The Newlyweds

John and I seem to sometimes be drawn to the silliest shows. This season I got to watching the show "The newlyweds". It started out with about 8-10 newlywed couples living in one house. They compete for the big money pot in the end. Each week a couple is voted out. Last night I was laughing so hard!!! They make them do things like decorate a room together, pack a mini van for a trip (everything had to fit and the trunk had to close and it was A LOT of stuff), work together to get roaches out of a kitchen, cook together, pick out each other's clothes, answer questions and see if the husband/wife answers match, and so on. One time all the men (dressed alike) had to stand in a line. The women (blindfolded) had to go down the line and see if they could pick out their husband's bottom by just squeezing it. Sounds a little crazy I know but it was so funny! Another challenge involved a chef coming to the house and fixing a huge breakfast for the couples. He had everything from fruit and granola to Belgian waffles and ham. It was a huge buffet with many choices. The women were told to go fix their plates but told not to eat it yet. Then the men had to go out and see if they could pick which plate was their wife's. It was hilarious hearing the men describe how and what their wives liked to eat. John and I of course started talking about what our plates would look like. I think John would do pretty good. He knew that I would choose bacon over sausage, have a waffle or pancake but not toast, eat my egg fried with no runny inside and most likely have some fruit but not bother with granola or yogurt. John and I are so DORKY! The show is much like the newlywed game show but this show is not just answering questions...they have to do physical competition and challenges. It is pretty clean and pretty funny. So John and I were sitting there one night talking about how funny it would be to do it with all our friends and compete against one another to see which old married couple would reign supreme!!! Let's see...the Brewers, the Cliburns, the Beardens, the Bailes, the Gays, the Cummings, the Shorts, the Connells.....anyone interested????

Swimming Lessons

The past two years we have done swimming lessons at the Killearney Way Swim Club. It is convenient (like 5 minutes from the house) and fairly reasonably priced. I have really liked the teachers. Emily has had the same teacher for now three years. They get all the kids in the pool and ask them to do several things to see what level they are a, then they divide the kids up into skill level groups. The past two years there has been a lot of kids so they have divided the kids into four different groups. This year, there are only 11 kids this session so there are only two teachers. This causes the problem of not being able to divide the kids into many different skill level classes. There are kids that don't even put their face in the water to those that need to work on their strokes. Emily falls into the top level in that she knows how to swim and tread water etc but needs to work on different strokes and side breathing. John Daniel has come a LONG way since last year and is actually swimming really well. He isn't scared but I am not sure if he could "save himself" if he got pushed in and panicked. He can hold his breath for a really long time but doesn't understand how to get a breath or tread water while swimming and needs to work on floating on his back and doing the back stroke. Anyways, because there are only two teachers, John Daniel got put with the older group with Emily. So my four year old is now swimming the length of this huge pool and learning how to side breath. He is hanging tough with the other four kids and I guess at least he isn't stuck with the ones that are still getting used to putting their face in. We will see how the next two weeks go!

Cooking like my grandmothers

Today we had John's grandfather and his wife over for lunch. They have not been to our home since John Daniel was born and John was excited to show off his renovations and have them see little Molly. We see them two or three times a year but we always go to their house and she feeds us very well so we were excited to be the host and get to feed them. In thinking about what I wanted to fix, I was trying to think of something light and summer-like. I make a chicken salad that is pretty good so we did that and put it on croissant rolls. As a side dish I decided I wanted to tackle something that I have never made before..... my grandmother's famous (at least in our family) Greek Salad! I actually have only eaten it one time and it was my Dad's 60th birthday. He begged her to make it. Apparently she used to make it a lot back in the old days and the family all loved it. But it is kind of a pain and she had not done it in quite some time. When I saw it for the first time it was an amazing sight for the eyes and tasted so yummy. There are MANY ingredients and it has potato salad in the middle of it (and I have never made potato salad). When done...it is so beautiful (if food can be beautiful)!!! John encouraged me to do it and so we bought all the ingredients and John helped me put it all together. It has lettuce, watercress, avocado, beets, radishes, green peppers, the potato salad, green onions, cucumber, olives, anchovies, shrimp, tomato and feta cheese. You layer it all on a big platter and it is sure to impress. It was fun and I loved cooking with my hubby. We do well in the kitchen together. We stayed up until 11 pm last night cooking it all and cutting veggies. I learned something new as well....if you boil potatoes first with the skin on them, after they are soft the skin comes right off. No peeling the skin with a peeler! That was awesome! When I placed it on the table today, John's grandfather and Sue were impressed and they said it was yummy. It was so much fun to cook for them. Now my Dad wants a salad for himself (this is one of his favorite things).

I am a very lucky girl in that I got to experience both of my grandmother's cooking. They are/were excellent cooks. I love making their recipes. I cannot wait to tell my grandmother that I did the Greek salad! She likes to share her recipes with me. Some of my Granny Thornton recipes that I like to cook are chicken Italian, beef stew (have not perfected this one yet), and now Greek salad. Some of the recipes that I like to cook that were my "Roosh's" are her macaroni and cheese, squash casserole, meatloaf, and sweet potato souffle. I hope I can pass these favorites down to my girls!

I need my space!

This is a post where you who are reading it are going to think that I am impatient and frustrated mom. Well I am at times and that is the truth but I love my kids dearly!! Anyhow, Speaking to my mom friends out there that read this.....Do you ever get to the end of the day and you are just through!!!! Through with answering little people questions, through with getting one more drink for them, through with wiping bottoms, through with saying no, through with the complaints, through with the getting up and down, through with getting them food, through with the cleaning up, through with hearing Mommy one more time, just FINISHED! I sometimes get to the end of the day usually around 8 or so and I am so finished. I get impatient and ugly and so tired!!! Once I put them to bed, if I hear one more Mommy can I have some water, it may just put me over the edge!! I have learned that I need that time at night to chill. I literally sit on the couch some nights and just close my eyes and take in the quietness. Most of the time, I make myself a cup of decaf coffee to enjoy as well. Is that really so bad???

Another thing....I decided that I wanted one space in the house that was kid free...they take over the rest of the house with their clothes and toys so why can't I have one room that is "just for the grown-ups". Well I decided that this would be our bedroom. This is difficult b/c it is in the very front of the house and it "catches all" as we walk in the house. Over the last couple of months, we have tried to tell the kids our bedroom is off limits. They have to stop at the thresh hold and ask to come in. It is still a work in progress and Emily especially (being the nosey one) cannot stand it if she is "left out" so she has a hard time with it.

So now you all think I dislike being a mommy after reading this and that I am a complainer...but it is so not true!!!!!! I love them to death...just need some me time and me space!!!

Some good days

We have had some good days this week. John has been off since Tues and we haven't had much planned...so nice sometimes!!!! We have been at home for the most part, I have gotten caught up on laundry, John's taken care of the yard, we've washed the cars, gone swimming at Trousdell, made breakfast, lunch, and dinner here everyday except for last nights dinner, watched a couple of movies, played outside, I've gone on a run with the kids, etc etc. Sometimes it is so nice to just be at home! I've done a lot of cooking and am feeling very domestic this week :)

Some funny things:

Yesterday Emily announced to me that she was going to be John Daniel's maid. She said she was going to take care of him and clean up for him. This is sooooo not my daughter. Let me explain...John Daniel is always pretty helpful..he is consistent with it. Never minds lending a hand, always interested in what you are doing whether it be cooking, mowing the grass, or laundry. Emily on the other hand (she is so much like me!!!) is either high on the mountain... busily working away being super helper or low in the valley...could care less about helping or lending a hand and would rather sit in front of the TV. This is so like me! Anyways, I thought it was funny she wanted to wait on her brother. So she kept coming in and out of the room asking me if John Daniel could have a snack or a drink etc. I went in their room to check on them after a while and the room was spotless!!!!! Emily had cleaned up the entire room and John Daniel is sitting on his lower bunk bed, feet propped up on a pillow, eating an apple with a very content look on his face. Emily was standing at the foot of the bed waiting until he needed something else. I guess he figured he better enjoy it while it lasted. It was adorable to say the least!

Two day ago John Daniel kept complaining that his head was hurting. Then he said he felt like his head was going to fall off. Strange I must say!!! I am a nurse but I cannot say that I am very compassionate sometimes. My answer to them most of the time is "if I cannot fix it, then you just have to get through it." Funny, I say this to a million patients on the phone every week at work when they are complaining about colds!!! Anyways, I said to him, "well I can't make it go away and I really just think you need some good sleep." The next morning he wakes up and comes into the bedroom and says to me, "mommy my head doesn't hurt anymore..you were right all I needed was some good sleep!" Glad I was right this time!!!!

Good "Old" Car

As one of our little S.O.S service projects for the summer the kids and I wanted to "serve" our Daddy by cleaning out, detailing, and washing his car. We did this in conjunction with Father's Day on Monday when he was sleeping after his night shift. As I was in the car helping the kids wipe it down, I started thinking about what a great car it had been. It is a 1999 Honda Civic with only 80,000 miles on it that was given to me by my Uncle Raymond when I graduated Nursing school. It was my first new car and he let me go and pick it out and bought it with cash! He didn't let me go crazy, there were limits. I remember him telling me that I couldn't have a sun roof or a 6 disk CD changer/player. Those were luxuries! Funny! Anyways, this was not the first car he had given to me. I got his old red Honda civic when I was 16. He gave me his car free of charge and boy did I think I was cool...one of the first in my class to have a car! Come to think of it, all the cars John or I have owned (except John's truck) were because of my uncle. First was the used Honda civic, then the brand new 1999 Honda civic that we still have. When my uncle died in the year 2000, my parents so graciously used some of the money that was left to them from his estate to buy John and I a Toyota 4 runner (brand new, no car payment) when I was pregnant with Emily. I think we did pay them money every month as a car payment but not very much and not for very long. We sold John's truck at that point because it was the "oldest" vehicle we had. Then right after we had J.D., John found a really good deal on a barely used 2004 Honda Odyssey so we traded in the 4 Runner because it was paid in full and could get us a REALLY low van payment considering it was worth a lot. It was hard getting rid of it. I think that was mine and John's favorite vehicle we have ever had! But it did make us have a really low van payment (our first ever vehicle payment at that thanks to my uncle and parents). So back to the Honda Civic.....it has been a great car. We took it on our honeymoon and now it is mainly used for to and from work drives and errands without the kids. Whoever has the kids gets the van. The civic has never needed major work. It gets awesome gas mileage and does the job it needs to do. John says we are going to run it in the ground or give it to Emily when she turns 16 :) Thanks to my uncle who loved me like his own and always was so generous...we have never have had a huge car payment and have not really had to worry about vehicles. I know he would have been proud that we still have that little car. Or knowing him....he would have figured out someway to buy us a new one...he was always like that...he wouldn't outright give you money or things..he would make up some story about how it benefited him to give it to you or that he had some extra cash he needed to get rid of, etc. etc. Even though John aches for a truck sometimes, he knows and I know we have a lot to be thankful for in that little car and you can't beat the price! I know our little 10 year old car loved its bath, vacuuming, and wipe down! It made me feel good to treat it to a "spa" day!

The Actress

Emily did Petite Players camp this last week. We have never participated in Petite Players but have had acquaintances that have been a part of their productions and it sounded cute. We decided to try a camp this year. Emily did their one week Sound of Music camp. She loved it and came home so excited everyday. They did crafts (which ended up being the stage props), singing, dancing, choreography, and acting. Certainly right up Emily's alley! The owner/director/teacher is a mom...she is one of those very high energy, talks loud, over exaggerated, super magnetic personality types of people.....like you are exhausted after speaking to her for over a couple of minutes. She is awesome for kids and super great for shy kids. Emily took to her right away. Another really cool thing is that she had three young girls that had "graduated" from petite players (it only goes up to 5th grade) that were helping her. Emily told me one of the girl's names was Katherine. Small world....turns out two of the three girls were sisters and the girls that I babysat for my entire four years of college! I babysat for a family of four..a boy and his three younger sisters while I was attending college. I babysat for date nights, outings, overnight trips and one time a whole week. The family paid me well and it was a perfect college job. They kept me very busy! John and my brother Nic would help a lot. The Andersons became part of our family and when John and I got married, the three oldest children were in our wedding. We have kept up over the years through letters, Christmas cards and accidental "run-ins" around town. I love the family and they seemed to love us! Anyways, the two younger girls were "helpers" at the petite players camp and recognized Emily. They spoke to us the second day and I about fell out of my seat when I saw them because they have changed so much. I started babysitting for them when the two older ones were in elementary school, the third was like 2, and the fourth was not even born yet. So to see them now was shocking. The oldest is a Junior in college, 2nd is a senior in High school, 3rd is going into 9th grade, and the youngest is going into 6th grade. I felt so old!!! The kids I babysat for were now like basically babysitting my child. Very cool though.

The show on Friday where the girls got to show the parents what they had been doing all week was so awesome and one of the cutest things I have ever seen. John and I both cried just cause it was so dang cute and sweet! They did their very own version of the Sound of Music that made me feel like I was sitting in the basement of my house watching my daughter and her friends put on a "play" that they had been working on all summer. It was just adorable but small and sweet! They learned like 5 songs from the movie as well as dancing and stunts! Pretty impressive for four days. I loved that it was a classic story they were depicting as well instead of a teeny bopper modern day movie. I would love to sign Emily up for the fall semester but they are full already...something we will think about for the Spring.