Happy Easter, He Has Risen

Happy Easter

Merry Christmas to All

Happy Thanksgiving!

Get off the computer! and have a Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Valentine's Day

Just wanted to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day!!

Parents remember take time to enjoy today.. Even old married folks need romance!!

Shauni

Taking the day Off

Taking the day off to spend with the Beasties...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY ALL!!

Can You Believe This?

I try very hard to understand the reasoing of the school system but this one has always gotten me confused. The current outcry is seperation from church and state.. at some public, actually many they are not even allowed to have a Bible club on campus. They are very very strict about this especially Christian beliefs why then do they get Good Friday off?

I can understand if they still celebrate spring break around that time but if they do not.. if they consider it a part of the extended time off which many schools do. I can even make it work for me if they just add it on.. BUT.. my kids had spring break last week they were back in school this week and voila!! they get tomorrow off.

They aren't trying to dress it up or call it anything else NOPE they get Good Friday off.. and it ticks me off.. I guess I expect the schools to remain consistent. They can not shoot down things the kids create to make their lives better to share their faith then take a day off so they can lounge around.. It doesn't work that way!! Well unfortunately it does and that is just plain irksome..

Happy St Patrick's Day

Now please understand I live in the Chicago suburbs, Chicago is one of the three cities in the US (Boston and New York being the other two) that treats today as a national holiday. We die our river green for pete's sake!!

So forgive me if I treat today a little different. What is funny is the way my children treat it.

Hair Boy, doesn't get it. Refuses to even acknowledge it... says we aren't Irish so what is the big deal.. Now let me tell you my name is Shaughnessey... I am morally obligated to celebrate this day.. and my children should too..

Pita Boy, well for once he goes with the flow.. he can take it or leave it but it is an excuse to party.. so he does like this day.

Word Girl, will search high and low for the perfect green outfit,then decide a pair of socks will do... cuz she waited too long to find what she wants.

Blond Girl, I am thinking this holiday was meant for her. It is hard to find something in her closet that ISN'T green. That girl has more green clothes than anyone I know.

Fortunately they are all under 21 so we know there will be no drinking or carousing.. hey... one can dream..

For Any Teen Who May Actually Read This

Tonight is a night for celebrating the new year.. as a culture we tend to party in excess and take risks that maybe on another night we don't. But I am asking each of you to please think of those around you that love you...

Before you take that drink, think...
Before you get in that car.. think
Before you trust the sobriety of another... think
Before you mock your parents for insisting that they drive...think

You are loved, cared for... and we want to see you tomorrow safe and sound..

Thank You God for the Wonderful Day

today was fun, quiet for one of our family Christmas's but as the children grow older and start to have their own lives. I have to wonder will this be the last when we are all together?
Each moment with them is a precious one (even the ones when I am considering alternative parenting methods...like closet locking). I know they are all so close to spreading their wings and moving on.

yes I often comment about how in 3 1/2 years I will start my life, or life begins at 50 or all sorts of comments like that but really.. I have been blessed with some pretty awesome kids and I will miss them when they go.

so yes, today was a good day... one more Christmas where all of my children were home, together, healthy, happy and not fighting (hey it happens once a year.. this year it was Christmas day)

other than a few embarrassing mishaps.. Christmas was good.. and how was yours?

Merrry Christmas to All

Tonight when you drift off to sleep, thinking about all of the Christmas issues that still must be resolved, completed or just plain ignored... remember this.. this single Holiday represents the birth of hope..

Take a moment to look at your sleeping children (yes the teenagers too) and remember how very lucky you are. Are the fed? sheltered?clothed? healthy? any of the above is good if you have them all.... you have hit the lottery.. anything else is just plain amazing.

As I spend my day tomorrow not wanting to clobber them, I will remember to be grateful for having all of the above. It doesnt really matter where they live, how they dress or even what they eat.. thank You God.... the are all healthy.

Merry Christmas All

If it's not one thing it's another

Last night was a traumatic one, sad to say the laptop died... we will be having a funeral for it soon... feel free to send flowers, heck send a new laptop, I am not proud.. but seriously, until I am able to drag the monster out of storage and get a wireless card for it. I am going to be computer defecient for a while.

I will be able to post my blogs, but my entre card drops are going to go way down... I am still going to visit as many of you as I can but my time on the public computer is limited so I am not sure how many or how often I will be visiting.

So if I don't see you before hand... Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!! and a Happy New Year.

Shauni

Seasons Greetings

One has to wonder sometimes at the realities of High School. How is it one expects a child to prepare for finals when she is missing 4 days out of 5 in choir obligations. Yes they are fun but there should be some discretion they must take the time to really understand what they are asking of these students. Yes when a student signs up he/she accepts that this will happen so of course as the time nears he/she must fulfill his/her obligations but it also means that the school needs to be reasonable.

Christmas Holidays are coming.. that means they will all be home more often not less.. I may be have to reconsider the entire four kids thing. Shudders.. ok so I am joking about the kid thing, not the shudder part. Honestly I have to get out of this place soon...

The really funny part is I actually like my kids.. omg, can any of you even tell?

Holiday Traditions

Each family has traditions unique to themselves and their heritage. In our house we have managed to combine traditions, create our own and just have some great memories. As I have stated before one of our family traditions is going to the movies on Christmas day, I hope we can manage that this year it is a fun time.

Another thing my kids have always done is slept in the same room Christmas Eve, now of course this year that is not going to be an issue but... over the years it has become a fun tradition.. because yes teenagers that they are they will trudge into a room to be together and watch movies.. knowing that they can not come out until 7am.. If they come out before that Santa may not have been there and they will miss their chance because Santa only comes when children are asleep.. Hey it worked.

Of course this started when they were little and I was trying to put presents together or figure things out late at night.. invariably I would fall asleep and around 6am get myself up and get everything finished in time. And really does it matter? somehow I have managed to make sure my kids do not wake up until 7am on Christmas morning.. what a gift

What I Want For Christmas

I have been blessed, I have the greatest children imaginable. Oh they are irritating and annoying I often dream of sending them off to far away places, like Mars but in general they are pretty cool. What other four young individuals, two of whom are old enough to leave and have a life of their own, would stick around and help support their family? Would stay in a hotel and donate their income to providing for the whole rather than worrying about themselves? I am immensely proud of them.

But what I would like for Christmas is a home. I would like to have a place where we can live for the next 3 and 1 half years. I would like to offer them a sense of security until at least Remi graduates from High School. I know there are some much worse off but this is what I am dealing with and these are my dreams. I would like to offer these wonderful children just a few more years of childhood. The right to have a place where they can go and know they are surrounded not just by their family but by their things. To be able to do something as simple as watch the TV show they choose and not the one decided upon by the one who holds the remote. Simple things really..

I figure the amount I have paid here in the last year in approx. twice what I would have paid in rent to an apartment so affording a place is not the problem it is finding one. So what I want for Christmas? is a home, one that my kids can wake up to on Christmas morning and be happy.

Here it Comes

A day spent with my children.... oh the joys... but seriously I know these moments get further and further apart.. ones where they are not attempting to kill each other.. they actually like each other and when my heart shines..

Thank You JR, Cori, Frankie and Rem for making my world shine

Movie Time With My Girls

Last night I had the joy and the priveledge of expending my hard earned money on a night at the movies with my girls. Of course we had to go see Twilight a huge favorite in our home.

Both girls somehow managed to work it into their schedules to allow mom to take them to the movies. Now movies play a huge part in my relationships with my children. We somehow have managed to find time to attend several big movies together. It is a fun time and we do enjoy it. One could call it family time where we didn't have to talk.

Over the years we have turned Thanksgiving and Christmas both into huge movie days. We go to the movies and out for Thanksgiving dinner. It is perfect, I hate to cook so I get to enjoy it and we get some pretty good family time together. Christmas is usually a little more difficult as the usual restaurants are not open so I am forced to actually make a meal.. but the movie theatres are.

This year I am not sure what movies we will see. We can pretty much cross Twilight off the list.. well maybe the boys want to see it.. who knows. but I am looking forward to spending this day with my kids. No matter how tough life gets lat least 2 days a year we go to the movies.

Worth FIghting For

So it is veterans day.. and there are so many who are serving now, who have come before them. Who have laid down their lives, given their souls.. some for glory and some returning to scorn. Some get a better life out of it and some are destroyed by it. and yet there are those who continue to serve.

I wanted to say thank you.. but I wanted to say it in the only way i could.. because for me.. this is what is worth fighting for.