. It's very useful since we hate asking random people to take our picture.

I think I've caught a glimpse of what retirement can hold...and I'm looking forward to it! But in the meantime I will be content for the occasional getaway. I don't think it can be more than occasional, Hayden wouldn't let go of me all day Sunday. He kept his little arms around my neck and kept saying "Missed you mom". Always glad to know I'm missed!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Drawback to Digital


Rachel was looking through the photo albums at some Disneyland pictures and kept saying things like "oh I'm so cute".


I realize it should have been obvious to Rachel that these pictures were not of her (if nothing else I was a dead giveaway-my hair is short & blond & I was thinner then*sigh*). But I was not about to burst her bubble.

Enter Ben. "That's not you that's Lauren. There aren't any pictures of you...or Hayden!"

Thanks for throwing me under the bus Ben!


Rachel demanded to know why and I tried to defend myself. "We have lots of pictures of you & Bear. They're on the computer."

"You need to get them unstuck from the stupid computer so I can see them."

I think I've discovered the drawback to digital cameras-a ticked off 4 year old! Here is exhibit A that I do indeed have pictures of the younger children (and Rachel was right she is so cute)!




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Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Sharks & Animals



I went to get Hayden's & Rachel's birth certificates today (I know it's extremely late but better late than never right?). I parked in the parking garage & Hayden began chanting "animals & sharks" over & over again. After a few minutes I realized he thought we were at the Mirage hotel going to see the dolphins & white tigers. (That is the only parking garage he's ever been in.)

He ran in the revolving doors, still chanting. Inside the office was a big wall of windows which he pressed his face against anxiously looking for the "animals & sharks". When all he saw were people walking by he threw me the stink eye, shook his head and angrily asked "sharks? animals?".

Such a disappointing day for the poor boy!




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