YA books, swine flu, and MJ

So after I blogged about the swine tag being played at school- it seems we may have a suspected case at the school (will see if they close the school and we start summer already)- Subjected myself to the 2 hours Greys Finale on Thurs- still cried like a baby even though I knew Omalley was the faceless man and the Izzie plotline.
Glad summer and visitors and trips are on the horizon has I have kind of hit a "I want to get home- the novelty of living abroad is over mood". It seems whenever this mood strikes a care package miraculously lands on my doorstep. Yes - my neighbors back home love me- US Weekly , gummy snacks, and enough art supplies to keep these kids rolling through the art work. Spent the morning on the treadmill at the gym watching all of MJ greatest videos. Still have great memories of 5th grade and wearing a MJ and his llama button on my jean jacket.

Other news- we have a dinner/dance with the nursery school parents tonight. (PRAY to god we don't talk about 4 year old education and what they will be doing next year)- That will be the quickest way to get me to drink excessively. We did have Open night at the school on Thursday - the kids loved showing us what they have done- still can't believe CJ and Casey Jane are siblings- CJ wanted to show us EVERY detail of the classroom and everything he does (including minute details like where his gym bag is hung up)- Casey on the other hand just checked out the dressup area and hung out with some older kids. Lastly- I have gone back to the YA (young adult reading section of the bookstore- I think I found the next blockbuster series- 1st of it is "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness- highly addictive and I am so not embarrassed to be in the teen section awesome book.

Weird, Wacky, and Wonderful

1-It seems there is a new game of tag going on at CJ's school where someone oinks like a pig and then tags someone and says you have the swine flu.(note I have witnessed the kids playing it) I'm surprised it hasn't made the papers since we still hear about the swine flu on a daily pandemic basis.

2- Chris took CJ to a birthday party on sat - so I had the afternoon with Casey. I let her pick out what she wanted to do for the afternoon. She came up with the gameplan that we both wear high heeled shoes (hers were plastic Sleeping Beauty heels and I cheated with a wedge espadrille) , walk to our town center, and go to the nailpolish store (Boots drug store)and look at the nail polishes. I pushed for starbucks or the books store but her mind was made up. Well 1/2 way to town and little Casey's feet hurt and she wanted to be in her crocs.( so maybe the best parenting tactic is really let them have what they think they want)- ended up painting her nails purple and pink at home and doing a fairy castle puzzle together.

3- In my little Blog world ( I read like 4 blogs)- I have been keeping up with a family's trials and tribulations as they go through the process of adoption in Russia. The courts ruled on Friday that their little boy can head HOME to Texas! I love stories with happy endings. And for the record I am all for Madonna getting to adopt Mercy- love the fact she kept appealing to the courts- as at the end of the day the Most important thing in my mind is these kids get forever homes!

Chris

A quick little list honoring Chris for Father's day

1-May and June have been tough months in our house. I have had 2 friends (1 locally) have their marriages fall apart, and Chris has not only let me run around helping out being a good friend ( he's helped carpool, entertain) , but he also has not tried to play any devil advocate routine and completely agrees these 2 husbands are pitiful in their current state. (sidenote I am kicking some arse in my body combat class due to these two arses)


2-Most of the traits I lack in he has- Patience, organization (no not throwing stuff in 3 junk drawers I now have going in the Kitchen), ability to park in any space, watch any sport on tv, not complain when I insist on watching garbage like bromance, millionaire matchmaker, and other pure tv rubbish, calm casey jane down when she gets in her moods , remind me not to overreact when I go in to a tirade about the inconvenience if living somewhere different (also knows I have reached my cooking limits by Sunday morning )

3-Really tries to juggle his schedule to make most of the kids school events- (CJ face lit up the other day when he heard Dad was coming to sports day at his school,
love the fact that we are the only family in CJ class not letting him participate in a voluntary ballet exam ( I think Chris hilighted the form three times that NO - Cj does not have permission- it literally was killing him that ballet was a mandatory curriculum item for CJ.

4-Loves life, family, slurpees, sports, hair products, monogrammed shirts, sushi, tex mex, movies ( he likes the awful nachos at the theatre), red wine, espn.com, Everest books, legos, reading stories to the kids, watching casey swim like a champ,
having CJ ask him some ridiculous question that 5 year old usually don't ponder, trying to "borrow" my US weekly and Hello magazines, watching Tom and Jerry and eating frosted flakes sat morning with the kids.

Sleepover

Well- CJ had his first sleepover with a friend from school at our house last night. Outside play, pizza, Robots movie, ice cream, a chapter from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and then to the land of dreams (can u tell I miss Dragon Tales)
Well- we had 2 chatty kids up to 11:15- which by the time the clock struck 11 chris went in CJ's room and separated them since they kept trying to talk about all the animals they wanted to draw. (bith kids are ridiculously into art and make believe) Once CJ fell asleep we did carry him back to the room so he could wake up next to his pal. As predicted- CJ and his friend were up at 6am cutting, pasting, coloring, and trying to finish their zoo of animals.(on a sad note they insisted on making a very small cage for each animal:)

They came in to wake us because they both ran out of construction paper (did I mention we Go through a zillion craft supplies in a week- ). I brought them downstairs made some coffee (yes my machine is back from the factory) and pancakes with nutella for the tired munchkins. Casey Jane was exhausted as well because she sensed she was not part of the sleepover- and kept crying "I am so lonely without a friend"- chris and I caved and let her sleep with us since it was such a pathetic tearful cry. So as I type 3 of the 4 of us are napping.....

Things I dream about

And No it is not Chuck Bass from GG- ( although we live about 10 miles from his birthplace)

And yes my dear hubby is bringing me home sushi tonite from the city- and yes there is a subway strike so it will be a pain in the arse- but I think he realized I was at my culinary breaking point (and no NOT eating is not an option for moi). And we will watch Greys Anatomy and yes I already know all the spoiler plots because I made my dad tell me the all the details and yes I can't stand the Izzie plot nor the red haired army doctor.

Pringles, 90210, and Cloudy Bay

Ever have one of those days- where u need to stay in bed . Lets see its 8:30 and I haven't showered (that's PM not AM)- 3 1/2 year old attitude is kicking my arse.
From not wanting to go to gymnastics (a shrieky shrill of "I hate the purple leotard" (in a very Dakota Fanning dramatic way) to hosting a playdate where Casey refused to play with the other child (who btw played mary on the school nativity play). To an afternoon of time outs and hosting another playdate (CJ) where besides dinner -I also had to give baths as well (yes the playdate lasted from 3- 7:45 pm)(very good friend with sick baby and hisband not home)-at last kids in bed- toys everywhere (including casey's leotard collection ( did I mention that I so am not looking forward to the teen years). So yes still no shower but I did manage to pour myself an ample glass of wine and yes I am eating pringles for dinner (another nod that there is no takeout worth eating in the burbs). Shout out to hubby who tried to brainstorm food options but alas there seriously are NO options.

So 90210 tivoed show, a glass of cloudy bay, and salt and vinegar rice pringles (suppose to be healthier) Oh btw the fitflops are doing something- highly recommend (and no they don't sponsor this blog)

Pretty uneventful random weekend- Fri night went out with a girlfriends and some of her friends from our gym. These girls are very intense at the gym- I did a circuit class with them and literally the boxing section I was worried I was going to be knocked out by some of them. Well we went out for margaritas (very subpar place with salsa that was AWFUL) and the majority of the time they talked about other folks at the gym that cheat ( e.g during spin class the teacher says put it on 3 and they leave it on 1). To be honest they seemed genuinely upset that these girls were not spinning at the harder level. I had to say "who the hell cares if they don't want to spin at the right level." ( I did that whole cheezy speech that they are only cheating themselves and the whole time was laughing that people really worry about the STUPIDEST junk. Basically, I drank my margarita and left being very worried my treadmill speed was being monitored.

Sat- headed to a barbque where this family invited 110 people (they had a big yard but not that big). Weather of course was overcast- barbque went better than expected. When you have 25 kids ranging in age from 2- 11 with trampolines and a bounce house you pretty much expect a crying child every 10 sec (still laugh that some folks there have NEVER met us but know Casey Jane's catcall). Food was good, a lot of beer/wine, and an entire room of desserts . (there was like 28 different cakes, pies, ice cream choices)

Mr Green

It seems both kids' class are pushing the recycling and green earth concepts to the max. I am all for recycling in theory (to be perfectly honest I have made some baby steps (no plastic bags at the grocery store /bring my own/no bottled water have purchased cute hot pink aluminum water bottle) but I am definitely not a HUGE recycle by any means). CJ is now patrolling the trash can - anytime I throw something in he questions if we can reuse it for an art project or recycles it (yes we need canned soup art in the house). He is paranoid about the bath water we use - are we wasting water -don't fill up the whole tub etc. So yes like it or not Chris and I are trying to embrace recycling and actually CJ is leading the effort.