Mama Vivas - It's a Vivas Thing!

Jun 06 2010

Living the Good Life

This weekend was the kind I like to have. Friday was spent by the pool (I can play in private pools now…yippee!) of a good friend. Some of took advantage and just wallowed relaxed.

Others practiced their air jumps!

While others were more about being cool…in more ways then one!

Mostly, it was about having fun!

Friday night, was spent playing laser tag with our high school youth and then hanging at In and Out, because their cheeseburgers are awesome! I didn't get any pictures of that though, because I was too busy trying to avoid being hit make sure I hit everyone there.

Saturday morning was spent making blueberry pancakes and turkey bacon….and having the teens to clean it all up. They just love me that way! (I'm sure it probably had something to do with playing Hearts, but we'll pretend it's because they just adore me.) We spent several hour playing Hearts (something we do on a regular basis.) We had a new girl join us, but we made sure to let her know newbies don't get special treatment…we play serious Hearts. (It's a good thing she already new how to play!) We thought we were finished with the game when a certain friend of my eldest son scored 100 points even! That made the game continue on for another hour…as well as making her extremely happy because instead of last place, she game in tied for 1st!

When all were gone, I managed to do a pretty decent job of grooming our pups. I'm getting better at it! And then, we went to visit some dear friends while the kids played in their pool with their grandchildren for a while.

Today after church, we plan to have chili dogs for family lunch. (Thinking over this weekend, I'm going to have to detox from the junk food I ate, but anyway……….)

This is the best kind of weekend to have. Family, friends, fun….it doesn't get better than that!

Jun 05 2010

Quotable Quote #8

Random quotes from the past week (I'll let you guess who said what!):

"Mom, today is National Doughnut Day! We should go to Dunkin' Donuts or Krispey Kreme so they can sell us free doughnuts."

Friday night, we were playing Laser Tag and I had no pockets to put the van keys in, so I asked a certain someone to hold them for me. The reply?

"Mom, why don' t you just put them in the van?"

(Um…that would ruin the purpose of locking everything else in the van that we couldn't carry in.)

After a rather stressful day of dealing with some issues, a friend said it well,

"There should be a statue of limitations on how long a parent is allowed to mess up their children."

Jun 02 2010

Dancing for Joy

Tonight was the Drama Queen's 2nd recital night. Daddy and I went last night, so tonight I headed back with her siblings and Punky. Punky, one of my faithful friends (and readers) put it well tonight. She knew that my next post was a Just for the Joy of It post and said that is why I had her around tonight. I mean, who else could entertain my teens by giving them a Rock Star to share with her, along with Milk Duds and Mike Ike candies while we waited for the show. And who else would laugh hysterically at the Smart One as he tried to smash a can against his forehead on a challenge from his two older siblings. Yes, this is what we are about. Crazy. And so…there was joy.

But even more importantly, for the past two nights I've had the joy of sitting with my family (and Punky…who really is family after all) while watching this recital of "Happy Days are Here Again." About a year ago, a friend told me about Miss Lori and her dance class. She recommended I put the Drama Queen in this class. She told me how awesome Miss Lori is and how, although she does recreational classes at the local Rec center, she also holds a recital once a year. She couldn't say enough kind things about Miss Lori. The only negative was the waiting list to get into her classes.

I missed it the first time I tried, so the 2nd time, I got smart and stayed up and registered online as soon as it opened. (See, I use technology to my advantage sometimes!) Last fall was the Drama Queen's first time. She fit right in and fell in love with Miss Lori. We signed up again for the winter/spring session. I only made it to one class and then had my surgery that went south and fell ill. About this time, the Drama Queen needed new tap shoes as her feet had grown. Miss Lori provided new shoes for Isa and would not take any money for the shoes, giving them as a gift to Isa. That's the kind of lady she is.

A couple of weeks ago, the place where the recital was to be held lost it's ceiling in a wind storm. Miss Lori made sure to find a new place to hold the recital because she was not going to cancel and let the dancers down.

We found out last night, when Miss Lori's daughters showed up instead of her, that she'd suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm a week ago while at one of the dance classes. Amazingly, she made it through. And her wish was for the show to go on, without her. So her family pulled it together and put the show on for the past two nights while she lay in the hospital. Yes, there were tears. I think everyone in the audience cried at some point, (and there were hundreds of them!) but there were also tears of joy, because Miss Lori is so loved.

It touched my heart to see a family so pulled together for their mom and her dreams for the little ones. It reminded me of my own family pulling together for me over the past few months. I am blessed indeed. And that brings me much joy.

Please keep Miss Lori in your prayers as she recovers for the next few months. She is one special lady.

Here are some pics that brought me joy tonight.

Jun 01 2010

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

This weekend B-boo and I were working on her school. While sitting there with her, I started going through some old pictures I'd found, when I came across the following. These pictures were taken 6 years ago, the first time my niece came to live with us. I hadn't realized that the photographer was snapping while we were getting ready.

Note that the Talented One is starting to look like he is in trouble…and mom is looking rather annoyed.

I don't remember what he was doing, but it is obvious my look said enough.

No words needed.

The look must have worked, because he was standing straight and paid attention. As a matter of fact, for the next 27 pictures, his face stayed pretty much the same. Maybe it has something to do with the prayer his sister seemed to have been doing?

The end result was the following family picture. This was done with swapping of heads and lightening up of the Good-Looking One's major sunburn. The main thing I remember is that it took FOREVER to get this family portrait!

It was the last professional portrait we ever took as a family. That was six years ago. Last year, we had to have a family photo for licensing. There were a lot of groans and complaints, but we got it done in one…count it…one shot!

And then, the Talented One fixed it for me in Photoshop. You know, as I was writing this blog, it dawned on me, how *talented* the Talented One has become with photoshop. The pic below was done in a matter of minutes. He's actually really good at it now. I wonder if it has something to do with that family pic of oh so long ago that he was in so much trouble with. I wonder if he vowed then and there he'd never have to go through that again. Probably not, but it does make one wonder……………

I'd love to have a new, professional family portrait. I really would. But I don't think I'd ever be able to get my kids to do it again….it would be a nice gift though…hint, hint.

This post is linked to Wordless Wednesday on 5 Minutes for Mom.

May 31 2010

Laughable Moment #27

Saturday evening, we were sitting around with Punky and the Good-Looking One’s girlfriend, watching a movie. All of a sudden, the Drama Queen comes downstairs with Chicken Noodle Butt. She dramatically informs us,

“Mom, you need to take care of Chicken Noodle Butt, his face is glowing in the dark!”

Not exactly the words I was expecting to hear out of her mouth, but as I looked up, his face was indeed, glowing in the dark.

And he was crying. And we were trying really hard not to laugh.

You see, he’d been given a glow in the dark thingie that he’d snuck upstairs to his room when he went to bed. And he’d apparently kept cracking it until some of the liquid leaked out onto his hair and face. So, he was glowing.

We quickly got up and took him into the bathroom. Punky picked him up and held him over the sink while I ran water over his hair and face. Not sure if we’d gotten it all off, we shut the door, turned off the light, and discovered that yes indeed, he was no longer glowing in the dark!

Meanwhile, the Princess was waiting outside the door with the glow in the dark stick that she’d taken to bed with her. She was handing it over to us, as she quickly stated,

“Here, take it! I don’t want to be glowing in the dark!”

See, it’s moments like this that made me decide to blog!