My baby boy

How can I help but be completely in love with my little boy? Poor guy was having trouble going to bed tonight! He was crying and crying, so I went down and picked him up to "snuggle" him. As we swayed back and forth and I kissed his wet little cheek, I asked him why he was so upset. His reply? "cuz I wanted you to sing Baby Mine 3 times! 1 time is not enough!" My sweet curly haired little boy!

Family

When you think of your family, what do you think of? Home, mom, dad, grandparents? I think of stress. I will be honest. Dealing with my family is like belonging to a political party and trying to "cross the aisle" to make peace with the other side. If I do something with/for one side, the other side gets irritable. The funny part of it is that each side thinks the other one is out to get them and neither can understand that they each want exactly the same thing: equal time and representation.

Here's what I want! I want a family who loves me no matter what. I want a family who doesn't keep score of how much time/effort is spent on the "other side". I want a dad who remembers to call me every now and then. I want a mother who doesn't get ticked off at me every time I bring up my dad's name. I want grandparents who don't hate my parents. I want a family who compromises for me every now and then instead of expecting me to make all the concessions.

I want a normal family.

A shout out to Boobies

Apparently it starts at a young age...the fascination with boobies! I have long felt that there is a time at which you should stop getting dressed and undressed in front of your children of the opposite sex. I hate to say it, but my fears and feelings have now been validated!

So, the other day I was getting ready for work and Lukas was sitting on my bed...I went into the closet to put my clothes on (it's a walk-in closet...) and I hear him say "Mommy, come back out here! I wanted to see your boobies!"

Needless to say, I was appalled! I told him that it was rude to say that and he got all upset! He said "don't say those angry words to me!" Hilarious! I wanted to roll on the floor laughing, but I figured then he would just think it was ok!

I guess we know that Lukas will be a boob man!

An ode to moms

I would say that today was, quite possibly, my best Mother's Day yet. We had a great time together today, which DOES NOT always happen! We were out and about all morning. We took a little trip to Gerten's who, incidentally, has really expensive flowers! But it was fun to look...and to play around with the fountains!


Then we were off to find some lunch...I know it's no swanky brunch, but I was pretty pumped because we had our first trip to Sonic! The best part about that was how excited the kids were to have a "car picnic"! Since it was my day, my big request was a quick trip into St. Paul to Candyland to get my all-time favorite cheese popcorn! Yum-o!



The rest of the day was pretty uneventful...a little trip to the park to run off some energy...lots of calls to grandmas...and that was what really got me thinking! We called my mom and mother-in-law, then I called my dad because Annika really wanted to talk to Sharon. So, long story short, I ended up talking to my dad who told me that he wouldn't have called me today because mother's day is just to honor YOUR mother. Well, I completely disagree, but for the sake of saving time and my sanity,I didn't get into it with him! I think that mother's day is to honor all the mothers in your life. Whether it's your mom, mother in law, daughter, aunt, friend's mom...I think it's a day to say "wow! you are a great mom, and I just want you to know that I noticed!"

Ok, that's my soapbox for the day...what do you think?

No one gets this!

Ok, so to those of you who will eventually figure out how to respond to the invite and become a "follower" of our blog...what the heck? So far only one person has figured it out! Here I thought all the grandma's and grandpa's were going to jump all over the opportunity to have fun stuff to read about that happens every day with these crazy kids! Silly me!

I would also like to just say that I have the SWEETEST kids in the world! Lukey was so sweet this morning....he was all excited about the fact that he picked out some marigolds for me at the "flower store" and he carried them all the way home and planted them! So cute! For anyone who doesn't know, marigolds were pretty much my least favorite flowers on earth...well, not anymore! I love these marigolds! And then he said to me "AND I picked out a Backyardigans card for you! You're gonna LOVE it!"

It's been a long week working my "real" job and then 2 nights at Hallmark too. I am sooooo ready for the weekend at home with the fam. I just need some time to recover! Is it sad that I am totally excited to go to Trader Joe's tomorrow? That's the highlight of my week. Yep, that's sad! Oh well!

Mondays

Can I just go on record and say that Mondays are the worst? The day started with grouchy kids and husband, continued with a sick call from one of my guys at work and peaked when the other guy I work with was late....and I was locked out of the branch! Happy Monday!

On a happier note, check out the fun pics of the kids last weekend at the Children's Museum! Super fun! I love letting them explore and have fun...

Chan and I decided last week that perhaps the reason it's so stressful to take our children out in public is because they have been kept home so much because we were concerned that they would be nightmares in public! Does that make any sense to anyone? Nope, not us either. We are going out more from now on! Our kids have to learn how to behave in public and the only way they will learn is to be out and about more!

And so it goes...

I would just like to go on record saying that Billy Joel is AMAZING. A-Mazing. I just got back from the Billy Joel/Elton John Face-to-Face concert and I can honestly say that it's the best concert I have ever been to. Ok, I will give you that I haven't been to all that many concerts, but it was still the best. Here is my theory on concerts: unless I LOVE the artist and can sing at least 5 of their songs, I am not paying for a ticket! It seems frivolous to me to spend money on a ticket to a concert just to go.

Let me just tell you about the interesting things we saw tonight...

-> So the snow just melted here in Fargo...therefore it seems like a great idea to park in a grassy field right? Yeah! Hilarious for those of us who were watching these people who thought they were so much cooler than everyone else and getting a primo parking spot when they were completely stuck in the mud!
-> Could someone please explain to me why some people think it's great to get tanked at a concert and then dance around like an idiot? The funny part is it's always the super geeky, unattractive set who do this. Do they not understand that when you are a goofy looking person, it's even worse to be drunk and goofy looking?
-> and then there was the post-concert concern...after having been stuck inside the stuffy, stale Fargo-dome for 3 and a half hours, why must people walk out the door and light up a cigarette IMMEDIATELY? Here's me...."Ahh....fresh...oh, awesome, fresh second-hand smoke! Just what I was hoping for!"

But back to the concert....did I mention that Billy Joel is amazing? There were a couple songs I wish he would have done that he didn't, but really all I could do for the entire concert was sit there in awe. The man is almost 60 years old...he is such a gifted musician...to watch his fingers play the piano and hear him sing was enough to bring me to tears. I am sooooo lucky to have gotten to go to this concert. Elton John was enjoyable too...I just happen to prefer Billy Joel...

The whole experience makes me think of how lucky I really am that my parents introduced me to great music at a young age. I think about that with my kids from time to time...I wonder what timeless artists they could really listen to now. When I was young, my parents brought me up listening to Billy Joel, The Beach Boys, Peter Paul and Mary...all amazing musicians. They wrote their own music, played their own instruments, sang beautifully! What do we have today for our kids to listen to? Britney Spears? Oh, yeah, she's really talented! So sad! I guess I will have to bring my kids up with the same music I listened to when I was young...that is where the true talent lies!

The tent

Annika coudn't wait to get the tent up this morning. We brought the tent with us to Mt. Lake since it hasn't been out of the bag for a couple of years now. The kids think they're going to sleep out there tonight and I'm like "no way Jose". I'm not looking forward to the weeping and wailing thats going to take place when I put the nix on it tonight.

Growing Up

So here I am in ND by myself (well, I am visiting my mom, but without Chan and the kids) and I went over to visit my grandparents tonight. All of a sudden it struck me that they are really old. I don't mean this in a disrespectful way, but for a moment, I was frozen and could only stare and think to myself  "when did my grandparents get this old?". It was shocking to have that realization. All of these amazing memories were rushing through my head: summers at the lake with my Grandma, riding bikes to the store with my Grandpa, the treats they used to buy us...

It really made me sad! Does everyone have this happen? My mom really doesn't seem any different to me...I am still wondering how I got this old! It's a crazy thing this growing up!

Today the kids are heading down to Mountain Lake after school while I head north for the Billy Joel concert. The conversation in the car was interesting to say the least!

Lukas "Annika, we're going to Grampa's house with the star that blew off"
Annika "No, we're going to see DEE Lyle. And mommy, I forgot, whats gramma's name?"
Me "Janice"
Annika " Yeah, we're going to see DEE Lyle and Janice. Mommy, Beste's name is Shelley right? And Auntie's name is Mandy right?"
Me "yes, you are very right!"
Lukas "but what's uncle Jason's name?" (imagine the drum and cymbal here!)

So on we went about what people's names were the whole way to school. I think it's pretty hilarious how concerned they are about people's "real" names! It drives me crazy when they call me Tonya! I have never liked my name, so it's even worse to hear it out the mouths of them! It's sounds so much sweeter when they call me mommy!