Sick House

This last month has been a blur.  I cannot believe that I haven't written anything, but then again I totally can.  For one thing, the kids have been generally well-behaved, so there aren't any good stories of their crazy, outlandish behavior.  For another thing, December is crazy in a household of five people.  We have a ton of activities which means a lot of people to shop and buy for at the holidays.

Things were going pretty well up until last week.  Charlie left on Sunday for his last business trip of the year, unfortunately this one was a doozy and he was off to Europe for the week.  Sounds glamorous, but going to London, Paris and Frankfurt in a four day span for meetings is not that fun.  As soon as he walked out the door I told the kids they could stay in their pajamas and do whatever they wanted that day because I had baking to do.  Every year I bake cookies or something for the teachers and neighbors and this year was no exception.  So the kids happily kept themselves busy and I made four batches of cookies (that's about 16 dozen).  I took a break to give the girls a bath and feed the kids dinner and put them to bed, and then dipped Oreos, pretzel sticks, rice krispie treats and s'mores on a stick (three marshmallows on a stick dipped in chocolate, rolled in graham cracker crust and drizzled with more chocolate which if put in the microwave for 5-10 seconds tastes just like a s'more) in dark chocolate.  That was enough for Sunday.

Monday I dipped in white chocolate and made some yummy holiday popcorn for the neighbors.  You get the idea, this continued the rest of the week.  Running around like crazy during the day, Amanda's holiday concert on Monday, Sarah singing at assisted living facilities with the Girl Scouts on Tuesday.  On Tuesday afternoon I took Andy to the doctor because I thought he had strep.  He was run down, but no fever, and had a sore throat and a slight rash on his chest, which has proven to be strep in the past.  He tested negative for strep so they declared it Fifth's Disease and said he could go back to school and would feel better within a few days.  Thursday morning they called to tell me it was a false negative (see, Mom knows!) and he had tested positive in further testing and he needed to come home immediately because he was contagious.  Um, he's been contagious all week, what's a few more hours?  Friday I woke up with a horrible sore throat and thought I was coming down with strep, but after a two hour trip to the Walgreen's Clinic found out I had the flu.  Yes, we all had flu shots in October but by now you've probably heard that this year's flu vaccine was not very effective.  I started Tamiflu on Friday and Charlie took the kids to get it for the rest of the family on Saturday.  So far nobody else has gotten it and we will hopefully be perfectly healthy to travel on Friday to visit my family for the holidays.

So I thought I was doing pretty well having my husband out of the country the busiest week of the year and taking care of all their activities and all the gifts and at the end I just petered out.  Thankfully everything got done and handed out before I was incapacitated.  Kind of like when you go and go and go in college and then as soon as finals are over you get crazy sick because your body can't take it anymore.  Luckily because I did get the flu shot I don't think I got it as badly as some people.  I'm on day four and am still run down but otherwise most of my symptoms are gone.  I'm hoping to enter society again tomorrow, taking Andy to a doctor appointment and getting one more last minute gift for Charlie.  We'll see if that really happens.

As of now, everyone is on Tamiflu and Andy is also on an antibiotic, but we're alive and well and looking forward to the holidays.  If only I have time to finish wrapping all the presents.  Thankfully this year my need to shop ridiculously early paid off and all of my shopping is basically done.  We got some snow last night and so it's really starting to feel like Christmas!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I'm a little in shock that it's December 1st.  Yes, I've been buying Christmas/Hanukkah presents since August (hey, when you see something you have to buy it because you may not be able to find it later), but December still snuck up on me.  Maybe it was because I was out for a week or so due to my surgery, I'm not really sure.  All I do know is that when I realized that the Monday after Thanksgiving was December 1st I had a little panic attack and now it's here.

I'm not sure why I'm so worried.  It's not that I'm not ready, it's just that everything is happening so fast.  I'm pretty sure I have all the gifts for the kids' teachers already, and I am quite possibly done shopping for the kids as well (I have to take inventory, there are gifts hidden everywhere and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to find them all), and I bought my Christmas cards in September (seriously, if you already have the picture you KNOW you are going to use and the card place is having a 55% off sale, why wouldn't you buy them early?), so there is very little need for pre-holiday stress.

We came home from a fantastic week in Florida for Thanksgiving.  We did something new this year and spent the weekend before Thanksgiving with our friends Hugo and Nicole and their girls at a fantastic resort about 40 minutes from St. Augustine.  Unfortunately we may have gone a little too far north because they got a cold spell that weekend and it was really cold.  It didn't stop the kids from swimming in the lazy river and the unheated pools, but luckily there was a rather large hot tub swimming pool where they stayed warm.  On Monday we headed down to Miami and spent five days with Charlie's family where his mom spoiled us with fantastic cooking and lots of candy and sugar cereal for the kids.  They were in heaven.  We left early Saturday morning which resulted in a very sleepy, lazy day on Saturday but also a chance to get our Christmas lights, trees and decorations up in time for December. Last year we didn't even put up the lights because the first half of December was so cold and by the time it wasn't too cold it wasn't worth it anymore.

So we are raring to go and I just have to get organized, which contrary to what my mother thinks is not my strong point lately.  I have gotten on the lazy train and am not trying too hard to get off.  Hence the reason I'm on it in the first place.

However, Christmas and Hanukkah are going to come regardless of whether or not I'm ready, so I choose to get ready.  Thank God none of my kids are snoopers because my closet is filled with gifts (so full that you can't see the floor) that are very poorly hidden (like not at all) and barely in bags and the door is wide open because there is too much junk in front of it to close it.  Those are the items that do not come from the big, fat, jolly man.  I am a little better at hiding those.

Three more weeks of school and organized life and then chaos and mayhem ensue.  I can get it together by then, really I can.

Taking The Slow Road

I really don't want to start every post with "I guess it's been a long time since I've written..." but it seems that it's just meant to be.  I write little snippets in my head all day long, I just never quite sit down at the computer to put them down.  I want to write.  I have lots to share and hope that someday my kids will read this and hate me a little more, but honestly I'm just tired.  When I have a free moment this isn't always what I want to do because it takes thought and brain power and all the things I am trying at that moment not to use.  Maybe next year when all three kids are in school full time I will be able to find a little more time to write and actually do it during daylight hours, but probably not.

So here's what I've been up to.  Back in June I went to see my doctor to have a physical, annual exam and have her do a skin check.  Although they are annoying I am pretty good about going to my regularly scheduled appointments just to make sure nothing is wrong with me.  I sort of have to do it in order to get my prescription of thyroid pills that, unfortunately, they just won't give you because you have a thyroid issue, but my parents also pounded into my head as a kid that it's a good idea to go get checked out on a regular basis.

I've had a mole on my big toe for years that my doctor was slightly concerned about so she sent me to the dermatologist.  Of course it was summer and I didn't really want to go to the dermatologist and possibly have to get a mole removed during flip flop season, so I waited a little bit to call and then I couldn't get in right away so I finally saw her in September.  She did end up wanting to remove the mole because it looked a little bit suspect but it was no big deal and she took it off right then and there in the office.

About a week later she called to say they had found abnormal cells in the biopsy and she referred me to a plastic surgeon.  It wasn't anything to be too concerned about and it was not melanoma but did need to be addressed before someday it turned into melanoma.  My mom keeps asking me what kind of cells they were and honestly I have no idea.  All I got out of the conversation with the surgeon was that on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being nothing and 5 being melanoma, they were about a 3.

This time it was going to be a little bigger deal and I didn't know how much I was going to be able to get around after minor foot surgery so I asked my parents if they would come help out with the kids for the week.  Plus, the doctor wanted me to wear a boot for the first week or so and I had no idea if I was going to be able to drive in it.  So my parents came to visit and this time I was actually in town.  The kids even asked "Where are you going?" when I told them my parents were coming and were pleasantly surprised when I informed them we would all be home together.

The best part of the surgery is that besides getting the numbing shots it really didn't hurt at all.  I thought once the shots wore off I would be in great pain, but I didn't even have to take Advil or Tylenol.  I just couldn't walk very easily because where they cut was at the base of my big toe and now I have stitches there and it hurts to bend my toes.  Which of course makes walking challenging, but I'm getting pretty good at it in an "I'm destroying my natural gait" kind of way.

I get my stitches out in two weeks, right after we get home from Florida for Thanksgiving (of which we leave for tomorrow!), and hopefully the doctor will tell me that they got it all and there will be no more surgeries.  If they do find more abnormal cells then they may have to take a little more and that is not going to be fun.

So, I won't be writing much for the next week (what else is new) since we will be in Florida, but I will really try to write more when I get back and maybe, just maybe, I'll make it one of my non New Year's Resolutions (because I hate to make them in the first place) to try a little harder to write in 2015.

Demoused and Deloused

We got home from fall break last Sunday.  I have spent the last week recovering from my vacation, getting back in the groove and doing a shit ton of laundry.  First, the cruise.  We had an amazing time, and the only negative thing I can say is that Charlie and I were hoping for a little more time to ourselves but the girls didn't like the kids' club quite at much as we did.  It's not that the kids' club was bad, they had a ton of activities, it's just that the girls would have rather been with us.  So, most of the time we let them.  Sigh.  However, the food was great, the service was excellent and the shows were amazing.  Disney does not disappoint.  They have "wave phones" in all the rooms which are cell phones that work on their network so you can talk and text on them.  Two to a room.  So we gave Andy one and just let him go wherever he wanted on the ship.  It was a little nerve wracking at first but he loved it and he had a blast.  We barely saw him the whole week.  The girls weren't quite old enough to be able to want to do that, but we were able to sneak away for and adults only dinner one night and an adults brunch another day.  Amazing!

Overall, it was an amazing trip.  They had characters out and about all day long, there was a pirate party and a Halloween party with shows and characters (and fireworks one night) and the customer service was over the top.  Sarah lost a tooth on board and I went up the the service desk to ask if they did anything.  Mainly I wanted to see if they had any of those plastic tooth necklaces like they give out at school for the kids to put the tooth in, because she has been dying for one of those.  They didn't, but instead they gave us a pin/button that said "I lost a tooth", which several of the cast members then asked her about, and a certificate that had her name on it commemorating that she lost a tooth aboard the ship.  So cool!  It's the little things that makes Disney so special.

We got in on Friday and as a bonus the kids got to spend two days with Charlie's mom while I drove up to the Orlando area for a quick visit with April from Florida then we headed home early Sunday morning.  From the moment we got home until late Wednesday night the washer and dryer ran non-stop.  I am not kidding.  Between the three outfits per day we wore on the cruise and all the stuff we had bagged but not yet washed from our lice incident before we left, we were working those machines overtime.  I finally thought we were done until Charlie pointed out two bags in the basement yesterday afternoon.  I think those might sit for a few more days.

So we're home, back on schedule, and in the end I didn't gain any weight despite drinking wine and eating dessert every night (but also working out everyday on the ship).  Now if I can just get Charlie to do it again next year...

Rock Concert

On Monday the third grade had a rock concert.  You know, a concert where they sing about...rocks.  Catchy, huh?  Sarah was so excited about it and they practiced the songs for weeks.  They sang as an entire group and then each class sang a different song, all about rocks (and volcanos).  Well, one song was "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend", which is pretty outdated by now, and another song was an instrumental with recorders and xylophones, but the rest were in line with the title of the concert.

Overall it was very cute and the kids loved it.  I joked to Charlie that years from now in a high school geology exam Sarah will be singing the songs to herself so she can answer the questions, kind of like Potsy in that Happy Days episode when he's trying to remember all the bones of the body.  Whatever it takes!

Unwanted Visitors

All I wanted to do this weekend was get ready for fall break.  We leave this Friday and Charlie is out of town all week so I wanted to get some of it done while he was here and make sure we weren't running around crazy at the last minute like we do before every trip.  I finally convinced him after about 10 years that we should go on a Disney Cruise and now it's here.

We got up like we do on most Saturdays and went to Andy's flag football game.  Afterwards I took the girls to swim class and then came home to clean up a little because some friends were coming over for dinner.  Our final errand was to get the girls' haircut.  That's when our weekend got derailed.

I was settling Amanda and myself into the big cushy couch at the hair salon while Sarah was back getting her hair washed when the stylist came up to me.  She said something like, "I'm sorry to break this to you, but I'm not going to be able to cut her hair today because she has lice."  WHAT?!?  Yep, she took me back and showed me Sarah's head and you could see all the little dudes crawling around her scalp.  Yuck.  Then she checked Amanda and she had it too, although not as advanced as Sarah.

We left the salon with Sarah bawling at an incredible volume and headed to Walgreen's to pick up some RIT.  We proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon not doing laundry for our impending vacation but cleaning all the sheets on the kids' and our beds.  On top of bagging their stuffed animals, which each girl has about 20 on each of their beds, we vacuumed the couches, bagged up pillows and comforters and blankets and anything else made of cloth they could have touched.

I checked Andy when we got home and he had a slight case as well.  So we had to do medicated shampoo on all three kids and then sit for hours going through their hair with a fine tooth comb to get all the eggs out.  My friend Theresa is totally a keeper because she actually helped by going through Amanda's hair.  Not many people would help their friends by picking lice eggs out of their kid's hair.

The next day we had to do it all again.  We didn't wash all the sheets but we had to strip the beds and put everything in the dryer on hot for 30-40 minutes then make all the beds again.  Then re-shampoo the kids hair and go through them again with the special comb.  This morning before they went to school I did a quick check and did a more thorough one this evening before bed.  This has become my life.

Best of all, Theresa checked my head today and found a few eggs so I had to do the medicated shampoo on myself this evening.  With Charlie out of town I did the best with the comb but am positive I didn't get it all.  Luckily I also have a very slight case at this point.

I don't ever remember having this as a kid and am very thankful for that.  I know tons of kids get it, but I was kind of smug thinking that we wouldn't be one of them.  Wrong again Mommy.  When people used to tell me how much it sucked to get lice I definitely commiserated with them, but you really don't know how horrible and time consuming it is until it happens to you.  Kind of like having a kid, you don't truly know what it's like until you've experienced it yourself.  Except having a kid has a lot of rewards, while having lice just sucks.

I really hope we are done with this before we get on the plane on Friday, but most of the stuff I read says it's a 2-3 week process to rid yourself of lice.  So we'll get a clean as we can before we go and bring our combs along with us.  I am not going to let this ruin our amazing vacation.  Stupid lice!

Kid Quote of the Day

"I hate nature."

-Amanda, after she fell and scraped her knee and had enough of hiking.

Picture of the Day

Hanging Lake

Staycation

We've lived in Colorado for over two years and every time the kids get a break from school we go somewhere out of state.  I think it's a result of working for the airline for so long and also living in Texas, because despite how much we liked it there we also wanted to leave as much as possible.  We're starting to realize that Colorado is an incredibly beautiful state and there are lots of amazing places to visit right here, so when the kids had Friday off we decided to go on our first in state trip.

We have friends that have been all over Colorado so took some suggestions from them, and then Charlie did a little research and realized that besides the ski lifts, not much is running after Labor Day.  Apparently there is tons to do from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but a lot of places shut down as soon as summer is over.

Charlie found a great two bedroom condo in Vail and we made that our home base.  We spent Friday and Saturday night there and during the day on Saturday we went to Glenwood Springs.  We did a one mile completely uphill through rocks and streams hike to Hanging Lake, which was breathtaking, and then hit the hot springs in the evening.  It took us about an hour and 45 minutes to get up the mountain, which was no easy feat.  The girls were super gung ho and excited for most of the journey and Andy went along for the ride because he was forced to.  It was a lot steeper than I thought it was going to be and more rock climbing that walking along a path, but a great adventure.  The lake at the top of the mountain was beautiful and totally worth the trip.  The girls did great until the final 1/4 mile on the descent and then Amanda finally lost it when she fell and scraped her knee.  I ended up carrying her on my back for about 1/8 of a mile which was a little bit of a challenge but we finally made it down the mountain.

After we got some food in the kids we went to the hot springs.  You actually don't get to go directly into the springs, instead they pump the water into a huge swimming pool.  Well, two pools, one that is around 105 degrees and another that is around 93 degrees.  It had a slight sulfur smell and you more hung out in the water than really swam, but the kids enjoyed it and I found it pretty relaxing.

The next morning after a great buffet breakfast we walked around Vail Village and there was even a little market going on.  It was fun to spend some time in the outdoors as a family with no rushing or needing to be anywhere and to know that we were just two hours away from home by car.  No airport needed.

Kid Quote of the Day

"Come on, I've been waiting for you for hours.  Even months."

-Amanda, waiting for me to come help her get her pajamas on.

Creative Genius?

Apparently Amanda has mad art skillz.  That means she's really, really good.  Well, according to one of her teachers anyway.  I wouldn't know.  All she draws at home are pictures of unicorns.  Flying unicorns, not flying unicorns, unicorns standing under a rainbow, but there is always a unicorn.  The only reason I know what they are is because she draws them ALL THE TIME, not because they are a perfect depiction of a unicorn.  But at school they make her draw other things, so I guess they get to see more of what she can do.  There are some artists on my mom's side of the family, so I guess it's a possibility, but I'm not so sure.

I picked her up at school today and Amanda was all excited to give me this:

It's cute, but it looks like your run of the mill pre-school picture to me.  Something that I will throw away sooner than later.  But her teacher starts telling me how amazing it is, all the while Amanda is dancing and singing on the carpet in her own little "artistic" world, because she didn't leave any white space and the lines are perfect and every section is a different color and she takes so much time and care to color everything.  Huh?  So this isn't what everybody else's whale looks like?  I guess not.

Her teachers told me the same thing last year.  That they would always show her art as an example to the class and how they would always put hers in the center of the board because it was so good.  I don't see it.  It honestly looks all the same to me.  But, her teacher told me today that she has worked at that school for eight years and Amanda is one of the best artists to come out of there and that I need to hone her artistic abilities.  Before I had a chance to even think she was pulling my leg her other teacher said the first teacher rarely gives compliments like that and pretty much tells it like she sees it so if she says Amanda is amazing than she is.  Huh again.

I hope nobody comes back to me years from now and asks me for her pre-school art so they can say this is where it all started, because most of it's going to the recycling plant or the dump.  I just can't keep it all and I don't care that much.  But maybe I'll start a folder on the computer and take pictures of it just in case.

Family Game Night

My friend, Renee, posted about her kids having a game night with their grandparents.  They were playing the game of Life and instead of the spinner they were using the iPad.  They were still using the game board, just had the addition of the iPad which she thought was a little strange, yet doable, since they were still sitting and playing a game together.  At our house we do it a little differently.

First of all, it's challenging to find a game that the whole family can play together when the youngest child can basically only play Chutes and Ladders or Candy Land and the oldest child can play games like Risk.  Second, the girls love to get silly and crazy when playing games which makes them laugh out of control and makes everybody else want to quit long before we are even close to the end of the game.  Or they cry because the rules are relentlessly unfair.  You see our problem.

A few days ago Charlie declared that we were going to have a Family Game Night.  We requested that the kids go downstairs to the basement to pick out a game several times but nobody did.  They were either too lazy or too scared to go in the basement by themselves.  I hate going in the basement by myself, so I totally get that.  At this point you would think that Charlie or I would just go down and pick a game ourselves, except we are the band leaders when it comes to laziness and we didn't want to go down there to pick a game either.

So, we each grabbed our respective electronic device and sat on the couch and independently played together.  I'm not really that proud of this moment, except that we did talk to each other for most of the evening, granted it was about what was going on in our games, and nobody got mad at each other or cried. We were all pretty much playing Hay Day, a game where you run and grow your own farm, except for Andy who thinks he's too cool for Hay Day.  I like it for the kids because you are trying to run a business (your farm) and have to figure out how to use your time, money and resources wisely.  Plus we can help each other out.  A nice, educational, but fun and addictive game.

We will have to revisit to Family Game Night, and next time use an old fashioned board game.  Hopefully we can find a game we can all agree on.

Picture of the Day

At the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, before and after.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Amanda has always been pretty obsessed with her birthday, so about a week after her fourth birthday she started planning her fifth.  I was throwing out ideas of what she could do when Sarah said, "You know, for my 5th birthday Mommy took me to Disney World.  You should do that instead of a party."  That's all it took, and the idea was born.  So basically we planned her 5th birthday party (a party of two) for about a year.

Since she finally turned five in August I scheduled her trip to Disney World the first week of September so it was still close to her birthday but after almost everybody was back to school.  Best idea ever.  The parks were empty, or at least empty for Disney standards.  Originally we were going to fly in on Thursday night and go to the Magic Kingdom on Friday and Saturday and fly home Sunday.  Then my wonderful friend, April from Winter Springs, called to see if we wanted to go to Frozen Disney on Ice that Sunday.  Um, yeah, you don't have to ask me twice.  So I changed our reservations to come home later on Sunday.

I had everything planned and ready to go when we came upon another schedule change.  We had decided to go visit Charlie's mom in Miami for Labor Day weekend, and would be flying home on Labor Day.  But then Amanda and I were going to fly right back to Florida (and it is a long flight), a few days later for her birthday trip.  So Charlie and I decided it would be better if Amanda and I just stayed in Florida.  So all of a sudden a four day trip turned into a 10 day trip.  It sounds wonderful, and it was, but it was exhausting.

We had a very nice, calm, laid back visit with Charlie's mom over the weekend and then Amanda and I headed to the Orlando area on Monday to hang out with April and her family while Charlie flew home with Andy and Sarah.  We just saw them a few weeks ago in Destin but I really can't see them enough so we stayed and had a really nice visit for a couple of days.  I adjusted our Disney hotel and park passes by a day (or two) and Wednesday morning we headed in.  We went to Downtown Disney to do a little shopping, checked into the hotel, returned our car and then were off to the Magic Kingdom.  We got there around 5p.  That was actually my plan on the first day.  Just go hang out for a few hours, see the fireworks and then head back to the hotel.  I would have skipped that day completely but there was a big Night of Joy (Christian Rock Concert) planned for Thursday and Friday nights, the other two days we were going to be at the Magic Kingdom, and they were kicking everybody out at 7p except those that had bought Night of Joy event tickets.  Which meant no fireworks.  So, if we wanted to see Disney fireworks it was Wednesday or not at all.  I don't know if you've ever seen Disney's fireworks, but they are amazing so of course we had to see them.

Thursday we went to MGM, which they now call Hollywood Studios.  I thought it was pretty fun but Amanda was a little miffed that they didn't have any rides.  There were a few, but she either was too scared to ride them or not tall enough.  Shows are nice and all, but not when you want to ride roller coasters.

Friday we got up and had breakfast with the princesses at Cinderella's castle and then she got to get all made up at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  They did her hair and nails and even put make up on her.  She was in heaven.  Saturday we had breakfast with Mickey Mouse and his friends and then went back to the Magic Kingdom.  She still had her princess hair because they put about half a bottle of gel on her hair and it felt like cement.  I washed it out when we got home on Sunday and I'm not sure that there still isn't some in there.  Wow!

It was really a fabulous trip.  It was great for her because she got to do whatever she wanted to do and eat (almost) whatever she wanted to eat and the focus was all on her.  It was great for me because I only had one person to hang out with and because she was getting pretty much everything she wanted she was in a very agreeable mood.  We had very little arguments or crying or issues.  Unfortunately we did have rain, but she was even a good sport about that.  The one thing that surprised Charlie and me was how much Amanda and Sarah missed each other.  They fight, but they are still best friends, and we really want to nurture that so they stay that way for years and years to come.  We Face Timed every night, which maybe made Sarah a little sad, but it was mostly so the girls could talk.  Unfortunately they are both at the age where they really don't know how to talk on the phone (or over the iPad/iPhone screen), but it still made them very happy to see each other.  While we were watching the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom Amanda told me she wished that we could Face Time Sarah so she could see the fireworks so I called her and she watched them from home.  That was pretty cool!

I will say by the time we got to the airport on Sunday I was definitely ready to go.  I was tired and ready to be home after 10 days away.  But we made memories that she will always cherish and had an amazing time.

Three Questions

Somewhere along the way in my back to school journey, I read somewhere from some teacher that he likes to ask his kids three questions each night at dinner.  One, what is one thing that you learned today?  Two, who is one person that you helped today?  Three, what was your favorite things about your day?

I thought how hard can it be?  I can ask questions.  I think I've mentioned before that we try really hard to have family dinner at our house.  I have friends who eat at 5p or 6p whether their husbands are home or not and then, if not, he will just eat when he gets home.  Or friends who feed the kids first and then eat with their husband after the kids go to bed.  It sort of makes sense when your husband gets home late and you have little kids, but we've never done it that way.  We've always put a big emphasis on the family dinner and made an effort to make it happen.  Which is why we used to eat at 7:30p instead if 6p, but can adjust that a little better now that Charlie works from home (when he isn't traveling anyway).

I'm getting off topic.  So, we've always asked the kids how their day was and to tell us what happened, but I thought I would try these new questions for a bit.  Let me tell you, asking kids about their day is like pulling teeth.  What did you like best about today?  What?  Your lunch.  Nope, doesn't count.  Recess?  Try again.  They really don't get that we want to hear about their day.

Today I asked Sarah what she learned, and she said they learned about rocks.  Period.  Okay, better answer than I've gotten from her in the past week or so.  Then when I was putting her to bed she said, "Mommy, did you know that clay is the smallest form that rocks come in?"  Um, no, I didn't know that.  Where did you hear that?  I learned it at school today.  So why didn't you tell me that when I asked at dinner?  UGH.  I told her nicely that was something she should have told me at dinner and that's why I ask those questions.  OOOOHHH.

So, it's a work in progress.  Yesterday Amanda said she helped by picking up the crayons and markers.  Today when I asked who she helped she said nobody because it wasn't her turn to pick up the crayons and markers today.  They are slowly getting it.  Hopefully by the end of the year it will be conversation material.  Otherwise, maybe book material, lol.

Sometimes He Surprises Me

Now that we've been in school for a week the excitement and newness has worn off.  Last week the kids were pretty gung ho and willing to wake up and get dressed, eat and get to school with plenty of time to spare.  We had so much time that I was going to write a post (in fact I thought I did) about how fabulous the mornings were and that I got so much done now waking up at 6 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. and how the girls had so much time to dress and eat and even play in the morning.  Nothing but time.

That wonderful honeymoon period has already worn off.  On Monday morning Andy walked grumpily into the kitchen and informed me he was tired of waking up at 6 a.m.  No duh, dude, who do you think is getting up with you?  Only about 150 more days to go this year and then it's even more permanent when he is actually a full time student at the middle school and he will have to get up even earlier when he goes to high school.  Ugh.  All he does is read on his iPad in the morning while I'm hanging out with him, can't he just do it all by himself?

Another thing I forgot about was how tired Sarah gets when she is at school all day and how cranky she is when she gets home from school.  Watch out.  She's fine as long as I don't make her do anything on her to do list, like homework or taking her vitamins or feeding her fish, but when I do ask that's when all the screaming starts.  From both of us.  I really didn't need to yell at the kids very much this summer but within the last few days it's all coming back to me.  Part of it is the kids and part of it is the fact that now I am getting up earlier but I am not going to bed any earlier.  I am working on it but old habits die hard.

So we were all a little unhappy on Monday evening and Charlie was on a trip for work and I really didn't want to put the girls to bed and Andy knew it.  All three of the kids were actually playing nicely together for once and Andy came up to me after I had told the girls a few times it was time for bed with no action and said, "I'll take care of this one."  He got the girls upstairs, got them in their pajamas with teeth brushed and was reading to them when I finally walked into the room to make sure I didn't need to do anything before kissing everyone goodnight.  The girls were actually mad at me for coming in too early and spoiling the surprise because they wanted to be in bed and all tucked in before I came in the room.  That almost started another battle but instead I just left them alone to complete their plan.

Andy is a very mature kid, but sometimes he acts very much like an eleven year old boy.  Silly and goofy and self centered and loud and just plain weird.  I'll get frustrated with him, and then see some of his classmates and how immature they are and realize how lucky I am, even on his worst days.  He's starting to hit puberty which is a whole other animal, but in the end he is a great kid.  And every once in a while he pulls something like this to show me just how much he really loves me.

Kid Quote of the Day

"Unicorn."

-Amanda, at her well visit today when the doctor asked what she wanted to be when she grew up.  The doctor acknowledged that it was a great answer as we need more unicorns in the world.

And So It Begins

When we first found out that Andy was going to split his morning between the middle school and elementary school I thought it was going to be difficult.  He has to wake up at 6 a.m. now to get showered and eat breakfast and get out the door to catch the bus on time.  So I need to wake up at 6 a.m. to make sure that he gets up.  He's a pretty early riser so the chances of him sleeping in are pretty slim, but still I need to be the responsible parent and make sure he's moving in the morning.  Another reminder that parenthood is overrated.

What I didn't realize when I was pondering how I was going to get up any earlier than I already did, was what a blessing that extra hour is.  He leaves around 6:45a.  The girls wake up, also on their own, around 7a.  Which means I have a few moments to gather my wits, get lunches started and be ready for the girls.  Since I am functional at 7a instead of trying to wake up and then getting out of bed by 7:30a, I can spend extra time picking out clothes and shoes with Amanda and even doing the girls' hair.  This morning I french braided both sides of Amanda's hair because I had nothing but time.

With Andy out of the house the instigator is gone and the girls can chat and play and there is no one to pick on them because he is bored.  We really do have all the time in the world and it makes the morning run so much smoother.

What I forgot about was how tired and cranky the kids are after school, mainly Sarah, and how homework is back in our lives.  Sarah had a tiny assignment today that took her over an hour to do.  All she had to do was pick five things from around the house that described her (the assignment was called "In a Nutshell") and would be used for creative writing assignments for the next few weeks.  It was like she had no clue what she was all about and what things were important to her.  By the end of that assignment we had a coming to Jesus that I would not be helping her with her homework this year if this is how it was going to go.  I am not going to sit by her side and try to get her to concentrate and cajole her into doing her homework.  This after just the first day people.  What am I going to say to her a month from now?

On the plus side, both kids love their teachers and are excited to be back at school.  That's what I really care about, that they are enjoying themselves and in the correct mindset to learn, which they appear to be.  Here's hoping it stays that way!

Kid Quote of the Day

"Selfish and selfless all at the same time."

-Andy, watching me fill out the volunteer sheet for Sarah's class and after much consideration circling bi-weekly instead of weekly for the frequency with which I would like to volunteer.  Such a profound statement and so incredibly accurate from my 11 year old boy.

And So It Ends

We came home from a fantastic week in Destin on Saturday.  Not only was it fantastic, it was one of our best.  Well, one of our best with the kids.  I still sort of remember, because my memory is for shit now, how much fun we had when we went before we had kids and we stayed up late and slept in and only thought about ourselves.  Now that was a great vacation.

But alas, now we have children and the focus isn't on us anymore.  Or not as much as we'd like anyway.  The guys still find time to get away and golf and the ladies go to the spa and shopping so it's not totally about the kids.  This year was amazing because my kids were so independent.  Amanda was a champ in the pool and I didn't even have to get in with her most of the time.  She swam all over the place like a demon and there was only one time she looked like she needed help and that's when she was upset and crying about a game they were playing not because she was about to drown.  She LOVED the pool and would ask to go in everyday and would have rather spent the whole week in the pool instead of going to the beach but we made them do that several days as well.  They would go to the beach and then come back to the pool and they were all so tired every night it was wonderful.  This was the first year that I can remember that Charlie wasn't upset as we drove to the airport that he didn't get to do everything he wanted to do.  This year we attacked our schedule and made the best of every single day and played tennis more than once (unheard of) and even sent the adults without the kids so they could play real tennis (even more unheard of) that by Thursday we couldn't think of anything we still "had to do".  It was awesome.

Saturday we got up and took a short flight from Pensacola to Houston and then got on another short flight from Houston to Denver and were supposed to be home by 3p.  But that second short flight turned into a very long flight when we had to circle Denver for an hour or so and then got diverted to Colorado Springs and spend 2+ hours on the ground due to a ground stop (where they won't let any planes take off or land) in Denver that was a result of concerns about wind sheer.  So instead of landing in Denver at 3p we landed at 9p.  We discussed getting off the plane and renting a car and driving home and figuring out our luggage later, except that our car seats were under the plane.  Foiled again.  Did I mention that was Amanda's 5th birthday and according to her the "worst birthday ever".  I think she'll forget about it when we go on her birthday trip to Disney World in a few weeks.

Sunday was spent making up for Amanda's missed birthday, trying to shake off the traveling funk from the day before and unpacking and doing a tiny bit of laundry.  Of course now it's Tuesday and it still looks like we are unpacking by the back door.

Monday started with a bang as it was meet the teacher for Andy and Sarah and Andy's first day of math at the middle school.  He's been doing advanced math since third grade and it finally caught up with him where his school can't offer the grade level of math he needs so he gets up butt early and takes the bus to the middle school for math and then we have to drive him back to the elementary school for his regular school day.  The middle school started on Monday but the elementary school doesn't start until tomorrow so for the past two days he's woken up to go to math and then come home.  Weird, but a nice way to ease back into school.

Today was Amanda's first day of her English preschool, the Spanish preschool doesn't start until after Labor Day, and tonight was Andy's 6th grade orientation.  All that to say the last couple of days have been a whirlwind of activity and meetings and getting ready for school.  Thankfully tomorrow they actually get to go and our scheduled life of predictability will return.  It may not sound good to you, but it sounds like heaven to me.  I even volunteered to help out at school again this year even though last year almost drove me over the edge.  I like to help, but it really cramps my style.

So that's it, our summer is over.  It was great, I only had those two days at the very end where I thought I might have to commit myself and otherwise it was thoroughly enjoyable.  Okay, not thoroughly, but manageable.  Let's see where this next school year takes us!

Our Last Hurrah!

I find myself sitting here just finished packing for our last trip of the summer.  Well, our last trip until school starts.  We will also be taking a quick trip to Miami for Labor Day Weekend and then I am taking Amanda to Disney World for her 5th birthday, but this is it as far as summer is concerned.  The funny thing is that I've been 95% packed since Wednesday.  I never do that.  Ever.  Usually Charlie and I start packing around 9p the night before a trip and then we are up until some crazy hour getting the last few things in.  This time all I did was unpack the suitcase from the last trip, which was mostly full of clean clothes since I've gotten into the habit of doing all my wash before I leave when I stay with friends and family so that isn't the first thing I have to do when I get home.  I picked out a few different things and had the girls fill in the outfits that we still needed, and then I did the same thing with Andy, washing all his clothes from camp and then packing them before he ever got a chance to put them away.

The last two weeks have been a blur.  I can't even believe we've been home from New Jersey that long.  We had a fabulous visit with April and Renee, which I of course knew we would, that went by way too fast.  I cannot explain to you how much I love spending time with them.  I can be myself with them, no holds barred even though I am a guest in someone's home, and I know no matter what they will love me and stand up for me and defend me and take care of me.  They may make fun of my shopping habits, but they love me all the same and would be there for me in a second.  I have absolutely no doubts.  Friends like these are few and far between and I will be hard pressed to find more like them the rest of my life.  Thankfully my husband totally understands and loves them almost as much as I do so that we can keep this pattern going.  Next year I swear he is going to come with us.

So, we did the beach and Renee's husband Mark was so wonderful to take the girls into the freezing cold ocean and play with them.  I'm not sure what game they had going on but when he left early in the week to go back to work they hugged and said, "good-bye wolfie".  Total bonding.  We went bowling and swimming and to the Pinball Museum where I scored the high score on Frogger.  I would have done better if I wasn't keeping one eye out for Amanda the whole time.  Next year we need to go without the kids.  We also made it to Beach Plum, the most amazing ice cream place around.  Also, Renee and April introduced me to this crazy card game called Mille Bournes that they played as kids, but not together because they didn't know each other then.  We got slightly obsessed with it but really had a great time playing after the kids went to bed.  And to top the week off we went to Camden one night for a Bruno Mars concert.  I'm not the hugest Bruno fan, but I do like his music so it was a lot of fun.

After we got home Sarah started horse back camp which she loved and two of the instructors told me that she had great form and they were really impressed.  That's a good thing because her past and future therapists have both said that horse back riding would be great therapy for her.  So hopefully I can get in gear and set up some lessons for this fall.  I also got myself back to the gym with my new trainer who's sole goal is to hurt me.  It's kind of a strange thing to pay someone to make your life miserable, but hopefully in the end it will be worth it.  Right now I'm still trying to decide.

So yes, two weeks have flown by and tomorrow we leave for Destin.  Best family vacation ever with wonderful friends.  We get back next Saturday and then Andy starts school Monday, Amanda starts Tuesday and Sarah starts Wednesday.  I would say that the summer hasn't been long enough and I wish that we had just a few more weeks, but that would be a lie.  I almost lost it yesterday and realized that I only had to get through today and then a nice vacation and then they would be back to school.  Then we can get back on schedule and my life will still be crazy but a more controlled, metered out crazy.

It's been a fantastic summer, but why ruin a good thing?

Half Way There

This summer is flying by.  In fact, the title of this post isn't even correct.  We are past the half way mark and only have 4 weeks left of summer.  Best of all, I can honestly say that this has been, in the kids words, the best.summer.ever.  There has been minimal fighting, not too much of "I'm bored" and lots of quality time with cousins and friends.  We had great visits with family in Michigan and Chicago and the kids were crying, even Andy, because they didn't want to leave.  Tomorrow the girls and I head to New Jersey to meet up with April and Renee, my two best friends from college, for our annual visit to the shore.  They already started without me so I cannot wait to get there.  If I ever decided to leave Charlie for two sister wives it would totally be with these two.

After Jersey we have two more weeks at home and then Destin.  I can't even begin to tell you how happy this makes me.  Then the craziest part of all is two days after we get home, school starts.  It's going to be one big happy blur.  Even though I haven't written much, I've been thinking about you.  Thinking about how sad I'm making my mom when I don't post and every time I talk to her she says "we really love your blog", thinking about how I want to tell you everything that we've been up to and all the crazy and funny things Amanda says but when the day is over and the kids are finally in bed I just don't have the energy to sit down in front of the computer to write.  The best time for me to think about writing a post is while I'm driving the kids to one of their activities or camps (I really do my best thinking in the car) but I have no way to write it down and as soon as we get out of the car it magically escapes my brain because all the other tasks take over.

This week has really been at the top of crazy meter.  We got home late Saturday and on Monday Andy started an amazing computer camp that had something to do with building Minecraft mods (and as far as Minecraft is concerned that's about all I can tell you) but it was an hour drive each way.  Which meant two hours when you drove right back home after dropping him off/picking him up and really meant I was in the car four hours a day in bumper to bumper traffic.  By the end of the week I was DONE.  On top of that we had to run the girls to therapy and speech and gymnastics plus work in Andy's scout meeting and piano lessons and make up piano lessons and a fun summer school the girls were in this week and having someone come fix the ceiling where they tore up the drywall putting in new lights and getting Andy packed for sleep away camp and the girls and me packed for New Jersey.  Thankfully Charlie was in town this week and helped me out immensely but I think he's glad we'll be gone next week so he doesn't have to rearrange his schedule to help out so much.  That's why a week at the beach with my girls is exactly what I need to relax and rejuvenate and head into the last three weeks of summer.

I am so thankful we've been able to do what we have done this summer.  The kids love it and are really starting to have an appreciation for it as well.  Although it can be a little stressful at times, I know that we are making memories that will last a lifetime and for that, to quote the little green guys from Toy Store, I am eternally grateful.

Picture of the Day

Cupcake

and Blueberry.

They Did What?

During Amanda's last few weeks of school they were doing a unit on animals.  They talked about farm animals and jungle animals and pets and whatever else you tell preschoolers about animals.  As part of the unit they took the kids to the pet store to look at the animals.  It wasn't that big of a deal to go to the pet store, the school is in a strip mall and there is a pet store right there, so they walked to it.

When I went to pick her up, all the kids were sitting with a beta fish in front of them.  Hmm, what's this?  Yep, they bought each of the kids a fish without telling the parents.  Ugh.  My brilliant daughter told them that we weren't allowed to have pets and her mommy would not let her take this fish home.  She knows the rules even if the teachers don't.  The teachers said she could leave hers at school and it could be the class fish.  Nice try, but I'm not going to be that mean mom that let's all the other kids take their fish home and tell my 4 yr old that she has to leave hers behind.  So, now we own a fish.

But it gets better.  The fish needed a bowl, because the one it came with was way too small, and it needed rocks at the bottom and a unicorn statue and a plant and water conditioner and food.  $40 later our free fish was equipped to live at our house.  But that's not all.  When Sarah found out Amanda had a fish she freaked out and needed her own fish.  Back to the store for another fish, bowl, treasure chest and plant.  The other things they could share.

Of course the girls had to argue about what the names of their fish would be because they were both blue and Sarah wanted to name hers blueberry even though she got it several days after Amanda got hers and Amanda thought blueberry was a fantastic name for her fish.  I really hated the whole thing.  Finally Amanda grudgingly picked another name that because another name that finally ended up being cupcake.  Weird name for a fish, but she's four so I'll give her some slack.

In their defense, the girls are pretty good about feeding the fish everyday because I'm not going to do it and I have never seen two people so in love with fish in my entire life.  They know this is the only pet they are ever going to get from us so they are truly enjoying it.  Also, I cleaned both of their bowls today and it wasn't a horrible experience so I guess they can stay and I won't accidentally flush them down the toilet.

Kid Quote of the Day

Andy:  That flight is going to Chicago and then back down to Wichita.

Me:  Where's Wichita?

Andy:  Nebraska.

Me:  Kansas.

Andy:  Nebraska.  Kansas.  Same thing.  Corn, corn and more corn.


I'm sure the people from Nebraska and Kansas are happy to hear that!

He's On His Way - Finally!

Today was a totally craptastic day, pretty much from the beginning to the end.  To be honest, I did not handle it well.  To be even more honest, I have not been handling much very well.  We are over booked and over scheduled and I thought I could handle it all and I can't.  Charlie's new job is fabulous and he loves it but it is taking a toll on all of us.  Compound that with a bunch of crazy, out-of-the-ordinary things happening all at the same time and I am about to lose it.  This evening in one of my not so finer moments I told the girls I wanted to run away, in a very loud voice.  I wasn't lying, I do want to run away, but that's not something you say to little kids.  That's scary to them.  I scared my girls.

It all started very early this morning.  Today is the day that Andy left for Chicago en route to his trip to Spain with my parents.  I booked him two days early in case there were any issues and so he could hang out with his cousins for a couple days without his pesky little sisters around.  We got up at 6a so that we could leave at 7a so that he would be on time for his 9a flight.  Charlie was also leaving for Chicago today (unfortunately on a different airline) where he was connecting to a flight to London.  So I left with Andy and Amanda and Charlie stayed back so he could drop Sarah off a tiny bit early for the car pool ride to Girl Scout Camp.

The plan was to get Andy all checked it, make sure his plane took off okay (that's the rule with Unaccompanied Minors (UM), which he was today) and then drop Amanda off late to her Spanish camp before I went to my final Pilates class for the summer.  Except nothing lately goes as planned.  We got to the airport and got parked and inside without any issues.  Once we got up to the gate we were informed that there was a weather advisory on Andy's flight due to weather in Chicago and he would not be allowed to board.  They do not want UMs to board a flight with a weather advisory because it has a higher likelihood of getting cancelled or delayed or rerouted and they don't want to have to look after him in any of those instances.  I understand the rule but at that moment was not happy with it.  The advisory was on until 2p, so they rebooked him on a 2p flight and we left.  We contemplated trying to get him on Charlie's flight but it wasn't going to work and it turns out that Charlie's flight was delayed and he almost didn't get to Chicago in time to make his connecting flight to London so it was better that he didn't have to deal with Andy.

I was so not happy at this point because I had paid to take the toll road to the airport (and home), paid to park and was now going to miss the Pilates class that I had already paid for and Andy was still in my possession.  I will not keep a running tally of how much this day cost me because you don't even want to know.

I decided we were going to make the absolute best of the situation so instead of being late for camp Amanda was on time and Andy and I went out for a nice breakfast together and then did some shopping at REI for some camping gear he needs for scout camp in a few weeks.

We were a few minutes late picking up Amanda (which was actually an early pick up but not as early as I had wanted) and then made okay time to the airport but had a small snaffu with parking.  There wasn't any.  All the lots were full except for one, so I got a ticket and started looking for a space.  Except we went up and down the aisles over and over again and couldn't find a spot.  At this point we were an hour and a half away from departure time and we still hadn't parked.  For some airports that isn't a big deal but for Denver International it is.  I detest that airport.  It takes forever to do anything there.  I started freaking out, may have screamed very loudly a few times to relieve the stress and finally decided we needed to go park in one of the offsite long term parking lots that would get us to the terminal faster than trying to find a spot in that lot.

When I went through the ticket booth I told the guy there weren't any spots and I wasn't paying my ticket and he informed me that I had been in there 12 minutes and owed him $3.  Twelve minutes I looked for a parking spot and couldn't find one and they were going to charge me for it.  I yelled at him, apologized because I knew it wasn't his fault but I was mad anyway and paid the stupid fare because he wasn't going to let me out of the lot otherwise.  I could have mailed in a protest but I needed a receipt and for $3 I didn't want to wait any longer.  Thankfully the driver at the offsite lot saw how frazzled I was and took us immediately to the gate and didn't make us drive around that lot forever.  I think in the time he got us there we still would have been driving around the first lot.

We found our way inside, got Andy's bag checked and found the shortest security line we could.  When we were 10 minutes away from boarding time we started asking people if they would let us go in front of them.  Everybody was really cool about it until we ran into someone who was only three minutes away from her boarding time and that kind of put a stop to our line jumping.  Luckily, and it's not often that I say luckily about a flight delay, Andy's flight got delayed another hour right after we passed the TSA agent so we could stop rushing.  Then we just had to wait.

He finally boarded around 3p and was in the air by 3:15.  Only 6 hours after he was initially supposed to leave.  I then went to pick up Sarah at her friend's house where she had been since they got home from camp.  Within five minutes of Amanda running off to play with Sarah and her friends both girls came back yelling that the other was lying and tattling on each other.  I should have just left right then, but told them instead to work it out or we would leave.  My wonderful friend, Theresa, invited us to stay for dinner which was awesome because I had nothing planned at all and it was getting late.  One of the few positives in the day.

So we stayed to eat and in the meantime my sister called to say she had picked up Andy and he was safe with her.  I think he landed about 15 minutes after I got to Theresa's house.  Man.  After dinner it started to thunder and lightening and it was getting late anyway so the girls and I went home.  They were both scared so I told them they could sleep with me tonight until they started fighting again and I just lost it.  I cannot tell you how tired I am of them fighting.  It used to be rare but now it's all the time and Sarah just gets mean and doesn't know how to be the older, more mature person so it gets nasty.

I'm so done, and I told them so.  Some of it they heard, some of it they ignored, some of it will probably scar them for life.  Not my finest hour, but I just couldn't handle another thing today and there was no relief in site.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  For now I'm happy to know that Andy is safe and happy and is about to go on the trip of a lifetime.

And the girls are finally asleep.

Kid Quote of the Day

"I wish unicorns were real so we could buy one.  Then we could eat it's poop."

- Amanda, who really just wanted some candy for breakfast.

The Birthday Extravaganza

Over the weekend I took Sarah to Dallas for her birthday.  Yes, her birthday was last month and yes, she did have a little party, but her main "gift" or "party" was to go to Dallas and go to the water park with her friend Natalie.  I took that to mean she wanted to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge, so that's what we did.

We left Friday morning and were picked up by Natalie's mom, Larisa, and went to play and have lunch with one of my old friends Ellie.  It was so great to catch up with them both.  It was like nothing had ever changed and our kids didn't go to different schools and we didn't live a million miles away.  The three of us have been friends since Andy was in Kindergarten (the two of them even longer) and I cannot begin to tell you how much I love hanging out with them.  They don't judge and they just get me.

Unfortunately all good things have to come to an end so after we said good-bye to Ellie we got shaved ice at the most amazing shaved ice place ever that believe it or not is run out of a gas station.  I promised Sarah we would go back at least one more time over the weekend and she is still mad at me that we never had time for a second visit.

We got the girls home and somewhat settled with Larisa's husband and we set out for dinner with a few more friends and then to my friend Jenny's new house.  Overall the evening was wonderful.  Friends, food, drinks and catching up with people I haven't seen in about a year.

On Saturday we moved kind of slowly in the morning but finally made it to the hotel.  I got a room with a bunk bed for the girls and they loved it.  Larisa and I loved it because there was a wall between them and us, haha.  It didn't matter though because we were all so exhausted that we didn't go to bed much later than the girls.

The water park part of the hotel was pretty amazing.  There were several slides and pools, a wave pool and a lazy river.  The girls loved the lazy river and spent a lot of time in there, especially after they saw some guys totally lounging down the river on an inner tube and wanted to reproduce his pose.  Unfortunately Sarah was about an inch too short to go on a few of the rides and the other big ones required her to ride with adult.  You know what that means?  I had to get wet.  I hate getting wet, but I wasn't going to let her down on her birthday trip so I sucked it up and got wet, really wet.  And I went backwards down a huge water slide and almost lost my lunch, all in the name of love for my little girl.

On Sunday we let the girls sleep in a little bit and then went back to the water park for a few more hours before we got to meet my super fun friend, Melanie, and her family for lunch and then head to the airport.  It was a whirlwind of a weekend but I am so glad we got to go.  Even though it was Sarah's weekend it was pretty much a present for me too!

Kid Quote of the Day

"Look kids, corn!  Look kids, more corn!  Look kids, EVEN MORE CORN!"

- Andy, Sarah and Amanda, mocking us as we drove through Nebraska to Mount Rushmore

Picture of the Day

Carhenge

Mount Rushmore at dusk

Baby Bears at Bear Country

A First for Everything

Over Memorial Day weekend we took our first ever driving vacation as a family.  I mean a thought out, planned, we're going to drive more than four hours to get somewhere driving vacation.  Charlie doesn't really like to drive very much, but since we don't have flight benefits anymore and we have to be a little more selective where we fly, driving it is.

It's not like we've never driven anywhere.  We drove from Dallas to Denver (although we both swear we never want to do that again) and we have done Dallas to Austin or San Antonio because it would often take the same amount of time to get to the airport, get checked in, wait on the plane and fly as it would to just do the drive.  I also did back and forth between Detroit and Chicago with the kids last summer, but we've never actually picked a vacation destination with the sole intent to get there by car.

It was just a three day weekend and we didn't go that far.  Mount Rushmore, a seven to eight hour drive.  Remember we were going to go there over Labor Day weekend except that it was closed due to the government shutdown?  I know a lot of people have already forgotten about that shutdown, but not me because it ruined my vacation plans.  Don't mess with my vacations.  So we left on Friday night and drove about three to four hours and then got up the next morning and drove some more.  It really wasn't bad.  Kind of boring, but not bad.

We stopped somewhere in Nebraska to see Carhenge, a little version of Stonehenge made out of cars.  It was cute and a good place to stretch our legs.  It was kind of lost on the kids but they thought it was cool anyway.  We made it to our hotel near Mount Rushmore in the late afternoon so got unpacked, had a s'more on the fire pit in the back (the kids did, Charlie and I passed) and then went to see the night lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore.

The next day we were going to do alpine sledding and miniature golf after we went to "Bear Country" and made our way through the drive through zoo with lots of bears and other wildlife, but there was a torrential downpour that prevented all that fun.  Instead we just went back to Mount Rushmore to check out the exhibit hall and find out a little more about it and then headed home.

Not really a rip roaring vacation, but somewhere we wanted to go and now we don't need to go back for a very long time.  My parents took me when I was a kid but I was pretty small and it was definitely different than I remember.  That could be due to renovations or it could just be that my memory stinks and I have no idea what I saw when I was that little.  I don't know that we will be doing another driving vacation soon, but at least we know we can handle it and there's some pretty interesting, random stuff out there to see.

And Then I Turned 42

With the craziness of everything May, I failed to mention that my birthday was last month.  I guess that's what happens when you only post about three times during the month.  Anyway, it wasn't a big deal as it was on a weekday and Charlie was out of town (he got home with about an hour to spare) and I don't really make much of a big deal about my birthday anymore.  Of course I bought myself a couple nice gifts like some new running shoes, but I don't need a lot of hoopla.  In fact, Charlie and I were having a conversation a couple weeks ago about whether we need to start doing more for our birthdays and Mother's/Father's Day not for our benefit but so the kids knew that we are people too and need to be celebrated just as much as they do.  I know, waste of time.

So I treated myself to a pedicure and a massage that morning (I had just run a 1/2 marathon two days before so they were both mostly because of that but my birthday was a good back-up excuse) and then for dinner I ran to the grocery store for a rotisserie chicken and a cake, yippee!  Nothing too exciting, but a celebration nonetheless and I didn't have to cook.

The girls were sweet and gave me little wooden boxes that they decorated for me to put my rings in, even though I never take them off, and Andy remembered at the end of the day to give me a card that the girls had signed that Charlie had left with him to give me.  I just kind of laughed at how Andy had blown off my birthday because he is 11 and is getting a little spacey with the increase in hormones lately, until he showed me a video he made me on his iPad.  It is a little redundant, but extremely sweet and thoughtful and nice to watch after a very long day with the kids.  When I see this I know that I'm not as bad of a mom as I think I am and although there is definitely room for improvement I must be doing a few things right.

Like Mother Like Daughter

I got the following email from my mom the day after I wrote that post about taking the kids to the dentist:

"I just finished reading your blog about the kids' dental appointment, and I have to tell you--the first time you went to the dentist's office you had cavities!  Yes, you were probably 3 or 4, and you got too many snacks, too, including your secret activity of finding the other kids' Halloween candy in their pillows and eating it at will without their knowledge!

Maybe Amanda takes after you.  Do you think?"

Well played, Mom, well played.

A Handful of Cavities

I have so many stories to tell that I just haven't written down.  So many stories for your listening reading pleasure.  The last few weeks have been a blur and so I've been writing topics down but never quite making it to the computer to type them up.  Suffice it to say after the Muffins event I was completely worn out and then I planned Sarah's birthday party and did a 1/2 marathon in the same weekend and I think it has taken me the last two weeks to finally catch up and be me again.  It's probably better that I didn't write anything down because it wouldn't have made any sense and you would have been like, what?

So a couple weeks ago I took the kids to the dentist.  Overall they like going to the dentist.  I take them to a pediatric dentist so they have video games in the waiting room and they get to watch movies while they are having their teeth cleaned and they get to wear cool sunglasses so the light doesn't bother their eyes and they get all these horribly cheap but wonderful in their eyes toys to pick from when they leave.  All I ever got was the scariest hygienist EVER who made my teeth hurt for at least three days because she scraped them so hard and for so long and then a very cheap metal ring that probably turned my fingers green.  No wonder going to the dentist when I was a kid was such a terrorizing experience (Mom, you know it's true!).

Sarah was mad that I pulled the kids out of school because she was missing an ice cream party that I knew nothing about and Andy was so happy that he was waiting in the office when I got there.  Amanda was just excited she was included.  Sarah hates to miss school anyway but the missing the ice cream party was icing on the cake.  Which means that I ended up taking the kids out for ice cream after their appointment because otherwise I would have never heard the end of it and I just couldn't put up with that on that particular day especially since Charlie was out of town and wouldn't have to join in the misery of listening to how horrible I was.

Once we arrived to the office and got settled everything was going great until we got to the part when you talk to the dentist.  You know, they see the hygienist first and she tells them what a fantastic job they do brushing and just gushes about how wonderful they are and gives them fancy new tooth brushes and floss and then the dentist comes in and makes you feel like crap for not making them brush six times a day.

Basically, Andy looks good but has a few teeth growing in a little weird so we need to go get a second opinion from the orthodontist over the summer.  Which reminds me, I still need to set up those appointments.  Yes, I said those.  The dentist wants me to see two orthodontists that have differing approaches to see which I like better.  I get it, but all those appointments, free consultations or not, just bog me down and not make me want to do it.  Hence the reason I still haven't called and made them (besides the fact that my days have flown by since said appointment).  Sarah's teeth look amazing.  No cavities, straight as can be, perfect.  Which is great for her because she needs a win and deserves to be better than the other two at something.  She kept asking me over and over again who had the best teeth just because she likes to hear she's best at something.  Amanda, she was another story.

The kid is only four.  She has had two cavities between her top two teeth for over six months and I keep asking them if they can postpone filling them because they are going to fall out soon anyway.  That one they continue to agree on and we just brush the crap out of them.  But this time the rest of her mouth was not so lucky.  She had two that were between two of her back teeth that need to be fixed right away (because those teeth won't fall out until she's at least 10) and two more that are forming between two other teeth.  Believe me, it is never a good thing when the dentist says your child has a "handful" of cavities.  At four!  Could it be because all she ever wants to eat is fruit snacks and candy.  Probably.  But I did ask if it was a brushing issue and they said it was all about flossing.  Yeah, we never used to floss her teeth.  We do now.  Ugh!

I have a feeling after she gets those fillings that it may be a little easier to keep her off the candy.  You know, that stuff causes cavities.  If my hunch is correct that will only benefit me when I take her to her well visit so they don't yell at me for her diet as well.  I swear that kids gets me in more trouble.

In conclusion, Sarah - positive, Andy - neutral, Amanda - in the negative.  Not that we're keeping score or anything, but that would make life a little more interesting right now - as if I needed that!

Picture of the Day

A few pictures from Sarah's actual birthday.

And Then She Was 8

As I mentioned in a previous post, Sarah's birthday was on Mother's Day this year.  As we have the last several years, I offered to throw her a birthday party or take her on a trip.  She chose a trip to Dallas to go to the indoor water park at Great Wolf Lodge.  I just booked the hotel and we will be going in a couple of weeks.

As I also have done, I still let her have a little birthday party.  For some reason the kids don't think their birthday has really passed if they get presents and a cake but don't get to share it with someone outside of the family.  So on her actual birthday we invited a friend and her family to come over and have burgers, hot dogs and cake, and then I also let her have a small party with only five friends this weekend.  She didn't want to do it on her birthday weekend because she didn't want it to interfere with anybody's Mother's Day plans, so we decided to do it the weekend after.

She invited five girls from her class from school to go paint pottery and then come over to our house for pizza and cake.  The girls she invited are all very nice, sweet girls that I would be perfectly happy if she stayed friends with them until she graduated high school.  A few of them especially are always making sure Sarah is okay when she looks sad and putting their arms around her to comfort her when she is in a foul mood.  Just nice girls, which in a world of mean girls is getting harder and harder to come by.

I am so glad there were only five of them because I don't think I could have handled anymore.  I don't know how people let their daughters have big sleepover parties in their basements because I could barely handle of few of them in my kitchen and back yard for an hour or two.  Luckily my friend, Theresa, one of the girl's moms, came with me to the pottery place and helped keep everybody on track and take pictures.

Although it was small I think Sarah had a great time and really enjoyed everybody's company.  She is really looking forward to our trip to Dallas, but was happy to celebrate her special day here as well.  The only downside to the whole day was that Theresa's daughter, Kelly, broke her wrist when she slipped of the trapeze bar on our playset.  It was at the end of the party and everybody else had gone home.  Sarah felt so bad that today she made Kelly a card and we stopped after Andy's baseball game and Sarah and Amanda each picked out a stuffed animal for her and we took it over to her house.  She seemed to be doing pretty well, I hope it stays that way.

It's hard for me to believe that Sarah is eight.  She definitely has the attitude, but still seems like my little girl.  In some ways she is still little, I took her in for her well visit this week and she was only in the 7th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight.  That means that 93% of the kids her age are taller than her and 75% weigh more than her.  At this age it's not too noticeable, but if the trend continues in the next few years we will see a difference.  For now I'm just trying to deal with the little girls who isn't acting so little anymore.

Muffins, Muffins and More Muffins

When Andy started public school I avoided the PTO like the plague.  I wanted nothing to do with it.  I was happy to help whenever asked and volunteer for different jobs around the school, bring things needed in the classrooms for the teachers and even split the job of room mom one year, but was never, ever going to join the PTO.

I would have been perfectly happy with my elementary school career if we had continued like that, but then we moved.  Nothing wrong with moving, but all the friends I first met when we moved here were very active in the PTO.  We have over 600 kids in our school and there are only about 10 people on the PTO and I happened to make friends with all of them.  Okay, one or two, but that was enough.  So, I started feeling like I needed to get involved and go to the meetings and here I am, a member of the PTO.  Just one of many reasons you should never say never.

Anyway, I was a pretty low key member and couldn't even make it to most meetings because they were at the same time we have a Spanish tutor come to the house for the kids, until the PTO President, who is also one of the moms in Sarah's Brownie Troop, asked me if I would head up "Muffins With Mom".  I had already told her I wouldn't be in charge of some other event, so I felt guilty and said yes.

Muffins With Mom is something that we do the Friday before Mother's Day.  The kids come in before school with their mom and have muffins, coffee, juice and a little fruit.  There's a tiny craft and it's all put on by the PTO.  Apparently last year's event was a total disaster because they underestimated how many people would be there and ran out of muffins and people had to wait 45 minutes in the rain before they found out they wouldn't be getting a muffin.  Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.

So there was a little bit of pressure not to screw this one up and to do it right this year.  There were already people saying they weren't going to come and a handful of people cornered me asking what we were going to do differently to prevent a repeat of last year.  I'll tell you what we did.  We ordered the equivalent of 2000 muffins, split up the line so that people could get through it faster, lengthened the time of the event and had a kick ass craft for the kids to do after they ate their muffins.  I came up with a really cute paper flower craft for the kids to do so they could give it to their mom, but it was super labor intensive and I spent most of the week punching out paper flowers on my Sizzix machine.

It probably all would have worked out fine except that Charlie was gone the entire week on business and everything that could have possibly been scheduled on our calendar that week was as well as some things that never are on our calendar.  They say it takes a village to raise a child, and my village decreased exponentially when we moved.  Every single person in my new village was called upon last week so I could get everything done.

I ended up staying up until 2 a.m. every night and finally caught up on my sleep by this Tuesday.  I didn't even get to eat a muffin with my kids at the Muffins With Mom event, but I did get to see something wonderful.  I dragged the three kids out of bed at 6 a.m. on Friday so we could be to the school by 7 a.m., and all three of them pitched in and helped set up for the event.  Even Amanda.  They did not whine or complain and did what was asked and even asked how they could help.  They forfeited a lot of my time last week as I got ready and tried to prepare a craft for 400 kids (that was our estimate) and they didn't complain when several kids made seven or eight flowers and they got to make one.  I was so, so proud of them.

In the end we had a lot of muffins left over, but everybody said the event was a huge success and I think most of the bad feelings from the year before are gone.  Plus, if I need to do it again next year it will be a ton easier because I know exactly what needs to be done.  I'm still not super gung ho about being involved with the PTO, but at least now I know I can survive when called upon.

Mother's Day

Every few years Sarah's birthday falls on Mother's Day.  This year was one of them.  She figured out months ago that her birthday was the same as Mother's Day and she was really excited about it.  Until a few days ago, when she realized that sharing the day with me meant that it wasn't all about her.  Except that she was wrong.  Well, mostly wrong.

The kids did give me some lovely cards and crafts that they made in school, except for Andy who gave me some lame excuse about accidentally throwing a poem away and then not rewriting it (totally the dog ate my homework excuse) which really was fine for an 11 year old boy.  Charlie made me an awesome breakfast and that was about it.  Which is fine, really.  We don't really celebrate ourselves that much.  We go all out for the kids, but we are pretty low key when it comes to Mother's/Father's Day, our birthdays, our anniversary, and anything else.  In fact last week we were wondering if we should actually make a bigger deal about things so the kids realize that it is important to celebrate us.

Anyway, when I became a mom and had Andy I pretty much realized that I wasn't going to come first anymore and it was rarely going to be about me.  But that's okay, that's what motherhood is.  That's why we do this.  If it was about me I probably would have given up and left a long time ago.  Because this is the hardest job I will ever do, want it or not.  There are mornings like today when the kids are sweet and wonderful and tell me how much they love me and give me big hugs and there are evenings like today when Amanda was screaming through her bath and telling me she didn't want me to give it to her she wanted Daddy.  And there are days when your kid tells you they want it all to be about them no matter how much it should be about you as well.

I'm not whining or complaining or really making myself clear at all, I'm just saying today was exactly what it should have been.  A day I spent with my sweet little girl who is growing up so fast and was a little bit angry that it snowed on her birthday but still had a wonderful day with friends and family and a big pink cake.  Because if it hadn't been spent that way, then I wouldn't be much of a mother, would I?  Isn't that what this day is all about?

Happy Mother's Day to my mother, mother-in-law, sister, sisters-in-law, friends and anyone else who had shaped me into the mother I am today.  I love you all more than you know!