new tricks

there are some new tricks going on here that are so cute i just needed to document for myself if nothing else.

m. has been picking things up from the floor and bringing them to me. but just to make sure i really know its for me, he will walk up to me, lift my hand and put it in the open palm position before placing the object in my hand. so i respond thank you, and then hand him the sock, block, towel, toy, etc. back. he responds by grabbing my hand, putting it in the open palm position again and placing the object back in my hand. this can go on for hours with a toddler. its a wonder i get anything done around here!

k.'s latest trick is called hoarding. it really doesnt matter what he hoards, just so long as he has a collection. in the bath he greedily collects all the foam letters, looking around to be sure his brothers are not at arms length. and the real treat, if poor m. has what he wants he uses brute force to get it. on several occasions this week he has pulled m. down from a standing position to have a better grab at whatever m. is carrying off. i predict k. will walk soon just to keep up; as we do not tolerate this particular method of "hoarding" toys.

f. has been making his own board games during free-play art session at school. each day he comes home with a new one full of tiny pieces and elaborate rules (which apparantly exist only in his head). pretty soon he is going to catch on that these games disappear each night. not to worry, they are just replenished the very next school day. [and eventually j. might catch on that i blame him for anything that disappears in this household] today f. came home with a board game and the pieces were old bottle lids (LOADS of old bottle lids). this kid will never need a wii, he will just make his own out of some old trash and a bit of construction paper.

surrounded by boys

today while f. and i were in the grocery store, i was asked by the checker "don't you have another child too?" before i could even answer f. responded for me "yes, she has soo many boys. all boys. lots of boys. you see there is me - f., then m. and k. and my daddy too. see thats a lot of boys."

i cant think of any better way...

vacation all i ever wanted

is it too much to ask for a night away with your hubby without getting sick?! i mean really!! jon and i both came down with severe head colds - how romantical for our one night away without kids.
we agreed on our ride home that our last good vacation was in disney when fin was not yet 3. at this point i am almost afraid to even dare plan another vacation.

at least we got to sleep in. and that is all i have to say about that.

bedhead

there is some debate happening over here about whether or not k. needs a haircut. i just can not bring myself to do it just yet. this was the picture this morning, a little bedhead is just heart warming...

jonas

f: pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaseeeeeeee, pleasssssssssseeeeeeeeeee, pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaseeeeeeeeee, mommy can my name be jonas instead of fin?
m: umm, how about just for today?
f: moooooooooooommmmmmm, how about my name will just be jonas on the days that i don't have school?
m: umm, ok?!?!

(who the f is jonas?)

texas-sized quandry

as you probably know by now, j. has a job that sucks. his agency was rated the worst government agency of all those surveyed. in fact the results at his agency were so ridiculously poor that they were not included in the final findings "as they would unfairly skew" the overall ratings. its bad, really bad.

he has been forced into this management position by some absurd process whereby they asked for volunteers and when shockingly no one volunteered they automatically take the person with the least seniority and slap them in the position. this makes perfect sense, right??!! take the person with the least experience and make them the boss of the people who have been with the agency for decades - literally!! the beauty of this is that they are not paying him anymore - even though his duties have dramatically increased. in the true bureaucratic fashion, they are putting him in this position for 120 days, then he goes back to his old job for 1 day, then back to the hell job for another 120 days. why, you ask would they do something so silly? well, its because when done this way, he can never petition for an increase in pay because you have to be in the position for 1 consecutive year. lovely, huh?

what is worse, formerly there were 6 people in this position - concurrently. now it is just j. - 1 person last i checked. that is the ultra fine workings of our government, the leading nation in the world right? its stupid. he is miserable. he brings home work all the time. they call him at home on his days off. they call him when his children are hospitalized. they wouldn't let him work from home 2 days when i was on bedrest. the list is endless.

so it was with all this in mind, when jon took a proactive step and applied for a job...........................
in texas! at first i thought, whatever, let him apply at least it is a positive step and maybe it will make him feel better about things. then he started looking online at houses and getting more serious about it. every so often he would call me over to the computer to look at a beautiful home that would easily cost over $1 million here that is like $300K there. and i think, oh thats nice. but my family and friends are here. we have real roots here. i don't even own a pair of boots - i can't live in texas.

weeks passed, and it sort of became a joke - moving to texas. then on friday, they called for an interview. holy sh*t - i truly didnt think that was going to happen. i am caught between a rock and a hard place. i want to be supportive and i know the pain of going to a job that you hate day in and day out. at the same time, i am a marylander, born and raised. i am living a texas-sized quandry.

snow movie

because catching it on your tongue is just too much work for today's young ones...