Oh, the things that kids say (and do!)...

So I have to blog about some of the funniest things my kids say, because I am scared that if I don't, I will never remember them in years to come... so here are some of the latest ones.

Sam and Abby were sitting at the breakfast table and were having a heated discussion about something, although I didn't hear what as I have a tendency to drown out any bickering that occurs in our house (one of my many talents), however, fortunately I did hear Abby's last retort to Sam being "hmmm I smell your antipathy". I swear she said it, and when I pressed her as to where she had heard it, she said at school! I didn't even know what it meant and had to look up the meaning in the dictionary!

Anyway, last night, Mimi was here and Abby decided that she couldn't sleep, so came down and planted herself on Mimis lap, which was only supposed to be a 5 minute deal, but we forgot she was there and proceeded to watch the movie that we were heavily into which was called Two Much! Anyhow, half way through the movie Antonio Banderas and his female co-star decide they are going to kiss and it wasn't just a peck let me tell you, so Abby turns around and says "why are they are eating each others faces?". Mimi and I fell about laughing, but it gets worse, I tried to change the channel to another movie and the people in THAT movie were kissing too, so I finally find a respectable channel and send Abby on her way to bed, except the goodnight peck on the cheek that she normally gives me was a full on tongue and mouth kiss!!! yuk... she picks up waaay too much waaay to quickly...

Citizenship Update...Part III

So here I am, an American citizen - yay - November 7th was a surreal bitter sweet sort of day for me starting with a two hour drive down to Roanoke to get sworn in at the District Court. Sweet because of course I was becoming a US citizen, and was about to be awarded the same rights and freedoms as everyone else in this country and bitter because of the realization that I would have to forego all allegiances to my country of origin...my native Great Britain, a country I love and where all my roots are tied to.

"8.30am prompt" was written in bold type on the invitation to attend the ceremony. Unfortunately, prompt to the courts means 'get here on time to wait in a huge long line of people to sign in'. So a few hours of waiting follow, in which time I make friends with a very sweet Vietnamese girl sitting to my right, and hash out the weeks political 'goings on' with anyone who wanted to listen or had an opinion.

The judge decided to make a very formal appearance at 11am and the ceremony began, starting with us all being introduced to the judge individually (and we had to stand up one at a time). Once standing we all gave our commitment oath and our pledge of allegiance (which I knew all the words to as I have said it at the kids' school a thousand times, although I probably shouldn't have as I wasn't a citizen at the time... :-) - oh well)... and then followed a few speeches from the judge and his fellow court people, the INS representatives, the families (some tearjerkers) and even from some of the people becoming citizens that day. There was a real feeling of gratitude amongst the people sitting in the court that day, friends, families, court workers, soon-to-be-citizens, with the humble feeling that we shouldn't take the liberty this country offers us for granted. So many people becoming citizens that day grew up with oppression, communism or simply a poor quality of life in their native born countries and were just so grateful for the chance of freedom, it was overwhelming. It's really hard to visualize someone else's life unless you have walked a mile in their shoes, but that day I felt like we were a "unified people" with only one goal... "Liberty and justice for all..."

Sikora / Lassen Sleepover

Haha, I just realized that from the sound of the title, it sounds like Erika and Matt came to sleepover with Dave and I....hmmmm :-)

Anyway, Sam and Abby had their first sleepover (at our house) the other day with Colby, Dallin and Angela, it was a lot of fun... Here are some pics of the skittles ice cream I made them (by the way, Skittles turn rock hard when you stick them in ice cream - who knew?), and of course they got to watch T.V., so they were all in complete bliss...

Citizenship Update...part two...

So I finally had my interview with the INS on September 19th and all went well. Passed all the little English and civics tests they gave with flying colors. I memorized 100 civics questions in all, only to be asked 6! Oh well, at least I am savvy on some American history - haha...

So all in all for anyone reading this that is just trying to find out when they might get their interview date for citizenship, it took 10 months as I applied in November 2007, thinking that would give me plenty of time before the 2008 election to become and citizen and vote - not to be.... now I am waiting to get sworn in by the Harrisonburg Courts, so I am waiting for yet another letter in the mail. The final registration date for voting has been...and gone... so I guess I won't be voting this year...oh and just because you have passed all the interview and tests, it doesn't mean you are a citizen yet... not until you get sworn in.... so this has been a very frustrating process to say the least...oh well, I guess I can always vote in 2012!!! and of course, once I get sworn in, I can apply to be on The Amazing Race...watch this space for all of you who think I am joking...

Martins

So I am a little 'blog happy' tonight after making my $58 at the yardsale... but I do want to pass on a little bit of friendly advice...

I went to Martins to get some groceries this afternoon and of course I had my kids with me as Dave was working... why does it always happen like that anyhow, the day you run out of everything is never on a day when the kids are at school, when I could do a quiet grocery shop??? OH NO... anyhow, I thought "If I go to Martins, at least I can put the kids in the treehouse and have a quiet shop, even if I have to pay a little more than Walmart prices, its worth it for the sanity as a week ago I did a Martins shop and the treehouse was closed, so I had to drag my kids around for an hour and a half (because I don't know where everything is in Martins still), which was a nightmare...theres only so much "go and find some go-gurts kids" you can do before they get bored of "helping" and start to play tag around the store, much to every shoppers annoyance... so anyhow, when I went to Martins today, lo and behold the "closed" sign on the treehouse was up again.... I nearly lost it and was about to walk away and just "deal with it" when a little fuse inside me went off and I decided the best course of action was to 'complain'... so after waiting 5 minutes for a manager to finally appear, I told him what a friggin nightmare it was to shop with 2 kids and the ONLY reason I come to Martins is for the treehouse sanity or I might as well go to Walmart and drag my kids around, at least it is cheaper... I couldn't believe I was quite that blunt, but it worked... he was very sorry and immediately pulled the "treehouse girl" from one of the registers to look after my kids (I guess they make her work the registers if they are really busy and seeing as its Saturday...well you know) In fact she was relieved too because she said she needed to keep her hours up in the treehouse and hates being on the register...

So about an hour later, after trying 5 different tasters throughout the deli and carefully selecting which Brie I wanted to get, I still had only got about 3/4 of the way through my grocery shop and I pass the register area at the front... there are HUUUUGE long lines at the registers because they are obviously short staffed and they pulled 'treehouse girl', so I felt a twinge of guilt, but then I caught a glimpse of Sam and Abby playing in the treehouse and realized that they were having way more fun than if they were shopping with me, and I was having fun too... hey, its not my job to manage the place, I am only a consumer after all... tee hee... so my advice to anyone who sees the closed sign on the treehouse - complain, and they will open it up just for you (and your sanity)!

Yard Sale Madness

So Erika, Mildred and I had a yard sale today, which was full of laughs...of course... how else do you get through a yard sale where people are trying to bargain the absolute bottom dollar from you for all your nice junk? So after getting up at 6am, I finally swan over to Erikas with the kids for 7am, of course all the early birds are out poking through everything, even though it wasn't supposed to start until 8am... anyhow, Erika and Mildred were practically giving their stuff away.... I had to vocalize a price of one of Erikas toys when someone asked as I could see her just about to say "10 cents" and we didn't have change for anything less than a quarter, so I shouted "thats a quarter" to the lady who still went ahead and bought it... I love making my friends money ;-), what are friends for?

When I think of the hundreds of dollars we all must have spent to buy all this stuff new (and Mildred had some really nice name brand clothes), it is kind of horrifying, but hey that's the wonderful world of yardsales... one mans junk is another mans treasure.... I took my $58 that I made, went to Martins and bought Brie cheese and all the food 'treasures' that I don't normally get in a regular shop.... so while I am pigging out, I would like to thank all our yardsale customers for making it possible!

Citizenship Update...

So I finally had a letter through from the INS saying that my interview date is on the 19th Sept. I am thrilled because it actually means that if I pass the civics test and seem like I can somewhat comprehend the English language, I can get sworn in that day, renounce my green card, become a citizen of the United States and actually be able to vote in November for one of the muppets running for election this year... I need to get studying...

I got a taggin'

So I have recently been tagged by Jayme.

How To Play This Game of Tag?: Post these rules on your blog. List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog .

Ok so here goes:

3 joys:
- My children (& hubby)
- Golf
- My friends

3 Fears:
- 'Dry drowning' or any type of drowning for that matter...
- My dads health
- Taking financial risks

3 goals:
- To be able to hold a great grandchild in my arms
- To see my children be successful
- Right now? to get a bigger house

3 Current Obsessions/collections
- To be a better golfer
- my computer, Facebook, blogging, ebaying, you name it...
- shopping

3 Facts
- I absolutely love to laugh, it is a great healing power...
- my hair is colored... yeah... sorry guys, I know you all thought it was natural... no more blond jokes for me then...
- I am a pretty good Wii tennis player, haven't been beaten yet!

I now tag Erika, Missy, Emily, Ashley and Jarrett, because they are my only other 5 bloggin' friends...

Abby is growing up waaay too fast...

My little baby girl is just not so much of a baby anymore. This week she experienced her first sleepover with her friend Kwisten. She had been begging us for months to have a sleepover with Kwisten and finally Amy (Kwistens mom) and I arranged a night of a fun cookout and a 'sleepover' for Abby. Anyway, we didn't leave their house until 11pm last Sunday, apparently Abby went to sleep 1/2 an hour later, woke up the next day with a smile on her face for being next to her friend and then ate things for breakfast I know she would never eat in our house...but of course if Kwisten is eating it then I know she will too... Me? I woke up at least 3 times in the night with the worry that she was "dry drowning" (as we had been in Kwistens pool all night till 10.45pm)... so everytime Abby asks if she can have a sleepover now, I have to think it means "sleep deprivation" for me... it's fine though, just to see the excitement on her face is enough gratification for me....

She also started swimming by herself a couple of weeks ago. So now she is jumping off the diving board in the deep end and swimming to the sides... you would think she has just ran a marathon each time she does it as she is panting so hard, but she so wants to keep up with her brother and friends... I have to pinch myself that she is still only 4 years old.... it is only when she comes for her snuggle or wants a "milky bot bot" at night that I am reminded that she really is "my baby" and always will be, no matter how grown up she acts....

Just For Missy...

... and thanks Erika for taking such beautiful pictures!

A Monumental Day...

..so I should have written this blog on Tuesday as THAT was the monumental day of firsts for us...not today...but I had procrastinator writers syndrome...so here it is...

On Tuesday Sam came running in from the waterslide shouting "mommy, mommy, I have lost my tooth". It turns out that indeed Sam's very first tooth had come out and boy was he proud...it was kind of a sad moment for me though as I remember that exact tooth was the first tooth he ever got when he was a baby...another realization that my kids are growing up fast... so he put it under the bed in a ziplock bag and waited for the tooth fairy to come. "I think I will get $10 for this tooth mommy," Sam said.. I had to gently let him know that times are hard for the tooth fairy and that she only gives $1 per tooth! So Dave and I scrummage 4 quarters together as we had no cash on us at the time (typical - why couldn't he have lost the tooth on payday), and Dave crept upstairs late at night to do the "switch"... the next morning, Sam came down and was jumping for glee saying that the tooth fairy had left him $0.75 cents! I told him to go upstairs and look again as the tooth fairy always leaves $1, but alas, no last quarter was ever found... we still don't know what happened to it...maybe the tooth fairy really did come and took the money instead of the tooth! Sam was happy though...

To top off our monumental day of firsts, Abby started to read 2 letter words all by herself... a very proud moment for me as a mom to see my 4 yr old reading with no help at all...on to the 3 letter words now...good job Abby!

4th July 08

So the 4th July is a funny celebration for me... If I had a dollar for every person that asks "so do you celebrate the 4th July?", I would be rich... I want to say 'listen, the yanks beat the Brits in the war...but it was a looong time ago ya know'... but most of the time I just hold my tongue and say a polite "of course I do" type of comment... seriously though, like I would be harboring a grudge that America gained independence from Britain... the U.S. wouldn't be the magnificant country that it is today if it was under Biritsh rule.

Anyway, we had a lot of laughs and giggles at Jarretts parents house with the Lassens and Golds, playing a Pirates of the Carribean dice game and playing tricks on Erika... All 10 (plus 2 babies) of the kids played really well together, apart from Sam getting 'shanked' (by accident) by Colby. I have never heard him scream quite so much, I thought he was dying and when I ran over to the clubhouse to see what was wrong and expected to see blood gushing from somewhere, it turns out that Sam was screaming with embarrassment as he had just had his swim shorts pulled down! Kids....

So after eating way too much, we roped Erika to take some family pics of us (which she did quite obligingly as she loves to take pics... especially of us as we are so photogenic, lol ;-), see below. After leaving the Golds, we headed home for smores (a Graham cracker, chocolate and roasted marshmellow sandwich for all you Brits out there) on our firepit and watched our neighbors fireworks which was cool... so we had a very mellow day really, just as I think 4th July should be...

pics...

A few choice words...

So as some of you are aware, I have been known to have a pretty bad memory sometimes... but there are a few things my kids say that I will never forget...

I was in the bath the other day, and Abby happened to walk in and saw me shaving (under my arms, not anywhere else!) and she looks toward the plughole and says "mommy, where does all your fur go?".... I nearly died laughing... and quietly explained in simple terms that people dont have fur, they have hair (I swear my armpits weren't THAT hairy)...

Then in the car yesterday, Sam and Abby are watching Shrek 2 on their DVD player and Sam says "mommy, what does sexy mean?"... it's just one of those words you don't want to have to explain to a six year old...so I asked him where he had heard that word, and he said there is a song at the end of Shrek 2 called "I'm too sexy for my hat"..."hmmm, it means beautiful, but it is an adult word Sam, so please use the word beautiful when singing that song"... why oh why does Shrek have to spoil a perfectly good movie with "adult" words... So Sam sung "I'm too beautiful for my hat" (which doesn't quite have the same ring to it), all the way home, he added a few sexy's in their too, just because I told him he shouldn't use that word...and he was being rebellious... so if he ever slips that word out in front of your kids, I can only apologize now, but at least you know where it came from...lol.

My road trip from hell...

So we went to PA last weekend (just me and the kids and my Mother in law, Mary) for a cousins grad party which turned out to be a blast... however, on the way home my brother in law, Mark was supposed to be taking Sam, Abby and I the 5 hours back to the Boro... but he had been having some car problems, losing power etc... so we head off in my MILS rental car back to the boro, but she has to go home to Fairfax as she has a heavy work week this week, so the plan was that we would travel with Mark in his car the rest of way. Anyhow, half an hour into the trip, Marks car brakes down on the side of the road, we pull up behind only to find out that now he has no power... not sure if you know PA at all but it is full of little boonie towns in the middle of nowhere, so we head off in search of our nearest redneck to ask where a Walmart or battery place might be...

It wasn't long before we found our local redneck with tattoos all the way up both arms, who directed us (in the strangest accent I have ever heard, it almost sounded Irish) to the nearest Walmart, so we jump start Marks car and off we go. All is well for about 5 miles until we start to go up a large hill with dual lanes either side and a concrete barrier in the middle, and it turns out to be right before the Walmart turn!! Typical... So instead of pulling the car off into one of the driveways beforehand, Mark decides to pull off onto the hard shoulder, and tells me to park alongside him and jump start his car again... but this hill has cars flying up it, who were barely catching the fact that I was stationary in the slower lane. Mary by this point is standing behind the car in her bright pink top, trying to direct traffic travelling going at around 60 mph around me. Abby is squeaking something in my ear, I am trying to concentrate in my mirror to make sure I don't get rear ended and all in 100 degree heat!!! I was a little agitated to say the least and mad that my kids were put in danger like that...

So after spending an hour and a half in walmart, Marks car finally has a new battery, but we are still not sure if it could be the alternator, so after driving about 10 more miles, we decide to pull off and check the battery with the tester, sure enough it was charging fine, so after much consideration and heel dragging on my part, because we are about to get in a car that does not have air conditioning and travel 3-4 hours home, we finally decide to let Mary go home and me and the kids will just tough it out, after all what did people do before cars had AC? we would be fine....right?..... hell no... it was a nightmare... it was soooo hot and we had all the windows down travelling at around 80 mph on the highway, you couldn't hear each other speak, and the kids could not watch their DVD player (you know, the thing that keeps kids quiet on long road trips), so we are getting blown to bits by this point and the heat tops over 100 degrees on the temp gage... and we can't even talk! So I sat there sulking the whole way home eating a bag of sunflower seeds and throwing the shells outta the window which Mark scolded me for as he said they would "land on someones window screen, kinda like a cigarette butt". He wanted me to spit them on the floor, but you know when you are eating sunflower seeds and the shells get all mushed in your mouth sometimes? you just don't want to spit them on the floor, so I just threw the clean shells on the floor and threw the mushed ones out of the window... hey I compramised!

So then Marks philosophy of driving is to not slow down the traffic on the outside passing lane, even if the person in front of you cuts you up, so we proceeded to sit right on peoples tails if they got in front of us, which I just had to mention was extremely dangerous to say the least... we were so close to them I could read writing in their cars... so we had a heated (literally) discussion about that too! lol... I love my brother in law, but he can sure drive me nuts sometimes... I think we bicker more than Dave and I do! it's hilarious, like we really are siblings...

Bless his heart though, he knew I was mad about getting into his car in the first place, so he was really trying to make amicable conversation the whole way home. the sorry part is though that he has now lost his voice from trying so hard, I kinda feel bad... but not much... ;-)

Disney Princess - that's me!

You Are Ariel!

Headstrong and fiesty. You have a mind of your own that's full of romantic dreams about the world around you. Exploring exotic places is your ultimate dream, and although you can be a little naive you'll realize that there is something to be gained from your family's wisdom.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Golf - Athletic Ability Or Wild Swing?

So I have started to learn and play the game of golf as my motto has always been, if you can't beat them, join them, and seeing as my husband is at the golf course sooo much, I figured him giving me a lesson every week is a great way to get to see him... Hasn't quite turned out like that as he is too busy to give me a lesson sometimes, so he sends me off with 100 golf balls to the driving range thinking that will "keep me quiet" for a while... ;-)

Anyhow, whilst hitting on the range the other day, I finally seem to have the hang of this golf swing now. My driver hits around 150 yards and I can hit my 5 iron about 125 on a good day! Not too shabby considering... but a few 20 yard skidders still slip out sometimes... so one of the board members and ex golf professionals was down on the range giving his mother a lesson with a new club. Later, he approached me and tells me "you have a very athletic swing Rachel". OK, so I immediately consider this as a compliment and thank him. But, after a lot of consideration, I am now not so sure if he really meant "you have a very wild swing rach" and that was just a nice way of putting it... I started to think "OK did he see my 20 yard misses or my 125 yard 5 iron?" I guess I will never know... and until I am CONSISTENTLY hitting over 100 yards with any iron/club, I am inclined to think he meant the latter...

hmmmm

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern 70% Spider-Man 65% The Flash 65% Iron Man 65% Wonder Woman 52% Superman 50% Robin 50% Hulk 45% Supergirl 32% Catwoman 30% Batman 10%

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

So uncool....

So today, I lost every ounce I ever had of being cool...

Basically, I was driving Sam to school this morning and my friend Amy and her kids Kristen and Jake were behind us on our way into the drive thru. So Abby and Sam are so excited about this that they are bouncing up and down waving and shouting "Kwisten, Kwisten, Kwisten is behind us". I guess the excitement got to me as well as I went to frantically stick my head and arm outta my window and wave, only to find that my window was closed, and yes, you guessed it, I smashed my head against the window. At that point all you can think about is "ok, who saw me do that?" and I looked at the line of parents behind me and it seemed like EVERY SINGLE ONE was looking my way... needless to say I drove away as fast I could with what little dignity I had left and a very sore head!

oh, I am sooo uncool sometimes...

FREE PEDICURE GIFT CERTIFICATE!!!

OK, so Missy has not taken up the free gift certificate to Nail Art for a pedicure, so I am going to give it away to the first person that tells me they want it... It is dated Dec 2006 and says that it expires in 6 months, but I have used outdated gc's in there before and they take them just fine. Its worth $20, so you could have a manicure if you choose, but I will not be using it as I am a germaphobe (sp?)... and after having read Missy's links in her blog, there is just no way I will ever step foot in one of those places again... my loss is your gain, so hurry!