Every. Stinking. Day.

Every.  Single.  Day.  

This is my morning routine.

Push in the couch cushions.  

Pick up the pillows and blankets off the floor.

And refold all the blankets. 

Every.  Stinking.  Day.

Sometimes 3 times a day.  

The weekends drive me bonkers.

But I suppose it is fair play.  Usually the moms curse comes into play but in this one, I'm sure my dad is laughing his butt off.  

Because I distinctly remember him folding all the blankets in the house over and over.

And mumbling the entire time..."I hope you have one just like you!"

Well dad.  I have three paybacks and I'm constantly folding their stupid blankets.

Stop laughing!  

And remove the curse!

Boys, I hex you children just like you one day that they never know how to fold a blanket.

And I'm going to laugh at you!  

Just like my dad is laughing at me.  lol

What Was I Getting?

I sent Owen in the laundry room to get a trash can liner.

About two minutes later, I heard him say "oh yeah....a trash bag."

He came back into the kitchen with the bag and I asked him if he forgot what he was doing.

He said he did forget.  Oops.

That kinda makes me feel better about myself because I do that at least once a week.  Sometimes I will have to go in there multiple times before I remember what I was going for.

Either that was good for me or bad for Owen.  But at least I can't say it's just me getting old.

Woot! 

Drives Me Batty

Know what drives me batty?

Well.  There's a long list of things that drive me crazy but this has to be at the top of the list.

How hard is it to scrap the peanut butter off the knife and back into the jar?

Seriously.

I guess I should be happy that Owen made his lunch.  (Gripping the whole time but he made it!)

I guess I should be happy that the knife made it into the sink.

Small miracles do happen!

But.  Really.  

Is it THAT much more effort to scrap the peanut butter back into the jar?

I mean I'm not even asking them to clean it off and put it in the dishwasher.

THAT would be to much to expect.  

But for the love of all that is holy...scrap the peanut butter (or mayo or ketchup or whatever condiment you use) back into the jar.

Jeez.

A House Full

I now understand how my friends mom felt when we were in high school.  You see, my friend had an older brother and a younger sister whose friends were always at her house.  There was always a ton of kids at her house.  I think that she must have cooked a Thanksgiving meal every day it seemed because she was always feeding us.

Because there were a lot of us.  And a ton of teenage boys to feed.

I have five high schoolers here right now and five middle schoolers.  The middle schoolers are here to celebrate Owens 11th birthday and two of the high schoolers are here hanging out with Shane watching movies.  The other two high schoolers are neighborhood kids who just showed up.

And I heard them say "so and so" are on their way.

I knew I was going to have a ton of boys to feed so I planned to make piggies in a blanket.  I bought enough creasant rolls to feed all these boys.  I felt pretty good about myself.

Until I just realized that I forgot to take out the hotdogs from the freezer.  Doh.

So, I ordered pizza.  Oops.

The boys are playing football in the yard.  Hopefully running all of their energy out.  And probably getting stinky in the process.  Peeyew.

But I wouldn't change it for the world.  We have a house full of teenagers.  I'm glad the kids like to hang out here.  Love it actually!

Obligatory First Day of School Pictures - 2013

Every parent has that obligatory first day of school pictures.

You know the parents and grandparents on your facebook page just by scrolling through a newsfeed from the first day of school.

Most of them put their kids first day of school pictures on their to proudly display their kids.

Or to celebrate the fact that they survived the summer and now the kids are back in school.

Yay!

Oh.  Wait.  Maybe that's just me.  :D

This year was a bit different.

Shane entered his first year of high school.  Ninth grade.  OMG.  Where does the time go?

He loves that shirt.  He says it's so comfy.  <3 p="">

Not to be outdone, Owen started middle school this year.  I'm not sure which one traumatizes me more.  LOL!

He's cool.  :)

 

Sometimes they will oblige me and take nice pictures.  Like they sorta-kinda-almost-but-not really-like each other. 

I'm looking forward to them having a great year.  Shane started marching band this summer and seems to be enjoying it.  Owen joined band (playing the French Horn...because, you know, "everything French is good...French fries, French toast."  Thank God he didn't say "French kissing."  LOL!

You can look back through my blog posts to see his other first day of school.  Including kindergarten.  :(

Summertime Summertime

Nothing is better than hanging out with your cousins in the summer.

Well.  Nothing except eating watermelons.

Yeah.  That too. 

And playing with the doggies.

Yeah.  That too.

All those things done together is the best!

I suppose playing games on your cellphone inside is equally fun to a teenager.

:)

I Have A Middle Schooler

I have a middle schooler.

Okay.  I've *had* a middle schooler.

Just now, I have a new middle schooler and I don't have a elementary schooler.

Which was news to Ken.  Or he just forgot. 

     Ken:  When did they change the open house to Thursday?

 

     Me:  They didn't.

 

     Ken:  Yes they did.  It was on the sign outside the school.

 

     Me:  Are you talking about the elementary school?  That *is* on Thursday.

     Ken:  Oops.

 

     Me:  Um.  Neveemind.  I will take Owen to open house.

 

     Ken:  SCORE.

 

     Me:  LOL

So off we go to middle school open house.  Me, Owen and his friend Ky.  Yes.  He took his BFF with him even though he is going to a different school.

The most traumatic event of the day was trying to open up his locker.  His first combination?  00-0-00.  Yeah.  That one didn't work.  Neither did the next two lockers that he tried.  The fourth was finally a charm.

Talk about traumatizing a kid who is already nervous about starting middle school.  LOL!

Of course, he forgot his schedule and I forgot a pen so I had to wing it.  Thank goodness I had taken a picture of his schedule with my cell phone.  Yeah.  We totally rock like that.  lol

 

So gone are the days of FFES.  Hello teenage drama. 

 

Yay?

What Does A Heart Good

Mary Mayken is visiting this week for "Aunt Kem Camp" since Sheldon is in Brevard, NC at Camp Rock Bridge.  One of today's activities is wiffle ball.  I looked out in the front yard and saw Owen helping her learn how to bat.

Once upon a time, he wanted nothing to do with his baby cousin. Now it's a different story. I love to see him helping Mary Mayken and being so kind to her. 

You know what does a heart good?  That does a heart good.  :)

All In

It's really interesting when you read your kids facebook/blogs/emails, etc to see what they have to say.  It gives a lot of insight into what goes on in their minds.  Sometimes it's a good thing because they're writing normal kid stuff and others times, you get an eye full and you wish that you could unread what you've seen.

There are some things that you read that make you realize that your kids are growing up and they are far more knowledgable than you realize.  And mature.

As I mentioned, Owen got an instagram account.  It's a site that allows you to upload photos and your followers can comment on them.  Many times, it becomes a running dialogue between people.  And THAT is what gives you insight into their minds.

I read through this and said "wow" on so many levels. 

First, I was a little surprised that he reposted this tweet.  I know that he's very aware of the issue so I shouldn't be because Ken and I are open minded about gay marriage and have no tolerence for gay bashing and we have made that perfectly clear to the boys.  Ken in particular is very passionate about this issue and makes no apologies to anyone about it.  I don't either but I don't go looking for an argument the way he does.  And even at 13, Shane has been known to get into verbal battles with his friends at school over this issue and has told them to basically shove it.  Many times, he's provoked the argument.

But Owen is more like me.  He has his opinions but doesn't really like to get into debates about controversial current events.  Especially with stupid people who obviously don't want to discuss anything but just want to ram their opinion down your throat.  Neither of us are interested in dealing with that.

So when I saw this, I was surprised because he didn't shy away from the debate.  In fact,  he's not letting it go.  Well.  That part shouldn't surprise me because once he's decided that he's in for an argument, he's ALL in.

But, he's going against his good friend.  Which for him, right now, he's a little more consciencous of what his peers think of him than he has in the past.  You know.  He's a middle schooler.  Ugh.

I'm really proud of him for standing up for what he thinks.  As a parent, that's all that you can ask for.

But really.  When did my guinea piggy loving 10 year old become a teenager who discusses these types of topics.

I guess at the same time he decided that he cared what he wore and that his clothes actually matched.

Ugh and yay all in the same sentence.

Because I Said So!

Owen and his pain in the ass sidekick Sheldon are on a campaign to get a dog.

Because their RELENTLESS campaign to get stupid guinea pigs worked. 

Written report complete with a bribe.  They also had a poster board.  :D

My car was decorated with their thoughts.
 



Written report.  Complete with smiley faces.  :/

 

Owen *was* really excited to get his piggies.  He sent Sheldon a note at camp.

 

 

 

 

 

Just so you know, he named his piggies Peace and Harmony.

At the vet to check them out after we got them.  Who the hell takes guinea pigs to the vet?  Oh yeah.  I do.  Because my friend's daughter works at the pet store who sold them to us and she insisted that they had to be checked out.  As soon as the boys heard that, they were relentless (seems like a theme) that we take them.  The vet bill was more expensive than the piggies.  Meh.

 

 So now, those little stinkers are on a crusade to get a dog.  Owen has an instagram account where I saw that Sheldon had put a comment on a picture of his stupid piggies and asked whether she had started the report for a dog yet.

Ugh.  I knew *exactly* what that meant for me when I read it.

Then I came across his report.  It's a work in progress but I thought that I'd put up at least one page that succinctly summarizes his arguments.

First of all, I can't stop focusing on his use of the word "there" instead of "they're".  I mean, it's cute and all but I can't stop twitching every time I read the next bullet point.

Okay.  I can admit that #10 is really cute.

But I can counter his bullet point #11 with my very own list.

It will be numbers 1-100 and every single one of them will be...because I said so.

And I mean it this time.

They should have gone with the dog when I gave them a choice between a dog, a cat or piggies.

I love dogs but not enough to put myself though taking care of a dog.  For the next 15 years.  Because I'm sure that they'll take care of the dog with no arguments just like they do the piggies.  Not.

Yeah.  No thanks!

Uncle

A while back, we took the boys to brunch at the Sunken Well Tavern.

It's a local restaurant that is off the beaten path downtown.  They have the best brunch in town.

When they tell you that the pancake is big, they mean it. 

Shane ordered it and said that he could finish the entire pancake.  He bet Ken $20 that he could and he was not going to back down from that.

Well.  He almost did.  He tried so hard.  He really did.  He couldn't eat the last four bites.

Owen was more than happy to step in and help.  :)

Shane cried "uncle".  LOL

Color Me...A Mess

Owen hates to run.

HATES IT.

But he digs his friends.  So when his friend Ky asked him to run the Color Me Rad run in Richmond a few months ago, he was all in.

They had a blast.

Literally.

Their clothes were white when they started the race.  :D
 

 

I guess if all running ended up getting blasted with a bunch of colors, and he could do it with his friend, he'd like to run.

But I doubt it.  LOL.

Nailed It!

Owen's been playing a game emojipop on the ipad.  It's like pictionary.

 

With a twisted sense of humor.

 

He solved this immediately in less than a minute.

 

"Everyone knows that boogers are nose poop.  It's logical."

I guess you have to think like a boy. 

:/

Gotta Love That!

Mary Mayken: I brushed my teeth. Twice. And got dressed.

Me: Awesome girl. Good morning!

 Mary Mayken: Oh. And Owen brushed my hair for me because I couldn't reach the bottom of it.

Me:  Awwhhh.   <3 span="">

 

Gotta love that.  Owen use to not even give her the time of day.  I love to see him helping his baby cousin.  :)

Thanks for Letting Me Know

Parenting teenagers and pre-teens during the internet era is much different than when I was growing up.  In some ways, it's easier but in others, it's way harder.

Back in the day , we had a lot more freedoms.  After we ate breakfast, we were gone for the rest of the day in the summer.  Usually riding our bikes around the neighborhood or playing in the woods.  We either went inside when it was dusk for dinner or we heard our parents call us. 

Either way, we somehow kept up with the time and we never missed lunch or supper (or dinner if it was Sunday afternoon).  And we did it without the help of cellphones to keep up with the time.  But that also meant that our parents couldn't get in touch with us either.  But they didn't worry.  Frankly, they were probably glad that we were out of their hair.

Moving on into the teenage years, we tied up our parents phone line, which didn't have call waiting and rang busy for hours at a time with two girls in the house.  The cord on that phone was stretched to the max because we would drag it as far as it would go when we were talking to our friends.  And then we'd stretch it some more.  (Poor phone was attached to the wall so a cord that was suppose to go only 2 foot was stretched to about 20 feet.)

Our phone was exactly like this one.  Alvacado green, baby.  It matched our kitchen.  :D

Unless our parents listened in our phone conversations (and they had to be VERY quiet when they picked up the other phone otherwise, we'd hear the 'click' and we knew), the other very good way for our parents to find out what we were doing was to find the notes that we passed to our friends.  They looked like this one.

 

Oh we had to be careful for sure.  But teenagers today have a distinct advantage.  Everything is electronic and they are much smarter about navigating the intersweb than us.  Okay.  That's true for me because I am definitely electronically challenged.  (Me who doesn't watch the TV if it's not preset to just hit one button to turn it on.  If anyone uses the TV for any function other than just watching TV and doesn't reset it for me, I can't watch it.  Sadly that is the truth.)  :(

Anyway, I *am* on fb.  I do *know* how to use that medium.  :D

You learn all KINDS of interesting things on social mediums.  I do troll my kids email accounts (which I may or may not be traumatized about), fb pages and other sites that I know they are on (reddit.com) to see what they are up to.  Wow.  People just let whatever is going on in their minds out for the entire world to see.  Sometimes I wonder if these kids parents ever look at their kids pages. 

Every now and then, someone may spill something on someone unintentionally.

And if I'm lucky, it's dirt on my kids that I didn't know. 

And then I say...thank you very much for letting me know?  :)

Such was the case recently that my sister-in-law posted something that caught my eye.  She was with Owen for several days at the beach and unknowingly ratted Owen out about having an instagram account.  Apparently Owen has an account and I had no idea. 

 

 

Did you see that I said "thank you for letting me know" to Liz.  ;)

I'm not sure whether to LOL or UGH. 

 

Parenting teenagers in this day and age sure lends itself to different, unique issues that I'm sure my parents didn't deal with.  Nope.  They just figured out what we did because we were careless and left notes laying around or even left beer tabs (or tab) on the floor. 

 

I mean.  *If* we did anything wrong, it sounds like something we probably would have done.  ;)

The Newest *It* Thing

The kids trip me out with their "thing of the moment."  Sometimes I see it coming.  And other times, it sneaks up on me and hits me in the back of the head like a brick.

Owen's had an interesting 5th grade year.  We all know that he wears what he wants.  Colors don't matter.  In fact, if they don't match, that makes the outfit *even better.*

At the beginning of Owen's fifth grade year.

Well.  Until recently that is.  Owen and his two best friends Ky and Connor are obsessed with Elite socks by Nike.  OBSESSED.

And their outfits have to match the socks.

Yeah.  For realz.  Shut your mouth.  Because that was my reaction too.

His socks have to match his outfit.  I'm totally wiping a tear from my eye because finally someone in the house matches besides me.

Shopping for the correct color match.

Not only do the socks have to match the outfit but they have to have very specific shoes to go with them.  I call them shower shoes.  Owen and the rest of the world call them slides.  I don't get it.  But then I guess my mom didn't get most of the things when we were growing up in the 1980's.  (I should have listened to her.  Jelly shoes *were* stupid.  lol).

But Owen had to have Nike slides so that they match the Nike socks.

Say what?

Who is this child? 

I thought it was weird that all of the sudden he was obsessed with everything matching.  Then I figured out that it was because Ky is obsessed with it.  And well.  You do what your best friend does.  I wouldn't know *anything* about that! 

 

Please note that the lei that Owen choose MATCHES his outfit too.  :D

 

 

Oh yeah.  He's a preteen adolescent who finally cares what he wears.

Ugh.  It's a little weird.  Okay.  It's really weird. 

However, I'm ready for the day where he obsesses over being clean and will actually take a shower and brush his teeth without being told.  Or more like begged 15 times.  Yeah.  Them wanting to be clean is the only good part of the preteen years.  :D

Moving on to Middle School

Whose now in middle school?

This guy.

 

Before he moved on tho, they had to have an awards ceremony and a party to commemorate it.  I mean, they have to do *something* to fill the last few days of school with, so it may as well be a send off for the fifth graders.  :)

 

He got the president's physical fitness award. 

 

 

And the award for Most Musical.  Really?  He's not in Super Singers or in Instrument Ensemble.  I guess they gave it to him because of his awesome rap during the 5th grade History Review.  Either that, or they had left over awards and left over kids and they just randomly handed them out.  That's what he said he thought happened anyway.  lol



 

Owen's teacher this year was Mr. Kitt.  He was a disciplinarian, which is definitely the structure that Owen needed.

 

Everyone needs a BFF.  Connor, Ky and Owen...the 3 Muskateers.  They had their ups and downs, with some drama, but where one was, you could usually find the others.

 

Everyone loved Ky's little baby sister Evie.  I mean, who couldn't?  She's adorable.  :)

 

Cooperating taking pictures with mom and dad.  :)

 

Onto the party, which is what the kids *really* wanted.

 

 

 

Flexing his "muscles."

 

 

The Vice Principal Mr. Roman took one for the team and got into the dunk tank.  This is his last year at FFES.  He took a position as a principal at another elementary school in the county.  He will be missed.





 

Owen's always up for some self portraits.  :)

 

Aside from a little rain, the day was great.  I'm a little sad that this was the end of an era of elementary school.  I fully realize that I will no longer be welcomed into the lunch room and I won't know the teachers.  (That didn't stop me with Shane.  Once.  lol) 

But I'm also looking forward to seeing where life takes my little Owen.  And hey.  If nothing else, I'll no longer be legally responsible for anyone else other than myself in less than 8 years.  Woot.  :)