Diary of a Dorky Girl...

My son is really into the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series. In fact, all his classmates are as well. It's an elementary school phenomenon. I read the first book, just to see what the hulabaloo was about. The thing is, it's a cute book and all, but it's sort of my autobiography. That's right, I was (still am slightly) a wimpy kid, a dweeb, a dork. I was the full package, complete with gangly stature, crooked teeth and big poofy hair...I'm talking frizz fro ya'll. My nickname in middle school was "poodle puff", and not in the cute way. (I'm not posting a picture, so don't ask.)

For most of my youth I was pretty awkward. It might have been my over-active immagination, my quirky sense of humor, maybe it was the unsocialized only child thing. Who knows. The point is, I was never really "cool". I kind of understood cool. I had cool friends. I tried to be like them. Personalities are somewhat inveitable though. My inner geek would slip out at all the worst times, no matter how hard I tried to hide it. Such is life.

But don't go feeling too sorry for me. The truth is, being a dork isn't as awful as it seems. I mean, all in all, I had a really fun childhood. The teen years weren't too bad either. Here's the best part...I actually turned out to be a somewhat normal adult. For serious. I know how to work a hair straightener now. I wear pants that go below my ankles. I turned out okay.

It's true folks. Despite my dorky origins, I graduated from high school, got accepted to college, found friends who really didn't mind my dorky-ness...I even found a husband. He's pretty cute too. He was actually one of the popular kids in school (oh the irony). Secretly, all those popular guys like dorky girls, just ask Juno.

Not only did I get married, I somehow convinced my cute, popular, athletic husband to reproduce with me, and even with the 50% dork genes...my kids turned out to be pretty freaking awesome.

So there ya go, sometimes being a dork turns out ok. Just don't ask my husband how it turns out for the popular kids...some geeky habits die hard. :)

Mr. Sandman, Bring Me a Bed

I tend to think of myself as a relaxed person. I don't get too bent out of shape about too many things. One thing that I am really funny about is beds. I have this thing about people in my house having a place to sleep. You can ask my husband, when company is coming, I kind of freak out. I want to know where everyone is going to sleep. I want to make sure they have clean sheets, clean blankets, a nice pillow, easy access to a bathroom, properly functioning light fixtures, temperature control...these types of things. I get a little nuts if I think that people won't be comfortable in my house.

So of course it stands to reason that my children have always been really fond of pulling the pillows and blankets off their beds and camping out on their bedroom floors. I let them do this, mostly because I don't want my husband to think I am a lunatic. On the inside, I am having a nervous breakdown. Don't they know what beds are for? There are THINGS on the floor. It's hard on the floor. It's cold on the floor. The floor is covered in cracker crumbs...dirty underwear...floor-type-things. GROSS! I hate it. But, I try to be accomodating-and cool-and go with the flow mom (even when my skin is crawling). Also, I have a slightly irrational fear that Child Protective Services is going to show up at my house one day (with all the noise in our house, I am sure the neighbors have thought about calling) and they are going to see my kids sleeping on the floor and be like, "you rotten mom! Why are your kids on the floor?!?!" I have seriously rehearsed what I would say to them if this happened. That does not make me weird. Don't judge me.

So, knowing how I feel about beds, it's really no surprise that I would get the puppy a bed when we brought him home. Everyone needs a bed...even puppies. It's fluffy and cute and honestly, I wouldn't mind having one in my size (it's even machine washable...BONUS!). So where does Watson sleep?

Behind the toilet...of course. Where else? In a house with FIVE boys, he wants to sleep behind the toilet, who wouldn't?

The Doctor is in!

Well, as some of you already know, last week we welcomed a new member to the family: Dr. John Watson. "Watson", for short.
The good doctor is very cute. He is very small and white and fluffy and puppy-like. I have to say, I'm not really a dog person. My previous attempts at dog ownership have resulted in...well, not owning a dog. However, the doctor is manageable and I actually find that I (gulp) like him.
He's so stinking adorable, how do you not love this face?



Dr. John likes lots of things. He likes mostly chewing on shoes. We have lots of shoes, so he's kind of in Heaven. He also likes Tyler. A lot. Tyler is his boy. Sometimes Tyler wishes he wasn't Watson's boy. Sometimes the other kids wish they were Watson's kids. But they aren't.



Dr. John gets into a lot of mischief. He chews on my Christmas tree. He piddles on my floor. He does some other things on the floor sometimes too. But, of course, when you are as cute as this, you can pretty much get away with anything.

Unbelievable

When Suzy came down for school this morning I got a little choked up. If you read my previous blog post you understand why!




Is that purple pants with a green top and a MAGENTA sweater?!? This might sound a bit silly to some, but little things like this strengthen my testimony of a loving Heavenly Father. It has been a rough week in the Ramsey house and seeing my daughter decked out in a way that would have done her grandmother proud, to me, was a tender mercy from the Lord.

It's That Time

That time of the year that I love so much...the holidays! I love them. I love Halloween, I love Thanksgiving and I especially loooooove Christmas! Food, lights, candy, feasting, music, decorations, feasting, feasting (did I say "feasting" more than once? I did...don't judge. I have a very special relationship with food. You should too, it's very nice.) and general merry-making of all sorts.

It's also the time of year that I really start to miss my mom. Don't get me wrong, I miss her year round...but I miss her double around the holidays. She loved the holidays like I do.

Sometimes one of the hardest things about not seeing her is that I kind of forget all the little quirky things that I loved so much. There were lots...she was a super quirky woman...that's where I get it.

A few of my favorite quirks (I so wish I was clever...I could set it to the tune of "My Favorite Things" and it would dove tail perfectly with the Christmas season...ah well):

1. My sweet teeth come from her. Most people have only one sweet tooth...those of us who are super special in the handling sugar department, have many. My mom could take down a box of Little Debbies or a bag of Pepperidge Farm Milanos in one sitting. The two of us together were lethal.

2. She had this pair of purple sweat pants...I mean REALLY purple ya'll. And she liked to pair them with a bright green sweatshirt, her blue cloth clogs, some random socks and her down vest which was...wait for it...MAGENTA! That's right folks, magenta! I have never seen a woman wear so many uncoordinated colors. The thing is, she was so content with who she was that it totally didn't matter. She liked what she liked and that was that. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

3. We used to drive to school/work in the mornings and home in the evenings. It was about 45 minutes each way. It was my favorite time of the day. We'd fight over what radio station...she always won, until we switched over to listening to tapes full time. Christmas was nice, we NEVER fought over music selection, plus I got a break from NPR.

4. I frequently caught her cussing to food while she was trying to prepare it. Pie crusts in particular. I actually don't have a hard time with pie crust, I think she psyched herself out. In fairness to the universe, she was good at literally everything else, so it's only right that she should have one area of which mastery eluded her.

5. She called my first boyfriend "dog breath" after he took another girl to a dance. Not just once, I mean, that is what she called him...all the time. As in, "are you going out with dog breath tonight?" or "dog breath called while you were gone." I lived in constant fear that she would say it to his face, which she thankfully never did. Thank you for that mom.

6. She called every spider that she ever saw, "Charlotte". If I was afraid of it she would scold me. "Jenny!" she would say, "Don't be silly! It's just Charlotte!" Mom, they can't possibly ALL be Charlotte. And Charlotte or not, it's a spider, it's gross, it's frightening and it should not be near me. Go figure, I married a man who will not kill spiders. He scoops them up and takes them outside. What is it with me and these spider loving freaks?

I'm going to stop now. I have this two year old who likes to get into trouble. I should really go attend to that situation. Thanks for indulging me in my long-winded post.

Character Creations

So every year, on a random Friday, our elementary school has "dress as your favorite storybook character day". I know, it's super random. Ya know what's even funnier? They won't let the kids dress up on Halloween...but on random Friday in October, it's totally acceptable. Weirdos.
Anyway, Gavin and Caeden have never expressed any interest what so ever in this day. Thus I assumed that this year would be the same...this was a mistake on my part.
My kids came to me last THURSDAY NIGHT and announced to me that they wanted to dress up after all. Mike was working late, the baby was wanting to be held, the house was a mess...sure, I can make costumes. No problem.
We did the best we could and the kids seemed pretty content. Gavin was Greg from "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", Caeden was the wolf from "Peter and the Wolf" and Suzy was Cinderella from...um, "Cinderella".
They were very excited and I thought they looked pretty darn cute. I was especially proud of Caeden's wolf hat because I, Jenny Ramsey, sewed on his wolf ears. That's right, I did it. Go ahead, be impressed, it's okay.

These are the Moments...

Gavin: Caeden, can we use some of our money to buy a game? We could go to Gamestop and get a used one, so it would be cheaper.
Caeden: Gavin, we had a deal. When we get to $100 we could spend $50 and save the other $50.
Gavin: I'm just not myself without a game to play.
Caeden: Gaviiiinnnn!!
Gavin: So is that a no?
Me: Well Caeden, you guys have $62. If you spend $20 on a game you will still have $42 left.
Caeden: I think we need to separate our money. It's not working out. He's the spender, I'm the saver.