Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there.

I came across this and found it so funny...I thought all Mother's out there might enjoy it this Mother's day and find a little humor in it. Oh come on, don't let me think I am the only one that feels this way. What Mom's Really Want For Mother's Day... 1. To be able to eat a whole candy bar by herself, and drink a glass of Diet Coke without any "floaties". 2. To have my 14-year-old answer a question without rolling her eyes in that "Why is this person my mother?" way. 3. Five pounds of chocolate that won't add twenty. 4. A shower, without a child peeking through the curtain with a "Hi'ya, Mom" just as I put razor to my ankle. 5. A full-time cleaning person, who looks like Brad Pitt. 6. For my teenager to announce, "Hey, Mom! I got a full scholarship and a job all in the same day!" 7. A grocery store that doesn't have candy, gum, or cheap toys displayed at the checkout line. 8. To have a family meal without a discussion about bodily secretions. 9. To be able to sit down on a plane with my toddlers and not have some pencil-neck-yuppie moan, "Ohhh, nooo! Why me?" 10. Four words: Fisher Price Play Prison!!

Crazy Day for sure

My kids love to dress up for "crazy day" at school. I find it so funny because they are so excited, but I would never have done that when I was their age. It is very hard for a hairdresser and OCD mother to allow her children to go to school looking this way. I mean can't their clothes at least match? I guess that is why it is crazy day!

These 2 pictures are the kids with my niece and nephew.

Damian's trip of a lifetime to Washington DC

So a year ago Damian started the process of trying to earn $2400.00 to go on a trip of a lifetime with his school class....to Washington DC. He has been busy around the house doing extra chores, recycling aluminum cans, washing cars, doing school spell-a-thons, and collecting tax credits from very generous family members. (He even earned a scholarship through his school). Damian achieved his goal adn left for Washington DC on Thursday, April 26th 2012 and returned Tuesday, May 1, 2012. Some of the places they traveled were: The White House- (No pictures due to heightened security that day.) Lincoln, Korean, Vietnam Memorials Arlington National Cemetery Iwo Jima Memorial Naval Museum The Newseum FDR, Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr Memorials Drive to Pennsylvania for: Gettysburg Museum & Battlefield Tour WWII Memorial, Einstein Statue September 11- Pentagon Memorial- return back to DC Mount Vernon Cruise Washington Monument Holocaust Museum National Capitol Tour Library of Congress Supreme Court Smithsonian Museums Fords Theatre Peterson House Tour National Archives WOW!!! What an experience. He said he only got about 10 hours of sleep all week. BUT worth every penny. - This is what it looks like at 4 AM- getting ready to go to the airport from the school.

Getting ready to take off- ALL ABOARD!!!!!

Various Pictures of Damian

September 11th Memorial at the Pentagon.

Nation's Capitol

Iwo Jima Memorial

Washington Monument

Arlington National Cemetery

Abraham Lincoln Memorial

Smithsonian Museums- Natural & American History & Air & Space Museums

Damian arriving Home May 1, 2012 10:00 PM

So the story behind this... Damian went on a field trip in 4th grade on the Colorado River trip. I gave him a disposible camera for pictures....he came home with a roll of film of "Donkey Dung". So before I left I asked him to get some pictures of more than Donkey Dung. So he didn't take any pictures of it....he brought it home instead. That's my Damian! Thank you to everyone who helped make this dream come true for Damian!

Pima County Spelling Bee

This last saturday, February 18,2012, Damian competed in the Pima County Spelling Bee. It was held at the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind (ASDB). He was given participant #5 and there were 45 competing. They didn't let us take pictures of the actual Bee but I took 1 before it started. Damian finished in 10th place out of 45 and we are proud of him. What an experience! He says he will win next year.
The next day we received a call that he was in the Sunday Arizona Daily Star newspaper. Here is the link.

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/spell-binding/article_34f92839-6689-54f8-86c6-5bd0f835c879.html

BTW: the word he missed was aggregate (He spelled it too fast and left out a g)

The word is Winner... W-I-N-N-E-R....

The kid's school Spelling Bee was held on Friday and Damian and Aubrey were both participants. Aubrey is in 3rd grade this year and Damian is in 7th grade. Aubrey went through round 5. She missed a 5th grade word "municipal". Damian went to round 20 (the last 4 rounds were words that were not given ahead of time to study) and spelled "miscellaneous" correctly and was declared the champion for Tucson Country Day School. He will represent the school in the Pima County Spelling Bee on February 18th. Way to go kids!!!!





















Here is also the video of the final rounds. It is a little over 4 minutes long.


The funny story is.... Damian had been on restriction before this. The night before the Spelling Bee he came and asked me how he could get off restriction. I told him, "If you win the Spelling Bee tomorrow, you might get off restriction." Well, Damian took the challenge to heart. Right after he was awarded the trophy, he headed straight towards me. I was thinking he was coming to give me a big hug for helping him study for the last 2 months..... but no. He stopped in front of me holding the trophy and said, "Mom, we have some business to discuss."
That is such Damian. I guess it motivated him.
(Yes, he did get off restriction.)

Christmas 2011/ New Years 2012

We enjoyed our Christmas season and break from school. We celebrated at home with our family.






















For New Years we played games, enjoyed sparklers and poppers, snacks and sparkling cider and then went off to bed. We hope that 2012 brings lots of great things for our family.

Mohawk Time!

How many of you moms can claim that you gave your son a mohawk for only 21 hours just for crazy hair day at school? Well, now I can say that I have.