Your kids are calling me Mom again!

Letter from my sister today. I won't tell you which one, just in case you might know us... Names are changed to protect the guilty...

Hi girls,
How are you? We're all fine here. "Alan" starts a new job tonight and he has the flu. It will be another restaurant job. Don't tell Mom. The kid is so poor since he lost his job at Olive Garden that I had to buy him his new work shirt. That was weird. I haven't bought him clothing since he was 16.

Tomorrow our cousins, "XXXX", "OOOO" and family are coming over and we'll go out to eat after church. I asked "OOOO" where they wanted to go and she said "somewhere that poor white people go!". I said, "Excellent, I love Wendy's too".

Everyone likes school alright. "Mickey" is having a bit of trouble this week. He had to turn his school traffic light from green to yellow when he kicked some kid on Wednesday. I was yelling at him while I cleaned out his backpack the next day, and in mid-sentence a red sheet of paper drifted to the floor from his folder. Yep. That day, he had hit someone else, lied to the teacher about it, and received the dreaded red light. Next is double red, which gives him the honor of visiting with the principal. "Hubby" says the next is "double-secret probation red" from Animal House.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying my days with my two little ones, except for the younger one. "Nate" is beautiful and smart and the most curious, busiest child we've ever had. He is constantly pushing a chair or bar stool over to something forbidden. Yesterday in a five minute space of time, he dumped a puddle of catsup on the floor in the hallway, mangled his brother's hot dog with fingers that had sand all over them, and sprinkled hot cocoa powder all over the carpet in the living room. I groaned and gave the hotdog to the dog (he'll eat anything) and then discovered that the "sand" was the cocoa too.

He can somehow open the fridge by himself and "help" himself to orange juice. He always needs a bath after he does this. He throws away every cup or bottle he finishes. We have to dig through the garbage often and I hold my breath when the garbage truck arrives on Friday. (Sorry to bring up a bad memory, Val) He spends his downtime tooling around the house looking for something to get into, and gripping some older child's I-pod or cell phone while heading for the toilet. Right at this minute he's standing on a chair flipping the dining room light off and on.

Sorry to vent. I just need a break from this mom thing for a few hours. or days. "Hubby" and I have this ongoing joke, OK, I have this ongoing joke that the kids are all his and I am just the live-in girlfriend. The other morning they were all calling for me before I was out of bed, and I whined to Hubby, "Hubby, your kids are calling me Mom again!

If you girls get a chance, let me know what is new in your lives. I know I talk to you alot, but surely you'll think of something. Love Me