I Wanna Be A Gangsta

Chick wanted 3 ponytails today instead of 2 - so she could use all 3 green hairbands we had in the bathroom. Good things she has the attitude down to go with the hairdo... Peace Out!

First First Day of School

Today was the first of the 2 first days of school (Kindergarten starts next Tuesday) and I didn't think we would make it through the nervous excitement - but the aliens got off bright and early at 7:57am when the bus pulled up. It was the first bus ride to school they've ever taken, I was informed. It was the first time they've gone to school in Utah, I was informed. It was the first time they took their new backpacks and first time they took their new lunchbox and first time I walked with them down to the bus stop - there were a lot of firsts... I'm just glad we don't commemorate the second time we do anything!

All ready - half an hour early! Monochromatic was the theme of the day...

The walk down the street to the school bus - they were in a rush and walking FAR ahead of me.

On the bus - and off they went

Animal Butts at the Zoo

We went to the Zoo this week. I could only come for a couple of hours at lunch - but all the aliens plus some friends went all day.

I think I have an obsession with butts. But, I think it runs in the family. My sister and I travelled Europe and collected pictures of statue butts - when I got my camera back from the Zoo Day gang - I found these little delights - Clearly the obsession is genetic.







Which one is your favorite? I'm partial to the elephant butt, myself...

Zoo Day was fun!


Aliens wanted to take a picture in front of the giraffes since it is their alien mommy's favorite animal!


For more zoo day pictures:
Zoo

Does all camoflauge match?

Bear was so proud of this match - I scratched my head and said 'no' - other aliens at my house INSISTED the camoflauges matched. Hmm...what do you think?

Lagoon Day - Part 2

Dear Lagoon,

I only like you when the weather is right - if its too hot or too cold - you are no fun. So, sorry, this week - no fun in the sun. Is there anyway you could re-arrange the park so that directly across from every rollercoaster/fast ride is a kiddie ride that the kids who aren't big enough to go on the rollercoaster could be enticed is better? Also, after every water ride could you have a bathroom right off the exit with those "hand dryers" in full body-size - so at least I could get my jeans to dry before I have to get in my car and drive home on a wet butt? Lastly, could you stop airing commercials every five seconds during kid shows that show your new fandangled rollercoaster that none of the kids watching is tall enough to ride, so that no one goes into hysterics when they come up "short" on the measuring stick?

Thank You.

Sincerely,

Lagoon Lover and Hater

PS - The Space Scrambler is cool. Don't change a thing there.








PPS - thanks for entertaining the aliens all day - even if I was dying of heat stroke...

Lagoon Day - Part 1

The Dinosaur Drop was Bear's Favorite, The swings were an all-around favorite and the first ride Chick enjoyed


When we got there

When we Left

Dogpile on Grandpa!

Yes, Grandpa is buried somewhere under there... This is what happens when shortly after 3 hours of church you try to get 4 kids to sit still through a movie...there is a revolt and Grandpa takes the heat!




Um...you never want to pick up a kid from nursery with this lovely necklace. It makes you wonder exactly what they might have put those nursery leaders through... It scared me for a second, but it was all okay. They had a lesson on repentence. Whew! Thought I was going to have to spontaneously bring treats next week.

P.S. Camera was miraculously found!!

Flower is sooo Totally Grounded!

Here is a picture of the Salt Lake City Library where we went today. We went in the daytime and not the night - so obviously I did not take this picture (Its too good anyway to claim)...why am I not posting pictures of the aliens and Grandma atop this lovely building today? Why? You ask why? Well, because the 8 year old Flower alien ran off with my camera yesterday and can not remember what she has done with it. She got all girly-weird with me yesterday when I wanted to take a picture of her in her new pink cleats, a bright-white skirt, cute top holding her new soccer ball. It was so cute and all "girl power-y". Anyway, she grabbed the camera and ran off with it (and I didn't get said cute picture)...and today, it is lost. I actually said the words, "That's it, you are grounded until you find it!" - suddenly morphing in to my mother or my father for that matter - sometime in the 1980's. Grounded from what I'm not sure, as "grounding" ground rules have yet to be established at my house. I miss my camera. And I'm not sure if I'm embarassed or not that I mostly miss it - because I want to take current pictures to post on this blog. Does that make me pathetic? Does that make me obsessive? Or is that just alright with everyone?

ANYWAY, we went to this pretty building and got library cards and checked out books...and no one told me there was a whole room of computers in the Children's Library with video games on them. We would have been in there all day - if I hadn't run the 3 oldest ones out of there. We could have sat home all day playing video games and then no one would have had to get out of their pajamas!

It was fun, the kids had a grand old time...and they will be quiet enjoying their books. Then we went to the Gateway Mall and watched the jumping water and the fountains and went to see "Underdog". Which was enjoyed by all. It was a fun day. But, dang it - I didn't have my camera! Flower is sooo totally grounded!

Officially, a "Soccer Aunt"

Soccer season has begun and I'm officially a "Soccer Aunt" - that is the Aunt version of a "Soccer Mom" - as I was rushing around at lunch trying to find just the right shin guards - I was realizing that this 3 kids in community soccer thing is a lot bigger commitment than I had anticipated. Good thing Grandpa wants to go to all of the practices...tonight, though as I was driving the new pseudo mini-van down the freeway to drop off 2 different kids to soccer practice at 2 different parks...it hit me, I'm officially a "Soccer Aunt". Yikes! What will it be like when the 3rd one starts next week??

Aliens are Magic

This morning all of the aliens at my house were playing "magic". They each had a "wand" of somekind - pencil, stick, envelope opener - and were "Abracadabra-ing" everything in site. When I got ready to leave for work - they came a running with their wands and began bestowing their magic on me.

"Abracadrabra that this will be the best work day ever!"
"Abracadrabra that you will be happy today!"
"Abracadrabra that you will have good luck today!"

I was in a hurry (because I was leaving FAR too late), and just let them tap away at me while I was running out the door - literally the last tap was on the front steps. As I drove away - the magic worked - I felt happy and lucky and excited for work. As the day has progressed, I must say so many things have gone wrong, I can't even count - but somehow - it hasn't affected me in the least. Coping skills at their best, fixing skills at their best - everything has worked out okay...this just might actually be "the best work day ever!" Aliens are magic.

Can we eat clothes?

A sale on all brands of Tide at the friendly neighborhood grocery store had me buying up some new scents... I tried the Tide Pure Essentials with Citrus Extracts today and it smells goooooood. I love the smell of all things citrus - (save the ulta-concentrated lemony smell - that will forever be Lemon Pledge - ick). So, as I was doing a great big sniff above my washing machine...I sighed "Yum!" - 5 Year old Bear had snuck behind me and retorted - "Clothes are yum? Can we eat clothes?" sounding delighted by the possibility of eating clothes. I giggled and explained. I don't know if its a good thing or not - but laundry detergent for me is all about the "sniff/yum" factor. And Tide with Citrus Extracts gets an A++++ from me.

Watch Out! The Bear Pees!

The towel situation at my house was not good. 4 kids not used to cleaning up after themselves - just could not seem to understand the benefit of hanging up a towel...so, a sale at the friendly neighborhood Kohls transformed the kids into towel- lovers. It helps that their towels are now hooded and look like a frog, a bear, a chick and a flower...yes, that's a flower. Motivatation to hang up their towels and take care of them has arrived. So, we tried them all "on" the other morning and took pictures of our little zoo (with a lovely flower). It was great fun.

Now, on to today. Out on the town today in the new fandangled (read - has a DVD player and enough seat belts for all kids, the grandparents and me) -pseudo van (read Chevy Uplander - mostly a mini-van - but kinda doesn't look like one, so I feel better) - and on the town, we visited with most beloved Granny - where 20 minutes after our McDonald's trip the Bear and the Flower are overcome with hunger pains and asking Granny for food. These crazy kids have been eating like its going out of style. Still trying to figure that one out.

Also - we took a little jaunt down the road to visit Great Aunt Susan. Great Aunt Susan let the kids run round her lovely home, and found lots of treasures for the kids to amuse themselves with...everyone got a little wound up. Screaming and running ensued. Things got to be too loud and I ordered all 4 to line up, and fold arms for "unwind time" - and just as I ordered the Bear to sit on Great Aunt Susan's nice suede couch - Bear begins to cry as I see liquid squirting out of his shorts and running down his leg. Bear was peeing right there on the carpet! Bear is 5 - and when we ran to bathroom to clean up, I asked him why he didn't know he needed to go to the bathroom, he said..."I was too excited to remember that I had to go." Great Aunt Susan was a fabulous sport - and quickly pulled out the Wet Vac and the carpet cleaner and had it cleaned up in a jiffy. She also helped us think of cereals from A-Z and movies from A-Z while we waited for the rinsed out underclothes and shorts of bear to dry in her dryer. Bear did not take kindly to wearing a towel and flashed Flower, Chick, Frog and the Aunts plenty. Yup. Watch Out! The Bear Pees!

Alien Invasion

These are the 4 little aliens that have invaded my home and my life. (2 other Big Aliens have also invaded...) Here they are in one of the larger "yellow patches" in my back yard...trying out the new swimsuits. Alien life has its privileges and its oddities...

Oddities
1. Whining - aliens whine unbelievably - and all the time and when you least expect...even in the middle of Church - they can whine so loud you have to run for the door.
2. Sleeping is a bad thing? - in alien world - sleep is the enemy. I've never heard such excuses for needing to stay awake or for getting out of bed. Water, tummy ache, knee ache, hugs, kisses, more hugs, tattling, phantom injuries, and sometimes when discovered out of their bed - they can't even come up with an excuse of any kind. In the world I once knew...sleep was my friend...one of my most favorite things. Ah, I do miss the sleeping.
3. Constant negotiations. 3 more bites? 5 more minutes? 1 more toy? Me first? Not her turn, my turn? Bathe tomorrow? Clean tomorrow? Can't we do that tomorrow? Yikes, these aliens are always trying to get a better deal and always concerned about their present "bum deal".
4. Clothes dirty themselves? Alien clothes get dirtier than any other piece of cloth could ever get. An alien could sit, silent in one corner for an entire day and still have a stain on its shirt! They have holes in their lips and food never makes it all in and they attract wetness and soiling of any kind at all times. Thankfully, one of the big aliens at my house has put herself in charge of the laundry.
5. Aliens talk more freely about their bodily functions and their bodies than most and like to run naked as often as possible. Sometimes an alien will look at you and ask "can I get naked now?" Oh, dear.


Privileges
1. Surprisingly all of the aliens line up to bid you good-bye when you leave for work and panic if they have not given you a good-bye hug or kiss. Aliens attack the leaver as if they may never be seen again.
2. Aliens love when you return from work and run to the door when they hear you come in and jump on you and hug and kiss as if you are the long-lost, long-gone missing alien.
3. Aliens are very literal. Sometimes when you say things, they understand it in their very own way and it is very entertaining and cute. If you tell them the reason you go to work is so they can live in the house they are living in...and then you don't go to work, aliens may get very worried that they will have to move out that very day. Aliens do keep things entertaining.

The oddities may out number the privileges, but the privileges outweigh the oddities. An Alien Invasion is a very unique new life. My, how my life has changed.

The Naming of Things

I love Sting. I really do. There were years when I would bake a cake on his birthday (October 2nd). Yes, scary. Well, for a few years I tried (half-heartedly) the internet dating thing and thought it was kind of cute, with a little play on words to have my "screen name" be 'Sting Me'. I thought it was kind of flirty and still descriptive, blah, blah, blah. So, then I just started identifying things that way...Sting Me - the internet dating thing didn't stick - but the name did. Thus, my blog address is Stingme.

I also love TV. Love TV. More of an addiction than an admiration probably. Obession, addiction...whichever. There once was a show called Life as We Know It - well, actually there thrice was a show called Life as We Know It. The first one in 1991 was just a sketch comedy show with Second City comedians..that ran for only a few episodes...and an unknown Steve Carell appeared in it. There was a British comedy in 2001 by the same name... that also lasted less than a season. And then there was a teen dramedy also by this same name that aired on ABC in 2004-2005. It got cancelled early and I don't even think all of the episodes of the season aired...though, it was released on DVD. And the point is this, I named my blog "Life as I know it" - because it is a good description of a blog and it is my little wink, wink to TV...to a string of failed series all with the same name. And if I don't keep this blog up...and it gets "cancelled" in its first season- it will be no big surprise. But, if it gets picked up for a second season, this blog will be the longest running of all its namesakes. So, welcome to Life As I Know It.

"Though the pages are numbered
I can't see where they lead
For the end is a mystery no-one can read
In the book of my life"