I can’t believe how fast the year is going by… March 5th already!  The kids keep telling me how many days until my 38th birthday (9!), and Addi will be a teenager in 13 days (13 until he’s 13).  

The boys had a 3 day weekend this past weekend and that completely threw everyone off.  

I was feeling frisky Sunday morning, so I got up took a shower and came downstairs to make pancakes for everyone.  I can’t tell you how wonderful that was!  No kids running around yelling. No one rooting around in my pantry trying to sneak snacks. Just me and my music.  When the pancakes were ready, I did something I’ve always wanted to do - I grabbed one of my big pots and a huge wooden spoon, walked over to the bottom of the stairs, and took spoon to pot.

“BANG! BANG! BANG!” It wasn’t quite as loud as I thought it would be, so I made up for it, “GET UP!”

Addi was the first one down.

“Can you go get your brothers and Dad?” I asked him.

Addi ran upstairs, and, soon enough, the two little boys were walking down the stairs.

“Yummy! Pancakes!” Hayden’s eyes were huge, and he was so happy.

“I buy them.” Dean told Hayden.

“MOM!” Hayden suddenly looked scared, “I’m late for school!”

He is so funny.  So conscientious, and worried about getting things done just right.

“NO, sweetie. Remember you had no school Friday.”

“Oh, yeah.  Cool!”  And he and Dean dug in.

The older boys waited for Roy to get downstairs.  Dad finally came down, and we all had a lovely breakfast.

And then the fun began…

I never realized just how many DVD’s we had.  How many games… it’s crazy!

“Honey, what are you trying to do here?” Roy came over to me.

I was sitting on the floor, games, folders and movies spread around me.

“We just have so many movies.  I want to see what we have and put aside what we don’t want anymore.”

And so we went through everything, “You’re getting rid of The Mexican?”

“Roy, when’s the last time you actually watched that movie?”

“Yeah, but it’s good.”  It is a good movie, but we haven’t watched it in years.

Roy likes to keep movies that he enjoyed at one point in his life, even though he knows he will never watch them again.  But to his credit, he let them go.

“WHY didn’t I buy Cars on Blu-Ray?” I asked him.

“I don’t know, honey. Why didn’t you?”  Roy refuses to speculate.

It took us about two hours, but, in the end, we got everything straightened out and have about 25 movies (maybe more) for the next yard sale.

Now, if I could only find out who took my Jason X movie?

Down side of having company over? Having to clean house!

Just a quick list of things I really dislike. I hate…

-being wrong.  And even though I bet he won’t believe me, I don’t usually mind it when Roy’s right, because at least one of us is on top of things.  But does he need to be so smug?  And why can’t he admit it when *I’m* right?

-that time flies.  Well, when it’s Monday and then, before I know it, it’s Friday is one thing.  I’m cool with that.  But the little boy that ran to me in his Batman costume is now 17, taller than me, and a senior in high school.  I wish THAT kind of time didn’t fly.

-bad songs interrupting me. I’m jamming in my car to a great song.  I’m singing, the windows are down, people are wishing they had my beautiful car, the weather is nice, and then… a song I dislike comes on.  WHY?  WHY must they mess up my car dancing?  I don’t know who ‘they’ are, but I’m pretty sure they do it on purpose.

-cleaning my non-stick pan after scrambled eggs are made in it. Seriously, that’s why I go to the gym and work on my arms.  It’s a big pan. I mean there are seven of us, why would I have a tiny, little skillet?  And it’s a lot of eggs, but I am actually sweating after I finish cleaning it up.  Sometimes I have to call in reinforcements to finish up… it’s sad really.

-the sound of some of the video games the boys love.  Really?  The constant rat-a-tat-tat.  And why does every single soldier sound exactly the same?  Drives me nuts!

-going to bed when Roy’s not home.  Sometimes I let the two younger boys sleep with me because at this point, I can’t fall asleep without him next to me.  And I think, MAYBE I can trick myself, but then I get kicked in the face, the breast, and stomach, and I wake up with little heads on me, and the game is over.

Gee, I thought my list would be longer…

I’m not sure if anyone has noticed this besides me, but on Sundays I usually wake up in a ‘mood.’  Sunday is the one day my body seems to let me sleep in.  Yes, even on Saturdays I wake up around 6:30 in the morning (if I’m lucky).  Yes, I still do that even IF we have been up late on Friday night.  Perhaps that is the problem… I’m not used to sleeping until 9, and when I do, it throws me off. Who knows?

What I do know is that on Sundays, even after my daily cup of coffee, I am still in a mood.  Monday through Friday is rough during the school year.  Getting the four older boys up and out the door, and then dealing with Dean and two dogs is always crazy on a good day. It’s hell on a bad day, so the weekends should be something I look forward to eagerly, and I do!  

On Saturday, I get up around 6:30 and feel great knowing I don’t have to wrangle anyone out of bed.   I don’t have to fight with someone on whether or not Ham and Cheese is a cool lunch.  I can just take my shower, get a cup of coffee, and maybe watch some General Hospital in peace.  (Ok, I don’t usually watch GH; I’m only interested in two storylines and fast forward through most of it, so it takes me about 8 minutes to watch a 45 minute show.)  By the time the guys stumble out of bed, I’m up and feeling good.  If Roy happens to be the second one down the stairs, even better!  I sit with him and finish my coffee, while he eats his breakfast.  We talk and laugh and then face the kids together.  

But Sundays seem to be another story.  I stumble out of bed around 9 (sometimes a bit earlier, sometimes a bit later) and get in the shower.  Then when I’m finally ready to head downstairs, either everyone is still passed out, or everyone is already awake, and I have to deal with yelling and fighting before I’ve had my coffee.

Now, if everyone is still asleep, I hurry down the stairs to try and get my breakfast inhaled because once they hear me, the little boys will soon follow.  And what happens next doesn’t seem to matter. If they sleep too late, I start to get annoyed because really?  There are things that need to be done around the house, and everyone needs to get up and get them done.  If they are awake, they usually pounce on me as soon as I get downstairs:

“Can you make us pancakes?”

“Can you go get donuts, Mom?”

“Take us to IHoP?”

“He touched me!”

“Well, it was an accident!”

I stand there and either start to boil over, OR I’m completely lost and just ignore everyone.

If I get too annoyed to contain it, I usually yell at everyone to leave me alone and go away.  They will slink off and pout, and I feel like poop.

If I ignore everyone, they will continue their relentless barrage of questions, and I get more and more confused, not sure what it is they really want.  I wonder why I got out of bed in the first place, and eventually I tell them to leave me alone and go away.  

Wait, that happens no matter what, huh? Yep. Leave MOM ALONE!

So, the boys are pouting, Roy tells me I have attitude, and I am wondering WHY there are toys all over the floor?  (Oh, yeah!  I have five kids!)

“Whatever!” I mutter, or maybe I yell this, I don’t know.  But either way, I have a Sunday Attitude - yes that is what I call it in my mind.

Ok, so the boys are pouting, I have an attitude, Roy is pouting, and there are still toys all over the floor, and NOW I have noticed all the dishes in the sink and that the laundry is trying to escape from the laundry room.

“WHY are there toys everywhere?  I want them picked up!  And someone clean the little bathroom.  I don’t care who, but get it done before you do ANYTHING else!  Someone throw down the laundry.”

I don’t know who does it, but soon clothes are flying through the air.

“Really!  Seriously!  Who needs to wear 10 outfits in 3 days?!  Hayden!  Why do you do that?  Corey clean your bathroom, and do it right!  Joseph, you better not be on your computer!  Roy, if he is on his computer, you better do something!”

Roy gives me one of two looks - he rolls his eyes at me, or he sighs and says, “Yes, dear.” Too tired to put up a fight.

And the bathrooms get clean, the toys get put away, I wash the dishes, and start the laundry.  Ahh… I can put my feet up for a little bit.

“Quiet!  I’m trying to watch House Hunters!”  Will Sunday EVER end!

This was a rather quiet, but productive, weekend in the household.  

Friday was Addi’s birthday, and since it was a Friday, we just made it a joint celebration and celebrated my birthday as well. Mine was actually on Monday, March 14th. For the kids’ birthdays I let them choose whatever they want for dinner - no matter how weird it is.  One year Joe had Pumpkin pancakes and blueberry pancakes. This year Addi wanted buffalo chicken strips and tater tots.  I chose steak with roasted red potatoes, and Roy did up a few scallops for me.  (LOVE scallops!) And then it was time for the cake. Roy coaches for the youth football league in our town, and we know a local baker from the team. She does specialized cakes and cupcakes. The first one she did for us was Dean’s birthday cake based on Ni Hao, Kai Lan, a preschool show on Nick that he used to be in love with - he has moved on to the Power Rangers now. As shown in the picture posted here, it came out beautifully and Dean still talks about it. So for our joint celebration, Addi and I decided on a Zombie-themed cake. Since I didn’t want oozing brains, I asked our friend if she could look to the tv show, The Walking Dead, for inspiration. We weren’t disappointed, and you can see the finished product already posted here.  We got Addi a new mountain bike for his birthday, and he loves it!  Roy and I are just glad to see him getting out more and wanting to be active.

Saturday we were going to head down to Busch Gardens, but I just wasn’t up to it.  Addi’s allergies were going crazy, and truth be told, Roy seemed a bit out of sorts as well.  But the night before, I got it in my head that we would start our spring cleaning.  We decided, or rather I did and I made everyone help me, that we would tackle the family room first.  And as I sit here now, it looks great, if not a little empty, but more on that later.  So, we moved furniture, we dusted, we vacuumed, we repaired couch cushions - we cleaned.  And then we just relaxed.  Roy puttered around with the four wheeler - which he got working again. Addi and Hayden rode their bikes, I did laundry, and the older boys caught up on some homework.  That night we had family movie night - though the pick this time wasn’t really a family movie - Ninja Assassin.  My first thought was, this is a very bloody movie - and I have no problem with gore! But the more I watched the more I realized how cartoonish and over the top it was.  It was a fun, cheesy movie.

Sunday was tough, well for Roy at least. We got rid of our saltwater fish tank.  I told Roy it just seemed to come out of the blue, but I am sure it was something he had been thinking about for awhile. At least I hope it was, because we spent thousands of dollars collecting all of that stuff, and I don’t want to go through with it again.  Anyways, it was a beautiful tank.  Flowing corals, beautiful fish, but it was a lot of work. And truth be told, Roy was the only one that did anything.  Corey would take care of little things (feedings and water top offs) when Roy was out of town, and I helped (grudgingly) when asked, but for the most part the cleaning, the water changing, and the upkeep fell to Roy.  We have a lot going on, and I think he just got to the point where it was a lot for him to deal with (even with all the automation he added to the tank), and he felt it would be better off with someone that could enjoy it.  So he put up an ad and someone jumped on it - as they should because it was really a beautiful tank at a low price.  Yesterday, Roy spent a couple of hours helping the new owners break it down and pack it up.  Now, we have a big blank spot where the tank used to sit, and the family room seems really empty. 

See, like I said, a quiet, but productive weekend.