Nearly Sunday Sound Out

I probably should have stayed up late last night to do my Sunday Sound Out, because I've been interrupted 5, 692 times today!
Mom, I'm bored.
Can I have chocolate milk?
Can I ride my bike down the street?
I'm bored, Mom.
When can we leave for the birthday party?
Austin's bugging me.
Do I HAVE to clean my room?
I'm bored.
Can I have some crackers?
When are we going to leave?
Can we go bowling?
I'm bored.
Will you make me a peanut butter sandwich?
When are we going to go to the store?
What are we doing tomorrow?
Can we go to the pool?
Can I call Allyson?
I'm bored.
When are we going to leave?
Mom, can you wipe my butt?
Mom, can I have candy?
I'm bored.

And that was just in the first 30 minutes. Ugh.
Here, at long last, are the answer's to your questions...

How many bedrooms does your house have? And who shares bedrooms? Woud you share a picture of your house? Or the inside of th kitchen and living room. I love your blog and book btw!

Our house has 4 bedrooms. Austin has the smallest room to himself. Clay and Jackson share a room, and Lexi and Savannah share a room. Brooklyn still sleeps in our bedroom. I'm looking into redecorating the girls' room and moving Brooklyn in there this summer. As far as pictures go... Ummm, yeah, sure, let me just kick some of these toys out of the way. And vacuum. And dust. And, oh, for the love of God, what IS that under the couch?!!! Ummm, my ummm, my camera's broken. Yeah, that's it. It's broken. Sorry.

Lets talk dinner: How often do you cook dinner at home?

We eat dinner together almost every night. I usually do the cooking, but sometimes Joe does. I've been really lazy as of late, and have been making stuff like pasta and pancakes and hotdogs. What can I say? It's summer.

Do you have any picky eaters?

Define picky. Would you call it picky if all Brooklyn someone will eat is macaroni & cheese, ketchup, and chocolate milk?

Do you have any recipes you would like to share that the whole family enjoys?

I dunno. I'm no gourmet cook. I just make the usual kinda stuff, tacos, lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, BBQ pork sandwiches, baked chicken, etc. We're not too fancy around here.

Two things: 1) I know it's been a while, but has Savannah hung out with that girl since the big clothing drama? 2) Have you ever thought about submitting some of your cakes to cakewrecks.blogspot.com? I bet they would qualify for the weekly Sweets spot....

Savannah hasn't seen that girl since the clothing drama.
My cakes wouldn't qualify for the Sweet Spot, but maybe they'd qualify for a wreck.

I'm just curious....Do you still keep up with Julian's Mom (I can't remember her name)? How is she doing dealing with the loss of her sweet kid?

I do still talk to Mimi now and then. In fact, we spoke just last week. I think she takes it one day at a time. It still feels like her heart was ripped out, but every day she gets out of bed and does what she can to make it through the day.

EWWWW! to the dead fish on a stick. Where did he find THAT at a baseball game?

The kid can find something gross pretty much anywhere we go. It's like there's a homing device...

Compare that hot dog to the sandwich that was there for two days and unrecognizable because it was real food....

I know! I was thinking the same thing! It's amazing what buttloads of preservatives can do to food. Makes you kinda wonder what they do to us.

O.K. Speaking of funny photos, would you please direct me to the one of the soap - with teeth marks?
You can see that picture HERE. And this is that same bar of soap a couple days later -

And while I was searching for the soap pictures, I ran across this one...

The J. Peterman Underwear Hat
Some people simply have style. Perfect for swinging at the park, running in the backyard on a warm summer day, or wreaking havoc at the local grocery store. Red elastic waistband doesn't bind. Holes for air circulation. Soft cotton fabric for stylish comfort. Boys sizes 2T - 4T.
(not really a J. Peterman hat.)

LOL! Because I'm bored. Dawn, aren't you entertaining him? It's summer for goodness sakes!

The kids have been coming to me, bored, every day lately. Every time they tell me they're bored, I put on my cruise director hat and inform them of the activities I have planned. Things like, cleaning the bathroom, folding the laundry, dusting the shelves. For some reason, they don't find my planned activities fun.

My husband and I will be in Chicago for about 3-4 days around the U2 concert, and are wondering what are some of the "absolutely, have to see" sights? If you could let me know, either in your next Sunday sound out, or by email, that would be great.

For real? I have no idea what's in the city. I just saw Millennium Park for the first time last week. And I got lost while doing it. I am really the last person you want as a tour guide, I assure you.

It really was a regatta gala!! how funny!

I love anyone who gets a Friends reference! :D

Sears Tower name has been changed - check out today's Chicago Tribune:
"Sears Tower name change: Building today officially becomes Willis Tower"

Whatever. It's still the Sears Tower. Comisky is still Comisky and the Rosemont is still the Rosemont, no matter what they decide to call them.

Dawn, Dawn, Dawn... how can you get lost from Millennium Park to the train station - either one of them?! Granted, Union Station is slightly more of a straight shot than Ogilvie, but still, hon... *shakes head* Love you, though!

I got lost dropping off a Girl Scout cookie order form 3 blocks from my house once. Understand? And in my defense, I didn't start walking toward the train station. I just started wandering around the city, thinking that I'd just grab a cab when I got bored walking and he'd take me to the train station. When I realized that cabs weren't just lined up and down every street and I'd actually have to step out and flag one down, I decided I'd rather walk the whole way. By then, it was no longer a straight shot to the station. Sooo, I put "train station" in my phone and got directions. I started walking. Eventually, I hit Union Station. I knew that Ogilvie was just a couple blocks away, but I wasn't sure which way. Somewhere along the way, I'd accidentally deleted the map app from my phone. I have no idea....

Anyway, I couldn't seem to pull up a map and find out which way Ogilvie was. I gave up on making the train and resigned myself to making the next train, so I stopped in a Dunkin' Donuts to get an iced coconut coffee mmmm, and get directions. I got the coffee and the guy behind the counter laughed at me and said something about silly suburbanites. He directed me to go in the opposite direction from what I thought it was. And you know what? I actually made that train that I thought I was going to miss. And with 27 seconds to spare!

Did you ever, in the early days, struggle with the SAHM/working dad division of labor?

No, we really didn't. We fell into our roles easily in the early days. Joe worked, I stayed home, and it was all fine. As time went on, he worked more and more (he put in 80 hours in a typical week) and I did everything at home. He came home to sleep and that was pretty much it. It was hard on both of us because neither of us ever got a break. However, we were both ok with our roles. We did what we had to do.

However, now things have shifted a bit and Joe works a 40 hour week and I try to work from home. We're struggling with the division of housework and childcare now. I think Joe has a hard time seeing what I do as work, since I don't leave the house. He's willing to pick up the slack as far as housework goes, but it usually comes with a little guilt trip that I'm not able to do everything anymore. He doesn't make me feel guilty on purpose or anything. And I think I haven't been patient with him as he's struggling to figure out his role now. It's just an adjustment and we're still both trying to work things out so we're both involved and no one feels taken for granted or unfairly overloaded.