Boy, I have been a terrible blogger lately! Time to get back on the wagon.

I am a mother who is really looking forward to my kids being off for the summer. I am guessing that by mid July I will be singing a different tune, but for now I am happily anticipating 3 months of time with my children.

The last couple of weeks did bring some fun adventures. Last week, I chaperoned a camp out with my daughter and her 5th grade class. Boy, camping with 75 fifth graders is fun while being completely exhausting at the same time. I cherished the time alone with her, okay alone as in her siblings were not with us. She barely noticed I was there, but I loved watching her interact with her friends and peers.

My 6th and 5th grader both had band concerts. I know that someday I will miss those concerts. I think I will leave it at that:)

My 6th and 2nd grade have been happily playing soccer games galore! Sadly, neither one of them are on a winning team. In fact, I don't think that either one them have had a win yet. That's not good, is it? Oh well, I tell them after every loss "you have won if you had fun!" My daughter loves that, my son, not so much.

Hannah and Maeghan are preparing for plays that they will be performing at their last acting classes of the season. I can't wait to see what they have learned.

I finished my class, I am pretty sure I got an A. But, will wait until the final grade is in before celebrating.

Signing off for now.

Happy Friday

Happy Friday! I am looking forward to a quiet night at home. I am going to make linguine with clams, salad and french bread. I bought a nice bottle of wine to enjoy with my hubby.

We so rarely have a quiet night at home, I plan on enjoying tonight. Maybe build a fire, yes it is cold so a fire is appropriate, turn on a kid friendly flick, sit back and enjoy my family. Have a great weekend everyone.

Fun Second Grade Science Project

Here is a dinosaur model made by my lovely daughter, Maeghan. It was fun, we used Sculpey Clay and made a mother/daughters project. Here is a photo:

Happy Cinco de Mayo

Tonight we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with an authentic (okay American/Mexican authentic)meal. Tacos, yum!! My kids love tacos. They are easy, healthy and frugal. My 3 favorite things! Going to keep the blog short tonight. Want to go to bed early and read. Have a nice night.

We have a new car

We had to buy a new car this weekend. A thought that makes me sad. We have not had a car payment in several years. I was used to that, it will be hard to get used to having that bill again.

My husband had the same car for 8 years. It was a car bought used, it was a 1999. He drove that car into the ground. Everything had been replaced, even the costly transmission. This last weekend brought more car problems, which resulted in my husband finally losing his patience and making a decision buy something new.

His choice was a Ford Fusion, not a hybrid. In the end, the financial burden of the hybrid was just going to be too much when you consider that the non hybrid Fusion has pretty good mileage without the hybrid option.

We chose to take out a loan that is a 0.0% APR for 60 months. As hard as it is going to be, we are not going to pay it off early and just take advantage of the "free" money. So, I guess I will need to take a second look at the budget in order to make room for this new bill.

My Sick Little Girl

My little girl is sick. She has strep throat, she is miserable and she is sad. I feel so bad for her today. Of course, she gets sick on a day that is 80 degrees, so that pesky fever feels even worse for her. I let her lay on the couch all day, watch Hannah Montana reruns and eat ice cream. Does this qualify me for Mother of the Year, or worse Mother on Earth? Judging by her fever, disposition and desire to be still, I think in her eyes I am Mother of the Year for just leaving her alone.

This leads me to something that always bugs me when my kids are sick. Maybe I can get some advice, or just validation for my actions and feelings when my kids are home sick. I leave them alone, let them "veg" in front of the TV and throw out all rules with meal time. That is what they want. But, I always hear this nagging voice in my mind telling me "make them read", "play a board game with them" or "do a craft". I ignore this voice because I can tell that they just want to be left alone. So, I let them indulge in hours of TV and hope that I am not some how damaging their little minds forever. Is this the right approach? My head says no, but my heart says leave them alone and let them be sick in peace and quiet.

Home Today!

Today I will be staying home, all day. I can't remember the last time I was able to do that. Probably the last time I had a sick child, which is the reason I am home today. So, today I am going to try to complete a list of things I need to get done, but never complete because of my never ending list of errands and places I need to be.

For today I plan on:

Finishing The Heretic's Daughter- an excellent book that my husband wants to read next-Done

Finish my reading for my Monday night class-Done

45 minutes of exercise- Done

Finish the laundry - Done

Deep Clean the kids bathroom-Done

Make a nice dinner for the family-Done

Go through the mountain of paper I have on my desk

Clean the "doggy dirt" in the back yard-Done

Grocery shop on peapod.com-Done

I pretty ambitious list for one day, but it gives me a plan.