I HAVE A CONFESSION!!

I always try to be cool and act like I know what everyone is talking about when there is a discussion, I will recite facts I have learned while browsing on Amazon but the cold hard facts are I know nothing about digital cameras!!! I still use my film slr and take the rolls to Target and have them put on photo disc. Then when I get ready to scrapbook I go and use the Kodak picture machine thing and make the pictures I am going to use. Why am I confessing.... Because it is the reason behind I post so little on my blog. I have no pictures. I just took 19 rolls of film to Target to get put on the disc so when they come back maybe I will let you know about our holidays. I was thinking today I really want a digital slr camera, I just love my film one I have had since MG was a baby. In fact one time I was asked, how come I still use it. It is because I know how, I know when I take a picture it will come out. The few times I have grabbed Malcolm's digital, my pictures don't always turn out and I miss the moment and think if I had my camera I would of gotten that shot! I think I am going to look into taking a class about digital photography at the community college. Then packed with knowledge I can answer with a 100% certainty, I want a digital slr for any of this years present giving celebration I might encounter.

Sisters

I have been thinking a lot about sisters, I have been keeping up with the NieNie dialogues through her sister's blog, cjane. I have often been jealous of the relationship these 4 women share. I have never experience that kind of love from a woman who shared my DNA and grew up in the same house. Yes, I have a sister but she is mentally ill and that sisterly relationship from the time I can remember was full humiliation, violence, manipulation, deception and the list goes on, I wish that this was an exaggeration and but it is not and to give you a glimpse of the relationship I have had with her, here is one story:
We were at her wedding reception to her 2nd husband, she had too much to drink and decided to make an announcement. She announced to everyone there how much she hated me and the reasons why, then smacked me up side the head with some object while I wasn't looking. I left.

Now that you are feeling pretty sorry for me, don't. Because I have been pondering lately how lucky I am because I have lots of Sisters, ones who don't share my DNA but have given me the relationship those sisters feel.

I have girlfriends who I have been friends with for over 25 years who affectionately my children call "Aunts." I have a friend who we met in college, whose children call me Aunt. I have a friend who I was acquainted with through neighbors then it turned into a lasting sister friend. All of these women know me inside and out, and not one ounce of DNA shared. These were the ones at my wedding, birth of my son, with me in the ups and downs of trying to conceive Katy as well as the joys and struggles of everyday life. I am so lucky to have them in my life and to have their love and friendships.

Now just when you were thinking how lucky I am, it gets better! I belong to a church that my membership includes belonging to the women's organization called, The Relief Society. At church we refer to each of as Sisters because we share one Heavenly Father. It hasn't mattered where I have lived they have always been here. They are women who will watch your children in a pinch, bring a meal when needed and offer friendship shared by faith. They were also there at my wedding, the birth of my son, the ups and downs of trying to conceive Katy as well as the joys and struggles of everyday life. There faces have been different but their hearts the same, full of love for our Savior and ready to serve the ones he loves.

I know what your thinking, now you are jealous of me! But wait I am not done. It was about 8 years ago that my brother brought home this beautiful girl for us to meet. They courted, were engaged and engaged then a year ago this week they were married! Giving me a Sister! No, no DNA but it is by marriage and I will take it. She is sweet, considerate, kind, loving and belongs to our family, my sister, my friend. I will share DNA with her children.

So, they say one shouldn't pity one self but I think it is okay. After all if I didn't spend that 30 minutes boohooing about the DNA sister life dealt me. I might not of been so reflective about all my sisters I do have. I truly am grateful for each and every one of them. And if you are one of them reading this, know how much I love you.

It's Good To Be The Princess

For those of you that have been to Disney know what I am talking about, all cast members there will call you children prince or princess. Katy has been going since right before her second birthday, and I think she truly believes she is a princess. She has the poise of a princess, she watches the mannerism very closely while we are there and emulates them. She will curtsy and kiss each cheek. She begins many of her sentences with "Oh, my" When we went to Rita's Water Ice just the other day, she asked "A small princess mango, please." The man behind the counter turned to her brother for clarification. Then he indulge her(just like her family does) and said " one small princess mango for the princess." My mom often says we are lucky she lets us be apart of her world.

Fourth Grade and Deodorant

Ask MG the best part about 4th grade and he will tell you, well maybe not you but he has confessed this to me, that it is changing gym clothes and wearing deodorant. All summer he kept having me check if his had gotten his "man smell" yet. I being the indulging mother I am would smell his armpits after a long hot summer day and say nope just sweaty kid smell, he then ask if I was sure because it smelled like it to him. He would walk away disappointed. We played this out at least 3 days a week, each time he was for sure he had his "man smell." So now that it is a requirement to have deodorant for after gym, he feels he has been validated.

So along those same lines, he is in the bathroom a couple of days ago and hollers out "do you think Joe will be jealous if I get my man hairs before him? This shock and surprised mama says WHAT? he repeats, I ask very curious since he is only 10 which man hairs are you talking about? His reply, you know the ones that grow on my legs, arm pits and personals. My reply "ugh, not sure, why?" Because I am getting them now. Oh, is all I could say. My sweet son is not so modest and I have seen him naked everyday, in fact just that morning and didn't notice. So maybe it is peach fuzz getting thicker? who knows! I did ask Joe's mom if she thought he would be jealous, her reply "you know they are pretty competitive."

So I pick Katy up from preschool today, and she gets in the van, buckles her seat belt and then smells both her arm pits. Then looks up at me and announces "Yup, I got it." Got what I ask?, "My woman smell" she says.

What is it with both my kids want to smell funky?

Disney Vacation

This is always my favorite vacation. At the end of the day we are all totally exhausted and some of us tend to be a little grouchy but it is after a day well spent. We had such a great time, MG, Mom and I got sick with a cold towards the end. We were given Dream Fast Passes at Hollywood Studios and I absolutely LOVED the new Toy Story ride. Katy went to the Bippity Bobbity Boutique and got the princess do she is sporting in the picture. Do you see how tight her hair is pulled into that bun? She did not complain once, now last night trying to blow dry her hair for picture day you would of thought I was ripping her hair out one strand at a time! Everything must be truly magical there. I am trying to think of one favorite thing that stands out and I can't. People will ask me why we go back year after year, but I think they are the same people who look at it as just an amusement park. You know I am already thinking about next year's trip, hopefully we will still be able to get there in this economy!

My Business Trip

Yup, you read that right this stay at home Mom, part time mystery shopper got to go on a all expensive paid business trip to Chicago. My company sent me there to evaluate stores in the Chicago area and give them feed back on how they were similar and different from the stores I shop in my area. A couple of years ago I referred my long time friend for they mystery shopping job and she was selected to go as well. So off to Chicago for us. It was like a girls weekend. Although we were very busy doing what we had gone for, we still went out and saw some sights. I loved Chicago, could not get over how clean it was for a large city. I liked it so much I keep telling Malcolm we need to take a family vacation there. I was thinking it wold be nice to rent a cottage on Lake Michigan that was driving distance to Chicago so we could also check out all the things to do. Although I enjoyed myself, I still kept thinking how much fun this would of been to be with my family. Everything we did and saw we both would comment how much fun this would be to be with our kids, and every once in awhile we would say with our husbands too. We went to the American Girl Place, and Sharon I think was a little sad because she was experiencing it for the first time with me and not one of her daughters. I told her she could close her eyes I would lead her out and we could act like it never happened. Then a friend of mine, recommend this great Mexican restaurant, and it was good. He was a Navy Chief stationed at Great Lakes before he met his wife. All though it was really good Mexican food it was in the bar district of the city and we went on Friday night which was 8-8-08, and they were having a party. I called his wife the next day to tell her where her husband sent us and said, next time he recommends somewhere I will have to inquire is it from his Navy days or church and family days! Ha Ha, we still enjoyed our dinner, it was fun watching all the party goers. Other highlights included seeing Wrigley field, Navy pier, window shopping on Michigan Ave. and walking a path along Lake Michigan in the North Shore area. One highlight included being bumped off our flight going there and given a complimentary round trip airline ticket for anywhere in the US, except Alaska and Hawaii.

Also, I was really impressed with my husband and how he entertain the kids, fed them and kept up with the schedule. He remember the Boy Scout Rain Gutter Regatta Picnic, took them swimming at the pool club, pack a picnic lunch and took them to a Smithsonian. He even cooked dinner, most nights. They didn't eat fast food once while I was away....Go Malcolm!

I am glad to be home, I missed my family!

Our Staycation

So the kids and I after Rehoboth went to my mom's for a staycation, that is when you don't drive far to take your vacation. We used my mom's house as the home base for the week. It was the best! Everyone is spoiled at Grandma's including the mom. We spent a day with one of my girlfriends from college and her kids in Oxford. One day we went to Douglassville to our old neighborhood to visit Leslie and her two kids. One evening we went with my friend Tammy and her husband Fred to Rose Tree Media Park to hear an outdoor concert of the Irish band, Blackthorn. The kids had a great time, Katy wants to take up Irish dancing. You can check them out at their website http://www.irishthing.com/

We also went to Grammy's work, she wanted to show the kids or so she says. I think she wanted to show off the grandbabies. I got to go out to dinner to PF Changs with another girlfriend and have grown up conservation. Then Sunday my mom served a Mexican dinner with fajitas and tamales in honor of my birthday, so more friends gathered! This morning as I was loading the van, Katy was refusing to leave. I practically had to drag her out from under my mom's bed. Everyone enjoyed the staycation!!