From Diapers to Driver's Licenses... Adventures of the Super Nanney

A New Year, A New Beginning

2011-01-13T19:40:00.000-08:00

When I started this blog, years ago, my munchkins were little bits and doing all kinds of adorable, little bit things. Time has passed, the munchkins have grown up into bigger, noisier (if you can believe it) munchkins, and time seems to be almost nonexistent. And this blog has suffered for it. My failure to post is not for lack of material. Believe me, and recently I've been reminded why I started this blog in the first place.

The kids, the younger ones especially, have discovered the posts of "Super Nanney Past", and have taken up reading and rereading them, and quoting them, (Imagine my horror!) and saying, "Remember when you blogged about that one time when I did that really funny thing?" Ugh! You're kidding me, right? But My favorite was when it was requested that I go back to updating. I think the exact words were, "Why don't you ever blog about us anymore? We're much funnier now than we were then!" Seriously? Think much of ourselves, do we?

So, I've been guilt tripped into blogging again. Not that I have any delusions that anyone reads this blog anymore, except for the kids featured. How ironic. But I never wrote for the readership. This was always a means to chronicle some of the funnier moments I live every day.

The good news is that the funny moments of everyday life still happen around me. And in spades. I have a plethora of material at my fingertips! And with my fancy, schmancy iPhone, blogging is easier than ever.

I bring you exhibit A. The following is a video of the two youngest pretending to be a "Bop It" toy. If you don't know what this then by all means, Google it! (I'd like to point out the two "cool dudes" in the background. They couldn't bother to participate, but couldn't stand to not be included. *waves* Hey, guys! I know you're reading this!) You'd think with all the toys they just received at Christmas they'd be able to find something to occupy themselves with. But, no.

Until next time!

Life, Laughs, and Learning

2010-05-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

A Year in Review

July. Ten months. Wow. So much happens in that amount of time. I couldn't begin to try to share all the amazing, funny, exciting things that have gone on in the past ten months. So much living happens in a day, to try to cover 300 days in a post would be impossible. First an explanation....

I have been on hiatus for far too long. What started out as a little break turned into a near year long sabbatical from the blog. I have recently begun to miss sharing the crazy, entertaining things the munchkins say, and thought I'd take the summer to try to get back in the saddle again.

So what happened? Honestly? Life. I've been busy living it. Between my family and life here on Nanny Island, as I like to call it, has been full of adventures and blessings. Everything from babies being born, driver's licenses earned, high schoolers preparing to graduate, and just the general business of growing and becoming amazing human beings has captured my attention more than the blog did. Many, many times I thought, Man! I gotta blog that! But it never quite made it into the laptop. So, here's a quick recap of the past 10 months:

Grant (11) had several surgeries to correct the cyst in his bone, thank God he is well and his doctors expect him to continue to heal and never be effected by this again. While he healed he was a key competitor on his community swim team and was quite the little fish. Still is. Grant has also earned the nick name GQ for his keen sense of style. That kid is suave!

Celine (8) has been taking piano lessons for an old friend of mine, Carrie, and recently had her first piano recital. She is excelling and emerging as quite the little musician. She surprises us and her teacher each week. She continues to dance and that recital is fast approaching! School seems to be something she loves as she gobbles up everything she's taught. She's a smart, talented, witty little lady who I've been calling Smarty Spice lately. I think it suits her. She's grown so far beyond the little baby she was nearly 8 years ago.

Brian (10) is double digits! Man this is a BIG deal to these kids, and he welcomed the badge of honor eagerly! He's growing so big! Looking more and more like a little man. And what a funny little man he is! FunnyBoy is his moniker. This kid can make a brick crack up with just a look or silly comment. If he isn't in the entertainment industry one day then I'll be mighty surprised!

John Paul (12) Well, JP as he has requested us to call him (?), will be 13 this month, and with that "teen" label comes all the angst and emo you never imagined! He's TALL, and handsome, and a pain in my rear! I love the kid, but sometimes you just wanna..... Anyway, he's the star on his baseball team and about to enter 8th grade. WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

Colette (15) now has her driver's permit, making that half of my munchkins legal drivers. I can remember when half my munchkins were in DIAPERS! Princess is finishing up her Freshman year in high school and is a real beauty. She is the life of any party she attends, and there are a lot of them, I assure you. Her dance card is full!

Kaleigh (21) Okay, the age alone should tell you how much is going on on her life. What a stunning young woman! And due to the fact that she IS a young woman now, I'll respect her privacy and just say that she's an amazing person who I am very proud of. Between school and life she keeps very busy. I'm proud to know her and have been a part of her life. It bogles my mind that I have known her eleven years.

Monica (17) is finishing up her Junior year in high school and doing very well. She was a contestant in her schools "beauty" pageant and did very well. We were all so proud of her. She has her own car now and zips all over town- when she isn't working that is. And she's ALWAYS working! She's the hardest working 17 year old I know.

Last but not least is Warren (18). Spielberg is his new name, why? Because the guy can make a movie! I'll post his Senior class video he made in my next. So he's graduating this week and will be off to Florida State University in the fall. (I may or may not be crying right now. Just saying.) Man, this kid is handsome, and so smart and talented. I can't wait to see the amazing things he's going to do in his life.

OKAY, that's all the munchkins. Now for a brief update on me, not that you wanna hear the boring deets of my life.

My nieces and NEPHEWS (yes I have brand new one, Gavin- 5 weeks old) are growing like weeds and I adore them beyond words. Still no man, but I'm coolio with that. I'm very happy and enjoying spending time with family and friends. I'm living on my own again. My lovable roomie and sister in Christ finally got tired of my crap and moved. Only kidding! She had an great opportunity and moved, so I got a place to myself and everyone is happy! Let's see.... Oh! I'm writing, like REALLY writing. It's not the Great American Novel or anything, but I'm stretching my writing muscles on it and learning a lot in the process. And, no, you may not read what I'm writing because it is crap and not worth your time. You can read my first book after it's published, okay?

OK, thanks for hanging in there through this. As a reward here is a munchkin story:

Brian and Grant were goofing off at recess this morning. They were dancing with their Mom's couch cushions, spinning them and being silly. Grant dips his "dance partner" and says to "her", "I'll dip you like a cookie in milk!" These boys are gonna need strong women when they grow up, that's all I have to say.

I hope to see you tomorrow!

XOXOXO

Just back...

2009-07-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

I'mmm baaaack!

After a much needed respite from the daily blogging, I am back, Jack! (Okay, so it hadn't been daily for a while there, but I really needed a break!)

So... what'cha been doooin'?

I've been doing a bunch of nothing, and a little of something. I've been writing, just not on the blog. (Sorry, Bethany!) I've been working- the kiddos are great by the way... they say "HI!" They have apparently missed the blogging too. Throughout the summer I'd laugh at something or say "That's too funny!" and the immediate response would be, "SO will that make it onto the blog?" Some of the hilarity was probably quite blog-worthy, but alas... it is lost forever.

We had Summer Games! Meg took all the pics, so until I get those from her, you'll just have to trust me that we had a blast! Well, the munchkins did at least!

I have a new God daughter, Amelia Rose! She's a sweetie! She'll have her own post in a day or so. Her Baptism is Monday, so I'll do something special for her!

My BIL (Blogspeak for Brother-in-law. Less to type and mess up that way!) has been deployed to Iraq for the next year. While we as a family are very sad to have him away from us, we are bursting with pride! I'll be keeping you all up to date with how he's doing as well. You can also check out my sister's very patriotic, star spangle-ly blog:

The Johns Kids

She updates regularly and you can see my adorable nieces and nephew. Plus keep up on all the excitement of their growing brood (the have 3!)

Have no fear of me abandoning the blog. I know you were losing sleep at night over this. School has started back, so I'll be spend copious amounts of time cooped up in a small area with these fantastically funny kids. That can only mean one thing: MORE BLOGGING!

A wise blogger once said:

"That which doesn't kill me gives me blog fodder."

So true, Mr. Miyagi. So true...

A closing note:

I saw a t-shirt when I was out shopping this weekend. The gist of it was:

"Sorry, I'm busy... just read my blog!"

Well, I've been too busy to even update, so I'm very sorry to those who read regularly and look forward to updates. I promise to do better from now on.

Lunch is coming to an end, so I have to end this post! Thanks for reading and not giving up on this Ninny of a Nanny!

Week-Long Work Week

2009-06-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

Today is Day 1 of the week-long work week! Today my bosses leave for Dallas for a week. Kaleigh, the oldest of the 8 "kids" to have jaw surgery. (She's not technically a kid anymore, but I can still picture her sweet nine year old face that first day I came to the house...) Pray for her on Thursday, if you would, please!

So, it's me and the other 7 munchkins for the next 8 days. You may be wondering if you'll need to call the men in white coats by the time next Tuesday runs around. I don't think so, but you should probably keep the number handy, just in case. A lot can happen in 8 days.

For instance: The kids could cry "mutiny", and attempt to overthrow the ruling party (that would be me). Or a giant tsunami, (wow, I totally spelled that correctly without spell check!) could hit the east cost of Florida; though I don't believe one ever has. What about aliens? They could invade Earth just when Donna and Chris leave and snatch the kids' bodies and force them to do things against their will- wait... That could be a good thing. I'm pretty positive alien children are more well behaved than earthling children, but that's just a hunch. There is the off chance that I could lose my mind from the never ending chatter, questioning, noise/sound effects, arguing, and aggravation in general. The last seems most likely, but all are plausible. What? You know you've worried about at least ONE of those things happening, haven't you? Am I the only one who stays up at night worrying about this kind of stuff? Great. Now I'm a confirmed crazy. Go ahead and send out those men in white coats... At least we'll be prepared when the inevitable happens.

My Alien Boys...

Falling Off the Face of the Earth...

2009-06-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

While it may have seemed like I did indeed fall off the face of the earth, it would be closer to the truth to say that I fell off the face of the blogging world.

No excuses; I'll just pick up where I left off...

LOTS has happened, babies have been born, toddlers have grown bigger, kids have moved on from Jr. Hight to High School, and one of my birdies prepares to leave the nest after his Senior Year comes to a close in 2010!

All this piled on top of my moving home to St. Auggie, and I have plenty of reasons to not be blogging. But I miss you all soo much that I can't to stand to be away another minute more! (Well, it's either that, or I can't stand to hear another inquisition wondering when I'm gonna ever blog again... I'm not sure which it is...)

I have a little time coming up, and my goal is to catch you all up on the latest and greatest going's ons in the Super Nanney Nebulous!

Thanks for not abandoning me, even when it seemed like I'd abandoned y'all! Keep reading! I promise funny stuff to come!

Week 36...

2009-05-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

We are in our last week of school. WOO-HOO!! and BOO!!! Apparently this is a bitter-sweet time. We have been working hard all year to get to this point: the end of the year. Yet, as we now find ourselves staring in the face of this mammoth goal, it seems to be too soon. I must find was to occupy these munchkins days! ALL DAY! So now I will be planning the annual Willimas Familia Summer Camp. *panic setting in*

Of course the majority of the time will be spent in or by the pool and ocean, this is Florida! Then there will be the requisite bowling tourneys that we challenge one another to, many, many movies watched, and picnics by lake and at the park. With all of this stuff to keep us busy- it's hard to believe that it will not be enough!

I have to go plan all the fun we will be having- starting NEXT week. For now... it's back to grading papers, going over quarter reviews, administering end of the quarter tests, and MOUNTAINS of paperwork! I can't believe that I'm even blogging right now! In fact- I'm going back to helping Brian with his Religion Exam... *sigh*

Happy Birthday, Big B!!!

2009-05-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

Today is Brian's 9th B-day!

Yet again, the time seems to be FLYING by...

This is a chid with a tender, loving heart. He's always ready with a smile and kind words. Each day, after we have finished with our school work for the day, he will not leave the school room until he has given me a very thoughtful hug. By that I mean that it is long and loving; you can't help but feel loved when you are with this child. Add to that his AMAZING sense of humor, and uncanny ability to pick up and properly use quotes form TV and Movies. He's a trip! I encourage you to look back on some of my older posts about this funny little friend of mine.

Here's one of my FAVORITE baby pictures of him....

And he requested that I take a picture of his new Webkins...

Here's to NINE AMAZING years, Big B!! I will be saying extra special prayers for you today! You are a blessing to everyone you meet.

I love you, sweet boy.

WICKED! Awesome!!!!

2009-05-06T09:31:00.001-07:00

In honor of my amazing evening at WICKED! I'm writing this all in green! Also because "Pink goes good with green!!" ( You have to see the play) It was so well done! I was so impressed with the entire production! The stage! The acting! The music! THE COSTUMES- wow!!!! To have experienced this with Meg was a blessing! We tried to remember all the things we had seen together. They vary; from Harry Connick, Jr. to American Idol, and who can forget Michael Buble??!!! So this was another stellar addition to our list of experiences together! She is an amazing Daughter of God, and a pretty rockin' friend! Love ya, Meg!!

Here are a few pics of us and a little video we did while waiting for the show to begin:

Myself and Meg before the show and minus the green effects.

Our seats, until we MOVED, to better ones!

Again, REALLY?

2009-05-05T09:19:00.000-07:00

I would like to redirect your attention to a past post, I believe it was from last summer, when we had an unwelcome visitor. Click HERE for a link to that post. Why? Because we had a repeat performance recently, that's why. Read on, my friends, read on...

So I'm wondering why all things that slither feel drawn to this house? Seriously?!! We are overrun with lizards and frogs at every turn, and the snakes seem to think that they would be happier inside the house! I don't know if my heart can take much more of this!

The story goes that Meg and Grant were downstairs doing dome work while the rest of us were upstairs doing school. Then there was a lot of ruckus and Grant yells, "There's a snake in the house!" We all rushed down the stairs, why? I have no idea, but we did, and by the time we all got down there the back door leading into the garage was wide open, so I followed the herd outside to see what all the hullabaloo was about. There, in the driveway, stood Gerry (one of the cleaners who come each Tuesday) with a black snake wrapped around his arm. I might have been scared- but Gerry had a good grip on it, and it's head wasn't very big. He was just L-O-N-G. Here's a new video of the new snake. I love it when he asks the kids if they wanna play with it, and they all take a step back. Oh! And the part when he says he's gonna let it go near the lake so it can eat all the rats and mice... nice touch, Gerr... that SOO made me feel better. I thought to myself, "Sure he'll start with mice, move up to rats, and eventually be ready to start feeding on my munchkins! Thanks for that warm and fuzzy thought."

Enjoy...

What I Wouldn't Give to Have an Adult Conversation...

2009-05-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

So, one complaint ALL moms have is that they miss having conversations with adults... I think the same could be said for nannies. Bill Cosby is well known for saying, "Kids say the darnedest things!", and that is SO true. My munchkins, however, excel at saying the darnedest things...

Here is a taste of the conversations I've had thus far this morning... (It's not 10 AM yet...)

Brian LOVES to play with my hair. He does it without even thinking about it, he just reaches over and fingers a few strands as I read to him or review the day's lessons. He's a very sensitive child with a wonderful heart. Today we were cuddling on the couch and he was playing with my hair, as usual. He says, "Your hair always feels like plastic." I knew what he meant.

"Because, I have moose in my hair, silly." (A girl's gotta look her best!) "It makes it feel funny." "Ahh, but it makes it LOOK good!" Then John Paul pipes in his less than two cents, "Are you sure it isn't a DEER?" Of course this erupted into a litany of possible wild game that could be making my hair feel like plastic. Elk, caribou, water buffalo, antelope, alpaca? The fun is never ending around here.

After the noise died down a bit, I began to herd (pun intended) the kiddos upstairs to the schoolroom to begin the day. Celine, the youngest, asks me to sit with her, that she had something to talk to me about. She says, very seriously,

"Shanny, I think I'm allergic to Math..."

"Really? How can you tell?"

"I don't know, I just can.'

"Well, are your eyes itchy?"

"Uh-huh..." (As she rubs them for effect)

"Do you sneeze a lot?"

"Yes."

"Is your throat scratchy?"

"Kinda."

I sighed, and grimly shook my head and gave her my professional diagnosis,

"Well, it DOES seem like you may be highly allergic to Math, Beans ( her nickname), but there is something that can be done..."

"What?"

"When I was a little girl, I had really bad allergies,"

"You still do! You sneeze all the time!"

"Yep, anyway, I used to have to go every week and get allergy shots so that my allergies wouldn't be so bad."

"Shots?"

"Uh-huh."

"With needles?'

"Yep, BIG ones." In a heartbeat's time she replied:

"Yeah, I don't think I'm allergic to Math anymore." And she climbed up the stairs without another protest.

So my number is 555-NANNY if you'd like to engage me in a little grown up speak. Maybe discus the stock market, politics, or debate religion. On second thought, I'll stick with the kind of conversations that deal with grazing mammals and school related allergies. It's more interesting...

I'm Going to See WICKED!!!!

2009-05-01T08:14:00.000-07:00

I am soooo happy! I haven't been this excited about entertainment since I found out I was going to see Michael Buble!! (There he goes, again, weaseling his way into my posts!) And just like with Baby Buble (Grant's name for MB) I get to experience this with Magoo! That's my dear friend, Meghan- who I am blessed to work with and love oodles! We've seen many a show together, and now we are treating ourselves to WICKED! We are going on Tuesday, and I think I just might take this opportunity to wear that little red dress I bought a few months ago! Now... do I paint my skin green?

Celine's Song!

2009-04-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

Little Miss has been quite the little extravert today! First hijacking the blog and now this! She and I were goofing off while cleaning up the kitchen after lunch today, and we were singing (which isn't all that unusual for the two of us!). OK! We were bored out of our minds! So we made up this little ditty and thought we'd share it with y'all! Enjoy! (OH! And the lyrics are below, just incase you didn't catch them all!)

Without further Ado... Celine's Song:

I... want...a house in the Hills,

A car with the frills,

A maid to clean up the spills!

I want to sleep until noon,

Howl at the moon,

Michael Buble to Croon (*swoon*)

This all may sound so sappy,

But it would make me awful happy!

If only for a short while-

I would SMILE!! (*with a GRIN!*)

Celine and Her New T-Shirt!

2009-04-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

So I have a new shirt, and I want to tell you what it says! Well, okay, here it goes: "Friends are forever, Boys are Whatever". Ha ha ha! Isn't that funny? Actually, my mom got it for me, but isn't it cute? My brother JP, he said it was "cold", and then I said, "I know! Thats probably why Mom got it for me!" That's it... back to Shanny.

I had planned to blog about this today, but the little Princess beat me to it! I had the laptop open and ready to go, and the next thing I know, I hear little typing sounds! She's over there typing my blog! Well, I guess somebody's gotta do it! I know I've been less than regular, lately. It just seems like there's so much to do! But, I am here now and blogging away!

I really like this T-shirt! I think every little girl should be wearing these instead of "Hannaha Blondtanna" or "HSM" t-shirts! Don't know what HSM is? Well, you are SOO out of the loop, my friend! It's none other than the High School Musical CRAZE!!! I love that's she's wearing a shirt that is age appropriate, and OH! the wisdom!

I think I needed to be reminded of this very wise advice today! Thanks, Celine! It may be "cold", but it is SOOO true! Love, ya, little one!

Swine Flu-ACHOO!

2009-04-30T06:45:00.000-07:00

With all the panic over the recent outbreak of the Swine flu, I decided to pose a few questions about the Piggy Pandemic to the munchkins- just to see what they think of all this mayhem.

What happens when you get the Swine Flu?:

Celine: Your stomach feels weird/bad, your nose starts running, your eyes might start tearing, you have a cough, and you sneeze, you may get a headache.

Brian: ... and your head might even explode! And you sneeze A LOT!

How do you get the Swine Flu?:

Celine: You eat a pig and you get the flu.

Brian: You go swimming and then you get the swine flu.

Shannon: Um, does that mean you have it now, because you went swimming yesterday?

Brian: Uh-huh.

Shannon: You know I said SWINE FLU, not Swimming Flu...

Brian: OHHHHHHHH!

Shannon: So how do you catch the SWINE FLU?

Brian: You hug a swine- or a pig.

Shannon: You catch it by hugging a pig?

Brian: *Nods his head yes*

Shannon: So, all of these people who are sick got that way by hugging PIGS?

Brian: *still nodding head yes*

Shannon: In other words, they are "Pig Huggers"?

Brian: Yep.

I am suddenly reminded of THIS picture...

Am I to be the next victim?

This post is in no way meant to make fun of those who are sick with this sickness... I am aware that a small boy in Texas has died because of this flu, and my thoughts and prayers are with everyone who is suffering through this right now. We are pretty isolated in our little "home schooled" world, and for this to reach their antennas is pretty big stuff. I was wondering how much they were picking up on all of the reports. Apparently, so are listening more than others... Makes for an interesting blog, though.

Another Case of Miscommunication...

2009-04-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

It always amazes me how kids can mix up things that grownups say. I'm equally amazed by how much they catch onto and understand. I thought we'd review a few instances illustrating both of these situations... why? Because they are FUN-NY!!!

I love lists... a friend of mine described it as a love so deep that I have lists for my lists! This is very true! List help me keep my tangled, jumbled thoughts in order. My thoughts are rarely ordered, heck, to be honest, not much in my life is ordered, but lists help keep me straight- somewhat. It was one of these lists that Celine overheard me making the other day. I was jotting down that I needed to organize some things... she looks back at me with a weird look on her face and says, "Did you just say sanitize?" That might not be such a strange thing except that I was talking about organizing my sewing room... not a place I would ordinarily sanitize. It SO needed to be organized, though! (This misunderstanding could have been due to the fact that I had just given her her own bottle of hand sanitizer, which she was very impressed with...)

A few weeks ago my sister and BIL (brother-in-law) took my nieces and nephew to Sea World for a day trip to see the animals. My oldest niece has been there more in her short 7 years than I have in all my 33! (yes, I DID just admit my age on the INTERNET for ALL TO SEE! What am I thinking?!!) Her favorite part is watching the divers as they retrieve the oysters that contain the pearls. She begs for one each time she goes, and it doesn't take long for her to lose her "Pearl of Great Price", (Note: she has already lost her most recent pearl by letting a young friend hold it in the car. We think it may have been eaten by said friend... ) I think she could have had a lovely string of pearls for all ones she has lost. Cora first went when she was a tiny baby. I have the cutest pictures of her sleeping on my Mom and I. She was such a little peanut! She passionately argues with me that she has NOT been there before, but it's hard to argue when there is photographic proof. Katie and Chris decided to not tell the kiddos that they were going until after they were on the road. They explained what Sea World had to offer; namely a giant Orca Whale, named Shamu, who splashes you when he jumps! After the whoops and cheers has subsided, Cora squeals at the top of her lungs: "We're gonna see SHAMPOO!!!! Um... I think that's an entirely different show, sweet niece of mine. An entirely different show...

Brian has a great talent. He can take something he has heard someone else say and use it in a real life setting and it be completely appropriate. His main source for new sayings is the boob tube. He LOVES himself some TV! I'm talking mostly junk TV here, like cartoons and Disney Channel sitcoms... these all have quirky saying and smart aleck remarks wedged within them. Most of these go right past me; I never really pay much attention to them and it SEEMS like he doesn't pay any attention to them either. Yeah, right! As it turns out he's paying VERY close attention. He will blurt the craziest things at just the right moment. FOR INSTANCE:

We were working on catching up on a few assignments we were behind in Reading. I asked him if he could please do 2 chapters rather than the one that was assigned. That way we'd be back on track! Fully expecting him to eagerly agree (HEY! A girl can dream, can't she?) OR, the more likely scenario would be to hear whining, and wailing, and the gnashing of teeth- but I didn't expect him to calmly reply:

"I don't know... Let me check my schedule and get back to you. Yep. I'm free."

As you can see, he's quite the little one liner. This is my life- and I love it!

Until next time...

Here Comes the Rain!!!!!

2009-04-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

The weather looks rather ominous today at the Williemas household! The sky is dark and crammed with thick, grey clouds. They're so full of rain that they seem to be sagging low enough to rub against the tops of the swaying trees! The wind is definitely picking up, and is gugusting like a northeaster... this should be quite a day.

Today all signs pointed to rain: the wind was steady, the clouds were dark and thick, and the munchkins were WILD! I should become a meteorologist. Seriously!!! More times than not I can predict the weather for the day. You're probably wondering "How does she do that?" OK, I doubt that you were asking yourself that, but I'll tell you the answer anyway (because I'm just that nice of a person!) Most weather dudes use a barometer, that measure- umm, I guess it measures barometric pressure? Makes sense to me! But exactly HOW that predicts the day's weather is foreign to me... my tool of measurement is much easier to understand how it works, AND it's easy to read! I can pretty much tell you what type of day it will be just by the munchkins behavior. Let me explain...

If they are quiet and laid back then is going to be a beautiful, sunny Florida day. How do I KNOW this? Because this will be a day that I have to force them to play outside. It will be a day of epic battles just trying to keep them out in the beautiful sun! Lazy munchkins = gorgeous weather!

If they are grumpy and whiney then it will be uncharacteristically cold that day. They wake up on the wrong side of the bed and I get to spend the rest of the day wishing I could send them back there! Cool, brisk attitudes= cool, brisk air!

Then there's my least favorite weather indicating behavior: WILD munchkins!!! This is probably the most challenging. You know it's going to be a stormy day (both inside and out) when you walk into a house of wild indian kiddos all hooting and hollering at the top of their lungs, and running around inside the house like it's a racetrack. Brace yourself, it's gonna be a bumpy ride! Today was one of these days! They were so hopped up on candy left over from Easter and I just knew that it was going to be a rotten day for the weather. And vise-versa!! If the weather is bad them I know the to expect similar attitudes from the munchkins !

It's like they can sense what the weather is going to be that day, and adjust their moods to fit it. Now, when predicting the weather, this method of prediction doesn't work if it's only one or two kids that are behaving this way; it has to be the majority of the bunch or it doesn't work. It somehow ties into the "pack mentality"... you know like a shark feeding frenzy, or wolves hunting. This is equally dangerous and life threatening! Take today's weather as an example... when I awoke this morning to dark skies, gusty winds, and rain threatening to fall in a deluge at any moment... when I arrived at work this morning I was faced with the same "weather" from the kids: dark moods, gusty tempers, and all out Armageddon threatening to breakout at any moment! It's days like these that I fear the most... well, not fear, but dread... the best thing for sour moods is time in the sun, running and playing, but that won't be an option today. Why? Haven't you been reading this post??!!! The weather is muy mal!!! (That's Spanish for,

"VERY BAD!!!") We are experiencing wind gusts of up to 65 miles an hour! Trees are toppling over all around us, and branches are hurling through the air like projectiles! My little munchkins would be blown away if I sent them out in this! Can you imagine them flying through the air like some crazy kind of birds? This just means that I must keep them and their bad moods inside with me. Yeah. Resulting in noise levels of deafening proportions, arguments galore, and aggravation abounds. Again, I say: yeah. If I survive today I will be wiling to humbly accept the Nobel Peace Prize. Seriously.

I wanted to include a picture to illustrate the mood of the house today. And as luck would have it, the weather cooperated, (thanks goodness somebody did!) I took this on my iPhone because my CoolPix was drained from Easter. I was standing on the back porch and not about to brave the elements to get this shot. That being said this is a picture of the lake out back. It was so windy that there were actual whitecaps on the water! At one point there were foot high waves!!! Look at the wind battering those trees!! Now that's what I call weather! I just hope to walk into a house with sleepy, lazy kids tomorrow... at least that way I can be SURE of good weather!

UPDATE:

When I came to work today half the kiddos were still asleep and I had to drag them out of bed! BTW- the weather here is BEAUTIFUL!!!! Just incase you were wondering!

Alleluia! He is RISEN!!!

2009-04-12T17:50:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter, Everyone!

Hope you have had a blessed day! Hold your family tight, and enjoy the end to the LONG DARK NIGHT!!

Praise God!

Our Legacy...

2009-04-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

Happy 25th Wedding Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!

My mom and dad celebrated their Silver Anniversary this past weekend! I am so blessed to call these two people "Mom" & "Dad"! My sister and I have been working very diligently to assure that this milestone didn't go unrecognized. We planned a fun brunch with family and friends, we all went to Mass together that morning, and we even threw in a few surprises! There was the "Wedding Cake" that I made for them, the M&M's with "Happy 25th" and Charlie & Sue Ann" printed on them, the amazing chocolate ganache groom's cake (Dad's a chocaholic!), and lastly the Movie we gave them that we did of their past 25 years together. This was my favorite! I'm such a sap! I tried posting it at the bottom of the post, but it's LONG! 27 minutes long! I think that may just be too long for blogger. I'll try again soon...

I also made a little slide show of the pictures we took that day. Mom and Dad look sooo happy!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

My parents have been an amazing example of how to "work thing through no matter what". I am so proud to call them Mom & Dad. Here's t0 the next 25, you two!!

Thanks for teaching me the most important things in life:

God First, Family Second, & Love Always!

WICKED!

2009-04-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

I wanna see WICKED!!! Wahhhahahahahahaaaa!!

No, seriously! I really would love to see this musical. I guess miracles can happen? Nothing says "SPRING" like a woman with green skin! Now I just need tickets!

Happy Sweet 16, Monica!!

2009-04-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

Well, it was an AMAZING party, just like I knew it would be! There was a was a black, white, & PINK theme. The guests were all asked to dress in black and white while MONICA had a beautiful pink dress. THe cake was made by a local bakery, Cenotti's, and was very yummy! Monica and I sewed the table runners and table squares.

Fun was had by all! While I LOVE teenagers, (Crazy, I know! I think that I have a chemical imbalance that forces me to actually LIKE teens!) these teens were all new to me, and not as adorable as my youth group kiddos, but I enjoyed them. Mostly. There was the requisite LOUD MUSIC, flashing lights, crazy dancing, and food. There must ALWAYS be food when teens are involved, or things could get ugly!Meg was the photographer, and I was the... um, well... I'm not sure what I was. I guess I was the decorator/chaperone/helper to the photographer/keeper of the candy bar(I made sure the Swedish Fish, Skittles, M&M's, and PB Cups stayed fully stocked!)

Monica loved the party! Here's a few pics to prove it!

The cake table.
Chris, Donna, Warren, Monica, & Colette
Colette

Meg the photographer/friend.

One of the two styles of table runners we made.

The most AWESOME Sweet 16 cake EVER!!!

Candy Bar.

The other style of table runner...

Putt-Putt- Phun (pronounced FUN!)

2009-04-08T08:51:00.000-07:00

Ever had the feeling that you may just lose you mind? Well, I've had that feeling ALL week! It's Spring Break around these parts, and I need a break from my break!!! While the kids are so very happy to be free from school duties this means that I'm responsible for coming up with exciting things for them to do to keep them from burning down the house, er... I mean keep them entertained. Thankfully they are getting to the age where they can make suggestions as to what they would like to do. John Paul mentioned that he'd like to go play Putt-Putt Golf. Easy enough, right? Not quite. There is only ONE putt-putt around here, and we weren't sure how good it would be. So we packed up the munchkins and headed to Adventure Landing. Surprisingly we had a great day! We played unlimited golf, (for these kids their limit is TWO- short attention spans?) They also had unlimited Laser Tag!!!! (again their max was two... what can I say, they aren't greedy!) Then there were the endless arcade games and noisy things that require you to spend their college fund on tokens to play them. Oh, and AL has an added feature or two, neither of which we partook of: the alligator pond where you could FEED the Alligators from poles you rented (WHAT!??!?!?!?!?!) and the water park that actually looked pretty awesome. We may have to do the second during the summer!

Back to the golf... they did really well, considering. Brian really doesn't have the patience for Golf, but he had fun. JP is a natural at ANY sport he plays so he excelled as usual (he had the most HOLES IN ONE!) Grant did well, also and had a few HIO himself, and Celine was pretty amazing. She had a number of HIO to brag about as well. I have never seen a group of kids get this many holes in one EVER! Just a last note... Brian did FINALLY get a HIO, (I had been pulling for him SOOO hard!!) and it was on the LAST hole of the LAST game we played- and they had just announced that the 1st person to get a HIO with a blue or green ball would receive a PRIZE PACK. Well, guess what? HE was the 1st person!! So he was doubly thrilled, and it was a great ending to the day!

Here is a little smile box I put together of the few pics I took on my AWESOME iPhone. (Incase you were wondering: I had lost my charger to my little Coolpix and had no way to charge it. I ALWAYS keep that camera with me because it's so easy to use and fits into any pocket. I've been a little lost without it to say the least! Never fear! I have bought a new charger and it stays with the camera, now! Me loosing the charger had a little something to do with my most recent bout with blogger's block! It's just not as much fun to read my LOOOONNNG posts without pics!!) Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Without further ado:

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Blessings...

2009-04-08T06:22:00.001-07:00

I have been so overwhelmed with all the things going on these past few weeks. All wonderful things, mind you, but they still make life hectic. I "complain" about how I have sooo much to do, and absolutely no time for myself, but right now I'd give anything to have that hectic feeling right now. Maybe then I'd have less time to have thoughts like the ones I've been having the past few days...

I am so blessed. I have so many wonderful people in my life. Between my family and friends, most of who are more like family, I couldn't ask for more. I have been given so much... yet I want more. Sometimes I feel guilty that there are times when I look at my sister's sweet children I wonder why I have no children of my own. Or when I hear that another of my friends are expecting a precious little one, my heart cries out for the family I don't have yet, and while I'm ashamed to admit it, I fear I may never have. I will be the first person to admit that I am perfectly suited for my profession as a nanny, and not just because it happens to be my last name, but loving these children allows me to pacify my own "mother's heart" as well. I look at these crazy, frustrating, entirely lovable munchkins and can almost see myself with my own children... someday. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not a very patient soul, at least not when it comes to waiting for BIG things. OK, maybe not with the little things either, (Like waiting at a stop light- that KILLS me!!) but I do try. This waiting, though, is killing me.

My sister has the most amazing family. Her kids heal and break my heart at the same time. I can't wait to see them each week, and I'm so very sad to see them go. We are a very close family, and I am blessed that I usually get the opportunity to spend Sunday playing with them and I cherish that time. I don't know what I would do if they lived far from us, I can't even imagine it. Katie's three kiddos are my heart. I love hearing about them, I love laughing with them, I love watching them grow into the little people they will become. But as much as I love this it makes me ache for my own.

I never really felt this way with the Williemas kids. I love them terribly, but it's different. In many ways I am a mom to them. That's what this blog is all about; bringing them from diapers to drivers' licenses and beyond... Being with them has made me realize what a wonderful mother I'd be, or would like to be. They have given me the opportunity to learn how to be a great mom, and all along I've viewed this time with them as the chance to become the super mom I've always wanted to be... Now I'm beginning to wonder if this time with them is the only time I'll have to be a mother...

Most of you don't know that for many years I strongly considered becoming a nun. In fact I had decided that it was what God wanted for me. But after much prayer and many tears I realized that it was more what I thought God wanted from me. I can't imagine not having been here for my nieces and nephew, not to mention that I would have missed out on all these years with Brian and Celine. The fact that I would never have children of my own was one of reasons that helped me realize that the life of a religious sister was not my calling, though there are times when I second guess that decision if only because I have yet to find "Mr. Right" and start our family. If motherhood is my vocation, wouldn't I be one by now? Being with the Williemas Family has helped me realize that I would LOVE a large family! If only...

I'm sorry this is such a downer of a post. I started thinking about how I live a blessed life, and I really believe this! I've been reading some of my friends' blogs, friends who are going through some very trying times, and I know how very blessed I am. I just don't know why I've been overwhelmed by these feelings of sadness lately; crying at the drop of a hat, feeling lonely, wondering if I'll ever get the chance to be the ONE thing I really want to be... A mom.

Maybe I'm ovulating... (that's for you, Katie!) This too shall pass...

Have a blessed journey to the Cross this Holy Week!

Another One Drives Off into the Sunset...

2009-04-02T08:08:00.000-07:00

So this week is Monica's Sweet 16th Birthday!!!! Holy cow! Where does the time go??? Just yesterday she was six, and oh-so cute, and today she's a beautiful young woman relishing in her soon to be freedom! This driving thing is killing me! She can't wait to get her license and be able to go where ever she wants. News flash: that's not quite how it works... but she refuses to see that. She's positive that she's getting a car, she isn't; and she has endless tips and critiques on my driving! All this just solidifies that wisdom comes with age, maybe she'll wise up in the next few days... but I doubt it. What she is getting is an AWESOME Sweet 16 party for all of her friends. I have never seen the likes this party for a 16th Birthday... it's more like a "Homecoming" or "prom"! This little "get together" has us all very busy, but it will be wonderful!! I'm very excited for her!

I'll let you know how her BIG BASH went!

What am I going to do when all these munchkins can drive themselves everywhere?? *sigh!*

My Name is SHAN-NON...

2009-03-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

Did you ever have a teacher that said, " There are no dumb questions."? As a teacher I agree with this sentiment, but as a professional nanny I have to strongly disagree! I can't begin to tell you about the questions I get on a daily basis. They range from the profound to the ridiculous, and yes, there is even the occasional stupid question.

For instance I was JUST asked if I could write a recommendation for Wern to be a "buddy" at "Camp I Am Special". That would be filed under the "profound" category. I also was just asked by Brian, "Why are these spelling words sooo hard?! Their sooo long!" Now this could be considered a facetious question, but he fully expected an answer! This is going under the "ridiculous" category! My point is that every day, all day long I am berated by questions. There are times when I feel like I'm under enemy fire, they come at me so fast!

Grant is the questioner. He asks more questions than any other living person I know. I wonder if he does it just to hear his own voice, because the only time he isn't asking questions is in his sleep. Even then I think he may be dreaming of new questions to ask because when he wakes up he has a ton of new questions to ask. It doesn't do any good to ignore him, either. He'll either keep asking the same question over and over and over and over, or he'll find a new way of asking the same question until you answer him or exclaim out of utter frustration, "I DON'T know, Grant!" To which his usual response is, "OK, OK, I was just asking... geesh!" His favorite question to ask right now is, "Can we go swimming?" I knew yesterday was going to be a rough day when the first thing he said to me was, "Can we go swimming?" It was 8 AM, by the way, and it wasn't even grammatically correct! ("May we go swimming, please?" would have been the correct question to ask.) Plus he knows they aren't allowed to swim until after school is finished, AND it was really chilly that day (well, chilly for Florida, anyway). He proceeded to badger me about swimming until I finally told him, "NO. Don't ask again or the official opening of pool season will be pushed back 2 more weeks!" He hasn't asked to swim today, yet.

They even ask each other questions. I'm not just picking on Grant here, he may be full of questions, but they ALL ask more than their fair share of questions!

"When's dinner?"- Um... the same time as every night!

"What's for dinner?"- Um... don't know it's 3PM!

"Can we go swimming?" -No, Grant.

"Can I have a snack?" - Is it after 3PM? Then yes, you can have a snack, just like every other day of your life!!!

"Can we go swimming?"- No, Brian.

"Do I have practice today?"- Well, is it Tuesday? And do you have practice each and every Tuesday? Then YES you DO have practice!

"Can I go swimming?"- NO, CELINE! And tell your brothers they are in big trouble for sending you in here to ask me after I told THEM not to ask me again!

As you can see I get a variety of unnecessary questions every day. I might not mind even these questions if I didn't get the same ones EVERY DAY!

I have decided to keep a running tally of the number of questions I am asked today by humans younger than myself. Adults won't count, although some days I think they should! I'll post the GRAND TOTAL tonight after I am home and safely out the range of questions... but they have been known to call or text me with questions after I'm home. If they do, then I'll just tack those onto the total too!

SO I want to make a tee shirt... The front would look a little like this:

Hello, My Name is:

NOT

I guess my point is this... I don't have anything against questions. In theory they are very necessary and helpful little things, but when they are the only type of sentence you use they become quite annoying. So I would like to introduce everyone to a few of my other "friends"

Everybody, I'd like you to meet Mr. Exclamation, he very passionate. Then this is Ms. Telling, she always interesting things to say. Lastly, this is Sergeant Commanding, he can be a bit bossy, but very helpful in certain situations. Now that we're all friends- let's try to all play together nicely and not just with Mr. Questioning. He's getting a little OLD.

Besides, the Questions Desk is closed for the day, we have met our daily quota... try again tomorrow

A WEEK???!!

2009-03-19T06:39:00.000-07:00

Holy cow, has it really been a week since I last posted? Man I need an intervention! Why haven't you people reminded me to blog!!! Some faithful, loyal readers you are! Humpf!

I'm holding you each personally responsible for the slack in my writing!

J/K, but I do need to get back in the saddle again...

Need inspiration!

Chick-fil-A

2009-03-12T06:28:00.001-07:00

I have come to realize that I may just possibly have a problem. See, there was a time when I would have told you that I in no way, shape or form, had an addictive nature. Heck, I can do without certain things... but then I look in a mirror and my weight says otherwise!! Not to mention my declaration that I'm addicted to Facebook and Twitter. Well, I have another vice to add to the ever growing list... Chick-Fil-A!! Confused? Well, then just watch this video, it should clear things up...

Man... I have a hankerin' for a #1 with extra pickles... Who wants to make a Chick-fil-A run????

Knitting + Dieting = Perfect Pair!

2009-02-26T11:33:00.000-08:00

Note: Yet another post that I started and never posted... Bear with me- this is the last one, I promise!

This is one of the newest commercials out there dedicated to helping all us fatties lose some poundage. Just a note, I laugh every time I see this commercial...

This commercial really speaks to me. Why? Well, because I have battled with my weight for as long as I can remember, and I just feel cosmically connected to this poor woman! A sisterhood if you will. Then there's the fact that I have recently picked up knitting, thanks to my friend and co-worker, Meghan. I have been working on my first project, a purple scarf! I can only dream of being amazing enough to knit a BASKETBALL JERSEY!!! Holy smokes!! That is sooo cool! I do think that this lady needs an intervention, and her hubby needs to invest in some contacts, (or at least a decent pair of glasses.) I was just impressed that a company had the foresight to combine dieting and knitting. (um, I'm joking. Kinda.) I think that they are the perfect combination. (again, joking...) I am soo gonna try this the next time I am hungry! Imagine the projects I could complete! I'm picturing baby blankies, scarves galore, shawls, hey, maybe I'll even knit me my own Snuggie!

Gotta run! I've gotta a hankerin for some Girl Scout Cookies! Maybe I can get that scarf finished instead of scarfing down an entire box of tagalongs!! (then I can get to work on that cool snuggie!) LOL!

40 days...

2009-02-25T06:32:00.002-08:00

NOTE: This is a post that I started a few weeks back. With the Quarter coming to an end, and all the work that involves I kinda have fallen behind on the blog... Sorry! So I am posting a few of the ones I started and never finished. Forgive me?? Enjoy!

Ahhh, Ash Wednesday is here again... and so begins Lent. The 40 days of preparation for the Holy season of Easter. I am amazed by the opportunity I have each year to become a better person, draw closer to my Lord, and become the person He created me to be. This year I am really taking Lent seriously, not that I haven't in years past, but I always find myself at Easter Mass thinking that there was so much more that I could have done during Lent. So I am doing more than I have before to make the most of this time. So today, like all Ash Wednesdays of years past, I attended Mass. I went with the Williemas Munchkins, and we received our ashes. Here we are, all holy and ashy:

Notice anything about Brian and JP? No, really look... see it? Of course you don't, because what you are looking for is NOT THERE! This was right after Mass, and their ashes are already gone! Seeeeeee- I still had mine, but theirs were wiped clean... they swear that they didn't wipe them off, that they just rubbed off; but I had to SCRUB mine that night to get them off. So I have to wonder...

I have to retract an earlier statement I made earlier... "like all Ash Wednesdays of years past, I attended Mass..." to be completely honest there was ONE year I didn't attend Mass on Ash Wednesday. It's one of my mom's favorite stories to tell about me. It was 2000, the Jubilee Year, and I was in Rome during the first week of Lent! Amazing, I know! So I was there with my friend, Leslie, and we were having a wonderful time. It was my first trip out of the country, and my mom was a wreck. She says that she drew comfort and strength from the thought that it was Ash Wednesday, and that I would be receiving ashes at the Vatican, maybe even from John Paul, The Great himself. Well, I called her that night to tell her how things were, and she started going on and on about how wonderful it was for her to know that I had been getting ashes from the Pope, (maybe), and that she had been crying throughout the day thinking about it. Well, I HAD to tell her that we didn't! What kinda daughter would I have been if I hadn't? We did TRY to receive ashes that day, but it never worked out. We really tried, but it wasn't to be. To this day I regret that I missed Mass on that Ash Wednesday, especially every time she tells that story!! Thanks, Mom!

I've been really focusing on the 40 Days that Jesus spent in the desert, this Lent. Many of you know that I love the music of Matt Maher. He is an amazing Catholic artist who has just broken onto the Christian Music stations with a lot of success. His music is beautiful and speaks to my heart. He has a song called "40 Days" and it's about Jesus' time in the desert and ours as well. I found this little clip on You Tube, and wanted to share it with you. Not sure who did the pictures and slideshow, but they did a great job... pay attention to the numbers in the top left hand corner of each slide- they number the days in the desert. Here's a little "I Spy" game for you:

- find a snake

-find the flower

-find the cow skull

-find and apple

I loved the angels, and the fact that Satan chose to appear to Jesus looking like Jesus was very thought provoking.

I pray that you will have a blessed Lent, and that you may use this special time to grow closer to Our Lord and the Church.

P.S.- I will not be giving up Facebook, Twitter, or blogging for Lent. I know some of you thought that I had given up that last one on the list since I hadn't blogged in a little while. But, NOPE! Try not to be too disappointed...

Mardi Gras!!!

2009-02-25T06:32:00.001-08:00

Today is Fat Tuesday, AKA- Mardi Gras. The day typically dedicated to the debauchery and overindulgence typical of New Orleans around this time of year. The day went mostly unnoticed by the munchkins until Donna brought out some beads she had left over from a Mardi Gras celebration we did for the kiddos a few years back. They wanted to know what all the "stuff" was for, then they wanted to know why there was such a big party in The Big Easy. After a few attempts at trying to explain to them that some people feel it's necessary for one last "hurrah".

Kids: "But why?" "

Me: "Um, because they think it will be difficult to go without the things they will be giving up for Lent."

Kids: "So they have a big party?"

Me: "Yep."

Kids: "That doesn't make any sense."

Me: "Well, fine then, they just have a big ole party just because they can. OK?"

Kids: "Oh. OK."

I snapped a few pics of them in all their Fat Tuesday Finery... enjoy.

Celine bedecked in all her "beads". I still don't know how she was able to stand up straight with all those beads on! I think they weighed more than she does!!

Bead frenzy!!!!! Every kid for themselves!

Too cool. (Yes Grant DOES have 3 masks on. One on his face and 2 on the sides of his head. Fun times. Fun times.)

SEE ME!!!

2009-02-19T10:01:00.001-08:00

Did you ever receive a note on your work when you were in school that read, "See Me!" This was usually just a way for the teacher to get your attention so she (or he) could further explain something to you, but sometimes it was an indication of the bad things to come. Well, yesterday as I graded JP's Religion workbook there were an abnormally high number of incorrect answers or questions that he had just skipped. Knowing how this is not how he "rolls", I left him a few little post-it flags on the pages that we needed to go over. Well, when I went to look over his work from today, I noticed that the "notes" were gone. He hadn't come to see me, or ask me about them, or even acknowledged their being. Or so I THOUGHT. Upon closer inspection I saw that he had indeed taken notice. So much so that he had FOLDED THEM into the book so I couldn't see them, hoping I'd forget. WHAT???? I was amazed and, to be honest, amused. Now, I do not have the best memory, but I can assure you that it isn't THAT bad. He was sitting right next to me when I realized what he had done:

ME: JP, did you not see the "SEE ME" tabs I put in your book?

JP: I saw them.

Me: So why didn't you "See Me"?

JP: I Dunno. (I flip through the book looking for the pages I had so diligently marked the day before.)

Me: Did you just fold these into the book???

JP: uh, huh. Yep. (Notice the lack of remorse or acknowledgement of wrong doing...)

Me: Really? Did you think for a minute that I put those there for a reason?

JP: Not really.

Me: OK, then. I'm so glad I took the time to put those little guys in your book. Now that I have your attention, let's go over the ones I wanted you to "See me" about. You're a trip, JP.

JP: Thank you.

As I finished going over the pages with him, I would hand him the sticky flag. Would you like to see what he did with them? Too bad. Here you go:

Welcome to my world....

Knock OUT!!!

2009-02-18T08:10:00.000-08:00

I have come to expect and actually cherish the adorable little "gifts" the munchkins leave on my Mac. Well, sorta.

Today I found a plethora of images of JP doing only heaven-knows-what in Photo Booth. I might not have found these little beauties if it hadn't been for Brian. He was in the process of filming a video of him "beating JP up". I have graciously included both the multitude of stills of JP and Brian's video:

Is this thing on??

Wait, you have a little something on your nose...

I have no clue what was going on in this one...

Oh, no! Double Trouble!

AHHHHH! Now there's three of him!

This is how I see JP after a day like today- all twisted and swirly!

The Crimson Chin! Minus the crimson, of course.

This is JP after the head shrinkers finally caught up with him!

The Hulk after his skin bleaching...

As you can see, it wasn't JP who was knocked out, but Brian. He wore himself out trying to demolish JP's image. Maybe I should have told him it was just a picture of JP, not ACTUALLY JP, but it was much more fun to watch him do this. I'm SURE there will be many more antics to report on tomorrow, so for now...

2009-02-18T07:41:00.000-08:00

HOLY SMOKES I NEED TO POST A NEW ENTRY!

I promise one is coming! I have a few in the works... I have WAY too much on my plate right now. Can you forgive me???

They Love ME!! They Really, Really Love Me!!

2009-02-13T07:15:00.000-08:00

I know it's a day early, but...

HAPPY ST. VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

My munchkins had quite the surprise planned for me! This was waiting for me when I arrived at work today:

In case you can't see the picture clearly; there is a box of Diet friendly chocolates, a lovely note pad, Never dying roses (aka fake or silk for the fake flower connoisseurs o

ut there), "XO" shaped cookie cutters form Meg, and oodles of beautiful cards!

I feel sooo special and loved right now! The cards were the best part, though! I have a box of all the cards they've given me throug

h the years. Well, it started out as a shoe box, bust has grown into a GIANT plastic storage tub. One acquires a TON of cards over a decade of nannying!

I brought them each the cutest crazy bendy pens made by a 10 year old girl I met recently. Jp's was a guitar, Grant's was a jet, Brian's a sea turtle (that he immediately named TOM), and Celine received a heart. The older kids liked theirs as well, but remember- we're not allowed to talk about them on here!

Here's a few pics of the kiddos with their new pens:

May you have a blessed St. Valentine's Day, and may you experience the GREATEST LOVE OF ALL in a very personal way!

God loves you

and so does the Super Nanney!

JP

2009-02-12T18:39:00.000-08:00

If you were a pirate, what shoulder would you wear your parrot on??

This was the question JP posed to me today. It came as most of the munchkins' questions do- out of the blue. We were in the car, heading to somewhere... this must have been something he was thinking about, because he had been pretty quiet up until this point. I was far from surprised by this inquiry, I get a lot of these types of questions in my line of work.

I was a little surprised by how seriously I considered my answer, though. After a few moments of considering the options I decided that I would rath

er my fine feathered friend to primarily perch on my left shoulder. Why? Well, it should be obvious why, but to clarify...

I am right handed, and should I find myself in a heated life or death sword fight, I'd like my right arm free of Polly. Plus, he wouldn't be very safe on my fencing arm, anyway.

Now that I've cleared that up, I would also like to add that I'd like my parrot to be a Hyacinth Macaw, and I would so NOT call it Polly! That's just unoriginal! I'm not SURE what I'd name it, that would be a little TOO much thought on the subject! Geesh!

So, now you know MY answer, how would YOU have answered JP? And what type of parrot would you have?

Dry as the Dessert...

2009-02-12T09:18:00.000-08:00

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! Before you go correcting my spelling- I purposely typed "dessert", rather than "desert". Why? For the shock value, of course. But also because as I was typing the title for this post I could audibly hear my buddy, Meg's voice saying, "Desert has one 's', dessert has two. Ask yourself which you would rather have two of; dessert or desert?" So I had to give her a shout out for weaseling her way into my brain ONCE AGAIN!!! Thanks, Meg, for helping me to look like less of a moron! Now, if Yvette could only teach me how to properly use a semi-colon, I'd feel like a real writer! Ha! Ha!

So back to the exciting topic for this post. Oh, wait. There isn't any!!!! My life has gone from far from interesting to down right boring. Well, as far as blogging goes. I have been soooo busy lately, and I think I may be over tired. Huh, imagine that, an overtired grown up. Never heard of such a thing! J/K, I know that the majority of us would fall under that category right this minute, much less at some point in our adult lives. Didn't someone, somewhere once say, "Strength in Numbers"? I think maybe not in this case, just picture a jammed highway littered with weary drivers with blood shot eyes and you'll get my point. You may or may not be asking yourself, "What has Shannon SOO busy these days?"- OK, so you weren't asking yourself that, but I bet you are NOW! The answer would be, "A LOT!" Between 10 hour work days, working out 5-6 days a week, and being a volunteer youth minister; you would think that I had enough to keep me busy. But why be "just" busy when you can be "insanely busy!"? Add to the afore mentioned activities: Tuesday evening square dancing lessons(youth group activity), a Thursday evening night class, then learning to knit (Thanks again, Meg), and working on Shananagins Bags orders. But the insanity doesn't end there. My sister and I have decided to jump feet first into the sea of E-commerce by starting a business together! "What?!! In THIS economy?!!" Well, if you thought that them you would be right, but I think we have made a wise choice in WHAT we've chosen to sell. When times are hard, and money is tight, people will still spend money on select few things. Cosmetics, weight loss aids, their dogs, and their children- in that order! (Isn't it nice to know that our priorities are in order?) Katie and I are combining our talents and starting a baby business. No, we aren't going to become surrogate mothers, or open an adoption agency, or illegally trade munchkins, (I know SOME of you were thinking that!). We are making and selling baby products!!! We are in the final stages of web development, and as soon as the site is ready I'll give you all more details! I'm really excited about this, and it is a lot of fun working with my sister. It's our hope that we will one day be able to open a store front, but for now we will be hocking our wares on the world wide web, to friends and family members, and at craft shows. Oh, and we have a store in St. Augustine who wants to carry our stuff too! So we are moving right along!!

To make a LONG post even longer... the reason I titled this post "Dry as the Desert" was because that's how I feel right now. With all the exciting and crazy things going on in my life I've had very little time or ideas to blog about this week. I feel like a loser not posting as much this week, but there just hasn't ben the motivation or the material. (I would like to mention that, as I pen this post, Celine is standing VERY close to me writing all over my desk planner- trying to figure what everyone's name would be spelled backwards. Yes, it is cute- but now my planner is a MESS! ;) It's fun to listen to her try to pronounce them, too! I've just been informed that I have to refer to her as Enilec from now on. Oh, joy.) I'm sorry that I haven't had what it takes to post this week- I promise to try to do better next week!

Thanks for reading- and keep the comments coming!!!

Fabulous Friday Fun!!

2009-02-06T12:53:00.000-08:00

Today is Friday. No biggie, right? Not around here! Friday means a day of lighter school work, hilarious antics, and usually lunch out somewhere or a movie. Today was both. We went to see the new Pink Panther movie... don't bother- it wasn't worth running out to see. Slow and stupid. That's my official review. The kids were pretty funny, JP wanted pictures with all the movie cut outs.

They're pretty excited about the new Night at the Museum. Man these cut outs have gotten really detailed!

Celine and Brian posed next to Steve and his GIGANTIC pink #2. I want a giant pink number. Better yet, I want my name in GIANT pink letters. I doubt my roomie would allow me to keep it in the living room, and let's face it, my name is really long and would NOT fit in my room. Therefore it would HAVE to go in the living room! So- what do you think, Yvette? HUH?

After the movie, 2 tubs of popcorn, and FOUR GIANT cups of Coke, we went to lunch. Needless to say, no one was very hungry. But they had a little something at McDonalds, (blech!) oh, and they all made room for ANOTHER Coke! Can you say hopped up on sugar? Any mom of kids who have had copious amounts of Coke know WHY it was named Coke; because the kids get STRUNG OUT when they drink it! Lucky me... they're bouncing off the walls. (note the sarcasm...)

I gotta go referee a squabble. They sound like they are bringing down the house!

I Need a Padlock!...

2009-02-05T08:05:00.000-08:00

FOR MY MAC!!!

Isn't there a saying that goes something like:

"Trick me once- shame on you!

Trick me twice- shame on me!

Trick me thrice- then it's time for a sophisticated security system to guard my Mac against future goofy pictures!"

OK- so maybe that isn't an exact quote...

but it's very close to the original saying! In know, I've had two previous posts similar to this one, but when you find pictures like this one staring at you:

You have little choice but to share the wonderfulness with all!

But wait! There's MORE!!!

In fact, there are MANY MORE!!

WOW, Brian! That's really close. And that's quite the face!

Um, Grant... I think there's something wrong with your EYE!

Even Meghan participated in the shenanigans! Can I not trust ANYONE??? JK

I've always secretly thought that Grant was an Alien from outer space, now I have PROOF!!!

Can you see the family resemblance? Both have BIG mouths!!!

Now this one is awesome! No trick photography here, folks! He really does this with his tongue!

This is an awkward and somewhat disturbing picture...

In closing, I think I have a decision to make. Choice A.) buy a heavy chain and padlock to secure my Mac. (But that would be REALLY heavy and I doubt my Mac would fit into my briefcase with all that "bling") There is a choice B, though...

I do believe that there is another well known saying:

"If you can't beat 'em, JOIN 'EM!!!!"

I opt for Choice B!

Jp and I hamming it up for the Mac! OOOh! We're in a tunnel!!

This one gives me nightmares. How about you?

There are many more where these came from, but I think I'll save them for another post...

25 Random, and Mostly Pointless Things About Me:

2009-01-29T10:09:00.000-08:00

So this Chain Letter thingy is going around on Facebook. I finally gave into it, because I felt I had no other choice. I had beed tagged like 2 dozen times to fill it out! So in order to stop the insanity I decided to join the crazies and fill it out! As promised on FB, I have posted it as today's blog. Enjoy! (BTW- all hate mail can be sent to Facebook. I didn't start this thing, I'm just along for the ride!)

25 Random things about me

25. I detest Chain mail. The ONLY reason I'm doing this is because my INBOX is jammed with all the notices and forwards from this ONE! (haha!) I have a feeling that the only way I'll get my INBOX back is to relent and fill this out. I apologize to all I "tagged" in this note. Feel FREE to not continue the insanity!

24. I can't stand to read something is "single space". If I MUST, then I like the paragraphs to be separated by an extra space. See how neat it looks now? Plus, my head doesn't hurt from trying to decipher it all!

23. I can't spell, or type, to save my life! No, really. If someone held a gun to my head and ordered me to spell something, I'd be worm food.

22. Spell check is both my lifesaver and my arch nemesis!

21. I sneeze more times in a row than it is thought to be humanly possible. Like a minimum of 5 times EVERY time I sneeze! ( my friends and loved ones have learned to just hold off the "God bless yous" until I have finished my Epic Sneezing! It's like a sneeze-a-thon!!!!

20. I blog. A lot. This may not be news, but it's a bit random... kinda. P.S. I'll be posting THIS on the blog. Like I'm gonna waste this prize-winning piece of prose on a CHAIN LETTER~ HA!

19. I've been scared to death all my life to finally "get healthy". I was afraid that I'll just slip back into the "old ways" and be right back to where I started.

18. I'm loving that I am living my life, FINALLY! I have plans to visit friends in far off places (Christina-NY!!!!) and hopes to do some long postponed travels! Not to mention trying things that I have never had the gusto to do!

17. I struggle with self esteem issues.

16. I want nothing more than to be a wife and mother, but I know that God knows my heart's desire, and in His time, He will grant those for me.

15. One of my favorite people in the world is my Mom. She makes me laugh, she cries with me, she's my BIGGEST cheerleader, my sounding board, and my voice of reason. I am soooo blessed to realize this while she is still around to enjoy these things about her. And my greatest fear is of loosing her.

14. Of all the things my parents taught me, the thing I cherish most is my Faith. I thank God each day for the love and devotion my parent fostered in me for the Church. I am so grateful for their example and witness.

13. I am terrified of tornadoes. Terrified.

12. I have every intention of living in St. Augustine, FL until I die... I will then be residing UNDER St. Augustine. (haha!)

11. My joy is my nieces and nephews, and my God-Children. They remind me why I love to laugh!!! (Don't shake your booty in church!- a very important life lesson!)

10. WoW! I thought I was going to have a hard time coming up with "random" things about me. Just goes to show you how random my life IS!!!

9. I'm addicted to Facebook, my more specifically the FLAIR app! I would like to apologize to all my FB friends that I have inflicted this obsession on. I will try to send LESS flair, I promise!

8. I have been a professional nanny for a decade now. Does this qualify me for mental health benefits? I somehow doubt it, but I could use 'em!

7. I had an amazing childhood! I WISH I could be either six or ten again. Those were GREAT years!!

6. My sister has become one of my best friends, something I highly doubted would ever happen when we were kids. And she's about to become a business partner, too! Love ya, lil' sis!

5. I never really had a nickname growing up, except for maybe "Whoody", but that was when I was a baby. "Shannon" isn't an easy name to shorten. My mom did often refer to me as "Little Mis-Information", because I get things wrong- a lot. The kids I nanny for used to call me "Nana", but grew out of that :), and my nieces and nephew call me Aunt Sissy, because my sister has always called me Sis or sissy. I don't think she really ever called me Shannon growing up (except when she was tattling on me!!)

4. I homeschool the younger kids I nanny for. I can't believe that I wanted to be a marriage counselor when I was in high school and in my early years of college! How depressing. Teaching can be depressing, too. At times! HAHA!!!

3. I hope to marry a man much like my father: strong, honest, funny, kind, a good provider for his family, and hard working. I only hope he's not as big a NASCAR fan as Dad is! ;)

2. I have two sweet kitties and a fish: Domenic, Rosie, and a Beta- (as yet to be named!)

1. This took WAYY too much time to do! But my last statement is a serious one. While I fully recognize the historical and fantastic moment this past Presidential inauguration was, I believe that we have just elected a man into the highest political office in the world who has officially proclaimed peace on the terrorists and declared WAR on the unborn children of both the children of this country and those of the international community as a whole. For many, many years we have enjoyed God's blessing on this great nation of ours. We often say, "May God bless the USA!" But due to the moral choices we are now making as a country, I believe it's time for us to cry out, "May God have MERCY on the USA!" I pray that President Obama will be the president we NEED. It is my fervent desire that this 44th president will indeed be remembered throughout history as the "change" this country needed. Pray for our new President and our country.

May God bless and keep you all safe. You are in my prayers!! XOXOXOXOXO

To The One Who Loved Me First...

2009-01-26T08:56:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!

Today is a very special day! This is the day that my glorious mother came into the world! I shall not reveal her age, a Lady NEVER does, but we'll just say that she's a little older than me... by a quarter of a century!

My mom is the most special-est lady I know! She's one of my FAVORITE people, (even when we don't agree). In my opinion, this woman has contributed one of the, if not THE, most wonderful gifts to all man and woman kind... ME, of course!! Only kidding! In all seriousness. My mom really is an amazing woman. She has had so many trials and hurdles in her lifetime, all of which have shaped her into the woman she is, and in turn shaped my sister and I to be the women we are.

Mom is a survivor of Breast Cancer- TWICE. Not a relapse, mind you, but two separate battles, the second while I was in high school and old enough to know what was at stake. She fought cancer twice and has the battle scars to prove it, but these battles proved to her and everyone around her how strong she is. Rather, how strong her FAITH makes her. Mom raised Katie and I to be God fearing and God serving women. She instilled in us the importance of "God first, family second, and love above all!"

This is a woman who not only battled deadly diseases and won, she also fought hard for what she believed in. Wether it was that she believed the bus stop was too far from our home, or that her parents deserved to be cared for by people who loved them in their final years, Mom stood firm on her principles and fought to see that things were done the way they were supposed to be done. I could go on, and on, and on about my mom, but I think that I'll spare you, dear readers, and instead do a "25 Random things about my Mother" list. (Seeing as she'll never do a list of her own!)

"25 Random things about my Mother"

1. She is the youngest of 5 kids, and the only girl!

2. Mom broke her ankle about 8 or 9 years ago, and has more medal in and around her ankle than was thought to be humanly possible.

3. Mom can't make it through an entire movie without falling asleep. It has something to so with finally sitting still!

4. When we were kids, Mom didn't like how far we had to walk to reach the bus stop, so she had our driveway designated as an official stop on the route! It is STILL one to this day...

5. Her favorite color is BLUE.

6. She was once obsessed with seagulls. (She was even going to name me Jonathan Livingston Seagull before she found out I was a girl)

7. And yet she is TERRIFIED of birds! She saw the movie BIRDS! as a kid and it scarred her for life.

8. To compound the fear of birds; she was attacked by a vicious duck at Flagler Hospital, and it took two night security guards to pry the duck off her and usher it back to the pond from which it came. It is a HILARIOUS story that you'll have to get either Katie or myself to share with you. But DON'T ask her about it. She won't talk about it...

9. She has been a cosmetologist for over 30 years now, and used to have a beauty shop at the house. I mean the WORKS!

10. She once dyed my hair half red and half green. In her defense she was trying to undo the years of bleaching I had subjected my hair to. It was really the hair's fault. I still had to wear my hair in a french braid for 2 weeks while we waited for her to be able to fix it. Otherwise it would have all fallen out from over processing!

10. She is the DRE (Director of Religious Education) at our parish and was the Youth Director before me.

11. Mom went on EVERY field trip, chaperoned every dance, and participated in every committee imaginable while we were in school.

12. Mom can't have Chocolate and caffeine. They give her heart palpitations!

13. Mom had a pace-maker installed last year, and is doing GREAT!

14. When my grand parents were in the final years, she and Dad sold their home that Dad had built himself, and moved in with Gram and Grandpa to be their caregiver. She went form loving daughter to nurse maid, book keeper, and became a parent to her parents. As hard as that time was, she cherishes it. I know that she'd have cared for them another 20 years if it meant that they could still be here. (God bless and keep Omaha and Opah! May they rest in peace!)

15. She loves me more than "the other sister" (you know who)!

16. She makes a mean chicken perlo.

17. She loves and protects her family fiercely!

18. She's not very into leisure reading...

19. Mom is an ADORING Grandmother, she lives to spoil her grand babies!

20. Mom really wants to go on a cruise this year... maybe!

21. She and Dad will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary this year!

22. She's a meticulous house keeper.

23. Mom considered becoming a nun when she was younger.

24. She's my biggest fan and my harshest critic. Thanks, Mom!

25. Mom is a strong woman of faith, who lives what she believes. She has raised two amazing daughters, is married to a loving husband, and she loves spending time with the ones she loves!

In short my Mom is the #1 Mom in the world! Thanks for being you, Mom, and for helping me to become me!

With ALL my Love-

From the one who loved you first...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Shut yo Pie Hole!

2009-01-23T06:50:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh, pie. How amazing is pie? Come on! It's warm, and sweet, and flaky, and oh-so-good! There have been songs written about pie. When something is simple we say that it's as "simple as pie"! If you're living the dream then it's said that you have a "slice of the pie". If you posses great virtue then it could be said of you that you are "as wholesome as apple pie!" If you happen to be talking too much or driving me nuts then I might exclaim, "Shut yo pie hole!" Pie is an American as well, apple pie! While Americans didn't invent pie, we seem to have embraced it whole heartily! Why all this talk about pie today?

Why, today is NATIONAL PIE DAY, of course!! DUH!!! Meg started all this nuttiness by coming into the classroom on Wednesday and announcing that it was National Hug Day. I declared that yesterday was National Kisses Day, it seemed only logical... Then I learn that today is National Pie Day. How wonderful! (*exclaimed with a voice dripping in sarcasm*) While I like pie as much as the next person, I'm wondering if we REALLY need a National Day to honor pie.

So to honor this revered pastry, I have decided to have a pie naming contest! HOORAY! Here's how it'll work! It's kinda like Scatagories... You send me an email naming AS MANY TYPES OF PIE AS YOU CAN, and each original pie name will count as 1 point. (So if more than one person lists "apple pie" then "apple pie" doesn't count. Get it?) If you name a pie I've never heard of and it checks out as a real pie, then you get 2 points! List as many pies as you can! BE HONEST!! This list is supposed to come from your PERSONAL knowledge of pies!! It's no fair if you Google "Types of Pies"! So, make your list from MEMORY! Whoever gets the most points will win an original Shananagins Bags purse! If we happen to have a tie then the winner will be determined by a drawing. Just send your entires to catholicgirl1975@gmail.com .

You may be wondering what purses have to do with pie... well, NOTHING. But I can't make a pie to save my life, and I can make purses REAL good! LOL! (Plus, I'm not sure how I'd SHIP a pie, anyway! Haha!) Send your entries in ASAP! This contest will run for ONE WEEK. It will expire at Midnight on January 31st! Get crack-a-lackin'!

P.S. Brian wants me to ask you this joke....

What do you get when you cross an alligator with a duck?...

One less duck! Ba-dum-bump! CHING! LOL!

March for Life 2009

2009-01-22T08:29:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I took the munchkins for a trip to St. Auggie for the annual March for Life, St. Augustine. Thursday will be the 36th anniversary of Row vs. Wade, when the Supreme Court or these United States of America made it legal to have an open season on the unborn children of this country. The national March for Life will take place then in Washington DC to let our government know that there ARE still Americans who know that this decision, while it may be lawful is immoral and unconstitutional. The March we participated in was in conjunction with the DC March, but for those who could not make the journey.

I am a survivor of a holocaust. The Holocaust that has taken millions of lives in the past 36 years. My mother could have, without any explanation, "taken care" of me. She could have decided that she wasn't ready to be a mom yet, she could have decided that she just couldn't afford a kid at the time, she could have come up with any number of reasons why she didn't want to be pregnant at the time; and she could have walked into a innocuous building and terminated her pregnancy, no questions asked. But she didn't. She chose LIFE! Because of her choice I have led a very blessed life. She brought me into a world where children are not cherished, but disposed of like used tissues. But she cherished me, and taught me to cherish ALL life, from conception to it's natural death.

We marched for all those who cannot. We lend a voice to all those who cannot speak. God, the Author of life says quite clearly, "Thou shall not kill." Who are we to decided that is a suggestion and NOT a commandment? I was filled with pride and sadness as we marched down San Marco Ave in St. Augustine, Florida on Saturday. Pride that we were doing something unpopular of Him and His littlest ones. Sadness that we must do this at all.

Below is a slideshow of the pictures we took. We placed over 4,000 white crosses on the grounds of Nombre de Dios Shrine to create a "Cemetery of Innocents". This is the number of abortions performed each day in America ALONE!!

Today, on the saddest of anniversaries, our prayers join those hundreds of thousands of every race and creed who will be marching in DC to give the clear message that the Legalization of Abortion is WRONG. People from around the country are lifting their hearts to God between noon and 1PM EST. I humbly beseech you to do the same. Pray for an end to abortion, pray that the hearts of all Americans might be turned and that we may become a Culture of Life rather than death.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, PRAY FOR US!!!!

This post is dedicated to my Mom, who gave me everything when she gave me LIFE. I love you Mom!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Snotcicles and Blogger's Block...

2009-01-21T07:28:00.000-08:00

(The fountain outside my condo complex)

OK- about the snotcicles first... It is C-O-L-D today! It doesn't often get this cold in Florida, so when it does I have developed a rating system that can full express how cold it really is. You know, because, the standard scientific measurement of temperature in degrees is just not reliable. I kidding of course, but what does 27 degrees FEEL like? My system lets you know just that. I thought I might share my system with you so that you, too, could amaze your friends and loved ones with your extensive understanding of the workings of the weather. You can thank me later...

It gets really hot here at times... so when the mercury climbs higher and higher and is close to eclipsing 100 degrees, then I like to say that "It's hot enough to melt the makeup of a Texas beauty queen!"

When it's just plain hot, then it's "Hotter than blue blazes!"

If it's warm, then I might say, "It's as warm as a pig in a blanket!"

When the weather is PERFECT... not too hot and not too cold, then it's a "Fabulous Florida Day!"

If it happens to be raining I say it's "Time to build an Ark( or a dingy, depending on how hard it's raining.)"

When the gentle breeze is blowing off the beach then it's a "Easy, breezy, beautiful coastal day!"

And if it's cold enough for a sweater or jacket then it's simply, "Sweater Time!"

Like I said earlier, it doesn't often get really cold around here, but on days like today- where fountains are frozen over, dogs are donning their sweaters, children are chilly at the bus stops, and grown-ups are ga-ga over their coffee, it's cold enough that if I had a runny nose I then I'm pretty sure that it would freeze into one big snotcicle. Not a pretty thought, I know... but true you must admit. The phrase, "Holy snotcicle, Batman!" is reserved for the coldest of cold days. I think that at 27 degrees, today qualifies for this phrase!

I hope this explains "snotcicles" for all those out there who were previously confused, (ahemm- KATIE!). Up until today I DID have "blogger's block" but I seemed to have recovered!

Bundle up, stay warm, and...

War of the Wierdoes!

2009-01-17T19:45:00.001-08:00

Here's a little video that was recently made during a typical day of school here at the Williemas Household... (I'll explain it afterwards...)

This is what ensued as Grant stood near Brian today. They started goofing off, and I tried to separate them, so I grabbed Grant to pull him away from Brian, (remember that you can't touch Grant's arm too hard... it's STILL broken! He keeps re-braking it!) when Grant picks his feet up off the floor and wraps them around Brian's neck!!! He wasn't hurting Brian, of course, but thank goodness Celine was already playing with my camera and got this tape. Otherwise you may have NEVER believed me! This is my life. Oh, joy. Save me from the weirdoes. Please. I beg you. Help... *spoken in a tiny voice*

Super Nanney for a Day!

2009-01-16T06:57:00.000-08:00

Hi this is Brian... and I am being Shannon for today...

So here is today's post:

Last night, sense Brian likes animals he had a dream about animals. Here is what the dream was like. He had a dream about he had lots of pets he had a solid gold elephant and a giant Galapagos turtle that had a baby about the size as a tic-tac container. Some elephants were useful they would get him wet in the summer and some would lift him to high places. He also had chimpanzee that would peel his bananas he had a rhino and they would race! The rhino did it for fun but brian did it for baseball. He had hippo and a giraffe, and the giraffe scared off the mailman with his long tongue! For some reason he had a mammoth and a blue whale and he had five horses and two bunnies. I wish I really did have those kind of animals! But all I have is a cat.

I hope you enjoyed my dream! I liked being Shannon for a day!

P.S. O.K. this is Shannon, now. Brian typed this all by himself, send some comments and let us know if he should start his own blog? LOL!

We've Been Invaded!!

2009-01-16T06:02:00.000-08:00

By a marauding pirate! Ok, so he's not actually a pirate, but he sure looks like one with that- wait... what is that on his face??!!

Is it:

A. A very dirty washcloth.

B. A tea bag wrapped in a paper towel.

C. A massive eye wound that's been badly bandaged.

D. A used Swiffer pad that he put on his face after a gross and pointless dare.

Despite what it may look like it is really a tea bag wrapped in a paper towel. Why is this child wearing a tea bag on his face? Because Meghan told him to put one there, that's why... but she did have a reason for instructing JP to do this. He had cdonjuncivitus, and when she was a kid her mom would put a moist tea bag on her eye. I'm not sure where the medicine in this is... but I think that the tea leaves draw out the infection... again, I don't know HOW it works.. but it DID! The next day he looked MUCH better and by the day after that his eye looked all better! Not to mention it looked RELLAY funny, and he smelled a LOT better than he usually does!

Here's JP explaining his Pirate-Tea patch himself... (Get it? Pirate-y?)

The Funniest Kid I Know!

2009-01-15T13:16:00.000-08:00

This is a post dedicated to the funniest most entertaining kid I know: My Niece, Cora. Now, this in NO way is saying that the other kiddos I know and love aren't funny... but in order to appease someone, (ahemmm, Katie, my favorite sister...) I have decided to make this post all about CORA ALINE JOHNS!!!

Wooooo-hooo!

So I have adorable, almost 3 year old niece, Cora. She is a PISTOL! She never ceases to crack me up! By the way, when you say that she's "almost 3" she quickly corrects you, "No, I TWO!"

We were at my Mom and Dad's house the other Sunday, (yes, Kate, they're YOUR Mom and Dad, too), and she breaks out in this hilarious dance, and she kept chanting, "Shake the Boo-tay! Shake the Boo-tay!" I HAD to film it to show you guys! She was watching Tom and Jerry, and I guess that inspired her to D-A-N-C-E! So, here's Cora in her Super Nanney debut staring in "Shake The Boo-tay!"

Each time I watch this clip I'm reminded of another adorable 3 year old (my other precious niece, Alexis when she was that age) who had to learn a very important life lesson. She would adamantly remind everyone of this lesson she had recently learned the value of... namely "Don't shake your booty in church!!" I have a feeling this is a lesson we will soon teach Miss. Cora. That should be fun...

She also has a fascination with my iPhone... smart kid! I have the game Scoops on it, she calls it "No Beggies!", though. That's supposed to be "No Veggies!" but she has a hard time with her "b"s. In the game, ice cream falls from the heavens and you are supposed to catch it on your cone. In this world of impossibility, vegetables ALSO fall from the sky, and if you catch them then you die! So she yells, "NO Beggies! Onwee iceteam!" She jumps on my phone every chance she gets to play it... see for yourself:

Cute, huh?

Well, if I took the time to write all the adorably hilarious things she does then she'd need her OWN blog! My sister does a fairly decent job of capturing her "funnies" (haha!), so you can head over to her blog if you just can't get enough CORA! I know I NEVER can!! www.thejohnskids.blogspot.com

Aunt Sissy LOVES YOU, Cora-belle!

hmmm...

2009-01-12T08:39:00.001-08:00

I SOOO need to post but have I don't have any REAL material!!

WHERE HAS ALL THE FUNNY GONE????

I'll post when something, ANYTHING funny happens. Heck I'd settle for mildly amusing right about now. I may have to resort to the adorable musings of my niece, Cora, whom my sister thinks is the poster child for funny. I happen to agree with her, so maybe.....

Just a little clarification...

2009-01-09T08:37:00.000-08:00

I've received quiet a few responses about yesterday's post. Particularly over Grant's "emaciated" pictures. So in order to put everyone's minds at rest, I thought I should include some pictures of him when he isn't acting the part of Oliver Twist. In order to assure that no trick photography was used, I had him wear the SAME clothes as the last pictures. This way you won't think I just put him in bigger clothes to make him look bigger. Huh! Like I'd do such a thing!! (That's not really the reason he's in the same clothes, but it sounds a lot better than the truth, which is that he is actually wearing the clothes as he did yesterday, today. Truth be told, he'll probably wear them tomorrow, too. I'm just grateful that I have tomorrow off!) Here he is...

See... We DO feed him! Believe me we do, and he doesn't resemble a starving Ethiopian child in any way. He was sucking in his nonexistent gut, trying to be funny. Trying. This kid has the metabolism of, um, well, I'm not sure what, but something that has super-de-dooper fast metabolism! (Feel free to make suggestions for my sad attempt at comparison.)

I also tried to get him to flex his guns, but he refused. Brian would have done it! So, why is Grant so morally opposed to showing off his muscles? I mean, he IS wearing a muscle shirt!! Geesh!

Random Insanity...

2009-01-08T11:42:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share a few of our funnier moments from today. There were oodles of them, but these were the winners, in no particular order...

Today while we were in the midst of school, Brian was being his usual goofball self, when I turned to him and said, "You are such a HAM!" To which he replied, "But I'd rather be bacon. Actually Canadian Bacon." As I shook my head in wonder he continued, "But then again Canadian Bacon is really just ham, so I guess that would still make me a ham, huh?" Meghan says in a awe filled voice, "Brian you are so smart." My only response was, "So I guess that makes you a smart pig?"

Then, later, during lunch, as I sat eating my favorite WW meal (the Four Cheese Ziti) I was reminded that it's someone else's favorite, too. You wouldn't believe it, but Grant loves this one! He never misses a chance to beg a bite or two off whoever is eating it.

"Yummm. Your eating that stuff!"

* he eyes WW meal covetously as he drools dangerously close to the dish*

"Yeah. You got a problem with that?" I replied a tad too defensively.

"Nope. I love that stuff."

* he opens his mouth like a starving baby bird, waiting for me to drop a noodle or two in that gaping pie hole of his*

"What?!... I don't think so, buster. Don't even think about it! This is MY lunch. Didn't you JUST eat two tacos?, I snapped at him." (mostly because I had to SMELL the two tacos, and they smelled VERY yummy!)

"Uh-huh. But I'm still hungry. And I love that stuff."

"Would you stop calling it 'that stuff'? It's called ziti, and it's all I get for lunch, so go munch on something else. Please." (I added the please with the lost hope that he, too will begin to use the phrase regularly. Fat chance.)

"But I need to lose weight, too! See?"

*he proceeds to show me the following...*

"OH MY GOODNESS, Grant!!! That's just WRONG!", I gasped. "You do NOT need to lose any weight!"

"I know, Mom says I need to gain some... but it was worth a try." And he walked off to take my suggestion to go find something else to eat.

As funny as that was... we had many interesting moments to choose from. Like making Koolaid. How can that be interesting? Well, Celine was in charge of making it today, that's how. See, Brian is banned from making it because he never fails to make a disastrous mess every time he makes Koolaid. JP doesn't want to make it, ever. Grant will make it on occasion, but he makes only a slightly smaller mess than Brian does, so that leaves either Celine or myself to make it. Seeing as how I was busy with Colette, who stayed home sick today, I asked Little Miss to make the stuff. She knows just what to do, so I was surprised when she came to me and said,

"Shanny, could you come and taste the Koolaid?"

"Um, honey, I can't what's the matter with it?"

"It tastes funny."

"Funny? What do you mean? Did you remember to add the Sugar?"

"Uh-huh. Two cups."

"Umm, well, what 2 packets of flavoring did you use?" (Because they have all come up with odd combinations that just taste HORRIBLE! Like fruit punch + blue raspberry. Not only did that one taste disgusting, it looked pretty gross, too.)

"I used two lemonades."

"Well, then. It should be fine sweetie. Don't worry about it."

"NO! You have to taste it! It tastes FUNNY!"

"Why? Did you sneeze in it?

"NO!"

Well, did you stick your foot in it?"

"NO!"

"Did you stick GRANT'S foot in it?" (I was kidding her about the feet by the way! I just love teasing her.)

"NOOOOO!"

"Then WHY does it taste funny?"

"I don't know! Just come taste it!"

"I have no idea what's wrong with the Koolaid, Celine, but you have to promise me that you didn't do anything to MAKE it taste 'funny'! Hold on let me get my camera... OK- Now when I say 'three' you have to promise on film that you didn't. OK?... 'THREE!'"

"The Oath"

So... I told her that I'd be in the kitchen in just a second, as soon as I was finished with Colette. When I walked into the kitchen, this is what I found waiting for me:

Isn't she a funny one? Haha! As it turns out, the Koolaid tasted fine, at least to a person who NEVER drinks the stuff. (YUCK!) I have no idea why she thought it tasted funny. Maybe she'd been licking her feet before she tasted it? IDK( I Don't Know)... and I'm too tired to care at this point. Apparently the Grande Starbuck's I had this morning has worn off...

Ring! Ring! LIFE is calling!

2009-01-07T07:32:00.000-08:00

*BRRRRing! BRRRing!*

"Hello? This is Shannon speaking."

"Hi, Shannon, this is your LIFE calling, could you please start living me to the fullest?"

I feel like this is a conversation I've had with myself over the past few days. I have no idea why I'm learning this lesson at THIS point in my life, but I am, and I thought I would share it with my Blog buddies. Seeing as I've already shared it with my FaceBook buddies, and man, did it cause a ruckus! (did I really just use the word "ruckus" in a sentence? What am I coming to?)

For years I have struggled with my weight, and in the past two years I have made a very real effort to change the way I lived in order to "get thin". Oh, sure, I may have TOLD myself, and others, it was so I could be "healthy", but every woman knows that unexplainable quest to be thin. I am one of those women. So I joined a gym, and last year I joined Weight Watchers. I had great success with both of these endeavors, and I had stuck with most of the changes I made. However, I have a tendency to not so much fall of the wagon as THROW MYSELF OFF when it comes to my health. I never thought of myself as saboteur, though lately, I have come to know otherwise. I'll get lazy or "busy" and not have enough time to make it to the gym or to WW meetings. It starts by missing one night which leads to two, then three, by that time I'm so disappointed in myself that I wonder what's the point of going back. So I don't. At least until my clothes start getting too tight, or my "bat flaps" start getting flappy-er. The most recent burst of healthy living lasted longer than any. I had actually lost about 89 pounds, and was feeling really good. The ground rushing past that moving wagon looked too tempting, though. Somewhere around my birthday I just moved my quest to the back burner. OK, I'm being honest, I took it off the stove completely! I have not seen the inside of the gym, nor gone to a WW meeting in many a week. My tight clothes and flappy arms are proof of that. I had chucked myself right off that wagon, AGAIN!

This time of year has everyone thinking "Resolutions". I've never been one who is much for resolutions. I just don't keep them. But I did decide that the beginning of the year is as good as any to take another stab at the "QUEST" (said in a loud, booming voice), not to mention the new season of Biggest Loser started this week! Great source of motivation! So, Monday found my boo-ta-tay back in the gym, and I toted the ever familiar WW meal to work along with my protein bar and apple. I still had the "quest" mentality going though. But something was different this time. Everywhere I turned I was faced with this nagging feeling, "What's going to make this time any different than all the others?" "WHY is it that I can't just get past this weight so I can live my life?" "I know everything would be so different if I did!" Well, more times than I can count, I came across different "signs" or maybe they were clues that this time HAD to be different. I am a BIG TV watcher. It's a weakness, I know, but I am. I watch a lot of HGTV, TLC, and Biggest Loser (of course!) This time of year the TV is saturated with shows about losing weight and being healthy, and for some reason I have been glued to ALL of them. I don't know if watching these shows is affecting me, but more and more it's becoming clearer to me how unhealthy my weight really is. Not only that, I also came to the heartbreaking understanding that for the past 15 years I've been waiting for my life to start. I'm 33. That's a LOT of waiting. Waiting for someone (man) to love me, waiting to travel, waiting to do fun things that I'd love to do. Even more heartbreaking was WHY I was waiting on all these things. I've been waiting lose weight so I'll find someone to love me, waiting to travel because I am too embarrassed about how I look, waiting to enjoy certain activities because I'm not sure I can even do them! It upsets me that I have missed out on so many opportunities, all because I was waiting for them to start!

I am a woman of deep faith. I credit that to having been raised by women of deep faith. I have always prayed for God's Will to be done in my life, and at the same time waiting for the day when His Will would be done. I think the biggest revelation I've had has come in the past 72 hours. I've been waiting for a life to begin that actually began 33 years ago, and I have been wasting time WAITING. Not waiting on God, mind you, waiting on me.

So, I've been quietly mulling over these new ideas of mine. All the while God seems to keep reinforcing them in what I am watching and reading. Last night as I was munching on my very yummy salad, ( NO, you did not detect any sarcasm. It WAS yummy!) I hopped on Face Book to check out what everyone was up to. I was struck by how many of the young friends I have on there had changed their "relationship status" to "in a relationship". It was then that I had an even bigger revelation. Here I have been waiting for the future "Mr. Right" to come along, dreaming about him, obsessing even, when Mr. Right was already in my life. Not that I've neglected God, but I have definitely spent way too much time wondering about the other man, time that really belongs to God. So I decided in a spur of the moment decision to change MY relationship status on FB to "in a relationship", and I had intended to put "with God" next to it. But FB won't let you put WHO if they aren't a member of FB. So all it read was, "Shannon is now in a relationship!" Well, I doubt you can imagine the chaos that ensued! I had to write a quick note to "splain" myself to the FB community. I thought I'd share it with you all. Some of what I have already said is repeated in there, but I think you get the idea. :

(If you happen to be a FB Buddy, skip the italics! You already read them!)

Before you old biddies FREAK OUT over my relationship status, let me clarify it. I've decided that 2009 is my year to be the best me I can for one very special person. OK, actually three, but for our purposes here, and so as not to confuse everyone, we'll just refer to one of the persons namely- GOD. (the other two are the second and third persons of the Blessed Trinity.)

For too long now I have gone through my life thinking I was doing OK. That what I was giving out was my "best". I happen to know that isn't the case. So without dwelling on the past I am taking this opportunity of a new year to do that which I know I am capable of. No more missed opportunities, no more missing out on what I know God has waiting for me! I have very concrete goals for 2009! I've been making lifestyle changes for two years now, most have stuck, but I have a tendency to not so much fall of the wagon as THROW MYSELF OFF when it comes to my health. This year I want to achieve those goals that I have set for myself, wether they be health, career, family, relationship, or spiritually related. I think that the first place to start is with the MOST important of those goals and that would be my spiritual goals. So the first step I am taking is to make my relationship with God the most important relationship I focus on. For too long now I have waited and for my dream of becoming a wife and a mother to materialize. What I haven't done is spent enough time actively working on my relationship with the Lord. That may surprise some of you, but what I'm trying to say is that rather than pouring my energy into wondering and worrying about the future Mr. Nanney, I will be poring my energy into my present Mr. Right- God. I truly believe that the other will come in His Good Time. When the time is right then my Mr. Right WILL come along. I can't change when that will be, so I am choosing to focus on something I CAN change, and that is to grow even closer to the God I love and Who loves me more than I will ever know. And I'll start by doing my best to honor Him and the gifts He has blessed me with.

Don't get me wrong- I WILL be a wife and mother, but I will NOT make that my focus any longer. Unfortunately, unless science develops a cure for " boy craziness" then I'm not likely to stop mooning over the likes of Michael Buble or Matt Maher. (BTW-My favorite is the latter! I'll take a Godly man over a MB in a heart beat. But you have to admit that MB is a gift from heaven!) And I am still not above being set up with someone by friends, family, or even perfect strangers! (Just Kidding!!! ;) ) BUt my new man is the big G-O-D!

OK, I'm done. I just wanted to side step the innumerable comments and messages I just knew were on the way to my inbox! Love you all!

So to recap...

I am NOT seeing anyone at this present time. I love God, and He loves me MORE! I WILL be married, one day. No more diet. I will now care for this temple of the Holy Spirit in a manner that it deserves. I am still ga-ga over guys. No more waiting, my life starts now! 2009 is MY YEAR! Oh, and I am open to being set up. WHEW!

Fear not, this will NOT become a "diet blog", although I have considered starting one. I'm too big of a chicken, though. I just can't bring myself to post my weight and "before" pictures for all to see. Besides that I'm reminded that I have far too many blogs at present. One more would be overkill, and a tad egocentric.

P.S. I would like to apologize for the obscene amount of "quotation marks", but I had no other recourse. Thanks for loving me anyway!

PS.S.-Thank you all for your support! Especially my Mom, my sister (whom I love oodles!), Erin, Yvette, Meg, and Stacie. Your love and support is overwhelming. With ALL my love...

Normalness abounds!

2009-01-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

I can tell that all is back to normal around Nannyland. All signs point to this fact. I bet you are wondering, "What signs?" Well, other than the giant banner posted across the front door that read "All is Normal Here!" there are a few tell tale signs that life has indeed returned to normal after the craziness of the holidays. (I was kidding about the sign, by the way...) For instance; everyone is back to school. Most of the kids started back yesterday, but Warren and Colette went back today (just a side note, those two had the longest va-ca of all of us! They've been out of school since the 17th of December!!!!!) Another way I can tell it's back to the same old, same old is that I wasn't greeted by a barrage of stories of what they have been doing, or seeing, or a laundry list of gifts they opened since the last time I saw them.

One of the biggest signs I can see is that I'm back to dragging Celine out of bed again every morning. She is NOT an early riser! Either is Brian, though. But it takes a team of wild horses to drag that little princess out of bed! So, YEAH! I get to look forward to this morning ritual again! During the break we'd just let her sleep until she woke up, whenever that may have been. Oh! Then there is the daily herding of munchkins up the stairs to the school room to begin the day. This is usually accompanied by the score of multiple voices bemoaning and whining as they ascend to their awaiting doom. Meghan and I have beautiful "bemoaning" voices, by the way! What?! You seemed shocked that it's the two of us joining in the protests! There are times when we dread school just as much as they do. I'm more of the whiner, Meg is an amazing bemoaner, though! (Just kidding, Meg!) Accompanying the moans and groans against starting school, we have also had to listen to the frequent protests against certain subjects. Math always gets booed, as does anything that requires sitting still and listening to me or Meg read. (That would be EVERY subject, at some point!) English would be found at the bottom of the list near Math! I guess they would all prefer to be illiterate fools who "don't talks no good English"! Seriously! Where can one find a job when one can not complete simple math skills and speak proper English? Nowhares, thare's whare! So when addition flash cards are met with harrumphs and sighs and flailing of limbs, I just want to scream, "FINE! Would you rather spend your life digging ditches and then covering them back up? Because that's the only thing you'll be able to do for a living if you don't learn this stuff!!!" ARRRHGGHHH! Here's a picture of the attitude I was gifted with when I informed Brian that he needed to review his addition facts:

I did make him do the flash cards. He pouted the entire time, BUT when he did the drill he not only got all 100 problems correct, but he did it for the first time within the time alloted!! I was very proud, and so was he!

So we have indeed returned to the normalcy of daily life, at last! Don't be fooled though! Normal around here is certainly NOT calm. It may be back the usual routine, but it's still crazy, and that's because it's normally crazy!!

Auld Lang Syne

2008-12-31T12:22:00.000-08:00

Well, once again we find ourselves at the edge of a cavern in time. The time when we say good bye to one year and welcome the new one. A time where we will spend the next 3 months trying to remember to write 2009 on all of our documents, rather than the 2008 we JUST got used to writing! Most of us think of Times Square and the "ball" dropping at the stroke of midnight. This year that iconic symbol is getting a facelift! The most recent ball is actually parts of the old ball and has been made bigger and better and covered in 2,668 Waterford Crystals! It weighs 11,875 pounds and is lit with 32,256 LED lights! WOW! I guess it takes a lot to make it look this great! Here are a few pictures of the new ball in action!:

For those of us who have little chance of being in Times Square tonight to see the ball's debut- don't be sad! With this new ball comes a NEW tradition! The ball will now remain out year round so everyone who visits the Big Apple will be able to see this wonder in person! Now to get to NYC! Anyone for a road trip?

The original ball was beautiful in it's own right and just for "auld lang syne", here's a picture of it!

Wether you're a person who makes resolutions or not, this is the perfect time to reflect on all the events of the past year and look ahead to the ones that are coming in the next. This was a wonderfully heartbreaking and blessing filled year for my family. We will miss those who have gone home to Heaven, and welcome with warm hugs those precious ones who have joined our family in 2008. This was truly a year of marked blessings and 2009 looks to be overflowing with it's own abundance of blessings. While we prepare for what will prove to be the difficult departure of my brother-in-law for his tour in Iraq, we have great peace knowing that he will

be serving his country with honor, and we know that God and His angels go with him. Please keep our family in your prayers, and we will do the same for yours in 2009!

Have a happy and safe New Year and Merry Christmas!

Drum Roll, Please!...

2008-12-31T09:00:00.000-08:00

And the winner is................. Katie Johns!!!

Wow! You guys are SMART! I had several entries that had all the guesses correct! So it was decided by a drawing. I think that part might have been rigged, seeing as it was my sister who won the contest. I can assure you that I did not rig it, but Katie IS known for those types of shenanigans, so I wouldn't be surprised! Just kidding! Everything was fair and square!

Now Katie is the proud owner of a beautiful evening bag by Shananagins Bags!! I had so much fun with this contest! I just may have to do more of these this year!

Thanks to everyone who entered, and congrats to KATIE!!!!

Joy to the WORLD!

2008-12-24T22:22:00.000-08:00

The Lord is COME!

Merry Christmas! From my brood to yours! Well, at least half of them. Have a WONDERFUL day and enjoy your families!!!

On the road...

2008-12-21T05:33:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone! I'm blogging from the road on my way to Savannah. Ooooo- I LOVE Savannah! That seems to be the usual response when I mention going there. It's true- everyone loves Savannah. What's not to love!

So I'm going to Gorgia to attend the Baptism of my newest cousin, Garrison Lee- better known as Tripp. He's a cutie, and we will be meeting him for the fist time today! If he's anything like his big sister, Robbin, then he'll deffinately be adorable! I promise that I'm not "borrowing trouble" when I say that I can only imagine ththat this little man I'd bound and destined to be a handfull with a name like "Tripp". I can hear of now, " Oh, that one? He's a TRIPP!".

I'm going to keep this short. My battery is being eaten alive composing this! I'll post pictures tonight or tomorrow, depending on how late we get back!

Sent from my iPhone

Save the Drama for Your Momma!

2008-12-20T10:48:00.001-08:00

Today was fraught with drama! I still don't know where the day went wrong, but somewhere along the way it took a terrible turn for the worse. What started out as Brian being his usual goomba self, melted down into an actual temper tantrum resplendent with flailing arms, bemoaning cries, and actual tears!! At first he was pretending to throw a tantrum, but when I didn't take him seriously he decided that the real deal might get him noticed a little better, so he brought out the BIG guns. I had my handy dandy camera, well- handy. So I took a video of his antics. Don't worry, I've spared you the worst of it all! In this video he's still pretending, but there had been a stray tear or two that were squeezed out just before I started filming. Just keep in mind that the whole act started because he had a teeny-tiny scratch on his leg, like the size of a paper cut. Without out further ado...

The Wound that Launched Thousand Tears!!!

A Decade of Awesomeness!!!

2008-12-19T20:28:00.000-08:00

Today is a bittersweet day for me! Grant is turning TEN today! Of all the munchkins' birthdays this is kinda hard for me. Grant was only 3 weeks old when I came to work for the Williemas Family! So I have watched him grow and change so much over the years. He was the youngest child I had cared for, ever! I'll never forget the first time Donna asked me to give him his bath, he was maybe five weeks old, and I'd been there for only a few weeks. I'd never given a baby that small a bath, and I had a minor freak out inside my head:

Donna asks, "Do you think you could give Grant his bath for me?"

I calmly respond, "Um, sure. I can do that."

(What I was thinking was: Oh, no! She wants me to do what?!! Me? Give that tiny baby a BATH!? How? He's so little! What if I get the water too hot? What if it's not hot enough? What if he gets cold and then gets sick? What if I get soap in his eyes? Holy, cow! He's gonna be wet and soapy and What if I DROP him! I can't do this! Should I tell her that I've never done this? I mean I've watched her do this, but I've never done it myself! - OK! Breathe! Calm down... you can do this. You've watched her do this several times. It's not rocket science. Just be careful and, no, I wouldn't tell her that you haven't done this before. Just ACT like you're a pro, and you'll be fine. I think."

I went on to give Grant his bath, everything went just fine. He was probably a little cold, but he survived, and if you asked him today he probably wouldn't even remember it. So it couldn't have been THAT bad! Right? To this day, I have not told Donna that story. She doesn't regularly read the blog, but my luck, she'll decide to read this post! Well, Donna, if you are reading this- I've greatly improved on my bath giving skills! And I NEVER dropped Grant, EVER! (Brian is another story.)

I get so much joy from this little man. He can always make me smile, even in the midst of driving me bonkers! Here is one of my FAVORITE blogs about Grant. In honor of his decade of awesomeness, I have made him his own slide show! Enjoy some of my favorite pictures of my favorite 10 year old!!! Then after you're finished click in the "Here" to read the old post about Grant's Mirror O' Vanity!

Happy Birthday, G-Man! You're the Awesomest!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Freebies and Frustrations

2008-12-17T08:27:00.000-08:00

Should I begin this post on a positive note or save the postitive for the end and end happily ever after? Hmmm. Maybe if I end positivly, then my mood and day will follow. So I start with the "frustrations" part of this post.

I wonder how our teachers survived us. And even more so, how is it that they didn't end up bald by the time they retired? (From pulling their hair out in a never ending fit of frustration...) This is the end of the second quarter for us. That means quarter tests, grades, and the dreaded Book Review! Dun-dun-dunnnnnn! Grant it, when you put into perspective, my job isn't nearly as stressful as say, oh, Idunno a brian surrgon or a soldier fighting on the front lines in Iraq., but it can be stressful all the same. Like now. It'll pass, but for now it seems overwhelming. Maybe it's the straw that's braking this camel's back with all the holiday hoopla. This too shall pass. I just need to remind myself to enjoy the right now, and not focus on the ~~dozens~~ ~~hundreds~~ thousands of things I have to get finished before this time next week!!!!! AAAHHHHHHH!

Now for the fun stuff! If you'll recall, I have a little contest running right now! I wanted to post a picture of the bag that some lucky guy or gal will be winning! (Hey, the guys could give to their wives, or mothers, or some other special lady in their life!) The one in the picture is one I made for my fabulous friend, Meghan. She loves orange, so I lined this delicious, chocolate brown velvet envelope bag with orange silk. It's accented with a crystal snowflake broach, and has a single bangle ring for a handle. The prize purse will be the same style (we call this our "Cora" bag, after my youngest niece. It's cute, yet spunky; just like the little girl!) I've had a few entries, each one seems to think that they are the winner! Are you gonna prove them wrong? Good luck, and have fun!

Fa-lalalala- HaHa! Ha! Ha!

2008-12-16T08:18:00.000-08:00

So with Christmas barreling down upon us, and less than a week of shopping days left to prepare, as I see it, there are only a few choices for how to go about getting ready:

Go postal and start shooting up the place!
Ignore it, and act like it's just another day. Bah! Humbug!!
Run around like a chicken with it's head cut off, shopping, wrapping, shopping, wrapping, and then shop some more.
Dig a hole and hide in it until the first of the year.
Take it all in stride and try to find the humor in the situation while enjoying your friends and family.

I don't know about you, but I try to be #5, but somehow I end up looking more like #3. Right now, as I type this post, I'm thinking of all the things I need to do before the

24th! So- in an effort to lighten up the situation I'd like to post a little quiz that my room mate and buddy, Yvette brought home from work. It's a "play on words" quiz. The following are the titles of popular Christmas carols that have been reworded using synonyms. (For those of you who haven't seen the inside of a classroom in a while those are words that have similar meanings. ;) ) Here's the deal: You try to figure out as many of the song titles as you can, and send your guesses to my email address (I'll give it out at the end of the post). To make the quiz a little more fun, (and so more people participate) I'm offering a prize for the person who has the most correct guesses. Should there be a tie, I'll have a drawing to see who gets the coveted prize. I bet you're wondering what that prize might be... well, I'll tell you so you don't have to wonder any more. (I know it makes your brain ache.) The prize will be an Original Shananagins Bags Handbag!

Without further ado, the QUIZ!

GUESS THE CHRISTMAS SONG:

Bleached Yule:
Ruddy-colored seed sweltering in a conflagration:
Singular yearning for the Twin Anterior Incisors:
Righteous Darkness:
Arrival time: 2400 hours-Weather: Cloudless night:
Loyal Followers Advance:
Far off in a feeder:
Array the Corridors:
Bantam Male Percussionist:
Monarchial Triad:
Nocturnal Noiselessness:
Jehovah Deactivates Blithe Cavaliers:
Red man en route to Borough:
Frozen Precipitation Commence:
Proceed and Enlighten on the Pinnacle:
The Quadruped with the Vermillion Proboscis:
Delight for the Planet:
Give Attention to the Melodious Celestial Beings:
The Dozen Festive 24 hour Intervals:
I Desire a Water Horse this Yule

OK- so copy and paste the quiz in an email and send it to: catholicgirl1975@gmail.com! The contest will end December 24th at midnight, so any entries submitted after that date and time will not be considered. What are you waiting for? Get crackin'!! I'll announce the winner in my Christmas post. Feel free to invite family and friends to try their hand at the songs! Oh- I almost forgot! My friend/co-worker and fellow blogger, Meghan Stewart is doing a similar post on her blog, "Meghan Stewart Photography". Be sure to enter her contest as well, because she is offering an equally amazing prize! Her blog address is www.meghanstewartphotography.wordpress.com

Have fun, and test the Christmas Smarts of all your friends and co-workers with this little quiz, it's good for a TON of laughs!

I'm a Mobile Blogger Now!!

2008-12-15T19:31:00.001-08:00

This is so cool! I can now post to the blog from my iPhone! Now I have NO excuses to not post. I can't wait to write a post from on location! Looks like I'll have to invent a field trip to take the munchkins on so I can test it!

Plus this is just ONE more reason to LOVE my iPhone!!!! xoxoxoxoxo

Sent from my iPhone!

Give Me Attention, or Give me DEATH!

2008-12-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I know that I've had the word "death" in the last two post titles, I'm not usually a morbid person, but somehow "death" seems to be creeping into my posts. Let's see if I can explain why... I think we can all sympathize with the fact that kids just love attention. It never ceases to amaze me what lengths they will go to in order to steal a few moments of attention from an adult, even negative attention. Well, these kids are no exception. They ALL love attention, and for the most part they get it. I'm pretty sure kids would survive knowing that the world doesn't revolve around them, and a little bit of ignoring them goes a LONG way to teaching them that. It doesn't hurt them when you ignore them, I promise!

While you, me, and the pediatrician all know that one can NOT die from being ignored, some kids are convinced that they can and WILL die if they are not paid constant attention to. I have a few of those in my life. I'd have to say the biggest one is Brian, though. He can't stand not being the center of everyone's attention. He goes to great lengths to get ANY form of attention, good or bad, it's all the same to him. (Case in point: the last post, when he added his own comentary to the blog while my back was turned!) He not picky, just as long as he has an audience. He is forever making some sort of noise, telling some corny joke, throwing himself on the floor or against a wall, quoting some movie, or some other generally distracting thing- all in the name of getting our attention. I know some of you softies out there are thinking, "Awwww! Poor baby! He must not get much attention being the 7th kid and all! He must be STARVING for attention!" Honestly, people! Get ahold of yourselves! He's not neglected, for Pete's sake! He gets more than his fair share of attention, but it's never enough. If I didn't know better I'd say that he's addicted to attention.

The other day I was helping Celine with her school work, and was in the middle of teaching her a new concept, when I feel a tapping on my arm. I briefly looked over at him, but just kept working with Celine. I guess that wasn't the reaction he was looking for, because he began tapping me again, this time he didn't stop tapping. Have you ever had someone tap you non-stop? Here I was talking, teaching Celine, when; "taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap"? It's maddening, but I was determined to not give him the satisfaction of thinking his annoying little tactic worked! So I ignored him, and continued helping Celine. Even after I had finished I still didn't acknowledge him. This apparently was more than he could take. In a fit of exasperation he exclaimed,

"Shannon! Why are you not answering me?!"

Calmly I answered him, "Well, Brian, I was teaching Celine, and you were interrupting me."

"But I need your help!"

"And you were interrupting what we were doing. People who interrupt are ignored."

Well his response was instantaneous. He didn't miss a heartbeat before he dramatically declared: "I'd rather DIE than be ignored!"

"I know, Brian. Believe me, this much I know."

These types of statements never phase us when it's Brian who is making them. He's known as the Drama KING around here. He can never have enough attention, ever. I think that he thinks that he is still the baby of the family. Either that or in his mind, found in that gargantuan cranium of his, that he is an only child. I think he's in for a giant shock when he finally figures out that is SOOOO not true. I will say that it makes for some pretty hilarious conversations, though. Hilarious.

St. Nicholas vs. Santa- a Fight to the Death!!!

2008-12-10T07:23:00.000-08:00

OK! OK! Not really! I was trying to grab your attention, so don't send me nasty comments and threaten me with coal in my stocking! Actually, what I wanted to write about was something that happened last week. In an effort to help the munchkins better understand the meaning of this season of Advent, and to help prepare their hearts for Christmas, I've been doing some special things with them. We've been observing the Jesse Tree, and last week we postponed our usual Religion lessons and instead, learned about the life of St. Nicholas. brian rocks because he - sorry... Brian took over my Mac when I had my back turned. See what I'm dealing with here?! Rest assured that he was dealt with accordingly! Anyway, as I was saying before... Each morning we are reading from the Old Testament and placing an ornament on the tree that represents what we read that day. Here is a picture of Brian "hanging" an ornament on the Jesse Tree, it was taken a few days ago at the beginning of Advent. What we are trying to do is place a little more emphasis on the CHRIST part of Christmas. The munchkins have really surprised me with how much they are getting out of this. They seem to be making the connection between the Old and New Testaments, and it's been wonderful for me to be able to dive a little deeper into the prophecies of old that for told of Christ's coming. That being said, kids are what they are: KIDS, so you know that there have been some typically crazy moments.

Like when I was trying to give them some background information on Ole' St. Nick, and all they could do is goof off and be distracted and ask ridiculous questions. One question was "I wonder who would win in a fight to the death- Santa or St. Nick?" Or another good one was,

"If St. Nicholas is dead, then does that mean that Santa is dead, too?"

"No."

"He's a GHOST?"

"NO, you have to be dead to be a ghost! And there's no such things as ghosts, anyway. Can we please get back to learning about St. Nicholas now?"

"You mean there's no such thing as Santa?"

"AHHHHH! You boys are driving me nuts! Stop asking ridiculous questions and let me finish this so we can do our project for the day!!!!!"

Needless to say, the next day I came up with some busy work for them to do while I taught them the rest of the week. They colored pictures of St. Nicholas while I talked about him the rest of the week. It helped to hold their attention while I conv

eyed the info I needed to.

At the end of the week they all made hand puppets of St. Nick. They turned out SOOO cute! Here's a picture of them:

From left to right: JP, Grant, Brian, and Celine.

I think they did a great job, and over all they got a lot out of learning about the life of St. Nicholas. Like when they wrote letters to Baby Jesus, asking Him to help those less fortunate than them. Some of the things the requested were for Jesus to be with those who were hungry, homeless, lonely, those that didn't know Jesus, and for everyone to "have the best Christmas ever!" These letters made me tear up! They were so sweet, and you really could see the kids thinking about the needs of others. Lastly they made Advent promises to God, telling him how they would show God that they love Him.

I loved this unit. I got as much out of it as they did! Next we tackle the end of the second quarter! Once that is done then I'll begin a Unit on the Sacred Mass. My hope is that they will better understand what it is we do during the Mass, and in turn help them to better assist while at Mass. I can only imagine what they will come up with next. Strike that- I DON'T even want to imagine what they will com up with next. All I can say is that it is NEVER a dull moment around here!

Santa, Baby...

2008-12-05T08:05:00.000-08:00

Well, with Christmas a mere two and a half weeks away, a fact that I am reminded of daily by each kid in this house, I find my time to get things done withering down and my list of things to do growing each day! So I thought I'd be all proactive and take care of a very important item on my "Christmas To-Do List". No, I'm not referring to my shopping list, or wrapping the few presents I've managed to buy, or even mail out my Christmas cards. I'm talking about my letter to Santa, of course! I thought I'd share a few of the requests I have made for Jolly Ole' St. Nick to bring me this year. Feel free to take any hints from this list when considering your gift to me. (Just be sure to let Santa know so you two don't get me the same thing. Nobody likes returning gifts, nobody.)

Dear Santa,

I have a VERY good girl this year! I have been working very hard to regularly post to the blog, and I've even kept my room clean. Well, most of the time... I've been very nice to my little sister, even though she can be a brat sometimes, and I've somehow managed to not pulverize any of the munchkins this year. So as you can see, I so deserve to be on the "Nice" list! That being said I'd like to share my Christmas Wish List with you.

Thanks to my dear friend, Meghan, I have developed a liking for scarves. I am a BIG fan of pink, and I'd like it if the Mrs. would make me one. They keep my neck all warm and cozy, plus the munchkins like to pretend that I'm a horsey and the scarf makes a nice set of reigns!

I'd also like a new niece or nephew. Either one would do. I haven't had one of those in over a year now. But don't tell my sister- she might object, and I really want one!

Next I'd like to add that, while I love making purses and hand bags, I REALLY would like one that was made by someone known for making purses, like oh, Idunno, maybe PRADA or Louis Vuitton. They both make such nice little bags. Oh, and while you're at it, a nice pair of Manolo Blahniks would go great with either designers. I'm a size 8 1/2, and they don't have to be pink. Any color would do. Please.

This next item is a little less materialistic. I'd like a little peace, please. Sure world peace would be amazing, but I know it would be a bit much to ask for the purse, the shoes, AND world peace, so I think I would just like to have some peace in general. You know, like maybe the munchkins aren't as loud next year as they were last, or maybe they play Rock Band a little quieter, maybe you could even install little mute buttons while you are visiting them on Christmas Eve. Whatever works best for you, but I'd really like a little more peace. Even if for just a brief period of time, I'd appreciate it. (Even if was for just long enough to finish this post!)

Now here's the biggie; I know every year I ask for this same thing, but I haven't gotten it yet, so I'm asking again. I want a husband. Enough said. I know it's a tall order, but not nearly as tall as word peace, so I think you can handle this one. (anyone out there reading this: I AM open to blind dates, so feel free! Seriously.) Also, if you bring me the hubby, then I promise to stop asking for that pony you've never brought me after all these years of asking!

I'd like to be a size 8. That's reasonable, right? I mean, I'm not talking super model here. Heck, I'd even settle for a size 10. I would just like to look like I did when I was 14, minus the frizzy blonde hair, that is. And I'll take it anyway I can get it- lipo, a personal trainer to the stars, or maybe a body transplant. I'm a strong supporter of plastic surgery. (Just not the Wacko Jacko type stuff!)

I want a housekeeper. Someone who will pick up after me, make my bed, cook my meals and then wash the dishes, do my laundry, scrub the toilet (*blechk*!), clean the cat littler (*double blechk*!), and change the roll of toilet paper when it runs out. Wait. As I write this I'm reminded of a dim memory I have of a time when I actually had somebody that did all this stuff for me. What was her name again... oh! That's right, we called her MOM!!!! Well, I want a housekeeper. Not another mom. Just so we're clear.

I would like, just once, to walk into a room to a roaring applause. Like, standing ovation, finger whistles, and WOO-WOO-WOO's applause. I'd just like to know how that feels. Just once.

Just in case I don't get the husband- then I want that pony. I think it's only fair.

When considering my Wish list please remember that I HAVE been especially good this year. Not counting that one little slip up. Plus- it was never proven that it was me. (The surveillance video was too fuzzy. thankyouverymuch.) In closing I'd like to add that I hope you and Mrs. Clause- along with the elves, have had a wonderful year. Rest up and take lots of Vitamin C before the 24th, because there's been a nasty cold/virus thingy going around, and I'd hate for you to catch it! I'll be sure to leave the usual offering of milk and cookies out, unless of course you're back on the cabbage soup diet again. In that case I'll leave a bowl in the microwave for you and a glass of Crystal Light. (Man, that soup stinks!)

I love you, Santa.

Again? Really?

2008-12-03T06:59:00.000-08:00

Apparently my Mac has some magical power over children. I'm beginning to believe that it calls to them with some high pitched siren song only short people can hear. A while back I blogged about some funny things I found on my Mac, by accident of course. They were too funny to pass up sharing with you. Well, last night I was doing a little work and this popped up on the screen:

Cute, huh? Well there were a few others just like it, and they led me to wonder what else might be found. So I did a little looking and found mountains of stuff! More than you could even begin to imagine! There were movies, snapshots, posed and candid shots, and I could go on. There was a 3 minute mini movie of JP and Grant battling to the "death" using light sabers and the "Force", in fact, there were two movies! What? One wasn't enough? Did Grant not die slowly or painfully enough for JP? Don't worry, I won't subject you to that little gem. Heck, I couldn't even watch it all the way through! And the hi-jinx aren't limited to one or two kids- or even the little kids! I found pictures of Colette hamming it up for the camera! Some of the pictures I found had just one kid in the picts, like sweet little Celine up there, others had multiple accomplices. The funny thing is that when I ask them about it they all respond in the same, eloquent way, "Huh? What do you mean?" I'm guessing that while Meg and I are downstairs preparing snacks, the munchkins are upstairs busy hijacking my Mac and entertaining themselves by tying up the memory on my laptop with preposterous pictures and mind numbing movies. But that's just a hunch. Here's a few more of the many pictures I am now proud to have ownership of. The captions are my interpretation of what each munchkin was thinking when they took it...

"Let's see who has the cheesiest smile! Ready? 1-2-3, CHEEEESE!"

"Ha! Ha! I won! I have the cheesiest smile! Are u pouting back there?"

"1. Miss Piggy impression 2. Angelina Jolie impression (big lips) 3. *gasp* Did you hear someone coming 4. Shhhh. This will be our little secret!"

"Ha! Look at me! I'm a Japanese Jay Leno!"

"Well, would you look at that?! I can see clear to my brain! Wait that's something else in my nose, sorry!"

"Help somebody shrunk my head!"

"Take me and my bizarre little pet-man to your leader!"

So, what have we learned today, children? Never leave your laptop alone with children, and that maybe I should install a lock on this thing!

Until next time...

100 Posts and Counting!...

2008-11-29T09:29:00.000-08:00

Well, we did it! We're officially centenarians! Ok, not really. The blog would have to be on the verge of celebrating it's 100th anniversary, rather than it's 100th post, but since there's not a snowball's chance in Florida of that happening we're gonna just say that we're centenarians!

In honor of this milestone, along with the fact that we are just around the corner from our First Anniversary, we have relaunched the blog! Along with out new look we have changed our name, (because we can!) We are now "From Diapers to Driver's Licenses... Adventures of the Super Nanney"! One would think that I would know a lot more than I do, having watched all these munchkins trade in their diapers for driver's licenses, but truthfully I often wonder how I could have so much more still to learn! But let's not forget that while they may all be out of diapers, we only have 3 with licenses, so I guess that by the time they are all able to drive then I'll be the wisest of the wise! By the way, the meaning of my name is "small, wise one". I can't begin to dispute in how many ways that description is off! That is SO not me!

I hope you all like the new look of the blog, and I want to thank Julie and Coley over at LeeLou Blogs for our beautiful new look! Thanks for putting up with me and creating such an amazing blog. It is everything I imagined it would be, from the pink to the paisleys! I am so blown away! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Take a few minutes to look around and admire all their hard work.

And lastly, thanks to all of you for reading all of these crazy musings! If it wasn't for you all reading them, then I'd have no reason to write these things down!

Well, I'm off to finish decorating for Christmas! Lots of work to be done!!!

Gator Farms and Light Houses

2008-11-26T08:58:00.001-08:00

As of Monday, we are officially on Thanksgiving break! And you all know what "break" means around here; "I'm bored so find something to keep me occupied, but it BETTER not be lame!" So in an effort to amuse and not lose the little ones, we come up with a plan. Well, sort of. We came up with a plan for Monday. We'll take the other days as they come.

The plan was to go on a field trip to St. Augustine! So we packed a picnic lunch and headed off to the Alligator Farm. My sister and her kids joined us and contributed many humorous moments. Like when Cora gazed into one of the gator enclosures and says, "Hims gots big teefs!" Or when Duece finally wormed his way out of the stroller and started bounding about in a fit of energy. As he chased himself around in circles he chanted, "I runnin'! I runnin'!" The Williemas loved chasing them around and doting on them! Celine is such a little mother, and took good care of Cora and Deuce. In fact all my kids took special interest in the Johns kids, and they loved showering them with attention, almost more than the little ones enjoyed receiving it!

After an extended stint in the gift shop, we loaded up and headed over to the Light House. We picnicked at the little park there, and the kids took this opportunity to burn off some energy and climb the beautiful old trees that shade the park. As children, Katie and I climbed those very same trees, swung on those same swings, hung from the very monkey bars the kids were swaying upside down on, and giggled in much the same way as these children did all those years ago as we played hide and seek with our childhood friends. It was wonderful to see these children, who I love so dearly, play in the very places my sister and I did when were little girls. It's for reasons such as these that I cherish living in the town I grew up in. I have never been so anxious to have my own children to share these moments with. I keep reminding myself that it's all in God's time.

We then walked over to the light house that is just across the street. The kids, Donna, Meghan and the older kids climbed to the top of the light house, and loved every step along the way! Katie and I stayed on solid ground with the little ones, Cora and Deuce. It was neat to see the kids way up at the top as they waved and called down to us. Cora and Deuce kept us quite busy and entertained. Cora went around "reading" all the signs, and Deuce having discovered that he is in fact a boy, took get delight in throwing anything that he found laying about on the ground. Unfortunately the flower beds were lined with small white rocks that he would throw hand fulls of at a time. After touring the Light Keeper's house that has been converted into a museum, we said our fair wells, and headed home. It was a long, but wonderful day! I am so happy that I could share it with my favorite sister and her adorable childrens. And so happy that our kids could spend a little more time together. Thanks for joining up, Katie, Alexis, Cora, and Deuce! You'll have to watch the slid show I made of our fun day! I'm warning you! It's a long one, but it was a LONG day!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Lastly, the new blog is COMPLETE! In case you haven't been counting, this is my 99th blog post! So the relaunch will either be in honor of the 100th post, or our FIRST ANNIVERSARY! That's officially on the 6th, so depending on how long it takes to load the new layout, we'll have our new look and our new name!!!! So keep checking back often to see the new us!!!

Until then:

Be good and God bless!

P.S. Have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving! Please know that I am counting everyone of you as one of blessings! Thanks for so faithfully reading the blog! I love reading your comments! God bless you and your families!

3-2-1: RE-LAUNCH!

2008-11-20T09:54:00.000-08:00

How exciting is this? I just received the first proof for the blog's new look! And let me tell you, it looks cute, cute, cute! I can't give you a sneak peak, but just think PINK, and girlie, and paisleys! ( I love me some paisleys!)

I am so excited about this new look, but that's not all that will be getting a makeover. The name of the blog will be undergoing a change as well. The address won't change, just the title of the blog. While "A Day in the Life..." has served me well over the past year, I have never been satisfied with it. It wasn't very imaginative or original, so I've come up with a new title. Sorry! I'm afraid you won't be getting an inside look at that either. I want it all to be a big surprise!

The kids have been having a lot of fun putting their two cents in during this entire process. Well, I guess that would be 8 cents if we're adding up the input from the 4 youngest. They're the only ones who really care. The older ones like to ignore that I have a blog at all. They say it's embarrassing. Where did they ever get the idea that I would embarrass them on here? Maybe it's because of all the posts they've read (all TWO of them) they involved some crazy, wacky stunt the little munchkins pulled. They have some nightmare-ish idea that I might post their less than stellar grades and list all of their bad habits in alphabetical order. Like I have time to list them, much less alphabetize them! Huh! Yeah right! (By the way, they actually have stellar grades, for the most part, so that fear is totally unfounded!) Needless to say, I am all but forbidden to blog about them. Besides, it's the little ones that do all the cute and funny things I love to share. The big kids are usually nowhere to be found or sitting like lumps on the couch, with the only sign of life being the non-stop clicking of the keys as they text their BFF's. All of whom they just saw for the past 8 hours in school! Let's face it, there's not really much that's blog-worthy about that! I guess I'll never understand that about teens...

In short, the blog is coming! The blog is coming! I am very excited. And I am barred from blogging about the older kids. Period. Wow, I like the little re-cap idea! Maybe I should start adding that at the end of each blog. Maybe not. Ok. Not.

So for now, until the next post...

Be good and God bless!

Mourning the Loss of a Good, Dear Friend...

2008-11-18T12:27:00.001-08:00

Today is a sad, sad day for me. I have experienced the loss of a dear friend, one who has shared my most cherished moments. Someone who has been around for but a short while, not yet a year, but in that time we've grown very close, and I've come to depend upon this special someone. Have you ever had someone in your life that you relied upon, someone you knew you could count on, no matter what? Someone that was always there? For every birthday, every holiday, every smile, every funny face or silly/ goofy moment? Someone who you allowed to see the REAL you, flaws and all. This someone was that someone for me.

He really had seen me at my best and at my worst. And even without makeup! He was there to witness all the important, meaningful moments in my life this past year! I just can't believe he's gone! I never knew life until I had experienced it through his eyes. He brought out a creative side of me I never knew I had, until I met him. And now he's gone.

It started as a simple acquaintance. I'd seen him just before Christmas in the bustle of Christmas shopping. I made the first move- (that is SO not like me!), and we hit it off right away. It was an easy friendship, and we'd get together every now and then. I didn't want to give him the impression that I was obsessive, and I'll be honest- he could be a bit clicky. But he overlooked my faults and I happily overlooked his. To be honest we were perfect for each other. He wasn't capable of a long term relationship- he just wasn't made for one, and I was hoping to find someone who I could spend some time with, you know, like at family get-togethers or just to hang out with. After a while I realized that I really liked having him around, and we saw each other quite frequently: everyday, sometimes several times a day. No matter what was going on, he was there for me. I came to depend on his being there, supporting me, experiencing life with me. Sadly, I took our friendship for granted. Now I don't think I'll ever have the chance to tell him all that he meant to me.

Today, when I reached out to him, as I've come to rely on doing, he wasn't there. Well, he was there, but... man this is hard- he just had this blank stare, like he wasn't really there anymore. He was just a shell, that which made him- special, was gone. All that remained was a cold, hard exterior. Not at all the someone I had come to know and cherish. According to the specialists, there could be a bit of hope that he could return to be with me, and continue our friendship. I would love for that to be true, but I'm also realistic. Even if he can snap out of this and go back to the someone I know and love, it will be a long and lengthy recovery. It could takes weeks or even a month for him to fully recover. And then, and only then, if there's no other choice, then I will have to say goodbye, and accept that it is time to move on. The only upside to this emotionally draining situation is that I might just get a brand new someone out of this experience!

OK- incase you hadn't guessed it yet- the someone I've been referring to is my beloved Nikon CoolPix Camera. Today it called it quits. I have mixed feelings over this, but thankfully I purchased the extended warrantee for the little guy, and the nice people over at Ritz Camera will be sending him off to the Nikon Hospital to be looked at. If he can't be fixed then they will issue me a new little buddy, but either way I'm going to be without my camera for the next few weeks. That's the part that stinks! I literally use this thing EVERY DAY! It captures all the funny, crazy, cutesy things the kids do each and every day. I do have another camera. A pretty nice one, in fact, but the convenience, and portability of My Ni just can't be beat. I've even written him a little ditty to show my devotion and appreciation of all that he has done for me over the past 11 months. I'll share a line of it with you as a tribute to our friendship:

"Nothing you could say could tear me away from My Ni! My Ni! There's nothing you could do, cause I'm stuck like glue to My Ni! My Ni!"

Ok! OK! I ripped that off from Mary Wells, but it fits. And I'm mourning- so cut me some slack!

In closing, I'll leave you with a final picture of the one who brought so many other pictures into my life. Hopefully there will be many more pictures to share in the future. (And hopefully it won't be a too distant future!)

"My Ni"-broken, and battered, but well loved!

Be Good and God bless!

P.S. Meg, now I can say that I know how you felt a few months ago! It's just so hard...