My Daughter is Superman

It is amazing the things our children take from us. My daughter gets a lot of her personailty from her father. They are two peas in a pod. One thing she did get from me is the idea woman should be equal on every level. She never likes to be told she cannot do things boys do.

I just found out the other day that when she played baseball last year, the umpire in Highland Springs told her that she should being playing softball with the girls and not little league with the boys. This infuriated her and she has had a chip on her shoulder every since.

This little league season she plays in the Major division with other 11 and 12 year old boys. She wants to fit it, she refuses to use her purple bat bag anymore. She hates when I baby her in front of the boys and will get cranky about.

But she has built a good relationship with the boys on her team.

Yesterday my daughter prove her toughness and earned the respect of the league. Her team, the Indians, were playing against the Mariners. She was playing second base. I was on the opposite of the field talking to a parent. The ball was hit and she was making a play on the ball when I saw her get ran over. The collision looked like she was hit by a freight train. Every inch of my soul wanted to jump over the fence and run to her and kiss her boo-boos. But I stayed put and waited to see how she would react. She stood up with tears in her eyes. The coaches ran out and everyone kinda held their breath. She got up with tears in her eyes and refused to come out of the game. I knew she was hurt,but I knew she was angry more than anything.

She stayed in the game and everyone clapped. When that was over, the umpire decided to call the kid out for running her over which peeved off the parents of the other team and their coach.

Finally the inning was over and she was first up. I went to check on her and she was shaken. I told her to calm down and get her head in the game. She got up and struck out.  She was not letting it go. I think she felt like he did because she was a girl.

The second inning there was a play and her teammate threw so hard it popped and hit her face. It hit her in the jaw. This time she came out of the game. I went over to talk to her and she was crying.

She was a wreck. I pulled out of the dug out and told her she needed to let the collision go and she needed to sit on the bench. It was obviously in her head and she was making mistakes that she would not make. I told her she was more of a danger to herself.

I went back on the other side of the field and tried not to hoover. She got up to bat and I held my breath. She got and put her bat up to bunt. Finally she made contact bunted the ball and advanced the runner. It was great. The confidence started coming back over her and she seemed calmer.

Then the next inning came and the ball was hit hard and took a crazy bounce and she jumped right in from of it. She fielded the play and threw it to first.

By the ended the game, the Indians were making a come back but fell short by two runs.

At the end of the game, her coach awarded her the game ball. This is not normally awarded unless the game was won.

She came off the field beaming. Everyone came up to her telling how great she did and how tough she was. One mom told me that she waiting for me to jump the fence and run out there. I told her that I wanted too.

She talked to a couple of the guys. The other team even asked if she was okay. Finally we got to the car and her team mate yelled her that, "Hey Taylor, I am not calling you that anymore. You are now Superman."

He flashed a little smile and got in the car.

Taylor looked at me and said, "Mom, it should be superwoman."

"Taylor, it means he thinks of you as an equal. Let him call you superman."

The Fighting Has Gone Too Far

So these last couple weeks have been a bit stressful and the kids sensing that thought they would step up the arguing.  They bickered over absolutely everything. It was just ridiculous. They even tattled via text me when I was out with my husband on date night  because they were told not to call to tattle.

So yesterday we took the family to have a picnic at Kings Dominion before going to the park for the day.

For the most part they were getting along. Well I had lost the KD passes and I think they recognized this was not the time to argue. Luckliy we got to Guest Services and they had found them in the park. So it was my children's cue to jump right on the arguing boat again since I was back to my cheery self. Well they argued over which side of the park we started on. They argued over the SpongeBob ride, which was closed when we got there.

But the tipping point of the day happened on the Intimidator 305. First of all, this ride scares the living crap out of me. It is set to the theme of Dale Earnhardt. There is country music blaring in the background and the ride begins with, "Gentlemen Start Your Engines." These are not the last words I want to hear at the end of my life. The thing does even slowly ascend to the top, it goes up pretty quickly an down much faster. I rode it once last season and that was good enough. I got off of it shaking and light headed. Supposedly they sped the dang thing up, so it is worse this year.

So of course, Logan wanted to ride it. He asked Taylor to ride it and off they went. Taylor and Logan has rode it many times before, so fear was not a factor with them. It was with me. They were even getting along without being told to be nice to each other.

Five minutes later they come stomping back and yelling at each other. They got up to the line and Taylor decided at the last moment that she did not want to ride. She informed Logan she would just walk back alone to find us. That is a big no-no in our house and Logan would have got in trouble if he let her walk away. No one travels alone in the Rupp family.

So Logan is mad, Taylor is getting teary eyed and they both start making their case. Like Bill Cosby, I do not care about who is right or justice, I care about QUIET.

So I informed Logan I would ride the Volcano with him. I like the Volcano, it is not nearly as intense as the Intimidator. We walked over there together. Logan once again was making his case to me and I was blocking it out. The Volcano's line was ridiculous and long. So FINE,I told him that we go on the stupid Intimidator and I WAS NOT happy about.

So I stomped over there like a big baby and tried to talk him out it. He told me that really does not want to ride by himself and that makes him feel bad. So DAMN now I was going to ride the stupid ride and I was not in the mindset to ride this beast.

I got on the stupid thing and informed Logan he was grounded for making me ride this stupid thing when I was not ready. Then when the evil southern voice came over the intercom that said gentlemen start your engines, I grounded Taylor.

As we went up the 305 foot hill, I grounded the other passengers, the ride operators, and the architects who dreamt up such a crazy ride. Then we went over the hill and I could not ground anyone else because I was screaming so loud I could not hear myself think. At one point, I went around one of the twisted corners and everything started going brown. All I could think of was, "great the blood had left my eyeballs."

Finally the ride was over and we sitting in the thingy waiting to be unloaded and Logan looked at me and asked me if I was okay.

All I could muster, "You are really grounded until I am not mad anymore."

I got off the ride shaking. The stupid thing was faster than last year. I was boiling mad. I was so peeved that I had to ride something to deal with an argument between these children, I bought a key chain to remind myself what sibling rivalry will lead me to do to maintain peace.

When I saw Joe, I grounded him for knowing them.

The irritating thing after that was they still would not speak to each other for the next hour. So I made them sit by each other on the next ride.

We are home, all is good and the children are not grounded today. But the night is young and I can remind myself at any moment why I was mad yesterday.


Here is the link to the wikipedia page of this beast: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intimidator_305

Look What You Did

My husband and I are definitely animal people. We have loved every last one of our pets,okay well this was this one hamster we had that hated us. We, like many pet owners, have great stories about their pets. So I thought I would share a funny one that today.

My cat Barkley, is a black kitty cat who seems to be deeply annoyed by everyone. His persona is arrogant and really does not want to be bother by us. But he is just so darn cute, I want to cuddle with his face. I tell myself that he loves me but I really think he tolerates me.

My husband has come with this voice and personality that is a cross between Stewie Griffin and Pepie Le Pew. Recently, he launched his own Twitter page, FelinePimp.

He has always been a bad kitty when it comes to food. I have found him in the cabinet many, many times trying to get into the cat and/or dog food.

Recently, we bought a container that we thought he was unable to get in. It is a plastic container with a lid. The thing has a spout-type thing that you open and the food is poured out.

Now I have found it many times knocked over but Barkley had not figured out how to get in it until this morning.

So I was sitting on the couch watching Drake and Josh(don't judge me). When I heard a crash. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a black kitty run under the table. I went to investigate what my little kitty got into this time.

I found the cabinet opened and the food container with no lid. I looked around for it and nothing. Then I had an AHA moment and decided to look under the table. I got on my hands and knees and what did I find. I found a bad kitty cat.

I immediately burst into laughter. My oldest child ran into the dining area to investigate what had made mommy laugh so hysterical. He too got on his hands and knees a found something truly funny.

I had found my kitty with the lid of his food container around his waist. He was futaly trying to free himself from this contraption. So I continued laughing as I fumbled for my camera. He just laid there looking embarrassed and helpless as I snapped pics of him.

Once I got a good pic, I freed my little cranky cat and he ran off. He sat in the hall and looked back at me as if you say, "I am not sure how but I know this is your fault."  He then laid down and licked his tummy.

Turn it Up Mom

First practice of the little league season and we are all on our way to the field. I am in a good mood. Joey is on the Red Sox this year and his coach is great. Joe and I are talking in the front seat about the upcoming season. We are not really paying attention to the radio or the kids.

Suddenly from the back seat I hear, "Turn it up mom."

Without really thinking about it I turned the volume up on the dial. And on the radio one of my old favorites is on.....Girls Just Want To Have Fun.

Now the funny part of the whole story was not the song but which child asked for me to turn it up. The voice from the back came from my youngest son. Apparently it was his jam.

When Joe and I realized what song it was and when the reality hit our brains that Joey had asked us to turn this song up we were speechless. Joe had this look on his face and I just burst out laughing. I laughed until I had tears in my eyes.

Realizing the oddness of his request, he stammered for a second and informed us that he liked the song because it was on Sing Star and it was Taylor fault.

Maybe it is not that funny, but the timing was great and I needed a good laugh.

A Normal Conversation

Let me set the stage for a normal night at our house. I would love to tell you about one certain instance, but it usually happens a couple times a week.

Joey standing in the middle of the room saying something outrageous and acting completely dramatic.

I look at Joe and tell him the classic, "that is your child."

He looks at me and states, "then why does he act like you. That is your child."

Little Joey gets fustrated and puts his hands on his hips and responds, "Guys you are both my PARENT."

And storms out of the room.

Dinner Conversations: Logan's Confession

Dinner time is always a time for us to sit down as a family and catch up. Tonight Joe was working, so it was just the kids and myself.

I am not exactly sure how the conversation led to this, oh wait I do, we were talking about Power Rangers. Logan was obsessed with Power Rangers when he was little.  He was so cute the way he use to say Power Rangers. It was a horrible show, but I watched it with him because I liked to know what the kids are being exposed to on television.

Well this led to a confession from the teenager.

"Mom, when I was a kid I use to think you kidnapped me," Logan said to me.

I just stared at him blankly. I had no words at the moment and that is hard to accomplish.

"What?"

"Yeah when I was a kid, I remember staying at this house and it was big house. Well you came and picked me up and took me to your house. I thought you kidnapped me," he responded.

Once again I just stared at him. He head could not wrap around this announcement.

Eventually I asked him if he was scared, he told me that he wasn't but wondered about the woman he thought was his mother.

I began thinking how crazy this was but I am also the one who thought when I was little that when I slept a monster came into my room and moved me and that was why I never woke up in the same spot. Plus I thought that when a woman had a baby her belly opened up from the belly button and the baby came out like there was a little elevator in there.

So guess it is not crazy that he thought I kidnapped him.

Cat School

Barkley, my cat, is a notorious pain in the butt. He does little things that drives everyone crazy. Generally, he is not affection and tends to look like he is being tortured if anyone tries to cuddle with him. But he is just so darn cute.

We have five chairs at the table, if one person does not sit quickly enough they will find my little black feline waiting for his own portions of the family meal. He is notorious in the house for snatching a steak or two when we took our eyes off of him.

So today he was fighting with Joe's cat. He tends to do this a lot but mainly when I am sleeping. Joe noticed him wiggle his little butt get ready to pounce on Chauncey.

He looked at me informed me that he was not the brightest cat in the world. Of course, as much as the cat seems to dislike me, he is still my cat so I rushed to his defense.

I informed Joe that he was a smart kitty and sweet(I was totally lying). Joe looked at me like I had lost my mind. We went back and fourth for a few minutes.

Taking his father's side, from the corner of the room Joey pops out with, "Mom, Barkley has never been to Cat School mom, he can't hold a pencil."

I guess he told me.