Mommathon

I have class on Halloween night and I have been told through some fairly reliable sources that our instructor is not the type to sympathize with those of us who have children and let us go for the night. I would even be more than happy to come for an hour and then leave. She said we can have one absence this semester, so maybe that will be mine. We'll see...

This was not the kind of book that I thought it was going to be, but it was still good. This is a memoir-type book about the author's journey to Christianity...and it was not a smooth one. The author is very honest and candid about her early years as a drug addict and alcoholic. The book is mostly tidbits of her life and how they all add up to what she is today...a single-mom, a Christian, a writer and someone who fully believes, but still struggles.

Liam hates flies.  He especially hates flies that are inside and he especially, especially hates flies that are inside flying around his food while he is trying to eat.  To make matters worse, we seem to have a fly that has made itself at home.  Either that, or somehow we keep getting different flies in our house.  Anyway, after much screaming and shouting "shoo fly" at the breakfast table this morning Liam declared, "Mom, this fly has been here so long I think we should just call it a pet."

Colm loves his sunglasses. He wears them often and usually upside down.




We made this scuba gear craft at the library today.

This is our new favorite breakfast. It is basically a peanut butter and jelly sandwich using a hot dog bun and a banana where the hot dog should be. They love it!

Okay, not really, but I did introduce my grandma and my uncle to a computer yesterday. They don't have a computer and have never touched one. My uncle wanted to know if he could type his name on it. How cute. :) I showed them CNN's website since they watch CNN a lot and I showed them my blog since they haven't seen the boys in a while. So, for a few brief moments yesterday, I felt like a computer genius.

I feel like I need to put a full-page ad in the newspaper to thank all the people who have been there for me and my family this past week. From providing meals, to watching the boys, to sending us notes and e-mails, the thoughtfulness has been overwhelming at times. This whole experience has been too much and I am sure it hasn't quite completely sunk in yet. This is something that happens to someone else. This is not something that happens to me, yet it has. On Monday morning I felt like I had a hangover when I woke up, but the beautiful thing about having children is that you have to shake it off and get on with the day. On Monday I wrote my dad's obituary and helped my step-mom and brothers pick out his casket. Surreal. How else do you put it into words? I guess you know in the back of your mind that you are going to have to do it someday, but not yet. The visitation on Tuesday was great. Over 250 people came to pay their respects to my dad. I think that says a lot about him; he touched a lot of people's lives. At the funeral today the pastor did an amazing job of not only reflecting on my dad's life, but also really reminding us that my dad may be gone, but he is in a better place-a place of peace and love where he will never have to suffer again. So, thank you everyone. Thank you for the notes, the e-mails, the meals, the babysitting, the prayers...my family is so blessed to have so many people who love us.

In Liam's effort to avoid his nemisis, salad, he informed us tonight at the dinner table that he is going to eat salad when he is six.  I guess he thinks he is buying himself some time. By the way, he did end up eating a bite of salad.

This was another good one...I know I always say they are good, but if they weren't good I wouldn't have read them all the way through.  That said, this book is about a woman who starts out as a Harvard grad student who discovers during the course of the book, with the help of recovering addicts in the halfway house where she has started working to do research for her schoolwork, that she is stronger than she thinks she is.  She learns to not only stand up for herself, but to stand up for others as well.

Our last day we went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Not only was it beautiful, but they have a brand new children's area. We had a great trip, but it is good to be home.

We went to Grant's Farm today. The boys really enjoyed seeing all of the animals, but their favorite was the animal show. After soaking in all of the fun at Grant's Farm, we headed back to our hotel, caught a nap, went swimming and then had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

We headed over to The Magic House today. It is a children's museum and it was so much fun! We could easily have gone back for another day of fun. After catching a nap, we went swimming and then had dinner at Landry's.

We headed out at about 10a.m. and stopped at noon at a McDonald's so we could eat and so the boys could run around a little before piling back into the car. We drove to Union Station where we stayed, unpacked a little and headed over to the St. Louis Zoo. They have a great zoo! The boys had a great time seeing all the animals. My personal favorite was the penguin house.

We started our day with a yummy breakfast at the Waffle House with Grandma and Grandad and then headed off to the county fair. It was hot, but we had a lot of fun and got to see and touch quite a few animals. We ended the day with a frozen lemonade treat.

Colm has discovered the word "mine" and he REALLY seems to like it...everything seems to be his.  He has also started saying "darn it".  When he says it he screws up his face as if he is really frustrated and slaps his thigh.  (He learned this from his brother.)  I am waiting for him to put the two together and say, "Mine, darn it", in a moment of complete frustration when his brother has taken a toy from him.

My new lotion must not smell as good as I think it does. I put some on about the same time that Liam was walking into the kitchen where I was standing and he said, "Peeeeooooooh, what is that awful, stinky smell?" I may smell bad, but at least I'm moisturized.

The other day Sean and I both received pamphlets in the mail from Dennis Moore.  Mine has a mother on the front gazing lovingly at her toddler.  On the inside there are numerous pictures of children and families.  The topics that are covered include:  child-support payment legislation, consumer product safety legislation and info about the children's gasoline burn prevention act.  All of these topics are important and pertinent to many people, including mothers. What I thought was interesting was the difference between what I received in the mail and what Sean received.  Sean's had info about the Gas Price Spike Relief Act, transportation equity and alternative enery supplies and there were pictures of cars, subways and an oil field.  Interesting.

The Bean Tree is about a woman who leaves home to get out of her small town and she ends up finding a new family along the way. I tried to read one of her other books, The Poisonwood Bible, a few years ago and couldn't get into it, but this one was superb. The Bean Tree also has a sequel which I am anxious to get my hands on.  Five stars!

Liam loves to play Mah Jong.  He would fit in beautifully on a cruise ship with a bunch of retired couples sitting around playing Mah Jong all day.  I think next year instead of playgroup we are going to go to find him a Bridge group.

The clown show



Reading an Eye Spy book



Playing a matching game



We had a busy day today. It was Clown Day at Crown Center. We got there a little early so we headed over to the exhibit called Brain Play, which is an exhibit about problem solving and optical illusions. It was more for the early elementary set, but the boys still had fun. We then went outside and had a picnic lunch by the fountains and by the time we were done with that it was almost time for the clown show to start. Liam really enjoyed the clown show. Some of the humor was over his head, but he still had a good time. Colm wasn't quite sure how he felt about the clowns. He was alright with them as long as they kept their distance. The boys were super tired after all that and they took a great nap this afternoon.

I have read several books by this author and have really liked each one.  This book goes back and forth in between the narrator's childhood and the present.  In the present, she is on a plane going to visit her mother she has not seen in 30 years.  In the past, she tells the story that leads up to the reason she has not seen her mother in such a long time.  Two thumbs up!

There is this great company out of Cananda that makes boardgames for kids and they are all cooperative. In other words, nobody wins and nobody loses. Players work together towards a common goal to win together. For example, we have Bambino Dino where players work together to save a baby dinosaur. These are great for kids who are just learning to play boardgames. They just get to play without worrying about losing. Their website is www.familypastimes.com.

We have been a Wiggles (Colm)/Thomas the Train (Liam)

house for quite a while now. I know all the characters' names, we have the toys, books, movies, etc. They are growing up though and their interests are shifting. We are now a Oobi (Colm)/Rescue Heroes (Liam) house. I am fine with both of these, but the names...Well, let's just start with Oobi whose grandpa's name is Grampoo. Enough said. Then there is Rescue Heroes where they have names like Jack Hammer (I kid you not) and Johnny Blazes. The stories are fine though and they are both very age appropriate so I am not going to complain. It could be worse...we could be a Spongebob house.