Ramblings: Fa lalalala..how many days till school starts again?

I haven't had the time or been much in the mood to sit and take the time to type out exactly all the chaos that's been going down around here. But here's the problem...I still nag myself to do it. Continually. All day long, I think--man, I should blog this. Or that. Or when Maddie said she liked the funny "virgin" of the Jingle Bells song we were listening to (she meant version--which led to an interesting discussion of Virgin Mary and what exactly does that mean).

So I have my own voice constantly narrating BLOG posts in my head all day and I can't take it anymore. I'm starting to feel like I deserve my own show on A&E--I'm guessing it'll be on between Hoarders and Intervention, just in case you wanna tune in.  I figured I'd take the time and get some of the voices out of my noggin and onto here since the kids are outta school and they're going to destroy the house whether I try to stop them or sit here at the computer.

(The three boys are currently playing dodgeball. Across the living room. With a combo of basketballs and blocks. And incidental ornaments from the Christmas tree. When the guy mounted our big tv on the wall, I told him it better be able to withstand a tornado and still be hanging. He thought I was joking. He obviously hasn't been around during "Dodge-block".)

So last week Alex had his first official piano recital. I say first, because anyone that's ever crossed the threshold of our front door has received a personal and impromptu piano recital, whether they wanted one or not. He made me email his piano teacher for approval to wear his favorite black suit, which he of course received. Alex did great--his teacher says he's a "natural". Jeremy came home vowing to finally learn how to play his guitar after watching an 8 year old rock out during the recital. Which should be just fine because of all the spare time he has (note major sarcasm). Isn't Rock Band enough to satisfy that guitar itch?

 He and Jeremy also had their first basketball game on Saturday--Alex as a player, Jeremy as the nervous, hollering coach sprinting back and forth along the sidelines.  Here's the deal: Jeremy takes very few things really, really seriously. Basketball and college football are somewhere way ahead of religion, politics, and his wife's mental well-being. Mix that with the fact that he's super competitive, and you've got the reason that their team beat the other team 68-3.  And yes, you are correct. He's still annoyed the other team managed to score 3 points somehow.  Those little guys were stealing the ball, spinning past people, and making layups like madmen. And even though I hoped that Jeremy would have them ease up a little to let the other team at least TRY to make a shot, he kept them going at 110% till the end. By the time the buzzer went off, the other team looked like we shot their brand new Christmas puppy.

I happened to be sitting with parents from the other team and it was really sad in our section. They just kept saying things like, "Oh, Oh. Come on guys--you have to bounce the ball. No, wrong end--we're trying to shoot at this end! If we could only get ONE shot off but they keep stealing the ball. I don't think our coach knows what he's doing." So I attempted to record some key plays, but with my two drunken monkey assistants, I didn't manage to do much besides wiggle and jiggle the camera and break up fights between them over who got to hold it the longest.  Here's the best of the day.