Sweet Nothings...

What could be better on a Summer morning than fresh fruit?...
...Fresh fruit dipped in chocolate!!

These images embody so many things to me.
Family.
Fun.
Summer.
Childhood.
Pure yumminess...
...Not to mention a spectacular moment in the front yard of the the little gray house.

It all started with strawberries.
My girlies finished the container off in a matter of minutes and were begging for more fruit to experiment with.
I sent them to the front lawn with a heart shaped bowl, because I love them and am a complete dork...
The heart overflowed with grapes.
...then Margo.
...then kiwi.
The kids topped the chocolaty, but nutritious feast off by eating all of our blueberries, then heading back for two more kiwi!
Who am I to deny my children fruit?!
I readily handed it over.
Our kitchen lies barren of fruit.
This is rare.
I wasn't sure what today would hold. - Thought that it would be a "do nothing kind of a day." One spent with hours of household chores and yard work and the kids begging me to bring them places.
Now I know not to be concerned.

Remind me to keep the car parked in the driveway more often.

Nothings turn into strawberry filled hearts and little girls begging to spend the whole day at home.

Photos were taken by "me" and edited using Instagram.

End of Summer Shuffle with the Back to School Blues

My house is being turned up side down room by room.
There are so many emotions to choose from. Pissed. Anxious. Annoyed. Stressed. Refreshed by Change...I'll go with Sarcasm and Humor.

This is what happens when:
A- I am home for too long.
B- Back to school mode begins to set in.
C- Friends visit from Germany.
D- I'm bored.
E- ALL OF THE ABOVE.

**Test takers go with your instincts or statistics. Scan-tron users everywhere know that ALL OF THE ABOVE is the accurate response 99.9% of the time.
Grab those #2 pencils and bubble away...
Swipe one from the 4 dozen that you just bought your child for back to school supplies.
--Or if you're me steal on of the 10 dozen that were purchased!!
That's what happens in the land of households with three or more children.
...and we wonder why #2's sell out across the country in August.

I can see the headlines already:
Due to lack of birth control in 2002-2005 the East Coast is now faced with a major pencil shortage crisis.
Will The Scantron System Ever Survive?
Can a New, More evolved system take it's place?

"I'm here with Woodrow Yellowby, President of the largest #2 pencil manufacturing company in the USA. Mr. Yellowby what are your thoughts?"
- Unfortunately the k-12 system may never fully recover. We will be forced to switch to green #5's.
Parents expect delays in writing and less cash in your pockets.
Psychologists be on alert. The sudden switch from yellow to green will be traumatic for daily users.

Boy, that was fun! Needless to say my house is still trashed and our supplies are 1/2 purchased.
My husband is under the impression that we can send our kids in with,"whatever the hell we want. If it says 5 we'll give them 2. Teacher's opinions don't matter...you know that."

I could have killed him.
You all know that I am a teacher...right?!
My guy was having "a moment."
I'll give him an inch due to wallet stress.

I'll admit, we teachers often go home knowing that our voices were unheard or ignored, after repeating several times, e-mailing and calling home...BUT COME ON HONEY!

Sorry for the "caps" outburst. I couldn't contain that one.

As a teacher there is no way that I'd ever think of sending our kids in with out ALL of their supplies.
Forget the being a teacher part.
I just couldn't do it.
The Weste. girls go to school prepared...
-Typically, over prepared.
-With everything neatly labeled in black sharpie.
-Often sporting cute designs around their names.

If they didn't I'd get "bad Mommy" looks or worse...Step on the wrong manicured toes and your children will experience play date shunning.
THE HORROR!
...and you thought that clicks ended in high school. HA!
I jest not.
Moms are political animals.
I know...I am one.

Can you tell that I'm bummed about Summer drawing to an end?
I'm having a ton of fun creatively complaining about it.
...and I'm taking you along for the ride.

MWUUA-A-A-A-AH!
Supplies will be taken care of even if that means ditching the hubby on our errand day.
Time to get back to my house.
My poor, poor house...

Addison's Room is in a state of chaos.
Upon entering the realm of double digits Addi has decided that the pink and purple horses and grassy field adorning her walls are no longer "her style."
This was ever so boldly made clear when Addison took a pencil and crossed them out on her wall! I gave a lecture on creativity- VS- vandalism.
Addi responded with several  knowing "ok", "yeah", "got it" head nods. This means that it went in one ear and out the other.
When I showed Jim the latest art on the wall his comment was,"What do you expect? You've taught her to draw on the walls since she was a baby."
POINT MADE...
NOTED...
...I laughed.
...Again, the hubby is right!
Addi's point..."She's not a baby anymore."
The horses have to graze elsewhere.

Mommy has fond memories of painting those horses with her.

Fa and her buddy Pinky will be missed.
The mural is now half sanded away.
--Addi says that "the horses look so much better now."
--Gee, thanks kid! (I said that one out loud.)
The furniture is all over the place, mainly pushed into the center of the room.
Everything decorative is currently crammed into her closet, in plastic bags or resting on our bar.
--The bar is now loaded with piggy banks, crystal castles, breakable knick knacks and porcelain dolls.
It's a pretty mess.
MY GOAL:
Get a fresh coat of paint on the walls with in 2 days.

I have blisters on the strangest places of my fingers from sanding all afternoon. There's more sanding to come...This isn't going to be easy.

---In Retrospect---
Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to let an energetic, eager, Addi finger paint the grass of her mural at age two.
---HOLY TEXTURE!! (in teany, tiny strokes)

I guess the back to school manicure is out of the question.
My fingernails have whittled down to mere stubs of their former selves.

---On a Positive Note---

Addison has the most spectacular, designer furniture and accessories that she created on her own.
My kid is pretty amazing.
We're so much alike.
Listen...
That's me tooting my own horn.
I laid out a tarp in the backyard.
Addi armed herself with 9 bottles of spray paint. (all hand picked at Lowes)

She and her friend Danielle attacked her dresser.
Next day...
Addi and Danielle, confident with their spraying skills, asked Gracie if she wanted to paint too.
Gracie was thrilled.
The three of them revamped her storage boxes.

Next on the list of pre-teen room decor will be a large canvass that I plan to give Addi. It'll be the finishing touch.
Jim says that he feels like he's entered a rough neighborhood in the ghetto.
Addi and Danielle say:
 "It's the coolest, most amazing stuff they've ever done!"
"The room is full of Addi's real personality."
"It's all unique now like her."
---Please note...Addi's best bud Danielle is a very sweet kid. I'm so glad that she's my daughter's "best-friend-sister."
---You know, this also means that she's my adopted fourth daughter! They are joined at the hip.
---I could have been stuck with an annoying child. FWWWEEW!!

Graffiti is "IN."

Next we have the Playroom.
There's this great shelving unit that has been hanging around in it's box.
Julia and I moved it into the playroom.
Now it hangs there...in the box.
...in the middle of the playroom.
...not much space to play right now.
MY GOAL:
Stay up super late tomorrow night and get it put together.
This will take COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE...maybe even a five hour energy drink. (I think that they're gross and scary...But I'm on a mission.)

Then I have Our Room.
I always have our room to do!
It's better to just close the door.
Onto The Kitchen.
I have to admit, it looks pretty good!
Repairing a few rowdy wallpaper patches is on my "must do" list.
There is no Honey Do list right now.
I have off of work while my husband suffers daily.
It's all me...with some kiddo help, hopefully.
I will manage to work it all in around the beach of course!!

My lovely, German buddies could be painting during their NY vacation!
But I know that they love me and will help.
...Right girls?

Night Rituals, Ageless Men and The Olympics!

Chloe fell asleep with Lightning on the kitchen floor. This was a favorite "hot spot" 2 yrs. ago.

Although well rested...
I find myself drained.
There is a menagerie of mushed up, swirling, twirling, somersaulting thoughts climbing through my weary mind.
-My guy and I had our bed all to ourselves last night.
I had wonderful, uninterrupted dreams...
...My hair turned silvery white (too much bleach)
...I grew three very large chins (could this be because I have 3 growing children?)
...My arms sagged abnormally low to my belly button, as I flapped them at my sides (I think they call these wings)
... I thought of my husband and that we were growing old together, IT WAS FAST AND CRUDE but we were old together.
THEN>
I LOOKED UP AT HIM>
He hadn't aged a day!
"Wait a minute...What's going on?!...This isn't right. What's happening here?... THIS ISN'T FAIR." 
His charming attempts to soothe his chair ridden wife were failures.
I didn't want to look at his youthful face let alone hear his unmarred voice.
I turned inward, away from him.

Then the alarm went off.

-Who can help me with this one? 
It's not a fear of getting older. I'm freaky. I enjoy the whole getting older thing. Maybe when I'm eighty I won't. Right now I am appreciative of all that I have and often romanticize what awaits. When I tell my husband that "I cherish the thought of rocking with him, on a porch, some very wrinkly day down the road."- I truly mean it. 
AH HA!!!
I've analyzed myself.
That's it.
The dream has been cracked!
This is why I love to write!!
It scared the crap out of me because he stayed frozen in youth while I moved on alone.
That's it...the alone thing.
Changing...alone. 
My husband being there but not experiencing all of life with me.

OKAY...SO THE DREAM WAS A NIGHTMARE.
But at least I saw it through to the end.
This, hasn't helped in the slightest.
Why couldn't I have had a pleasant night's sleep?!
Someone "up there" certainly is a prankster.
I can hear it now...
Sandman 1:"How are we gonna mess with this Mom tonight?!"
Sandman 2:"That's easy. Let her body rest while we play games inside her head."
Sandman 1:"Beautiful."

Grace and Chloe...Ummm...Being themselves!

-On average there are between 3 and 5 people in our bed.

POPULAR SLEEP STYLES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

One on each side of me, while one rests uncomfortably, on top of me. I have the honor of sweating beneath a child, her beloved "nigh night" and our comforter. This combination screams TWO things: 
1) Mommy is trapped.
2)Mommy is very sweaty.

OR

It goes kid, adult, kid, adult, kid.
Was that five?
1,2,3,4,5.
Yup...all there.

Chloe tired after dress up.

Here's another popular bed arrangement:
Mom.
Kid.
Kid.
Dad.
...and Kid 3 rests in fetal position at the foot of bed like a dog.
The dog is sleeping on our slippers and smelly shoes next to the bed.
-We've tried to put sleeping bags next to him for the girls. We did our best to convince them that it was way cooler to sleep on the floor next to us than be squished with us.
Our best has never been enough. If it were this next maneuver wouldn't be so popular with the 10 and under crowd.
For those wild and crazy nights. You know, the ones that have allotted minimal REM's, we have the Spinner with a kick.

This isn't a new shot to try while out for Ladies Night.

Grace and Addi love photo-booth sessions on the imac.

Nor is it a Judo move.
Moms?...Dads?...
Come on.
This one's popular with restless sleepers and lucid dreamers alike.
Mom and Dad rest comfortably until someone gets kicked in the head.
Damn it!
...then the thigh.
Ouch!
Tiny is on the move.
There she spins!
Watch out!
Incoming!
A leg crashes down on your significant other.
They yelp.
The kiddo groans.
She rolls, then is miraculously rotating 45 degrees south west.
Another blow has landed.
This time it's a swift kick to the rib cage.
A parent gets grumpy.
Kid is tossed overboard.
Did they land with the dog?
Did they wander back to their own bed?
Did I hear whimpering?
Wait...Did one of the kids say that we are mean?
No one cares. Mom and Dad have been beaten silly and are exhausted.
We'll do a head count in the morning.

The girls... being "the girls." 

Be on the lookout for Bed Maneuvers and  Synchronized Sleep Rituals during the next Olympics.
Don't miss the newest trend in night time water sports. The Sprinkler. This sport has been considered taboo for centuries. We are going public! 
Timing must be precise and consistent for a minimum of 3 consecutive nights. The bed sheets must be saturated with a liquid measure of 5ml. or more to count for placement.
Look for my family!
We're sure to bring in a gold medal for the USA.
(Sprinkler days are over, knock on wood... but we have a chance in the other categories.)

Note to Julia:
 Are you sure that you're going to miss all of this? Just kidding. We love you.