Family fun

Today we spent the afternoon enjoying the Isle of Fun at the beach. There were fantastic waves today; so the time at the beach was spent splashing around in the water. The extra level of excitement was evident today, because generally speaking there aren't many waves to be had on the Isle of Fun. It is generally a calmer sea than was evident today. I guess Mother Nature threw me a belated birthday present, for which I am most appreciative. There is nothing funner than watching your family members trying to get atop a float, as they are being pumled by wave after wave! Prince Bite 'n Screech even managed to fall asleep on the Duke's shoulder, all the while getting doused with salt water! He didn't even flinch. Amazing! At home one little noise can awaken him from a deep sleep, yet at the beach the boy is gettiing slammed with very salty water and he continues to snooze away. That's Murphy's Law for you right there.

Speaking of very salty water. I don't understand why the water here is so darn salty. When you get a mouthful of it; you want to reach for a cup of water to rinse out with. It's like being in St. Thomas or somewhere like that. Just amazing. The ocean water in the northern half of this country is not like this at all...it will take some getting used to.

Sunscreen. Very useful. Not enough used today. Need I say more? Ouch. The Duke has to go to work in his work duds tomorrow. Not something I would want to do, seeing as he looks like a lobster. Remember when you were little and wore wool and you itched and itched? Well that will be the Duke tomorrow. I can't wait to hear how his workmates will tease him!

Meet the family

Have you been to the M&M's website yet? They have a "Character Creator" area, where you design yourself as an M&M. Very similar to the Mii feature on the Wii. A lot of fun...I highly recommend it. In order to introduce the family to the world at large, I decided the M&M site would be a great way to do it. So here we are. You see the Duke with his briefcase. I am right next to him, with the lovely crown on. Then there's Princess Hollister, Princess Nike, Princess Splish 'n Splash, and the Prince. Each of us looks somewhat accurate, believe it or not. I love selecting everyone's favorite colors for their bodies.

OK I know that Princess Hollister is the oldest child; however, I can not make her bigger. I have tried numerous times to get her larger than her baby brother; all to no avail. Additionally, Princesses Nike and Splish 'n Splash are not huge. I am giggling at this, finding great humor in it. The Duke however thinks it is the highest insult, and that I should get into the code and fix the error. Come on, it's just a game! So as my disclaimer, Princess Hollilster is not a wee little thing. In fact she is almost as tall as me, and is taller than her Nana. Go and check out the sight. See what kind of an M&M you are. It's a lot of fun! Now if only I could make the dogs into M&M's!

Cool contest

5 Minutes for Mom is sponsoring an awesome contest. You can win 37" Flat-Panel LCD HDTV! If that isn't enough consonants for you...get this the contest is free! Yep, you heard me right...free. All you have to do is spread the word about how great Best Buy is, and link back to 5 Minutes for Mom on your blog. So get posting. Here's the url: http://www.5minutesformom.com/2032/insignia-37inch-flat-panel-lcd-hdtv-contest/trackback/

As soon as I learn to use Mr. Linky these posts will be so much better. Give me time, I'm getting there!

It's my birthday!

Happy birthday to me, I say! I love birthdays, even my own. I can't wait to see how my day goes. I am dreaming of breakfast in bed, and a chorus of "happy birthday to me!" Now when I wake up, I know that none of that is going to happen. Princess Hollister has 2 friends sleeping over, and they are not getting picked up by their parents until 8 o'clock tonight. So she's out of the picture, as I'm sure she will be off to the mall with said friends. So I shall make my own birthday fun!

I went online this morning to my favorite scrapbooking store's blog. I learned there are to be several classes in October, taught by the one-and-only Tim Holtz! I am soooo excited. I can't decide which class or classes to attend. I want to select classes that will enable me to make things I can then sell. The Duke says I can't go to one until I finish a project I learned in a Donna Downey class. Phewy on him. I will finish that today, and photograph it...just to show him. No, he's not the boss. He just likes to think he is motivating me. How silly men are.

Togetherness

Well the Princesses have made it back home from a month long trip away with the grandparents. They had a thoroughly awesome time, and want to return there for Thanksgiving. Now it is time to get back into the swing of activity. I had such a slow month, with just playing with the Prince and his Fisher Price toys...now I don't know where to begin. The Prince seems to love having his sisters back, but at the same time is a little off his schedule. He can't seem to go down for a nap ( or sleep through the night cough, cough) because he hears too much activity occuring in other rooms. Hopefully he will settle back into his routine, otherwise I shall have to ship the Princesses out again!

Giving

I made a donation tonight for Parker. It was a wonderful feeling to help someone else. A random act of kindness that I would not have even been aware of, had it not been for the wonderful world of mommy blogs. The Duke regularly looks at me with a wink in his eye, when I have been surfing the blogs for hours at night. He does not understand that this is my link to the outer world. For while I am a SAHM I have little idea to what others are doing, inventing, creating, suffering, enjoying. If it was not for the fact that I was reading 5 minutes for mom this AM, I would not have become aware of Parker. I was touched...no, amazed by how many women are helping this family out. I am not sure how many know the family personally, but I'm betting most do not. So many stories in the newspaper or on TV stress the bad aspect of today's society. These donations for Parker put all that to the side. There is plenty of good out there, and it is not that difficult to find! I wish Parker and his family all the best. I will pray for Parker and his family, and more importantly when I am having a bad day I will remember there is a world of good out there to be proud of. Thanks blogging moms for introducing me to your world, and for being such a great place to "hang out" in!

Decisions

I am attempting to determine the best road to travel. This is not a map question, but rather a life changing moment. I want to be a teacher. I have long wanted to be a teacher, but it was never the right time. There was not enough money for me to obtain my MEd, or there was no daycare for the child/children at home at the time. Whatever the reason, including thinking I wanted to travel down other roads, I never made it...until now! Now is the time. There can be no more delays. This is too important for all of us.

Now my decision is how to I get there. Do I pursue the MEd? Do I apply for a 3 year certification in the subject area of my BA? Or do I attend a one-year certification program? My BA is not in education. I have no teaching experience. Well, I played a great teacher when I was little. I also taught Princess Nike how to read prior to her attending Kindergarten. Oh, and I have also been a GS leader, and attended what has seemed like 9 million parent-teacher conferences. I know what I like in a teacher, and I know what I don't like...as all parents do. Which path to take to become a teacher? I am stumped. I have asked educators what they would suggest, and they all say the MEd. Great on paper, but that takes 2 years and the most amount of money out of the 3 possibilities.

If I choose the alt certification program, that would allow me to work in the elementary level (K-4/5). By pursuing immediate certification, I would be teaching social studies to grades 5-9. I like all of these ages, especially since I have children in those exact grades! I just don't know which stage I want to teach more.

I just decided. I am going to apply for certification for Social Studies, and see if I can earn that based on my college courses. If I can not, then I am off to the one-year certification program. Thanks for listening, and thanks for helping me to make up my mind! I couldn't have done it without you.

Birthday happiness

Princess Hollister is 14 years old today. Happy birthday to you! I will now regale you with the required I can not believe 14 years have passed already...it seems like just yesterday you were a baby in my arms. OK, none of that is true. Well maybe the 14 years passing by in a heartbeat, but just yesterday? Heck no. We have lived those 14 years together as a family, and had the pleasure of watching you blossom into a lovely young lady. I remember how shy you used to be, and how we introduced you to cheerleading to get you out into the public...to force you out of your shell. Well, I guess it worked! You are a regular chatterbox now...something I believe your teachers would attest to as well. You start high school this fall. Now that is somethig I can't quite wrap my brain around. All of those people, and all of that work. We know you will do well, you are an amazing student. We worry about the other stuff, but that's a conversation for another day. Enjoy your day in the spotlight, you deserve it!

The Prez

I was listening to our President this morning. He was trying to be funny. It wasn't working. It's sad really. Every time I hear the man's voice, especially on the radio, all I can think of are the skits yet to come from SNL. I therefore can not take a word he says with even the smallest amount of sincerity, because I am already laughing at him. Here GB is, the President after all, and I can only laugh at him. How many days does he have left in office? Far too many for me!

I can't wait for the campaigns to get into high gear. I have signed up for Hilary's (I think that is how she spells her name. I better check on that if I'm going to support her.) I have signed up to receive emails from her staff, and I quite enjoy what I have read thus far. The Princesses and I want to volunteer for her campaign. I believe it would do them good to learn at a young age just how important the electoral process is, and how we females need to stand tall in support of someone we know could do the job far better than any man has thus handled the office.

Creativity

Being a SAHM creativity, or what I deem to be my creativity, is my time. Once a week, I attend a 1/2 hour scrapbooking class. Well it's not really a class, as it is only 30 minutes but it's the closest thing I am going to get to a class at this point. A sample 2-page layout is provided, along with the necessary supplies for one of the pages, and away I go cutting, gluing and positioning to my heart's content. This may not seem like much to others; however, with the Princesses away for another 2 weeks this is the only break I get from the Prince. Don't get me wrong, I cherish every moment we have together as he will only be young once. But after we have played, and walked for 9 hours I am ready for a little creativity that extends beyond which shape fits in which hole. I do not wish to become the brain equivalent of Sponge Bob Square Pants, so I consider this weekly venture to be my equivalent to others doing the NY Times crossword puzzle every Sunday. A little brain exercise, and it does the heart good!

A quiet house

My home seems so quite now. The 3 princesses of the family have gone to stay at the seaside with their royal grandparents. The won't return home until later this month. I now hear every little noise this house makes; which is many more than I was aware of just 2 weeks prior.

I am kept busy through the days by entertaining Prince Bite & Screech. That mostly means bending over, and assisting him as he learns to walk. I had forgotten how painful that was. I have also come to notice that my name is not that of a typical parent, e.g., Mommy, but screech. He screeches, and I jump to attention. How sad is that?! His older sisters weren't screechers, so this is all new to me. I'm also not really sure how or when it happened. It seems to me that he began to screech about the time he started to get teeth. In this instance that was far too early in his young life. He is just 9 month old, and already has 10 teeth. I am giving him a lot of slack with this screeching bit, because I figure he is too young yet to understand the teething pain. But give him a few more months of this, and I may not be quite so sympathetic.

I have begun teaching the Prince sign language. I am fluent, or somewhat so, in American Sign Language, so I thought he should be too. I had previously taught the Princesses, but they can only recall their names, numbers, water or bathroom. Hopefully sign language will soon replace the screeching, and my ear drums will be happy again. I now wonder if I am suffering any hearing loss due to his shrills, which seemingly always occur right next to my ear. At least I can be happy that the Prince's screeches fill what otherwise would be VERY quiet days in this house.

Who are we?

I thought I would take a moment to explain our names. Some are obvious, but others may need a little clarification...so here goes. My husband is a computer/techie geek, and garnered his name after consistently having his nose glued to his laptop. it was only yesterday that he realized how fast his children were growing up, while he missed out. Princess of Hollister, age 14 - almost, is a shopping diva and an awesome student. If there is fashion out there to be purchased, you will find her there. She is at the top of her class, and has been selected to attend a prestigious conference due to her leadership abilities. Princess Nike, age 10, is incredibly athletic and has unlimited potential in whatever she does. She is a straight A student, and a perfectionist like you've never met. Princess of Splish 'n Splash, age 5, was quite obviously a mermaid in a previous life. She loves to be in the pool or at the ocean, no matter what the temperature. And I am not kidding about temperature, she loves water no matter what! Prince Bite 'n Screech, age 9 months, is at that lovely stage where he shreeks when I leave the room or when he wants your attention for some other reason. He also has this annoying penchant for biting me, especially on my shoulders and lower arms. I have the bruises to prove it! It is just a stage, mostly due to teething, so no I am not worried about him. He's so darn cute all you can do is love him to pieces all day, every day!

Rounding out the family are our 2 royal dogs. We have a 5 year old Golden Retriever, we'll call him Sir Bark-a-lot; and a 2 year old English Bulldog, whom we'll call Sir Crazy. Sir Bark-a-lot barks at everyone and everything he does not know. The only one who can make him stop is Duke Bits 'n Bytes, but he's not home enough to do that...so we foolishly tell the dog to stop barking to no avail in the meantime. Sir Crazy recently escaped from the royal homestead, and did not return for a few days. Princess Nike, the true owner, was beside herself with grief. Fortunately, for whom I'm not sure yet, we had Sir Crazy installed with a chip when he was still a puppy. He was therefore returned to the royal family, albeit a little crazier than when he left. We theorize that he had too much sun exposure or was inhaling too many pesticides while he was away. He now darts around the royal house at break-neck speeds for no reason.

As you can see we have plenty to keep us busy, and busy we are. Come along with us on our adventures in life. I'm sure you won't be disappointed!