Taking a Break !

Jake

Jake is the sweetest little 4 year old boy and he's also one of our 1/2 siblings.
He is in the hospital having seizures.   He's been there for 3 weeks already.
They've diagnosed the seizures (the worst case diagnosis for seizures as there is really no end no growing out of them) but even worse is Jake isn't responding to the medications used to slow and stop the seizures.
After having them every 3-4 minutes apart they finally decided to induce a coma hoping it would give his exhausted brain a rest.    The idea was to slowly wake him up and that rebooting his brain would slow down the seizures.
It didn't work.
He's now been transferred to his 3rd hospital (the latest being a hospital that specializes in epilepsy)
They think that he's a good candidate for surgery but we all know how scary surgery is.

This little boy is the son to 2 moms, he is a twin brother to his little sister and a hero to his big sister.
Please pray or send positive thoughts or whatever you can, for him and his family.
It just breaks my heart to think of what they are all going through right now.
Much love to you guys.   I hope you get better real soon Jakers !

Rainy days and Mondays....

.....and colds and tantrums, always get me down.
I have the cold, the kids are throwing the tantrums.

A friend posted this on facebook today and as a huge carpenter fan I decided it only appropriate to post.  


The bonus and only good thing in this is....I have a super sexy phlegm voice so I sound kinda like her singing.   OR.   my ears are so congested that I THINK I sound like her.    Either way, good for me.  not so good for anyone around me.

Who thinks it inappropriate to drink Nyquil and fall asleep after lunch ?   by a raise of hands.  not so much huh ?
OK...then, who thinks it appropriate to give the kids Nyquil and then we can ALL fall asleep ?   perfect.   that's what I'll do then.   :)

This moment Friday

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember

Conversations with Cameron

Cameron :
My real dad died.   
My real dad killed my cows and my rooster and my pigs and then he died.
And then my mom got old and bad and she died too.
And then I came to live here.

Me :
hmm.  Welcome.


(he's watched Babe. (?) other than that...I'm out of ideas)

You win some, you lose some, you always gain some.

Seek, receive, medicate, alleviate, gain a bit of weight, don't give a shit, repeat medicate.

In all.....does it really matter.   I'm a better mom.  bigger and better.   and does this ironically bring to the lips, fat and happy.   Are fat people more jolly ?
We use more soap there's no disputing it. 
Either way the great thing about the medication that caused this weight gain....it also keeps me from really caring about it too much.
My inner 20 year old body who wished I'd worn a swim suite everyday, self screams out every once in a while.    I can barely hear her over the medicated white noise in my head though.  Or possibly the echo in my own head of the cheese puffs crunching in my mouth.
My pants miss her, so will my swimming suit.  
I just wonder if the weight gain will top off at 10lbs.  or will it keep working up to 15, maybe 20.  
I wish I could care enough to do something about it.  ah well.   maybe tomorrow.

In the MEANTIME !   A picture.   cuz it's wordless wednesday and since I fucked that all up, I'll post a picture any ways.

Sydney got a new camera for her birthday.    She posed and took this picture and was OH SO proud of it.    "mom, doesn't Cam look GREAT ?" 
I just needed something to make me smile....and this certainly fit the bill.
It reminds me of those emails going around....Awkward Family Photo's.   I think I'll cut and paste this to the bottom of one and keep it circulating.   no no no...I'm kidding.   I'll save it and one day blow it up and decorate his locker with it :) 
oh come on.   we've gotta have fun with them.  they're only ours for a while.   ha ha ha

Vulgarity and humor ?

We saw Rock of Ages and Book of Mormon in New York. 

At Rock of ages they served beer in the theater.   A little like "getcher popcorn,  getcher cotton candy here"  only it was, "getcher beer here."  VERY COOL.
We sat in the 2nd row.  My seat was really first row because the stage came out right at my seat.   I was singled out by the lead (HILARIOUS Character) who hit on me with tasteless jokes and at one point before intermission and at the end of the big song, pointed at me and said, "my dressing room, 2 minutes" and then grabbed his crotch.    I of course jumped right up as the lights came on and told everyone around me that I'd be back in 2 minutes.  Really though, I just needed to pee. :)  I had taken advantage of having the beer lady at the end of our row.   
The show was SOO SOO good.   It was 80's rock.   Everyone talked 80's dressed 80's.  Lots of big hair.   It had it's fair share of vulgar boob talking,  crotch grabbing, f-word saying content....all topped off with "Oh Sherrie"  (I know, my kind of show)
Needless to say we left on a huge rock high and can't stop smiling when we think about it.
Highly recommend it.  very funny.

The next night we went to see Book of Mormon.   They also sold alcohol but in adult sippy cups.  :)
One of the writers who also writes for South Park was raised mormon.    We figured as a Jack Mormon he would bag on the religion all the while adding his offensive south park trash on God.
We were wrong.  kind of.  The beginning is the cliff notes of the religion in song.    And then they go to Missionaries who are sent out to Uganda to preach and teach.   It was all very funny and I enjoyed it.  (I don't know if you didn't know much about the religion if it would be very funny ? maybe)   I didn't feel like Mormons would be offended at all but would find some of the humor to be exaggerated truths and quite funny.
And then the trashy south park crap kind of ruined it for me.
While in Uganda they sing songs about raping babies, aids and female circumcision.    I just didn't think any of it was funny.  
They took real life Ugandan issues and made fun of them.   Not so cool.    They seemed to take it too far.  (I know what did I expect)
There was a song the Ugandans were singing in their native tongue when the  missionaries arrived.   The missionaries started singing with them.    "When our women are raped...hasa diga Eebowai...when we don't have food to eat....hasa diga Eebowai....we all have aids...hasa diga Eebowai...etc." and they would raise their hands to the sky as if they were praising god.     After asking what the song meant the missionaries found out the translation was "fuck you god"     We laughed, it was pretty funny.    and then.   the song continued and went on to say, "fuck you god in the mouth cunt and ass"  REALLY ?   I mean, really....did they need to go that far ?   
What next....a musical about the tsunami in Japan.   That's kind of how I felt while they were making light of so many terrible things happening to the people there.   
I left thinking it could have been funny (there was LOTS of really funny things in it)...and vulgar...without being so offensive.
Neither J or myself would recommend it and we wouldn't go see it again. 
EVERYONE around us however.....loved it.  including the friends who went with us.   Maybe it was just us ? 

We REALLY wanted to go see Wicked again...damn it, it was sold out.    If ANYONE hasn't seen it.....GO SEE IT IMMEDIATELY !   If it comes to your city.....go without food for 2 weeks to buy a ticket.    Wicked is the best show.  

You're joking, right ?

My kids love to tell jokes.
Problem is.  most of them are tasteless and make ABSOLUTELY no sense at all.
example.

child (pick one, they all sound the same) : knock knock
adult : who's there ?
child : spider
adult : spider who ?
child : spider who pooped on the sidewalk (followed by hysterical laughter)

child : why did the chicken cross the road ?
adult : why ?
child : so that he could poop on the road and die of pooooop (followed by hysterical laughter)

Now.   their jokes are never funny.  rephrase that.  they are never funny to us.   THEY think they are sidesplitting.   Ready to join the likes of Kings of Comedy they are.   I suppose they'd of course need to be black...but just a minor technicality. :)

So the other night we were eating dinner, I was sitting across the table from Nathan who says to me,
Nathan : ding dong
me : who's there ?
Nathan : present
me : oh thank you for the present honey (I begin to pretend open it because that's what I ALWAYS do when I recieve one of his pretend presents)
Nathan : present ind jor face.  (said with kind of an evil fighter voice....as he hurled whatever pretend present he was holding toward my face)

Ok FIRST OF ALL.  that he replaced knock knock with ding dong was beyond hilarious in an ingenius kind of way.   and SECOND.  dude.  it actually made a little sense.   I mean it wasn't a breast or thigh....maybe a wing...but there was still some meat on it.

I was so proud of him that I let the fact that he was throwing a present in my face part slide.    I gave him the same warm and encouraging laugh that I give each one of my comedians and continued eating dinner as the others immediately started with their own jokes. (sigh)

This moment Friday

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember

My dad taught me !

After rolling into the house from NY at 2 am.  Yes, our flight didn't get in until just after midnight.   We were asking our babysitter how the kids did.     She said that everyone was well behaved and did really good the whole time.
One of the funny stories she told us was a conversation with Spencer.    One all too familiar at our house lately.

Spencer dribbling his basketball, "My dad taught me how to dribble."
Kristina, "oh really.   What's your dad's name ?"
Spencer, "Mommy J."

As I was capturing Spencer dribbling in all of his magnificence (still calling him Jimmer) I was able to catch Nathan making a "bad choice" in the kitchen.    I thought that I'd share.   Now, I was laughing and I don't know why....because I'm usually much better at not laughing at this kind of behavior whether it strikes me as funny or not. 
My bad.  Something I'll regret doing I'm sure.



The kid can spit, no ?

I *heart* NY

LOVE NYC !!
I wish I could put some in a bottle and just drink it occassionally to get that wonderful high of it all.
We had such an awesome weekend.  
I love getting to spend time with my wife.  alone.  
I don't have to share her attention with anyone.  She's all my-eeen.
I also didn't have to share her with angry birds (cheesey smile) mmmm.

I have friends in low places and high places and NY places.   And how nice is that !   
We were able to stay in our friends apartment right off of time square.  a mere street from broadway.  right in the heart of it all.    (and at a fraction of the price.  that price being FREE)
I am not going to divulge the name of this fantastic and generous friend....because....well...I'm selfish and I'm keeping her all to myself.   Plus I don't want to plan my next trip to the city that never sleeps around a bunch of y'all.  :)
but I will say (she sometimes reads here) THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU girls.  As much as I like my NY connections, we really just wished that you lived closer.   Like a mere street away ;-)

In summary
NY, rocks
First class, rocks
Rock of ages....ROCKS !  (more later)
Great friends, rock
Good times, rock
Location location location, rocks
Adult time, rocks
(let's just sit and let that last one soak in for a minute, aaaah)
Naps, rock
Gaining 5 lbs because of all of the yummy NY bagels, pasta and bread that I ate.  oh plus adult beverages that don't come with such a low calorie count.  doesn't rock.  but that's pretty much the only thing that doesn't.

I didn't get your messages about Century 21 until it was too late.  damn it.
Next time I'll have to plan it better and make time for more friends. ;-)

Now....I have to go play playdough with my 4 favorite little men.   who I didn't let myself miss too much on my trip but now that I'm here missed them TONS.

What to do What to do ?

Do we hit the Met first or check out ground zero ?  
Shop or just walk ?
Sleep or watch Criminal minds on TV ?

GUESS WHAT ???  WE CAN DO IT ALLLLLLLL !

I would like to point out that it is 73 degrees at home and 47 and rainy here.   
That would matter a lot more if we were dragging 5 kids around...but we aren't.  so it don't make no never mind to us :)