Monday, June 29, 2009

Dog Bed- Part 2

I give up. I try to make the idiot of an animal comfortable, and this is what happens. He can't be that bored. He somehow broke the zipper on the bed and had the time of his short life with all the filling. I no longer care if he's uncomfortable on hard plastic. As I was picking up the gross presents he left all over the plastic grass in the 106 degree heat today, I wondered why I like to torture myself. I knew I would think this animal was a big, slobbery pain in the neck shortly after we got him. I'm at that point now. So, what can be done? Nothing; I have at least 10 more years with this thing. He is not my best friend.
Maybe one day he'll be a good watchdog...with a sword.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Feeding Duh Ducks

The kids love to feed the ducks at Sunset Park. We've been doing this since Christian was a baby. We were out of bread, so we searched the pantry, and the ducks ended up chowing down on four-month-old flour tortillas. They didn't seem to have any complaints. This was the first time we saw lots of baby ducklings following their mommas around. Corinne was upset that the baby ducks weren't getting any tortilla pieces. She yelled at the big old geese to get away and let the babies have some. They didn't listen.

John loves to torment me every time we go; it must be some kind of tradition for him now. I have a fear of flying animals/bugs or anything that is dirty. So, of course, I loathe pigeons. I don't swerve when they refuse to get out of the road. I've had feathers attached to my car for weeks; I show no mercy. There are tons of pigeons that hang around by the duck pond because they know there will be lots of good crumbs on the ground. John is entertained by my reaction as he throws little pieces of bread right at my feet and watches the flocks of pigeons descend on me. They are not afraid of people and they'll jump on your feet and peck at them. I'm sure it sounded like I was being killed by my screams. John's favorite part is that I always forget he is the reason all of these birds have befriended me. He enjoys my reaction to getting attacked by flying rats. Once I realize what he is doing, I can never catch him; he's faster than me.







Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Burned

I need to get another swimsuit with no built in accessories. When I was at church I didn't understand why a couple of the little old men who were welcoming people at the door smiled at me then looked down at my chest. I felt a little violated and self-conscience. Since I was busy following their eyes from my face to more southern regions, I tripped on the door threshold and my heel got stuck under it. I'm surprised I didn't break my ankle; it took a couple of people to set me free. I seem to attract attention everywhere I go in a not so graceful sort of way. Later on when I was getting ready for bed, I looked in the mirror and understood the glances. I had branded myself. I didn't need to wear a necklace; I had one burned one onto my skin. Now I feel bad for thinking there were some dirty old men at church.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

My Almost 30 Year Old

Back when I fell in love with John when he was 18, this is usually the position he was in. Well, 10+ years later, he still is often found in this position. My John turned 29 a couple of weeks ago. Hee Hee, he's almost 30. I know this isn't old, but he thinks it is, and I'm enjoying tormenting him. I don't think John will ever get old. He will be one of those people who's scuba diving at 90. There's no end to his energy; I wish he could share it sometimes. I love this handsome man even more now than I did 10 years ago. That seems impossible with all the craziness the last decade has brought, but I've gained a deep level of respect and gratitude for everything he has become to me and our family. We've basically grown up together and have learned a lot of life lessons together. I've seen him go from the irresponsible, hyper-active teenager to a consistent, dependable provider and leader. He would stop at nothing for my happiness and that of the kids. I have a husband who adores me and shows me that he does all the time. I too often shrug off the hugs and kisses because of whatever funky mood I'm in, but I know I'm so lucky and somewhat undeserving of his continuous love and affection.

John's birthday wasn't too eventful, but we did get to go out to dinner the night before at Texas de Brazil. I thought I was going to die when we were done; I've never eaten so much meat in my life. Texas de Brazil is new to Vegas, and it's a Brazilian all-you-can eat steakhouse. I've heard of these places before, but this was my first experience. Lots of Brazilian dudes carry around giant skewers of several different kinds of meats. They give you a little card to flip on green if you're ready for more meat, and the other side is red if you need to take a breather. There was filet mignon, pork ribs, beef ribs, chicken, veil, top sirloin, sausage, pork chops, lamb, and I know I'm forgetting a couple. What do you think of that, vegetarians? I ate every animal possible that night. It was pretty funny and ironic that our waitress was a nutrition student at UNLV. It was so good.


Yep, he still does this one too. I'm not quite sure why his tongue is sticking out though.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Pool Party

Last Saturday, the boys had an actual birthday party at the Multi-generational Activity Pool. They didn't like the fact that they were sharing a birthday party, but let's face it, their birthdays are a month apart and times are tight. We invited both of their classes, and each of them had about four friends show up. With all the parents, this was plenty of people. They had a great time swimming with their friends and going down the water slides. Coy cried for a good portion of the party because: a) he wasn't interested in swimming; he wanted to do nothing more than open presents from the time the party started, and b) once he opened his presents, he was upset that Christian got Transformers and he didn't. Coy has never once mentioned that he likes Transformers. He even went so far as to tell one of the little boys from his class that he didn't like the present he had given him; which made the other little boy cry. You know the song "it's my party, and I'll cry if I want to?" Well, that would have fit perfectly with Coy's attitude for the day. He apologized to his friend and gave him a hug after a few threats from me. I hate having to threaten physical harm at birthday parties. :-) After all of the boys' little friends left, Coy decided he wanted to smile and swim and have fun...of course. Whatever, as long as he has a somewhat pleasant memory of the day. Although the kids love them and look forward to them, birthday parties are one of my least favorite mommy duties.




So, my husband has a hot bod, but he won't take off his shirt at public pools because he's ashamed of his cool tats. Babe, don't' worry, the middle-class, white moms won't be afraid of you :-) FYI-John has me looking into the price of tattoo removal..hee hee. Ahhh, the dumb things we do when we're young.


This is Coy and his friend, Danger. This is the kid Coy made cry.












Monday, June 15, 2009

My Big 8 Year Old

My Christian D turned the big "8" on June 1st. What happened to my first little sugar man? He's starting to grow hair on his upper lip, and I have to make him put on deodorant every morning! Could this really be happening? Christian is an awesome kid who has made, almost the last decade of my life, a fun ride. He's smart, and more importantly, clever. He's got a mouth on him that either wants to make you smack it or kiss it. Seriously, I think we have a natural born lawyer on our hands. His personality gets along great with mine. We're both sarcastic, we both get it, and we can both laugh it off. The fact that he makes better points than I do in an argument is somewhat scary. He's honest, kind, and quick to comfort when he knows someone is upset or hurting, whether it be physically or emotionally. Christian is everything and more when it comes to what I dreamt a son would be like.

Once again, this year, he had a few birthday celebrations. First, in his classroom, I brought in goodies, and the class had a little birthday celebration. Again, this year, like last year when I subbed in his class, I had two girls come up to me and say, "Mrs. Romo, I think Christian is really handsome." For real, what's up with these brazen little girls? What am I going to do in a few years? Maybe I should be like Bobby Bouché's momma in "The Waterboy" and tell him that "girls are the devil!" I don't want to think about those years yet.

Next, he had a birthday dinner at Peter Piper Pizza. I would rather go to the dentist and get a root canal than go to Chuckie Cheese or Peter Piper Pizza, but that is what he picked for his special day. I must say their pizza is better than Chuckie Cheese, and they give out more tickets so kids can get better prizes. It was bad, however, because my little bottle of antibacterial gel in my purse was gone...oh, the grossness. He had fun, though.

So lastly, we just had an actual birthday party at one of the rec. center pools with his friends. They had a great time, and Christian got sunburnt to a crisp. I'm a bad momma who only focuses the sunscreen use on her very pale children (Coy). To wrap it up, Christian had a fun, long birthday celebration, and I've cherished every one of the eight years I've had with him. I didn't know what joy was until I had this kid.

CD Ro Then...






CD Ro Now...








Sunday, June 14, 2009

Coy's Preschool "Gradulations"

A few weeks ago, Coy had a little farewell graduation ceremony for preschool. The kids sang a lot of cute songs and showed us parents what they have learned in preschool. For a second there, I got a little teary-eyed thinking of him being in kindergarten next year. It seems like yesterday he was just my little q-tip baby, and now, he is the comedian of the family. I really felt it was important for Coy to have two years of real preschool because he seemed to be tougher to teach than Christian was. Whenever I tried working with him, he would get frustrated, as would I, and it would quickly turn into a very unpleasant learning environment. Looking at him today, it's amazing to see how far he's come, even in just the last year. He loves to do his "schoolwork", and he begs me constantly to print off all sorts of preschool worksheets from some very helpful websites. He's very proud that he can do all of these things on his own now. He's on his way to reading, and I'm so glad that we made the investment in his preschool experience. He not only had incredible, loving teachers who knew just how to work with him, but he was also able to learn and experience some important biblical truths.









This is Coy's future wife, Kylie.

Coy had his big speaking part...