The Magic is Gone

Today when I picked Rose up from school, Karen offered to have my kids come over and play after homework was done. So we came home to get homework done and David hopped on the Wii. He is perfecting his skills at Super Mario Bros. He likes to call it exactly that, Super Mario Bros. When he does say brothers, it comes out as Bruddas. When all the homework was done by Rose, Owen and Madeline, I asked Dave if he wanted to go over. Usually he jumps at this chance. Today he said no. "Really David?" "No." "What if I make you go?" "You can't." I was contemplating all this while he was still working away at the game. I hear all the clinking and clanging of the game and he says "the magic is gone." I looked at the TV, he hadn't killed a guy.... "what magic David?" "Owen and Madeline's house!" I just started laughing. Where in the world did he get that from? Anyway, I asked him if that was since we got the Wii, and yep....that sums it up. In the end, we took the game over to their house and he and Owen are no doubt playing it as we speak. Sorry Aunt Karen, the magic is gone. Perhaps it will come back after he gets his fill of the Wii.

Happy Birthday Jon Boy!

Saturday, was our good friend Jon's 30th birthday. Andy and I headed up to Redondo Beach to spend the day and evening Jon & Chantal (and son Vaughn). We got an early start so we could watch the JETS play the Bengals in the first round of playoffs. Andy was on exemplary behavior, for which I was very glad. I don't like to watch really important games with him (and what game ISN'T really important to him?) because he is just way too intense, and WAY too loud! But, he was on great behavior and the JETS won.....so it was a great afternoon. Now the problem is that the JETS play the Chargers this Sunday..... someone in this house will not be happy come Sunday night. Andy is going to the game with a bunch of friends, JETS fans coming in for the game. Jon will go too (rooting for the Chargers)..... but I will watch from home. There is no way I could go to the game with Andy.

Anyway, Chantal threw a party for Jon at a local bar that evening. We had the place from 7 - 10 PM as a private party, then the bar opened to the public. Chantal is 7 months pregnant, so for her to even want to be in a bar at this point with a bunch of people drinking is pretty amazing. (When I was pregnant, I found it wasn't nearly as much fun hanging out with my friends who were drinking when I couldn't.) Jon had a really good turnout. They have so many great friends, it's always a good time when we go see them. We left earlier than most of the crowd so we could get home at a semi-reasonable hour, and so Helene would have a break the next morning with the kids. We are so fortunate to have such great friends....and such great family members who allow us to get away! It was a really fun day. Happy Birthday Jon! Thanks to you and Chantal for having us up. And thanks again Helene!

As a side note, poor Vaughn was taken to the ER the next day with pneumonia. Poor little guy! And poor Jon for spending the day in the ER with a hangover! Here are just a few pictures of the 110 I took.... Jon has a LOT of really good looking friends, girls and guys. I have left most of them off this post to make Andy and myself look better! Plus, I can't remember half of their names.

Barry, Adin, Andy & Jon, second: Nicki, John, Jon & Andy

New Year's Resolutions...maybe I will make some

This entry is for me... not exciting or funny. (And let me make it clear, this is NOT a picture of me.) Besides the obvious, lose XX pounds.... and become super cute (cosmetic surgery), I think I should focus on better resolutions this year. I usually make zero resolutions.... really, why bother? But maybe this year I will attempt a few 'better parenting' resolutions.

1. Don't scream so much. (Mommy...you always scream!) Ok, point taken. I really do. I don't want to be 'that Mom'...but it seems like somtimes I am.

2. Play more games. I often find myself saying "in a minute" because I'm usually busy checking email, (blogging?). trying to clean something, doing some laundry.....whatever. About a year ago I met someone who became an at-home daycare provider for a few kids a day. She had 4 older kids of her own. She told me that she wishes she had sat down with her own kids when they were young. like she does now....... to play Play-Doh, or whatever they were doing at the time - instead of getting that load of laundry done, or cleaning the kitchen. There is always going to be something that needs to get done, but my kids will only be this young once....and that's right now. Mommy....do yo want to play Mario Kart with me? Why YES..... YES, I do! So, if you come over and my house is a WRECK, I don't care..... I'm trying create (good) memories for my kids. Perhaps it will be nice and clean for a pop-in visit in a few years.

3. Take the kids to do fun things. I thought I was pretty good at this, but I need to get better.....or at least where I was. I used to go to the Zoo, Wild Animal Park, Disneyland....wherever, all the time. Then school started for real for Rose. I need to make sure I do fun things the kids will remember on weekends, and other times we CAN while they are young and still want to spend time with their parents. I want all memories of childhood to be fun and happy...as they should be.

4. Try to keep magic and innocence in my kid's lives. This Christmas has been so much fun. Santa is a reality. Recently, Rose was being really snippy and crabby at bedtime. Nothing I could do was right. Nothing I said was good enough, or right. She was just so mad and frustrated at everything. I was so mad and frustrated too, and I had enough. I left her crying in her bed with the last word being, 'Santa knows everything you are doing.' Within a few minutes, I heard her sobbing....."I'm SO SORRY SANTA"....SANTA... I'm SO SORRY".... I felt horrible.... but had to laugh at the same time.

5. Ok, and lastly, perhaps I need to try to be a better wife too.... make a real meal every once in a while, kiss and hug more, make Andy feel appreciated. Go on dates?

1 - 4 could really all be lumped together. Just try to be a better Mom and make their childhood happy ones. Not that they are horrible so far..... Here I go! David wants to play Mario Kart!

David's SUPER FUN Date.......

Friday after school David managed to get (finagle) an invite to his friend Emily's house to play Mario Kart on the Wii. (This picture was early in the school year) So off he went with the understanding we (Emily's Mom and I) would call each other when David wanted to come home. I left him at 11:30. At about 4, I figured I had been negligent in not calling sooner to get him out of their hair. When Molly (Em's Mom) answered, I asked how things were going and she started to laugh. What a shocker, David had been on the Wii the entire time and was still playing. She had made him go to the bathroom twice, but couldn't get him to do anything else. Emily's Dad brought him a happy meal, but they couldn't get him to stop and eat, and Molly didn't have the heart to just turn it off. After a while she put the food next to him with the hope he would start to nibble on it. (He eventually did) Emily was a trooper....she played with him for a long time, then watched him play for a while. She tried to get him to go outside with her, but she was no match for the power of the Wii. Molly told me at one point Emily was watching David play and turned to him and said "I love you David." Being like some true dim-witted Stitzer/Heffernan boys I know (when it comes to girls) his response was "WHY?" Her reply was "because you're so cute!" If he doesn't get engaged to Emily right away, he is silly!

I told Molly I would be over to get him. When Joey and I got there, they were all out in the front yard playing, but not David. I went in to break it to him we would have to leave and understood why he wasn't budging. Apparently Mario Kart is a lot more fun when played on a GIANT (55 inch) flat screen tv with all new raceways, characters and cars unlocked that we don't have on our game yet (because Em's Dad is so good at the game)...... David was in HEAVEN! When I finally got him off the game, he went outside and had a good time playing a little longer with just his friend and their imaginations! Imagine that, there is a world outside of the Wii! He had a great day. Next time, if there is a next time..... I told Molly to just turn off the game. They were great to have him over for so long, and put up with him! THANK YOU!!

Oh, and the following day was Emily's 5th birthday. We were invited to go roller skating with them, but Andy and I were gone for the day for a 30th birthday.... so we had to decline. I know she had a great day.... I asked her about this morning when I took David to school.

This Is The Perfect Age

I talked to my friend Teresa recently. She called me accidentally while driving as my name was right next to the person she actually MEANT to call..... but heck, I'll take it. We hadn't spoken in a while, so we caught up what we were both up to. She has 2 kids.... a boy who is 8 or 9, and a girl who is 11? 3rd and 6th grades.... I think..... See what a bad friend I am? Teresa and I used to work together, and were roommates, twice actually, back in our college days. She and I have had some pretty great (crazy) times together. So many of my good memories from my 20s and 30s include her. Flipped pedicabs, giant sombreros, donuts at 7-11 at midnight..... I have to admit all these times include a night of drinking before hand. She is a great friend, but when we see each other, it's always without kids, so me not knowing every detail about her kids isn't surprising, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't hold it against me. Anyway, she was asking about the kids and when I told her Rose is in kindergarten, she told me to appreciate this age. In her words, it's a perfect age. She still has all her teeth, looks like a cute little girl, acts like a cute little girl (well, most the time)....etc. She is right. This really is a good age. I'm trying to remember and appreciate it all..... good and bad. Here are some of my favorite pictures of my little Rosie as a kindergartner.

Oh, and here is a plug for Teresa's business. She is very successful with Silpada, a line of great sterling silver jewelry: http://mysilpada.com/sites/teresa.price/private/content/home.jsf

I Can See Clearly Now, the Tree is Gone.........(well, not really)

I used to really be addicted to QVC. Every once in a while I still flip over to it and see what they are hocking. So a few months back when a pair of large, heavy duty ratcheting pruning shears, with bonus small pair came on, I HAD TO HAVE THEM! It could cut through large branches with ease! So I got them, and with so many other things I get from QVC, I never even opened the box.

My Mom came over yesterday and we were talking about the tree out front. She suggests I cut it down and plant something else. It isn't a very good looking tree. It blocks the front window and lets very little light into the front room. It's shaped like a giant bush, not a tree, and even after having an arborist come 'fix' it, it still looked like an oversize bush. He told me it is a Brazilian Pepper tree, which I found out later are very invasive. In fact, they are such a nuisance, people just try to kill them off with little success. They need to be poisoned, and apparently you have to get the poison from Florida as they don't sell it California. I learned this from my friend Pete who had one in his yard he tried to kill forever, successfully. After my Mom left, I pulled out my super-deluxe pruning shears and decided if this tree is so hard to kill, I would just give it a little hair cut and see if I couldn't make it look a better. After all, I can't really hurt it, right? Well, 7 hours later and 17 garbage bags plus a trash can full of clippings, I now have a tree, rather than a bush. It does look better, but who knows..... I may just hack it down altogether and plant something new. For now, I am enjoying my new view out the front window. I can see all the way down the street, which I have never been able to do before. (so I can be nosier than ever!)

Thank God for QVC! Now, does anyone need me to whip up something with the immersion blender I bought about 2 years ago? I know it's in a box in the garage somewhere....... This is the 'after' of the tree, not a noticeable difference to most, but huge to me.

I don't have a good BEFORE picture, but you can sort of see how bushy the tree was.

Domestic Godess? Why Yes, Yes, I Am........

Sunday I roasted a chicken. No, I'm not even kidding....I really took a raw chicken and roasted it! There was a great deal on whole chickens at the grocery store, so I bought one. I had to call my good friends Bob and Victor to walk me through what to do, and luckily for me, my brother Dale (who is also a great cook) called as I was getting it into the oven, so he was able to give me last minutes tips..... but I did it.... and I even STUFFED it! And really, what's better than stuffing right out of the bird? YUM!!!! And not only did I stuff my friend chickie, I shoved pats of butter under the skin to make it extra juicy. YUM!!!! Now the real question is, why do people do this when they can just go to Costco and buy a fully cooked rotisserie chicken cheaper than a raw one at the grocery store? Oh, the answer is you are Ina Garten, and perfect in every way. Please disregard the unfortunate carrot position in the 'after' shot. Oh, and I think I was supposed to cut off the neck? Who knows, but it was DELICIOUS!

Mommy Dearest

This poor boy sure deserves better parents. I've made excuses that Joey doesn't get to nap anymore because of David and Rose's school schedules, and he really doesn't. But the other part of the story is he is a tough kid when it comes to things he doesn't want to do. He is a screamer. The more you suggest something he doesn't want to do, the more he screams...... "NO"..... and the louder he gets. no, No, NO!! Every once in a while I can trick him into taking a nap by suggesting he watch a movie on my bed when I know he's tired....but most of the time, he's not having any part of that. We went in for his 3 year check-up last month and when his doc asked does he still nap? I said yes, but almost laughed as I would have had to admit how crappy I am at this Mothering business....... So, when he does fall asleep, I just let him stay where he is. Guess I shouldn't have sold that crib (cage) just yet. Can't just put him in and walk away anymore. He won't stay in a bed. So, as we speak, he is asleep on the kitchen floor (not for the first time) where he plopped himself down when I started to make dinner. Perhaps this needs to be a New Year's Resolution..... be a better Mom. The 3rd day into the year and I've already failed! Oh well, he will PROBABLY live to age 4....even with ME as his Mom. I won't even tell you about the time he was screaming and yelling and fell asleep on the stairs, you just might call child protective services..... that's why I never snapped the picture! :^O

All Is Quiet on New Year's Day (and the day after)

Rose had her friend Lexie sleep over on New Year's Day night, so another late night was had by all. We had a VERY relaxed and quiet New Year's day. We stayed home, slept in and then spent the day trying to clean (me... after my short bowl-a-thon)......but it just never gets there....I pick something up and take it to where it belongs only to find a mess there I need to address before I can put away whatever it was in the first place.... I really am still trying to clean up from Christmas. It just isn't happening. So most all of us didn't get to sleep until about 12:30 AM last night....but they rewarded me by letting us all sleep in until 10 AM. YEAH!!! So today, I made a game of un-decorating the tree with the girls. Find 3 ornaments that are green, find a Santa, bring me an ornament with a Santa hat on it.... bring me one with that's an animal. They had a great time, and we got that tree undecorated in a jiffy! (isn't jiffy a great word? ... perhaps I should try to incorporate it into my daily vocab) This is the worst part of the holidays......un-decorating. Not only do we (I) have to take it all down, I have to put it all away too. We got the tree done and everything put away then I tackled the house lights too. I really do feel better now that we are all holiday free..... I HATE the houses that leave the lights up year round. The highlight of the day was Aunt Helene coming this afternoon to spend the night with us and get some time in with the kids. We LOVE when she is here. Anyway.... 1 more day of vacation and the kids are back to school. That will be good to get back into that normal routine. And in case you are wondering, David is STILL playing the Wii all day, and ALL NIGHT, if we would let him. As we knew it would be. Santa, you old salty dog..... you done good.

Happy New Year!!

I woke this morning at 8:15, after staying up till 3 AM with Rose & David. Joey had called it a night at 11 PM, and Andy outlasted us all. I went downstairs to find that Andy had been bowling alone and left his high score, the new record for the house, on the TV for me to see. It was something like 212. Not too shabby! I had nearly broken 200 last night when I blew it and ended up at 199. Well, I had to beat Andy's score.....and so I started. A few strikes here, a spare there....165, 185.....not too bad! Then I got in the zone. Strike, strike, strike..... it was as if I was channeling my inner bowling-queen. The ABBA song, Dancing Queen playing in my head.....'And when you get the chance, you are the Bowling Queen'...... I could not be stopped! I broke that old 200.....and I did it handily! I bowled a 235! I was on a roll and tried again..... 235? I LAUGH at you! Please meet 251! Take THAT! I bowled 8 strikes in a row. EIGHT! Well, I reached my peak at 251.... for now. I did play a few more games with Andy and Rose, and the 100s have welcomed me back with open arms. But watch out perfect game.....here I come.

And by the way, Rose got up at 9 and David slept till 2 PM. I will never get him to sleep tonight!