It is just food after all......

Perhaps my absence has clued you in to the ongoings in our home, or maybe not. That too is ok. I really don't mind that nobody missed me. No one sent out an email or a massive search party to knock on all the doors in my area looking for funchaos.



Really, it is ok. Believe me, I have been shown more LOVE this week than every before.




This week above all others, I tip my hat to mothers with more children than I and I envy (maybe too strong a word) mothers with less.

This week above all others I am thankful for Mr. Producer.

Being that today is Thansgiving, I could share all about how wonderful our meal was, how nice it was to spend time with family, I could post about all the things I am thankful for, including shelter, clothing, friends, etc or I could keep it real and give you the truth. Below I will shoot straight from the heart, err, hip, err, stomach about all the things I am most grateful for and some that I could do without.

Are you ready?

Weak stomach's beware!

I am thankful for my washing machine and dryer. Seriously, if you did as many loads of laundry as I have this week, you too would realize how taken for granted this always giving machine is.

I am thankful for indoor plumbing. You have never failed me yet in times of need. I hold you in the highest regard, you are my BFF (as A would say).

I am thankful for Bleach and Lysol. 2 of my dearest friends in the world, I could not brave life without you by my side.

I am thankful for toast and tea. I owe tremendous gratitude to whomever discovered both and for the record, if we ever run out of tea, I am gonna haunt some bostonians.

I am thankful for plastic buckets and towels. Really, there are many things I could live without in this world, but these are not 2 of them. Always, there, Always faithful, Always willing to catch whatever life throws at them.

Sleep, I am not certain you can ever have enough. There is no better way to pass the hours when need to escape or get better.

I truly am thankful for my children, all 4 of them, including their bodily fluids. Because there is nothing that makes them appreciate me more than a good bout of the stomach flu.

Yes, I am most certainly thankful for Mr. Producer because I can not think of anyone else I want sleeping on the living room floor with me and twins while they (COVER YOUR EYES IF YOU ARE WEEK) vomit in tandem.

In a few days, when we can all eat again without the fear of seeing it again, I will be Thankful for turkey and all that goes with it!

Mostly, I am thankful for the quiet time, relaxing time, just the 6 of us together with no where to go, SNUGGLE TIME! THIS HAS BEEN THE BEST WEEK OF MY LIFE FOR THIS REASON ONLY!

Just to be fair, I do have to list a few things that are HIGHLY overrated!

Carpet, if you have ever had children with the stomach flu, you know what I am talking about. Anyone have a few extra bucks to throw my way for some professional carpet cleaning?

Housekeeping, other that the laundry and bathroom, I have decided that everything else is very inconsequential (at least this week)!

The Phone, really people, I know you mean well. BUT.ENOUGH.ALREADY. We are sick, when we survive the sinking of the ss. yucket bucket, we will let you know. Until then, the phone ringing just wants to make me run to the bathroom. I do mean this in the nicest way possible!!! Luv Ya!

Pedialite. This stuff alone would make you sick even if you weren't to begin with. TRUST ME ON THIS ONE!

Lastly, FOOD. Really, you have no idea how overrated it is. I promise, the human body can survive for days with only bread and tea (I would make a great prisoner, at least for the moment)

I hope everyone had/has a great day eating turkey and being with family. We will join you in the merriment, but in true family fashion, we will be late!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

The boy and his bike

My little man has had a couple of REALLY big days. Without daddy home to share in the joy, you guys are it.

Friday - Report card day - ALL Excellent's and Very Good's AND perfect attendance! WooHoo, Great Job Adam! Reward - sleeping in mommy's bed. (A daddy's away favorite of older two)

Saturday morning - basketball. Pass to shortest kid on team(my little man), caught, basketball thrown to hoop, score! Never has there been a more proud mother!!!!

Saturday afternoon - bike - mommy finds a bike on craigslist - FINALLY - it is still available, it is in great condition - it is only $20 and he buys it with his own money and has $13 left (Dave would be proud)!

Saturday evening - more bike - no training wheels, rides 25 feet-ish SOLO! No hands!
(yes, I know the helmet is on backwards, he put it back on for mom's picture, he wasn't riding that way

Yep, Mr. I-Don't-Want-To-Wait-For-Santa-To-Bring-It-Or-Daddy-To-Teach-Me, (don't really know where he gets impatientness from;) I'm-Too-Big-For_Training-Wheels bought himself a bike AND rode it without falling all in the same day (couldn't tale a picture of that on account of I was running next to him and trying to keep 3 littles out of street and all).

Daddy, he is getting bigger every second this trip, you better come home QUICK!

This VERY PROUD mommy is going to bed now. Night all.

Sharing the laugh

There is a strong possibility, a certainty if you will, that I will make at least 1 spelling or grammatical error tonight.

Why?

Well, thank you for asking. I am flipping through my high school yearbook. Need I say more?

Again, why?

It is the man's fault really. Being that he is in Vegas and all winning 10's of thousands (of pennies that is),

I.AM.BORED.

So, I decide to play around on facebook since I can't seem to find any stores currently stocking a Wii (a post for another day).

Don't ask my how I got started. B.U.T. apparently, I wasn't content with just being a voyeur in the life of people that are willing to publicly proclaim they know me. NO. NOT. GOOD. ENOUGH. FOR.ME. I have to research old friends that I couldn't have made it through high school without.

Yes, I did actually find a couple.
Yes, I did actually send them a friend request to see if they are still willing to publicly admit knowing me (I was much cooler in high school, haha).
Yes, I did have to grab an old yearbook and reminisce

AND G.I.G.G.L.E. so hard I am crying and can't see the keyboard to type correctly.

Ah, the hair, the clothes, the cuteness, the perkiness (man what 4 kids will do to unnamed body parts;), the innocence and youthfulness of us all.

I.DON'T.MISS.A.MINUTE.OF.IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is fun to look back at the pictures, the memories, the friends. It is fun to reconnect on facebook and if you are uberpopular, myspace. It is fun to giggle at the way we were.

It is so much more fun to be mommy to Adam, Katie, Becca and Jason. Thanks kids. Someday you too will have wonderful memories to look back on.

And no Katie, not the one about the roach under the stove. LOL! I love you ms. exuberant.

(Hey hon, cash out the big bucks and come home nobody has a wii in stock to buy anyway;)

Attention stretch marks

While I do have millions of them (yep, fun game I play with DH is to try and find them all) J.U.S.T. K.I.D.D.I.N.G P.E.O.P.L.E!! I am not going where you think I am with this post.

I am introducing myself to Melissa Lee at Stretch Marks. Hi, my name is Tracy and I love the lived in look.

I am introducing you bloggy readers (all 3 of you) to Melissa because, well she beat me to the punch today. I think somehow she heard my thoughts, maybe she has my house bugged as I may recall expressing one or two of these feelings out loud lately.

While I may not agree with you on the sushi or lost, I am totally with you on the scrapbooking and sewing. I also have to admit being in total agreement with AG, Oh what a world it would be if Jack Bauer ran it, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Yep, I am right there with him when we get the 2 hour teaser on Sunday the 23rd. The kids will be in bed an hour early so every last excuse for being up is completed and all are dreaming peacefully. I.AM.WAITING.FOR.REDEMPTION!

I digress, sorry. Melissa Lee thanks for saying it better than I could have and saving me the time to work on some more laundry in the process.

Michelle, Teri, Kim - don't leave me for her. I know where you live or go to church.

Everyone else, hop on over and enjoy today's post.

http://reallybadhairday.blogspot.com/2008/11/even-canker-sore-needs-little-tlc-and.html

P.S. If anyone wants to teach me how to get a link to appear with another word instead of the url that would be awesome? Does that make sense? lemme know.

Kiss me again

As I return little man back to school (I "borrowed' him for lunch and C-F-A) I ask him to kiss me again. He grins and starts to back up, the way 7 year old boys do. Then he grins and comes forward to indulge mommy in another kiss.

I stop at Starbucks and get a coffee. I have approximately 1/2 hour before I have to pick up big/little sister and then head home to the babies. I have a half hour of sheer quiet, peace, relaxation. I have enough time to flip through a magazine or cut out and address the kids school pictures or prayer or cut coupons or make a phone call or make a listing for items to put on craigslist or just enjoy the quiet.

I pick up big/little sister as I finish the last of my coffee, thinking that half hour went too quick. After she gives me a hug, she is off to chase a school friend, her favorite friend, but I don't remember her name mommy ;). She must have missed me today for now it is her turn to run back and ask mommy kiss me again. I happily oblige. As I try to sneak in an extra hug, she wiggles down and off she goes. I take a moment to lift my eyes heavenward in a feeble attempt to thank Him for trusting me with them.

The phone call that comes cuts me to the quick. There are no guarantees, we all no that. There are no promises in this life other than that He who leads us to it will lead us through it. There are times we let slip away, things we let go unsaid, hugs we may be too busy to see being needed and chances for kiss me again to be ignored.

I am not close to my step brother and his wife. There is no reason for this exactly, other than we have just never connected. I don't think that either one of us feels bad about this. It just is.

The phone call does not come from them, rather from my mom. We talk daily. I answer the phone with a smile in my voice from the "sunshine and roses" day I am having. I listen in mostly silence.

I hang up and start to cry for a niece I have never really known. If I would have, could I have changed things? If I had gotten to know her would she be out doing fun things at the young age of 24 instead of lying in a hospital bed on life support because she couldn't find another reason to go on?

I look in the rear view mirror at the pigtailed girl dressed in a purple rainbow shirt. I alternate between wanting to throw-up (just from imagining the pain my sister-in-law must be going through) and wanting to cry (for moments missed, for my nieces loneliness, for the pain).

As I am sharing this story with a great friend who is also babysitting sleeping twins, she notes that I seem a little frustrated about all of it. She is right! I. AM.

I am frustrated that I can't remember every second of everyday. I don't remember every sloppy kiss given, every sill song sung, every joke told. I am frustrated that I get too caught up sometimes in PROVIDING for instead of CARING for. I am frustrated that we can't always protect our kids. We can't see the future. We can't always have a kiss me again moment. We can't always protect our friends and family. I am frustrated that I almost resented my half hour of quiet not being enough.

I write this with tears, I don't know how it will all end for my niece. They have been told to call for a priest, I take this as a not so good sign. But, I am not in control, I continue to do the only thing I can, pray.

I write this with tears as I apologize for letting there be missed times and wanting more quiet time. I write this with tears as I promise to remember more, care for more, love more and kiss me again more. I write this with tears as I pray they are strong enough (him mother just died 6 months ago and they were very close) to make it through this, to guide the younger 2 children (10 and 7) into understanding and accepting what happens. I write this with tears of fear. Every parent has these with something tragic befalls another parent. My niece started out as a cuddly baby, she was a happy 4 year old once too. I write this with tears of love as big/little sister is up from nap time again and little man is about to walk through the door and the babies are giggling in there cribs. I write this with tears of thanks that my home is loud, crazy, silly, chaotic for it is LOVE.

I write this with tears of joy. The joy being that I have a bigger helper in keeping my kids safe. Joy of being blessed to be trusted with these four awesome children. Tears of Joy for sloppy wet kiss me again's, jokes, hugs and silly songs. Tears of joy to know that He loves them more than I do. Tears of joy that while times seem bleak, He knows what is best for everyone, He is in control, He will lead my brother and sister-in-law through this tragedy, however it unfolds.

In the meantime, if you have read this post and hung in there until this point, I demand that you walk away from the computer, give your littles/children/ducks/arrows/lovebugs/peanuts/turkeys/babies/whatever you call them and extra hug. I ask that you make a conscious effort to listen to every kiss me again moment they may have. I ask that you pray for my niece, my brother and sister-in-law and their other children.

I will give you an update when I have one. Until then, I will be giving hugs, kisses and tickles and not worry about the laundry and dishes that are demanding my attention.