Too much information?

Okay, I will admit I am a woman. I buy pantiliners. But NO I don't want Daniel to open the box in the shopping cart, pull them all out and start pulling them apart like stickers you want to stick on everything. Note to self... Don't put candy OR feminine hygiene product in the cart with Daniel. Good, lesson learned. Next...

Lets start to youngest and work our way up in age:

Daniel is now talking up a storm. It is amazing what a difference a month makes. Of course this frequently means he is screaming demands at me but he is a work in progress. He is into everything! Not only did he break our outlets, he broke (in half) the all plastic door stopper today. I am telling you... he is a sweetheart but there is pure mischief in those adorable eyes.

Now Alex. He is cracking me up. He has given my father the impossible task of finding objects that DON'T EXIST for his birthday. I too have been given one so here you go... A webkinz trampoline. This a trampoline surrounded by webkinz that when you jump up high into the air you catch onto a pully that you can hold onto while you skateboard off the trampoline into a car and drive away. Sorry, buddy. Don't think I can find this. So... instead everyone is going to pitch in and buy him a trampoline. Holy Cow is he going to be excited. Hey, I am excited. I already bought it- it is in our garage. We are going to wait until they go to bed Friday night and sneak outside to set it up. We are going to close the blinds and then when everyone arrives first things Saturday morning, open the blinds. How cool will that be.

His birthday party is this weekend and it is a webkinz party for his 4 closest friends. It is much easier and cheaper to plan a party that doesn't have 25 kids coming.

Ian doesn't stop amazing me (not to brag). At 6 years old he is cranking out a book every 2 days in bed before he falls asleep. He reads everything from Junie B. Jones, The Magic Treehouse series, and kids biography books. He just loves it and tells me all about it the next day. Before he goes to bed we are reading the narnia series together. He wants Harry Potter but I am putting him off for a little while. So we decided we are starting a summer book club for the kids. A small group of us are picking out a book and meeting every couple weeks. It should be funs so here is my request for you...

What books do you recommend? Series of Unfortunate Events? Stuart Litttle? Wayside Stories? No book is too big or too small. Pitch in.

And do you remember the letter Ian wrote to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison asking her to help him change the legal age for running for president? Here is a clip of her response.

"Like all members of congress, I have taken an oath to uphold the constitution and to loyally serve my constituents. The mandatory age for an incoming president of the united states was decided by our nation's founding fathers when they drafted our constitution. Please be assured that I am committed to what is in the best interest of the state, which has entrusted me to uphold the constitution"

Pretty wordy if you are writing to a kindergartener don't you think?

Now me. Not feeling any older at 31 than I did at 30. I definitely feel more blessed. Each year that goes by I look at my fabulous family and friends and thank God for blessing me. So to all of you out there that help make our life complete- thank you.

I have been busy but still taking time out to spend with the kids and my husband. I want to be sure that at the end of the day I don't regret rushing around and never stopping to smell the roses.

Now, drumroll please. My friend Angela from The Painted House has tagged me to post 6 uninteresting things about myself. (Before I begin, let me state that all things Nicole are fabulously interesting so this is a difficult task) :)

1.) Almost every piece of jewelry that I own was given to me by someone from Darren's family. They take pitty on me and try to supplement my sad selection of jewels. And I have been lucky that Jody developed an allergy to all things not gold and had to give me all her jewelry not fitting this criteria. Sigh. Such a hard life.

2.) You know whether I am having a good or bad day by how finatical I am with the boys and their hand sanitizing. Good day. Allow Alex to touch the grocery cart, filled with disgusting germs, just to sanitize in the car. Bad day. Involves lecturing about germs and hands in pockets through all errands run. Ah feels good to admit that.

3.) As a child I tried to straighten my hair numerous times unsuccessfully.

4.) A friend of mine and I decided it would be funny to cover our faces in my moms lipstick and run around her business greeting people. This was a great idea right until we realized it was that stain your lips and doesn't come off lipstick. (You know the kind that was green in the tube but red on your lips from the 80s or early 90s)

5.) I secretly enjoy cooking, for all the complaining I do about it to Darren. Of course I enjoy it more when there aren't three kids screaming at me in the background.

6.) I am terrified of new people and new situations. Nothing is more stressful to me than stepping into a room not knowing anyone. I shut down. Yet I do try to overcome this and go outside my comfort zone anyways. (Usually dragging a child or husband along as a child would bring a lovie)

Now I am supposed to tag someone but as everyone I know who blogs has already been tagged... I guess it will stop at me.

Last but not least, Darren. He is doing well. He is enjoying his promotion and doing fantastic at work. He has been fighting a cold the last days, which generally speaking, makes him a bit of a grouch. He is supportive of everything I do and generally likes me to keep him out of my blog. It still amazes me how intensly private he is and yet he married ME. I am ready to shout out everything from the rooftops. He is a great dad and a great husband. I couldn't have done any better and at almost 10 yrs. I know there is noone else I would rather be with (and to me that is saying a lot).

Okay, think I wrote enough? How about you?