Sorry Wilbur, Charlotte Didn't Make It

Mathes was playing with one of his toys yesterday, shaking it and trying to get one of the pieces out that was stuck inside. He asked me for help, which I had no problem doing. So I began shaking it too and peering inside the little slot on the side, looking to see just where that errant piece had gotten lodged. With my eye pressed to the opening, suddenly I see a spider, inside the toy, charging straight for me! Of course, being the calm, cool and collected person that I am in the presence of a spider, I panicked, (”AHHHHHHH!”)  threw the toy across the room as hard and fast as I could, and began yelling for my husband to come quick! Craig saunters over, and when I explain my “trauma” he examines the toy, sees the spider as it dizzily crawls out, informs me it’s only a tiny spider and was probably far more frightened of me than I am of him (doesn’t he know me at all?!?), and then proceeds to squash it at my insistence. What also grossed me out was that Gracen had this same toy in her crib with her last night, right next to her face. All I can think is that spider crawled inside that toy, thinking it’s a great place to lay her eggs, and the little sac is in there now, evilly pulsating (because all evil egg sacs pulsate, didn’t you know) waiting for it’s moment of revenge, where they will all emerge in the Spring to wreak havoc and avenge their mothers untimely death at our hands! Ok, just a tad overdramatic, but I’m still a bit freaked out by my eye level view of said arachnid. Hey, what can I say, I’m a big baby when it comes to the eight legged creepy crawlies. *shudder*!

Confusion and Cell Phones Can Lead To Love

Ok, Heidi, Laurie, and now Melanie have inspired me (aka ‘I’m totally copying them’) to write about how Craig and I met, so here goes… 
   I had just quit my job at ‘K-Mart’ to go on a two week family vacation to Canada. The store manager had changed and was in the midst of revamping the staff, with a lot of positions being done away with, mine being one of those, so I would have been jobless in a few weeks anyways, not a big loss. When we got back, I immediately went to apply at ‘Convergys’ (a call center handling billing, accounts and activations for a major cell phone company) at the urging of several family members who said it was a great place to work with lots of fun people. During my interview, while doing my typing test, the interviewer left the room as I began to type (the computer I was taking the typing test on monitored my speed). When he came back he saw my words per minute were well within the parameters, and I had no misspellings or giant mistakes. Had he stayed, he would have discovered that in reality, I DO NOT touch type, I’m just very, very fast at hunt and peck. No one ever seemed to have a problem with this though, so I figured it was fate that he left the room at just the right time. Either that or total boredom after interviewing the bazillionth person that day. So after a quick chat about my phone and social skills, I got the job. Two weeks later my training class started. The very first day as we introduced oursleves, I remember Craig stood up, and part of his introduction was talking about his band. He was sitting between two girls and talking with them (I later learned he didn’t know them until that day), and my first impression was that he was a total player, very good looking, and I intended to steer clear of him (although since I pegged him as a lothario, I was sure he would be the one steering clear of me since I was a single mom). There were also two people in the class I became very fast friends with, starting on the first day, and they were Katie and Ryan. Ryan lived only a few blocks from my house, so I often got a ride to and from work with him, and Katie was a very cute and fun girl, and we liked to hang out together quite a bit. Craig later told me he thought I was dating Ryan because he and I had been hanging out a lot.
   A few days into training, when several of us in the class, myself included, told the instructor we were struggling with a particular part of the training, he asked for volunteers that would be willing to help some of us to understand the concept. Craig was one of the volunteers, and the instructor paired us up. It didn’t take him long to help me sort the whole cell phone thing-a-ma-bob out that was confusing me, and we began chatting in the interim. I was still under the impression he was a guitar playing, bad boy, love em’ and leave em’ player, party boy, and that he was probably 21, if that. I was very surprised to learn how nice he really was, and that not only was he not 21, but his birthday was the next day, and he was turing 28 (In fact it was Sept. 28th, his magical birthday!) We ended up talking quite a bit that day, during break and everything. I learned he too had been married before, was currently divorced, and I was impressed with the way he talked about it all. I even went on to tell him that I too was divorced, and I was surprised at the way he took the news that I had two small children as well. You need to understand this….I didn’t normally talk about my children with my co-workers/guys. I had quite a few bad experiences with guys thinking that as a single mom I was an easy target for their “moves”, so I had learned to keep that part of my life quiet unless I felt it was relevant, and it worked out a lot better for me. I had even had several guys seem mildly interested in me, then when they found out I had children, they suddenly got VERY INTERESTED, which immediately sent up a red flag (um, pervert!). Although I took A LOT OF CRAP for it from some people, it had nothing to do with deception on my part, just lots of creepy guys. Seriously, you have no idea!
   That same day Craig gave me and my cousin (she was in my training class too) a ride home in his Jeep and I remember she made some comment about how she thought his Jeep wasn’t as nice inside as she thought it would be, I guess she thought it would have a ton of bells and whistles or something. I just don’t think she realized Craig wasn’t a “pretty boy” and he liked his vehicles more on the rugged side, something he could get out there and have fun 4-wheeling in the mountains with and not worry about it. His Jeep was really nice, just not brand new. I just wanted to kick her since insulting his vehicle seemed like a crummy payback for the ride he was so kindly giving us home. Especially since it was totally out of his way, he lived just across the street from Convergys and we lived quite a bit farther away. But Craig didn’t seem to care what she thought, ignored her comment, and ended up offering to come and pick me up for the dinner party some of us in the class had planned for later that night. Our training class was very friendly with one another, and we ended up very quickly deciding that parties, dinners and outings together would be a lot of fun, and we were quite a tight knit group even after our training ended. For some reason, Craig was usually the one to pick me up and take me home anytime there was a gathering, and we were asked quite a bit for a while if we were dating, which we were not, we really were just friends. I also was under the impression he was seriously dating anthother girl named Alecia, so I figured he was off limits, and anyways, I was having a great time just hanging out with him and everyone else. And as a group we really did a lot togethere after work. It was a really fun time, and I met some very nice and incredibly fun people.

More Fire Drills Please

My children are currently playing “Fire Drill” where they pretend there is a fire and then they try to warn everyone so they can all get out in time. Sounds noisy right? Wrong. For some crazy reason, unknown to me, they are whispering “fire fire” so quietly, no one would ever hear them, let alone if we were all sleeping. We’re all gonna die.

3 months old already?

Finley (also known as- Finn, Finster, Fin-wee, Finney, Finners, and Finnegan), is 3 months old. It has gone by so fast, I am astounded, has that much time really passed? He is such a sweet and good natured baby, I feel absolutely spoiled to know he’s really mine. Finley loves to smile, and has a grin at the ready for any moment he might catch your eye. And he is so alert and aware, he has to know just what is going on, and with so many brothers and sisters, there is always a commotion somwhere for some form of entertainment for him. He is a constant blur of motion and activity with all of the leg kicking and arm flailing, he is very active, and so strong. He loves to wiggle himself into postition so he can slide right off of his bouncy seat and onto the floor, very quietly, and then when I catch him, he gives me a little monkey grin and looks very pleased with himself, and does it all over again as soon as I slide him back on (my bouncy is an older metal frame model, reclined, and low to the ground, so he can’t get hurt….unless I put the bouncy on a countertop and walk away…Ahhhh!!!!). He loves to be in the middle of the mania, so if I’m in the kitchen Finn wants to hang out in there too, he can’t stand to miss out on any fun. And every night, each one of the children insists on kissing him before they go to bed, some more gentle than others. Bedtime just isn’t complete witout this nightly ritual. Finn has seamlessly joined our family, with his happy little smile, bright, inquisitive blue eyes, and adorable red hair, we can’t remember what we did without him, he is the finishing touch, and the perfect ending to the baby-days at our house.

Blessing Finley and Mark’s Birthday, Whew! It Was Quite a Day!

We had quite a crazy weekend, and a happily busy one at that, packed to the gills with fun and entertainment. We blessed F on Saturday morning, and then had a luncheon right afterwards. It was so much fun, and turned out so wonderfully, I am so thankful for everyones help, it all went so smoothly. And I am so thrilled that both of my grandmothers got to be there as well as my Auntie Patti to see F blessed, it made it all the more memorable for me. (D was there for just the blessing, and gave a lovely opening prayer, but had to leave before we served the food) F looked so handsome and sweet for his big day, and to complete his outifit I was able to finish making his special bonnet out of a vintage Irish linen handkerchief. It’s meant to be worn as a bonnet, and then once you remove the stitching it turns back into a hanky and you can give it to your son for his future wife to carry on her wedding day (or daughter to carry on hers if you do this for a baby girl), and then it can be remade into a bonnet again for their own babies. So fun! The hanky I bought had drawnwork on it, and my Granny told me that she had learned how to do drawnwork as a very young girl growing up in Ireland, and if I ever wanted to learn she would be more than happy to teach me (there is no question I will be taking her up on this offer). Anyways, after the blessing, the girls (my sister, mom, grandma, auntie and myself) all went to the D.I. for some fun scavenging, and I came away with two bags of awesome finds. Then I went home so Craig could leave to go motorbiking, and everyone else left for town to get ready for Mark’s birthday party that night.
The theme for Mark’s birthday party was “Arrested Development”, and Mel did an awesome job of making things tie in (I for one loved all of the signs and that everything was “Alliance Approved”), and it was made very well known that “Family Love Marky”. The birthday party was incredibly fun, and we all agreed that the magician was very entertaining and pretty funny. I know my favorite part was when he juggled fire, it was awesome! We loved it when A was called to come up and be a part of the act, he was so funny, but we all laughed really hard when Gary was called upon to come up and participate in a card trick. I know he was hating it, but he was an incredibly good sport, and even looked like he was having a good time. Afterwards, the “Arrested Development trivia game”, which Mark won hands down, had us all laughing, and then we had “Marky Trivia”, which was also hilarious (although references to D.G.&L. were lost on some people). And there was a slip and slide set up for the kids (or adults if they were gutsy/brave enough), and it was a HUGE success, and everyone from W and G-bee on up was taking turns going down and getting wet. The “Points Auction” Melly had was a great idea too. I won a pair of “Alliance Approved” handcuffs, and C got “Mother’s ‘R’ Horn”. (I am still laughing about “Gene Parmesans eyebrow disguises”, did Ryan trade them to Gary after all? and who ended up with the hook?) Anyways, Marky got to open up all of his fun gifts, and then we cleaned up, loaded up the car and headed home. It had been a very long, exciting, fun filled day for all of us, and we all collpsed into bed exhausted but in a very good and happy way.
Thankyou so much to everyone for helping us make F’s day so special and memorable for his blessing and so much fun. And Marky we are so glad we could be there for your birthday party, Melly you planned a super fun one, we all loved it! The kids are still talking about it, and playing with their magic kits, you did an awesome job!

Nothing So Sweet As This...

Early this morning, at 3:31 am, after many, many late nights, it happened. Finley smiled at me, his first real smile. Not just a little smirk, but a huge, open mouth grin, and little noises that were on the verge of ending in giggles, it was as though he just couldn’t contain it anymore. I though my heart would just melt, for there is nothing sweeter or more precious than the first time they smile. I love the way their eyes and little face light up as they find their grin, it makes my soul just sing when I see it. I never tire of their milestones, no matter how many times I have seen my babies achieve their “firsts”, it’s always so amazing, and wonderful to me. This is just the beginning for Finn, I know, and I think that a sweet little baby smile is the best way to start, don’t you?

Too Much Love Shouldn’t Be a Bad Thing

Little Gracen really loves her baby brother Finn, but sometimes it’s a little too much. I have to watch her like a hawk, otherwise she is all over him. Just today she tried to feed him a mini pretzel, and had part of it in his mouth trying to get him to take a bite. She has also tried to give him a drink of her juice on several occasions, but she ends up dousing him with it instead. She really does love her baby brother, she just doesn’t realize that he’s too little for her to play with yet. That hasn’t stopped her from trying to pick him up, or from patting him on the head a little too “lovingly” and enthusiastically while she tells me “my baby”. I do appreciate the fact that she loves him, and I am happy to say we haven’t had any issues with jealousy, so I’m not complaining. I just have to make sure I keep an eye on her, or else she will try to carry him off to be a guest at her next tea party.