Ok so Morgan refused to go down to the guest/laundry room to get clothes this morning because she was and I quote “afraid to be eaten by the laundry monster…you know dad like the trash heap on Fragile Rock”. After laughing my butt off and being really proud of the fact that we have exposed our kids to such quality programming as Fragile Rock

….both Todd and I decided that we should attack the “Laundry Monster” here is a shot pre-attack. We managed to make it through about 1/3 of it tonight (hoping the remaining 2/3 will just eat itself).

The Laundry Monster

Todd and I just got back from a night out (courtesy of auntie and her boy). We got to eat out and go to a movie. We had been hearing great things about The Dark Knight so we thought we would give it a try (and I am willing to admit at least I had some Heath Ledger curiosity). Well all I will say is that it was amazing and if you have the chance run out and see it as soon as you can. The theater was packed which for a Monday night on this little island is saying a lot. I would say that he out performed Jack Nicholson  by far…aside from that it was really a great story. I usually have a hard time sitting still for more that 2 hours so I was really surprised when I saw it had been way over that amount of time. Seriously fun night (being with Todd was great too).

I finally figured out how to post pictures (or actually I had a few quiet moments to look into it) so I decided to pick out some of our more fun summer moments….

Me with family friend P and Shannen.

We LOVE smores!

We love eating outside!

Tristan and M chilling on the boat.

Look what a mess we can make!

Morgan the wonderful gymnastic girl.

Dad, me, mom, Katlyn, Eli

Look mom you finally got a picture of the family without anyone making a face

(and it only took 30 some odd years)!

Shannen the fish!

Collin at the beach.

Please mom I swear I wont try and swim to Block Island!

Shannen and Morgan.

We love fireworks but tell us again who’s birthday is it….Canada’s? The Earth’s? Rhode Island’s?

Todd and Tristan.

Look Todd is in a picture!!

Todd and Jess.

We clean up well….and look out with no kids!

Mom, Collin, and Morgan.

Come on in Dad…we swear it is not cold!

More fun summer pictures to come……

My household is in the grips of the new puppy blues (again)…my sister just got a wonderful new puppy from the Potter League. She is all the things we (or I should say me and Morgan) have been looking for. She is calm, sweat, and really well behaved. She is just the right size and it has made us want a new puppy even more (we have been planning to get a puppy for the last year or so)…however…Todd wants little to do with a dog and is hoping the rest of us will all just forget about it. I think he has figured out that the kids and I have a good memory and are not going to let this go. As background we owned a dog (one that Todd also didn’t want) that got very sick and we had to let him go. Todd was really upset about it as he had become very attached to the dog…so we are pretty sure he will like the next dog we get. We finally put in an application at the Potter League and have begun the real waiting…so I am hoping to have a puppy in the next 6 months or so….also hoping my husband doesn’t kill me (I think he wont want to be alone with 4 kids though)

I know that I should get out of my jammies but I just love sitting on the couch, doing nothing in particular, and having someone else tell the kids to stop whining/fighting/jumping on each other. I know that in about an hour the kids will be done with my lounging but I just can’t get up the need to care yet 

I know that other people have dreams of fancy things but truly I dream of lounging in bed with Chinese food, a good old movie, and my husband uninterrupted….maybe because it has been 8 years and 3 months since something like that has happened (and Todd and I used to have a ton of weekends like that)…not that I don’t love the kids….

Collin said the other day that it had been too long since we took a really long walk in the trees looking for “magic plants”  hehehe Todd and I love to hike (we will get to do the AT someday) and we have made our kids go on long ones (5-7 mi.) well being little people with little legs they can get tired. When we just have to get going (because say the sun is setting) we will tell the little kids (the girls now look at us like we are idiots) that if they hold these “magic plants” (ie weeds) they will make them run. It is great and works like a charm.

So even though they are not the same I still love the weekend, the laziness, and the help. I think we might try the Black Ships Festival then if the weather is good head out to the water. Maybe we will even hit the Linens -n- Things close out sale for work stuff (I love shopping and picked up a Margarita Machine I had been saving up for there for about $150 off…had been saving for a while for it!) Work has been so crazy for Todd that I am happy to see him just sitting reading the paper. He has really been stressed and he tends to keep all the stress on himself when things are like that. I have been trying to force him to delegate and to let me help him more but I digress…glad to see him relaxing! Glad to have a few minutes of calm!

I have really been feeling disconnected from myself lately. The kids have been so needy lately (not that I am complaining….but I am complaining) that I feel like I haven’t thought about myself for a while. I have never wanted (or been happy) to be one of those moms who devotes herself 24/7 to her kids needs. I have felt that when they grew up if I acted that way I would have nothing to do and pine for them or try to live my life through them. That is why I have always wanted to work…so I had an identity outside of mom. Lately even work time has been taken up with them. I know this will not last forever but I am feeling like the me inside me is getting kicked around a bit. I have let my exercise time go (mostly because my neck still hurts) and I need that time to feel like a person. Todd has been so busy at work lately I feel like I have not seen him in months and I am not sure I am capable of having a conversation with another adult without sounding idiotic! I do know that this is not how I will feel forever…tired and neglected (by myself) but sometimes when you are in the middle of those feelings they are all consuming.

I have never thought that I have had a right to have a major position on circumcision…I am not “equipped”. So when Collin was born I went with Todd’s feelings and we got Collin circumcised. I have had a lot of friends who have VERY strong opinions about this (usually they are not to circumcise)…Well I now feel I have a right to proclaim my opinion for the world (or for my friends who read this blog) to hear! I LOVE circumcision!

When Tristan came home (being from a Latino culture) he was not circumcised. When I spoke to Todd about it he said he preferred him to get circumcised. When I spoke to my ped. he said…why put him through that…he just came home…and he will need to be put out. So I did not push it. Well a couple of days ago we noticed that he had gotten a rather nasty infection (Collin has never had such an infection). I took him to the docs because the poor kid is in some serious pain and they gave him some meds (after taking a sample…shudder)…and it should clear up in a few days to a week. So I decided to ask around to see if this was a common thing….well all those friends who have those great opinions said that it had happened (often) to almost all of them! Well frankly I am just a little shocked…Collin’s circumcision was really no big deal it did not even seem to bother he much after the first few hours (done at birth)…this on the other hand has bother Tristan a GREAT DEAL (not that I blame him)…so to make a fairly long storey short we have decided that we will just go ahead and schedule the procedure…I don’t want him to live through this…so I proclaim that circumcision is truly a wonderful thing!

Edited to read: I understand that I did not give all info in this post and that some people do not know me….however I am aware that the foreskin should not be pushed back to clean (we come from a medical family)…and before it is asked I grew up on a commune until I was 8 and alternative medicine was a huge part of my upbringing. I think that a major problem in this society is that people think that if you do not come to the same conclusion you are uneducated on the issue. I was very educated on circumcision (watched the videos and read the literature). I take ALL decisions about my children seriously. Initially after reading the studies in abstract I did not have a strong feeling that the pros out-weight the cons or vise versa but my husband did. So we did what all married couples should do and compromised. Based on my experience I now have another opinion. I do feel that I am total justified to proclaim in my own blog what *I* feel about the procedure. If you feel differently feel free to proclaim that on your blog!

Edited to Read: Thank-you so much for your wealth of information and your broad assumption that I do not know what the best coarse of action is for my child. I guess you can make whatever decision you feel is best for your own child but I do not have the same right. Please feel free not to read further about this if it offends your sensibilities so much as I have made my decision thank-you-very-much.

Edited to Read: This discussion is now closed. I will not post another thing written about this who does not know our family personally. I do not want any more information as my husband and I have made our decision based on our personal beliefs and our concern for our child. Unless you know us you would have no idea what thought and consideration we put into any decision about our children.

Ok it is official Shannen is  a genius. I have written it down so now I have to deal with it. The psychologist giving her the testing has told me that a grade skip will do nothing for her (because she is so far ahead) so she will not recommend it. She has said that “no school will effectively educate her”… and “many of these kids end up quiting school”…NICE just what I wanted to hear. So it looks like we will be forking over an obscene amount of money to pay for her school, a tutor to come to said school, and the John Hopkins program…BLAH. Happy she is smart…but this is just not going to be easy. Oh and the best part is that she informed me that she also most likely has a learning disorder (I will post more on that as it comes) and she is most likely bi-polar. What are we going to do with this kid? She looks so small and helpless when she is sleeping….I just want to protect her from everything. I know there are many other (more sever) things that could be happening to my child but I am just feeling very tired at the thought of managing this for the rest of her childhood. I am trying to just think of her as Shannen and not as this label but it can be hard.

Yesterday was our first day of camp for Collin, Morgan, and Shannen! Collin got to make a dinosaur (it is dinosaur week) picture, read a dinosaur book, and in general roar a whole bunch. His teachers was Shannen’s kindergarten teachers so I know and trust her completely. He had a great time and even said he was not nervous this morning (he didn’t know anyone in his class). Morgan and Shannen started Wild West camp and got to make cowgirl hats and go to science class to make invisible ghosts (some sort of poly…gooey…something). Fun was had by all and they did not drown in the pool! Tristan is off at my mom’s house for the week so I get to work run errands by myself and get those necessary things done (like a wax) without embarrassing questions from a 4 year old boy 

Collin is at camp till 1:00 and the girls come home at 3:00 so I have oodles of time in the morning and I still get to play with them in the afternoon. Camp lasts until the end of July so I can enjoy August with the kids and not feel the need to throw them out the window by then!

I am thinking that someone out there is sending me a signal that I need to be less digitally connected.

1) About 2 weeks ago we started having trouble with our phone…to make a long story short we had no phone service for days (and we just thought no one liked us ).

2) My computer has been on the fritz now for several months. I just replaced a part and thought that it was all better but no it seems that things are still not right with it…so I will only be on-line when the gods of the digital age allow me to.

3) We were sitting in the house during one of those almost rainy days and I heard a large pop from the general direction of the TV. So I call Todd after figuring out that turning it on and off (the extent of my TV repair knowledge) did not work. He confidently says it is a burnt bulb (ok…I trust you). When he went to replace the bulb he noticed that the inside was melted…not a good thing! Sony is not being helpful at all either!

Updated to Read: Is has now been close to 2 weeks and Sony is still not being helpful…they want $500 to “upgrade” our TV because they no longer make the model we have…we have said a big no…we don’t have $500 to replace a TV that was 3 years old and expensive. So we are waiting to see what a high manager has to say. I miss my TV…we have what the kids call a “baby TV” from the guest room in its place