21 Forever

Today is my birthday.  I've never really liked birthdays.  I would prefer to forget them.  I do have some great birthday memories though, and one of the best ones was my 21st.

On my 21st birthday I closed my first sale as a new real estate agent.  When I arrived home, my husband told me not to change, that we were going out to celebrate.  But then he said we shouldn't leave yet and so we just sat there on the couch.  I wasn't sure what we were waiting for.  Every once in a while he'd get up and look out the door but whenever I would get up to go, he would motion me back down and say, 'Not yet.'  I was fairly confused until he said 'Okay, let's go!'  When a got to the door I saw what he had been watching for.  A beautiful, light cream stretch limo was waiting in the driveway.  Inside were red roses and champagne.  The driver took us to Olive Garden but I was again confused when my husband had me stay in the limo and then came back with a take-out order.  As we pulled away from the restaurant he produced a video and popped it in under a TV in the limo.  It was a romantic movie.  We ate our dinner and watched the movie while the limo driver took us on a scenic tour in Dallas, a beautiful sight with all the night lights twinkling.  It was such a special night.  My husband has always done a wonderful job of making me feel special, but especially so that night.  In fact, I still feel special every time I remember it.

A is for Awesome

The 3 year old woke me up at 4:30 am. He was bright eyed, bushy tailed. I had mascara under my eyes and they didn't want to open. I laid on the couch while he brought me the juice bottle and a sippy cup. I filled it and he put the rest back in the fridge. He said he was hungry and I moaned. He asked if he could have a pack of seaweed and I agreed cause I wouldn't have to get up for that. At 7:30 am I was still laying around. He had completely dressed himself and put his shoes on. My 6 year old was awake now and dressed too. Its the same dress she had on yesterday and slept in last night cause her pajama drawer was empty. The braid I put in her hair yesterday is still in good enough shape that I don't plan on brushing her hair before I send her off to school in a few minutes with a backpack full of unfinished homework from the last month (or more). I laid down in bed to read my kindle. My 8 year old was reading Star Wars on his kindle next to me while listening to the Star Wars theme music on his iPod. He was wearing the same shirt as yesterday as well, and pj pants that are 3 inches too short, and on inside out, cause that's the way I found them when I dug them out of the laundry basket last night. I just noticed that they are on backwards too. At 7:35 am I really need to get the 6 year old out the door for school so I drag myself out of bed and go into the kitchen to find her and her little brother pouring chocolate syrup on chocolate chip waffles from the toaster and it dawns on me. I am an awesome mother. So awesome that sometimes its hard to be humble.

It's 8:00 am now and I'm still in my robe with tangled hair and unbrushed teeth...cause I'm sexy too.

My husband is a beautiful liar.

Reposted blog entry from August 24, 2007

Out of seven room in our new house, I have gotten exactly 3 in order. The rest (including the kitchen and dining room) are still one big box maze. My husband comes home from work yesterday and says, "Wow, Honey. The house looks great!"

He will catch me at the end of the day when my hair has frizzed, my make up has worn off, and the kids have gotten food all over my clothes and say, "You look really hot right now..."

I collapsed into bed one night after a day when the kids drove me so nuts I thought about checking into giving them up for adoption (not quite, but parents will understand the kind of day I'm talking about) and he says, "You know you're such a good mom. That's why I want another one -because I think more kids will be lucky to have you as a mom."

I painted the bedroom in the new place and though it is far from "girly", it does look like it was designed by a woman. He said he liked it and I questioned whether it was something he would have picked. He said, "No, but I like walking into this room and seeing your personality. It's a nice feeling."

It was at that moment that I felt beautiful too.

Travel Companions

We're in the car less than 5 minutes when I hear it start.

Asha: Please, Ethan!

Ethan: No!

Asha: Ethan, if you don't let me, I won't play with you ever again.

Me: Asha, stop threatening Ethan.

Asha: Okay, Ethan, if you won't let me, I won't let you play with my bunny.

(Trying to distract them I point out the window.)

Me: Asha! Look at the flowers on the trees!

Daniel: Those must be the cherry blossoms.

Me: Yes, aren't they pretty?

Asha: They are pretty - Ethan!! Stop looking out my window! Look out yours!

Ethan: Nuh-uhh!

Asha: Ethan! STOP looking out MY window!

(And then she splays her head, arms and hands out to cover as much of the window as she possibly can in an effort to block his view.)

Ethan: Argg!

Dad: Asha you are not being nice.

Asha: I don't want him to look out my window. Ethan, look out your window!

Dad: Look, gold tires.

Ethan and Asha: Oooh!

Dad: Asha, you don't get to look at them; they're on Ethan's side and you can't look out his window.

Asha: But I WANT to...

(After an intermission the second half of the show starts.)

Asha: Ethan, are you pretending to be asleep or are you pretending to be dead?

(This is a logical question because several times a day he will say to us, 'Pretend I'm dead.' and then he adds 'Blaaaaahhh,' and falls down on the ground with his eyes closed and his tongue out.)

Ethan: I'm not dead.

Asha: Oh. 34, 35, 36, 37...

Ethan: Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm....hmm,hmm,hmm, hmmmmmm.

(He's humming the Star Wars theme song as loud as he can to annoy her.)

Asha: Ethan! Stop! You're messing me up! 38, 39...

Ethan: Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm....hmm,hmm,hmm, hmmmmmm. Heh, heh, heh, heh!

(That last part is a weird, maniacal laugh that he likes to use to taunt his siblings.)

Asha: Ethan!! I can't hear myself count!

Dad: You guys are being so loud I can't hear myself think!

Asha is the first to break the brief silence: Ethan, why are you chewing on your sock? 

------------

I'll leave you with a video that I took last year
during a very LONG red light.

If you listen closely at the end you can hear my husband sigh :)

My Little Trooper

Reposted blog entry from August 10, 2007

Asha fell and broke her arm on Monday.
She cried all the way to the hospital but then she ran around the ER like nothing happened. Both bones were broken and you could see her arm crooked but she kept taking the splint off so she could use her hand.
After all the doctors and nurses oohed and ahhed over how she didn't seem to be bothered by pain, they put her under anesthesia to pop the bones back into place and cast it. The cast is suppose to come off in about 5 weeks.
She woke up the next morning to go about her business as if she had only ever had one arm!
She's my little trooper.

Another entry from August 28, 2007

I promise not to believe what your kids say about you...

...if you promise not to believe what my kids say about me!

While I was reading Asha a bedtime story, she leans forward and then pops back and hit my neck so hard I yelled Awh!  Daniel asked me what happened and I told him that Asha hit me and it hurt.

After I tucked her in, I come into the living room to hear Daniel telling Dad, "Mom read Asha a story.  Then she hit her and then she put her in bed."

All I could think was 'What will people think when they hear that and then see Asha's cast?'  I just want to clarify for the record... -She hit me- and then I put her in bed.

TerraNova

Daniel is taking the TerraNova test with the Department of Defense school here in Korea this week.  We won't get the results for another couple of months and it will be hard for me to wait as I am super interested to see how he does on it.

Though he ended up returning to homeschool after the first couple of months, he started this school year out at the DoD school and I was impressed by his grades for the first quarter.  He got an A+ in Math and Science!  The reason this is so impressive to me is because he is 1 to 2 grades ahead of his age.  He just turned 8 on December 30th and he is in 4th grade this year.  He completed 3rd grade at home last year (skipping 2nd grade) and he did very well, but sometimes I have a nagging wonder if I think he's doing better than he actually is.  The grades from the public school were an encouragement that this is not true and that he is on the right track.

He woke up early this morning and after he ate breakfast we sat on the couch cuddled together under a blanket. He began to tell me all about how the 4 chambers of the human heart pump our blood.  This is not from his science class but from a detailed book about the human body he read on his own months ago.  We moved on to talking about the brain and then onto how gold is used in medicine and technology.  I love these talks and I'm always amazed by what he knows and understands.  I love that these are the things that he wants to talk about!

I am so proud of him.  Not because he's smart, but because he's just a great kid.  I am interested to see what this standardized test will tell me about this kid who is anything but standard.

*The results came in today.  His total score for Reading, Language and Math was a National Percentile of 96% for students grade 4.7!

Siblings

Reposted blog entry from July 7, 2007

So Daniel is sitting on Dad's knee.  Asha comes over and Dad scoops her onto his other knee.  Then Daniel turns to Dad and says, "Daddy, there's too many kids in here."

(Funny, that's what I was thinking yesterday ;)

Another entry from July 14, 2007

I ask Daniel why Asha is crying and he says, "She hurt her head all by herself."  Oh, really... so I ask 'how' and he clarifies, "I pushed her down, then she hit her head on the floor all by herself."