The gift of time

Today is my birthday. I won't tell you my exact age but I will tell you that I grew up on classic TV shows like "Different Strokes", "Family Ties", & "The Cosby Show" and I had an Atari game system at some point and rocked at "Donkey Kong" and killed it on "Ms. Pac-Man" at the arcade! Also, in junior high (now called middle school), we had a classroom of apple computers with floppy disk drives.

Anyways, late last night, I got an email that the girls' school was going to be closed today due to some maintenance issue. In fact, the school will be closed the rest of the week. Thank goodness I am able to stay home and did not have to scramble for child care!

So, I decided to have some fun with the kids and take advantage of the fact that everyone else would be in school. We went to a bounce place where they have a huge room of giant inflatables for the kids to climb and bounce on. Man, they did not have anything like this when I was a kid!



Sose is on a trip this week so after we got home, these flowers were delivered. They are beautiful!
The kids helped me make my birthday cake.
Forks, who needs stinking forks?!Good friends of ours have offered to babysit this Saturday evening so we can celebrate without the kids. Thanks M & T! (Need to think of some cool bloggy names for you guys!) Dinner and maybe a movie...here we come. Oh and thanks to a surprise present that came in the mail, I will be getting a fabulous massage on Saturday afternoon. It has been wayyyy too long since I have had one.

Hoping we can enjoy the rest of the week without homework and rushing to and from school and on and on and on!

No words needed, just buy the cookies!

Don't watch with kids around....

The new Wanda Sykes HBO special was hysterical:

Stained Glass Jello

So, I tried to make the stained glass jello last night. It worked pretty well. I have pics on the camera to be uploaded later.

I used 2 colors: black cherry and orange to look halloweeny. It set up very well. I tried to use my halloween cookie cutters to cut it into shapes and it didn't work. Not sure why but it seemed too thick, maybe because those cookie cutters are curved?

I think if I make this again, I will just cut it into blocks from the start. Will have to see if the kids like it. I like the jello part, not sure how I feel about the gelatinized condensed milk though.

It does look very cool though.

I think I want to try this next time we need to bring snack in for Bubba's preschool class.

Halloween preview

Jello Jello everywhere

Jello is on sale at Wegman's this week. I have been stocking up now that I have figured out the Jello Jigglers recipe. Regular jello does not hold up well in the kids' lunch boxes but the jigglers will not melt so they should be fine.

With Sose home this week, I have been hitting the grocery store in the late evenings when there is practically no one there. It is somehow therapeutic for me to be grocery shopping (or even just walking around) when no one else is there. Perhaps, this is something left over from my grad school days when the only time I had to get groceries was in the middle of the night.

My next step is going to be trying this recipe for stained glass jello. Not something I would do every week but something cool to do once in awhile and for parties or something.

Kids are actually people...

Time is marching on. Now, with Bubba in school 2 mornings a week, it is weird to realize everyday that all 3 kiddos have a life away from us. They have friends, teachers, activities, and events that we are not a part of.

Yes, there is a part of that is relieved every day when the 2 oldest get on the bus. But, that is a small part. I am also happy and proud that they are healthy, mostly happy, and able to go to school and be independent for the most part. But, there is also sadness that their world is getting bigger each day and we are directly involved a little less as time goes on. That is the way it is supposed to be I guess. I mean, they are not going to want me picking out their clothes every day and packing their little lunch boxes when they go to college...right?!

Even the youngest has thoughts and ideas and his own preferences that he can now clearly let us know with words. He asked me the other day if he could go play at a friend's house. I helped him to ask his friend's mom after school today and we will go and play sometime next month. It is good that he can tell us what he wants or needs....not cool when he decides to use this new power to say No or to refuse to eat his vegetables.

We didn't see the older 2 as babies, Tita was almost 3 and Lika was 1 1/2 when they moved in. So, we didn't miss much and as they get older and move into their social circles, I am glad we got the time that we did with them.

Now, they are at a point where their school days are spent mostly away from us and I hold my breath as they move into the world and close my eyes and hope they return safe and in one piece both physically and emotionally.

As they get older, I understand more the appeal of homeschooling. I would know where they were, what they were learning and what they were doing. But, in reality, it would not be good for any of us.

So, I will get up early tomorrow, make their lunches, get them ready for the day, and kiss their heads as they leave when the bus comes. And, I will wave from the door and send them on their way while holding my breath just a little all day until they come home again.