Not Me! Monday! Drew-ism Edition

Ahh.... 4 year olds. They do NOT say the funniest things sometimes. Drew was NOT particularly funny this week either. Here are some things Drew did NOT say this week:

My name is Drew. I am four and I was made in heaven. (Okay, uh, not exactly Drew!)

I know, I am always a good boy. (His response after I told Drew good night and said he was a good boy that day.)


Daddy and I are going to take that land and turn it into a garbage dump. (Pointing to land on a corner of a busy intersection. I am sure everyone would like that.)

We are saving our money and other people aren't making money. (When asked how we would purchase said land. Unfortunately with a 12+% unemployment rate, that statement maybe closer to the reality than we think.)

I am four and I am almost an adult. I can do what I want. (Sigh. Our little teenager in training! Maybe we should stop talking amongst ourselves about how he is getting so old.)

I was so young then. I wish I could be that young again, {sigh}. (While looking at a picture of himself as a baby.)

This blog carnival was created by MckMama. Go head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Real Bees do Sting...

Patient: The Drama King, aka Drew Bee
Diagnosis: Hornet sting on left calf while going to sit down on Lazy Boy. Confidence was also shaken about sitting on household furniture, especially when another hornet was discovered minutes later by Mrs. Bee.

Treatment: Ice pack, Band aid, Children's Ibuprofen, and most importantly, a [very frosty] fudgesicle.

Follow up Treatment: Reassurance that an exterminator will be coming tomorrow and a thorough inspection of all chairs, sofas, and lazy boys.

Prognosis: All signs point to a full recovery.

Conclusion: Some bees are not welcome at the Bee house.

Ba dum dum!

The post that is one big run on sentence (and promotes serious overuse of the comma)

To My Wonderfully Nice Readers:

I am sorry for my latest absence, it's just that I am so tired, it could be the soul-sucking 4 week training that finally ended, or it could be allergies or it could be that I am just burnt out from the never ending barrage of Birthdays (so much so that when I got frustrated because we have two Birthday Parties this weekend to attend, because for God's sakes man, like two every weekend since March, and I was acting like an asshat about it, but seriously so many parties that I don't even LIKE Birthday cake anymore zomigod and we have another one on Saturday too)

or it could be that I just need to chill and stop worrying about the mice and the woodchucks, earwigs, ants and strange little bugs that are infesting our house and maybe I just need to sleep, oh glorious sleep how I miss you so terribly, I want to just sleep for one day with no reason to wake up, no cleaning, obligations, or the need to feed anyone, even myself, because seriously I don't even like thinking about what I am going to eat anymore, all I have been doing is worrying about feeding others (for work and for mi familia)

which is why I will stop this lovely run on sentence and leave you all to go contemplate my navel, stare at my ceiling and not worry about how badly this post sucked and surely not check to see if anyone commented-because oh how I love comments- because if you comment, you should tell me how I am an asshat for this entire post, it's okay I deserve it as someone who is too lazy and tired to used punctuation correctly and I will probably spell something wrong too

and no I am not drunk, but I totally kind of wish I was and what does that say about me, after all it's only Tuesday, and yet it's so hot, too hot but I am going to shut my mouth because, after all, it could be like this outside:

So consider it shut and now I will go and try and catch some ZZzzzzzzzzZZZzzzzs and stop thinking about all I should be doing and to hopefully wake up refreshed and ready to use punctuation correctly.

Love, Janna

PS Spellchecker told me ZZZzzzzzZZZZzzzs and asshat were not real words, I disagree and think they should be included in the English dictionary- what do you think?

Hoping for the Bees

I got to have a heart to heart with Drew while tucking him in tonight:

"Mommy, I want a real sleeping bag, a nice big one. I slept in one once, it was so great."

"Honey we can't afford to buy all the things we want right now. Maybe one day we will buy a sleeping bag, but we have other things we need to buy, like the water shoes you need for school."

"What about a water squirter? [N] got a water squirter for his birthday and it was SO cool. Can I get one, pretty please, oh pretty pretty please?" Drew begged.

"No, we don't always get everything we want, and you know that. We have to make good choices right now, and water shoes are more important than a water squirter."

Big tears welled up in his eyes. "Why can't we buy both?"

"Honey, that is part of life. I love you, but I can't buy you everything."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm sure we will have this discussion often throughout his life. While our life is fairly cushy compared to many, we still live in fear, living paycheck to paycheck and paying ridiculous amounts in childcare fees and bills, worrying about when budget cuts eliminate my job and when Mr. Bee's job might disappear. I try not to let the worries and the fear catch up to me and take hold. I push them away and I don't think about it. I can't let it rule our life.

I know this is important because I remember the one time it did. The first time Mr. Bee was laid off I was barely working 10 hours a week and Drew was a baby. When he told me the news I had a massive anxiety attack. It felt like our world was crashing down on me and I wasn't sure that there were any options. I could barley breathe and I thought I had the flu and needed to go to the doctor. Then I laid down, calmed down and regained control. Never again did I let that fear take over me like that. I won't let it happen. I am stronger now, because I have to be for my family.

I am proud that Mr. Bee and I are able to provide for our family, and also proud that we are not afraid to tell my children "no", no matter what the reason may be. If we have to suffer in this recession right now, if our life has to be so precarious, I hope the silver lining is that my children will have it easier when they are adults.

I hope that means we get to tell the "back when you were kids" stories, where we tell our children how much tougher we had it when they were growing up, and they can groan and never really understand how scary it was to hear of budget cuts, bankruptcy and foreclosure all around us. I hope they never have to live in a State crippled with unemployment. I hope they groan and roll their eyes because they can't imagine it; however I also hope that they cherish all that they have and realize that while they didn't always have everything they wanted, having everything they needed was an amazing luxury that we were able to provide for them.

"Happiness is not the absence of problems; but the ability to deal with them." ~Jack Brown

Here's to wishing and hoping for the right things. Here's to hoping for the best for us Bees.

Not Me! Monday!

Woot, more Not Me! Monday!

This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

What a crazy week it was, from job stresses, to workout challenges, to mini-vay-cays. Here is what we did NOT do this week:

We went to Cedar Point this weekend. We were NOT totally grossed out by the millions of little bugs that attacked us, flying into our nose, mouth and on our shirts.

I did NOT wear a billowy shirt that proceeded to fly up in the air, threatening to expose my nude colored bra. I did NOT have to hold my shirt down the entire time on certain rides (hello Millenium Force!).

The park was NOT so blessedly empty that the longest wait we had was a half an hour. (!!)

We are NOT getting too old for some of the rides that are a little spinny (cough ahem, RAPTOR).

Overall, besides the bugs and the billowy shirt, we had a blast. The funniest thing is that we did NOT spend most of the time scoping out rides for the kids. (Verdict- dude! A million things for the little ones to do! We are hopefully taking Drew and maybe Jacob this year.)

We did NOT forget to look at see what parking quadrant we were in and wander the parking lot for a half and hour. I did NOT go from giggling and calling myself a dummy to eventually coming close to breaking out into tears in my tired state looking for our car.

We did NOT totally sneak into Castaway Bay to see the indoor water park and compare to lovely Great Wolf Lodge. (Verdict? I think Castaway Bay looks like more fun- shocker!)

We did NOT drink lots of beers at the nicest TGIFridays I have ever been to. We would've stayed there all night, however we were so NOT exhausted, so we went back to our hotel.

At our hotel, we watched The Pursuit of Happyness, and Mr. Bee did NOT cry at the end, no NOT at all (wink, wink).

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After driving 3 hours home, we got to pile the kids in the car and drive an hour to my nephew's fourth birthday. We were so NOT sick of driving at this point. Mr. Bee did NOT complain a million times about it, to which I told him "Suck it up!"

The kids had a blast. Here are some of the highlights.

Our children do NOT eat junk, no never at all!

This can NOT be the same child that was scared of dogs two weeks ago, right?

Max the dog was NOT very patient with Jacob, who now loves him some doggies!

It did NOT take two hours to get Drew into the bounce house, wherein he discovered....

He totally loved it!

Jacob the wild man did NOT run at full speed the entire party.

The kids did NOT love me screaming "Boo!" through the windows of the play house.

The Bubble machine was NOT also a hit as well!

I did NOT send my kids to school today completely dirty because we stayed too late last night for baths! It was NOT totally and completely worth it to see the smiles on their faces!
Totally NOT a great end to the weekend. Happy Birthday Nate-Nate!

What were some of your Not Me's! this week?

On the Run

Yep, those are our shoes. Mine are the second from the left. If you didn't notice, I have almost the same size shoes as Mr. Bee. Size eleven, or on good days, ten. Let the "bigfoot" jokes commence (and just wait until I take a picture of my hands)!


Also notice: my shoes are falling apart. From overuse. I have been working out a lot. A lot of people have said recently how great I look, how I look like I have lost weight. I haven't lost any, not even a pound, since my 6 pound weight loss. It's very frustrating. Of course, I know, muscle weighs more than fat, still I know that the calories I am burning compared to what I am eating should mean I would lose some weight, right? Anyway, for now I am done with South Beach and trying just to have a healthy diet and I am focusing on working out instead.

Even though my shoes are falling apart, the expense of new shoes is not something we can truly afford, as we should be living on essentials and saving money because Mr. Bee has been laid off one week, and will be laid off for another week sometime this summer. There aren't any words on how I feel about this. I find it so disheartening that we struggling so hard and yet getting nowhere. It feels like we are swimming and just barely keeping our heard above the surface, and just when I think we will break free and make it to land, someone puts another weight or burden on us.




Nobody told me being an adult was this hard.




I am glad I never wished away my childhood, like others did. I loved being a kid. In fact on that note, we are celebrating my birthday present this Saturday and going to Cedar Point, just Mr. Bee and me. I know what you are saying- but you can't afford new shoes, why are you going to Cedar Point?


Because sometimes it's important to be a kid again, even for a day. Even if it means you run in janky size eleven shoes.


On a happier note, I got to meet a new little guy, Aiden. He's adorable and smells like baby and coos. It's enough to make me want another baby myself... that is until I get a call from childcare telling me that Mr. Calamity bit another toddler.

Insert cute picture that makes you love Mr. Calamity again.

There, that's better.

PS Still can't wait to meet the other new little guy, Beck. (What's with everyone having boys?)

PSS Thank you to all of you who have been sticking with and reading me even in my funks. I have been very busy and I promise to get back to all soon. I think I should feel pretty refreshed by Sunday. Let's hope, right?

Graduation, Worms and Mr. Calamity's return: A Bee Update

Okay, I know... third week in a row I have missed Friday Favorites. In my defense, I have been super busy.

First of all, my big boy Drew graduated from PreK into Kindergarten. I know some of you are saying- wait he's too young to be in Kindergarten. Well, yes, but his childcare moved him up so he could be with his friends, also the curriculum for Kindergarten is more focused, and the class size is smaller, so these are all win-win. He will go to Kindergarten at his childcare and then the next year in public school. (Wherein I will jump for joy with all of the extra money we will have, because we will not be paying for childcare for two... oh god the day in which that burden is off of us will be a wonderful, bittersweet day indeed.)

I thought I would cry, and I didn't. Well, I did tear up a little, but I was so annoyed with Jacob being obnoxious that it distracted me from the moment. We did catch it on tape though, so I am glad. He was the first one to receive his diploma, and he did so well, going out in front of everyone. I was so proud to call him my son.

My little Graduate.

This is our fourth picture ever taken together as a family, and I insisted upon it!
Preplanning his graduation!

Secondly, we have been working on getting a garden going, and cleaning up our yard. The plants were growing really well in their little pods until we transported them to the big garden. Now I am not sure they will make it. But maybe we will get one or two crops from our efforts.

Just dirt right now!
Apparently Jacob is going to sweep up that dirt!

Worms for one, worms for all!

Thirdly, I am training (ha- that makes it sound like I have an actual plan!) to run a 5K with my sister at the end of September. So far I have run without stopping almost a mile. It feels like I am dying when I run though, so I am hoping it will get easier???

Fourthly (fourthly? is that even a real word?) work has been insane, doing busy work that I HATE. It literally gave me heartburn on Friday. I felt like throw up was in my mouth, planning for the training I despise most. On Wednesday I will feel better because it will be over for (hopefully) the year.

Fifthly (hmmm... really pushing it) my little Mr. Calamity is driving me CRAZY. We hit the terrible twos early. We can't go anywhere without him being a little shit and crying and carrying on. Good thing he is so darn cute.

Ahh... child why are you so cute? Why do you torment us so??

So that is our update... I promise I will be back soon with more excitement.

Ode to Sharky

Dearest Sharky,

I am sorry you passed away last night. It was sudden and unexpected, and we are sorry to see you go. We enjoyed watching you swim, and eat. You weren't exciting or flashy, but you did your thing. Even if your thing wasn't exciting, you were consistent.

Thank you for not leaving dirty socks all over the house, or leaving the toilet seat up. Thanks for being patient when we would forget to feed you, overfeed you or tap on the fish tank. Thanks for putting up with all of the screaming that takes place in our house. Most importantly, thanks for being Drew and Jacob's first pet. Rest in Peace in the giant Fish bowl in the sky.

Love,

Your family, The Bees

PS We are totally going to pass off another fish as you, but know that if Drew knew you kicked the bucket, he would be sad and miss you. Maybe we will approach that idea when the new friend in our family, Sharky V. 2.0, kicks it.... in about 5 months.

PSS You truly are one of a kind.... so much so that Drew questioned whether Sharky V. 2.0 was really Sharky, or if we picked up the wrong fish from "the Doctor". So you were special, and unforgettable!

Not Me! Monday! Vacations, Anniversaries, and Mr. Calamity

Woot, more Not Me! Monday!

This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

We are finally back from our trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Ohio (in case you didn't know, GWL is an indoor water park hotel. It's great for those with little kids). I am labeling it a trip because to call it a Vacation would imply it was relaxing. I was so NOT stressed the entire trip due to my three grumpy men. (Mr. Bee was very tense, although maybe not grumpy, but there sure was an air of lightheartedness missing, you know?)

This particular little man was NOT a holy terror, choosing to take only one nap the entire three days, dipping two of his three blankies in the toilet and splashing it around, knocking over everything in sight and crying about everything in sight. Once home, this little boy did NOT make a total 180 personality wise, becoming his sweet self again, and napping for 3 1/2 hours Saturday AND Sunday!

This little man had fun... I think, although not as much fun as the first time we went. He was less brave this time around, NOT due to the fact that he swallowed some water on a slide when I failed to catch him immediately. I did NOT feel horrible the rest of the trip, and beg him to go on another slide to no avail.

Brave Drew, before I traumatized him!

Jacob was NOT totally afraid of the water when we arrived! Slowly he warmed up...
And then he became a downright daredevil.

My little baby going down this big slide did NOT freak me out one bit!
This is the closest we got to a family picture. At least Mr. Bee is facing the camera.

Jacob did NOT try to scam and get out of the play area with the shopping cart. He was so NOT in love with that cart.

Creepy animatronic animals....

The kids did NOT make us watch their performance three times, therefore Mr. Bee was NOT totally sick of them at this point!

Okay so we did NOT go all the way to Ohio to a water slide park and discover Jacob's favorite water activity was splashing the water puddles, right? RIGHT?!?

All in all, the park was very nice, the room was clean, and the staff was child friendly. I would say if you go, to go during the week, as it is dead around that time and a lot cheaper. I would totally NOT recommend you take your family to Great Wolf Lodge. (GWL are you listening now? Can I get a better deal for pimping you?)

Today is Mine and Mr. Bee's 7th Wedding Anniversary. I have been dating/engaged/married to Mr. Bee for 10 years, which is a third of my life. That is so NOT strange when I think about it! We went out for our anniversary to a nice dinner, and then went and watched the Red Wings win the first game of the finals. We finished off the night with chicken wings at BW3. Our date was so simple, and consequently was NOT wonderful! :) I also did NOT tell Mr. Bee in drunken state that I wanted buffalo wings served at my funeral, because I am NOT that weird! (Dude, Buffalo Wild Wings- totally pimping you as well! I love coupons... just saying. I am totally NOT kidding!)

On a more serious note, it's NOT been a great seven years and I am NOT looking forward to seven more great years. Love you, Mr. Bee.

Here we are... so NOT cute and young and well rested... we have no idea the terror that our young children will put us through.