The Ozmerican Life

It's been another long while since I've posted. It's till that darn picture thing...I feel like posting without a picture is kind of a "cheater post."

We had a GREAT weekend at the cabin with my college buddies. It was the first time we've invited our kids and husbands along. It's usually girl only....with the exception of me. It's always at my house and I can't kick my kids out for the weekend...so I am still "mom" but as minimally as possible. We girls had a good time...the kids pretty much. Ava made a new best friend with Michelle's daughter Elayna who is 3. They had their own babies on their hips the whole weekend...very cute.

The husbands...well we haven't gotten the full report back from them yet :) We tend to resort back to college life when we're together and try to escape the mature responsible role when we are together!

We did manage to keep all the kids safe and sound and injury free for the whole weekend...so we must have been somewhat responsible...although Keira did have one little somewhat life threatening incident....well to be honest it was pretty dangerous and did make my heart...as well as everyone else's heart skip a beat or two. I'm not going to go into it...well because my mom reads this and I'm trying to avoid the "mom" speech!!

Other than that...not much has been happening here the past few weeks. A couple of trips to the park and beach....ahh the beach. By that I mean the stinky, green, weedy, "lake" I could almost spit across with dirty sand that really shouldn't even be sat on. I can't help it every time I sit on a "beach" (it really shouldn't even be called that...it's a disgrace to the word) imagine the Australian beaches that I've been spoiled with. Maybe a bit silly, but I sit, close my eyes for a second and pretend.....and then I open them. Disappointed. There is no comparison to the ocean beaches...I love them...I could sit for hours and just watch and listen. Someday we will be back there...semi-permanently I hope. I would love to spend a few years there after my kids are older...maybe out of the house. But I would have to come back...it could never be totally permanent. One could only live so long without such things as velveeta chip dip, fruit pizza, and Chipotle...and yes even winter....or at least fall. I do love the smell of winter air and the pink sky after a snowfall.

Kids and school are still going pretty good. I love love love to see them learn...it's the coolest things to see them figure things out, to see your efforts pay off, to see them read....it's the best. I am still keeping up with my night time reading routine. I actually look forward to it myself.

I used the Sonlight Readers list for books. The first few were pretty good...then I came across this one titled "The Family Under the Bridge." I think the book is just fine if you're 10...but it was on my Kindergarten reading list. The book is set in Paris...there's the first problem...who can pronounce a French word?? NOT ME!! It was about a hobo...my kids don't even know what that is....and if I told them, the concept of being homeless to them is a little bit of a reach for them. Something about some gypsies...more French words...some kids...more French words...and finding jobs. Yes I know it's probably good to read a bit above their level but really?!?!

But nonetheless, I did understand the book and I just had to finish it to see what actually happened. So I read as fast as I could, totally slaughtering all the French words, just to finish so I could see what happened. Guaranteed the kids have no idea of anything that happened in the book...but I am just that much more enlightened!!

Let's hope that the next book on the reading list is a bit better than that!!