Radio Disney

If you are wondering why all the posting, its because I decided to post w/o pictures. Way faster. The pictures will all come later.

Markeese won us tickets to The Radio Disney Block Party! He is so funny. Wait till I tell him, he will be amused. I will have to send him a thank you gift!

It is really geared for young children. He would like it, but its more for Sammy and Johnley's speed. Which is perfect. Cuz that who's goin! T is also, but not very happy about it! We will be sure to take lots of pictures and post them later

Thanks, Markeese!

comments

Comments I love:

me: "We are having Johnley's birthday on the sunday of Labor day weekend"

other: "Great, now EVERY weekend in August is filled!"

me: "Sammy and Johnley are so smart; but they have completely different learning styles!"

another other: "Well, you're the one that wanted to homeschool!"

How was your day?

Good. Interesting.

Sammy can write his name. I'm sooooo excited. I just started the 'Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons' and ITS WORKING! Such a relief. I was soooo proud of him.

Johnley has only gotten one lesson and he can write (and read) the 'm' and the 's'.

Proud, proud, proud.



Oh, yeah.
Sammy pulled Owen off the swing. backwards. by the superman cape that was around his neck.

and Johnley peed on Owen.

yup, proud, proud, proud.

(not a good day for Owen!)

"Come tubing with us...it will be fun!"

(Warning: Long Post - But in my defence...long day!)

Sounds reasonable, right! We take the kids tubing on the Delaware. We can get tubes, or rafts, or a combination of the above. Sure let's do it!

Dear Pam,
This is Nick. The next time you come up with a great idea like this, please think about what it actually means before you suggest it.....


Morning of:

Okay, everyone needs bathing suits, board shirts and shoes. Sammy, you wear your nike sandals, Markeese and Johnley, you wear your boat shoes. Taishauna, wear your red sneakers.

No, Sammy and Johnley, you cannot switch shoes. I don't care that you like those better, they don't fit. I know Markeese and Johnley have the same shoes, and I'm sorry, but they didn't have your size.

Markeese, stop doing that! Why is Sammy crying. Jeez Markeese, why do you have to tease them!

Nick, we should bring food for the ride there and back, and maybe a cooler for the tubing, what do you think? No? You don't think we will need food or drinks for tubing. Okay, if you say so.

Everyone go get clothes to change into for the ride home. Sammy, you need a shirt, underwear and a pair of shorts. You got them? Good. So go ask Johnley if you can pick his out. He is in the bathroom. He said you could? Okay, go get them.

You want to switch the shirt you picked? You and Johnley are going to wear matching shirts? Okay, that's fine (and this is my undoing), pick out a different pair of shorts. The orange ones you picked are hideous. (Note to self: get rid of those)

We need suntan lotion. And the stick for our faces. Does anyone know what Johnley did with my sunglasses?

What, the kids are crying again? What's going on? Puleeze people, work with me! Okay, fine. New rule: Markeese is not allowed within five feet of the kids. Restraining order!

Okay, we have towels, change of clothes, underwater camera. Directions? Shoot, no. And I also forgot to print out the waivers. Get everyone in the car, I will print them. Oh, yeah and coupons. The directions say if we are going this way there is a detour, are we going that way? No? okay then.

We are all ready to go? Everyone buckled? We picked a movie? What? Are you serious? Okay, Nick, go brush your teeth!

Do you have food? And water? And cash? Alrighty then, lets go!

9:18 AM - did you notice the AM????

Okay.
So we're all very excited; the kids maybe too much. There was drama over the water bottles, drama over the beach towels, etc. But we made it into the car and without too much more drama get there (btw, we did have to take the detour, thank god for gps!)

We're there.





Look how happy we all look!



Taishauna has decided that she doesn't want to go in a tube, she wants to go in the boat with Daddy. Okay, that's fine, lets get a tube for her anyway in case she changes her mind.


We are standing in line and I notice a sign that says 'Don't be a tree hugger'. Oh Crap! Are these people all anti-liberal rednecks? Then I read the rest of the sign and realize it is what to do in case of a storm! Oh, ok. I read how if a storm hits to get out of the water and blah, blah, blah... they only last about 20 minutes.

We get on the bus, yes, a school bus, but with the seats all turned to face the middle. We all squish in and get driven to our destination. We all get off, but they hold Nick and the boys back. Apparently those on the raft do not get off with us, they go on further ahead. Nothing we can do, everyone else is already off the bus.

Here is a picture of us on the bus - I couldn't stand, so it's not really a great shot.

Markeese, Taishauna and I follow Pam and her clan and her friends (who we had met on the parking lot) down to the water. And let me add here that all of Pam's friends were very nice and would probably not want to invite us in the future....they were all without kids!

We get in our tubes (and I say that like it my big fat butt can do it gracefully) and wait for Nick. (And kuddos to Taishauana, she got it the tube without complaint) And wait for Nick. And wait for Nick! Ooooh, here he comes, it only took him 30 minutes to paddle up with the kids!

So we are on our way. We end up way ahead of everyone else so I keep trying to get Nick to slow down, but you can't exactly stop the current! We are having fun, Markeese is in the boat now, we are all tied to the boat, we hook up with Pam and her clan. The kids take turns getting wet, for a while Sammy sits on my lap and Johnley sits on Pam's.

This is how Nick hauled the kids back into the boat! By their vest handle!

Most of our tubes are tied together, and then we all just tie to the raft. So now Nick is pulling all of us! And then it starts to rain! Great! We are in the middle of the fucking Delaware in the rain. And we are freezing! Sammy turns over on me to try and stay warm. There is nothing to do (and I mean nothing!) except laugh.

Nick is quickly losing his good mood. So we put the kids back in the raft and Pam and I untie our tubes. So now Nick can move quicker (gee, I wonder what that combined weight was!) and quickly leave Pam and I behind.

It's all good. The rain is stopping. The sun is coming out. And the food stand is just ahead. If I can get food into everyone, and the rain stops, we can still save this. Everyone will be happy (or happier)

Except Pam and I can't seem to get anywhere. She is utterly unconcerned, just enjoying herself. So I get inside my tube and walk/paddle to get us into the current. Except now I have to get back up on my tube. Man, if we only had a video camera for that! Pam and I are laughing so hard we are crying as I slip on the rocks and try to heft myself up on the tube! Did you ever stand in waist deep water and try to climb on a tube? I finally got in the tube and managed to. squeeze. my. legs. up. Wasn't easy.

Okay, now paddle to the food place, gracefully jump out of the tube (not!) and take care of my kiddies!

Fuck, we are only halfway done, and I am OVER this!

So we all eat after standing in line forever and spending over $50. I get 6 hot dogs, 4 drinks, 2 packs of skittles, and a snickers bar. (Yes, the snickers bar is for me and I'm not sharing! Hey, I need energy to keep everyone else happy!) The kids are going to share the skittles. So I take half of a pack and give them to Johnley on a napkin, give the rest of the bag to Markeese. I had Taishauna her bag, thinking she will do the right thing. She immediately puts half of them on the table. Sammy's mad because he doesn't want to eat off the table. I tell Taishauna to give him the bag. She says she doesn't want to eat them, they have been on the table! Markeese quickly says he will eat them.

So now Sammy doesn't have any. I grab Markeese's bag and get a handful for Sammy and put them in an empty cup. There! Everybody eat your candy, shut up and get in the water.

We get out on the water and I hear Pam say "Next time I see you guys I'm going to bring you each your own bag of skittles." Bitch.

So Nick and the raft quickly move ahead. I'm holding the other end of Pam's rope and I'm the only one paddling. She tells me just to let go because she just doesn't feel like working. I let go and proceed to try and catch Nick and the kids. For the next two hours! He just doesn't want to be caught. I am getting pissed. I am tubing by myself. Who the fuck wants to tube by themselves?

And why is Nick moving over to the side? Oh shit, there is a little waterfall. Oh shit, oh shit!

I don't want to tip. With my luck it will be bad. Oh shit! Oh, that was just a little bump. That wasn't so bad. I turn and see the people behind me flip over. Hmmmp. Amateurs!

I literally spend the next two hours trying to catch him. I can't even imagine what he was going through. I'm sure he was thinking "Aimee better damn well be enjoying her break." The kids were done, wouldn't stop messing with all the ropes, etc.

The good news is: I caught up with them.

The bad news? They had to get out of the water for LIGHTENING.

Yes people, we managed to pick a day when it would actually thunder and lightening.

Can I just say, that up until now, Taishauna was SUCH a good sport. This is so not her thing - she HATES nature. And she was a trooper. Until the lightening. That's it. I'm done. You people suck and I am walking the rest of the way. Now. Ahead of all of you.

So she did. We all waked until Nick put the raft back in the water with Johnley in it and pulled him. When I say those rocks were slippery, I mean slippery. IMPOSSIBLE to walk on.

I carried Sammy over the not-so-slippery-but still-hard-to-walk-on rocks on the shore. Completely soaking wet, with wet canvas sneakers on. The wet canvas sneakers had rubbed the skin of the side of my little toe. Raw. Anyone care to guess how much that hurts? Walking over rocks? With a kid on your back?

I tell Markeese to get the camera, I want this documented, dammit! But no, Sammy had got a hold of the camera and used up all the film taking pictures of the water. Damn, damn, damn!

Yeah, we were happy campers at this point! The kids were hungry, wet, tired. We were hungry wet, tired! We could see the end, but it seemed like we could never get there. Johnley is screaming. Just screaming. He doesn't know quite how to handle life when it gets this bad. And of course at this point we are just telling him to be quiet, like that's going to happen.

Markeese is picking up these tiny, tiny frogs, which are so cool, but I am threatening his life if he doesn't stop!

Ah, we get to the end. What are we supposed to do with these fucking tubes? We have to bring them back where they go? Are you kidding me? Why isn't there someone at the shore waiting for us. (Mind you, my foot is still raw - it hurts!) The kids have to go to the bathroom, fine, go. I'm going back to the car, I HAVE to take these shoes off.

Kids come back to the car, can't use the bathroom, it's too disgusting. Okay, lets change, everyone is soaking wet. Sammy grabs his clothes, Nick changes him. Where are Johnley's clothes? All I can see is a shirt. Crap, that's all we have. Sammy got so excited about the shirts, he forgot to pack shorts. So I take Markeese underwear and put them on him. Put the kids in the car and give them all a beach towel to cover up with - we are all freezing. Take my wet clothes off, put dry ones over my wet bathing suit. I don't care, now that my shoes are off.

Aaaaaah. So we are all (relatively) dry, comfortable in the car. Food and water are nearby - Life is good. Life is great.

Okay, so I immediately start the PR. Wasn't that fun?? Okay, it was too long, we should have done the two or three hours, but that was fun right? Okay, it sucked that it rained and thundered and lightening(ed?), but other than that it was fun, right?!!!

Guess what they said.

too cute

Johnley: "Sammy, say 'apple juice'."

Sammy: "Apple juice."

Johnley: "Good job! You see mommy? I'm learning Sammy how to say him words!"

Gods and Goddesses

Yesterday we celebrated the summer Solstice all day long. During the day we made sun pictures in honor of the sun and bead bracelets and necklaces in honor of our love and flower crowns for Taishuana and I to wear to the Goddess party we were invited to.

I didn't take any pictures in the evening, but here are a few from the day. Also, some pictures of Hatteras for Megan.....

I love my gods and goddess!

Sammy and Johnley working on their pictures

Markeese working on his...

Finished pictures hanging from the umbrella!

A little body art....

A little more...

Working on the crowns...

One done....

Beautiful Goddesses!


Showing off the necklace!
(and the new storm door behind him)

My Super God installing a new storm door in the front!

Some pics of vacation, all self explanatory...

there was also lots of sunrises, pool pics, inside house pics,

etc. Good times, good times

Instincts

I've been thinking about being a parent alot lately. Some days it feels like such a crap shoot. None of us really knows what we are doing, we have to just go with our gut. And how many of us have a solid foundation with which to rely on?

Some times it amazes me that the earth still turns!

Three years ago I was convinced that unschooling - radical unschooling - was the best way to raise kids. It was the only way to truly honor and love them.

Now I am convinced that I need to do major 'schooling at home'.

How can my beliefs have changed so much? In both instances I am very sure of myself. Which is right? Which is wrong?

Then I come to the realization that both are right, and wrong. And it really doesn't matter what you do. You just have to love them.

I also have come to realize that I need to trust my instincts more. No one knows my child like I do. And even tho I'm learning as I go, I know what my child needs.

It always surprises me when people feel the need to tell me what to do. I must put out a vibe that says I am open to their advice, when really I'm not! I'm okay if they tell me what I'm doing is great! but not so much otherwise!

On a completely different note, we are all about the wii fit around here! Each and every one of us has a profile and enjoys using it. You have to see Johnley doing the hula hoop or Sammy doing the ski jump, its priceless. Even Nick has gotten on the bandwagon, which is a good thing because I told hip it is his Father's day present!

So...

Happy Father's Day!!!

Date Night!

Nick and I went on a date last night! He called from work and said he was bringing home pizza for the kids, Taishauna was going to babysit and we were going out to dinner!

Teri said "Uh, oh! He must have some bad news!"

It was a first - we NEVER go out. But now that T can babysit, there is no stopping us! (Poor kid!)

So we went to dinner and then to the library to do some research for Johnley's adoption - yes, its that complicated!

Dinner was wonderful. We got to just sit and be still, talk about anything we wanted. It was great.

We stayed out too late, though, and the kids were a little overdone by the time we got home. So next time we will not stay out so late.

Good times.

Different Planets

I woke up early this am and decided to check email, blogs, groups, etc. One thing led to another and I ended up on Oprah's blog. I read about her 21 day cleanse and her "Are you happy?" show.

I gotta say....one of us is crazy!

"Are you satisfied with your life at this moment?"

The smell of urine is a daily occurrence for me. My two little guys sleep with me (and I wouldn't have it any other way) and they both wear pull ups. Sammy is probably ready to get rid of his, Johnley, not at all! So when I roll over at night and lift up the covers, chances are I am going to get hit in the face with the smell of urine. Add to that the fact that our 11 year old house guest is a bed wetter, and Johnley's pull ups don't always do the trick, and I am washing urine soaked sheets at least 3 days a week. And we won't even talk about how often I have to clean the toilet (and the surrounding area, because we are dealing with three boys here!). Satisfied????? Not so much!

"My friend sent over her cook, and I had no idea there were so many options with vegetables." And "I thought conscience eating was to just eat when you are hungry, but now I see that you need to be aware of what the animals have been through before you put them in your mouth!"
(I am seriously paraphrasing here...)

Yesterday when I mopped the dining room (and let me tell you, that is a MAJOR cleaning day) I pushed the table back and realized that the sides of the table are all sticky. The whole table and the chairs need to be scrubbed because I have a million little sticky hands running around here. Hell, who am I kidding, this whole damn house needs to be scrubbed! Now I'm imagining stickiness everywhere, followed by germs and ants. Yuck! Yep, let me put that on my schedule.

My vegan chef fed-exed food to us in Vegas, we will be eating lasagna on the plane.

My boys woke up this am (when Markeese came out at 6 to tell me he wet the bed - I had him change his clothes, sleep on the top bunk, and stripped his bed and put a load in the wash) and I had put my tea cup down and go lay with them until they fell back asleep. It was the longest 40 minutes of my life. I wanted to start my day, maybe take a shower, watch the news, sit and stare out the window, anything. But I HAD to lay there, perfectly still, so my little angels would get enough sleep and be able to handle the day, what ever it may bring. (After about 10 minutes, which seemed like an hour, I realized Johnley wasn't asleep. He smiled and said, "Nope, I am waiting for it to be morning!" He finally fell back asleep!)

Sunday was perfection. I only got out of my pj's to get a massage. Ah, much needed rest, I was running on empty!

Yesterday, I had Owen and it was raining. We had an awesome homeschooling day, though. Taishauna is working with grammar and math with absolutely no complaining. Markeese is doing practice tests to pass fifth grade (with a LOT of complaining!). The boys and I started making alphabet books that involved cutting, gluing, and drawing. Of course there was drama all around. Every time some one found a cool picture there were meltdowns and we said apple so many times (we were looking for a words) that Johnley got hungry and had to stop and eat.

I won't go into any more details, but lets just say that it was a very loooong day. The house got cleaned (relatively speaking,!), the kids got fed (relatively speaking!), they all learned something (relatively speaking!). I passed out at 8:30 with the kids and only woke up 4 times with hot flashes!


Seriously, are we living on the same planet??