Wise Mr. Sock

I tried something out this morning with Carlie when she has her fits that my counselor suggested. I made a wise Mr Sock puppet.

She threw a fit because I pulled her hair back out of her face today and she wanted it down. So I got wise Mr Sock puppet out and made him tell her that her hair was beautiful and made him try to eat the sausage she was having for breakfast. She laughed so hard she forgot about her fit. She told me the next time I threw a fit she was going to use it on me. LOL.


Last night the other kids were at a neighbor's house, so I took Carlie with me to the store to buy some bread. She wanted to buy some candy, and I told her No. She said “I think you need to let me win this argument because you are big, and I am little!!!"

Halloween Decorations

I sent this picture of our Halloween Decorations to Granny, and she replied "PLEASE tell me that isn't where you buried the Hamster!!!!"

LOL.

More on the Death of Hannah

Bob's Niece, Arlena watches our kids for us when they get out of school. And as I've mentioned before our house always seems to be full of kids.

It turns out that when they found Hannah dead, Madolyn got hysterical. She went screaming up the stairs "Hannah's dead. She's been stabbed!!! She's been stabbed!!! She's DEEEEAAAAD!!!"

Well poor Lena, didn't know that Hannah was the HAMSTER. She thought there was a neighbor kid named Hannah down there who'd been stabbed and was dead. She said she nearly broke her neck running down the stairs to see who was hurt. It scared her to death!!!!

The craziness never ends at our house. Madi was playing with the remaining hamster, Angel, yesterday. I wake up to hysterical screaming. Apparently she set the hamster down for a second and Hunter, our cat, picked it up and took off running with it. Bob had to chase the cat down and get the hamster back. Luckily she was not hurt. Whew!!

Rest in Peace, Hannah.

The kids discovered today that one of their hamsters was dead. It was the one who was the escape artist. Libby had taken one of her friends downstairs to see the hamsters. Hannah wouldn't come out of her little house. When Libby lifted the house up, she was lying underneath it with her feet in the air.

Libby thought at first that she was dead because it was Frank's turn to feed them last night, and he hadn't done so. I explained to her that it wasn't anyone's fault, that the hamsters were just old.

Then she told me that the hamster's teeth were sticking out about three inches, and Frank had said that we were supposed to take the hamster to the vet to have its teeth trimmed regularly and that's why it was dead. I told her that the hamster's teeth were always like that, they were just normally covered up.

Then poor Libby told me that she'd been online all afternoon looking for Pet Cemeteries where we could bury her. I guess I'm lucky that I nipped that in the bud before I got a bill for a $600 hamster plot somewhere in California.

Lena (Bob's niece who watches the kids after school) tried to get them to throw it in the trash, but the kids wouldn't hear of it. They told her "How would you like if we just threw YOU in the trash after you died!!!!"

So I guess we have to have some kind of hamster funeral this weekend. Sigh!!!

Thrown out of Preschool

When we moved to Cleveland, Ok to both be teachers, it was 2002. The school system had a Non-For-Profit daycare that was available for teacher’s kids. It was cheap and convenient. The daycare was run by a board of teachers (all of them elementary teachers who had kids in the daycare).

We’d been in school for a few months when Bob and I were “called before the board”. By then, I was several months pregnant with Carlie and EXTREMELY irritable. We met with “the board” in one of the elementary classrooms, and I remember perching on one of the tiny little grade school chairs while these old biddies proceeded to tell me how awful my children were.

The more I listened to all the petty offenses, the angrier I became. They went on to tell me how their daycare was just not set up to handle “those kinds of children”. Finally, I blew I gasket. I stood and looked the snottiest one in the eye and began to speak

“You’re worried about MY son throwing a shoe at your daughter right now. What you SHOULD be worrying about is that no one is willing to take the time to help “Those kinds of children”. What you SHOULD be worrying about is whether or not my son will grow up and AXE MURDER your daughter in 20 years, because no one would take the time to help him when he was LITTLE.”

You could have heard a pin drop, and then the woman burst into tears and ran out of the room. The whole time I’m talking, Bob has me by my shirt tale saying “Julie….Julie….calm down Julie”. LOL. Poor Bob.

What’s even funnier is that this woman had twin girls who were Frank’s age. When they were in first grade, one of her twins was in Frank’s class and fell head over heads in love with him!!! We’d run into them in the store and the little girl would be hollering “FRANK!!! Frank!!! I love you Frankie!!!” And you could hear her Mother hissing at her to be quiet.

Until we moved away, I’d secretly hoped they’d get married some day. Hehehe. Karma gets you every time.

P.S. They still threw them out of the daycare, despite my speech!!! But we found a much better one!

Cinderella with a 'Tude

Carlie loves to play with her figurines on the landing of the stairs. Bob and I were sitting in the living room watching TV the other day when we hear her loudly declare "Prince Charming!!! You take me to the TOP of the castle. Capesh?!?!?!?"

Oh, some poor boy is going to have his hands full some day!!!

I love the sound of Screamin’ in the Mornin’

All I could think of this morning as I drove to work was Robert Duval’s character in Apocalypses Now yelling “I LOVE the smell of Napalm in the mornin’”

Normally Bob drops the kids off at school on his way to work, but he had to go early today for a faculty meeting. It shouldn’t be a hard thing to do. I have four able bodied children that are able to carry their own bags to the car and buckle themselves in. Should be a simple thing…..but not in the Pooligan household.

I told them as they gathered their stuff that they needed a jacket because it was cold outside. I got a chorus of “We don’t need a jacket…it’s not cold.” And out the door they went.

As I am gathering MY bags and trying to get out the door, I am nearly run over by a herd of children stampeding back into the house to get their jackets because it IS cold out there. Three of the four children go stampeding back out to the car. Carlie is in her room screaming to beat a banshee because she does not like the only jacket she can find. “Well TOUGH.” I wrestle the jacket on to her and herd her out the door…still bawling.

We get to the mini-van, and there are two car seats. One has padding and one does not. Because Carlie wouldn’t put her jacket on, Madi beat her to the van and got the “good” car seat. Carlie again starts bawling because she has the “Cold” car seat. I stop the van and refuse to go anywhere until she gets in the seat and puts her seat belt on.

In the mean time, Frank and Libby have gotten into it over something in the back seat. It escalates to Frank throwing a water bottle at Libby. I get that stopped and we proceed on to school.

Once at school, Libby does something else to Frank and he goes off on her screaming at her and throwing things at her. I told Frank that I’m not going to let him go into the school until he’s got control over himself. Our mini-van has self closing doors. He tries to dodge me and jump out the mini-van door. I push the button and shut it in his face. He opens it again, and it remains open just long enough for him to throw his trumpet case out before I get it closed again. Keep in mind; we are in the loading zone in front of the school with millions of people watching. He tries to open it again, and this time manages to throw his book bag out the door before I get it shut again. By this time I’m got him by the coat tale.

He sits down and I drive into a parking place to let him cool down before I let him go. He’s sitting their scowling, pouting and cursing. I inform him that some kid has picked up his trumpet case and is walking off with it. Frank proceeds to scream “I hate my trumpet anyway. And I hate school….and I’m not going. And I hate you too!!!”

So we sit there. Finally, I decide that I am driving him over to his school build WITHOUT his book bag and trumpet. When I put the car in gear, he decides he doesn’t want me to drive off and leave them there. So he says he’ll get out and get them. But by this time they are gone. So he goes into the school to see if someone took them inside. As he goes in the front door, the Principal comes out a side door with Frank’s book bag and trumpet. I wave the principal down and he looks at me kind of funny. I explain WHY Frank’s book bag and trumpet were lying on the side of the road. He finds Frank and gives him his stuff and sends him on his way to his building.

Oh YEAH!!!. I LOVE the sound of Screamin' in the Mornin'!!!!"

September Quotes

Whoever is happy will make others happy too. He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery. - Anne Frank
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Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk. - Dali Lama
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You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu
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Family .... A little world created by love.
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When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses. ~Joyce Brothers
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I Know Where Babies Come Out At

Last summer, Carlie had just turned four years old. Out of the blue one day she came up to me and blurted out “I know where babies come out at!!!” Always interested in what’s going to come out of her mouth, I say “Oh, really, where’s that?” She replies in a sing-song voice “They come out your WEEEEN-NEEER!!!”

After I got my voice back, I said “Carlie, girls don’t have wieners (not a word we use anyway), only boys have wieners.”

She thinks about it a second and goes “Oh, I already know that. Because girls have vaginas and they are THIS small (and she rolls her index finger against her thumb to indicate a small opening) and boys have a Penis and they are THIS big (and she spreads her hands about 12 inches apart!!!!

Now, I haven’t even really had the birds and bees talk with my 9 and 10 year old yet, so I demand “WHO told you that????” And she goes “Well, my Daddy did!!!”

Boy did I have some questions for my husband when he came in that night!! At first he vehemently denied it. Then he decided that she MIGHT have been listening a few weeks before when he was talking to Frank about some birds and bees stuff.

THANKS, Bob!!!

I tried to explain to Carlie that this was very big girl stuff and was not to be discussed in Pre-school. I didn’t want her giving her version of sex Ed to the whole preschool class!!

What Your Car Says About You

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0932396.html

According to the article above, since I own a Navy Blue colored car, it means that I'm "Credible, confident, dependable". And that might be true. But the other day I was looking at my car and realized it says even more about me.

I drive a 2006 Pontiac Solstice. It's a sporty two seater, and that definitely shows my "go-get-em" personality. But I noticed a few other things about my car that were also telling. For one thing, the top of my black convertible roof was covered in long white cat hair. Hmmmmm.

Then I noticed that if was very dirty. Because when you have FIFTEEN MILLION (well okay only FIVE, but it seems like FIFTEEN MILLION sometimes) kids, you seldom have time to wash your sports car.

And then in the thick layer of dirt on my car, I noticed that four little fingers had trailed in the dust in a curly-que pattern all the way entirely around my car. And I just smiled!!!

Honk, Honk, Honk, Hooooonnk!!!

I think I've mentioned before that my husband is an optimist.....while I am what I call a "REALIST".

When the kids were really little, Bob would often leave them in the car with it running. I was constantly griping at him about this "Don't you know what could happen? They could get out of their car seats and put the car in gear. Someone could get in it and drive off." Yadda, yadda, Yadda.

Bob would always blow me off. That would NEVER happen, etc, etc.

Well one summer when Frank was 4 and Libby was 3, he had to go move the sprinklers on the football practice fields. There were a couple of them which mean he had to walk about 200 yards away from the mini-van. Because it was hot, he left it running with the kids in the car.

He got about 200 yrds away from the car, on the back side of one of the practice fields when he hears "Honk, honk, honk, Hooooooonk!!!!" Frank and Libby had unbuckled from their car seats and were honking out a tune on the mini-van horn. And Bob was 200 yards away.

The practice field was full of people, and they are all watching as Bob (who weighed about 400lbs at the time) is running back to the mini-van at a dead sprint in the heat. The whole way back they are merrily honking out tunes. He didn't leave them in the car by themselves any more after that!

A Moment In Time

Yesterday morning, the kids didn't have school. It was so nice to be able to get ready for work at a leisurely pace instead of having to get four kids ready in addition to myself.

I was in the bathroom and I see a flash of pink heading towards my bed. I couldn't resist climbing back into bed with Carlie for a moment. We cuddled up under the covers and were tickling and giggling. Just a few minutes later Madi joined us. I laid there in bed with their warm little bodies pressed up against me...whispering and giggling. I could have stayed there all day.

But it was a glorious Moment in Time. One that I want to remember.

It's In The Kiss

This weekend, lipstick "kisses" began appearing on the walls of our house. The first one I found was down low on the wall and no one knew a THING about how it got there.

However, the next one I found was kid height. Again, NO ONE, knew how it got there. It was too low for Libby unless she was leaning down. That one was TOO BIG. So next I lined Carlie up next to the kiss. It COULD have been her, if she got up on her tip toes. That one was TOO SMALL. Then I lined up Madi....Hmmm....that one was JUST RIGHT.

So she got to spend the afternoon cleaning lip stick marks off the walls.

Bob's Weight Loss Site

http://www.solutionsforlifewichita.com/testimonials_bob_pool.php

Bob Pool
Address: Towanda, KS
Surgical Procedure: Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass
Total pounds lost: 150

Body Mass Index before surgery: 53
Body Mass Index after surgery: 33
Percentage of excess body weight lost: 70%
Physical activity before surgery:
Physical activity after surgery:
Triglycerides before surgery:
Triglycerides after surgery:
Blood pressure before surgery: 130/84
Blood pressure after surgery: 120/80



Since I have started planning for having the gastric bypass surgery I have lost over 150 lbs. I have lost large amounts of weight previous to this, but I have always put the weight right back on plus another 25 lbs."

"I am probably different than most people that have this surgery, as I was in pretty good shape for the shape I was in (round). I worked out pretty regularly walking and coaching football. I lifted weights and ate like a horse. I would say that I was a stress eater and would gain 50-60 lbs every football season. Most years I would lose it all, but it was getting more difficult to lose the weight as I got older. I have 4 small children and it seemed to me that keeping up with them was getting tougher."

"I dropped 50 lbs during football season I have more stamina and am able to do more things. I am currently coaching my son's little league basketball team and I am able to buy clothes in a regular store (no more big and tall shops for me, thank you). I really do not miss food; I was not a big sweet eater so I have not had many cravings. I try really hard to stay on schedule with my diet (it is not as easy as I thought it would be). It seemed easier when I was preparing for surgery. I do not eat sweets at all and I keep my water bottle with me all the time. I find it difficult to avoid salty crunchy foods unless I just make a concentrated effort."

"The biggest change I see is that I am satisfied after a few bites of just about anything. I do not like some things that I just loved before. I really pay attention to fat and sugar content. I have been ill from things I have eaten that were not supposed to be bad. I have dumped [dumping syndrome] once or twice it is a great motivator for me (I hate being ill)."

"My wife and I [both had gastric bypass surgery] are both very pleased with the results. I am thankful my wife decided to have the procedure. I would have never had it until I saw the energy it gave her. We have gone from being a basically sedentary couple to an active fit family."

Granny is Retiring

She's spent many years in the school system helping the kids who struggle the most. And now she is retiring.

Posted is this year's school picture. She's lost about 40lbs and is looking great!

They don't pay paraeducators much. Granny always did it because she enjoyed it. When she told her grandkids she was retiring almost everyone them said "But Granny, what will you do for money??? How will you pay your bills???" I guess they don't think Papaw makes enough money to support them!!!

Julie's Weight Loss Anniversary

Today is the two year anniversary of my weight loss surgery. Below is my testimonial from the Solutions for Life Website. The link below contains my commerical I made for them, if you'd like to see it.

http://www.solutionsforlifewichita.com/testimonials_julie_pool.php

Success Stories
Julie Pool
Address: Towanda, KS
Surgical Procedure: Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass
Total pounds lost: 104

Body Mass Index before surgery: 44
Body Mass Index after surgery: 27
Percentage of excess body weight lost: 80%
Physical activity before surgery: 0
Physical activity after surgery: 3 miles, 3 times a week
Triglycerides before surgery: 357
Triglycerides after surgery:
Blood pressure before surgery: 118/86
Blood pressure after surgery: 102/60

"I did not become overweight until my late 20s. Over the course of several years, I put on a large amount of weight. Every year, I’d put on another 10-20 lbs. I’m a Type A personality... a successful career woman and mom to five kids. On the inside I was driven, aggressive, busy, successful... but on the outside I was overweight, tired, slow and dumpy. The way I looked and felt was impacting my life. Since I had surgery a year ago, my life has changed drastically. I have lost 104 lbs. I now jog 3 miles at a time 3 or more times a week. My outsides now match my insides. "

"Because I was so overweight, I had stopped caring completely how I looked. I selected clothing that was comfortable and baggy. I did not bother keeping my hair done or wearing makeup. I was so overweight, I felt like fixing myself up wouldn’t make a difference. After I lost the weight, I had a makeover. I got a stylish hair cut and started wearing make up again. Of course, I had to go shopping, and updated my wardrobe. I remember how exciting it was to be able to shop in the regular section of a store instead of having to shop on the Plus side."

"My husband also had gastric bypass surgery about six months after I had it. Together we have lost 250lbs!!! Our five children also share in the benefits. We are now an active and fit family. We eat healthier food in more appropriate portion sizes. We no longer eat out all the time. My older kids jog with me, and we frequently take walks as a family. People frequently tell me that I look ten years younger, and I definitely FEEL ten years younger."

"Before I had surgery, I was pre-diabetic and was having trouble with high cholesterol and high triglycerides. My resting heart rate was in the 100-120 beats per minute range. All of those issues have now resolved. My resting heart rate is now in the 60s, and my blood pressure was 102/60 the last time I had it checked. I recently went to my endocrinologist whom I hadn’t seen since right before surgery. His comment was “Wow, you look so... so NORMAL."

"I tell my friends that some people look back at their wedding pictures and say “Wow, look how skinny we were. “ My husband and I look back at our wedding picture and say “Wow, look how overweight we were!!!"

"A big “thank you” to Dr. Jonathan Dort and Solutions for Life / Via-Christi."

Football Pictures

Just wanted to post some of my football pictures.

Football Boys

Last Thursday we had Bob's Offensive Line over to the house to eat. There were 12 boys who came. Between them and my kids, they managed to eat 32 hamburgers, 24 brauts, four bags of chips and 24 brownies!!!

The boys got a football out and played catch in the back yard. Frank and Libby were right in the middle of them. One of the boys was particularly kind to them and would throw the ball gently to Libby. After they left we were talking about the evening and Bob asked Libby which of the boys she liked best. She named the one who'd thrown her the ball. I told Bob that she just liked him because he was kind to her....and Libby pipes up "No, I liked him because he was PRETTY." Oh, they are too young to be starting this!!!

Girls Night Out

The girls went to go see High School Musical On Ice this weekend. We got dressed up, put glitter on our faces (even me) and had a great time. The show was good, but I actually got a bigger kick out of watching Carlie watch the show. She danced and she sang all the songs.

At one point basketballs fell down from the top of the building down to the skaters below. The girls thought that was the best part. At another part in the show Troy pulled his shirt off (and he was FINE). Granny and I liked that part the best!!!!

Teetered or Tottered? I'm not sure.

Frank and Libby have a set of Teeter-Totters on their playground. A few days ago, Bob got a call at the school because Libby had a goose-egg on her forehead.

These kinds of crazy accidents can only happen to Libby, who is extremely accident prone. She was on the teeter-totter up in the air and somehow was jarred while she was up in the air. Her friend Kaseyl was on the other end. She somehow pitched forward and swung around so that she was upside down on the teeter-totter holding on to it with her arms and legs wrapped around it to keep from falling. She said to her friend Kaseyl "Don't get off!!!!" But Kaseyl panicked. When she jumped off, the board came crashing down sending Libby to the ground on her back, and the board came down on top of her and thumped her in the forehead.

Yesterday a little boy was thrown from the teeter-totters and it knocked him out. They had to call the ambulance for him.

I was brave....well, kind of.

We had to pull Madi's loose tooth this week. Ohhhhh the drama. This was her third tooth. She pulled the first two herself.

She wanted to lay down on the kitchen cabinet, and then told me that I was to use Granny's trick where I got a kleenex and dried the tooth off and it just magically came out.

We tried that, only it didn't magically come out the first time. Then she saw BLOOD on the kleenex. You can't imagine the bawling and squalling. She was instructing me on precisely how to hold the kleenex for my second attempt. Then I had to procure a coffee cup to sit next to her so that she'd have something to place the tooth in after it was pulled. Then I had to have a cup of ice water sitting next to her so she'd have something to drink afterwards.

Finally, I went and got one of those Triaminic things that melts on your tongue. Those things are pure unadulterated magic. They cure all kinds of hurts and woes. So I put one of those on her tongue and told her that would take away the pain. And magically it worked...seconds after dissolving it on her tongue the tooth wasn't hurting any more and I was able to pull it out.

She wanted to put the tooth in an envelope and write a letter to the tooth fairy. This is what she had me write "Dear Tooth Fairy. I love everyone in this town. I love you too. I was brave....well, kind of. Love, Madi."

She got four quarters from the tooth fairy, and she took the money to school with her today to show her teacher.

A Little Bit of Nervous and A Whole Ton of Happy.

Kindergarten has a program where if the student reads 8 books in a month, they get a certificate for a free Happy Meal. Carlie read her books quickly, and we turned in her paper the other day.

She got to go up in front of her entire school and get her Certificate and paper for a free Happy Meal. She was SO excited. She said she was the only Kindergartener up there. I asked her if it was fun getting her award and she said "Well, it was a little bit of nervous and a WHOOOOOOLE ton of Happy!!!"

On the way home from McDonalds, I bet she said 15 times "My Happy Meal was FREE. You didn't have to pay for mine, but you had to pay for Madi."

She has been taking her AR tests at the end of 1st grade level and has been getting 100s on every one of them.

First Football Game

Both Bob and Frank won their first football games. Frank's game was 24-0. We stood out in the rain to watch him.

This picture takes my breath away. He looks like he's 16 instead of 10. He really loves football.

My kids are Multi-lingual

Madi has a really neat 1st grade teacher this year. They are learning all kinds of neat things, and its so much fun she doesn't even realize she's learning.

They have been studying China for the last two weeks. She came home and told me all about the Great Wall of China, and the Huns invasion of China.

Last night she informed me that she knows how to count to 10 in Chinese, and she starts rattling it off. Then Libby chimes in "Well I know how to count to ten in Spanish!! Uno, Dose, Trace...." Then Carlie says "Well so what, "I" know how to count to ten in ENGLISH!!! One, two...."

A few minutes later, Madi says "Did you know that if we lived in China, that Frank would be your only child???"

It tickles me that she's learning so much.

Carlie's Art

This is from her book of colors done in Kindergarten.

Pinkitis

Madi told me this morning that they had a case of Pinkitis in her class. All I could think of was a little girl wearing tons and tons of pink. Then Madi pulls down her lower eyelids and says "You know pinkitis...where your eyes turn pink"

Ohhhh....pink eye or conjunctivitis. LOL.

Madi's Progress Report

Madi is helpful and well behaved in the classroom. She's improved in not taking so long to socialize on bathroom breaks. Let's work on remembering to keep quiet in line and the hallway.

If the hat fits....then wear it.

I guess that Libby is descending into those tween years of angst that most girls experience before they hit puberty. She couldn't seem to get along with anybody this morning. She didn't know that I was watching from around the corner. Frank came up to the couch and asked her to move over so he could sit down. Instead of moving over as he asked, she just spread out more. So he promptly sat on her. That made her absolutely furious so she started slapping him as hard as she could. She knows he's not allowed to hit her back. She tried to tell me that she didn't do anything, Frank just came over and jumped on her.

Libby says that she's not ever, ever going to have sex....because if you have sex then you get pregnant. And babies come out your who-ha, so she's not ever, EVER doing that. Good!!!

Frank heard her saying that the other day and goes "Oh, I bet you'll change your mind." I don't know if he meant about the babies or the sex. LOL.

Carlie in Kindergarten

Well starting Carlie in Kindergarten has been interesting, to say the least. They earn stars in her class for good behavior. They can get three a day if they don't get into any trouble. Most days Carlie has been getting 1 out of 3 stars. The first week she said repeatedly that she missed her Mommy. The third day of school she had a complete melt down at bed time. She had gone to bed as usual, but I heard her in there crying so pitifully....I could tell they weren't mad or fake tears. I went in to see what was wrong with her. She was crying because she'd taken her fuzzy purple blanket to school for rest time, and she was missing it.

I told her "Carlie, you'll get to see it tomorrow when you go back to school." And she wailed "But I want it NOW. And it's there, and I'm HERE!!" I knew it wasn't about the blanket, because that wasn't even one of her favorite blankets.

I got in bed with her and cuddled up and we talked. I asked her if she got in trouble at school that day and she said No. But after we talked a while she said "When you throw fits at school, they make you sit out in the hall." I asked her why she threw a fit, and she said she was missing me. She also said that she was upset because I was not there when school got out each day. I told her that it wasn't really any different than last year, because even though she was at our house, I still didn't get to see her until my work was over. And she wailed again "But your work is so far Away...and you are there and I am HERE." I finally got her settled down and she went to sleep.

Then next day she didn't get ANY stars, and I asked her why. She said "Well I was arguing with the teacher. She wanted to tell me how to write my e, and I told her that I didn't want any help writing my e!!!" My Mom and Dad thought that was SO funny for some reason. Hmmmmmm. They said something about "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree???"

So now a couple of weeks have gone by, and Carlie is getting more of her stars. But she hadn't read to the teacher yet at all. So I emailed her teacher yesterday and asked if she could be given some opportunities to read on her level. They are going to set up some activities so that Carlie gets about 30 minutes a day of reading, but still gets to do all the fun things with her class. So they gave Carlie a Star computerized reading test to find out her reading level yesterday. The teacher said she didn't think they got an accurate reading level though because when she went to check on Carlie she was just randomly punching buttons. When the teacher talked to her about trying harder, she did better. So they are going to test her some other ways.

But when I got home that night, I had an interesting talk with Carlie. Carlie said "You emailed my teacher, and because of that I had to stay after class and take a computer test. And I didn't like it!!!" I asked her how she knew that I emailed her teacher and she said "Because Mrs Smith told me you did." She told me that she didn't do very good on the test because she doesn't want to do special reading stuff, she wants to do what everyone else does. So I have a kindergartener who deliberately didn't try hard on a test because she wants to be like everyone else!!!! How do you deal with THAT one???

August Quotes

Every family has a kid who won’t eat. My kid brother had not eaten voluntarily in over three years. - A Christmas Story
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There was a time in my young life that I thought I'd never have children I could keep, and I prayed and prayed to become a mother. Then kids suddenly started coming out of the wood work. And so I began praying "Okay Lord, that's enough!!!" And still they seem to keep finding me!!! - Julie Pool
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Our love isn't the warm and fuzzy kind of love, Its the rough and hairy kind of love - Bob Pool speaking about adopting children out of the Foster Care System
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Kids are like monkeys...what they don't break, they crap on - Bob Pool
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Better Than Breakfast In Bed

I like to sleep in on the weekends, but I try not to be nutty about it. Madi woke me up fairly early on Saturday morning. I was JUST about to snap at her for waking me up so early when she whips out an envelope from behind her back. I open it up and there is a pretty picture inside. She told me "It says To: Mom Fum: Madi. I sounded it out myself Fum F-U-M Fum." Made my morning :0)

Hot Mamma!!!

I was taking Frank to football practice the other day, and Frank said "The other day, Blake said 'Your mom is HOT!!'" Made my day. I had to work really hard to get my inflated ego through the front door when I got home.

P.S. I think it might have something to do with the sports car I drive!

So what does Diabolical mean?

Carlie came home from school yesterday and asked Lena "What does Diabolical mean?" Lena didn't know. So when I got home Carlie asked me. I told it meant some who's really evil...like a villan.

So at bedtime, the two girls got into a tussel. I can hear them in the other room fighting, and I hear Carlie yell at Madi "You're DIABOLICAL, Madi!!!!" LOL. Big words for a 5 year old.

Animal Lover

Madolyn has always been crazy about animals and most animals seem to know it. My parent's little dog Cooper absolutely LOVES Madi. They are two peas in a pod.

Well Madi came home from her first day of school and told me. "Mom, did you know that you are Da Urinal?" Since this came out of the blue, I couldn't figure out what on earth she was talking about. She goes "You know....Hamsters are Noctural because they sleep during the day and are awake at night. And Humans are Da Urinal."

And I go "Ohhhhh....Diurnal!!"

Lunch Notes

It's been Libby's job this school year to pack everyone's lunch for school/work the next day. We've all been taking our lunch including Bob and I. Today I found the note above from Libby in mine. It made my day!!!!

What it takes to get a smart kid to eat dinner

Every family has a kid who won’t eat. My kid brother had not eaten voluntarily in over three years. - A Christmas Story

Carlie is our child who won't eat at the dinner table. Last night, she was refusing to eat as always....the meat tasted yucky, the corn had juice in it, etc, etc.

So Libby says "Mom, can I only eat 95% of my food and still get dessert?" And I see the lights go off in Carlie's head. She wants to know what percentage of food is remaining on HER plate, and I say "Oh, about 90% of it." So she wolfs down the rest of her Mac and Cheese and wants to know what percent is left. I tell her that about 75% is still left. At this point she stops a minute to negotiate with me. She says "If I eat 80% of my food, can I have dessert?" So I tell her that 80% will work. So she continues to take a bite of this and a bite of that asking me after each bite what percent is remaining. Whew!!! I actually got most of a meal down her. Thanks, Libby!!!

Mean Girls

I HATE the whole Mean Girls thing, and I am constantly telling my three daughters that they need to be kind to people...in particular those who are different, new to the school or don't have any friends.

After their second day of school last week, Madi climbed up in my lap and we were talking. I told her, “If you see kids in your class that don’t have anyone to play with them or be their friend, I want you to go make friends with them.” She looked at me like I was crazy and said “Moooooommm." I thought uh oh.

But she followed it up with "I’m already friends with EVERYBODY in the 1st grade!!!” LOL. It was the second day of class. My little social butterfly.

Tater - Part III - The Ghost Cat

Shortly after Carlie was born, Tater had just become extremely ragged looking. The other cats picked at her and she looked like she was on her last legs. I didn't want to put her to sleep, so I asked Mom and Dad if they'd take her home with them and let her live out her last years in peace.

After she went home with them she filled back out and perked up. She would love on them in the evenings. Tater's favorite think in the world has always been milk. And I swear she could ASK for it. She would stand in front of the ice box and demand "Meeeeeiillllk! Meeeeeiiilllllk!" until someone came and poured her some milk.

My parents went to China last summer. They got a high school boy to watch their animals while they were gone. And they warned this boy that Tater was very, very old (at least 18 years old) and that it might be possible she would die while they were gone.

When they got back from China, Mom called me up crying and said that Tater was "gone". I reply "What do you mean 'gone'? Did she die while you were away?" And she said that Tater had just disappeared. They have a doggy door that they'd left open, and they assumed she'd gone out the doggy door and had gone off somewhere to die.

I knew she was very old, but I cried. I'd had that cat my entire adult life. When I went back to visit Mom and Dad that next weekend, I looked out the kitchen window and cried again. I told my Dad that it really bothered me that we didn't know what had happened to her, and I just had the urge to go and look for her. At the same time I knew my parents had alreay looked and looked and looked for her.

Another week went by, and Granny woke up early one morning and there was that Dang cat sitting in front of the fridge and demanding "Milk!!!! Milk!!!!" Granny said the hair on the back of her neck stood up, she said she thought she was seeing a ghost! But it was Tater. All we can figure is that she'd wandered outside and had been staying with someone else for those two weeks.

My poor Dad, he said "Every day I came in from work, and I was afraid that cat would be dead. I worried and worried about her. Then she did 'die' and I got used to her being dead. Now she's back, and I'm back to worrying every day whether or not she's alive!!!"

Tater lived another six months or so. Still, she had gotten very frail, and we knew she wouldn't make it much longer. Even at the very end though...she literally only had one tooth left in her head....she managed to bite my Mom one last time and drew blood! And once again, she disappeared out the doggy door.....only this time she didn't come back. Rest in peace, Taternator....you gave me alot of good company.

False Teeth

My Dad (Papaw) has had dentures for about a year now. He's occassionally taken them out and chased the kids around the house with them...as my own Grandpa Cass used to do with me.

My Mom just got dentures a few weeks ago. She's been a bit more vane with hers and didn't want the kids to see her without them in. I don't think I even mentioned to my kids that Granny was getting new dentures.

She watched them for us the other day, and she said she was careful to never let the kids see her without them. But one day Carlie (out of the corner of her eye) caught Granny putting them in. She looked at Granny like she was crazy and said "WHY on EARTH are you putting Papaw's teeth in YOUR mouth!!!!"

Saving Star Fish

An elderly man was picking up objects off the beach and tossing them out into the sea. A young man approached and saw that the objects were starfish. He asked, "Why in the world are you throwing starfish into the water?"

"If the starfish are still on the beach when the tide goes out and the sun rises high in the sky, they will die," replied the elderly man.

The young man countered, "That is ridiculous. There are thousands of miles of beach and millions of starfish. You can't really believe that what you're doing could possibly make a difference!"

The wise old man picked up another starfish, paused thoughtfully, and as he threw it to the safety of the sea, he said, "It made a difference to that one."

Later that day the young man returned and helped the elderly man throw starfish into the sea.

JB is doing SO well right now. I just wanted to take a second to brag on him. He has his own apartment. He comes over to do laundry at our place, eat and sometimes just to hang out. I went over to see his apartment last night to bring him a few things. He starts college in a week. He's planning on getting a degree in Restaurant Management. Granny sent him a whole load of pots and pans, spices and kitchen stuff. We gave him a love-seat. His grandpa bought him a bunch of tables, a toaster and a can-opener and they gave him his bed from their home. He's got a .... well a batchelor pad. LOL.

I'm sure he'll probably mess up again. But right now his future is looking very bright. Many people told us why taking on a teenage boy with problems was a hopeless task. But I like to think of JB as a Star Fish. "It made a difference to that one."

School Starts This Week

It's killing me that my last one is going to kindergarten!! Last night was the night that they find out who their teachers are and go put their school supplies in their classrooms. Everyone got a good teacher.







Yesterday was also the first day at football practice with full pads where they start hitting each other. Bob said Frank got laid out flat on his first hit. I asked him if he still liked it, and he said yes, but it hurt alot when you got hit. I told him it didn't hurt as bad if you were the hitter instead of the hittee!!!

One of My Fav Motherhood Essays

I hope my children one day feel this way about me.


The young mother set her foot on the path of life. 'Is this the long
way?' she asked. And the guide said: 'Yes, and the way is hard. And you
will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better
than the beginning.'

But the young mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything
could be better than these years. So she played with her children, and
gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed them in the clear
streams; and the sun shone on them, and the young Mother cried, 'Nothing
will ever be lovelier than this.'

Then the night came, and the storm, and the path was dark, and the
children shook with fear and cold, and the mother drew them close and
covered them with her mantle, and the children said, 'Mother, we are not
afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come.'

And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children
climbed and grew weary, and the mother was weary. But at all times she
said to the children,' A little patience and we are there.' So the
children climbed, and when they reached the top they said, 'Mother, we
would not have done it without you.'

And the mother, when she lay down at night looked up at the stars and
said, 'This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned
fortitude in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage.
Today, I have given them strength.'

And the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth, clouds of
war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the
mother said: 'Look up. Lift your eyes to the light.' And the children
looked and saw above the clouds an everlasting glory, and it guided them
beyond the darkness. And that night the Mother said, 'This is the best
day of all, for I have shown my children God.'

And the days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years, and
the mother grew old and she was little and bent. But her children were
tall and strong, and walked with courage. And when the way was rough,
they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather; and at last they came
to a hill, and beyond they could see a shining road and golden gates
flung wide. And mother said: 'I have reached the end of my journey. And
now I know the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk
alone, and their children after them.'

And the children said, ' You will always walk with us, Mother, even when
you have gone through the gates.' And they stood and watched her as she
went on alone, and the gates closed after her. And they said: 'We cannot
see her, but she is with us still. A Mother like ours is more than a
memory. She is a living presence.'

Your Mother is always with you. She's the whisper of the leaves as you
walk down the street; she's the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered
socks; she's the cool hand on your brow when you're not well. Your Mother
lives inside your laughter. And she's crystallized in every tear drop.
She's the place you came from, your first home; and she's the map you
follow with every step you take. She's your first love and your first
heartbreak, and nothing on earth can separate you. Not time, not
space...not even death!

Cheater, Cheater Pumpkin Eater

This is one of my favorite stories from the time I was a High School Math Teacher.

since I had to go have that Ultra Sound done yesterday afternoon, I left a test for my fourth (last) hour to take. I thought that would keep them busy and quiet, etc. So I left EXPLICIT instructions for the sub that they were not to use notes, notecards, books, etc and were to not look at each other's paper. I guess I should have known better, because that is my old class of terds. Well I get in this morning, and the sub has left a list of about six people that he caught cheating on the test. And I though *Oh, no...what I am going to do now.* So I asked about the sub and whether he is reliable, and they said that yes if he reported them cheating then they did. So I mulled over it alllll day today. And I sat down in my planning period and graded the papers. Well out of 22 kids, only five passed the test. And of those five, four of them were on the cheater's list. So here is what I did. I let myself get worked up into a real mad. I went in there and told them *You've raised the wrath of Mrs. Pool. For TWO reasons. The first is, I know you cheated. So everyone get out a sheet of paper and write one of the following three things 1 - I did not cheat 2 - I cheated by looking off of someone's paper 3 - I cheated using notecards, book, etc. I told them if they fessed up and were on the cheat sheet I wouldn't call their parents. But if they didn't fess up and were on the cheat list, I was going to call their parents.* So I made them pass all of those in . THEN, I went off of them again. I said *Not only did you cheat....but if you're going to cheat, at least be smart enough to cheat off someone who knows what their doing!!! So not only did you cheat...but you cheated and risked a zero on your test, suspension, a call to your parents, etc...and you STILL got an F. So was it worth it??? THEN, I went off on them for all flunking the test. I told them that test was at least HALF memorization, and they'd known it was coming weeks ahead of time. I told them that I knew EVERY ONE OF THEM was capable of making a C or better on the test. That I CARED about their grades and what they knew. And that in Mrs. Pool's room it was NOT acceptable to say *Oh, well its hard....I don't care if I flunk it. I'll just hope the next test is easier.* I told them that we were going to study Ellipses, Circles, Hyperbola's and Parabolas until EVERY ONE OF THEM made a C or better on the test. And that if that was all we studied until the end of the block, that's all we did. And I was going to make them so tired of studying those same things over and over again, that they'd decide it was worth their while to study for the test and pass it. LOL. I sure had some big eyes before I was done. Then I went back and opened all the papers they'd turned in about whether they cheated. I had six kids on the cheat list and 16 kids confessed. LOL. And two of the kids on the cheat list said they didn't.

Wild Night in 2004

The Wildness is still the same when you have as many kids as I do...its just the types of things they get into that changes

Feb 2004 - The kids are 5, 4, 2 and 1 years old.

I had the kids by myself tonight because Bob was running the clock at a Junior High Basketball Tournament. So I made them some dinner. Carlie had not taken a nap at daycare, so I'd put her down for a nap earlier. Before we could eat dinner, I caught Frank sneaking some marshmallows out of the cupboard without asking. He knows this is against in the rules and ended up in a tantrum where I had to hold him down. He hasn't done that in FOREVER. So I put him to bed for a while, and fed Madi and Libby. I made noodles in tomato sauce which everybody loves. By the time they were finished Carlie was awake, and I let Frank get up.

Frank was eating, and I was feeding Carlie yogurt which is her favorite. I'd just given Carlie a bite or two when Libby comes to tell me that Madi has locked herself in the bathroom (I imagine she had a little help, but can't prove it *wink*). So I have to leave Carlie in the high chair who throws a raging fit because she's not done eating her very favorite food...the yogurt. So I have to hunt up the set of little tiny screw drivers to spring the lock on the bathroom door. It only took about 10 minutes, but by the time I got Madi out she was so hysterical she was broken out all over in hives.

When I go back to check on Carlie...she is happily eating the noodles off of Madi's tray and is wearing them all over her. I guess I should be glad she wasn't eating them off the floor or eating cat food.

I then begin the bathing process. I call it a process because bathing four kids under the age of six is NEVER a simple chore. Since the bad incident a few weeks ago where Madi pooped in the tub while Libby was in it, Madi has had a phobia about poop in the tub. I had put Carlie into the tub first, and some of the noodles in her hair washed down into the tub. So when I tried to put Madi in the tub she started bawling hysterically again screaming *No Poop, No Poop, Carlie Pooped.* SOOO...I had to drain the tub with Carlie in it and refill it with clean water. At least now I have two kids clean.....two to go. Libby is in and out quickly and easily, and I am glad of this. Then I assume that Frank will be easy too. Well he was...except for the fact that Madi had gone back into the bathroom when I wasn't looking and threw a roll of toilet paper into his bathwater. Frank's supposed to have the door locked while he's in the tub to prevent such accidents from happening.

SOOOOO....I get all that cleaned up. In the mean time, I am about a month behind on Foster Care Logs which I'm trying to get caught up by Wednesday. Libby's teacher sends home a poster TODAY saying she's the Student of the Week this week and please put pictures and captions on it BY YESTERDAY. Hmmm...how do you do that one? And Frank's homeroom teacher calls while I am dishing Toilet Paper out of his bath water to ask me to please bring two bags of chips to his Valentine's Party on Friday.

Bob walks in the door a few minutes later and cheerfully says *Hi Honey, how was your day?* and can't figure out why I looked daggers at him. LOLOLOL.

Granny's Response

Oh well, those are the happy times you will remember twenty years from now. LOL Love, Mom

Aunt JoLynn's Response

Hahahaha! I am dying laughing at Madi not wanting to get in the tub cause she thought Carlie pooped in there!!

Tater - Part II - Life after Kids

Tater never really did adjust to the idea that there were kids in our home! For the most part she would just hide out somewhere and avoid them. Tater also never adjusted to my Mom. Over the years, my Mom tried REPEATEDLY to win that cat over. However, every time my Mom tried to pet her, it usually ended with Tater biting my Mom. Tater just had this look that said "I HATE YOU!!!"

When Frank was 5 he instructed Granny, that he could now pet Tater. But only sometimes. He can pet Tater when her ears are pointed up...but when her ears are pointed down...then you'd better not pet her. LOL. That boy had her figured out

July Quotes

If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, then We did it. If anything goes real good, then You did it. That's all it takes to get people to win football games for you - Paul Bryant
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Stop telling God how big your storm is - Instead tell your storm how big your GOD is. - Unknown
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Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. --- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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My mom used to say it doesn't matter how many kids you have... because one kid'll take up 100% of your time so more kids can't possibly take up more than 100% of your time. ~Karen Brown

Cleaning the Kitchen When the Kids were Little

This was written when Frank was 5, Libby was 4, Madi was 2 and Carie was a newborn.

We have been cleaning the kitchen. We had so much fun. I gave Frank, Libby and Madi all wipes and they wiped down EVERYTHING. I get the cheap orange spray at the Dollar Store for a $1 for a big bottle. We used about half of one. LOL. Madi was right in the middle saying *I want some spray. I want some spray.* Then I got out the mops. I had two good ones. So I used one, and I set the timer on the stove for five minutes. So they each got to mop five minutes, and the one who wasn't mopping got to water my flowers.

Now my kitchen is sparkly clean. I didn't want to mess the floors up, so I sent the big kids outside to eat with a picnic.

Snack Wars - Part III

For our third installment, we'll talk about the case of the missing Push-Up. I had purchased a box of them from the Schwann Man, and they were SO good. The kids loved them. I let them each eat one.

About an hour later, Madi came and told us that Frank had gotten another one out of the freezer (with out asking) and was eating it. Frank knew that she was going to go tell on him. I hollered at him to come in. He comes in with empty hands and his best innocent look on. I ask him if he'd eaten a second Push Up and the halo on his head practically GLOWED as he said "Well no, I didn't eat another Push Up.!!"

Madi chimes in "He did have a second one and he put it in the trash outside!" Well Frank is smart enough to know when the gig is up. He confessed.

Now Frank is a GERM-A-PHOBE. He cannot tolerate eating or drinking after anyone else, and he's easily grossed out. Bob made him retrieve the offending Push Up. It had one bite taken out of it, and was slightly dirty from its brief visit to the trash can. Bob made him eat it....dirt and all.

Frank tried to die, but did manage to get it down. Actually I think once he got the dirt licked off of it, he rather enjoyed it. I don't think he's swiped anything out of the freezer again.

We'll have to wait and see what the next saga of the Snack Wars will be. I'm sure there'll be more to come.

Tater - Part I - The College Years

When I went away to college for the first time, I was living in a small apartment in Student Housing at K-State. I was very lonesome…missing my family and my pets. I was not allowed to have pets in my 1 bedroom apartment. I tried taking my young Siamese Cat, Moses, with me. However, he was so wild, I was afraid someone would hear him in my apartment and turn me in. So I sent him back home with Mom and Dad.

I was hoping that I could find an older, quieter cat that I could keep in the apartment. Mom came to visit one day and brought in a large package in a JC Penny’s bag. I set it on the floor and inside was a cat carrier with a beautiful silver Persian Cat inside. The cat’s name was Tater. Mom had had the cat for over a week, and had kept it secret for a surprise. She said in that week she’d tried and tried to win Tater’s affections, but any time she tried to pet the cat, Tater would bite her!

For the first few days, Tater hid out under the bed. If I tried to get her out, she would hiss at me. Then one day I came home and all of my kitchen scrubbies and a pair of folded socks were in the middle of the living room floor. I knew the cat had to have done it, as she and I were the only ones in the apartment. I put everything back up, and the next day they were all back in a neat pile in the living room again!!

One day I was sitting on the couch and hear the most awful racket. Tater comes into the living room with a pair of my rolled up socks in her mouth, and she’s meowing this pitiful meow!! I guess that maybe she had had white kittens at some point, and maybe she thought she was carrying around a lost kitten or something.

As she got comfortable with me, we became friends. But she soon started another bizarre behavior. She started running around my apartment in the middle of the night like her tail was on fire. She would zip from one end of the apartment to the other over and over again. I lived upstairs, and I wasn’t supposed to have any pets in the apartment. She sounded like a herd of buffalos running through my apartment. I tried several different things to get her to stop. I tried feeding her. I tried shutting my bedroom door, and I tried holding her in bed with me. None of these worked. One night out of desperation, I took her and got her wet in the bath tub. She had to lick herself dry, which took a while….and hence ended the wild running.
The whole time I lived in that apartment I had to wet her down on a regular basis.

When I went home to visit Mom and Dad, I didn’t want to leave Tater in the apartment by herself. Again, I was afraid that the people downstairs would hear her and know that since I wasn’t home there must be an animal up there. So I took her with me. To sneak her in and out of the apartment, I would put her in the cat carrier and then cover it up in the JC Penny’s bag. We did this for TWO YEARS and never got caught.

I had not been in my new apartment very long when the Air Conditioning went out of my Pontiac Fiero. I didn’t have the money to fix it. Riding around with the windows down wasn’t really a problem for me, but poor Tater had a thick and long fur coat. When I would take her in the car with me to go home for a weekend, she’d get over heated and start panting. To fix this problem, I began packing her cat carrier with ice packs, and that kept her cool. I enjoyed her company so much those two years. She helped keep me from getting lonely.

When I graduated from college and began traveling, I took her with me on the plane. Tater was a very good traveler!!! One time when I was flying with her, we had to change flights in a major airport. I had heard horror stories about pets getting lost when planes where changed. I asked the flight attendants repeatedly if my cat had made it onto the plane. I refused to take a seat on the plane until I knew that Tater had made it safely aboard. Finally the flight attendant told me that if I would just get on the plane she’d let me know when my cat arrived. So I’m sitting in my seat…still worrying….and they announce over the intercom. “To the passenger in seat 3A, your cat has now safely arrived on the airplane and we can depart from the gate.” I wanted to crawl under the seat!!

We had a lot of good adventures together.

The Fluff Cycle on the Dryer

When we lived in Park City, KS the laundry room was in the back corner of the basement. Bob had sent Frank downstairs to take the clothes out of the dryer so that they could fold them.

I was in the shower, and the kids start banging on the bathroom door. I couldn't really understand what they were saying, but I was supremely irritated that I couldn't even take a quiet shower without kids hollering for me. So I hollered back for them to go away. A few minutes later my HUSBAND knocks on the door. He says "I think you probably want to come out, we accidentally dried your cat in the clothes dryer." I scramble out of the shower...of course I was wet and didn't take the time to dry off properly which makes it really hard to get clothes on. As I'm scrambling to get dressed I yell thru the door "Is he dead? I just want to know if he's dead." The curt answer I got back was "Almost".

When I finally got out there to check on him, he looked okay. Bob was holding him...he was panting and drooling like crazy.

Frank and Bob told me how he accidentally got dried. Bob had sent Frank downstairs to take the clothes out of the dryer. When Frank checked on them they were still a little damp, so he left the laundry room to go to the bottom of the stairs and ask Bob what he should do. Bob, of course, told him to put them on for a few more minutes. Apparently Frank had left the door to the dryer open while he went to ask, and Shadow had jumped in. We figure that he was in the running dryer for about 15 minutes!

After we found out Shadow as going to be okay, it became kind of funny. I have the front loading washer and dryers with the clear fronts. I can only imagine what it must have looked like with Shadow going round and round in there!!! Poor cat!!!

For about three days, he could not walk straight. He'd be going across the room in a drunken weave. Then about a week later, a faint line appeared at the tip of one of his ears. I figured the other cat had scratched him, but to my horror the line started to erode. Eventually the tip of his ear fell off. I guess it got too hot in the dryer.

I'm sure that cat lost SEVERAL lives that day!!!!

Habla Espanol???

The house next door that is under construction has been a thorn in my side for the past year. As I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago, they have finally started working on it again in ernest, and there are now lots of workers over there on a regular basis - many of them Mexican.

I let Madi and Carlie play in the front yard if Frank or Libby is out there with them. One day last week they came inside and Madi says "Mom, we were talking to the guys next door who were working on the house!!" I raise my eyebrows and say "Are you supposed to be talking to strangers? Madi thinks about it a minute and says "No, but we weren't speaking to them in English." And Carlie chimes in "Yeah, we wer speaking to them in Spanish."

Sooooooo of course I ask "What did you SAY to them in Spanish???"

And they go "We said Adios, Amigos!!! And "Ola!! Ola!!!"

I asked the girls what the guys did when they spoke to them in Spanish. And Madi said "Oh, they just smiled and waved!!"

No telling what those construction workers thought!!!

First I Lobster....Then I Flounder

I found the hamster. I found the hamster!!! Alive even!

I have been home alone most of the week. Bob had a wedding to attend in South Dakota. He left Wednesday, and my Mom came and picked up the kids. They took the remaining hamster and the cage with them.

While all the kids were gone, I searched the house high and low several more times looking for the darn thing. Then I ran into the former owner one night at the store. She told me that this particular hamster had escaped several times, and they always found it asleep in a tennis shoe. So I went home and looked in every shoe in the house....and with as many kids as we have....that's alot of shoes!!! But no sign of Hannah.

Then I put out a pile of hamster food upstairs and downstairs. On Friday night, I went down to check on the pile of food, and the one downstairs was gone. So then I knew she was still alive and downstairs.

So I start checking shoes again. In Libby's tennis shoe, I didn't find the hamster, but I DID find hamster FOOD. So I knew she'd been there. So I shut the door and went through Libby's room. I found Hannah behind the closet door. Whew!!!!

So now I have the missing hamster, but no hamster CAGE!!! So I put her in bucket in my whirlpool tub, and I closed the bathroom door. I came back an hour later to check on her, and the door to the bathroom is open and the dang hamster is gone AGAIN!!!

The bucket was knocked over. So I don't know if she managed to escape herself or if one of our dogs and cats gave her a "lift" out of the tub. I start searching for her again, and Hunter (our cat) had her cornered behind the dresser in the little girls' room.

I'm gonna change that rodent's name to Houdini!!!

Seven Years Ago Today, We Met Frank and Libby

Bob and I had been married just a little over a month, when we got the call from the Social Worker about Frank and Libby. We were told that it was a pair of sisters, Frankie aged 4 and Shawna aged 2. We were told to meet the former Foster Parent at the DHS offices in the afternoon. We were so excited. We got to the office on time and waited and waited and waited, and the other Foster Mom didn't show up. Finally she called into the office to say she was running late. Again we waited and waited, and finally she showed up with Frank and Libby. And Frank turned out to be a BOY not a girl and he was 3 instead of 4.

They were very quiet at first. Their old Foster Mom was an old lady in her 70s. I asked her if she'd told the kids that they were going to be living with us, and she said "Oh no. I didn't tell them they were leaving. But don't worry, they are used to going with strangers all the time, and it will be a long time before they figure out they aren't coming back to my house." That mad me SO mad. They'd been with her for over a year, and all they had to show for it was a bag of clothes that I wouldn't donate to the Salvation Army and a small box of broken toys. That was it.

We took them to McDonalds, and then on home. Libby didn't talk at all. Frank only said a few things. Getting them to go to sleep that first night was hard...but it didn't take them long to settle in at all.

I can't believe it's been seven years.

Pilates Truck

Bob went out of state this week for a wedding, so Granny took the kids home with her today until Saturday. They were all so excited to go, and took the remaining hamster with them.

On the way to her house, Granny said they had to wait in line for road construction. They were in a place where there was one lane of traffic and had to wait forever. Finally a Pilot Car came for them to escort them down the one-lane road. Carlie said "Granny, that sign on that car says Pilates Truck. Follow me. WHY do we have to follow a Pilates Truck???"

That just didn't make sense to her.

P.S. About Losing Hamsters

We still haven't found her. We've all looked everywhere.

But there are two things you realize when your hamster gets loose.

1.) Your house is alot bigger than you thought it was.
2.) Your house is ALOT dirtier than you thought it was.

I've found some dust bunnies under my furniture that were down right scary!!!

I hope we find her soon :0(

We have a prison break on our hands!!

It tooks less than 48 hours for one of the hamsters to escape. We think the escapee had help from the outside....the suspect is one Carlie Pool...aged 5....both child and hamster should be considered armed and dangerous.

They played with the poor hamsters allll day yesterday. And remember, Hamsters are noctural creatures. They like to stay up all night and sleep during the day. Bob made them put them up occasionally for a brief rest, but that's about it. At bath time, I sent the little girls to the bath tub and the big kids to the shower. One of the hamsters was left unattended in the hamster ball. When all the kids left, I swear it gave a big sigh of relief and just sat there in the hamster ball.

When I went to bed at 11pm, I decided that I'd better go check on the hamsters. Normally they'd be awake and playing at this time...instead ours were out cold in a corner of the cage...yes, I did check them to see if they were still breathing.

Madolyn (the one who really, really loves animals) got up at 6:30am this morning so that she could play with the hamsters all by herself without sharing. At 9am this morning, I get a frantic call from Bob that one of the hamsters is missing.

They think that Carlie set it down somewhere and left it. They have looked for it all day, and can't find it. I think it's probably off in a dark corner somewhere wonderfully relieved to be away from the Pooligan clan.

Now I've had experience in finding lost hamsters...so when I get home, I'll see if I can find it. They think it's down in the basement somewhere, so hopefully it hasn't gone far.

Meet the Newest Pooligans

Welcome Hannah and Angel to the family. A neighbor across the street offered them to the kids...along with their cage and supplies. The more the merrier, eh??