Why You Won't Be Receiving a Chirstmas Card

Caroline is telling everyone to shut up and Wyatt is unwilling to give up the pipe.

Amelia looks good here.
If Mom had a clue how to use her camera, this one could have worked. Perhaps.

At least Gracie looks cute.

Evidently, Amelia has issues.

Wyatt is done.

This was about as good as it got.

FRIDAY FIVE

FIVE BEST THINGS ABOUT THANKSGIVING
1. Stuffing~the bread kind with sausage and celery
2. Red wine with turkey
3. Football
4. A turkey sat on a backyard fence song
5. Being thankful

FIVE BEST TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS CAROLS
1. Hark, the Herald Angels Sing
2. Joy the the World
3. Away in a Manager~as sung by Wyatt
4. Carol of the Bells
5. O Come All Ye Faithful~in Latin

FIVE REASONS WHY I AM GOING TO RETURN TO BLOGGING
1. The novelty of Facebook has worn off
2. Too many people read what I write on FB
3. I have a lot to say
4. I wish I hadn't quit
5. Pretty new templates now available for free!

Summer is almost over. . .

. . . and what do I have to show for it?

• a deep empathy for Kate and a desire to see Jon neutered
• the knowledge that PayLow is NOT the lowest priced supermarket in South Lake County
• a pre-teen who thinks she can sleep til noon
• a toddler who thinks he can swim
• the knowledge that the government requires Tim to randomly drug test himself~is that really random?
• the disappointment in never seeing a White Sox win in the Twinkie~dome.
• pasty white skin without a hint of a tan
• a working knowledge of "fins to the left"
• a whole bunch of new friends
• the loss of my patience
• the return of my true blond hair
• a hole in my summer where Hilton Head should have been
• an appreciation for Yo Gabba Gabba
• 15 hours lost to helping Jillian find Mr Right

FRIDAY FIVE

The Friday Five is BACK! I know you were missing it. . .

FIVE BEST WINES THAT I HAVE DRUNK . . .DRANK. . .DRINKED
1. The Monster Red Zin
2. Cakebread Chardonnay
3. Houge Reisling
4. Zen of Zin
5. Ravenswood ICON

FIVE THINGS I WOULD DO WITH $1,000,000
1. Buy new carpet
2. Pay CPCS tuition
3. Buy a Honda Odessey
4. Move out of this "lovely" area
5. Hire a nanny so I could take naps

FIVE JOBS I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE
1. Restaurant owner/chef
2. L&D nurse
3. White Sox sportscaster
4. Buyer/designer for Gap and Gymboree
5. Princess

Hi, My Name is Jen and I'm Addicted to Facebook

I have a new addiction. I tend to be an addictive personality. . .luckily I was a good kid in college! I adore Facebook and the part I love the most is reconnecting with people from way back when I was cool. (I frequently remind my daughters that their mom was like totally awesome.) I was one of those girls who really meant it when I signed KIT your yearbook. It bums me out that I spent all of the 80's with the same group of people and yet I only regularly talk to one of them. Even if some of them were more Farmer Ted than Jake Ryan, I love shared history. The years I spent in high school and college made me the adorably screwed up individual that I am today. We had a mini-high school reunion last winter with 23 girls from my high school class and it was the most fun I have had since the last time I watched "Can't Buy Me Love" six times in a row. We weren't all BFFs back in the day but we sure had a great time remembering the fun of high school.


Facebook is the fab technology that made that cool nite happen! FB also has given our generation a gift like none before us. It has given us the tools to go back in time. To rectify wrongs. Clear up confusion. Mend fences. No one before us has been able to do that without a significant amount of effort. That's a tool with a lot of potential for good and evil. Catching up with old friends and even old flames can stir up things that maybe should have been left dormant. Or it can show us that the guy we pined for really isn't all that perfect and the one we married is all that perfect. The BFF from high school can be thrilled to re-establish the friendship or she can be aloof and leave us feeling rejected all over again. The girl we barely knew in middle school now has kids exactly the same age as yours and you suddenly have tons in common. It's like going back to school but with a shuffled deck. Could be good. Could be bad. Could be both. Use it wisely.

Maybe we'll see the return of the ABC Afterschool Special about Facebook! Or maybe a very special episode of "Blossom" which projects Joey in 2009 FB-ing an old girlfriend while his wife Sixx gets mad. I would so TiVo that.

Not a Kate Hater

This past week has been a firestorm of controversy about the TLC show "Jon and Kate Plus 8". Did Jon cheat? Did Kate? Is Kate a crazy bitch who deserves whatever she gets? Are they exploiting their kids? I can't answer any of those questions because I don't know them. That seems to be the point that so many people keep forgetting. You don't know someone because you have watched a highly edited and manipulated 30 minute sound byte of their "life". We don't know that Jon is a partying playboy. We don't know if Kate is a raving lunatic. TLC takes the footage and makes it into an "entertaining" show that will generate ratings. Happy parents with lots of cute kids = BORING. Train wreck fed by the tabloids = sky high ratings for TLC. I have heard people suggest that TLC pull the plug and cancel the show because that would be good for the kids. TLC has a cash cow in this show and will not cancel without a major drop in ratings. Everyone seems to want Kate to drop the show and stay home. My guess is that is not an option. She has a contract for her book and contract for the show. I bet she is legally bound by terms to travel and promote.

What amazes me the most is other moms who are so quick to slam Kate. There are absolutely moments on the show where Kate speaks very rudely to her husband and others. I am guilty of the same thing. If you edited together my worst moments in the course of a week and left out any positive moments including any apologies for my worst moments, I'd look like a loon. I just don't get why moms have to tear other moms down. Are we all so perfect that we are in a position to cast stones at a woman we don't even know? We all have our own way of doing things that work for our families and mothering styles. No, Kate is not perfect and yes, she has chosen to put herself out there for scrutiny but that doesn't mean we know her in her private moments. TLC shows us Kate yelling at Jon but how do we know once they were in private she didn't say, "I'm sorry I lost my cool today." I'm not saying she did but we don't know that she didn't. TLC created the "characters" of Jon and Kate~Jon is the lovable husband who puts up with Kate the OCD nasty wife. They edit together clips as they want us to see them.

And yes, Shawnie was right. Nothing like controversy to get me back to blogging!

Spring Break~Not Just for Drunk College Students

The kiddos were on Spring Break this week and let's just say I wish I was a drunk college student. The week would have been easier. It was a LONG week. School breaks are always so much harder than summer. In the summertime we establish a routine and new rules. They can go outside to play. This week, the weather has been crap and we have pretty much been locked up in the house. I don't get moms who love school vacations. They are so hard for me mostly because of the lack of routine. All four of my kids~especially the spirited kindergartener~thrive on schedule. No schedule=chaos.

OK, now that I'm done complaining, I will share our one fun day out this week. We took a road trip to Indy to the famous Children's Museum with a stop in Lafayette to visit the famous burger stop~Triple X. We are huge fans of the Food Network show "Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives" with Guy Fieri and have grand plans to do a trip across the Midwest to visit all the places he has profiled. The Triple X is the closest to us so we started there. It was worth the trip even though it was counter only and my girls acted like tourists yelling and pointing at the pics on the wall, "Look Mom! It's the guy from TV!!!"

The Super Wy has recently mastered the word "PLEASE!" and the use of a straw so he drank everyone's root beer.

Greta is not usually a burger fan but she scarfed her half.

Caroline would eat fried dirt on a stick if she saw it on the Food Network. She was thrilled to be there and ate one the burgers that the menu highlighted "As Seen on the Food Network!"

Amelia has never met a burger she didn't love especially with lettuce, tomato, and onion. She snarfed down an entire adult burger.

Stay tuned for picture from the museum and some great shots of the clouds on the way home!