5 Mintues of Fame

Well, it seems these days that everyone is entitled to their 5 minutes of fame, and although this by no means makes me famous, since it is only a small article in the Harrisburg paper, I feel famous.. I mean how often do I even get my name in the paper. So here is a link to this weeks Out With Sara article with a quote from yours truly.

Last night was the Open House at Olivias school featuring the Steven Courtney Band which is a kids group that sings original songs. It was fantastic. Olivia loved it, even Riley was up dancing around. The concert was filmed so we will have to by the video just to see if they got a glimpse of any of us. Even I was up dancing around.... so if you ever get a chance to see them, do it.. or at least check out their website.

Tomorrow is another soccer game and hopefully it doesn't rain and we win. We have lost the last two and I think that it is starting to get to the kids. Every kid hates losing although I have been trying to stress to them the points that make you a winner. I know I know.. only little kids believe in that crap. Most adults would run over their best friends to make it to the top. I think thats why I like kids so much.. they are so simple and honest.

I forgot the mention last night at the concert Riley was talking to this other little baby girl that was in front of us. Actually they were both just kind of touching each others arms then acting all shy, which was super cute. The grandmother of the little girl ask Riley what his name was and he replied "Monkey"... Monkey? now I know that lately he has been going through a phase where if you ask him what his name is he always says Monkey Pratt, but I never in a million years thought that he would actually tell anyone other then us that. It was hilarious.. If I could have taken a picture of that ladies face.. it was super funny!

It has been one of those days, and honestly I haven't had one of those days in a long time. I was completely on time for work this morning, even left myself enough time to stop and get gas, until I realized that I was having serious issues with my light colored tan pants and my red and pink polka dotted underwear. I called work and told them that I was running late while attempting to be as vague as possible. I ran back home only to find that I had to park a block and a half from my house because they were doing street cleaning. I immediately gave D that look of disapproval along with a lecture about "this is the reason that I ask him to look at my outfit before I go to work" His answer.. I always assumed you were just fishing for compliments. This of course required me to swing the bathroom door open and shut (he was in the shower and the door makes quite a nice cold breeze when swung right). The rest of the day just seemed to be complete chaos... I had errands to run, work to do and not enough hands or time to do any of it. Tonight I can only see things getting worse, Olivias open house at school is from 5-7 and Tiller has a vet appt. at 7. Also I want to get the grocery shopping, and other running around done sicne D is working all weekend and as a mother of three, I REFUSE to take the three of them gorcery shopping at all, especially alone. So, I will now stop running on at the mouth and get back to work.. hopefully the day gets easier from here

Rhapsody in Blog

Rhapsody in Blog
If you haven't checked out Rhapsody or this blog, created by my ever brillant coworker and office mate.. you should.. it is definitely worth your while. I have always liked music but was never much of a music psycho as she is, although when you spend 9 hours a day 5 days a week with someone they tend to wear on you. So although not a complete music crazy... I am getting there. But I let her do all the hard work, which is why you should definitely check this out. FYI...

This week has been crazy.. not sure what is happening but it seems like everything that could go wrong, will and everything that needs done, needs done now. Its stinky. Ths kids have been in unusually good moods lately. Its been at least a day with no whining, crying, no temper tantrums. I personally think that they are just gearing up for Friday the 13th when there horns will really show. But we will see.
All else is well around.

Great TV week this week, and with it being nice out I have such a hard time deciding if I should miss what could be the best TV week ever, or get off my lazy butt and go outside. For the most part I have opted to watch TV, we'll see.

Kids on Mothers Day
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This is the newest picture of the kids.. I thought at the time it was going to turn out horrible, but it actually looks pretty cute, considering. Riley, of course, looks like quite the little devil that he is. Hailey is insistant on letting her hair grow out, so it is in her eyes and sticking out. BUT all in all I would say that they all look pretty darn cute..

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This picture was taking while touring a building for work.. Don't I look just a little bit like a crazy serial killer?

Yesterday I saw the new Gatorade commercial with Peyton Manning . Some kids opens Peyton as if he is a doll. It is very cool.. I love Peyton Manning... Go Colts !

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Pathetic

Well the weekend went well, very low key, which was nice with Mothers Day and all. I have come to a conclusion about life though. Mine is pretty pathetic. Seriously, Friday night while most people, even married couples with kids, were out doing their thing or having 'fun' family time, I was at home in bed at 9 pm. All the kids were tucked in and snoozing early and guess what I stayed up and watched? Not an adult show, not a scary movie, no... Monsters Inc. Yes, you heard me right.. Monsters Inc., the kids movie.. you know the big hairy monster and Mike Wazowski.. ( I think it might be the cutest thing in the world when the little girl in the movie (Boo) says his name, it is of course equally as cute when Riley tries to say it). Normally I would say one night of staying home, kids asleep, watching a kids movie, Not a big deal. But guess what my Saturday night consisted of? Yeah, staying home, in bed, kids asleep.. watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Am I pathetic or am I pathetic?

The weekend, especially Sunday brought about beautiful weather here in central Pa. The kids spent most of the morning outside and then we took a walk later in the evening. Our yard is just big enough that the kids are manageable in it. I attempted to get some yard york done on Sunday but it was way to nice, so I just played with the kids. We then took the dogs on a walk to City Island which is beautiful and packed this time of year. It is funny because when we take Tiller there it is almost like he is one of the park attractions. Most people have never actually seen a Great Dane, except maybe on TV. All in all though it was a nice weekend. I am super happy that the weather is finally starting to get nice. I love spring!

Olivia played her first soccer game since the tonsil surgery. She did well, the whole team did well. I am surprised that I am enjoying coaching as much as I am, it is really fun! The kids are having a great time too. Hailey is feeling really left out lately being that Do is playing soccer. So we have talked and decided to see about getting her into Gymnastics. The West Shore Rec Commission has a dance/tumbling class this summer for kids her age. I think that we are going to sign her up for that and see how she likes it first. The West Shore Rec people have tons of activites this summer, which is really cool. Stuff even for kids Rileys age, which could be good for him since he is turning into such a bully with his sisters. I was watching the Super Nanny marathon on Saturday (that just again reiterates how pathetic my life might truly be) and he is worse then some of the kids on there. I have seriously considered applying for the show. I have watched it a ton of times and the methods they use seem to really work. And in my house there are days when I would like to have some kind of method to cease all the madness. Well.. its off to work and hopefully this week will bring with it something other then complete drama...

Yesterday I was off work, sick, in bed.. all day long. It was horrible. Its funny how the kids can get these viruses that are going around and get sick but still function. As soon as I get them I turn from Super Mom into a geriatric nursing home patient. All I did was lay in bed, throw up and whine all day. It was horrible. The only thing that I even thought about draggint myself out of bed for was the OC, which was well worth the effort. Who would have thought Trey would try to rape marissa. Gosh I love TV!

The kids are ok, they weren't very happy that mom wasn't fit enough to take care of them yesterday. Dad just doesn't seem to do the trick sometimes. Livi said yesterday that he can't seem to make a frozen pizza as good as me. I chalked it up to complete sarcasm, but with her you never know.

D was a huge help yesterday, he watched the kids, kept them out of my hair and even coached soccer for me last night. I was happy to at least have the help.

Rant on Dogs

I am completely a dog lover, I follow all the 'doggie' laws too. Keep my dogs shots up to date, licensed, on a leash, IN MY YARD etc... Now I live in a highly populated neighborhood in Lemoyne, PA. We have neighbors on both sides of us, across the street and all around. They dont have a problem with my dogs, because I follow the dog laws. We also have a neighbor down the street that has a dog, who does not follow the dog laws and it drives me crazy. It is one thing to let your dog out to roam the street... it is completely another thing when your dog is out roaming the streets, and causes a problem for me and my dogs. The neighbor has this dog that is very nice. He seems to think that he lives on my porch and every time she lets him out he takes up camp there. This makes it really hard for me to take my big oaf of a dog out to go to the bathroom. Tiller refuses to navigate the basement steps so we have to take him out the front door and around the back. The other day this dog must have laid on my steps for 30 minutes. By the time I finally got him shooed away Tiller was prancing around like a horse, doing an extremely awkward pee dance. That is something everyone should see.

Last night there was potentially more drama in my house then I like to handle. I get home and nothing is done, no laundry, no supper nothing. So I was already angry at D for being a lazy ass and doing nothing while I worked for 9 hours. I quickly went into mom mode, feeding dogs, taking them out, changing kids, cooking, laundry, cleaning up. So by the time that the kids were feed, bathed and ready for snack I was absolutely beat. I am in the bathroom cleaning up the large puddles of water that always exist after the kids are bathed when I hear this huge 'thud' that shook the house, followed by screaming. Immediately I went into panic 'mother' mode. I dropped what I was doing, ran to the bedroom, only to find that Riley had fallen off the top bunk flat onto his back. I picked him up, checked to make sure he wasn't bleeding or missing and vital parts, cuddled him, rocked him and did everything in my 'mother' book to get him to stop screaming long enough to tell me where it hurts. When he did eventually stop screaming, 20 minutes later, he seemed ok. As a mother though your heart breaks when you kids get hurt. The intial feeling is you heart in your throat, until you make sure they aren't broken or hurt, then it is simply a feeling of helplessness when you can't do anything. Followed by the look of pure love that they give you when you kiss the boo-boos and make everything better.

Well Saturday brought out the first time that D and I have gotten out by ourselves in about two months. It is rough trying to make a marriage work, with two full time jobs, three kids, soccer and all the crisis that we encounter in between. So, we went to DC and went to the Washington Nationals game. It was a lot of fun, and considering that I know nothing about baseball I was ultimetly impressed with how exciting it truly was. They played the NY Mets, and I have only ever heard of one of their players, Mike Piazza. I think that the only reason that I even know who he is is because he is dating a famous model or something. And since I seem so absolutely obsessed with celebrity gossip, I would of course know that. They were supposed to put our anniversary on the board, D was doing very good at trying to keep that a secret from me. He seemed completely devestated when they didn't do it. With the rain delays they didn't really annouce anything but the game.
Saturday morning also brought about our first soccer loss. The other team was really talented, they had the next Mia Hamm on their team. This little girl was great. The kids were disappointed, but we will get them next time.

Saturday I also got to get in some 'baby' time. I don't think that I have held or played with a baby since Riley was young. D's friend has a 6 month old son named Frankie. He was absolutely adorable. Adorbale and cute and the perfect baby age, I don't think that he was cute enough to make me want another baby though, I have enough with the three that I have. Don't you think.

So now I have to go get the babies settled.. 24 is coming on, and it can only be good.

Wow.. have things been completely and absolutely crazy lately...
Wednesday night I was sitting watching the absolutely phenomenal recap of Lost when someone knocked at my door.. I immediately thought to myself who would possibly be knocking on my door at 8:30 at night. Hailey was already sleeping, I had all the lights off and was attempting to get the other two rugrats settled.
So I went to the door, crusty sweats and all, and was greeted by a constable and three armed police officers. It was a little scary. My immediate reaction was"what did I do wrong" but here they were only looking for someone that had lived in our house previously. Scared the crap out of me. Then because I kept telling Riley to shut the big door (so tiller wouldn't bark) the constable was giving me a hard time, thinking that I was potnetially harboring this fugitive guy. It was a little imtimidating, but I laughed about it later..
Today I had lunch with a old co-worker that I hadn't seen in years. We went downtown to Miyako Sushi Bar on 2nd Street in Harrisburg . I used to hate even the thought of sushi, until I actually tried it.. It is so good. I had the shrimp tempura roll and a coke. I was so stuffed when I left I could barely walk. Also it was good to see by old friend.. she hasn't changed a bit and we had a blast.

This weekend is supposed to bring with it the Washington Nationals game tomorrow night. We will see if we actually ever make it there or not. There always seems to be an issue. Hoepfully the weather will stay nice, I am looking forward to going to the flea market on Sunday and see how many cool new antiques I can find.

Nothing crazy has happened with the little ones lately. Hailey has once again moved all her stuff into Riley's room and all Riley's stuff into her room. She is pretty much dead set on having a bed room to herself. It's obviously not ever going to happen, at least not without a bigger house. So, she and I had a heart to heart and moved all her stuff back into her room. Soccer game tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Well, we have now determined just how 'fiesty' Hailey really is. D and the kids tagged along to soccer practice last night to watch 'soccer coach Mary' in action. They were just off to the side of the field playing with a soccer ball with these two other little kids. the story that livi and D told me is that these two kids were making fun of Riley because of his name (And just to clarify Riley is NOT a girls name.

RILEY
Gender: Masculine Usage: English Pronounced: RIE-lee
From a surname which was originally derived from a place name meaning "rye clearing" in Old English.

That is what Riley means. Notice how it says Gender MASCULINE!)

Ok so anyway these kids were making fun of Riley's name. Riley's couldn't care less he's a baby.. but livi was visibily upset.. shes kind of sensitive. So, she went and told her dad. Hailey didn't wait for her dad though. She walked over the the one little boy. Pushed him with both hands and with one hand on her hip and one finger pointed at the boy she told him to "leave her little brother alone or she was going to..." She never did get to finish because D intervened. I assume she probably would have used a work that starts with 'a' and ends with 's' that comes out of her mouth way to often. (Don't look at me, I watch my mouth around the kids)
So, it seems that little red headed 28 lb Hailey is quite the fighter.. (I knew that she was with her sister, I just assumed she wouldn't be with people she didn't know)
Who knew?

Central Pa Barbies

For those of you who read this and live in central pa.. this could be the most hilarious thing I ever read. I know I know its totally stereotypical and completely un-politically correct. But still its funny. And being that we moved to Cumberland County from Perry County.. Duncannon of all places I can completely agree with most of these statements.. LMAO...

Pennsylvania Barbies
Mattel recently announced the release of 10 limited-edition Barbie Dolls for Central PA:
State College Barbie
This princess Barbie is sold only at high priced, high faluttin stores. She comes with an assortment of Kate Spade Handbags, a Lexus SUV, a long-haired foreign dog named Honey, and a cookie-cutter house. Available with or without tummy tuck and face lift. Workaholic Ken sold only in conjunction with an augmented version.
Colonial Park Barbie
The modern day homemaker Barbie is available with Ford Windstar Minivan and matching gym outfit. She gets lost easily and has no full-time occupation or secondary education. Traffic-jamming cell phone sold separately.
Carlisle Barbie
This recently paroled Barbie comes with a 9mm handgun, a Ray Lewis knife, a Chevy with dark tinted windows, and a Meth Lab Kit. This model is only available after dark and must be paid for in cash (preferably small, untraceable bills) ...unless you are a cop, then we don't know what you are talking about.
Camp Hill Barbie
This yuppie Barbie comes with your choice of BMW convertible or Hummer H2. Included are her own Starbucks cup, credit card, and country club membership. Also available for this set are Shallow Ken and Private School Skipper. You won't be able to afford any of them.
Perry County Barbie
This pale model comes dressed in her own Wrangler jeans two sizes too small, a NASCAR
t-shirt, and Tweety Bird tattoo on her shoulder. She has a six-pack of Bud light and a Hank Williams Jr. CD set. She can spit over 5 feet and kick Mullet-Haired Ken's butt when she is drunk. Purchase her pickup truck separately and get a confederate flag bumper sticker absolutely free.
Duncannon Barbie
This tobacco-chewing, brassy-haired Barbie has a pair of her own high-heeled sandals with one broken heel from the time she chased Beer-Gut Ken out of Perry County Barbie's house. Her ensemble includes low-rise acid-washed jeans, fake fingernails, and a see-through halter-top. Also available with a mobile home.
Rails to Trails Barbie
This doll is made of actual tofu. She has long straight brown hair, archless feet, hairy armpits, no makeup, and Birkenstocks with white socks. She prefers that you call her Willow. She does not want or need a Ken doll, but if you purchase two PSU Barbies and the optional Subaru wagon, you get a rainbow flag bumper sticker for free.
Harrisburg Barbie
This Barbie now comes with a stroller and infant doll. Optional accessories include a GED and bus pass. Gangsta Ken and his 1979 Caddy were available, but are now very difficult to find since the addition of the infant.
Susquehanna Twp Barbie
She's perfect in every way. We don't know where Ken is because he's always hunting. Central Dauphin Barbie/Ken This versatile doll can be easily converted from Barbie to Ken by simply adding or subtracting the multiple snap-on parts.....

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So this is my slightly abnormal 14 year old brother, I know he weird.. we all know. This is what kids in small towns in the middle of no where do for fun. Play on little pink tricycle... I know most people think that a town can't possibly be that boring for a teenage boy to want to play on a tricycle. If you think that then obviously you have never been to Thompsontown, which is where my mom lives. There might be a bigger amish population then anyone else.. and when jeff foxworthy tells his 'you might be a redneck' jokes.. they all apply to there..

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This one I had to post, just to prove to olivia that I would. I know I said that they were good at my moms.. well they almost were. This is Olivia throwing one of her 'I am 6 years old and should be my own boss' temper tantrums. I told her I was going to take a pic so everyone could see how she acted.. she said to me 'you wouldn't'... so of course, I had too... See, Olivia see how silly you look when you throw a fit...

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This is him attempting to color on my moms table. Don't worry we stopped him in time. But doesn't he look adorable with his summer haircut? They were good at my moms yesterday. I was surprised..

Riley busting a move
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I took this picture at my moms on Sunday.. He was dancing to something on TV. He seriously looks like he is 'getting down' its hilarious.