Ya'll and Such

I have lived in the South for 16 years now and have been proud to say that I have never used the grammatically incorrect Ya'll...until today. I was talking with a handyman who was at my house fixing a few things and somehow in the course of our conversation it came out. As a matter of fact, I heard myself sound fairly "Southern" during our little chat. Lengthening my vowels, putting emphasis on different syllables...and when I think of it, I find myself changing my accent unknowingly depending on to whom I am talking with.

I have always assumed my kids would sound like a Midwesterner because...why wouldn't they? I listen to them closely sometimes when they say certain things and I don't catch much Southernese yet...would that be a bad thing? (no offense meant to my Southern friends)
Not really and many would assume as they are being raised in the South, they would sound as such. But there is something in me that has been very closed to the idea of "giving in" to the accent as that could lead to full blown "Bless Your Heart" and giving my children somebody's last name as their first name and converting to Baptist.

But today for some reason I did not recoil as I heard myself say Ya'll and I don't think I would wash my kids' mouths out with soap if I heard it come from them. I guess my old age is mellowing me into a Southern Something (disgruntled Belle at best).

On the Move

It is close to being official but we are MOVING the weekend before Thanksgiving unless some catastrophic force of nature hits in the meantime. I am terribly excited as well as a teensy bit sad as I moved into this house with a baby (well, almost...he was 18 months) and leaving with 3 precious off-spring. Where has the time gone?
Probably something like this...coffee in the am before turning on pc to work a bit (paid work) while starting multiple loads of laundry only to stop to clean up poop (either kids or animals) while cooking meals/creating snacks as I simultaneously color/build legos/watch a "dance performance"/play babies then run to answer the phone as I drink Mylanta out of the jug (while prego both times) before feeding the animals and talking to hubby...oh and enjoying a few Blue Moons along the way.
I suspect that our next house will the one my kids think of when they refer to the "house they grew up in"...I hope we pick a good one for them and create many, many good memories for them there.

GoGo goes to School

I could almost post this picture without any comments as her impossible cuteness speaks for itself! She is "really big, mom" now-she has Dominick's old 4-year old teacher and that is good for us. I just love this kid-she is hilarious, thoughtful, stubborn and definitely marches to the beat of her own drum. My girl loves her some red shoes too.

Tom and Jerry

Watching that show is how Dominick learned what a typewriter is. A sad commentary on the childhood my kids will know as opposed to my own. Lucky for him I collect typewriters and rotary phones and assorted other items such as old cameras (that don't work), old books and old kitchen ware. Some would call that a pack rat (my husband sure does) and wonder why in the hell I need such things...I will tell you why. So that I don't forget the sounds and smells of my childhood and my kids learn that

1. phones are supposed to be connected to a wall with an impossibly long cord and ring REALLY loudly AND are not dialed but rotated with your finger

2. that to "print" something required accurate fingers striking metal keys that made a cool clickety-clack sound and a ribbon and a return carriage

3. that to take a picture, I once wound a thin piece of slick black paper into the back of a black box and and then focused my eye through a small hole and hoped to God my picture turned out ok but I wouldn't know for certain until I went to the photo lab

4. that old glazed pottery bowls with stains in the bottom means many good meals have been made with love by someone.

Here is my latest garage sale find that my kids are obsessed with-

and it works!

I am not asking my kids to revert back the horse and buggy or candlelight-I just want them to understand that life was happily lived with much less for a long time and it wouldn't be a bad thing to try that now and again.

Friends and Family

Well now...we survived the first week of Kindergarten AND a layover flight to STL sans daddy. How good are we?

Dominick had a great first day of school and this week has just been awesome for him. It is so exciting to hear him chatting away happily about his day- the other kids (he has a few new friends already), the rules (mostly who breaks them daily) and the food (he is buying lunch and finding that to be terribly exciting). I am so proud of him!!

So I took my precious threesome to the 'Lou to visit family and friends in the area-great idea except for the 6am flight and 90 minute layover. I woke up with freakin' butterflies, I was so nervous about this trip. I am happy to report that as far as I know
1. we are not on a Air Marshalls WATCH list even though Margot said the word bomb very loudly on the plane just prior to takeoff
2. I am not on Utube for publicly beating my children in the airport (kidding people)
3. the rental car company is not charging to clean up the 9,000 crunchy sprinkles that fell off our Mr. Twist icecreams into the backseat.

We had a great time with my family and I got to hang with my girls back home like we haven't done since 1999 (and I damn near mean that literally). I was able to enjoy a record 5 Blue Moons while enjoying a fantastically fall-like evening on the patio of a great bar with ALL the girls (and a few boys)-I SO wish I lived closer to do that more often.
I am fortunate to have some really great friends here but nothing can compare to those relationships you forge while young-the people who best understand where you come from, why you behave as you do and still love you for it...it is almost impossible to replicate that later in life when the mold has already been cast. The life experiences that bond you at 16 such as fake id's and broken hearts are not the same as commiserating over preschool choices for your children and the best place to buy organic. One does not trump the other-the bond is just stronger the longer it grows.