Technology Idiots

I have to say that here lately I feel as a world community I think we are losing more brain cells than we are gaining. Here's why

Then...
I remember being younger and I had memorized each of my friends phone numbers. I could call both grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, cell phones and still have all emergency phone numbers all stored in my brain and I'm not talking about 911.
Now...
Heaven forbid my cell phone loses your number or you haven't called me recently enough to be on my call back list. If you're not in my phonebook on my phone I will have no way to get in touch with you. I don't know my own brothers phone number, and if it weren't for 911 we would have real reason to worry.

Then...
I remember finding houses by landmarks and house numbers. I could find anyone by a simple, "turn at the second yellow doghouse on the left and go until the park on the right." I would make mental notes of how to get to and from on the first trip.
Now....
GPS. I lose signal I will call someone (in my phonebook) to google directions.

Then....
I used to love writing (and receiving) letters. I could spend hours writing to friends, cousins and grandparents galore. I loved the feeling of pen in hand and crisp white paper. Nothing was better than putting a thick wad of folded paper into a clean envelope and dropping it at the post office.
Now...
I recenlty tried to write a letter to a great-aunt who has trouble hearing. I thought it would be a nice surprise for her to open a good old-fashioned letter. However, as I sat down, I realized how hard it was after texting. My letter began....

Dear...............,

How r u? Wld like 2 talk 2 u but thought this wld be better. Wld luv 2 c u more often but can't drive that fast...lol.

I had to literally remember how to spell because this sweet woman is in her 90's and I don't think she'd appreciate shorthand.

Challenge:
Try to call someone this week by actually dialing their number
Write someone a letter (and send it)
And here's a kick.....leave the house without your.....cell phone....eeeek!

We will turn around to get that phone even though I didn't even have my first cell until after I was married and it was a "emergency only" thing. Now I break out in a cold sweat if I realize my phone is not soundly in my ...um...pocket.

I'm going to try these things myself to try and restore my unused brain cells.

Let me know how it goes 4 u!!

Ire-toon

Ireland is the smartest baby ever. She is the most social girl I've ever seen and is constantly waving and saying "Hi" to everyone she sees and will not stop until they've properly acknowledged her. She loves books more than life and will color non-stop for about 45 minutes at a time. I've never seen a baby hold attention that long for just one activity. She doesn't do it for anything else except maybe "Coo Coos" which translates to Blues Clues, her favorite little show. So this being my online journal, I have to write these things down for my own benefit since the memory with 4 gets a little crowded. Today we were watching, "So you think you can dance" on TV (because I think it's funny to watch her try to copy all the moves) after one person finished dancing she says, "Amazing!" I just looked at her a little amazed myself.

She also has quite a way of getting your attention. If you are not "properly" listening to her, she will grab your face with both of her hands and turn your head to look at her. Today after lunch and books, I picked her up to carry her downstairs during which I kicked the vacuum cleaner and said, "Oh" She grabs my face and looks concerned while she says, "You Ok?" What a stinking cutie.

She speaks in full sentences, has rhythm like you've never seen, and is my little buddy all day long. I love it. 19 month miracle

Update..Last night we were watching a movie that had an opera singer belting in the background. Ireland comes running and yelling, "Figaro...., Fiiiiii Gaaaaaa Ro." Where does she get this stuff.

She also has three words that when used in conjuction you know she is in absolute heaven. It happens if she really thinks something she is eating is tasty. After a bite, "Mmmmm, ummmmy, good." What a crack up!

Sleep Ireland

So baby is speaking in sentences now. Last week we were reading together (one of her favorite pasttimes) and we finish. This is always followed with, "again", so I say, "are you ready?" She nods her head yes, but when I pick up the book she pulls it away from me and says, "No, I read it." 18 months and scaring me to death with her progress. Talk about trying to keep up with siblings. What's really funny is what slackers Shem and I have turned into with baby 4. With all three of our others, at 1 year old there were no punches pulled. Bottles were packed away, pacifiers put in drawers, naptime and bedtime were on your own with a crazy determination to not break. Fast Forward... This baby drinks from sippy, but a bottle isn't unwarranted, she does not have a pacifier (because she likes her thumb), and right now at bedtime she has yelled for every member of our family. We are really trying to get her to sleep on her own at bedtime and she is up there yelling, "DAAAAAD, MOM!" "AB-BY", and my favorite, "GET BABY!" I am sitting at the bottom of the stairs with Shem determined not to break so I decided to come and blog. AH, see there, crying is stopping ....it's quiet....ah @#!$$@ where's Shem?

My hero

Okay, so a lot has happened that I have failed to post about....Yet. However, my son is always blogworthy. Wednesday was our blue and gold banquet at which time this awesome little man earned all but one pin in Webelos. I am not sure, but I think there are something like 22 possible and he earned 21 PLUS his arrow of light. He will be moving into regular scouts very soon and we are so proud of him. The only pin he hasn't yet earned is his scientist pin and for that he has to read Newton's law of motion, Pascals' something or other and the list just keeps going. I was so proud and told his leader that it was awesome he had done so much (thank you dad, church, scout camp, school...and the list goes on). She shook her head and said, "guess it looks like we'll all be earning our scientist now so he can have all his pins, maybe we'll do it this week." What an awesome leader!
How thankful I am for her.

An almost empty house

Can you believe 3 of my children are all in school as of 7:30 this morning. Last night we made sure backpacks, clothes, and hair bows were all set out in an attempt to ease the blow of such an early morning for my kiddos. I was so excited... I can't remember the last time I had just one child in my home all day. When Landon was little? I couldn't wait. I have been planning how fun it will be to spend days in books with baby, trips to the library, park and play dates, etc..., . Now it's done, kids are in school and baby and I are here.....I'M LONELY!!! It hasn't even been a half hour. Oh what a sad excuse I am for a loner. On a positive note, I have figured out how I will spend my day....counting the hours until school is out....or until Shem gets home....I feel sorry for whoever makes it home first.

Wil E. Coyote

You know, growing up...we learned things from the greats. We learned that the roadrunner is always faster than the coyote. We learned that umbrella parachutes and human catapults don't really work. We learned that roller skates with rockets on them will inevitably shoot you over a cliff and in a great world we would all be able to hold up one single solitary sign to express our remorse over the idea when most times a simple, "DUH" would be enough.
Today there is Spongebob, Fairly Odd Parents and Hannah Montana. What do these teach? Well, my knowledge here is limited, but from the small amount I have witnessed, I have seen a sea creature lose his head only to get a new one that makes him smarter, a case of serious, "spoiled brat syndrome" and identity crisis.
Landon -- While he was in the backyard on Wednesday he decided a catapult would be a great thing. He knew all he needed was a plank of wood, a balancing rock, and a brick to act as the great momentum launcher. I don't know the rest of his thinking, but can easily picture him with a set of blueprints from Acme as he worked all this out. What happened next...My front door is thrown open while he says loudly, "Mom, I'm bleeding......kinda bad.....from my head." If nothing else I give credit where it is due. This kid knew not to get blood inside the house. Good job Landon. I run to the door to find him gushing blood from his forehead (which required 6 stitches). It wasn't a long gash, but deep enough to make you pucker.
Poor kid, everyone who asked him in the ER tried really hard to keep from laughing while he explained that he was engineering the greatest launcher of all time. He got more and more bitter as the day went on and he had to tell nurse after nurse of his experience. To add insult to injury, this meant he had to miss the last two days of swimming. He's doing fine and doesn't understand why mom thinks it's about time for roadrunner episodes all day. I mean...Let's learn a little something, shall we?

Summer

Say what you will, but watching Michael Jacksons' funeral today was so sad. I only caught the tail end of it, but what a terrible loss the world has suffered in the passing of such an artist that whether you liked him or not made an impact.
It's kind of tacky that all of his mistakes (or perceived mistakes) are brought up now. I don't think we as a people generally do that to anyone else...can you imagine...
"As we come to mourn the death of Jane Doe, yes, she was a lying thief and quite possibly a home wrecker....well...let us pray?!!" I don't know, maybe it's just me, but there's a time and a place people...sheesh. Let it be.

On other notes...It seems I have been slightly remiss in not posting very much. That's because I have officially misplaced the connect cord to the camera. I hate posting without pictures.
What has our summer consisted of....
Swimming Lessons
Summer Camp
YW
Scouts
BBQ's
and lots of other fun stuff.

Our 4th was great. After a lot of debate about what we were doing...here's what happened..very last minute.

The day started with my friends and I running a 5k- ( I signed up 2 days before) after which my dear friend Stephanie Ireland took 2nd place in her age group. She didn't mention that in her blog and that's just to modest for me. This was even after she waited for another friend of ours during the race, and then after she crossed the finish line ran back to find me. What a girl she is!! Way to go you iron woman! My time was 30:37, not great, but great enough for me. Then we went to the wet parade and got completely soaked. We topped that with a visit to the outdoor fair and then came home for some needed rest. It should be said that Landon had signed up to run with me and that morning was as sick as he could be and spent most of the day in bed. He got better in time for fireworks and is looking forward to the next race we can run together.

Summers are busy and I am wondering why I was so looking forward to a break...maybe there's one coming...you never know.