Life, Love and the pursuit of MORE Boxers

Patch loving her Babies
Originally uploaded by Rockin Robbin.

Life, Love and the pursuit of MORE Boxers

I just noticed that I need to change my headline. It needs to read, "ROCKIN ROBBIN, ROLLING IN TAMPA WITH 3 KIDS AND 3 DOGS NAMED PATCH, MAXIMILIAN AND BARTHOLOMEU... Yes, you read it correctly... we are keeping 2 of the puppies. Roger and Katherine had war and both sides won. I lOST. No more dog breeding for me. I love the whole experience, and it went so went so wonderful. However I cannot afford to feed anymore dogs. If it were up to Roger and the children we would have a "Boxer Doggie Plantation. So again, I am putting my "wants" on the back burner. I am not buying a Maltese. I am not getting my little fru-fru tiny pocketbook dog. I am doomed to live forever with x-large, hair shedding, slobbering mammoths.
I am sorry I didn't write much this past week but as you can guess I have been very busy. Oh, and by the way Gabriel could careless about the "baby doggies". Miracles never cease! To see photos of all our babies, click on the photo above.

Scheming Dreamer with Brains

Okay I know you "tune in" to read about the lastest crazy thing that Gabriel has done. However he has been okay this week (knock on wood). It's a good thing too as I am having a "Bragfest" this week about my kids... Matthew came home the other day with some different papers. One was informing me that he made Principles Honor Roll. Now guys this isn't just any Honor Roll... This is the best of the best,the cream of the crop! We are talking STRAIGHT A's! Another paper informed me that there was an assembly the next day that I was invited to. So yesterday I went to the assembly. They had quite a few awards. I figured Matthew would get a couple of them, like GOOD BEHAVIOR, and reading. Usually these things go hand in hand with awesome grades like his.
No, not happening, nada.
Matthew likes to read... what HE likes, so he only reads what he has to, to get by at school.
And his behavior...I thought he was a good boy at school. He tells me sometimes someone has picked on him or made him mad, so I draw the conclusion in my head that he is SO GOOD and everyone else has the problem. Am I crazy? Vote Now! ( Just kidding)
He drives Katherine CRAZY at home and it's always I DIDN'T DO NOTHING! OR SHE STARTED IT! He told me that some kids on the football team were "picking" on him. But every time I look over he's grabbing someone's helmet and slinging them or they are tackling each other. I guess it made me stop and think when his coach told me the other day, "Matt's gives as good as he gets...
SO maybe good grades don't go hand in hand with good behavior. But remember before I said I was sending Matt to West Point? Those terrorists really better watch out. Nothing worse then a smart, scheming, charming, bad boy! THAT'S MY BOY!

Fashion Girl

Katherine is always drawing fashions. She eats, drinks, and sleeps them. That is of course when she isn't making bracelets. I don't mean silly little kit bracelets either! She spends some serious time on them. Lucie Bug got her started. She was selling them like crazy last year at school. I KNOW Katherine will grow up and have a career in art, most likely in fashion. I read people magazine for all the gossip. Katherine gets a hold of them for the pure joy of the red carpet. As for Matt, I am sending him to West Point. He sits around always thinking of ideas to aggravate and tick us off. The terrorists better watch out! If you would like to see more of Katherine's Fashions and Bracelets go here: www.flickr.com/photos/tenea

My Stepdaughter's Birthday

This week my stepdaughter is turning 17. That just happens to be the age that her father was when he found out he was going to be a father.
I want to tell her how blown away I am that she is almost an adult. It seems like only yesterday she was a little girl. I remember her playing with our little hotdog puppy, drinking a coke with 4 straws, and us laughing together at the size chain Roger bought her to lock up her bicycle.
I want to tell her that I love her. I know our relationship has been far from perfect, but I love her like she was my own. That might seem strange to her but I do. I think of her almost everyday. Katherine and I pray together every night and she is always in our prayers. We pray for her happiness, and that she does well in school. We pray that she gets along well with her mom and they have a good relationship. But most of all we pray that one day, if it's 1 year or 20 years from now, that she will come to see us and we can all be together.
Hey NMB, here is wishing you a wonderful 17th birthday- May they get better every year of your life and may all your dreams come true!

Love, Robbin

NO ONIONS!

Not a lot going on this weekend. Roger, his brother Anthony, and his friend Paul went and did a big tree job together. I have fixed dinner for them about 3 times already in the past week. They eat quite a bit and since I've got children to put through college I told them to give me a tip tonight. Paul owes me the biggest tip because I doctored up the hamburgers with chopped onions and BBQ sauce. After I get outside and am putting them on the grill he says, " You put onions?, Oh I can't eat onions, I get indigestion! So instead of putting his hamburger in his face like a whip cream pie, I come back inside and PICKED every single piece of chopped onion out of ONE hamburger. Roger and Anthony had two hamburgers each. Paul got one hamburger and one hotdog. Then he has the nerve to tell me I would have ate it anyway...can I have another hamburger? He got a HOTDOG. DON'T PLAY WITH ME AND THE ONIONS, PAUL!

Totally Stoked!

I have something really amazing I want to share with you all. While I was at Matt's football game last Saturday (They Won! 6-0) they had Homecoming. It was pretty basic, some of the parents walked with their children on the field. They announced each person's name as they came to the front of the line. One name caught my attention. You see I have a friend named Sherri with a very unusual last name and that was the name I heard. When the man came back to the stands and sat down, I went over and asked his last name again. Repeating the name just wasn't enough for me so I asked him to spell it. I am sure this guy was probably wondering who the heck I was. I told him I had a friend named Sherri with his same last name. He didn't recognize her but it just so happens that his parents were there to see their little grandchild that day so he asked his mom. Michael's(the man I spoke with) mother knew exactly who Sherri was. It turns out that her husband,(Michaels father) sitting right there with them, was Sherri's father's half brother!( Did you follow that? Roger says I give bad directions and this is sort of the same thing) There was quite a bit of age difference between the two men but never the less they were brothers. So what, you say. No big deal. WAIT, there's more! Sherri knew about these people but she had never met them. She also hadn't been in contact with her father within the past 5 years. She didn't know him to well growing up, but got to spend some time getting to know him in the early 90's. Anyway, today I was at Matt's football Practice and Michael comes walking up and tells me that his parents would like to speak to me. I was kind of dumb founded. I had no clue why. Unfortunately Sherri's dad had just passed away today. They had no way to contact Sherri. I was it. God put me at the right place and the right time for His purpose! Sherri would have never known. She is so sad of course. But the wonderful thing is that she has discovered this wonderful family with whom she is a part of! There are sad things that happen in our life, but God always provides a silver lining! I know this post isn't about me today, but guys I have to say, I'M TOTALLY STOKED THAT GOD THOUGHT OF AND USED ME!

Patch had Puppies- Sike!!!

Thought everyone would enjoy this cute picture! A friend sent it to me! Patch DID NOT have her puppies I REPEAT the puppies ARE NOT HERE YET! AND THAT SURE ISN'T MY KITCHEN FLOOR!

Kids, puppies and Harvard

Today I had to take Matthew to the doctor. He seems to really struggle with his breathing when he is running for over 5 minutes or doing strenuous activity. We have noticed this with football! As it turns out, he might have what is called, "exercise asthma". Roger was pretty sarcastic when I told him. Not towards me, just at the situation. It seems that everytime we are told something could be wrong, they say " The odds" are in your favor. Then with "those odds" like a billion to 1, we are that "1"! Our children have had more health problems than Carter's got little farter pills. First Katherine was born with a mild form of Spina Bifida or what is called a "meningeocel" and had to have surgery at 7 month's of age. She also has glasses, hearing aids and eczema. Matthew had to stay in the hospital for a week after he was born with breathing problems. Of course everyone knows about Gabriel and his autism! Roger and I, we make cute kids but whatever is "mixing up" between us is clumpy.
I have done a lot of reading about health testing on dogs before they get pregnant. I have spent some money, but I could have spent more. You would think if a dog appears to be healthy that everything is fine. Thank God we didn't have health testing during Einstein's time of life. When his mom was pregnant with him she already had 8 children. Three were deaf, two blind, one was mentally retarded and to top it off she had syphilis! Harvard here we come! The odds ARE with us!

THE EVOLVING CABINET vol. 1

Remember me telling you about the large oak cabinet that Gabriel tore the doors off of? Well I finely have it out of the den and am "distressing" it. I am doing this for two reasons.
1. Because the damage done by Gabriel left a permanent mark and it's the only logical way to deal with it. (like someone tripping, falling down and jumping up and saying, "I MEANT TO DO THAT!")
2. I figure whatever he does afterwards will (hopefully) only add to it's charm.
If you notice in the photo, I already have one piece like that anyway.
I started working on it on Wednesday and boy is it nasty work. I will post photo's when I am done before Gabriel gets on with it. HEY, then next year I can post pictures of it and we can make it an annual event! We'll call it, "THE EVOLVING CABINET". Artists have different eras they go through. We could say,
This was Gabriel's "forgot to give him his medication" era.
If you google "distressing furniture" you will come up with all different ways to go about it. From whacking it with a bag full of nails, running over it (if it's flat), burying it, sanding it, even beating it with a chain. My goal is to have Gabriel's name come up in a google search for "distressing furniture." You can click on to a website that will show you what types of work he has available.
"GABRIEL" ARTIST OF FINE DISTRESSED FURNITURE
Click here to see our "drug free" effect
"clonidine" effect
"adderall" effect
"left with Daddy" effect
"Matt took away the DVD" effect
"I don't want to go NITE-NITE" effect

One Terrific Guy

Isn't it funny how we always find things to complain about? I whine to God all the time about this and that. I try to make it not sound like a whine but when it really comes down to it, IT'S A WHINE! I whined so long and hard to buy a house that sometimes I wonder if this house we have is a blessing or if God was like HERE! STICK THIS IN YOUR PIE-HOLE! I pray with the children in the morning and at night before they go to bed. Not a big long prayer but just to keep us together as a family and keep us safe and any other concerns of the day. Maybe you think it's a coincidence that we are still together and safe. I believe it has been the prayer God was answering and I've taken it for granted. I have gotten the children so used to this bed time ritual that they will not go to bed until I pray with them! AND I complain about that! Some nights I am tired and really ready for them to just GO TO BED. I tell myself WHY CAN'T THEY JUST PRAY BY THEMSELVES SOMETIMES? One time I asked Katherine if she wouldn't like to say her prayers by herself. She told me, "It makes me feel more loved when you do it with me".
I enjoy picking on Roger. Especially now that I can pick on him to all of you. He read my blog the other night about "AUTISM and MALENESS" and laughed. But after thinking about it, I remembered how when I get bad customer service I sometimes complain, but I don't complement as often as I complain. Yeah, Roger drives me crazy. I'd be lying if I said he didn't, but let me tell you the top ten reasons why I am GLAD I married the guy:
1. He doesn't smoke
2. He doesn't drink
3. He doesn't gamble
4. He isn't into dirty magazines
5. He loves our children
6. He works like a dog to take care of us
7. He lets me be a stay-at-home MOM, even when things were really hard
8. He has a giving heart for others
9. He is really good with Gabriel, has patience to the MOON for him.
10. He believes in me when I tell him the next crazy expensive thing I want to get
into ie; Painting murals, photography(he paid for all my camera, computer ect..)
going back to school (3 times), breeding dogs...
That was the top ten. I have more BUT THAT'S PERSONAL! So anyway, next week when I am dis-ing him because of some MALE thing he did... Remember I still think he is a pretty terrific guy! Have you told that person, any person today YOUR TERRIFIC!? DO IT NOW!!! PASS IT ON ...