SOS--Sick Of Snow/Sleet

I know I'm just adding to the annual winter whine, but I am so sick of all this nasty weather. To date the boys have had SEVEN snow days this winter and I think that is more than the past few years combined. I have had to use all my "sick time" at work to be able to stay home with them for all these days off. I know spring is just around the corner, but when it has barely broke 40 degrees all February, it makes it hard to think positive. OKay, now that I got that out of my system, I'm going to go clean house and make use of my unexpected three day weekend.

What did you do to my child?

The boys desperately needed haircuts, so last weekend Brian got out the clippers to give them the normal buzz cuts. Alex was up first, but had a special request--he wanted a mohawk! Brian humored him just to see what it would look like, but with plans to cut it off. However, when it was done Alex was so excited about it I told him he could keep it for the weekend since we were having a get-together for Brian's birthday. Everyone at the party thought he was cool and now it's a week later and it is still there. Sometimes he spikes it up, sometimes it's down but he thinks it is cool so I guess it will stay for a little while, but it has to be gone by Easter!

Happy Valentine's Day

OKay I know I'm a couple days late, but I hope everyone had a very happy and special Valentine's Day. Typically our Valentine's Day is rather uneventful, the kids are always excited about their school parties, but more often than not Brian has to work, we don't have a babysitter or don't want to fight the crowds, so we just spend the evening at home. Not this year! Brian's friend owns Market Street Bar & Grill in Warrenton and invited us to come out on Valentine's Day for all-you-can-eat crab legs. Since Brian is actually off on Thursday evenings, I thought we might could make it work this year. For the past couple weeks we have had a live-in babysitter, since one of Brian's employees has been staying with us while her car gets a new motor put in it, so the babysitter issue was covered. The only thing left was to get out of my usual Thursday night bowling league which was not hard to do. So we were both available, had a babysitter and had a table waiting for us on Valentine's Day, it was great! Dinner was wonderful and very reasonable. I got the crab legs which also came with a salad, stuffed mushrooms, pasta, and chocolate strawberries- all for only $19.95! Needless to say I was stuffed. Brian got a huge steak with all the fixins, and we both had a few drinks to go along with our lovely evening. I also got a beautiful mystical topaz necklace and he got Reese's peanut butter hearts and a singing card (I definitely got the better end of that deal). We had a wonderful evening, which is good because it may be several years before we get to go out again on Valentine's Day.

Great Job, Alex!

Alex was in the school wide Spelling Bee on January 9th and after his disappointing experience last year we didn't quite know what to expect. This year was a very different story. The top speller from each class (3rd- 5th grades) get to go to the school bee. Alex won his class bee and was selected to be their representative. Brady came in 3rd in his class which is an accomplishment in itself- great job, Brady! Alex was a little nervous but easily breezed through the first few rounds. Before we knew it, it was down to only two spellers- Alex and Casey, who was the representative from Brady's class. After going back and forth for several more rounds Alex misspelled "frolicking," he left out the "k," and Casey won, but it really did seem like she got easier words throughout the competition, but I guess I'm biased. One of Alex's words was "infomercial," I almost protested because I just don't think that is a real world. I know people use it, but as far as a spelling bee word I don't think it qualifies, but again I'm biased. Brian was so happy for him that he made a few pizzas and took them up to Alex's class to celebrate. All the kids thought that was great and Brian and Alex were very popular people that day. Alex is now the school's alternate representative in the St. Louis Spelling Bee in March. Congratulations Alex, we are all very proud of you!

At the Little Gym

It was Alena's last week at gymnastics, which is "show week," where everyone gets to come in a take pictures. I thought I would share some pics of my little monkey girl doing what she does best!

2007 Christmas Wrap-Up

We all hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and safe New Year! We survived another Christmas season and I am just now getting the house back in order. Our festivities this year began the Sunday before X-mas at my mom & Bill's. My cousin Ryan was home on leave from the Army and my Aunt Barbara and Cousin Jennifer were up from Poplar Bluff. It was great to have all of us together for once. All of Bill's growing family was there as well and mom had a packed house, but it made it all the more special. Next year we will add one more to the mix, since my step-sister Andrea is getting ready to have a baby girl later this month.

Christmas Eve we stayed up late putting Alena's kitchen from Santa together. The boys got new Cardinals bedding, but it was officially their last year for Santa. On the car ride X-mas morning I told them we had to talk about Santa and Alex chimed in "We know he's not real." Brady answers "Yeah, its just some guy dressed up in a Santa suit." Alex then says "but you buy us the presents." A fact that I think surprised Brady a bit, because after a long pause he exclaimed "Does that mean the Tooth Fairy is not real too?" Then they both wanted to know what I did with all their teeth! Still a little later Brady says "I guess the Easter Bunny isn't real either." To which I replied "Seriously, a six foot tall bunny going around hiding eggs, does that make any sense?" He giggled and said no. I told them not to fear they would still be getting Santa presents, since there are just some things that can't be wrapped, and besides they still have to play along for their little sister.

Christmas Day we went to Brian's Dad's side of the family, which was nice since we don't see them very much throughout the year. Brian's mom was in California over the holidays so we did Christmas with her at Brian's sister's house on New Years Day. Then last Saturday Jan. 5th we got together with his Aunt and her family to celebrate the season. We still have one more get-together on the 19th, but X-Mas is almost officially over! Thank you to everyone for all the gifts, well wishes, and hospitality- it was definitely a year to remember!

The Physics of Santa

A girl at work sent me this email and I thought it was interesting enough to repost.

Is there a Santa Claus? - a physicist view

Consider the following:

1) No known species of reindeer can fly. But there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.

2) There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.

3) Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding, etc. This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

4) The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element.Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that 'flying reindeer' (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.

5) 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecraft re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair ofreindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy per second each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of G-force. In conclusion - If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now.

Go Elf Yourself

OfficeMax has sponsored this hilarious site where you can turn yourself into an elf. You can even personalize what you want your elf self to say. Here is a link to my elf (Click here to see my elf), but if you want to make your own, visit www.elfyourself.com Both links may take a minute, but it is well worth it since it is so much fun. Enjoy!

The Twins are 10!!!!

Happy 10th Birthday, Alex and Brady! I can't believe I have been a parent for a decade! They are definitely not the teeny, tiny, little babies I gave birth to ten years ago today. Now that they are in the double digits it just reminds me even more that the dreaded teen years are rapidly approaching. Tonight we went out to dinner at Playtime Fun Center, which is a Chuck E. Cheese knockoff here in Wentzville. All three of them had a good time playing (although the food sucked) and the boys were very proud that they earned 510 tickets! Tomorrow we are having a small family get-together to celebrate and then on Sunday the boys are having a party with their friends at the new Brunswick Zone bowling alley that just opened up in St. Peters. They are very excited about it, but it is definitely going to be a very busy weekend for everyone. The pictures are their birthday pictures we had taken a couple weeks ago and also a few of all of them together to give out for X-mas. Hopefully I will get X-mas cards out next week sometime and again Happy Birthday, Alex & Brady!

Happy Belated Halloween!

Since I started my new job, I've gotten a little behind on blog posts, reading email, checking my myspace, etc., so I would like to wish everyone a Happy Belated Halloween! I got off 30 minutes early on the 31st so I could get a head start and raced to get the kids and get home to get them in their costumes. We went to Brenda's first and trick or treated around her circle, then it was off to my mom and Bill's for some more candy and a walk down to the scary house at the end of their street, which is a Halloween tradition. Alena was petrified of the place and a little scared of her brothers at times, but all in all it was a good, albeit rushed,Halloween night.

A Great Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Amy and I took Alivia, Alena, Alex, and Brady to the pumpkin patch at Eckert's in Millstadt, Il. Every since the boys were little we have always gone to the patch in Chesterfield Valley, so when Amy asked if we wanted to go to Eckert's, I jumped at the chance to get a change of scenery for the annual pictures. It was a beautiful day, windy but warm, Alena and I even got a mild sunburn, very rare for late October. The patch was great, they had rides and tons of animals to pet and feed. Alena took a pony ride and the boys got a kick out of the pumpkin cannon and the pig races. I spent a ton of money, but we had a lot of fun and got some great pictures. Here are a few...

I got the job! YIPPEE!

I have been trying to find a full-time job since I graduated from college in June. In August I applied at the St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to be a Victim Advocate. I interviewed for the job, but they ended up giving it to another girl who had previously held the position and was moving back to the area. They said I was the first runner up, which was nice to hear especially since there were 88 applicants for one job, but I still didn't have a job so I kept looking and looking and looking. Then last week (two months after I had initially applied) I got a call wanting me to come in for a second interview with the Prosecutor Jack Banas. Apparently the lady who they had originally been given the job was unable to accept it due to a pending divorce (her ex didn't want her to leave the state with the kids) and me as first runner up was given a second shot at the job. The interview went well and I will officially start on October 30th! My title is Victim Assistance Counselor, which basically means I help victim's of crime through the court system. I inform them about upcoming court dates, keep them updated about the status of their case and I accompany them to court when the time comes. I will also be in charge of training and overseeing college students doing internships in the department. The job pays great, has great benefits, and I think I will be really good at it. I'm sooooooooo excited! It will be quite an adjustment for everyone in the house since I have never had a full-time job before, but it will be a good thing for the entire family in the long run. I will have to become one of those real people with a real job. I will have to get up at 6am and go to bed at 10pm which is quite a scary concept for this night owl, but I'm sure I will get use to it eventually. That's about it for now- times they are a changin'. Amy, Amber, and I are taking all the kids to the Pumpkin Patch tomorrow so hopefully I will post next week with some cute pics from Eckerts.

First Call to Poison Control

The boys went to a birthday party last night and when they got home they had glow stick necklaces, which of course Alena was fascinated with. She came into the living room chewing on one and just as I was walking over to take it away from her, it broke in her mouth. I quickly cleaned her up and made her rinse out her mouth. She briefly complained that her mouth hurt, but then went on playing as usual. I figured I should probably play it safe and make my first ever call to the poison control center. As I expected, the nurse said it wasn't serious but could cause some minor mouth/skin irritation and could give her a slight tummy ache. They suggested I give her a bowl of ice cream to help her mouth and coat her tummy at the same time. Alena obviously loved that cure and suffered no ill effects from the escapade. The hotline was very nice and very helpful, but hopefully that was my first and last call to the poison control center.

September Wrap-Up

September has been a bad month for me and computers, consequently it has also been a bad month for blog posts. My office moved over Labor Day weekend and our DSL was down for the first two weeks of the month, since I often write blog entries at work, posts were scarce. My computer at home has its good days and its bad days and since I never know what I'm going to get, I often save myself the frustration by not even turning it on. I think I was kinda in computer burn out anyway, so it was a much needed break. There are many things I must use a computer for, but there are also A LOT of things I could do without. I haven't been on myspace for over a week and I don't even feel all that lost, but to my 111 myspace friends, I do apologize for missing birthdays or not responding to messages, etc. I just needed a break!

I digress, September started out with a trip to the Mark Twain Lake over Labor Day weekend. All the children and a couple of friends went with us, and the back of the truck was loaded with food, clothes, and leisure activities- way more than we would ever need of course. As we finish unloading, I realized we forgot the worst possible thing we could have forgotten (except a child)-- Alena's big pink bag! That bag had EVERYTHING of hers in it, diapers, clothes, toys, swimsuit, EVERYTHING! I debated whether I should just go to the nearest Wal-Mart and make an exception to my "Just Say NO to Wal-Mart rule" (see post) or if I should just go back home and get it. In the end, I decided that the gas would probably still be cheaper than a trip to Wal-Mart, so I dropped everyone else off at the lake and Alena and I drove the 3 hour roundtrip drive home to retrieve the now infamous pink bag, all the time hoping that this would be the first and only disaster of the weekend! For the most part it was, we all had a good time going to the beach and doing some tubing on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday morning , all the boys decided to get up early and do some fishing. Alex and Brady still lose interest pretty quickly if the fish aren't biting, which they weren't. The only one to catch anything was Brady, and all he caught was Brian through the lip! I still have not forgiven Mike for not taking a picture, but from all accounts the hook went in through the top of Brian's upper lip and out the bottom, but the best part was the minnow was still hanging from it! Brian wasn't hurt, but the picture would have been priceless addition to this post--thanks a lot Mike, lotta good that camera phone did!

I have been looking for a new job since I graduated in June, but still have not found one, which is rather disappointing. I have been the runner-up twice for a job as a victim advocate in the Prosecutor's office, but unfortunately they gave the positions to two former employees who wanted to return. I am also still trying to get a job at State probation and parole, but it is a very slow process, so for now I'm still just working two days a week at MMCS.

All of our recreational activities have now started again, Brian plays on a pool league on Tuesday nights, I bowl on Thursday nights, and then we both bowl every other Sunday on a league. Not to mention Alena is back at gymnastics on Monday mornings, at least the boys really don't have anything going on right now, except school, which is nice, although they miss playing baseball and can't wait to play again next year.

Speaking of baseball, we are all very disappointed with the Cardinals lackluster season, but it was still fun to watch (most of the time). We attended our last game on Sept. 16 against the Cubs, but lost 4-2. Oh well, there is always next year- spring training is only 4 1/2 months away and we will have football through most of that time, although the Rams season isn't off to a very good start either (0-3). That's about all I got for now, if I think of anything else I'll write an update. C-ya!

Baseball Trip '07- Washington DC

We arrived in Washington DC around 5, got settled in and decided to walk around and check out our nation's capital. Our hotel was downtown toward the Capital side of the Mall, so we walked down to the Capital and the Supreme Court to take some pics, then we headed back and took a tour of the National Archives. We saw the Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, among other national treasures. Unfortunately, they didn't allow flash photography, so all the pics we took just look like tanned pieces of paper and you can't tell which one is which. The next day we had planned on going to the Smithsonian, which is somewhere I have wanted to visit since I was a child. But of course, when I actually get the chance to go to DC- it was CLOSED! It closed last summer and will remain closed until next summer for renovations. So we decided to go to the National Air & Space Museum, which is also ran by the Smithsonian Institute and it had about 100 pieces from the closed museum on display. The boys learned a lot and enjoyed all the airplanes and rockets hanging from the ceiling. There was also models of the Lunar Lander and the Space Station which were quite cool. I got to see Dorothy's Ruby Slippers, Kermit the Frog, George Washington's Military Uniform, Jackie Kennedy's Inaugural dress, a baseball signed by Babe Ruth, and other pieces of Americana that are on loan while their home is being remodeled, so at least it wasn't a total loss. After the museum, we went up in the Washington Monument and got to take in the whole city from 555 feet in the air. Our view from the top allowed us to plan our hike to the White House to take some pics and then we took the subway back to the hotel to get ready for the game. We used the subway quite a bit while we were in DC, including to and from the game, and the boys quickly became obsessed with this method of travel. The Nationals are getting a new stadium next season, which is a very good thing because RFK Stadium was not impressive at all. The only things that were cool were the mascots, the main mascot is an Eagle named Screech, but then they have four big headed presidents that also dance around and have a race in the middle of the game (see pic of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt). Unfortunately the Cardinals lost in the bottom of the 9th inning, 3-2, but at least this game was a nail biter and not a blowout. The following day we visited the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Wall, and the WWII Memorial, which has a beautiful fountain- I love fountains! It was about 100 degrees and we had to do a lot of walking, but we all made it through. We left DC later that afternoon and drove to Columbus, Ohio where we crashed for the night. The next morning was our final leg home and Alena and Dixie were very happy to see us when we got there. In all we crossed seven states and traveled over 1700 miles. We get to mark two more stadiums off our list, bringing our total to 13 (if you count both Busch Stadiums). All in all it was a good trip, not the most relaxing vacation we've ever taken, but it was an experience everyone will remember for a long time. I can't wait to see where we get to go next year!

Baseball Trip '07- Pittsburgh

This year we took the boys on our annual out of town trip to watch the Cardinals play. Neither of us was crazy about driving 1700 miles with two nine year olds, but we knew it would be a good learning experience for them. The first day we just spent driving from St. Louis to Pittsburgh, PA. Although we did stop for lunch at Wendy's, which was a welcomed treat since all the Wendy's in the St. Louis area have been closed for over a year! We stayed about 5 miles outside of Pittsburgh to save some money and it was definitely the right decision. We had a suite with a full kitchen, the hotel had free breakfast (not just continental either) and a free two-hour happy hour everynight- it was great and everyone was really nice! The hotel even took us to and from the baseball game, so we didn't have to pay for parking. At less than $100 per night it was definitely the bargain of the trip and with the exception of the fire alarm going off in the middle of that first night it was a pleasant experience. There was no fire, but of course the alarm was right outside our door, luckily the boys slept through it all, Brian wasn't so lucky. The next morning we toured PNC Park and got to go in the dugout and the pressbox and see the inner working of the Pittsburgh Pirates home. The ballpark is right on the Allegheny River and is a very pretty park. After we left we decided to go up one of Pittsburgh's historic inclines (130 years old historic) to get a better view of the city (see pic of the incline going up the hill and the overview shot of downtown Pittsburgh). After going back to the hotel for a quick swim and the free happy hour, we left for the game and watched the Cardinals lose 15-1 :(

The next morning we ate our free breakfast and hit the road on our way to Washington DC!

TO BE CONTINUED....................

Kiva Update

As I blogged about in a previous post, over the winter I donated money through Kiva to women starting or expanding businesses in developing countries. It was my little way of feeling as if I was making a difference to not only the entrepreneur, but her to family and in some cases the entire community. I loaned four women a total of $150 and I'm happy to report one of the women, Lidys Fajardo, has repaid her loan in full ahead of schedule. I took the $50 she repaid me and have since donated $25 each to two more women to help their businesses. I have added a Lenk's Link with my lender page so anyone who wants to can follow the progress of any or all of these women.

Another 1st Day of School--YIPPEE!

The boys' started fourth grade today (8/20) and other than the bus being over 30 minutes late (which is typical for the 1st day) everything else went smoothly and the boys enjoyed being back in class with all their friends. I'm also very excited to have my normal life back, it was so nice shopping today with only ONE child! Alena starts her first day of "school" tomorrow. Her babysitter is about to have another baby, so we decided it was a good time to put her in daycare. She still will only go two days a week (at least until I find a full-time job) and it will be good for her to get around kids her own age.

I finally downloaded the pics from our vacation today, but still need to go through them and organize. I promise I will post about our trip later this week. One reason I didn't get the vacation pics done today was that I started organizing my picture files, for example, I now only have one file entitled "First Day of School" and inside it are all the subfolders for each grade. It has made my "My Picture" File a lot less cluttered. Anyway, as I was condensing I pulled out similar pics from all the first days of school the boys have had and thought I would share them with everyone. So here are pictures from all their first days of school from Kindergarten through 4th grade. I can't believe how much they have grown up over the past few years!