wearing boots

For the last two days, Aidan and Eliza  have been parading around the house and the street in my mom's boots and have been refusing to take them off. They were even riding their bikes in them. The boots are way to big on them. an I'm tired of hearing 'Clunk Clunk Clunk' on the hard wood floor. 

Making Movies

While McKenna was home for the Summer, she and the kids decided to make a couple of movies. We all had fun making them. Aidan came up with the name of our first movie: The Murder of the Love. It is about a French general (John) who falls in love with a waitress (Eliza). The general also has some evil nephews (Liam and Aidan) who seek revenge on the waitress. The other movie that we made: Mobsters and Shakers, features a booze selling mobster (Liam) who treats his girlfriend Rose (Eliza) very badly. Then a dancer comes into town: Gus Johnson (Aidan), and then Gus and Rose go on to Broadway.

The Murder of the Love:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dwzvt_9r-4

Mobsters and shakers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=_dvoeLHAITU

McKenna in Germany

As you may know, my sister McKenna has been in Germany for the past few weeks with some friends of ours. When she left for the plane, my mom packed her some advil for the ride because she was having a headache. On the plane McKenna looked for the advil but it was not in her carry-on pack, it was in her luggage. As a result of this she could not sleep at all during the flight.

When McKenna booked her ticket she chose to have a 12 hour layover so she could spend the day in Paris. But all McKenna wanted to do when she got to Paris was sleep. Instead of spending the day in Paris she went to her boarding station and tried to sleep. Pretty soon a French female police officer began yelling at her in French. Sleep deprived and delusional, McKenna could not understand what she was saying (she took french in High School, but you know...). A nice lady beside her tried translating for her, but Mckenna began to cry in front of everybody.

The nice lady found her a bench to sleep on and stayed there until her flight. In Germany McKenna did not know where to sleep, so she went to a hostel. The hostel didn't have much room, so McKenna had to share a room with four "hairy German men". The next day, since her friends still weren't there yet, McKenna went to a Bed and Breakfast but this time had to stay in the owner's daughter's room. When her friends (The Sckrohowskys) got there she finally got things settled. But she's been there for a couple weeks and we've only heard from her once. Evidently they aren't having as much fun as they thought they would.

Catch up Time (Halloween 2009 & 2010)

Ok, so I've been a little neglectful with this blog lately. Like the 2 years or so. What can I say? You know I do have A.D.D. and it's a bit hard for me stick to things. Oh, well. So here are pictures from Halloween 2009 and 2010. 2009 the family dressed as a side show act from a 1930's circus. John's costume was a big hit. Everyone loved him as half woman, half man. (I do have to say, he did make an attractive woman). And what's the deal with me having a beard for the second year in a row?! It seems like there's a little gender confusion going on around here.

Halloween this year John and I opted out of dressing up. (We just couldn't top his costume from last year). And we let the kids make their own costumes. Liam was Napolean Dynamite. Aidan was a zombie and Liza was Pipi Longstocking, and a princess, and a dog at one point. She couldn't quite make up her mind.

Nobbs Family Halloween

This year John's firm had their annual Halloween party the day after Halloween. I was relieved to have the extra day to figure out what to dress everyone in. I've given up on "family themes", since each year I am usually ready to self-admit to the mental hospital after getting seven co-ordinating costumes sewn and put together. This year Liza worn an "Aristocats" costume. Aidan was Captain Hook. Liam was Davey Jones. Little John wore his colonial costume I made him earlier this year. McKenna half dressed up like a Gypsy. And John and I were King Arthur and Patsy from Monty Python's "Spamalot".

John helped Liam carve this Barack-o-lantern. He said Obama becoming president was the scariest thing he could think of.

Christmas Morning Conversations

Pittsburgh, PA 7:09 AM Christmas Morning. The Nobbs children wake up from slumber to enjoy the quiet majesty of a winter morn and share the holiday spirit

John, Liam, Aidan and Eliza come into the master bedroom and wake up Mom and Dad. McKenna follows in after.

John: Guess What! I got up at 12:30 am because I had to go to the bathroom. I slept downstairs on the couch all night.

Dad: John! Why didn't you go to bathroom in the basement where you were sleeping?

John: Because I couldn't see in the basement. You know I can't see good.

Dad: That doesn't make sense. How did you get up to the next floor if you can't see? Did you look at all the presents?

John: No Way. But I took the camera in to the bathroom while I was going and there were some pictures of the Christmas Tree and the presents. That's real weird.

Mom: John! That's gross! You don't take the camera into the bathroom.

John: Why? A man's always got to keep himself occupied in the bathroom.

Liam: Yeah. He could take some pictures of interesting things in there, like him mooning people. He went upstairs on purpose.

Mom: Let me get up so I can get dressed.

Aidan: Remember when Uncle Ethan mooned us?

Liam: Yes, it was sick. He has white buns and zits on his right cheek.

Dad: Yuck, that's gross! John, you're supposed to be asleep with visions of sugar plums.

Liam: I don't want to dream about Ethan with sugar plums.

Aidan: I remember when Uncle Ethan mooned me with his armpit. He had alot of hair.

Liam: Yeah, just like a man. Remember when I wanted to rub my face in Dad's armpit hair when we were at the lake?

McKenna: You boys are gross.

Eliza: Yeah, we're gross and I'm going to moon everyone like Uncle Ethan.

McKenna: Ok, I don't want to hear anything else about Uncle Ethan.

John: Let's go down and get presents!

McKenna: Who's letting tooters?

Eliza: Me and Aidan.

Then everyone went downstairs and watched John open his guitar and amp and play at volume 10 for a while before anyone else got to open a present. Somehow, even while blind in the dark at night he had found his presents.

The opening proceded and then ended. Every once in a while if someone bent over, they got a credit card from Eliza who had been taught how to do it by Aidan. The present opening ended with Mom getting upset at Liam and Aidan for smoking candy cigarettes.

Anyone else have a better conversation than that?

2 Thing I'd Rather Not Wake Up To

During my life I've been awoken by varies unpleasant situations. In High School I was often awakened to see my Vice Principal standing in my room, asking, "Melissa, are you planing to come to school today? It's nearly 10 o'clock!". As a mother I've been awakened by children on many occasions screaming in my ear, "Wake up, I need breakfast!". I've been awakened by complete silence but a sense of someone standing very near to me. When my eyes open I generally hear a quiet whisper something along the lines of, "Mom, could I please eat all my Halloween candy if I promise not to disturb your Sunday nap again?" Another fun one is, "Mom, I just threw up all over my bed." Or, "Aah......" followed by the sound of someone not quite making it to the bathroom, but instead my bedroom floor. I've even been awakened by many unpleasent smells, thou I won't go into further detail. There are countless other examples I could share with you. But the following are currently at the top of my list:
1. The first occurred Saturday, Nov. 16th, about 4:00 am. As I slumbered peacefully, my dreams were awakened by a loving husband shaking me awake, asking if I'd heard the deafening alarm that had been going off for several minutes. Annoyed that he had wakened me to ask me, when it was obvious the answer was "no", he then proceeded to explain that it was the carbon monoxide alarm and that we all needed fresh air immediately. Hmm..... I thought. That's nice........ as I rolled back over to recapture my dreams. "This is serious! It says here we should call 911 and get to fresh air!" he repeated. "Sounds like you've got it under controlled" I replied as I drifted back to sleep. At this point he apparently opened all the windows in the house, turned on all the ceiling fans, and put more fans in the windows, after he had checked to be sure we were all still breathing. The alarm stopped and my sleep was not disturbed again until I heard cries for breakfast.
*I guess carbon monoxide wouldn't be too bad of a way to go. Nice and peaceful, in your sleep.

2. The second occurred 28 hours later at 8:oo am Sunday morning. The car was warm and the engine purred. The kids were quiet, and most of them were sleeping. It was a perfect time to drift off. The next thing I heard was again from John, "Woah....Woah......Woah! Watch Out!" As I opened my sleepy eyes the world was turning all about me. The first thing I thought was, "This is it. I guess this is the way it will all end." I turned around and instructed the kids to "hold on tight". Just then Little John screamed, "We're all going to die"! I had to agree with him, though I did not voice it. John had hit a patch of ice on our way home from the lake, and we were spinning out of control. It seemed like it lasted forever and I kept waiting for the inevitable roll down the embankment. "When and what will we hit?" I thought. We were all over the place and going fast. Then we hit. We hit the guard rail hard, then slid along it. We hit it again, then continued spinning. At last John gained control of the car and we glided on to the shoulder of the freeway in the same position we had started. Miraculously, everyone was fine. Just a bit shaken up, and as we discovered later a little stiff and sore.
*I'm thankful to have paid taxes that put up the guard rail that saved our lives!

So, basically, it was a great weekend! We are all alive! In the future I would prefer to wake up to the smell of freshly made french toast, lightly dusted with cinnamon, warm melting butter, and rich maple syrup. Also clean, well groomed, polite and healthy children quitely playing would be great.