I'm Baaaaaaaaaack

That's the good news.

The bad news is: I have nothing to blog about.

That's never stopped me before though.

It's Avee's birthday next week. I'm trying to decide if I want to have a little party or just have cake and ice cream with the family. All she cares about is the cake---so I'm considering just going with that and saving myself the trouble.

Bo has been focusing on earning money lately. He doesn't have any particular purchase in mind, but he's very intent on saving up for something big. The other day was Popcorn Day at school and they get a little bag of crappy popcorn for 50 cents. He came down the stairs in the morning and said, "Mom, I have a problem. I'm trying to save my money for something big, but I'd really like to get popcorn today and it costs 50 cents."

I'm a bad mom because that stuff TOTALLY works on me. "Here sweety, here's $20, buy 40 bags of crappy popcorn." Seriously, that's what this kid does to me, and I'm only barely exaggerating. I tried to get J to save me and be the parent with backbone so I said, "What do you think Dad, could we just give him the money for popcorn?" I totally expected J to say, "Yeah, sure." But instead he said, "How much does it cost?" I ended his involvement quickly before J did something crazy like deprive my baby of crappy popcorn.

Then, the next day Bo found 5 one dollar bills on top of the tv. He said, "ooooh, I wish that was my money!" In that way that kids say things like, "I wish I could have something cold and creamy from the freezer that's flavored chocolate, but I don't know what it is..."

When that didn't do the trick, a few minutes later he lovingly caressed the ones and said, "If you wanted to give me this money, I wouldn't mind, I wouldn't mind at all."

I secretly love his obsession with money because I think he'll have worked out a lot of kinks by the time it matters. Kinks that many of us as adults, still don't have worked out. Plus, my cute little niece was like this when she was his age and now she is like the queen money saver of England at a mere 15 years of age.

We're trying to think of something fun to do over Spring Break. If anyone knows of anything family friendly and fun, anywhere in the state of Iowa, or Illinois. Or Nebraska. Or....Wisconsin? Let me know. Keep in mind, we have a 5 year old, an almost 4 year old, and a 21ish month old and we really don't like having to watch them. A lot. We're considering one of those indoor waterpark thingy-ma-bobs and even J's game (he's the biggest vacation scrooge of all time) but I think I'm not. I'm terrified of one of my kids drowning, so I imagine all day at a waterpark would be ulcer-making material.

Well, since I have nothing to say, I may as well use the time to get some ideas from y'all.

Two thing: One, I need to spice up my ipod. It's El Lamo. So, I want from anyone who reads this, your top 5 picks for your own ipod, mp3, walkman, boombox, what have you. If you have 10 must-haves, go ahead and list them. But try to do at least 5. Even if you've never commented here, I want to hear it. You can do it anonymously if the soundtrack of your life is as ridiculous as mine and you don't want to be outed.

Nextly: We are in the market for a new digital camera. Two things that are important to us: Rechargeable battery, video taking capabilities. My friend has one I love and would buy in an instant, but it's like $400 and I just don't think I want to spend that much on something that may or may not end up in the toilet the day after I buy it. Do you have one you love? Any ideas?

Aren't you glad I'm not sick anymore and I'm clogging up the blogwaves with such scintillating writing?

You.Are.Welcome.