In addition to the assorted pictures I owe you, I have also included Sean's bday surprise to meet NO Saints player, Reggie Bush; Amanda lost her two front teeth; and Ian has decided to be training-wheel free.

Enjoy......................

Good Times of winter/spring 2008

Label me the laundry princess! As my dear friend Amy would say, "well flip me a fish". That big empty space you see on the bed was piled HIGH with laundry and there you have it all folded. I have since added two more loads to the piles.

I'm sure I would earn the label laundry Queen if I actually accomplished putting it all away. Ha, one can wish.

Holy guacamole...........has it really been two weeks since I posted and hardly any at all in March. Well let me grab my calendar so I can give you a thorough update. My Mom brain smooshes all the days together and I can't remember what happens when.

Well, let's rewind back to Sean's 8th bday (2/22). The Cadillac arrived safe and sound. The kids were beyond THRILLED to get a ride home from school in it. The 6th grade boys were drooling and wondering if they could touch it, lol. Everywhere the Cadillac goes it draws a ton of attention. The funniest comment so far... "that's a pimpin' ride". I'm not sure Gpa Z. would even know what that meant. Sean chose Disneyland for his b-day; so we spent a great day there and I'm proud to announce that Maggie is now no longer character phobic!!!!!!

We moved through Girl Scout cookie season; had Opening Day for baseball; and Maggie and I finished up with the play, The Promised Land. We were both sick for the closing show, but nevertheless enjoyed every minute. We are taking a theater break and looking forward to the Sound of Music this summer.

On Monday, 3/17/08, I had a little party here for Ian's bday. It was his first 'party' and he loved every minute. It was the perfect party ---- 10am-1pm; 7 kids total; bouncy house; sticker craft; pinata; snacks & cake. I kept it all outside and by 1:30pm there was no evidence that a party ever occurred except for the bouncy in the driveway. Ian had a blast; the big kids bounced for hours afterschool and it was all good. Even better for me -- as of this day the play was over; GS cookies were done; and Ian's party was behind me. ahhhhhh.................don't get me wrong, we are still waaaaay busy with baseball (Sean & Amanda are both playing, seperate teams/practices/game locations); dance classes; and religion classes. Sean is prepping for his First Communion this April.

My friend Sandee and her kids came for the Easter weekend. We had a great time. Collin took her son and Sean fishing on Sat. AM and they only caught one spotted bass. Oh well, such is the adventure of fishing. Sean was so distracted by his extra fans that he didn't get on base once during his Sat. afternoon game; he was sooooo sad and frustrated. Of course, this past Tues. he went 3 for 3 again, lol. He is currently batting around 700. Amanda's game was too cute for words and we laughed at the little ones running in all directions and chasing the ball.

My nasty cold wound up being a killer sinus infection; I'm almost over it. I finally got the last touch done needed to complete the kitchen. I got the grout steam cleaned and we are in the process of sealing it all. (blech!) The kitchen is officially done. I've been a planting fool but that is another post in itself. On Tuesday, I got my hair chopped off (and I love it); Amanda sprained her wrist on Wed. sliding down the inside of the banister. Tonight is the Talent Show at school. Maggie and two friends are dancing to the new version of The Tiki Room. They choreographed it; it's pretty cute. Collin would rather have nails pounded under his fingernails but he is going to watch the talent show tonight; Maggie's act is in the late 2nd Act so his wait will be a painful one.

Blogger isn't letting me updates pics. right now so I'll try to get a slideshow together of all these adventures. Next week is conference week at school - oh yeah.

The boy crashes.

This week, this is exactly how I have felt. Between the STOOO-PID time change and a nasty cold/flu that has hit our house, the bed keeps calling my name. Sleep is good; waking up at 8am when kids need to be at school in 25min. isn't. The tardy sign-in excuse officially read: "Mom is sick/she overslept". Naps are good; waking up from them and discovering that your 8yo got out of school 30min. ago isn't good.

I don't get sick often, so when wishing illness away doesn't work and the germs take over I crumble. And when the germs take over two of your four children along with you it just gets uglier. I'm not the best sympathetic Mom when my kids are sick, but the poor things don't stand a chance if I'm sick right along with them. The best I can muster is "here come lay down with me" or "last call for lunch, I'm going to lay down".

This is my LOVE Thursday. I love this amazing lady in the photo.

My beautiful friend is doing a beautiful thing......she is helping Shave the Way to Conquer Kids' Cancer.

Read below and please help her support this amazing cause.

"I'm shaving my head. Yes, you read that right. I'm going under the clippers during a St. Baldrick's Foundation event to raise funds for childhood cancer research. Since it's inception in 2000, St. Baldrick's has raised more than $34 million and grown into the world's largest fundraising event for childhood cancer.

While battling cancer children not only lose their hair, but years of their childhood, and sometimes their lives. In comparision to their struggle, shaving my head is a small sacrifice, and the money raised with make a difference for children with cancer now and in the future.

No amount is too big or too small. To donate online, visit www.stbalricks.org and click on 'donate' and search for me by filling in my first and last name (Sandee Skversky) under 'Find a Participant'. Then click on my name to complete the transaction. You can also donate over the phone by calling 888-899-BALD."

Spread the love; everyone can donate something small --- sacrifice your lastest Starbucks or your next trip to a fast food restaurant. Let's work together to help my dear friend meet her goal of $2500.

My friend Lisa posted this on a Mommy board that I read. It's like a little music lesson wrapped up in comedy. I think it's awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM



What isn't so awesome --- when your son delves into his parents' red-neck roots and decides to poop in the grass at the park. Yep, you read that correctly. And he wasn't playing doggy either. He dropped his britches right within eyeshot and I couldn't believe my eyes. He was proud of his offering; I wasn't so proud of being his Mom at that moment. If you think picking up dog poop is gross, try picking up almost 4yo park poop. Add that one to your 'ya might be a redneck' list of jokes.

Down in the depths of my throat there was a small tickle. So, I decided to follow the lead of my dh and the suggestion of AMAZING TRIPS: an amazing trip trick: staying healthy'>my friend Jen. I jumped on the Zicam wagon.

Yesterday I used the mint spray -- blech, tastes like Milk of Magnesia but didn't really affect my taste buds or anything. Today I decided to try the nasal gel to see if I could avoid the yuck taste. OMG!!!!!! What did I do???? Now my nose won't stop running; I can't stop sneezing; and my nasal passages are on fire. Now it seems like I HAVE a cold. It's been two hrs. and it still feels like I snorted jalapeno juice up my nose. If I could shove ice cubes up my nose I would. AND it is completely affecting my taste buds, so lunch pretty much sucked.

I'm going to try the gel on a q-tip like Jen suggested if I am brave enough once my nasal passages return to normal. If that doesn't work, I think I'll just continue with the the kids chewable Echinacea & with the cold away. In the mean time, I'm going lay on the couch and fight the urge to sniff.

I'm so proud of myself for actually posting on a regular basis so let's keep it rolling shall we.........Tagged by my friend Nicole..........

1. Typically what time do you wake up? 7:00 am- I typically roll out closer to 7:20 to get the kids up.

2. On a really good night what time are th kids in bed? 8-8:30pm -- it takes that long to do all the reading; tucking; prayers; and bedtime madness.

3. How long have you been a mommy? Almost 10 years!!!! How did that happen?

4. How old were you when you became a mommy? 28

5. What is your favorite kids show? Word World (sooooo creative) & Backyardigans

6. What is your least favorite kids show? Sponge Bob and Fairly Odd Parents and the tween shows like Zack&Cody.

7. What is your favorite chore? I can't believe someone actually wrote that question- isn't that an oxymoron? making the beds (if I actually do it) b/c it makes all the rooms look much cleaner

8. What is your favorite meal to cook? Breakfast b/c everyone eats it w/o complaining

9. What is the meal you cook most often? I try to mix things up a lot but probably spaghetti it is quick and creeps up every two weeks or so

10. What is your kids favorite meal? going out........sigh

11. What is your favorite thing your husband does with your kids? he reads to them a lot but he also makes a point to have date nights with them so they can each have some daddy time.

12. What are 5 things that make you smile when you are being a mom? I love it most when they play together nicely and make each other laugh. I love watching Maggie enjoy the things I did (dance/drama/music); watching Sean play sports; listening to Amanda laugh (she has the best laugh); and snuggling with Ian.

13. If you could take your kids anywhere in the world where would it be? That's tough! probably Hawaii b/c they have been BEGGING to go for a while.

14. When was the last time you went out with your kids? Friday night we went out for Sean's bday.

15. What is your favorite past time/activity to do with your kids? going to the beach

16. Name 1 thing you said you'd never do as a mom? ground my kids for ridiculous amounts of time completely unrelated to the crime. I would get grounded for "six weeks" b/c I didn't do the dishes ONE night. And then after a few days, my mom would always let me off. @@ I refuse to do that stupidity.

17. Name 1 thing you do that your mom did: cook!

18. What is your favorite quality that your mom has? she is still close with her brothers & sisters

19. What is your favorite children's book? Hmmmmmm, There is a Monster at the end of this Book (Grover from Ses.Street; golden book) --- makes me laugh everytime and it's the one book I remember reading over&over as a kid.

20. Advice for new moms? Scrapbook -- celebrate your memories don't leave them on a camera, disk, or hard drive

21. What is your scariest or most heartbreaking moment as a mom? when Sean was sick with Kawasaki disease.

22. What is your most joyful moment as a mom? Mother's Day b/c they usually try to do extra special stuff and keep it a secret.

23. When was the last time one of your kids said I love you? 10 minutes ago from Ian

24. When was the last time you told one of your kids I love you? 10 minutes ago to Ian

25. Your biggest pet peeve as a mom? aw, just one...............that my kids will inevitably spill something or make a huge mess of crumbs 15 min. after I mop the floor.

Now I'm tagging ---- Amy(foil hat), Janet, Jen(trips), and Deana

The best LOVE Thursday ----
Friday, February 22, 2008 is going to be a big day in our house.
Sean turns 8! Eight is hard for me; he seems like such a big kid now. Where did my bald headed little guy go? From the time he started crawling at 4-1/2 mos. (I have video proof) he has never looked back. He is one bundle of energy. In a nutshell, he is athletic, busy, physical, friendly, shy, inquisitive and most of the time hungry. He loves non-fiction books, collecting football & baseball cards, playing with Fritz, and doing anything with his Dad. He a pretty cool little dude; he makes me laugh and makes me want to pull my hair out with his never-ending sound making. He is his father's son, down to the request for cheesecake for his b-day cake. Happy Birthday to my sweet boy.............

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

and the topper of his birthday --- his Great Grandpa's 1959 Cadillac is set to arrive. He is anxiously awaiting his birthday ride with his Dad behind the wheel.

"I see them melting"
Trying to earn some fun-Mom points with the littles.......yesterday I decided to make some choc.chip cookies from scratch b/c what else would be appropriate for a cold, icky misty rain day. (work with me here, I know many of you are buried in snow and label me a weather wimp, but this IS SoCal winter) I even let them taste the creamed sugars & butter before we put the eggs in. That should get me double points.

Kill.me.now.
I don't know how I'm going to afford to feed Sean if he keeps this up.

Overall, he's a good eater. He always has been. I don't recall him hitting the picky toddler stage. He likes food. Yesterday for breakfast he ate -- 1 ham&cheese omelette; 1-1/2 english muffins; 2 slices of bacon and one sausage patty; 1/4 of a belgium waffle; and a slice of cantaloupe along with two glasses of orange juice. He is an eating machine and can eat more than I do, and often does. He burns every single calorie b/c he is solid muscle at 60-ish pounds w/o an ounce of fat on him.

He'll be 8 on Friday. Send grocery gift cards for his birthday.

Thank goodness Valentine's Day is over. I am quickly becoming a Valentine's Day grinch. The madness of getting valentines for four kids and getting them all filled out just to be exchanged for a bag of paper and candy just makes me insane. Case in point:

Maggie -- had to have two different kinds b/c the boys wouldn't want Hello Kitty @@ So now we have extra cheap paper crap.

Sean -- only obliged b/c there was candy trading involved.

Amanda -- liked doing it but was scoping out her bag as the week progressed to make sure she was getting lots of candy.

Ian -- he can't even write yet, ferepetesake! AND the preschool specifically asks you not to bring candy, stickers, etc. And I am apparently the only lame parent who follows this rule. He had no clue who everyone in the class even was (they are in three mini-groups) nor did he understand the chaos of distributing them in the bags. He is THREE; they are his valentines. He didn't want to give them away. WHY do they do this?

So it was Red-Dye Candy Fest 2008 here yesterday afternoon.

Now, I thoroughly enjoyed getting roses from my husband and going to lunch with him. He liked his wine book and lunch as well. The kids each got a small something from us. I made a nice pot roast with veggies/roasted potatoes/fresh fruit/crescent rolls dinner along with some red velvet cupcakes for dessert. THESE people are my valentines -- I love them. This the reason for Valentine's Day; to remind those you love how special they are.

Not the candy trading madness and clutter creating paper trade that it has become.
OK, I'm done.

So, we try to read to (and with) the kids as much as possible. It's not an easy task with four very different reading levels and personal tastes.

Maggie still enjoys being read to but she struggles to find a genre/theme/catagory that she enjoys. I get it; it's all my fault. I hated to read as a kid b/c it was such a struggle and she is cut from the same mold. She always asks (more like begs & pleads) with me to buy her books; yet she never reads them. I'm encouraging her to use the library to find a good fit THEN we will purchase to our hearts content. It's so frustrating b/c she will read a few pages of a book and immediately hate it. [I just want to note that I have no problem buying books as long as they are going to be read.] She did finish Diary of a Wimpy Kid recently and she is working on The Tale of Despereaux right now.

Sean remains the non-fiction reading king. He loves, loves, loves animal stuff; mostly oceanography but he'll read about most anything. He is working on Step 3 beginning readers. He's moving toward chapter books, but he hasn't seen much that he likes there. I'm hoping he'll jump into Magic Treehouse soon. He's a bit behind on his reading fluency, but he is improving.

Amanda is really moving forward with her reading. She is currently breezing through Bob books and trys to figure out words constantly. I am reading a Magic Treehouse book to her and she is really enjoying the short chapters. She'll be reading these before I know it. One of her current favorites is I Ain't Gonna Paint No More; so fun, and it fits her personality to a tee.

Ian just appreciates the reading time he does get. He loves all the classics (Big Red Barn, Sandra Boynton stuff, etc.) but his two favorites these days are: Ten Clean/Dirty Pigs and Baby Bear, Baby Bear What Do You See? Of course, you have to pinch your nose when you read the skunk page.

I'm not a big military buff. My dh being the typical male species will watch anything anywhere on military stuff. Most of his TV watching consists of History Channel or Discovery Channel or another military flick (title doesn't matter; he'll watch the same one over & over). Most of it is lost with me and I'm Charlie Brown listening to his teacher when he talks to me about it.

However, I do want to give credit where credit is due. If you ever get the chance to watch Band of Brothers, DO IT. Done by Spielberg & Hanks, it is gripping, realistic, and heartwrenching. The scene where the company comes across the concentration camp KILLS me everytime. It's not on the same level as most recent war films. It's intense like Saving Private Ryan and Pearl Harbor, but in no way do you get the 'men in uniform' look of Affleck

I need to go watch a chick-flick to get my life back in balance. Got any suggestions?

Lots to post about but first and foremost on my brain is sleep. Must. Sleep.
Basically I gave up liquid caffeine (coffee, soda -- still eating chocolate) for Lent. Do I really need to explain any further.

Well, by 2:15pm today I. was. dead. could. not. function. I stopped at home for a few minutes before heading to pick up Sean from school. With the two littles playing quietly upstairs, I crashed on the guest bed. There was no stopping it. I woke to my dh walking in to look for his library card. I made a mad dash to get Sean lest he think I forgot to pick him up.

I think I tricked myself into surviving until now b/c I had a caffeine-free Diet Dr.Pepper with my dinner.

I completely understand how comfortable this monkey is b/c that is how I felt this afternoon. It's going to be a long Lenten season.

In the news............
I AM still alive --- incredibly busy with life. Maggie and I have had a ton of rehearsals for The Promised Land over the last two weeks. Run-throughs start next week and then the show begins; it's actually easier when the show begins b/c it's a weekend commitment. Sharing this experience with Maggie has been so much fun; the rest of the family has all of our show songs ringing in their heads.

Sean got picked for kid pitch again this season. We are looking forward to seeing how much he has grown since last year. Yet another bat has appeared in the equipment bag; it's a little bit of de-ja-vu. Practice starts soon; me & my camera can't wait for opening day.

Maggie's first viola concert is tomorrow AM. She is so excited that she earned a spot in the front row. Of course, the occasion required a shopping trip and she looks so grown up. She loves to practice and isn't half bad actually.

Amanda's latest obsession -- learning to read. She is trying to read anything she can get her hands on. It's so cool to finally have a kid who LIKES to practice reading. She loves school. We are so glad that she had a bonus year. She is hoping to find her teacher on the ski slopes this weekend.

Ian --- he is almost 4! Next week I submit my final preschool registration paperwork. We have been there since Fall 2001 (when Amanda was born!) and we will officially be finished June 2009. It's been a loooooong stay and a wonderful experience, but I am counting down the tuition payments.

We are heading to the mountains this weekend. We will be joined by our Best Man and his family. With our recent storms, the conditions are great so it should be a blast.
That's the lastest edition of our news. Now if you need something to do in between these blog posts go check out lolcats.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Here's a little taste of a SoCal Christmas -- tree decorating, boat parade, Disneyland, etc.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Time for another installment of LOVE Thursday; it's been a while.
I LOVE being organized and the clean fresh feeling of put-away Christmas decorations (you aren't imagining it; the bottom three large containers are all lights for Clark) and an organized garage. Aaaaahhhhhhhh............

Isn't there some saying about 'things' happen in threes. Well, can I just take a TWO and call it close enough........

Friday night during my CM workshop I had turned on the stove to warm a little glaze for my dessert. Well, I got busy doing something else and forgot about it. Minutes later, smoke was pouring out of my newly, remodeled kitchen. I was moments away from a fire I'm sure b/c the glaze was completely black and smoldering. Pot went into the trash after it cooled.

And today, I smelled something burning this morning. Dh informed me that it was probably the waffles; however, nothing was in the toaster and it was unplugged. Hmmmmm. Later this evening around 7pm, we couldn't get our living room TV to come on. Weird; it was fine earlier. Hmmmmmmm, strange. Guess it's dead; it looked like the little power/channel disk on the top was stuck down so we figured we would need to start shopping for a new one. Dh is quietly happy I'm sure. Fast forward to 9:30pm after bedtime routine, I came downstairs to the tv popping every two seconds and smell of something burning. Dh thinks it was the 'power trying to kick on' with the stuck disk thing but I don't care. Had I gone to bed and not come to down to wade through more laundry we would have had an electrical fire.

SO the installation of smoke detectors is now on the TOP of the to-do list. They have been in the garage forever. (I know it is BAD that we don't have them but they got taken down when we had the ceilings done.)

In the meantime, I promise not to leave the house with the dryer on.

Comedy. Watching your 44yo husband try to learn how to put his contact lenses in. Pure comedy.

I told him I was going to video him and put it on YouTube, but he didn't think I was funny.