Hip Hop Houligan

Spencer and IV are taking an All Boys Hip Hop class---and they love it! The only problem is that we can't get them to STOP flipping, dancing and breakin' all over the place. Spencer wants so badly to learn some "sweet moves"...

Breakfast of reluctant champions

I have received so many emails and calls about my blog entry from this past week regarding Spencer and his Corned Beef Hash breakfast. Even my mom called to "inventory" my breakfast selections so that her "darling grandson" had adequate protein in the morning and not just a poptart.....
Now I admit, I don't "cook" breakfast unless it is a weekend. So now that we are back to school, Spencer's breakfast choices are limited to things that are fast and simple. Here is Friday morning's breakfast:

The bacon is the precooked kind that I can re-heat in the microwave for 20 seconds, a slice of toast, milk and fruit. No omelet station. No waffle irons. No kidding.
If Betty Crocker was a single mom with a kick ass job-- this is how HER kid would eat, too!

I love this picture!

This isn't exactly
the prettiest rose from my yard;
This photo wasn't posed
or set up to be "artsy"-
I was taking pictures of Spencer in front of the roses
and he picked one,
shoved it to me,
and said "Here Mommy!"
and I just happened to be shooting at the same time.
I love how the background captures his small frame
and how his little feet are planted as perfectly as the rose bushes.
Soon, he will be older and will think it is totally lame
to bring his ol' Mom flowers
Good thing I have this picture
so I can remember when
giving and receiving a bright pink yard rose
made both of us more than happy.

Tagged: 7 Strange Characteristics

Kristin, April and Leslie (ugh. One of my Dookie friends) all tagged me with the following:

Here are the rules:

*If you are tagged, you must first post the rules:
*Write 7 strange characteristics about yourself. They interest us all!
*Tag 5 other people at the end of your Post.
*Visit everyone that you have tagged and leave a comment on their blog to let them know that they have been tagged.

So here are mine:


1. I have a tooth brushing obsession. I love the feel of freshly brushed teeth!

2. I collect pins. (like costume jewelry)

3. At any given time, there are about 50 wet-ones in my bag. Spencer and I both have a handwipes obsession.

4. I can't stand girly, lifetime movies. Ugh-boring!!!

5. I have a water phobia. I can't go underwater. I'm supposed to go snorkel this November in the Caribbean and was supposed to have "worked" on my phobia over the summer. So far....nada.

6. I can't cook, but love to bake.

7. I love the holidays and put my Christmas tree up as soon as I can get my Halloween stuff down.

No fair-- all of my "usual" blog pals have been tagged already today! So let's see who hasn't been tagged:

Kim- because she loves it when I am bossy! (Tag your blog be-otch!)

Christy - because her damn blog will become an antique if she doesn't update it soon.

Lydia- this is my cousin. If you like my blog and my weird sense of humor-- you will love Lydia as well!

Robyn - since she always has something fun to share!

Amy C - because I just realized that she blogs!

That's My Bag, baby!

Spencer's first assignment was a personality bag. His teacher gave him a brown paper lunch bag and each kid had to return to school with 5 items in the lunch bag that "describes" themselves for a getting-to-know-you show-and-tell exercise.

Spencer chose to bring the following:

A Clone Trooper-- because he really likes Star Wars.
A little UNC football- because he loves Carolina and he is in the Kids Club.
A picture of IV- because they are like brothers.
A picture from the Disney cruise of us with the sea lion- because he likes doing fun stuff and he is going on another cruise next year.
and..... a rubber chicken...because he thinks it is funny. He and his Nana have such an odd sense of humor when it comes to rubber chickens...

So other than the sappy stuff (pictures of your family, etc.) what fun stuff would you have in your personality bag?

2nd Grader

Spencer started Second Grade today. Did you hear that? SECOND GRADE!! My baby is a second grader-- oh man. Well the good news is that I *love* his teacher and assistant, I know several of the other Moms in the class and I think I'm going to enjoy volunteering this year. The bad news is summer break is over and I have to roll his grouchy ham hocks out of bed early each morning!

Okay now for the traditional first day of school pictures.
For this first one, I said: Look like a smart 2nd grader...and this is what I got:



Seriously Spencer. I just want one decent picture, please!



I ordered him a new backpack for this year. I got it out, and was showing it to him and I said, "Look! I even had your name embroidered on it."
and he said, "L.L. Bean???"
I quickly said "No goober--above that!"
then I noticed he was laughing. He totally played me.

Well alrighty then

Spencer is not like most kids when it comes to food. He has "unusual" preferences. Most of the time it works to my advantage because he picks fruits, vegetables, salads, fish, etc. over junk food but that also means he rarely orders from the children's menu. Which means we share a meal and I usually get what *he* wants or pay for two entrees.

This morning, he slept in. That's not unusual for him. He is definitely a sleeper. He woke up at 10:00 starved. He normally eats breakfast here and then goes to Nana and Boppa's while I work. Well Mr. Grouchy was upset that we didn't have any corned beef hash. I'm busy Spencer--can't you eat cereal or a pop tart like a normal kid?

I'm in here working and I hear him emptying the entire cupboard, can foods slamming down on the kitchen counter, him mumbling, etc. About 10 minutes later, I get to a stopping point and I go into the kitchen and he is sitting there eating a bowl a cereal, scowling and then I notice THIS added to my list on the fridge door:


I tried not to laugh. Poor neglected kid has to eat cereal like a common 7 year old.

Movie Reviewers evidently don't buy toys

We saw Star Wars: The Clone Wars tonight. I was a little leery about seeing it after I saw the horrible reviews. But- you know what? The reviews are written by adults. Lucas is a capitalistic genius. He took the characters that most kids already know-- animated them, packed the movie with exploding robots (but no actual human violence) and had both male and female hero characters-- you can hear the merchandise just flying off the shelf now. Oh and as I update my blog, my kid is sitting in there building Clone Wars Legos, wearing a Clone Wars T-shirt while Clone Wars action figures stand guard around the Lego pile....see? Marketing genius.
The plot of the movie was rather simple as well. Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, his Padawan (apprentice), attempt to help the Republic form an alliance by retrieving Jabba the Hutt’s baby son from Count Dooku. Of course there is the expected guidance from Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda while leading the massive clone army into exaggerated battles, force fields, epic weapons and everything else Spencer will stand in the toy section of Target and beg for....

Sc-hairy

At the movies the other night, my brother made a remarkable discovery. Rainn Wilson in the new movie THE ROCKER, has a hair cut/color that may possibly be compared to mine. At first I thought Jimmy was insulting my do but now I realize he's just a hater and wishes he was rocking the 80's metal mullet like his fabulous sister!

The List Whisperer

I've got too much going on right now-- I need to get my TO DO list straightened out, sync my calendars up and organize my desk. I feel all out of it. You know that feeling...like you just realized it was show & tell day and you forgot to bring anything...

I saw two movies this past weekend- Tropic Thunder and Step Brothers. Both were funny as hell. I had a fun weekend, but that means I didn't get much done around the house. More to add to my TO DO list. Meh! Laundry will always be there, right?

An Honest Mistake

Like everyone else, we have been glued to the TV watching the Olympics each evening. This is the first series of games where Spencer is old enough to understand what the Olympics are about.... or so I thought.
Michael Phelps has been phenomenal, of course. During one of his races, we were excited and cheering like we knew him or something. Mid-cheer Spencer looked over at me, I thought he was going in for a High 5 so I held my hand up, but poor Spencer was coming in for a celebratory hug and I ended up punching my poor kiddo in the mouth. YIKES!!!
Last night while we were watching men's gymnastics, one of the guys did a pretty impressive routine and Spencer said, "WOW! What number is he?" I said, "His team number is on the back of his shirt." And Spencer said "Yeah. Get the phone. We are definitely voting for that guy!"
My poor kid has watched so much reality TV (American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, etc.) that he thought we had to phone in votes for the Olympic athletes. Oh geez....

Nerd alert!

What is the cut-off age for guys dressing up in Star Wars costumes? Can he do this at age 7 and not be typed as a Star Wars dork the rest of his life?

I was thinking, sure, it is still cute when they are this age....until I got the 20 minute explanation about something about General Grievous' bodyguards. I dozed off there briefly but when I woke back up he was explaining the jet pack thingy on Boba Fett. Oh my goodness. I have spawned a geek! I'm almost proud!

And yes, I let him order his costume. It took 4 websites to find his size so I figured I better get it now if I expected it to be in stock for Halloween. I would hate for him to miss out on Trick or Treating as Darth Maul.

He is so excited, he charted the delivery date onto a sheet of paper and hung it on the refrigerator. He "x's" off each day counting down to the expected delivery date. And I was worried the Star Wars costume was going to make him geeky....

I think IV is going to be either a Storm Trooper or Darth Vader. I'm pretty sure both of them chose their costumes based on the character's weapons. Spencer sounded like the kid from A Christmas Story (with the official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model BB gun with a compass in the stock)as he described (over and over again) the "dual lightsaber made of sturdy injection molded plastic complete with light up telescoping blade."

When I kissed him goodnight he had two final questions for me: Do we have the right batteries for the dual lightsaber with light up telescoping blade? and What time does the mailman normally bring our mail?

Caught ya!

I was walking past the bathroom and saw little Mr. Spencer in there with his new manly body spray. I quietly got my camera but the flash bounced off the mirror and he saw me. He got a little embarrassed-but it was so cute! I'm so glad to see him feeling a little better!

Nana's Knee

For anyone looking for us today-- I apologize! Mom's surgery was moved up today and Spencer woke up at 4am sick and his eyelids were glued shut with eye-boogers. Mom went through surgery fine--we were worried because of her weird allergic reactions, past stroke, COPD and worst of all, us driving her nuts. As soon as we made sure Mom got through recovery fine, I whisked Spencer to the pediatrician (which, thankfully, is next door to the hospital) and he has a double ear infection, upper respiratory infection and pink eye. Spencer is full of antibiotics now, mom is resting and not in pain....and I am getting ready to crash. Mom's leg should heal in two weeks and she can go back to kicking butt and taking names.

Little Surfer Dudes

Spencer went to the beach this weekend with Jimmy, Lucy and IV. The boys spent all weekend skim boarding and body boarding-- they had a blast. They managed to squeeze in some miniature golf at night--but otherwise, they just relaxed and played. They came home tonight and Spencer gave me a big hug and then proceeded to show me all his surfing wounds from the weekend (minor bruises, skint toe and shore rash on thighs...) This kid loves a good injury story.

My weekend went by way too fast. Went out to Bimini's on Friday and then we saw Swing Vote. I went to a photography class on Saturday and then shopping (Valerie's Birthday snuck up on me!) Sunday, a wild hair crossed me and I darted out to Lowe's for supplies then I painted the kitchen.

Oh and I have to tell you about the idiot at the mall. I needed a new lens cap tether so I went to the local mall because I thought Ritz camera was still there. I trekked up to where I thought it was and...oops it was gone. The goofball working at Bath & Body Works was standing at the front of the store (which was beside the empty store I thought was the camera shop) so I asked her, "Did Ritz Camera move to somewhere else in the mall or are they gone?" and here is where it went downhill...
Her: "Who?"
Me: "The camera store that used to be here."
Her: "I don't know what you are talking about. But so that your trip to the mall isn't a total loss, check out our lotions, they are buy 2 get 1 free."
Me: " Thanks anyway but I don't need lotion I need a store that sells lenses."
Her: (insert Paris Hilton-esque giggle) "Oh My Gawd. The entire world has gone digital, ya know."
me: "Huh?"
Her: "You know. Everyone uses DIGITAL cameras now."
me: (getting REALLY pissy by this point) "Why Thank you Miss Mensa. But you do realize that some digital cameras have interchangeable lenses, right?"
Her: "You just turn it on and the lens pops out. I thought all digital cameras were like that" (she totally didn't get my Mensa remark...) and this statement was accompanied by asinine hand gestures like I don't understand a lens popping out of a point and shoot camera.
Me: "No..There are digital SLRs.."
then she interrupts with: "My best friend is a professional photographer..."
me: "Good. You will have someone to explain this conversation to you later." and I turned and left.
Seriously dude. This is why you sell soap.

Weapons of Mess Distraction

Spencer wanted to make caramel apples. Fine--I'm a cool mom, I can handle this, right? Most of you know I'm not that great of a cook, but I normally fare pretty well in the baking department.
I mixed up the caramel ingredients and microwaved it to melt. When I took it out of the microwave, it was barely bubbling...perfect! uhhhmmm...No. When I stirred it, the mixture bubbled up like one of those volcano kit science experiments. Spencer is hollering "WOW!!! COOL MOM!" and I'm grabbing waxed paper and stirring like a mad woman trying not to give myself third degree burns with a boiling magma of butter and brown sugar.
The eruption finally calms down and I test it to make sure it doesn't taste scorched. Mother%$#^(!! Why did I just poke my finger in to taste it when I *just* witnessed it reach beyond boiling point??? And while I am trying desperately to cool my burning finger and censor my potty mouth, my poor son sticks HIS finger in the caramel to taste it because evidently his thinks I'm doing a dance of joy around the kitchen and not a dance of pain. UGHH!!
For the love of all things holy, I have seen Carnival workers with 3rd grade educations, 4 teeth and misspelled tattoos make caramel apples. I should be able to do this without injury and without launching a stream of obscenities resembling a sailor with Tourettes.
Fast forward a minute or so-- we both have cooled our fingers and have impaled the poor apples with the popsicle sticks. We coat each apple in the caramel and set it aside to cool.
Finally! I did it! They looked really good, too! I asked Spencer if he wanted one and he said, "Nah. No Thanks."
Brat.

We're crafty!

We just finished up VBS at our church. I worked in the craft room each evening and had a great time with all the kids.
Spencer and IV had fun! I got a couple of cute pictures of them sitting on the hay bales (we did a County Fair theme) but this picture just seemed to sum up their devious little personalities so well!

River Walkers

This past weekend, I flew out to San Antonio to meet up with a bunch of friends. The meet up was under the facade of a scrapbooking convention-- but ask me how much I scrapbooked... uhmmmm not the first damn page. The hotel was right on the River Walk; our gathering room was next door to the bar; we had plenty of space to chill out; Lesle rented a 15 passenger van (aka "the short bus") so all of us could pile together to go out shopping and out for meals, etc.
Gizzy came all the way from Germany, Sheri was in from Canada, and I was with many other friends from all of Texas, Michigan, Idaho, New York, California, Missouri, and other places I can't remember right now. In other words, it was one, big non-stop party. Since we have been home, we have shared pictures and laughed all over again. Here are a few pics that are "safe" to share!