The picture to the left is the block of wood Santa ornament that Shannon made me a few years back. I know what everyone is thinking, where can I get one?? I'm sorry it is a Murphy original and it is not for sale. I thought I would try and feature several of my ornaments each day. Don't worry I have plenty!!

Maggie got in the car today and I turned around to back out of the driveway and noticed that her hair looked as if she combed it with an egg beater. (that was one of my mother's favorite expressions) I asked her what happened to her hair? She told me she was laying under the Christmas tree so she could sit on the heat vent. Ryan and Shannon were hogging the one in the kitchen and great room. It is not like her teacher doesn't already think I am completely incompetent, now I am sending her to school looking like she has dreadlocks.

I used to have my address book saved on my computer. Somehow it got erased. YIKES!!! I have spent the last three hours looking up addresses in various phone books, buzz books and parish directories. I normally send out 120 Christmas cards so if I miss anyone this year I am apologizing now. I may get them out by Easter.

My sister Maureen called me tonight. She lives in Atlanta, her son is in kindergarten. There was a note in his backpack that said they were going to cancel the Christmas ornament making craft day if they didn't get any parent volunteers. She asked me if I had many homemade ornament ideas. I glanced over my shoulder at my beautiful 12 foot tree with pretty twinkling lights and couldn't help but notice the dozens of tacky homemade ornaments (all towards the back) that my wonderful sweet children have made me. I have reindeer made of plastic spoons, Christmas light bulbs, pipe cleaners, clothes pins, popsicle sticks and of course my personal favorite, paper. I have a lovely block of wood with a Santa painted on it with a string on the end, a large three dimensional ball made out of recycled Christmas cards, silver flat orange juice can ends sprinkled with glitter with a wallet size photo, needles to say I am fresh out of ideas for homemade ornaments anyone could hang on the front of the tree. I told her I would examine my tree and if I came up with a good idea I would call her back. All kidding aside the picture above is of my favorite Christmas ornament. Erin/Sybil made this when she was little. This one is always proudly displayed right in front!!

Dave is up on the roof working on putting up our Christmas lights. I asked why he waited for it to get dark? He borrows our neighbors ladder every year and he wanted to wait until he got home to borrow it. I told him that I have their garage code but he didn't want to take it without asking. I'm sure the neighbors would rather watch him fall off the roof in the dark. Obviously they trust us if they gave us the code. Who am I to argue, I'm sure there is a method to his madness.

A kid in my design class asked me where I hide all of my kids Christmas presents? I told her I stick them all in the dishwasher, they will never think to look in there. Yesterday, before I took Dave to Urgent Care, I loaded the dishwasher, put the soap in and asked Erin to start it in a half hour. She had used all of the hot water taking a 45 minute shower. (could she have been that dirty?) I went to unload it after school today and the soap was still in it. I knew I should have went ahead and ran it with cold water.

Tuesday when we were working on the St. Anthony report I was reading out loud to Ryan about St. Anthony's life. (Erin was sitting at the table with us). I sometimes interject my own spin on things when I am reading out loud to bring a point home and to make sure my kids are paying attention. Anyway, I read,"St. Anthony spread the good news and preached in Italy as well as in France and he never, ever drank vodka on Halloween." Erin said "funny mom, that was stupid." Ryan wanted to put that on his report as one of the five facts about St Anthony. (at least he was listening)

Someone made a comment about Aids tonight at dinner. Shannon said "is that the disease where you wash your hands all the time and keep things really neat?" OCD, Aids, I can see where she could confuse them, they are practically the same thing. Shannon, what are you thinking, I think the twenty two teaspoons of liquid Advil you took this week are starting to affect your brain. Aside from the fact that they each have three letters there are no other similarities.

Kelsey was home sick today, I think it would be easier to just call the school secretary in the morning and let her know which one of my kids would be at school instead of which ones would be absent.

This morning as we were walking out the door I said to Shannon "watch, Ryan will get in the car without St. Anthony." Sure enough Ryan made no move towards the kitchen to get him. I said "Ry, did you forget something."He smiled and got his soda bottle Saint off the counter. Dave is on vacation this week so I took his car today. Kelsey pushed Ryan as they were getting in the car. Most likely because she wanted to get first choice of seats. When she pushed him, St. Anthony's head fell off and rolled down the driveway. I had two choices, I could quickly change his report to John the Baptist and have him turn in the headless saint or I could chase after Anthony's head and run to the basement and find the hot glue gun. I decided to glue his head back on.

When Lauren was in second grade we had to make banners to put on the pews for First Communion. I painted a shamrock to symbolize the Holy Trinity and painted St. Patrick to symbolize our Irish heritage. I couldn't draw hands real well so I drew one holding a staff and put the other arm behind his back. Lauren saw it and said"where is his other arm?" I said "honey, St. Patrick only had one arm." I assumed she knew I was kidding. When she was in eighth grade, they were talking about St. Patrick, her teacher asked "does anyone know anything about St. Patrick?" I can just picture how fast her arm probably shot up with a pick me, pick me look on her face. Her teacher called on her and she said, "didn't St. Patrick only have one arm?" Her teacher said, umm no, I don't think so. She came home from school and said, "didn't you tell me St. Patrick only had one arm?" I said ,"I have no idea what you are talking about." She reminded me of the banner I made six years before that day and we all had a good laugh. That is how rumors get started, Sorry Patrick!!!

Erin and Shannon were both back at school today, they are feeling much better. Erin said she wished someone would have told her Monday night that Shannon was sick. Erin went straight to bed Monday after school, Shannon didn't start feeling bad until later that evening. Erin said she kept kicking Shannon as hard as she could all night (they share a bed) , she didn't like the way she was breathing. Had she known she was running a fever she may have been a little more sympathetic. Shannon still can't swallow pills. She takes 4 teaspoons of liquid advil. Now that she is 14 she no longer has dosage instructions on the package. We just have to wing it.

I had to take Dave to urgent care tonight. He got a big splinter in his finger yesterday and it was too deep to dig out. The nurse tried to talk him into a tetanus shot but he would have no part of that. The doctor numbed his finger and dug out the splinter. I actually enjoyed watching my tough guy husband crumble at the sight of that little needle. I reminded him that the epidural needle that I have encountered many times was much worse and that he would be just fine. The splinter was actually pretty big, they prescribed an antibiotic and wrapped up his finger. The doctor made him get a tetanus shot despite his protests and we were on our way. Of course he doesn't think he will be able to put up Christmas lights now in his weakened condition. St. Anthony was beheaded this morning in a fight over the front seat, all he had was a little splinter, I'm sure he will be just fine.

Erin and Shannon stayed home sick today. I left a check on the counter for the sprinkler guy and told Shannon to tell grandma where the check was so she could pay him.

On the way home from school Ryan said, "remember the Saint project I told you about a long time ago, well it is due tomorrow." This Saint project is a report along with a Saint made out of a soda bottle. Lucky for us my family is addicted to Pepsi so finding a two liter bottle is a piece of cake. Whipping up the rest required a little more effort. Ryan chose St. Anthony, his middle name is Daniel but someone else was already doing theirs on St. Daniel. He said he chose St. Anthony because he is the patron Saint of lost things. He wanted to glue soccer shoes on the bottom of the Pepsi bottle because St. Anthony finds his soccer spikes for him every weekend along with his shin guards, jersey and everything else that my little angel may need. We passed on the soccer shoes. Normally I would sew a costume for a project but this time I cut a hole in the fabric to fit over the soda bottle and stapled the rest. Did St Anthony have arms?? I'm thinking not!!

I asked Kelsey to load and unload the dishwasher and I asked Ryan to carry the trashcans back to the garage while I was gone buying the supplies for St. Anthony. I now believe in miracles, the trashcans were in the garage. I only got one Christmas miracle today, the dishes were still piled high in the sink. Ryan had burnt popcorn so the house smelled like burnt popcorn with a hint of febreeze. Erin sprayed the kitchen to try and get rid of the smell. She even opened the microwave and sprayed febreeze in there. I'm sure every one of her siblings will think of her with warm thoughts next time they eat a piping hot bowl of "mountain fresh" spaghettios.

I cleaned the kitchen after I finished St. Anthony. While I was unloading the dishwasher that Kelsey finally loaded and ran I noticed I had a clog. There was about a half pound of spaghetti clogging up the bottom of the dishwasher. Kelsey said "grandma said I don't have to wash all the food off, the dishwasher will do that." I reminded her that she also told Ryan to brush his teeth with water. I don't think grandma meant that it was ok to take a half pot of spaghetti and just turn it upside down and run the dishwasher. My kids still haven't even mastered which side of the sink they put their cereal bowls in. (the side with the disposal.) On a good note, I finally finished my Christmas card, I pick them up tomorrow.

My mom gave me the bill for the sprinkler guy. Shannon gave her the message about the check after the guy left. She saw the check on the counter and thought I left it for her for the barbie she picked up for Maggie for Christmas. The memo said sprinkler,(maybe she thought it was sprinkler barbie) She made it out to herself for $13. She is all finished with her Christmas shopping but she can't stay out of the stores. She keeps picking up bargains and asks if I want to buy them from her. That happens when you have all of your gifts wrapped by Nov. 15. Maybe she can pick up her gift for herself from me this year!!

I have been working on my Christmas card all evening. I always try to do something creative. Now that I am an art student,I feel that my creative juices are about as dry as my turkey was. I am considering renting out a family to borrow to pose for our Christmas card. I have received two Christmas cards in the mail so far. I usually have mine addressed,stamped and ready to go by now. I am slipping in my old age.

Maggie had a end of year team party for her soccer team at Pizza Street. I don't think there is a place that I dislike more than pizza street. (well maybe the place that serves dinner on tin pie plates) Dave and I both went, Maggie was an only child for the evening. We were in and out in an hour an ten minutes. New personal best!!!

Dave has promised to get our Christmas lights up by the weekend. This is the one time a year I refrain from nagging about his procrastinating. We have a pretty steep roof, I can't watch when he is out there. I make sure one of the kids keeps an eye on him in case he falls, someone will be able to call 911. He turns into Chevy Chase every Christmas trying to outdo the neighbors. We bought two of the lighted reindeer last night. Dave wanted to buy two big deer and seven baby deer. I said "don't you think that is a bit over the top?" He responded, "having seven kids isn't over the top?" Point well taken. Maybe if we didn't have seven kids we could afford to buy seven lighted reindeer.

I have had to fight off several people just to get a turn at the computer. Our wireless Internet is out so my college kids have to use my computer. By the end of Thanksgiving break I decided to throw in the towel and not ask for a turn. The sighs along with the eye rolls were starting to become more than I could handle.

I actually have a little jump start to my Christmas shopping this year. Maggie wants a digital camera that she saw in the Toys R Us ad. I think it is around $35. It is made for kids. I went to Toys R Us on Friday. The store was a zoo, I asked a sales girl if she knew where the digital camera's that were in the ad were located. She said "no, they are probably somewhere." I said "Does anyone in the store know where they are?" She said "probably, I am just really tired and walked away." I thought to my self hmm, she is really tired, I just cooked a meal for 10 people , cleaned up the mess, put up my Christmas tree and decorations, got up early and went to work while my whole family slept. I am stopping by Toys R Us before I go home for more chaos and your tired, I'll show you tired. I never did find the digital camera. I decided shopping the day after Thanksgiving is not for me. I am just too tired!!!

I had to redo my self portrait. Apparently my teacher didn't feel it was three dimensional enough. Well, I didn't actually redo it but I did spend a few more hours on it. I am getting kind of sick of looking at myself!! I will be just fine if I don't see another piece of compressed charcoal for a while.

I had to work this morning while the rest of my family slept in. When I left, I reminded Dave that he needed to make sure he woke Kelsey up for her indoor soccer game. I told him I was pretty sure she played at 10:30 but to have her check her team website. Dave called me at work around 9:00 asking me to look it up for him from work. I told him that I was too busy and that I thought he could handle it. Her coaches split their team up into three teams for the tournament. Red, White and blue. I told him I wasn't sure but I thought Kelsey was on the white team. Dave called 10 minutes later frantic that he couldn't figure out the website. I looked it up real quick and told him the white team played at 9:30. Kelsey wasn't even dressed yet. Dave dropped her off at the door and told her to sprint to the field. Poor Kelsey soon found out that she was on the blue team not the white team. She didn't play until 10:30. She was actually an hour early. I think that was a Murphy first!!! Work was actually pretty slow today, I am a receptionist for a dermatologist. I guess most of the patients were out shopping instead of calling to schedule doctor appointments. My co worker kept a tally of how many times my husband and children called today. When I left at noon the tally was up to eight. I am so lucky, I feel so loved!!

I knew I had a little problem as I started to prepare my Thanksgiving turkey.I have been cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the last eight years. With the exception of the year that I cooked the Turkey upside down I have never had any problems. When I was basting the Turkey with vegetable oil I noticed that there was not a little popper thing that tells you when the turkey is done. I found an old meat thermometer, probably a wedding gift that I have never used but for some reason held on to all these years. When I took the turkey out of the oven it looked perfect. The directions stated that the turkey was done when you slice it and the juices run clear. When I sliced my turkey, there were no juices. I thought oh crap this is like a scene from Christmas Vacation. Hopefully there will be enough side dishes to keep everyone happy. Maggie had a little meltdown right before we ate. We left our old dining room set when we sold our old house. Our kitchen table seats eight. Maggie and Ryan had to sit at the counter on bar stools. Maggie was upset because she said that she will never get to sit at the big table because her sisters were all going to get married and their husbands will probably get her seat. Erin reminded us of the year that she had to give up her seat because Lauren's boyfriend brought a friend because his roommate from his hockey team didn't make it home to New Jersey so he came to our house with Mike. Ryan ate macaroni and a roll. He was a little upset that the macaroni was no longer piping hot when he was served. I had to throw it in the microwave. A few minutes later I heard "mom, my macaroni is too hot, will you blow on it?" He is lucky I have a good sense of humor. The turkey was actually OK but next year I will make sure I buy one with a built in thermometer!!

Lauren came home from college for Thanksgiving break. She got in my bed after I left for work. She was soon aggravated with the noises the dog that she begged me to get was making. She said it took her ten minutes to figure out how to get the bungee cords off his crate to let him out. Once she finally freed the beast she let him outside. She said he walked out on the deck and lifted his leg and promptly peed on our umbrella from our patio set. The umbrella was on the patio because one of my little darlings broke it. Someone decided to keep turning the handle over and over until it broke. So I guess it doesn't really matter that my hundred dollar umbrella got peed on since someone already broke it.

I got all of my pies finished fairly early. I cranked up the stereo to my new Rick Springfield Christmas CD. That is a great way to get the kids out of my hair. It is kind of nice to not be on any strict time frames for tomorrow. I always have to cook on Thanksgiving, having a family of nine, eleven including grandma and Mike, Lauren's boyfriend, is a sure fire way to not get invited anywhere for Thanksgiving dinner.

The flu has hit the Murphy house. Just in time for Thanksgiving. Erin stayed home from school today. Kelsey is sick again and Maggie said she feels like she is going to throw up. Shannon wants to have 6-8 girls spend the night on Saturday. I told her we weren't having birthday parties this year. I guess she figured if she re-phrased it, it was not a party. I buy pizza and snacks, they bring gifts but it is not a party.

I have to work tomorrow so we will have to make the pies when I get off work. I can't wait until Thanksgiving. The thought of waking up whenever I want to is absolute heaven to me. Of course I will most likely wake up to someone throwing up at the foot of my bed or someone fighting over what television show to watch. I want to try and get all of our Christmas decorations up on Thursday.

Ryan got a note sent home from school that his lunch card balance is negative. He keeps packing his lunch and leaving it on the couch for the dog to eat every day. Our dog is so clever that he just punctures the Capri Sun's and helps add more character and charm to our already charming carpet in the great room. Ryan said they won't let him get ice cream at school until he gets more money on his lunch card. I am thinking of investing in a good staple gun so I can staple his homework, back back, belt, shoes, lunch and library books to him every morning before he leaves for school.

Okay so my sister Kathy called me today, the same one that said "why are you going to art school? Maureen is the one who was good at art." Maureen is our other sister, she sent me a birthday card this year with a hundred dollar check and a note that said, "sorry I was so mean to you when we were kids and told you that you were a bad artist, use this money to buy art supplies, I'm proud of you for going back to school." Anyway Kathy called to tell me that my self portrait was good but it looked like I shaved about 30 pounds in my portrait. 30 pounds, who does she think she is, let me get this straight, Sybil said my underwear were huge and my MUCH older sister basically said I was a cow. She lives in Chicago, she told me that she wasn't coming home for Thanksgiving this year. She has been doing really well dieting and exercising so she doesn't want to blow it by coming home, she said she doesn't trust herself to not hit a few drive thru's on the six hour drive home. I think that maybe for Christmas I might draw a portrait of her. I have always felt that she bears a striking resemblance to Violet on Willy Wonka. (after she chews the gum of course)

Lauren called me at work to see if we were making pies on Wednesday. It has been a long standing tradition for me to make pies with my girls the day before Thanksgiving. It has also been a long standing tradition for me to get ditched by my girls to go to the movies or the mall with their friends the day before Thanksgiving instead of making pies. Last year I bought the pies. I told Lauren that we could make them if she actually showed up. She sent Mike a text message to see what kind of pie that he liked. He replied "chocolate, hold the spit."

I finished my self portrait for my art class. I will let my kids fight over who wants me to hang it in their room when I get it back from the art show at school. I'm thinking they will let Maggie have it without a fight. Kelsey would die if I actually gave it to her since they share a room. Besides I think I have the perfect place for it. Smack dab in the middle of my liquor cabinet. That may help deter Erin and her friends from filling up the bottles with water and ice tea if I am staring at them the whole time.

Several of my neighbors took advantage of the good weather and put their Christmas lights up this weekend. I guess it made my husband feel guilty for not keeping up with the Joneses. He decided to actually take down the Halloween skeleton hanging on the front porch. I guess if this pattern continues it puts us on schedule to take down our Christmas lights in honor of Valentines day or maybe even St Patricks Day.

Shannon turns fourteen tomorrow, I can't believe how big my girls are all getting. She told us last night that she had an 8:00 am game at Soccer Park.(40 minutes away). She woke up at 8:20 and we realized that we had overslept. I decided to wait a little while before I called to apologize to the coach. I didn't want to call him on his cell while he was coaching and I didn't want to wake his wife up at home. I called around 10:00 to apologize. The coaches wife laughed and explained to me that the game was at 8:00 pm not am. Thank God we didn't drive all the way out there this morning. Shannon may not be alive to see her fourteenth birthday if we had.

Ryan has a bad habit of being kind of mean to his baby sister. On the way to school on Friday he was acting a little bit like a jerk. I warned him to knock it off. She absolutely idolizes her big brother, I can't even remember what it was that he did in the car but I remember yelling at him and telling him that next time he acts like that, I was going to smack him and let him wonder why I hit him, he could just sit there and try to figure out what he did wrong. On a side note, I am not a violent mom and he could probably count on one hand how many spankings that he has received in his lifetime. After I passed down my motherly words of wisdom , I laughed to myself and thought that maybe that little tidbit of advice most likely would not be found in any parenting books. Chapter One.... Hit your kids, don't tell them why,... See if they can figure out what they did wrong. Sounds like a future best seller to me!!

Last night Maggie had an indoor soccer game. We have quite a few friends with girls the same age so it is always allot of fun to hang out at the games on Friday nights. Erin/Sybil's Friday night plans fell through so at the last minute she decided to go with us. We were all standing around talking waiting for the game before us to finish up when I noticed Erin's headband. I said"Erin , is that headband made of underwear?? It looked like one of those stretchy elastic headbands that girls who play sports wear to keep the fly away's pulled back. When I looked closely at it I could read the words "Victoria secret." She said, yeah they are underwear, I needed a headband so I just cut off the waistband to make one." I asked "they weren't my underwear were they?" She responded, "I don't know, I found them in my drawer, they were huge, I couldn't wear them." First of all, I may have packed on quite a few pounds in my old age but my butt is still pretty small (well, compared to my stomach anyway), huge is not exactly the adjective that I would use. Did Sybil forget that maybe she could be the cause of me no longer wearing a size extra small. After all I was pregnant with her for almost 10 months. I weighed 104 lbs dripping wet before she came along. Maybe she should cut up my underwear from Target next time and maybe she could even be a little less harsh with criticizing my underwear size in front of my friends at the next soccer game.

The tooth fairy arrived on time and all was right with the world. I packed lunches and outsmarted my dog this morning. I had Dave climb up in the rafters of the garage and get down his container of bungee cords. I felt like Bill Murray in Caddy Shack. I used three bungee's to stretch across the door. I found myself talking to the dog this morning with an evil "try to get out now," voice. By noon I had visions of my cute little black dog dead in his crate due to choking on plastic trying to eat his way out. When I pulled in the driveway after picking the kids up, I asked Shannon to get the dog out of his crate and to let him out. I had to go pick up Erin. Besides, I didn't want to be the one to find a dead dog, Maggie is already a shoo in for therapy, I might as well try for a two for one deal.

The dog survived but it took both Shannon and Kelsey to get him out of his crate, the bungee cords were a little much for Shannon to handle all by herself. (It seems I outsmarted Seamus and Shannon)

The picture above is my first official portrait. My family very eloquently pointed out that the drawing looks absolutely nothing like Maggie. Always count on the ones you love to be brutally honest. Regardless of what they think, I was pretty happy with it. Considering that I struggled with drawing boxes my first week of class. I think my teacher's nickname should be The Miracle Worker. We started our self portrait in class. I will post the finished product. (as long as it actually resembles me of course.)

Lauren called me at work today to see what I was doing tonight. She hasn't talked to me since she yelled at me for being to strict with Erin. She is going on a trip to Kansas City with one of her fashion classes and she volunteered to bring homemade chocolate chip cookies. Considering her dorm room does not come equipped with an easy bake oven, she had a little problem. I told her that I actually had all the ingredients in the house so I would do it. She said,"good, can you also put them in a container that I can throw away and can dad drop them off at my dorm in the morning?" Maybe I could go ahead and chew them up for her.

Grandma had to pick Maggie up early from school today because she is sick. When I pulled down the street after work I saw my son roller blading and jumping over stacked plastic cups(without a helmet,) my sick child was playing outside barefoot and without a coat and my dog was chasing a couple down the street walking their dogs. I thought "should I turn left instead of pulling in the driveway and pretend like I don't know the hoosier family with the unruly dog or should I own up to my dysfunction and save these nice people from my annoying dog. I decided to own up to my dysfunction, I apologized to them and they said "oh, he is fine I just didn't want him to get hit when I saw you coming down the street." I said trust me, it would be no tragedy. (just kidding Maggie)

I was planning on having leftovers tonight but Erin/Sybil threw a fit that I wasn't cooking. I made a few boxes of Velveeta shells and cheese and whola, Sybil was happy!! I started to make the cookies after dinner. When I opened my canister of Crisco it was bad. I called Dave since he was out and asked him to pick some up for me. I am still waiting for the Crisco at 9:30. He decided to go by Target and buy a book. When my husband goes into a store and enters the magazine or book aisle he might as well pack an overnight bag. He is lucky that I absolutely love to stay up past midnight baking something that other people get to eat!!

Good God, Maggie lost another tooth tonight. There goes my lunch money. Lets see if the tooth fairy shows up tonight!!!

This is what I came home to today. My lovely dog Seamus once again broke free from his crate. He now has the whole right side of his crate chewed off about an inch wide. He used to have a fetish with eyeglasses, he ate a pair of Kelsey's and Ryan's and he got a few pair of grandma's reading glasses. Maggie had a play date with a friend who wore glasses last year, we had to send her home with her glasses in several pieces tucked inside an envelope. That was an expensive play date. His new fetish is Bare Essentials make up. He has now gotten a hold of three jars of them. I guess he likes the shape. Today he somehow climbed up on top of my vanity in the bathroom to get it. You can see the brush pictured above. The actual jar of makeup he chewed up in the great room so the carpet stain could be seen by everyone instead of hidden away in my bathroom. In the process of snatching my make up he knocked down my hair straightener and my tooth brush holder.

This morning I asked the same question that I always do to Ryan, "did you brush your teeth? He said yeah!! Shannon said "he didn't use toothpaste though." Ryan said "grandma said I didn't need to, toothpaste just gives you fresh breath, it is okay to use just water." I said "do I need to remind you that your grandma puts half of her teeth in a jar every night before she goes to bed?" Erin stuck up for grandma and told Ryan he was full of it. I told him to march upstairs and brush his teeth WITH toothpaste or he will be going to his senior prom with Maggie. I went to Target tonight to buy myself a new toothbrush and Ryan some toothpaste. Maggie fell asleep at 6:30 tonight, if I don't wake up early enough to give her a bath in the morning she might get a reputation as the smelly kid at school, she might as well keep up the family tradition!!!

Dave made it home early tonight. He was a little disappointed when he saw that there were only three cookies left in the package that we bought yesterday. He asked the kids what happened to all of the cookies that he bought , Maggie said"Oh those, as she took another one, those are amazing." I always buy the cheap sandwich creams in the multi pack with vanilla or chocolate. When dad goes grocery shopping, we get Keebler caramel fudge cookies. He could always make himself a waffle, we have 74 of those left.

Erin and her friends got in a little bit of trouble a couple of weeks ago because they got caught drinking. Oh how much fun it is to be a parent of a teenager. I felt like I handled the situation as best as I could. Erin is my third teenager so I am becoming an old pro at this kind of stuff. Lauren found out about it and called me from college last week to yell at me because she felt I didn't yell at Erin enough. She said that if it would have been her I would have yelled allot more. This week she called me and told me that I was being too hard on Erin and that I was going to ruin her high school years by being too strict with her. Could it be that I actually have two children with multiple personalities??

Lauren got a job at an upscale mall at the Coach store for the Christmas season. As soon as Erin got wind of this, she started devising a plan to fix the secret Santa name exchange. I guess she thinks Lauren will be able to get a $600 handbag with her discount for $25. I hope Maggie draws Erin's name, she just might end up with a barbie. I sure hope no one buys her a flask.

In case anyone is wondering what $397.00 looks like, take a gander into my freezer. The second shelf holds over 80 waffles. That should be enough to get us through until the weekend. Dave and I had an expensive date night tonight at Dierbergs. We really need to stop meeting like that. By Wednesday I am sure I will hear someone complaining that we have nothing to eat.

Kelsey came home from the soccer game last night with her dad and threw up her scrumptious dinner that she had served on the aluminum pie plate. I guess the rest of us have cast iron stomachs. Maybe I will take Mike and Lauren there to eat the next time he calls my house a circus!!! I have a paper to write for my art class. I have to fight Erin/Sybil for the computer every night. Maybe I should just have her write the paper, that sounds like a win win situation for everyone.

Yesterday was the mother daughter banquet for Erin's high school. It is always allot of fun. Erin sat with her friends and basically ignored her mother all night. (pretty much the same as last year)We had a nice conversation in the car on the way there and then again on the way home. I guess I need to strap her in a seat belt to have a conversation with her. I could always send her a text message.

We had quite a few soccer games today. Dave met up with me at our last game. We decided to grab a quick dinner before heading home. Ryan had to be home by 6:30 to go to one of his buddies big sister's birthday party. We decided to go to Steak and Shake. I missed the exit so we went for plan B. I decided to try a new place. Bad Idea!!! When we walked in it looked like a taxidermy studio. There was a wild cat stuffed on the mantle, several deer heads and countless birds mounted to the walls. When our food came it was served on metal pie plates instead of glass dishes. I was beginning to have flash backs to fourth grade girl scout camp. I looked at Dave and said "what the heck kind of plate is this??" Dave said, "I'm still stuck on the fact that I am drinking a soda out of a pickle jar, let alone the tin dishes. The food tasted about as bad as it was presented. I left early to run by the mall to get a gift card for Ryan to bring to the party. Dave called me when I was on my way home to thank me for picking such a lousy place to eat. He is the type of guy who is happy with eating a plain ham sandwich for dinner so you know it had to be bad.

Dave is at a soccer game tonight with Erin and Kelsey. Shannon is at a party that one of the eighth grade boys is having. The boys presented each one of the cheerleaders at their soccer game a yellow carnation. I wasn't there but I wish I could have seen it. I'm sure the girls loved it and the boys were probably dying. Shannon has another early game in the morning. I think dad will probably be bringing her to that one.

Dave and I just got back from "date night." Normally we go to Walgreens or the grocery store but tonight we actually went to dinner. Our waiter came by and asked if we were done with our appetizer, I told him yes but could we get a to go box because we were bringing our scraps home to the kids. He probably thinks our kids were at home chained to a pole in the basement. (no that is where I keep the dog)

When I dropped the kids off at school this morning, Kelsey mentioned that she felt like she was going to throw up as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. I told her that valuable piece of information would have been helpful before we left for school. The school nurse called around 9:00 AM to see if we could bring up some Advil for Kelsey because she had a headache. Grandma got the call and couldn't remember if she could swallow tablets or if she still used liquid. Kelsey can swallow pills but her big sister Shannon has to take 6 teaspoons of liquid pain reliever every time she has a headache. Grandma called me on my cell phone to tell me school had called the house. I asked her to bring her home instead of bringing her Advil. I called her doctor and made an appointment to bring her in. She hasn't looked good all week. Grandma said that was fine but she had to run by the dollar store on her way back home. I asked her why she had to go to the dollar store? She said"I am out of wrapping paper and boxes for Christmas gifts." I said "are you serious, do you really have to do that today?" She already has about 30 gifts wrapped. She laughed and said she still had so much to do before Christmas. I don't know why I am surprised, she was packed by April for our August vacation. When I got home I asked Kelsey if she went to the dollar store and she told me "grandma did, I waited in the car because my head hurt." I think grandma may have a touch of OCD, had she not been able to wrap those gifts today she probably would have laid awake all night thinking about it. I must take after my father, I could sleep on the kitchen table if I was tired enough without a worry in my head.

Of course the doctor said what Kelsey had was viral, nothing we can do but wait. Had I not brought her in, it would have been malaria. Dave's phone rang while we were at dinner, it was Lauren, she wanted to know why we didn't invite her and Mike and what color my hair was and who did it and how much I paid for it. She read my blog. She said she saw an ad in the paper today about a circus and asked her boyfriend if he had ever been to the circus. His response was "your house is a circus." I've been there lots of times. I just may spit in his mashed potatoes this Thanksgiving, I'll show him a circus!!! (Just kidding Michael.)

We had to get our pictures taken for our self portraits we will be drawing in my drawing class. They printed them off in the computer lab and gave them to us. My thought was "do I really have to draw this wrinkly old woman looking at me?" When did that happen??? I wonder if my teacher would notice if I switched it with an old picture from high school?? I had a chance to do botox at my work at a discount. It would have cost me $90 to get rid of my frown line between my eyebrows. I decided to pass because I could buy Ryan lots of crackers with $90 . After seeing my face with wrinkles blown up on paper I am thinking I should have went for the frozen non moving face instead!!!! I'll let you know how the self portrait goes, I may try to draw Heather Locklear instead.

Maggie's 1st grade class is having a vowel cafe. She calls it a hometown buffet. Grandma takes her there allot to eat. Anyway, each child is assigned a letter and is giving a list of foods that they can bring to the vowel cafe. We were assigned short sound O. We could choose from popcorn, hot chocolate and a couple of other things. Maggie chose hot chocolate. Grandma was going to Sam's Warehouse today to stock up on Ryan's cracker supply for the winter. I called her and asked her to pick up a big container of hot chocolate for the vowel cafe. I picked Shannon up from cheerleading practice on my way home from work. I usually forget about her on Wednesday's but today I outsmarted myself and drew a big giant S on my hand so I wouldn't forget about her. (maybe I should have drawn teeth on my hand last week and the tooth fairy may have actually shown up) I had a hair appointment at 5:30 so I had just enough time to grab a quick dinner before I left. I got home from my cut and color around 8:00. Ryan and Maggie chose tonight to become independent and made themselves some hot chocolate. Did Maggie forget that she was supposed to bring that to school tomorrow for the vowel cafe. Now her teacher will think I just grabbed some old stuff out of the back of my pantry. I'm sure Ryan's teacher has already shared the story of his field trip lunch. (check older posts for the story) I guess she already knows I am a little on the scatter brained side after the Margaret Mary costume, a half eaten container of hot chocolate is mild for our family.

Ryan has chosen this week to have a growth spurt. His school pants are a little high waterish that fit him last week. He has blown out the knees on all three pair of school pants playing kickball. Considering he keeps getting his recess taken away I can't understand how he keeps blowing out his knees. He claims that he needs to slide during kickball or he will get out. Between his pants and Maggie spilling chocolate milk down the front of her every day, I am thinking about making a "hungry please help" sign and turning them into professional panhandlers and bring them to the front of a local shopping mall with a tin can. It may help finance Christmas. Well at least finance some new school pants!!

Today started with the familiar sounds of my darling offspring arguing. Shannon wanted the gym shorts Kelsey had on because she had gym today and Kelsey didn't. Kelsey felt that since she found them first, she should get them regardless of whether or not anyone will see them. I listened for a few minutes before I intervened and gave the veins in my neck another morning work out. Kelsey suddenly saw the light and gave Shannon the shorts. It is amazing that I don't have a swan like neck with all the neck work outs I do in the morning trying to get 5 kids off to school.

I made a pot of spaghetti tonight for dinner. Ryan actually ate even though crackers were not on the menu. Erin/Sybil pointed out that her baby brother has the table manners of a cave man. It is easy to miss that little fact when your diet consists mainly of crackers. I have put her in charge of his future etiquette lessons since she was so nice to notice the problem and bring it ever so gently to my attention. While I was cleaning up dinner mess I noticed a note on the table about an eighth grade meeting for parents that was tonight at 7:00. It was so nice of Shannon to bury the note in a stack of papers so I would stumble upon it 15 minutes before the meeting. My girls love to keep everything fresh and fun. Every day is a new scavenger hunt!!! As I was leaving I came back inside and asked Ryan to throw a shirt on, put on his shoes and carry the trash cans back in the garage. I also asked Maggie to make sure to take a bath.

I almost hit the trashcans that Ryan was supposed to put away when I pulled in the driveway. Maggie forgot to take a bath and no one thought to let the dog outside to go poty. Typical night at the Murphy house!!

Erin/Sybil was off of school today. She spent the day shopping with her grandma and big sister Lauren. She was supposed to be studying for her mid terms but instead was out cruising the clearance rack. She got three pair of killer summer sandals, Shannon is hoping they don't fit her by summer so she will get them.Normally when one of my girls outgrows something that they really like, they have a hard time passing it down to the next sibling in line. Erin used to say "can I save it for my kids instead of giving it to Shannon?"

Today was the first day back for my four youngest kids after seven days off of school . Saturday night, Maggie asked Dave if she had school the next day. He said "No, tomorrow is a church day." She replied "Oh God, that's even worse than school." I'm not sure, but I think we may have a few storms brewing ahead getting little miss Mary Margaret through adolescence. She asked me to pluck her eyebrows last week I'm afraid to find out what is next with her. She would probably ask for teeth whitening too if she had any teeth.

Dave got my plates renewed today and even put a new plate on the front. Now I am going to have to be much more careful when I am flying through intersections with camera's mounted on top of the traffic lights. I think the mystery of the crazy lady in the blue van running yellow/red lights all over town may soon be solved. Maggie had a soccer game tonight, I had Dave take her. I am suffering from a mild case of soccer mom burn out. I get that allot when the temperature dips below 72 degrees.

I dusted off my treadmill last night and walked three miles. I ate fast food all weekend since I was on the road so much. My calf muscles are killing me today. I don't know if it is from climbing the stairs at Cahokia Mounds or from the treadmill. I knew exercise was dangerous.

My morning started typical, rushing out the door headed for a soccer game. Dave took Kelsey and I took Shannon, they had games at the same time at different fields in Illinois. Shannon and I stopped at the gas station to load up on Gatorade and coffee. On the way out the door I noticed a cop standing by my van waiting for me. He asked "is this your vehicle?" I said "yes, I know I'm missing my front license plate, I am going to get a new one this month, my plates expire at the end of the month, I was planning on getting it replaced when I renew them." He said "actually mam your plates expired in October." "I then said, I have a dead body in the back of the van, please take me to jail, do they have kids or soccer at jail??" He was actually really nice and told me I was just a few days past due, he just wanted to give me a friendly reminder. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I have been waiting three years for my husband to replace the front plate that fell off. Dave has many projects on the honey dew list, my upstairs smoke detector has been chirping every thirty seconds for at least a month. I just tell all of our visitors that we have a new pet bird. It can't chirp forever, the battery will eventually lose all power to chirp or the house will burn to the ground, whichever comes first. Lauren and Mike took bets to see how long it would take him to take down the spider web decoration in the front of the house. Imagine their disappointment when they came by the house Saturday night and saw that he took the web down. He did not totally disappoint them , he did forget to take down the talking skeleton hanging up on the front porch. I wish I could program it to say "Hi Dave welcome home, please change the smoke detector battery, take out the trash that we are all tripping over and remember to tell your wife how lucky you are to have her."

Shannon's team lost their game in penalty kicks and Kelsey's team won theirs. They lost in the semi final 1-0. My darling History channel addicted husbanded decided to take the opportunity of a free afternoon to take a little field trip to Cahokia Mounds since we were in the neighborhood. OK, I am a burger and fry kind of girl, I have no idea which fork to use at a fancy dinner, I don't like the theater or the ballet, the art museum was enough culture for me this week. Now he wants to hit a historic site. I may pack tea and crumpets in the kids school lunches this week. Lucky for me the mound was closed for repairs. We were only able to go up about 30 of the stairs instead of making it to the top of the mound.

I just got home from my lovely road trip to Illinois. We left the house at 5:45 AM and got home around 6:30 PM. The tournament the girls are in is pretty big, they don't have enough fields to accommodate all of the games so the tournament is held at several different soccer fields spaced approximately thirty miles apart. I think I circled the Alton, Caseyville, and Edwardsville area 20 times today. Kelsey's team won both games and Shannon had a win and a tie. After Shannon's 7:15 am game she went home with a teammate and I took Kelsey to breakfast at a little dive off of the highway. It is about 45 minutes from our house but I think I may take Ryan there next time he "forgets" to brush his teeth. I think Kelsey and I were the only people in the place who still had all of our teeth. The food was good but I would have to give it a thumbs down on atmosphere.

I couldn't wait to get home and take a nice hot bath in my bath tub. As usual, I had to go on a scavenger hunt to find my shampoo, conditioner,body wash and razor. Erin/Sybil is such a joker, she still likes to make bath time so much fun for her mommy!! It is a good thing I had five full hours of sleep last night and I only drove around Illinois for 8 hours, the other four were spent shivering in a chair watching soccer games. If it wasn't for all of that"special" relaxing time I may have been a little upset that she "borrowed" all of my stuff again even though her bathroom is well stocked.

After I took a bath I came downstairs to check my email and write on my blog. I keep getting spam mail every day that says "Colleen meet your secret crush." or "Colleen, meet other singles in your area." One of these days I will hit reply and say "Hey secret crush, I am a single white female, thirty something, childless, allergic to pets, enjoys long walks and reading. If interested please send a picture along with shampoo, conditioner, eyeliner and mascara."

We have a soccer tournament in Illinois tomorrow morning at 7:15 am. I am kind of hoping the whole family gets a bad case of the stomach flu so we can all sleep in tomorrow. The computer printer is out of ink so I can't do a mapquest. I might actually have to write down the directions or look at a map. Dave has practice for the boys team in the morning so I can't just send him like I normally would. House rule: Any game before 9:00 AM is definitely a dad job!! I guess I will have to suck it up and go instead.


I took the kids to the movies today to see Martian Child. It was a good movie but kind of sad. Ryan and Maggie were probably a little young for it but they were able to sit through it without getting too bored. The new bee movie may have been a better choice for them. I have such an age range with my kids it is hard to pick a movie that everyone will like. Poor Ryan he never gets a vote. We don't go to the movies very often but when we do it is normally a chic flick. I remember when one of the Spiderman movies was out and we were deciding which movie we were going to see he suggested Spiderman and we all just laughed at him and said yeah right!! We probably drug him to go see The Notebook. He has seen Steele Magnolia's and Terms of Endearment at least three times each.

I went out to dinner with three of my high school friends tonight. We started our monthly dinners last February or March. We had such a good time we decided to do it once a month. Apparently November comes after March because our monthly dinners turned into every 8 months. We all vowed we would get serious and get together in December for sure. When will our crazy lives slow down enough so we can enjoy each others company more. Sometimes I feel like I multi task a little too much. I give spelling tests over the phone while I am driving, I brush my teeth in the backyard while I am letting the dog out, when my kids were babies I could even unload the dishwasher and breastfeed at the same time. Sometimes my talent is just absolutely overwhelming!!

My drawing class was canceled today so I skipped my ethics class so I would have the whole afternoon off. (pretty ethical huh) I got home from my design class around 10:00, all my little trick or treaters were still asleep on the couch. I decided to take this rare opportunity of a quiet house and crawl back into my warm bed. Ten minutes later I woke up to the sound of my beloved dog dry heaving in my bed. I quickly pushed him out of bed and hurried him outside. I was successful at avoiding dog vomit in the bed but my carpet didn't fare as well.

I made breakfast for the kids after they woke up and told them to get cleaned up so we could go to the art museum. They weren't exactly running up the stairs by leaps and bounds to get ready when I mentioned the words art museum but they were still happy to get out of the house. When we were ready to walk out the door I noticed my son was covered in mud from the creek behind the house and he didn't bother putting socks on. It is November after all, why should we bother with little details such as socks? He quickly got cleaned up and off we went. The art museum wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and I think the kids actually enjoyed themselves. It is kind of a shame that we are so busy with our own crazy lives that we don't utilize all the free places in our city more often. With that said, about an hour of the art museum was about all I could take. There were markings on the floor around the paintings so you didn't get too close, signs were posted that stated that if you get too close to a piece of art an alarm may sound. I think it is a small miracle that we made it out without Ryan sounding off any alarms. We went to lunch at Steak N Shake and then headed home. It was nice spending a day with the kids acting like a cultured family. Tomorrow we may go to the movies, we are a little more in our element there. Sticky floors, eating candy, drinking soda and throwing our trash on the floor!!