Happa Birthday Austin!

Well, we had Austin's birthday party today. He was in a good mood all day. He still pulled away from me and acted like he was burned by acid when I tried to hug him, but other than that, he was pretty human. He and Savannah even helped me out by making the spanikopita.

I made him a Sox cake. I was really tempted to do Cubs just to tick him off, but I was nice. I guess the toilet cake will have to wait until next year.


Notice anything strange about the decorations?


The cake was covered with buttercream; the hat and ball were covered with fondant.


It was Savannah's idea to write, "happy birthday" on the ball like a signature.


The hat turned out pretty good. I didn't knead the color in as well as I should have and it resulted in a mottled look. It makes it look more real, I think. It looks a little dirty/dusty.

Look at Brooklyn (that little sneak!)

You can't tell from the picture, but I impressed with how smooth I got the fondant.

OK, ok enough showing off, Dawn


Party's over. Let's wear the decorations!

The birthday boy himself. He asked for Beef Jerky and M&Ms for his birthday. Goofball.

Ewwww! Mom Cooties!


This was earlier today. Brrrrr!

snowy-icy-slushy stuff on my windshield. Goodbye fall. :*(

The VTech winner is announced HERE and it's not too late to leave a comment for the Lands' End giveaway HERE.

Happy Stinkin' Birthday

My oldest child, my son Austin turned 14 today. Now I didn't make a big deal of it because we're having the family over on Saturday to celebrate. Still, we always let the birthday boy or girl choose what they'd like for dinner on their birthday. Unfortunately I really, really need to go to the grocery store and we really didn't have much to choose from. Basically, we had eggs or peanut butter sandwiches. I asked Austin if he wanted to go out to eat.

"No."

"Are you sure? We could go to Olive Garden (his favorite restaurant). I have some gift cards for there too."

"No."

"Hmmm, well would you rather me just pick up something on the way home from Savannah's orthodontist appointment?"

"I don't care."

"OK, well what sounds good?"

He sighed, "I don't care. Whatever you guys want."

"It's your birthday, Austin."

"I don't care. Whatever you guys want," he said again. This is his "Oh, woe is me" act.

"Fine Austin."

I took Savannah to the ortho and called home when we left the office. I tried one more time with Austin.

"Does he want to go to Olive Garden or some other place for dinner?" I asked Joe.

"Nope, he says he doesn't want to."

Exasperated, I said, "Fine, I'll just stop at Besa Mi Taco then. What does everyone want?"

Joe asked everyone for their order and got back on the phone. "Everyone wants a taco except Jackson and Austin. They said they don't want Besa Mi Taco because it's gross."

"I thought Austin said he didn't care?!!! Well, what DOES he want?"

"Nothing" Oh, woe is me.

I even offered to stop at a couple of other nearby restaurants, but they both insisted they weren't hungry. No, no, that's ok. You get what you want. We'll make due with water and some dryer lint. Don't mind us. No, no, I insist. You get what you want. I don't need anything.

"Fine. I'll pick up food for us then," I told Joe.

So, that's how it went. Jackson is now whining his head off that he's hungry.

"There's peanut butter in the cabinet, my friend."

And Austin has locked himself in his room and is having a teenage moment.

Is it just hard going from a kid where birthdays are a big deal to a teenager where you don't have big birthday parties and balloons and goody bags? Or is this just my kid? Austin has always been a moody sort. He's very smart and creative and super sensitive and stubborn. Maybe I will make him a toilet cake on Saturday after all. A toilet cake complete with a big pile of poop.

No, I don't want any cake. You guys have it. No, don't mind me. I'll just have a leaf. I'm fine. You guys enjoy. sniff sniff

(I really do feel bad that he's spending his birthday in his room pouting. Maybe I'll pick him up something special when I head off to the grocery store in a minute.)

MY BOOK!

Guess what came in the mail for me today! MY BOOK! Hee hee hee! I'm giddy! I ripped open the package and showed everyone at the post office! Then I proudly carried it with me when I went to pick the kids up from school. I thrust it in everyone's face (whether I knew them or not) and yelled, "This is my book! Lookie! I wrote this! See? It's my book!!!"

People generally backed slowly away from me. I think some of them may have called the authorities. I might as well have been wearing a sign that read, "I'm a giant DORK!"

My friend, Ginny, ran up to me and gave me a huge hug when she saw what I was holding. I wrote in my blog (back on July 31, 2007), "...I got to read, a pastime I truly enjoy, but don't usually find time to do. I finished How I Write by Janet Evanovich, a book my good friend, Gin, gave me for Christmas. She insists I should write a book, but she has much more faith in me than I do..." LOL! And she hasn't said, "I told you so," even once.

Not only is this fun, but it's given me a much needed kick in the butt to start finish my second manuscript. I'm off to the library to write in peace.


Pay no attention to the seaweed looking hair. It doesn't matter that I have a book being published - I'm still a mom who oftentimes doesn't get in the shower until noon and then doesn't have time to dry or straighten her hair, thus the sunglasses headband. Classy. Very classy.

Thanks for mailing this out to me right away, Beth!!! :) You're the best!

Four Things

You know the best part of election day? The fact that I won't have 20 pounds of political flyers in my mailbox and I won't be getting half a dozen political phones calls every day. Even Clay voted this week. He had a choice between SpongeBob and Scooby Doo. (SpongeBob won.)
Since there's enough election coverage everywhere else and since this isn't a political blog, here's a little something light for you.

Today Clay and Lexi "flew" down the street on a rake. Broomsticks are so yesterday. I wonder what the neighbors think when they see my kids running down the street while "riding" on a rake. I can just see them shaking their heads. "There goes those weird Meehan kids again. Too bad their mom doesn't buy them bikes or skates or normal toys."

I was tagged for this meme quite a while ago and just never got around to doing it. I'm sorry I don't even remember who tagged me. Anyway...


Four jobs I've had -

1. Cocktail waitress at Pheasant Run Resort
2. Receptionist at a distributor of heavy machinery parts
3. My first job was working at K-Mart
4. I was a waitress at probably more than 25 different restaurants

Four movies I could watch over and over -

1. The Princess Bride
2. While You Were Sleeping
3. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
4. Ella Enchanted

Four places I've lived -

1. IL
2. Land of Lincoln
3. See number 1
4. Illinois
Although technically I was living when I was in Florida and California the past couple weeks...

Four TV shows I love -

1. Friends
2. Seinfeld
3. Everybody Loves Raymond
4. Ace of Cakes

Four places I've vacationed -

1. This year? As an adult? If it's places I've vacationed at some point during my life, I'll go with the Bahamas
2. Hawaii
3. Florida
4. Wisconsin... wait scratch that. Wisconsin doesn't count. Ummm, how about California?

Four of my favorite dishes -

1. Lou Malnatis yum!
2. Chicken fried chicken at Cracker Barrel
3. Tirimisu
4. Enchiladas - Unless "dishes" really means dishes in which case I like my Corelle dishes.


Four favorite drinks -

1. Coffee Mate Vanilla Chai Spice creamer with a little coffee
2. Sangria
3. Mojitos
4. Bellinis

Four sites I visit daily -

1. my blog
2. Facebook (and I'm very angry at everyone who told me to join! Facebook is like crack!)
3. I'm currently weaning myself from my Pogo addiction
4. the bathroom (it didn't specify WEBsites.)


Four places I'd rather be right now -

1. I'm happy being here with my kids
2. Ok, I hear them fighting now. Can I change my answer?
3. someplace warm and sunny with palm trees and ocean breezes
4. in bed

Speaking of, I'm headed there to watch the rest of Wildcats. I've seen enough election coverage to last a good four years.

*****Edited to add - check out my review blog for a VTech giveaway HERE and a Lands' End giveaway HERE.*****

No Clever Title Comes to Mind

I'm doing a thing for BlogHerAds and part of this project includes me videotaping a shopping excursion. I took my whole family because I'm stupid because I thought it might make for an interesting video. We scared people near and far. I apologize to anyone who might have been near Woodfield Mall this evening. I didn't accomplish what I needed to and I'm too embarrassed to go back there, so I'll be hitting a couple different malls tomorrow. I'm only bringing Savannah with me because I don't want to be kicked out.

Clay, as always, has way too much energy for one person. I wish I had a tenth of it. He was walking along, doing pirouettes, banging off the walls and just being goofy. Of course, when I pulled out the camera, he calmed down some and my battery died a couple seconds after I started taping, but you can get an idea...



This reminded me of the video Peggy made of Caden walking down the street in NYC. Speaking of, the Larsons are heading back to NYC so Coleman can get some further treatment. For those of you who are new to my blog, Coleman Larson is an adorable little boy with a twin brother, Caden. Coleman is battling cancer and his mom, Peggy updates his CarePage almost daily. The Larsons have a strong faith and despite going through some really rough times, they always manage to see the rainbow at the end of the storm. If you haven't "met" the Larsons, go to carepages.com and sign up. It just takes a minute. You can access his page by typing in "colemanscott" with no spaces and no quotation marks. Anyway, Coleman's counts were down and he wasn't feeling well today, so pray he feels well enough to travel to New York in the morning.

So, we grabbed a bite to eat after the shopping "fun". We ran into some friends of ours there. When they came up to the table, I said, "Hey kids, wouldn't you like to go home with Uncle Dave and Aunt Brenda?" You know, because they were still wired and acting nuts and I figured why not share this special time with Dave and Brenda who have no kids of their own.

When Dave and Brenda left, Savannah asked, "Are they really our aunt and uncle?"

Austin looked at her like she was stupid and said, "No! They're our godparents, duh!"

Just for the record - they're neither the kids' aunt and uncle, nor their godparents. My kids are SO smart.

I have to go to bed. I'm so screwed up going from Central to Pacific to Central to Eastern to Central to Pacific to Central and off Daylight Savings Time in the past 2 weeks. I have no idea what time it is, but I'm pretty much always tired. Whose bright idea was Daylight Savings Time anyway? I can never figure out how to change the clock in my car and it ticks me off.

Tonight Savannah asked, "Is it really 8:30 now?"

"Nope. It's 7:30," I answered.

"Why don't you change it so it's the right time?"

My kids already think I'm technologically inept. There was no way I was going to admit that I didn't have a clue how to change the clock. "It'll be the right time in 6 months. Just be patient."

It was dark, but I'm pretty sure she rolled her eyes at me.

Have a good night! :)

Sunday Sound Out

I had a couple weeks of comments to go through so this Sunday sound out is kinda long. I suggest you take a break halfway through reading it. Get up, stretch your legs, grab a couple peanut butter cups form your kids' Halloween basket, and come back to finish. I'll wait.

How long have you and Joe been together/married?
16 long years

[about my kids' eye colors] And stupid question, but I can only come up with five colors.... blue, green, hazel, brown. Oops that's four. Apparently I can't count either :) Wahat are the other 2 colors?
LOL! I can't believe how many people commented on this. I just meant that they all looked different. Austin has green eyes, but one of his eyes has a brown spot. It's weird. Savannah has gray-blue, Jackson has orangey-brown, Lexington has blue-green, Clay has hazel, and Brooklyn has really dark brown.

Why don't you have your review blog part of your new website?
I dunno. I guess I could incorporate it. Hmmm...

I had noticed before that all of your kids seemed to be named after cities...except Clayton. Is that one a city too?
Yup, it's a city. With Clay, we'd narrowed our choices to Dallas, Houston, Branson, and Clayton (which is in MO, AL, and CA). We let the other kids pick his name. They chose Clayton. Well, Austin and Savannah chose Clayton. Jackson wanted to name him Slicker. He ended up calling him Slicker for like a year.

Have you ever done a Mickey Mouse cake? I want to do one for my son's second birthday but I'm having a hard time finding ideas/supplies. Any tips?
I personally get most of my supplies from Wilton. HERE are a bunch of cool Mickey ideas too. Austin asked for a "mystery cake" for his birthday this week. I have no idea what to make. Maybe a princess?

SSO - will you be blogging about the Sauve event?
I did! You can read about it HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. Because of my agreement with BlogHerAds, I can't blog about products, services, and trips I've been given if their value is over $40. That's why I blog about some things on a separate review blog.

What do you get? What do you get? [for winning in the Blogger's Choice Awards]
As far as I can tell, I get to say that I won for the best parenting blog in the Blogger's Choice Awards. ;)

Hi Dawn, you said that the new blog layout WAS your fridge, so now I'm intrigued... just how many refrigerators does your family go through? I thought the side-by-side fridge in your "Clay Steals a Cookie" video was your new one? Or did the web designer just rearrange it to be more functional as a web page?
You have way too much time on your hands! ;) My designer took the picture of my fridge and made it into a functional website.

Congrats! And I have to ask...does Savannah mind being the only child whose name doesn't end in a "N" sound?
Nope. That was a concern of mine when naming Clay and Brooklyn though. I didn't want her to be the only one.

[regarding the video HERE] Oh my. What possesses 4yo kids to want to eat their own arms?
He said, "I'm Chicken Donald" (instead of Donald Duck perhaps?), then he said, "Mmmm chicken!" and started gnawing on his arm. I don't know. I've stopped trying to figure that one out.

My favorite part of the whole video is Clay doing the air quotes about "Mom is going to leave me."
LOL! He said, "Yeah, Lex get to eat meat." Then he stood up while the tram was moving for like the fiftieth time. Then he and Lexi got into a deep conversation about whether or not we're made out of meat. Finally, they all spazzed their heads off.

Oh, I just love it that in the background you can hear one of the kids repeating "Die Nemo" over and over!
Yeah, that must have come from some other obnoxious kids on the tram because mine would never be that embarrassing. A-hem.

Please tell this idiot what a Twitter is??!!!
Twitter is micro blogging. I can send out little updates via my cell phone when I'm out and about and keep you up to date on all the unimportant goings on in my life. You can read the "tweets" on the left side of my blog or you can sign up to follow me at Twitter.com.

I'm guessing that they're ok with doing Disney and not Discovery Cove?
They were thrilled with Disney, but they still preferred Discovery Cove. It was such a laid-back, relaxing place.

Where-oh-where are you all staying [in Sonoma]- McArthur Place, The Lodge, Farimont?
We stayed at The Lodge.

Just curious--how did your foot with the plantar fasciitis hold up to the 500,000 mile walk?
I was amazed, but it was actually fine! My legs and feet hurt a lot, but not my heel.

There has been a lot in the news lately about the exploitation of kids in "reality" TV, especially "John and Kate + 8" on TLC. If you were approached by a network to do a reality show that put cameras in your home 40+ hours a week, do you think you would do it? Just wondering what YOUR thoughts on this is.
I hate hypothetical questions, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be interested in doing a reality TV show. That said, I don't think it's wrong that John and Kate do it. This works for their family. Think of all the opportunities that have come their way because of it. They've been able to do things they would never have done otherwise. I'm sure there are those out there who disagree, but you just can't say what you'd do until you've walked a mile in someone else's shoes. It's easy to say you'd never do a TV show, but when faced with raising 8 small children by yourself while your husband works a million hours a week, you might just change your mind.

I tell everyone I meet who has more than 3 kids all about your web site. I know it has blessed my life. Did you know that? Is that your intent? So, we laugh at ourselves and our lives as we hear you laughing at yourself and your family. I hope that helps you.
Comments like these make me cry (in a good way) and make me LOVE writing! Thank you.

were any of the kids who rode it scared of the pirates of the Caribbean ride? (A.K.A. the best ride on earth!)
No, but my sister sure was when she was a kid, weren't you, Deb? She freaked at the part where the ship and the town are firing canons at each other and the canonballs "land" in the water next to the boat. I mean, she FREAKED! She ducked down and hid on the bottom of the boat so she wouldn't get shot. LOL! Ahhh, good times, good times...

how was test track? please tell me that the rumors are not true, and that you cant really die from riding it?
Ummm I hadn't heard that rumor. Joe went on Test Track with the kids while I stayed with sleeping Brooklyn. None of them died.

Wow. If you compared your past two weeks of your life, red-carpet walking with the stars, Disney hopping with the family, limo-jumping and wine-tasting with fellow authors, and checked back on your life exactly a year ago, did you think you'd be doing all this fun stuff?!?!?
Never in a million years.

Who is watching the children while you're away?
Joe

I noticed in that picture that you have a tattoo on your ankle. What is it of?
First off, how on EARTH did you notice something like that? Man, I better make sure I never have spinach in my teeth when I post a picture of myself! And yes, I have a tattoo of a fish on my ankle. It seemed like a good idea when I was 18 and knew everything.

Got any tips for us "aspiring writers"?
WRITE!

I'd love to know where you ate. I live in Sonoma County and I always love to hear people's restaurant raves.
We ate most meals at The Lodge, but went into town and had one meal at El Dorado Kitchen.

Where are you finding these gorgeous clothes??
At exclusive boutiques like Target, JC Penney, and Dress Barn.

Where do you go for your corn maze? Harvard or something like that or closer?
We've gone to several different places. I think we go to Malta most often (and it has nothing to do with the fact that you can stop in DeKalb for beer nuggets on the way home.)

[in regards to doing nothing for Halloween] Welcome to my life! Ha!Liberating, isn't it? ;-)
Yes! In fact, I think I'm going to apply this theory to Thanksgiving and Christmas this year too!

[in regards to doing nothing this fall] It doesn't matter what you do, they will turn out warped and blame you anyway. ;)
LOL!!!

For all us new bloggers out there, can you tell us how you got people to read your blog before the bonanza that was Ebay? And how did you learn to do all the extras on your blog like finding out how people found you on Google (I know you answered this before, but I couldn't find it!) and counting how many people visit your blog? Yup, compared to me, you're a technical genius! :o)
Before the eBay thing, I had 5-10 people read my blog every day. I just asked my family and friends to read it. And I use statcounter.com to track the number of visitors, where they've come from, what keywords they googled, etc.

did you know that is one of walmart's $4 Perscriptions?
Ugh, NOW you tell me! I actually knew that Meijer did that, but I didn't think about it when I went to get his prescription filled today. Grrr.

What happens with a ruptured ear drum? Did you have to go back to the doc or do you just let it drain and heal?
Yeah, I'll just keep him on the antibiotics and let it be. I take him back to the doctor in 2 weeks to make sure it's healing up ok.

I completely understand with your kids only getting sick on holidays, @ 1am Sunday morning, or while you are on vacation. This also goes along the lines of "needing" special paper, glue, or a flux capacitor that they just magically remembered the night before a project was due.
"Flux capacitor"! LOL!!! Even worse is when they need plutonium at the last minute!

How do you travel alone with 6 kids at home? Does Joe take off work and stay home? Do you have help come in? Do you just toss the kids in the crawl space?
I thought about just tossing the kids in the crawl space, but I was afraid they'd damage the pipes down there. Joe just takes off a couple days and watches them.

I have to ask what kind of clotting disorder you have. I was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism in February and they discovered that I have Protien S Deficency.
I have a prothrombin gene mutation. My sister does too. She had a pulmonary embolism and the stubborn goat wouldn't go to the doctor. I had to pick her up and force her to go to the hospital.

And when I got home from our (yours and mine) Chicago trip my hubby says...I LOST 6 POUNDS WHILE YOU WERE GONE! I WAS SO BUSY I COULDN'T FIND TIME TO EAT!So, based on that, I should weigh like 4 lbs.
I kicked him!
LOL! I like the way you think!

Am I the first to notice the new Disney Magnet on the fridge?? Do I win a prize or something???
Ummm no. I hate to disappoint you, but that magnet's been there from the beginning of this design. My friend Debra got it at Disneyland and gave it to me for Christmas a couple years ago.

[in regards to me almost getting on a plane to Narita] "At NAA(Narita International Airport), objective is to maintain our status as one of the world leading international hub airports, "I <3> google...;) You almost went to Japan:P
At least it wasn't Yemen. (Did I happen to mention that I touched Matthew Perry like 8 times?! I did? Well be prepared to hear me say it at least another 20 times this year.)

And finally, you can check out my latest giveaway on my other blog HERE.

What? I Can't Hear You!

Jackson didn't feel well when I picked him up at school for lunch yesterday. He didn't want to go back to school; he just wanted to lie down. On the other hand, he really didn't want to miss the Halloween festivities. He didn't have a fever so I left it up to him and told him he could stay home with my parents who were watching Clay and Brooklyn or he could go back to school with me. He chose to stick it out and return to school.

After class, he went trick-or-treating with some friends and their parents. After a few minutes, he came home complaining that his ear hurt.

"Well, it's a holiday so it stands to reason that someone would get sick."

"I'm not sick. My ear just hurts," Jackson corrected me.

"We'll see," I said. "We'll see."

Jackson woke up today with horrible pain in his ear. It was before 9:00 AM when he told me his ear was hurting really badly.

"Don't you know you're supposed to wait until Saturday night or Sunday to tell me you can't take the ear pain and need to see the doctor?" I asked Jackson.

"Huh?" came his confused reply.

"I believe the rule is that you can only get sick Saturday night, Sunday, holidays, or on vacation. You're confusing me by getting sick during regular office hours."

Jackson wasn't amused.

I called the office when they opened at 9:00 and drove Jackson over to be seen. The doctor took a look at his ear and said something reassuring like, "Yikes! That is one nasty infection!"

A stop at the drug store and $20 later, we came home and he took his first dose. He lay down and starting really crying that he was in pain. I got some Motrin, but before I could give it to him, he said, "Huh, my ear feels better now. It doesn't hurt. Weird. It feels all drippy and wet though. I still can't hear with this ear though."

"What?" I asked him.

"I still can't hear with this ear," he repeated.

"What?"

"I still can't hear with this ear," he repeated again.

"What? I can't hear you."

"I still can't....MOM! Stop it!"

LOL! Ahhh, that one never gets old.

I took a look and sure enough, his ear was draining blood and stuff. "Well, it's been a year since someone had a perforated ear drum. I guess it's about time for another one. Come to think of it, it's been several months since strep throat made its rounds through our family too..."

*****Head on over to my review blog HERE for some awesome giveaways over the next week or two.*****

Happy Halloween

In years past, I've really tried to make cute, creative, unique costumes for my kids (like HERE.)This was not one of those years. I know I had an excuse - I was busy planning Joe's surprise party, then I was busy with writing stuff, then I was out of town to L.A., Orlando, and Sonoma, but still...

Instead of putting on my creativity hat when Jackson asked, "What should I be for Halloween," I think I said something like, "Put on your baseball uniform. Ta Da!" Actually, I got him a helmet, he wore his Bears jersey, and I slapped some mascara under his eyes. While we were in Disney World, I pulled a couple princess dresses off the rack and told the youngest girls, "You're going to be princesses." Clay wanted to be a monkey which was fine and dandy with me since we still had the perfectly good monkey costume he wore last year. Done. Austin didn't go trick-or-treating at all. He was content to pass candy out to kids. Savannah and a couple friends had decorated mathing orange t-shirts a few weeks ago, so they went out and did a little trick-or-treating with their decorative shirts and spray painted hair.

We never even went to a corn maze or to a farm or to pick out pumpkins or anything. I never even took out any of my Halloween decorations this year. I didn't put up a single window cling, nor a ghost, or pumpkin figurine. I didn't buy any hay, Indiana corn, apple cider, pumpkins or gourds. I didn't make any carmel apples. I didn't make any pumpkin pie. It's like we just bypassed fall and I have this fear that my kids are going to remember this one Halloween when we didn't do a darn thing to celebrate fall. They won't remember any of the times we went to corn mazes with our friends. They won't remember the hours I spent working on costumes. They won't remember carving pumpkins and toasting seeds. They'll remember the year we did nothing.

Or maybe they'll remember the cool trip to Disney World and forget all about this lame fall/Halloween. One can hope.

Oh well, at least I didn't make them go as crazy pickle arm guy.

(from SNL Transcripts: Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation: 05/06/07)

Sharing the Joy of Parenting

First off, a few of you commented and/or took time to email me about my leg. Thank you for your concern! Today, my leg is totally fine - no pain, no redness, or swelling. I have really nasty varicose veins in my left leg and sometimes my leg just hurts. Ever since I developed a blood clot (and doctors learned that I have a clotting condition) a couple years ago, I just tend to get a little scared if I have pain in my leg. Thankfully, after soaking in the tub and lying down for a good night's sleep, it was fine and dandy this morning. I'll definitely remember to wear my sexy compression stockings the next time I travel though. :D

So, my retreat is winding down. I leave early tomorrow morning. I'm so glad I came though. I've met some really wonderful, talented, and encouraging folks here. I've learned some tips and gotten a lot of helpful information from the workshops. I think we've all had a good time.

My agent made it back here to the retreat this evening and gave us an update on her husband. Although the bleeding in his brain looks a bit worse, doctors reassured her that it was normal and they'll continue to closely monitor him. And thankfully, his memory has returned. As he recovers, they'll have to do some tests to determine if there are underlying problems that caused him to fall to begin with. If you're so inclined, I know that Janet and Loch would appreciate your prayers.

And here's a little story for you. Yesterday, Joe called me and said, "I have to tell you about my night."

"What happened?" I inquired.

"I think I had one of your typical nights."

"Uh oh. What happened," I repeated.

"Well, the computer wasn't working and I couldn't figure out how to get online. Savannah needed to do her homework on the computer so I called my sister to see if she could help me out. While I was on the phone with my sister, I heard Clay and Jackson fighting in their room. When I walked back there, Clay was throwing toys at Jackson and Jackson was tackling Clay."

"Ugh," I let out a sympathetic groan.

Joe went on, "I broke up their fight and told Jackson to get in the shower while I filled the bathtub for Clay."

"I went back to the computer and continued to talk to my sister while trying to get online. Meanwhile, Clay pooped in the bathtub. I had to stop again and go drain the tub and clean it out."

Why poop in the toilet when you can poop right there in the tub?
Although I sympathized with Joe, I was also secretly glad I wasn't home to deal with that.

"And then," Joe continued, "Austin and Savannah started fighting and throwing pencils and calculators."

I had just finished telling someone at the retreat that Austin and Savannah never fight. "Oh they get along really, really well," I had bragged.

"Wow, sounds like a rotten night. I'm sorry, " I said.

Then today, out of nowhere, Joe texted me the following: "The smallest dog in history was a tiny yorkie from blackburn england. @2 yr old was 2" tall and 3" long. He weighed 4 ounces!"

I replied to this with the following loving message: "What is wrong with you???"

He responded, "I"m not interacting with any other adults."

LOL! Think he'll appreciate me a little more when I return?

When in Sonoma...Drink Wine!

Wow, what a fun retreat/workshop this has been so far! I've met so many wonderful authors! These people are just so warm and welcoming and sweet! After dinner last night, we each read a few sentences from our books or projects we're working on. It was really cool to listen to everyone read. We all have different styles and it was so interesting hearing those opening lines. It made me want to go out and buy a bunch of books!

We had some workshops today. We listened to Andrea, an editor from Revell, give an interesting talk about the market. Then I ran to my room during our little break so I could, um, get rid of all the coffee I'd had to drink. My key didn't work. I tried it several times and it just wouldn't work. so I quickly ran (while my legs were crossed, of course) to the front desk to report my clearly defective key.

"Did you put it next to any magnets," the front desk girl inquired.

"No," I said thinking the notion was preposterous. I don't carry magnets around with me.

"Was it near your cell phone? That would demagnetize it," she explained.

I looked down to where both my phone and my key rested in the same palm.

"Oops."

"No problem, moronMrs. Meehan. I'll get you a new key. Try not to screw this one up Have a nice day.

Then we had a workshop where Rachael spoke about incorporating humor into your writing. She gave a fun presentation and ended it with a lemon cream pie in her face. Yes, she did. I love that one of her tips for writing humor was "do stupid things". I made a mental check with that one. Done.

After our lunch, 9 of us went in a limo to a couple wineries for a tasting. I don't know anything about wine, but it was all yummy in my opinion. Many people dumped their wine out after taking a couple sips. But I was taught not to waste food. We took a little tour of the cave where they age the wine and got to taste some out of the barrel. When we returned to the shop I saw another author from the retreat in the store. I shouted an enthusiastic, "HEY!" to her. She looked at me like - do I know you? That's about when I realized she was not, in fact, another author but a complete stranger who thought I was drunk.

From there, we went to a winery owned by B. R. Cohn who is also the manager of the Doobie Brothers. We actually saw him there too! And a cute guy in a tractor, but that's another story... We tasted olive oil and balsamic vinegar there as well. Know what's really gross? Drinking a cup of vinegar. I don't recommend it.

We ended the evening at a restaurant where Bobby Flay supposedly ate last night. The food was super-delicious! Actually, that's where I ended my night. Many others are still up, but I think I'm still on Eastern time and I'm tired. I'm also a little scared that I might have developed a blood clot in my leg so I wanted to prop it up. I can't tell if it's so sore from my nasty varicose veins or if a clot has formed from all the travel and sitting for long periods of time on the plane. We'll see how it is tomorrow.

And speaking of seeing how things are tomorrow, my agent's husband fell earlier today. I'm not sure about the details, but I believe he hit his head and from what I heard, he didn't remember his wife. Obviously she left the conference and went with her husband to the ER. Thankfully they live near here so hopefully his doctor can check on him. Pray for healing for Loch and strength and peace for Janet.

And, as always, here are a few pictures...


olive tree

barrels of wine

the 9 of us wine tour girls at Kunde Estates







my room


Just in case you were thinking about bringing your horse to the park, you can't.



the mission

prettiful view

cute little walkway here in Sonoma. It's a cute little town with a lot of boutique-y shops. And people are really nice. They stop for you when you're crossing the street and they don't even try to hit you.

Home, Sweet (and cold), Home

Let me tell ya, having a washer and dryer in our room was so great!!! I came home and only had to do 2 loads of laundry! Everyone was able to just unpack their suitcase and put their clean, folded clothes into their drawers. Ta Da!


The kids were awesome on the flight home last night. I never heard a peep out of them. Of course, they were all pretty exhausted.


I'm proud that I managed to get myself up and to church this morning too. I even came up with a decent Sunday school lesson to boot!


The kids are all sad we had to leave, but happy to be home at the same time. There's just something about sinking into your own bed. Ahhhhh. I'm excited to make all my pictures and video clips into a vacation movie for the kids to watch! But that'll have to wait. I leave bright and stinkin' early in the morning for California again. My agent is having a retreat/workshop for her clients in Sonoma. (I guess I do get a little vacation from my vacation after all.) I'm looking forward to meeting all these wonderful authors and learning from them. I feel like an out-of-place dork among these professionals, but as long as they don't suddenly stop in front of me while I'm walking, I'm sure I'll love spending time with them and getting to know them all! :)


I'm off to pack and spend a little time with the kids before I have to leave again. It'll be a little strange, after spending every minute with my family 24/7 for the past week, to be by myself for the next few days. And I think I need to come up with something for dinner that Brooklyn will eat. I swear she lived on ketchup, fries, Diet Coke and ice cream last week. I, on the other hand, gained 7 pounds in the last 2 weeks! Sheesh! It probably would've been more like 30 pounds if I hadn't walked 50,000 miles. I think I'll have some lettuce for dinner.


Oh yeah, and I've completely lost my voice. I can't scream at the kids now. I can't talk at all now. :(

Disney Day Seven

We slept in a bit this morning and just hung out in our hotel room while it rained outside. When the rain slowed down, we got ready and headed for Epcot. We got there about noon. I think we checked out every exhibit/ride at the front of the park except for Soaring because the line was really long and they were out of fast passes and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience because, judging by the Bug's Life Show, we figured the little kids would freak out. Tell me, are there any Disney fanatics out there who remember what The Land ride used to be like? I could swear there were fruits and veggies that sang, "Listen to the laaaand, listen to the land." I remember the ride smelling like oranges. It's nothing like I remember. Can anyone back me up on this? Another ride I remember was a submarine in Magic Kingdom. I think it may have been a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride. There's nothing like that there now. Does anyone remember this?

Anyway, we had a fun few hours at Epcot. We left early and came back to our room for sandwiches and cupcakes (it's Joe's birthday today.) While the kids were eating, I walked around the rooms picking up and folding clothes. I gathered coloring books, dolls, toys, and such and got things packed up. Oh my gosh, I didn't realize just how trashed the kids' bedroom had become! HOLY COW! The poor housekeeping people! They must have been scared out of their minds to enter that side of our room! I bet they did Rock, Paper, Scissors with each other to see who got stuck wading through the clothes, toys, and wet towels to make the bed.

Anyway, I saw that there were a ton of questions about Disney, so I thought I'd answer them here since I'll probably miss Sunday Sound Out again this week. (We get home late Saturday night and I leave really early Monday morning.)

You will Twitter won't you? How can we survive a WHOLE week without a Twitter? You've got me hooked!
You and me both! It's a sickness. Can't. Stop. Twittering.

I don't know if you are bringing your own stroller or not, but I am a HUGE fan of the ones that you can rent there...they really are easy to push/steer and great when the smaller kids get tired of walking.

We just used our own stroller every day except for when we did the world pavillion at Epcot. We knew there would be a lot of walking around the countries there so we rented a double stroller that day. You're right, they steer very easily and are easy to push even with a couple bigger kids in them. But it's $31 for a double stroller for the day. Yikes! I suggest people bring their own. Especially if you're flying - who wants to carry little ones through the airport?

Hey Dawn! I, too, spent an entire day at Celebration Hospital when we were there on vacation! Did you get to see much of the city of Celebration?

I only saw the hallway in the hospital. They never even got me in a room while I was there dying of pain.

I have to ask, what was the reaction from the younger kids when they woke up Saturday morning and you told them you were going to Disney that day instead of Monday?

They were really surprised and excited. Lexi said, "Today? We're leaving today?" a couple times.

Where are you staying?

We're staying at the Marriott Grande Vista. The last time we were here, I was so thoroughly impressed with everything. I've been a little disappointed this time. Housekeeping has forgotten to leave us towels a couple times and the room just doesn't seem quite as clean as it was last year. The one side of the room has a nasty, musty smell that just hasn't gone away.

When you get a hotel, do you get two adjoining rooms?

We got a 2 bedroom villa.

Were you able to see the Lion King show? Did you try the train?
We didn't see the Lion King show this time, but we saw it 7 years ago when we were there. It was great! And yes, we rode the train in Animal Kingdom.

SSO question for you: How did you decide to pull the kids out of school for a week for a vacation?

We only took them out 3 days because they had some days off this week. I didn't worry about the younger kids. Austin and Savannah will probably have more work to make up, but they both get really good grades so I wasn't too concerned.

P.S. (Let us know how the SafetyTats work with all the swimming, sunscreen, etc.)

Lexi and Brooklyn are still wearing the same ones I put on them on Sunday. They've had baths, they've gone swimming, and they've had suncreen slathered on them. They're still stuck on and you can still clearly read the phone number. Clay peeled his off after 4 days, so I just stuck a new one on him.

Do all the employees call you princess? Because I found that it doesn't matter how old you are--if you are female you are a princess in the eyes of the Disney employees, and if you are male you are a pirate. Everyone calls you princess

Hmmm, no one's called me a princess. What's up with that???

Are you guys using fast pass? Just wanna make sure!
Absolutely! For those who don't know, some of the more popular rides offer "fast passes". You can put your ticket in a machine near the ride, and the machine will spit out a fast pass that enables you to return to the ride later in the day and bypass the long wait line. You either have a very short wait, or sometimes you can pretty much just walk up and get on the ride.

Poor little Princess Brooklyn. What happened to her chinnie chin chin?
She tripped and hit her chin on an end table in our room. She had just woken up and was still a little loopy when it happened.

I just wanted to say you look so pretty in the family picture and you've gotten so skinny!!

I am so not. It's just the angle. Believe me, I don't put the disgusting, fat pictures of me on my blog!

So did you buy anything in the gift shops? I do love those princess Mickey ears!

Eh, we got a couple gifts for people, passports for all 6 kids, ears for the 3 youngest, a necklace for Jax, and a couple charms for Savannah. Austin has yet to pick out something. Honestly though, the kids have been awesome. They've haven't been asking for stuff at all.

You are scaring me as I plan our trip for the busiest week of the year!! How about some tips about what to do for a princess that is Brooklyn's age to make it as nice as possible? Thanks!

A stroller that reclines so she can sleep! Seriously, I wouldn't recommend doing parks every day like we've done. I had bought these park hopper passes several years ago and they had 7 days on them. I didn't want to waste any, so we've been doing a LOT of park hopping. I think 3 or 4 days of parks with downtime in between the days would be ideal. Just my opinion.

have your younger children had a more difficult time other than for obvious reasons?

They've been troopers! They've all done better than I had hoped actually!

Great family pic and I have to agree I love your shirt....where did you get it?

I got it at Old Navy, but it's a few years old because I'm just that cutting edge with fashion.

Your kids are always going to talk about this. I bet as adults you'll hear "Remember when..." often. So cool.

Yeah, "Remember when Mom lost it and called that grumpy old man a buttmunch?" "Remember when Mom lost Clayton while looking for a table in that restaurant by Small World?" "Remember when Mom and Dad made us see that bug show that scared the crap out of us and scarred us for life?"

You didn't mention the French pastry shop, my all-time must-visit place at EPCOT.

I mentioned it on Twitter. I said I was in France and there was all this wine and all these pastries and I was too full to try any of it. :( I was very sad. I considered making myself throw up so I'd have to room to try some pastries. OK, no I didn't. You know how much I hate vomit!

(Im asking coz of twitter update) which rides were your kids scared of and why?

Jackson was scared of the Dinosaur ride in Animal Kingdom and the Haunted Mansion in Magic Kingdom. The 4 youngest were scared of the It's Tough to be a Bug show in Animal Kingdom. On the other hand, Lex and Clay surprised me because they weren't scared of the Haunted Mansion or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Lex wasn't scared of Space Mountain or Rock N Roller Coaster either.

Looks like you guys are having a great time! And is Miss Angie from Forida? I'm from Ohio and I spend time in North Carolina yearly. I swear everybody below the Ohio River thinks that people in the north have accents. I've been called a yankee while in NC. Then I've had people from Canada tell me I have a southern accent. Nobody can make up their mind.
Yep, Angie's from Florida and I couldn't have more of a non-accent!

I have to disagree about the Enchanted Tiki House. It may be lame, but I love it. I'm sure it's because I remember that "ride" being featured on the Wonderful World of Color in the 1960s, when Disney World was just being built, and I was fascinated by the animatronics. It's a sweet nostalgic experience for me.

OK, my mom could've written this. This was one of her favorites which was part of the reason I wanted to see it this week. It didn't bring back nostalgic memories for me though and despite the fact they modernized the show with Zazu and Iago, I still thought it was lame.

I was wondering if you could share the name of the hotel you guys are staying in. My family and I are going to Disney in April and I've been looking everywhere online for a hotel/villa that offers a full kitchen and nice pools that's actually a NICE hotel. Would you be able to share that with us?

It's the Marriott Grande Vista. I know there's a Sheraton Vistana down the street that has villas with kitchens and nice pools too. Both hotels also offer activities for kids which is nice if you're not going to parks every day. Those are certainly not the only 2 around either. I just know people who have stayed at both and they were pleased. There are actually dozens around here. I checked sites like Orbitz, Travelocity, and Expedia to get an idea of what was out there and then went directly to the hotel's sites to get the best price. You can use an Entertainment book for coupons if you have one. Maybe even check with a travel agent for any deals. By attending the time share thing, I was able to save several hundred dollars plus they gave us some Disney dollars to use as well. I think you're probably safe if you do a time share at a well-known hotel chain (like Marriott, for example). I think you'll be dealing with professional people who, yes, want to sell time share units, but who also know it's important that you leave with a good feeling about their brand and are willing to come back and or tell friends about it. I'm not sure about this, but that's my theory.

If you want to stay on Disney Property, the All Star Resorts are the least expensive of Disney hotels. If you have a larger family, you may have to book 2 adjoining rooms, but you'll have the free transportation between parks that comes with staying in a Disney hotel. If you're only planning on doing Disney, you won't need to rent a car.

I'm really not any kind of expert on this stuff though. I suggest you go to your library and get The Unofficial Guide to Disney World and/or check out this site - MouseSavers.com

My friend Denise urged me to make dinner reservations months ago. I kept telling her that I didn't want to be tied down.

"We're more of a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of family," I insisted.

She came back with, "You know what they call families who don't make dinner reservations in Disney?"

"No, what?" I asked.
"Hungry," she said.

Well we haven't gone hungry and we haven't had to spend tons of money eating out. Although I will admit that it might have been nice to have one or two nice sit-down dinners/breakfasts scheduled. If we ever come back, I think I'll have to break down and make a reservation or two.

Another thing friends told me to do was to come up with a plan of which parks you're visiting on which days. "Map out your route so you'll know which rides to hit first and which ones you should get fast passes for. Decide the most effective way to get to everything on your list.

OK, this is just not us. Sure, maybe we could've done more with less waiting if I'd mapped everything out, but we have six kids! We have to be flexible. We've just kinda gone with the flow this week. There have been very few things we missed. We've gotten to experience tons of things in each park. Because we haven't been tied to a schedule, we've been able to take breaks, eat, go on rides, go to shows whenever we felt like it. If one of the kids was hungry or tired, it was no big deal to grab some drinks and sit down and chill out for a while. This is something to consider, I guess. What kind of family are you? Type A - must have everything planned and know what you're doing when? Or are you a more laid-back, go with the flow, play-it-by-ear type family?

Here's hoping you had a great time at the Hollywood Studios. And I have to know... how do you sleep 8 in the two bedroom villa? I saw the 2 bedroom villa (our original room was a connecting one with the 2 bedroom), and ..
We have 2 king size beds and 2 queen sleeper sofas so it's no problem.

Wow. Ok, weird that the park is closed on Fri and Sat.

OK, I'm just an idiot. The park isn't closed. Along with the maps of the park, they hand out these papers with the current park hours and attraction and show times. On the schedule, it listed park hours for Mon, Tues, and Wed. Then it listed different hours for Thurs, and Sun. It didn't list any hours at all for Fri and Sat. I assumed the park was closed those days. Duh. Of course it's not closed. I'm thinking maybe it was an oversight on this paper? Either that or I'm just extra stupid and, despite examining the paper 5 times, I'm just missing where it lists Fri and Sat hours.

Hey Dawn! Just curious how you guys handle it if you and Joe both want to go on a ride, but not all the kids do. Do you have to ride in two different groups? Which would mean waiting through line twice?!?!

Usually we switch off. When we get in line, we get a "switch ticket". The switch ticket kinda works like a fast pass. I'll go with the older kids while Joe watches the little ones, for example. When I come out, Joe will get in the fast pass line while I watch the little ones. The cool part is that the parent switching off can take up to 3 people with them so they don't have to ride alone. My kids got double rides a few times by doing this.

Did you get in trouble when you took that picture on the Great Movie ride? I took a picture of Mary Poppins when I was on it and I was quickly reprimanded by the tour guide...."I repeat, No Flash Photography!" At which point my kids all laughed and said "Yeah, listen to the rules next time!"

I didn't use my flash. I have a good camera. If there was enough light on the attraction, I just snapped pictures without my flash. If there wasn't enough light, the pictures turned out a bit blurry and I just deleted them.

To quote Ben Franklin:"Guests, and Disney family vacations, like fish, begin to smell after three days. "

Ben Franklin said this, huh? LOL!

How did brooklyn like the flights was she scared at all?

Brooklyn was fine on the flight. She wanted to get up and switch seats as we were landing and got pretty mad that she couldn't, but other than that, the kids were all great on the plane.

foodwise what did you do with Jackson on the trip? Did you keep him on Feingold's, or at least as much as you could?

Ugh. No. We decided we didn't want to even try. Jackson has had a free week and although he's loving every minute of being able to eat what he wants, his behavior has been pretty bad. That part has not been fun. I can't wait to get him back to the diet when we get home.

I just love this face! She was in a mood (as usual).

Fish are friends; not food. People, on the other hand...

Brooklyn didn't want to go near any shark!

and finally, the traditional picture of Brooklyn passed out cold

And here's the video I tried to put up yesterday. This is why you never want to visit parks for more than 2 or 3 days in a row.