"Your Dedication. Our Admiration."

I found an ad in the local paper today from TriWest, thanking TRICARE providers. "Everyday, especially on Doctor's Day, we thank you for your dedication." At first I thought this was aimed at the military doctors, but no, I think it's the civilian doctors who accept the crappy, crappy reimbursement rates from the military health insurance. I agree, it is very nice of them to do because frankly, as little as they are getting paid for their services, they would no doubt rather be out golfing instead. Anyway, in the ad they show a doctor pinning up a thank you note from a patient on his bulletin board. Do you know what Sean has on his bulletin board at work? Invitations to Doctor's Day activities (lunches, parties, etc) at the hospitals he moonlights for (that clearly he can't go to but nice to know they appreciate their doctors there).

Do you know what they do at army hospital for Doctor's Day? Nothing, not even a sign in the lobby. One year some higher up even admitted that they forgot all about it. Really, how shocking. They do at least appreciate the nurses (they do a ton for nurses day or is it a week?), so they aren't totally heartless there. Yep, Doctor's Day is just another day to stop Sean in the cafeteria to "remind" him that he can't have his hand in his pocket while in uniform (HOW IS HE SUPPOSED TO GET HIS WALLET OUT?!).

Oh army, between the usual crap that goes on and the all night bombing fest keeping my kids up this week, you are on my S list. Still waiting on more info today to add to this rant. Not looking good.

Grumpster

Someone woke up on the floor next to his door, all sweaty and grumpy. A little cereal helped perk him up...

4 months and change

So far she can't wiggle away when we put her down. It's a good stage except for the big kids tumbling around, threatening to fall on her.

Bus?

How will this lazy mom see if her kids get on the bus now? Not real thrilled about the new neighbors...

Sean is working

He always appreciates a new blog post to read after working a late shift and he told me to put this story in, so not my fault if it's lame. We were driving home from church today Anna told us her theory about how if you can see pencil lines in a movie then you know it isn't real. So I tried to explain that all movies are fake but then remembered documentaries and I explained that those are true but biased. Megan diplomatically added, "and boring". Spoken like a 2nd grader who has seen her share at school...

We have also started a program to get Patrick to go back in the church nursery. Someone with a booming voice scared him there a couple months ago and he has since refused to even go near it. I was smacked in the face with a palm a few too many times at mass today, I've had enough. Anyway, stage 1 is to convince Patrick that the scary man lives on TV now. Yes, we start with footage of him on our crappy old school TV, then we will move it downstairs to extra big (nightmare causing) size.

ARGH, Pottery Barn Kids Strikes Again!

Now what PBK is trying to sell me is a vacation home by water. They are so good at showcasing summer style bedrooms that you simply must buy a whole other house to have them. They make you forget that you hate the wind at the beach, not to mention the sand creeping into everything you own- and every part of you. For a while there I even forget the feeling of legitimate paranoia that comes with having small children near big waves. Usually it is just Coastal Living that dupes me into researching best places to buy a vacation home. (They do an excellent job of making me forget the financial consequences of such a purchase too.) Of course the timing is stellar as everyone is done with winter and ready for some heat (and fun summer bedding! for the baby too!).

Anyway, it is a dark, dreary, rainy day here but the grass is green and next week is looking good. Well, except if the forecast actually mentions wind you can be sure they aren't kidding. Time to batten down the lawn furniture. Or else let it all blow away so I can get some of the serious real furniture from Restoration Hardware to replace it... just got that catalog too. I think Sean is just going to start tossing them in the recycling before I even see them. Just like I do with the toy catalogs...

Fuel for the day

This was during spring break when I was too tired to fight off every demand. Yes, he had a popsicle for breakfast, but look, it's an orange one! Why, it's just like orange juice, right? The perfect match for the powdered sugar that went with the french toast, or was it the french toast that went with the powdered sugar? Whatever it was, it didn't fill him up that much because I'm sure we had 2nd breakfast that day too. That was all I did for spring break... run a short order kitchen. If I wasn't cooking, I was cleaning up. Good times! One of these years we will go on a real vacation like we always thought we would once Sean was staff....

Look out below!

Patrick loves to dive from this position but we did stop him in time. Emily is usually pretty wary when Patrick is around...

Tummy Time

See, if you wait a couple years they love tummy time...

Crashed Out

When he naps, he naps hard. I had to wake him up at 6pm the other night or else we would have been partying until the wee hours together. This was also taken before he got a big nasty cut on his eyebrow, on the sitter's watch I might add. We still can't believe she got the bleeding to stop on her own.

Handy faucet

"I spray, I spray!!" are never words you want to hear from the two year old playing with the water in the bathroom. Patrick has figured out that our faucet pulls out just like a kitchen one, handy for cleaning toothpaste out of the sink, or so the ad showed. I assure you, no one besides me has done that in this house. Not to say that I live with a bunch of slobs, but wait, no, that is exactly what I am saying. I did anticipate this a little bit and picked out white vanities for the bathrooms, all the better to hide toothpaste I thought. Ha ha, what a fool I am! No, the children's toothpaste advisory panel recommended that toothpaste come in pink and blue instead of white. They are indeed on my S list.

Anyway, I at least responded quickly to the spray announcement and stopped the bathroom flooding before it got too out of control. I guess this is one way to get the floor cleaned. Patrick is pretty clean himself now, time to dress him and get him outside to run some more. I dropped him and the sitter off at the park for a couple hours this morning. My house stayed clean and he was happy, win-win.

Big White Baby Poetry

First of all, Patrick is fully entrenched in the "I naked" stage so we are seeing an awful lot of the big white baby these days. He does keep a diaper on most the time at least, unless he is taking it off to pee on the floor. He can't figure out what is supposed to happen if he sits on the potty so we are not ready to deal with that yet. I realize diapers are bad for the environment, but you don't realize how few of them we go through. He hates being changed so I only fight that battle when necessary.

Anyway, Patrick is also at the stage where he likes to tell long animated stories that we can't understand. There are times when I feel I am at a modern poetry reading. This tends to happen when I am trapped someplace, like nursing Emily in her room. He will come in and start his performance and I can't leave without offending him, much like at a reading. He will use big arm gestures, repeat phrases over and over, use his big dramatic stage voice, and occasionally I will understand a word he says. Most of the time I just nod and make non-committal noises. He usually ends with a question, or the same question over and over and over, and I struggle to find the answer that will make it stop. Tonight I think he was asking where the owl was. I blame a grandfather for this one.

Finally, I was rescued tonight by the girl who refuses to go to bed.... oh how Anna loves to turn on her sugar voice and ask if she may please give us one more kiss before she goes to bed. She knows we can't say no without being declared world's worst parents. She followed it up with a request for water to which I told her to help herself, just get a cup out. She then switched to hyper-emotional tired girl and screamed, "NEVER". Longest spring break EVER. I am so ready for bed but we are 4 episodes behind on Lost. Since when did TV become a chore?

Living. Large.

This is for all those people who complain about how expensive it is to have kids. Let me tell you, having kids saves us so much money. For example, without kids we may have gone on a fabulous vacation this week, running us ten big ones. Instead, we spent 50 tiny ones to "vacation" with our kids to the zoo near Salina, KS. Yes, that included gas and vending machine drinks (we splurged there, trust me, there was a time when we wouldn't have paid $2 for water). Another example would be choice of vehicles. Sean "jokes" about wanting a Maserati but he knows that a kid could trash that with one squeeze of a yogurt tube from Panera. The mini-van can handle that... and it has been paid off for ages.

We are planning to crash the golf trip this year though so I pulled up the website for Kiawah Island. Ah, the welcome slideshow shows a lovely resort hotel, then some kids standing on the beach, then some alligators by the pond, then a fancy dessert, then a golf green. What the what?! Back up there, alligators?! Sandwiched between innocent children and some chocolate.... the jaws of death. Umm, I'm not too sure about this. I feel differently about all those fabulous planned communities in the south now... marsh views probably involves many creatures more dangerous than deer and turkeys. This Yankee doesn't even like small garden snakes...

Capfin

Anna spent a lot of time today using up all my tape so she could attach a sign to Sean's back (a joke he played along with before). This one said, "I am Capfin Doo Dean Face". I guess I need to explain rank to Anna, that's MAJOR Doo Dean Face now. Can't believe we are finishing up spring break with 2 more days trapped inside by ice, snow, and wind. Even better, I get to try and keep them all quiet from 7am to 2pm each day while Sean works. Can only imagine what sign is going to get taped to my back...

Travel Ban Lifted

The Keenan Kids Travel Ban was temporary lifted today for a day trip to the Salina area, before being slammed back down, locked, and I believe Sean is standing on it. Anna thought the one hour drive was FOREVER and trust me, it sure seemed that way after the 15th time she asked when we'd be there. Patrick was like a wild animal when he woke up from his nap on the way back, except that wild animal was still strapped in for another 20 minutes. He apparently wanted "OUT" of his seat. Definitely no family weddings this summer and even trips to the pool are up for debate. Oh, the money we save on travel.

p.s. Any wedding invitations addressed to "Mr. and Mrs. Keenan" will get "Mr." level gifts. No need to fork it out if they don't know Sean's a doctor. On an unrelated note, our church envelopes come to Mr. Keenan too.... We like flying under the radar, hence our old crappy mini-van.

Old People Food

Sean and I like to joke about the "Old People Food" that they serve at the club, which obviously appeals to their main dining demographic but not so much to us. One example is that they have no less than 7 different kinds of cream pies on their dessert menu (out of 10 items- I kid you not). We just marvel at this and wonder who is so obsessed with cream pies. When they have a buffet the pies are just melting on the plates, not appealing at all. I mentioned this theory to a friend (and very loyal blog reader) who stopped by tonight and she agreed... pie is OPF.

Anyway, this has led to a disturbing turn of events this week. The new grocery store that opened near us carries some local bakery pies that looked so good I decided to get one "for the kids". They were having a playdate yesterday so I got some chocolate cream pie and figured they would love it. Well, it is beyond addictive. Megan asked for seconds and I told her no because she would get sick from too much sugar. Meanwhile, I was eating it out of the pie pan, a little more than just one piece... I think these old people are on to something.

It gets worse. I take Anna to the store with me again today since she is the squeaky wheel needing attention and I notice their regular pies. As a rule, I don't like regular pie either, the crust is usually tasteless and greasy, ick. Oh but they had strawberry rhubarb and like anyone over 65, I love rhubarb so I picked one out. I did at least realize no one else would like it so I got half a pie and planned on just eating the filling. Oh. My. Pie Crust. Are you getting sick just thinking of how much pie I am eating?? It is so good and I am spending a lot of hours in this house with a LOT of kids. It is my only friend (well, except for you, dear laptop). Sean was working tonight so no yoga torture either. Instead I will punish myself by putting on a bathing suit to sit in the hot tub. Maybe the jets will pound the fat away?

(Full disclosure: my parents always used to say OPS for Old People S#*&, so clearly I am ripping them off. I have been banned from ever using this phrase to reference them or their behavior. I am pretty sure they act like they're 23 on their extended party in Texas each year, so not exactly acting like old people.... motorhome withstanding. Katie, Andrea and Stephanie: you can feel free to use OPS examples in the comments though, only I have been banned.)

Waterpark

This is how we do "waterpark". Poor Patrick has no idea what a real waterpark is... I had to come up with something to keep him from wanting to join the girls in the yard... which is too dangerous with the construction next door. Then the girls somehow got involved in the waterpark and ended up "washing" the porch. Now I need to wash the floor inside and the doors. Somehow muddy water doesn't do the trick. But they sure had fun. Anna is no fool though, she keeps telling me how much she loved Florida. Hint, hint!!

May-May and Ka-Ka

Patrick keeps pushing his way onto my lap to look at this picture of whom he calls May-May and Ka-Ka. This was taking during some spring break fun yesterday. Don't let the bathing suit tops fool you, it wasn't warm here but apparently they were inspired after watching the latest Barbie commercial/movie, something about a surfing mermaid. They had to put on bathing suits to watch it and then went outside to sing the songs for the construction workers next door (I was informed of this 2nd part later, much to my displeasure).

Anyway, the good news is that Megan can sing and apparently enjoys it, so this disproves her statement that she doesn't sing in church because she doesn't like to. Now she has amended that position and says she only likes to sing good songs. Well, some Sundays are better than others in our church, the girl has a point. For as much as they are asking us to give them (along with telling them what our income is- no joke), I think they are going to need to step it up and bring out the band more than a couple times a year. It is the strangest parish we have ever belonged to and we have gone to quite a few. So many that I often have to look at the envelope before I write the check to make sure I get the name right. Whenever someone here asks me which one we go to I always say the wrong one. Really, no St. Mark's here? Give me a break, it's only been 3 and a half years...

Okay, last time I mention white kitchen

Here it is, page 130 of the latest House Beautiful, Kitchen of the Month: "We live in the era of the white kitchen." Do you hear that, Kansas builder? It's an ERA. And I am missing out. By the time I can build it, they will be mocking it. Oh no, will oak be back in style then?! I am afraid so because the next line in the article is, "But here's one that makes a compelling case for the beauty of wood." They use washed oak and it looks nothing like the oak of the 80s but I think out of principle I will avoid it. In my current kitchen which is usually messy and full of kid clutter, I keep a photo of the one I will build someday. It is in this month's Coastal Living but I am unable to find the photo online to post here. Trust me, it is perfect in every way and there are no juice box straws or crayon wrappers stuck to the floor. Spring break is not kind to this house.

Lost Tooth

No really, she even lost the bag that held the tooth so I guess it doesn't matter that the toothfairy forgot to come.

Weekend Update

Not much to report as usual, but that won't stop me. Sean got to spend one less hour in Vegas than planned thanks to the time change but that didn't translate into one less hour of having the kids alone for me. I made the mistake of changing the clocks last night so the girls got up at their usual clock time, never mind it should have felt an hour earlier to them. Patrick is clearly a genius because he still managed to get up at his usual 6:33 a.m., the darkness did not fool him. Perhaps someone in the neighborhood has an idea of what happens that wakes him up at the same time everyday. Plane? Neighbor going to work? Dog getting let out? Whatever it is, I have no problem sleeping through it. It's the yelling for Bar-bar (Barney) that wakes me up.

I did manage a few good workouts this weekend. I got the sitter so I could go to yoga which was stupid because then I was very sore which made my usual chores quite difficult, say holding a baby while walking around for hours. We went to the St. Pat's parade which was chilly and had a lot of questionable "entries", but the effort paid off because then we got lunch at the Palace, where someone held Emily so I could eat (thanks!). It really wore the little ones out so they then took a 3 hour nap at the same time (shocking considering Patrick hasn't napped in at least a week). I didn't nap but I laid down without moving because I was so sore for a good 2 hours of that time, while threatening the big girls every time they came upstairs. I eventually had to change to bribery and thus after picking up a nutritious dinner at Wendy's, we went to Target for "Daddy is in Vegas, here is your reward toy". A couple mermaid dolls later we made it home and the girls then took a 2 hour play bath involving the new toys and an entire bottle of shampoo. I don't know if we'll ever get the bubbles out of the tub.

My workout today was church. I didn't break a sweat this time but that's because I have learned to wear lighter clothing. While I was putting Emily in her seat to leave, Anna and Patrick escaped outside to sit on some bench swing thing. Megan was oblivious and had no idea where they went. I used this as an excuse to not let them watch TV the rest of the day. I am so tired of hearing it. Going to be a long week. And as for all those people posting on Facebook about their awesome spring break trips: dislike button.

Sean is at least on the way home from the airport now. I will be heading out to sit in the hot tub as soon as the garage door opens... it would be with a bottle of wine, but remember, Target doesn't sell wine in Kansas. Neither does Wendy's. Some would say I have whined enough though, haha!

Toddler Stripper

Patrick has a recently acquired aversion to wearing clothing, a few months shy of the summer heat. When friends come over to play they are momentarily confused but then often request to join in the fun. I battled (and won!) to get him dressed this morning to go hang at the Palace, where I can buy "light caffeine" and pizza and baby gifts (talk about one stop shopping). On the way home he started talking about "take off clothes" and that is just what he did when he walked in. Maybe I am keeping the house too warm?

Excitement, or not

This is the kind of weekend we have lined up: playing with random kitchen items and making a huge mess. What could be more fun than ripping apart all the bread bag ties and spreading them on the floor? Well, putting them into a big soup ladle of course. And then taking them to my room and throwing the ties all over, before piling up all my pillows and yelling when they tip over. The girls get out of school early today too so they will have more time to complain about Sean being gone to Vegas. It is rather telling when Sean is much more concerned and feeling guilty about not being at work and his coworkers having to work extra, than he is about leaving us home. I guess we are a little too self-sufficient. I don't even feel like ordering myself something pretty as I often threaten. I have four boxes of stuff that didn't fit right that I have to mail back as it is. I give up.

We will attempt the parade tomorrow but I draw the line at running in the race pushing 4 kids in a stroller. Yes, Megan would love it if I'd let her ride in the stroller, there is apparently no shame in being lazy. At some point tomorrow she will be sitting in it because her legs will be tired. Sean will be back Sunday night but then heads right off to work while the kids have spring break. Maybe some year we will go on a real vacation all together, just hard right now with 2 little ones and 2 different work schedules. At least the girls are just happy to not go to school, they don't know that other kids go to Disney for break...

So Very Innocent

After a long day of running around in his diaper I finally made him sit down and watch Barney so I could clean the kitchen. Emily was playing on the floor so I had to keep checking to make sure his little head was still peeking up on the couch and not down bothering her. I got a little concerned when I couldn't see it so I went over and found him doing the head bob. After one big one, he then settled down for a little nap. Emily was all smiles, enjoying the quiet!

Package Delivery

Like a fool, I brought in the package this morning instead of letting Patrick get it. As soon as he saw the box on the kitchen table he freaked out and had a total meltdown. So, I had to let him take it back out and bring it in again. He wasn't content to just put it back on the porch, no, had to run it out to the middle of the yard. No self respecting man in brown would have left a package in the yard, but minor detail. And yes, he was in his pajamas still, which is better than the usual... just a diaper. He is not a fan of clothes these days which saves on laundry at least.

Quick post before Monday morning chaos

On the subject of wine, I had all four kids in mass with me yesterday, while Sean was home getting some much needed sleep after a long shift. Patrick is now officially boycotting the nursery (thanks, coach) but he was the best behaved as long as he had his pinecone to hang on to. Yes, that's right, he took a pinecone to church and it apparently has magic powers because it kept him quiet and happy (I am going to sell these and make a fortune). Anna was the one who kept "accidentally" making Emily's giraffe squeak. She has definitely been the squeaky wheel lately, so much so that I decided not to take the wine at communion time for fear that I would just keep walking with the cup and finish it at my seat. There is always one of them being difficult it seems and any minute now I will find out whose turn it is today. The girls will be racing and stumbling up the stairs to escape the scary basement, complaining about not wanting to go to school. Oh but the sweet, sweet school bus will be here in 33 minutes. I should go find their filthy lunch boxes and fill them with non-smiling sandwiches.

Guess who doesn't start dreading Monday morning way back on Sunday afternoons? Stay home moms, that's who! Love you, Monday!

Pottery Barn Kids, you are killing me here

So I just pulled out the "late spring" edition of the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and I am wondering where it is "late spring"? I think we just got a taste of early spring, but late spring? Is this like putting out xmas decor in September? Anyway, I am paging through, looking at all the stuff that I won't buy my kids because it's just more junk for them to leave on the floor, when I see their lunchboxes. Not only is it time to replace the now dirty, nasty ones you bought last August, but it is time to step it up in the lunch packing department moms! This is what someone named "Abby" is getting in her lunch:

1 apple
1 orange
1 bunch of grapes
1 small container of peas
1 mystery beverage in a thermos (or perhaps a vegetable puree soup?)
and a sandwich cut into the shape of a circle with a face on top-- 2 eyes made out of carrot slices with peas balanced precariously on top and then a smile made out of, oh I don't know, a cantaloupe slice?

I am just glad that a product stylist put that together and that I don't need to go hunt down and smack Abby's mom (or her 2 gay dads?). Does Abby have an hour for lunch? Does Abby have a kind friend who shares a cookie or chip with her?

This is how the Keenans roll... juice box, fruit sauce, half a PBJ sandwich (now I do put effort into that as one child likes blueberry jelly and the other likes strawberry jelly... the one day I mixed those up I had hell to pay-- you'd think that since both girls will eat both fruits, that they would like both jellies-- you'd be mistaken), oh and then they get some sort of dessert so they have something to look forward to during their day of hard labor. They barely have time to eat this small amount of food and often bring part of it home, which Patrick greatly appreciates as he relieves them of their lunch bags as they walk in the door. He loves to torture me by putting their dirty fruit sauce spoons in his mouth, so nasty. Mmm, germs. Sometimes he also scores a juice box when Anna doesn't drink hers. That's when I find him hiding in the laundry room, sucking it down before I can take it away. Ah, sweet nectar for toddlers... gives them energy to party late.

Anyway, I need to go recycle this catalog before the girls find it and start circling everything they want (or notice the fantasy lunch box and demand smily face sandwiches). Of course nothing is as dangerous in the house as the American Girl catalog, I have to hide that down deep in the recycling....

Yoga! Yoga! Pizza!

As part of my be more involved and get the newspaper plan, I learned about a yoga studio opening up here in town so thought I would go check it out. I have gone to two gyms here for yoga classes (maybe 4 times total) and neither had the ambience I was hoping for (and that they show on the TV yoga I have done). I don't know, maybe it's that they use the same room as they use for spinning class and it smells like spinning class... and it's in a dark, dank basement? Anyway, I was thrilled to walk into a studio with hardwood floors, natural lighting, candles, great music, and an amazing instructor who taught us so much. Did I mention the military discount? And it's right next door to a great new coffee shop? You can get the schedule online. Please go try it so it will be a success and I can keep going!


www.orangeskyyoga.com

I tried to put the link in, not sure if it will work.

My other favorite local establishment is The Palace. They have some pretty fabulous thin crust pizzas, I recommend the Emerald with pesto sauce and a balsamic glaze. Daily specials are often the best though (props to Kevin) and the fajita pizza is my favorite of those. Oh, they are getting their liquor license soon but the fine state of Kansas will not allow them to sell these really cool individual wine boxes (like a juice box) that are popular in Europe. Not sure if those have straws, also not sure you should drink wine with a straw now that I think about it. My point being, they will have little bottles of wine soon. Of course The Palace also sells a lot of cool items for gifts (or yourself if you are me and having a long week). Patrick often finds a little something for himself too and one time he found a big something... some bouncy cow thing that you ride on. He literally carried it out of the store so I had to buy it. And now all the kids abuse it at home.

For the record, these are not paid advertisements but I wouldn't say no to a free pizza. Or access to the special parking in Aggieville....

So Sly

So last month Sean asks if I would mind if he did a quick trip to Vegas with his moonlighting pals. It's a cheap trip as one of them owns a place there and he usually wins enough to at least pay for the fun. How can I say no, the guy works two jobs and barely gets to sleep. So he books that. Then he mentions the moonlighting meeting that is in San Antonio in April, well he has to go to that and he says I can come along, just bring the baby. Oh, that sounds great! I would love to get back there, haven't been since we moved 4 years ago. Sign me up! Oh wait, we don't have a sitter who can handle the other 3 kids, nevermind. Too much hassle to take them all just for a weekend. So now we have 2 long weekends when I am home alone with all 4 kids. Don't worry, it gets better...

THEN, Sean "remembers" that he needs to get his CME credits for the year and oh look, the perfect conference is in Vegas in April also. Fan-freaking-tastic. Army is sometimes a little fussy about giving permission to go to those things, oh but not this time. Approved, soldier! Oh and then Army says we aren't going to let you decide your own career path, we are going to send you to a leadership course in San Antonio for 2 weeks, after 70 hours of online training. Are you (swear word-ing) me? If Sean is going to spend 70 hours working on the computer, I expect a nice deposit into the college funds. There is no possible promotion in Army that justifies any of this for him. Army spent NINE years training him to sit in the dark and interpret radiology studies. He doesn't want to talk to anyone, let alone LEAD them. There are people who want to be leaders, go find them.

Sean did say we could tag along and go to San Antonio for 2 weeks in July then. Awesome. I spent 4 summers in San Antonio with 2 children in our own home. I learned enough to know that two weeks with 4 kids in a hotel in the summer in Texas is a recipe for insanity. Oh, but there's a pool. Really, because I think maybe the water all evaporated overnight when the temps didn't even dip into the 90s. Better double check that one.

Sean is a rule follower so he will go. And I will remember that it could always be worse. It could be 6 months of deployment. So we will continue to hope he never goes and can instead take care of the wounded warriors back here, while hanging with his family each night (and taking the occasional weekend trip to Vegas).

Irish Up

I'm not sure how it happened but somehow I ended up making corned beef for dinner tonight. At some point the 25% Irish part of me took over the grocery cart and grabbed a hunk of fatty meat in red juice and then boiled it per the instructions. Blah. Everyone ate it, everyone got really really thirsty, our arteries started closing up and we threw the rest away. Sean said he had his fill of corn beef for a few months. A few months?! Umm, I think we're good from here on out. We can do potatoes (except Anna who thinks she doesn't like them) and I can keep beer in the house for guests, but that's the limit, folks. No, not even a Shamrock shake, not after the Shamrock shake hurling incident of spring break 1990 in Charlie Lux's van. In fact, I bet the other 5 people in that van have never had one again either. My apologies.

Toddler Routines

Toddlers are supposed to be a little OCD when it comes to their little routines, so I try to laugh at them, instead of worry. Anyway, Patrick has a number of things that he has to do every day and some of them are helpful, like shutting doors and closing drawers and taking out the diaper garbage. But then there is how he has to mess up my bed every time I make it or empty the pantry whenever I get on the computer (and then ask me every time what each item is- UGH, it's still tomato paste, okay??). There is a lot of yelling if I interfere or try to deviate from the routine so I usually just give in. Fine, fine, take the garbage out and then play in the cold dirty garage in just your diaper. I mean, how hard can a 2 year old throw a golf ball anyway? Could he break a car window? I'll let you know. Some things will come back to haunt him later, like how he has to get out my red high heels and wear them whenever he sees my closet open. Of course there are photos.




I do keep hoping his routines will inspire other family members. Like, if someone has to STEP OVER a garbage bag to get to their car, maybe it will trigger their routine to THROW IT IN THE TRASH CAN. Just saying. When I am trying to quickly get trash out of the kitchen before the children see their junk in it, I don't have time to get it all the way to the trash can without Patrick dashing to garage party time. Plus, it is cold out there and I am usually in my pajamas (or daytime pajamas) and they aren't very warm.