Playing "school"

Foster reading his new solar system book to Logan and Seth

And, in case I'm not on here 'til "next year" - Happy New Year to you all, and no, my resolutions will so NOT be shared!

In Da House

High School Musical is here. All well and good but they are just 6 and 3 (and 3). Hey, it's better than SpongeBob!

Happy Holidays!!!

We had fun (minus the ugly colds we all seem to have) - the kids really got into the holidays this year. We celebrated Hanukkah first - and Foster proudly used his menorah he made at Hebrew School.

We celebrated Christmas today and that was also very fun. And as seen below, our tree runneth over. Every year we say we need to scale back, and we do, but family and friends don't help "the situation". Yeah, the kids woke up at 6:30 this morning and were totally excited to see that among all the gifts and stockings, the big Red Guy also left the twins new "big boy" bikes and Foster got a telescope.

Both Laura and I (and Bubbe too) scored in the gift department (you mean that isn't what it's all about - just kidding) and we had lots of fun opening our gifts from our family - seems like we need some babysitters on stand-by so we can go out and enjoy all our restaurant gift cards.

And now, BEHOLD, our newest Christmas tradition - introducing, the Turducken - for those of you who don't know what it is, it's a turkey, stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken. And may I say - I can now claim the best cook as my very own partner. Laura out-did herself, it was excellent!!!














And now, after being off work for 5 days - tomorrow I go back - at my new (earlier) hours of 7:30 - 4:00 - yeah, great planning on my part.


Happy Everything to you all!

Our holiday card - Happy Holidays!

Blast from the past...

Okay, not sure if you'll admit to it, but who remembers this fine product??

I do.

And the sucker in me bought it tonite at our local Filipino store - just because

What else do you all remember?

Joke from a 3-year old - you gotta laugh...

Logan: Knock-knock

Me: Who's there?

Logan: Banana

Me: Banana who?

Logan: Banana shirt!!!!!

And then he falls down laughing hysterically...honestly, I didn't get the joke but I just had to laugh 'cause he was just so damn funny - oh - and very proud of himself.

Busy, busy - but always time for some pictures...

Foster wins an award at school for "Excellent Citizenship"

Foster is learning how to knit with Bubbe - he already made a scarf!
Seth at swim lessons
Logan at swim lessons
Logan jumping in

Seth going for a dive!

Is anyone else tired of recalls?

I don’t know about you but I’m so “done” with toys being recalled. I belong to a list sent out by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and not a day goes by that I don’t receive an e-mail about a toy or some other children’s item being recalled – and mostly because of lead paint. Perhaps if my kids were younger and mouthing all their toys would I worry more. The lead paint ones don’t bother me as much as some of the other ones. Like the Bumbo seat – oh come on people! Puh-leeze. Parents, wake up! If you’re gonna stick your kid in a seat up on a table you had better be right there to catch them. And if you’re not, is it the fault of the seat? But noooooooooooooooooooo, instead, order a massive recall on an item that millions of parents love (okay so maybe not a true recall but a sticker to put on your Bumbo seat) and use CORRECTLY. And if you place that sticker on your seat will it suddenly be okay to use it on a table, or a chair or some other equally inappropriate place?

Uggggg.

But yeah, the lead paint issue – I don’t believe for one second that all the major toy manufacturers didn’t know that lead paint was being used. I think they knew but didn’t do anything about it until it became a “health issue”. Then it’s like “Oops, sorry, let’s blame China”, yeah right.

I’m sorry but I have other things to worry about, like mad cow disease and bird flu.

How did December get here already?

Good grief, I blink and the month goes by.

I'm done with my one class, just have to wait for my grade and then proceed to get my certification. I'm gonna do it this time. Then of course, I have to look around for a job. Good news is that I'm solid in my current position, so I don't "have to" find another position RIGHT NOW. I can take my time and look.

I've already looked and the market seems a bit saturated - either that or school social work positions are scarce. Regardless, eventually, I'm sure, a position will open up for me - and from what I can tell, salaries are GREAT...really!

So, it's December and the official "stressing out" is in full swing. It seems lately I've been stressing about, well, just about everything. Like, I'm behind on my programs I've TiVo'd; I haven't finished my holiday shopping (well, except for Hanukkah, I'm done with that); I haven't been keeping up in my reading of the various magazines I get (don't look beside my bed); my "To Do" list is so not "T'done" - it's huge; and so on. You get the idea. I was just talking with my office-mate about how really stressed we are this year - what is it? I dunno. I just know I am.

Gotta remember to breathe!

Speaking of said office-mate, I just remembered a funny thing she told me. She has two kids, the oldest being the same age as my twins (age 3). She told me she can no longer go to Hillcrest - Hillcrest is our predominately gay part of town. And rightly so, there are tons of rainbow flags all over. She was there with her kids (she's not gay) and her 3 year old stated "Look mommy, FAGS" (meaning he couldn't quite say FLAG). Well, yeah, it's true, she was totally embarrassed, I thought it was totally funny - and NO, I was so not offended.

Out of the mouth of babes and all that...