Another Year Older

Yesterday was my 31st birthday. I don't feel much older but I'm looking forward to this year more than I did last year. Last year I got a lot of teasing that I was 30. I thought people would have realized that I will never feel *that* old because Ray is so much older than me!

We went out for Japanese food- sushi and tepenyaki. Yum! We hit the movies afterwards. I have always been a big Indiana Jones fan but I was a bit disappointed with this one. The action was good and I loved Shia. But the plot was pretty crappy and the ending was just too... right. Which is really funny coming from me- I have a need for closure with most things.

It was really nice sleeping in our bed with no kids last night. William moves a lot now and he's getting big. I am going to make finishing his room a priority. He and I need more room at night!
I have dishes and laundry to do now. The girl are cleaning their room (I didn't even ask!) and Will is playing with his cars- I should take advantage of it and get stuff done!

It Just Takes One Good Book

I have a very reluctant reader. Maddie has had the ability for almost half of her life, but she has had no desire. For awhile, comic books seemed to reach her but she got tired of them fairly quickly.

She liked to read to Will when he was a baby. Of course, they were short board books, but they both enjoyed it. But for the last year and a half she has pretty much refused to read anything at all, much to my dismay.

A few weeks ago, Will was with my dad so I decided to take the girls to the book store. We looked at tons of books. Winnie picked a Star Wars book which she could read most of, but Maddie was super picky. I decided to just sit down and pick up a book and read and of course Peter Pan caught my eye.

Maddie sat next to me and started to read it, too. When it was time to get going she didn't want to. She wanted to keep reading! Woo Hoo! We take turns reading it out loud before bed. They are all completely into it. I am going to go pick up the next two books in the series this weekend.

It's a great book and even though we "know" the characters, there is something cool about knowing that Captain Hook's name was Black Stache before he lost his hand and he was always a bit cuckoo.

I have a reader that likes to read. I'm so happy!

He He... I think

Today I had a meeting about redoing the radio station's website with David and Arlene. We met at my mom's so the kids would have something to entertain them while we talked. (Our tiny 950sq ft house may have stuff but no room.) At one point David was out with the kids and Arlene asked me how I handle crazy days.

I laughed and said "Drugs and alcohol."

And I only had 2 of the kids with me this morning!

I was kidding then. But tonight as I was taking my dinner out of the oven and the girls were screaming at each other and William had the tv on at full blast, I looked to see if we had anything beside beer in the house. Sometimes, the days do get rough.

I have a doctors appointment in the morning and Ray is taking Maddie to the optometrist. We're both going to take one of the other kiddos with us. I will most likely end up with Will and Winnie will go with them. I'm glad it worked out that way. I was not looking forward to seeing the doctor with all three kids in tow.

Now hopefully, I can get them in the shower without needing another glass of wine...

Weekly Notes I

The past few days have been extremely normal. We spent some time at the beach, hours upon hours at the pool, a lot of time with family... All things that one would expect a family to do on a holiday weekend.

My days are all off now- I feel like it should be Sunday.

My cat is due to have babies any day now. I've been hovering a bit. Hopefully not too close for her though! We're all a bit excited. If only William would stop pulling her tail!

Maddie is spending tomorrow with a friend. They have planned a lemonade stand and they got rained out last week. I hope that they have fun with it. I really like this friend's mom, but the friend herself is a little too manipulative for my taste. Maddie's behavior becomes almost unbearable after she's been with her. :(

I'm using this week to plan our next few week's of school. Public school gets out on Friday, but we're just going back. Summer is just absolutely scorching hot here so we just spend most of it inside anyways. Maddie is getting older so I'm trying to get a bit more organized. Winnie really wants to learn how to read and although she has all the basics something isn't clicking yet. We're going to really focus on that.

I've been blogging for so long now, but it hasn't been public in forever. I am hoping I will remember to update this often!

I wish

Sometimes I wish that I could be different. Not different like someone else, just something different. I wish that I could be more articulate, more popular, more reasonable, more open.

In my head, I am different. I'm not like anyone else. I don;' identify with just one other group or person.

I wish that I was okay with being different. But I'm not because different sticks out and the last thing I really want is to stick out. I want to blend in and go unnoticed. I've managed to do that well in my last 30 years.

I wish that I had snappy come backs when I needed them and not three hours or days or weeks later. I wish I could stand up for myself.

I wish I didn't still feel like a child. I wish people didn't still treat me as one.