The little drummer boy resides here

By Teresa

Ben and most of the other kids in his band class took a test last week. A test to see if they had any rhythm and could follow the beat give by the teacher. He was the only one in his bell to pass. What does this mean? I didn't know myself until Ben came home with instructions yesterday. "My teacher says to take my saxophone back to the music store and get a percussion set".
Percussion set!?
As in a drum in my house?!
We did the exchange and came home with twenty pounds of instruments and stands, zipped into a carrying case that stands to my chest. I had to clean out my trunk to transport it to school. It has a snare drum and a xylophone. And their stands and various sticks to pound with. Oh my Lord!
This has violated one of the three no no's in the Green house.
1. No play dough.
2. No fingernail polish.
3. NO DRUMS!

The first two were put into effect the day after Lauren learned to walk.

Questions and comments heard in the Green house this week

By Teresa

I'm needy.

All this work for some stupid candy canes!

I finished my Christmas decorating...I bought four bags of red and green m&m's.

Mom, can I drive your car? Yes, but no more than 5mph so my cranberry sauce doesn't spill.

Did you get your tubes tied mom?
Yes.
Well then how do you pee?

Makes me think of Christ just looking at it.

I almost gave a homeless lady my soccer chair today.

Quoting the new pretzel m&m commercial..."no way you're putting that giant thing inside me!"
That's what she said.

You're not stupid...your mother is.

They perfected mashed potatoes back at Plymouth Rock, there was no need to add pumpkin to it.

Rednecks scare me.

it's the great pumpkin Charlie Brown!

by teresa

We enjoyed a relaxing Thanksgiving at Jackie and George's yesterday. We split the cooking, making it a lot less tiring.
Katy had mom and The Daddy to her house. Ben took his bike over so he could ride between houses to sample both dinners. Lauren and Nick did the same thing, having cheesecake at Nanny Jackie's and then Nanny Allen's carrot cake at Katy's.
The joke of the day was my attempt at fancy cuisine. I made pumpkin potato puree. Chris kept joking me. "They already perfected the recipe for mashed potatoes long ago, there was no need to throw pumpkin in there." Then he would suggest putting pumpkin in anything we were eating....to make it taste better. I told Jackie that I was going to put pumpkin in everything I make for the next couple of weeks, just to punish him.

scrambled eggs & pumpkin.
grilled cheese with pumpkin.
steak and baked pumpkin.

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.

by teresa

Leave me alone

By Teresa

An outstanding weekend.
Went on a dinner date to Savannah's on Friday night, enjoyed the most amazing book club on Saturday night, Ben's season closer on Sunday and a birthday party for Bens best buddy Joe last night. Chris and the boys also headed to the ODU sports grille to watch the basketball team play in the Virgin Islands on multiple big screens while eating wings, fries and quesadillas. I think that was the highlight of their weekend.
So much fun over three days equals no rest and relaxation. So, I am paying the price of a party girl this morning. I'm tired and a tad bit grumpy.
Six hours of alone time to catch up on laundry and cleaning should be the cure.
I love Mondays.

Making memories

By Teresa

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was the best movie of the series. Hands down.
I went with Katy, Kristian, Ben and Kai. Nick had a ticket to go and bailed before we left.
He's such a muggle.
I would post awesome pictures of us in line, but Katy forgot the camera I asked her to bring.
I told her, if we don't have photos, then it never really happened.

Our friends, the Dodgers from soccer, came too. We all sat together and shared candy and popcorn.
The candy was pre bought and stuffed in pockets, down pants and in purses. Katy even pulled out water bottles from somewhere when the kids got thirsty. Too funny. $9.00 for a soda and candy bar.....I don't think so!

The iPad was a lifesaver for us. We played the violin, had math game races and drew pictures.

Kai fell asleep about and hour into the movie, but the rest of the kids did great.
We got home around 3:30am and nobody was whining about being tired.
I am feeling great and wide awake this morning.
Anybody want to put in a bet guessing when I'm going to crash and burn?
1:00pm...2:00pm maybe?

sleep!? I don't need no stinkin' sleep!

by teresa

I picked up the tickets, bought the candy, charged the camera and Ipad and took a little nap.

Bring on the movie!

this picture is from the 2005 book release of The Half Blood Prince.

The things this man does to keep me happy!

Questions and comments heard in the Green house this week

By Teresa

Have you wore your head thong lately?

I'm very sound effecty today.

Nick needs a marker to color his pacman.

No Mexican mafia or slippers are allowed at the basketball games.

Embarrassing, is your son noticing the hickey on your neck on the way to school. I was caught off guard by his questioning and lied that I burned in with a hair straightener. (sorry nick)

I wish your father was alive so he could put you on restriction!

I fell asleep on the bus trip and evidently there was a girl brushing my hair. She brought the brush back to me at school today.
Are we supposed to buy that you didn't realize a girl was brushing your hair?

You must have one of thoses spandex things on because your stomach looks flat.

Ben asked for the Lowes card so he could buy more Christmas lights.

Mom, why are you scared to drive with me?

I am determined to get this on film!

by teresa

I see it after my morning "mom's taxi" run. Not everyday, but most days.
It's an older model four door with a homemade paint job.
You know the kind, looks like it was colored with markers and primer.
This particular beater caught my attention because of the special decoration that has been applied all over the body. I am pretty sure it's supposed to be lips. Giant lips. I'm guessing the man who drives it likes to kiss or is telling the world to kiss off. I don't know.
All I know is the guy reeeeeeally needs to take an art class. Cause it looks like his car is covered in vagina's. Seriously. That's exactly what is looks like. I was thinking back to Ben's 2nd grade project. I wonder if this young man's mother has discussed his proclivity for drawing vajayjays instead of lips on her blog? I just hope Ben decides to use Maaco when the time comes, so I won't be as embarrassed as gyno's. mom.

The Beast!

By Teresa
Ben's team traveled to NewPort News for a tournament this weekend. They were testing the waters, playing teams in the two levels above us in our travel league. The boys came out champions with 4 wins and 0 losses. Ben played outstanding and his team nicknamed him "The Beast". If your interested in more info., click here for the team website.

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food." George Bernard Shaw

By Teresa

Piled on our bed, late Saturday night, recapping our days with the boys. Ben's talking about day one of his tournament and Nick is telling me all about the ODU football game. I asked him if his friend Marcus enjoyed the game and tailgating. He said they had a blast and both chowed down on the food I sent (hamburgers, brats and shrimp). "After we ate and chilled, dad gave us our tickets and let us walk around campus and head to the stadium on our own". He said they went in the web center and hung out with some students and then he casually mentions another tailgate lot they hit. Have you ever seen the movie Wedding Crashers? The characters go from wedding to wedding, of people they don't know, just for the free party and food. Well, Nick is a tailgate crasher. In his words, "Mom, we went to the rich people lot next to the stadium (you have to donate like $5,000 to get on this lot) and joined the party". I was dying laughing. I asked him how in the world did he do it? He said, he and Marcus were just mingling and a nice lady asked If they wanted a plate of food. Of course they didn't turn it down! "I had fried fish, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese and some puffy thing". "They even had a cool ice sculpture of a lions head!". Only my kids! This reminds me of the time Lauren went up to a stranger and asked if she could have some of their donuts.
I guess next year I'm going to gave to do better than grilled brats and potato salad.

Let's get together

By Teresa

Quote from the hubby:
"if you wanted to have me all to yourself on our anniversary, you shouldn't have married me during basketball season".

Chris and the boys spent the night at the ODU game and I spent the night watching Diners, Drive ins and Dives with our dog.

Don't feel bad for me, we will have a date night soon. I bought this weeks groupon for Veneziano's (a favorite dive of ours).

I will get the chicken parm. and he will get ziti. We will talk about our younger days and he will make me laugh so hard we will get angry stares. We will get dessert and then stretch out the night by driving around his grandparents old neighborhood near the zoo.

My life's like groundhogs day (the movie) except the day I am repeating is the best day of my life.

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person,

By Teresa

The first boy to hold my hand and gave me my first kiss (on the porch of the house next door to where we live today).
I still have the first present he ever gave me (a music box with a bear on top). He saved his newspaper delivery money to buy it for me.
He is the smartest person I know.
He is the funniest person I know.
A great father(and uncle).
Godly example to us and others.
Supports our family so I can be involved in our childrens lives.

Titles:
Coach
Vice president
Teacher
Stud muffin

To the best man I know,
Happy anniversary.
Love,
Gidget

Questions and comments heard in the Green house

By Teresa

Get your head out of the oven you stupid dog!

Mom, will you take me driving?

How many years have we been married? Too many.

It stinks so bad, but I'm too lazy to get up.

I hope the lady in the bedroom slippers brings us our food this time.

Why is you mothers picture on your drivers license?

Do you think I'm Jewish?

Dad, will you take me driving?

Oh goody, you wore your lumberjack shirt.

Aren't you proud of me, I bought my first box of chicken broth?

Do you have your boob out again?

I cleaned the backyard today honey. That's a good girl. I think I'll keep you around awhile.

Ok...who left the banana peel under the couch cushion? I guess I should be happy they are eating some fruit.

What's that noise? It sounds like the dogs puking. Well hurry up and get him outside! Don't worry...he'll eat it after he finishes. Gross!!

Mom, if you let me drive your car I'll give you a hug.

Sometimes I understand why animals eat their young

By Teresa

Early to rise this morning. The sixth grade classes at Ben and Kristian's school are going to Richmond on a field trip. She spent the night last night so they could both ride together. We made bagged lunches, laid out clothes and got them to bed early. My friend Sonja offered to pick the kids up on the way to taking her son to school. I was happy to accept her help so I wouldn't have to get viewer friendly before 5:00am.
The kids got up great and out the door without a hitch. I, in my pj's, snuggled up on the couch and drifted off to sleep. That is until 15 minutes later when Ben called frantic that he had left his lunch in Sonja's backseat. "mom...I need a lunch quick before the buses leave"!
Good grief.
He wanted me to call her and get her to bring his lunch to him. That was not going to happen. Me, call the poor woman at 5:30am and ask her to get back in her car and take my irresponsible son his lunch? So I threw together the quickest lunch sack ever made, grabbing whatever was within reach in the fridge. That half opened, hard on the edge cheese stick, leftover piece of steak, the five year old can of fruit cocktail in the back of the cabinet a corona and a lime.
Just kidding....but you get the idea.
After dressing in what was laying on the floor, I grabbed my keys and flew to the school. As I walked in Bens principal, and my childhood friend greeted me at the door with a giggle. I looked a hot mess and I had a "tude" you could feel a mile away. I told her my story and she pointed toward the auditorium where the kids were lining up to board the buses. I spotted Ben right away. Standing with some friends, laughing.....with his flipping lunch in his hands. Really?!
Sweet Sonja had noticed his lunch in the backseat and drove back and gave it to him.
Then he was like, "oh, I forgot to call and tell you she brought it to me....sorry."
As I walked out to my car, lunch still in hand, the principal laughed. She said, "I wont even ask."
It's going to be a long day.

We should have known

By Teresa

A few weeks ago Chris saw a book out on the living room table. This is not a weird thing in our house. We have books piled and stacked pretty much everywhere. What got his attention was the particular book that was out. The title, The Norton Anthology:World Masterpieces. Homer, Aristotle, Beowulf, Dante, Chaucer to name a few. I think he was impressed that his little wifey was reading such impressive material. He made a comment about it to me. That's when I told him that it was not me that was reading it. I had seen it out and thought he was the one reading it. We laughed and wondered which of the boys would have gotten it out of the bookcase? I didn't remember it out on the table before Ben had gone to bed, so it had to be Nick. The thought of Nick reading Don Quixote or Othello without a gun to his head had me puffing out my chest a little. Finally, my reading gene had woke up inside of him. He came down for breakfast the next day and Chris and I asked him about the book he was reading. "Huh"?, was all we got out of him. I showed him the book. This is what he said after he stopped laughing. "I wasn't reading it...I was using it as drums".
Apparently 2,270 page works of fiction are not just good for filling your mind with knowledge, it also makes a cool bass drum.

Let them eat cake.

By Teresa

We visited Lauren's apartment about a week back. If I hadn't called and told her we were coming, we probably wouldn't have heard from her till Christmas. The kid is as antisocial as her dad...just sayin'.
I picked up groceries on the way, figuring her rations were probably slim ( we had filled her fridge about 2 months earlier).
Whne I opened the fridge to load it up there was only one thing in it. A cake.
This just cracked me up.
No milk, no sandwich fixin's, no ketchup, no drink....just cake.
Hahahahahahaha
She had baked it herself. She said she has baked several cakes since she's been there.
Sounds like how my mom would live as a co-ed...doesn't it?

iPad on a Sunday morning

By Teresa

Sitting in the bed blogging,
Ben is in between Chris and I...and the dog is at our feet.
Chris was humming a song and I found it and played it.
I am looking up a recipe on smitten kitten (food blog) and scanning through a magazine for teacher gift ideas for Christmas.
Just got a tweet from CNN news and an email from Ben's coach.
Checked the weather and saw that Ben's soccer game this afternoon is going to be a chilly one.
Wished a friend happy birthday and gave my cousin a virtual hug.
The bed is now empty save me, so I will click over to my morning devotions and then head down to make breakfast.
My head hasn't left the pillow yet.
Technology at it's finest.

Odu overload

By Teresa

Today there is an ODU football game in the afternoon and a ODU basketball game tonight.
Ben has three school friends coming and none of the other wives are attending this week.
As much as I enjoy the games, I might try to skip out on the testosterone fest.
I already cooked a pork butt for sandwiches and bought drinks an chips. So, they probably wouldn't even know I wasn't there.
The tailgating will begin at 11:00am and the basketball game will end around10:00pm.
I don't think I can handle that much fun (insert sarcastic look here).

What does it say about me that I wouldn't pick him up for being sick, but did for b.o.'ing?

By Teresa

So I get a text from Nick last week. It was during school and a test day. He says,"mom...I need you to pick me up". I was having none of it. I knew he was stuffy when he left for school, we all were. Allergies...what are you gonna do? I texted him back to suck it up and get through the day. He kept texting me and I just ignored him. That is until I got this text message. " mom, I smell"!
Apparently, Nick was not feeling sick. He had forgot to put on deodorant that morning, went to gym class, got funky and needed to come home and change clothes. Hahahahahaa
After joking him mercilessly, I picked him up and brought him home to freshen up.

where have I been?

by teresa

I just thought I would give a quick explanation as to why I haven't blogged in a month.
In a word...IPAD.
The day of my last post my wonderful hubby gave me an ipad for my 40th birthday.
That night I downloaded two ereaders on it. Kindle and Nook. Do I need to say anymore?
I have read 24 (I actually looked it up) books since then. Oh my gosh!
And yes, my house is clean, family is fed and hubby is...*ahem*happy.
I read in line at the bank, while getting my car worked on, in the car waiting for the kids to get out of school, in bed (the screen is lit...with a dimmer), during soccer practice, while I'm cooking, etc.
I also have recipes on it, Internet, games, movies, all my music and photos.
It's seriously incredible!
I will try to set it aside everyday for a moment to talk to you so you (Sterling) won't feel neglected again.