76 Trombones

OK, not really 76. Last night was pick a band instrument night and S picked the trombone of all things. The mind boggles at what that practice will sound like. When E began the sax we sent her to the garage. I expected geese to fly in from Canada to answer her call.

Today the weather was great! The children look like they've been rolled in soot. I guess that's the sign of a good time. It is supposed to thunderstorm tonight though. Next week is Spring break. I'm hoping for at least a couple nice days.

I'll close this with a little mommy brag. If you can't brag on your blog where can you? E, S and C all made honor roll. E and C had all A's. Amazing! Are these my children??? Maybe my genetically programmed underachiever is still not in school.

Happy Birthday Fetch!

Today I'm 4!!! And my mom made a race track cake!

F is my sweetheart. He is in EVERYTHING! A motion machine, but he grins and giggles and frankly gets away with it. The neighbor calls him Dennis the Menace... that pretty much sums him up. He spend quite alot of time in his chair at pre-school but... how can you resist that smile?

Easter was fun. Saturday I took the kids to the town Easter egg hunt, they got baskets yesterday morning. (note to self... do not start traditions like the Easter basket scavenger hunt, the kids will expect it every year), we went to church, hunted eggs in our yard after lunch and then had my dad and his wife over for birthday cake in the afternoon. It was gray but not too rainy so we squeezed in a bike ride.

It was discovered that Mel has a strong affinity (read can eat a half a bag) of marshmallow quacks.

As a Mother

I've really been debating whether to broach this topic. It seems to be everywhere in blogland though, so I might as well stick my toe in the water too. If my baby was ill, irrevocably ill, I would fight to my last breath. I would chew glass for my children. While people debate fine points of law, a woman is dying and her parents' hearts are breaking. The heartbreak of teminal illness (been there) or freak accident (only brushed by that one) is one thing, but to have something preventable done to your child would literally drive me mad. I'm afraid grace would be non-existent and I truly (and I mean truly) might become homicidal. And yes, I do see the irony there. I admit my views on this are based on my own desires. I would want to be kept around. I'm worried about living in a time where someone else's sufferring is an interesting tidbit on the news or a matter of what would be convenient or "cost-effective". So there you have it, my opinion for what it's worth. I'll be praying for her and her parents. I'm shutting off comments on this one, I'm sure I wouldn't change any minds and mine won't be changed either.

Catching Up (on sleep for some)

Gee, do you see a pattern here?



What else has been going on? S had his last basketball game yesterday. They won by one basket so a good end to the season. I cleaned up Mel's high chair and put it away (sniff). She's been sitting at the table and hasn't crawled around in the food or anything so there's no reason to keep it out. I've made three trips to the orthodontist since Friday. One trip to take off something, a trip yesterday to have all new brackets put on and a trip today because a bunch of the brackets they put on popped off about two hours after they glued them on. Grrrr! I let the kids be rowdy this morning hoping they'd be so sick of us they'd do a good job. I still need to get something ready for Easter and F's birthday but my shopping time was taken up by ortho appointments. I need to make lentil soup for E to take to school tomorrow too. It's part of a big project on middle eastern countries. I asked why she couldn't have chosen cucumber salad or something but nooooo.... Something tells me the chip and mountain dew kids in her class are going to leave lots of leftovers for our dinner tomorrow.

Pictures

It used to be you could only bore the neighbors or relatives with pictures of your kids, but now I can bore the world. {insert evil laugh}
Yesterday we went to the children's museum with the youngest three
Here is a picture of wholesome midwestern living

The farmer's daughter

And a child that could single handedly light a city with his energy


I'll also include a picture of S in his basketball uniform. He is with my dad and my brother is standing behind.

We're definitely encouraging him to study since the sport scholarship won't be working out.

Kitchen Or In My Own Little Corner In My Own Little Room

Only if your kitchen looked like this


can you appreciate when it looks like this.


The floor guys kept telling me how hard it was to put down the subfloor because the origanl floor is so old and wavy. Duh!!! That's why I hired THEM. The original part of our house is an old farmhouse onto which people have added and "improved". It therefore does not have an architectural style. When we moved in there was a decidedly '70's feel. Dh is not going to drywall the ceilings so I am stuck with that ugly ceiling tile but things are improving. Purple shag and panelling in the downstairs bedroom -gone. Paneling, homemade bar and kitchen carpet in the kitchen-gone. Added on backporch -gone. Now to rip up the green shag in the family/living room. I can't get in too big of a hurry though because it is a huge room and the cost of new wood flooring in there will most likely require another tax check or the selling of a child ;-). At least we don't have a weasel (though the neighbor has a skunk. Apparently it is the season to look for skunky love!)

Plugging Along

The pounding, grunting, mumbled oaths and general griping from the kitchen make me glad we are paying to have the subfloor put in our kitchen which is neither plumb nor square. Dh and I have put down subfloor before. Let me put it this way, flooring is cheaper than a divorce lawyer. Hopefully they will finish the subfloor and vinyl tomorrow. Then our kitchen will no longer appear condemned.

DD is still sick with the flu. Her temp has hovered between 101 and 102 except for a thrilling interlude at 104.8. I am going to try to get her homework and if she's feeling better this weekend she can do it so she doesn't get behind. She is such a grade-a-holic that she'll stew and worry about it if I don't get it.

Tonight is kindergarten family night. This is basically a pitch in with a craft. Not really my idea of fun but L wants to go. I have saved calories today because the chance of finding something low calorie there is nil to none. I have managed to lose 2 pounds so far. If I could keep up that rate I'd be gorgeous (tic) by June, or at least not a bloated horror. Unfortunately there isn't much I can do about my pasty complexion so I'm just going for presentable.

Will It Never End?

We came home from S's basketball game( they won, GO REBELS) about 6. I was surpised not to see E out playing ball with her friends. She had a Battle of the Books match but she was supposed to be home about 5:30. I found her lying on the couch. Her temp is 103.1. We are usually pretty healthy, but it seems everyone is getting sick one at a time around here. This means it takes 6-8 weeks to get everyone better. *sigh* I will also probably have to fight to keep her home tomorrow. She has one more Battle of the Books match and I know she'll want to go. If my other children were half as over-achieving as she is we could set the world on fire. Ah well, variety is the spice of life {she says hanging her decidedly under-achieving head}.

Questions

I seem to be thinking in lists lately. Here are just some things I'm wondering on this cold, drizzly (soon to be sleety no doubt) evening.

1) If all the neighborhood boys come to get your dd to play basketball, does that mean she's just 'one of the guys' or something else? This could be troubling either way.

2) Why are some adults such sticks in the mud. If you were a cub scout wouldn't you rather hoot and holler and run and be generally boisterous or sit quietly at tables. Heck, I know which I like better.

3) How did I end up with just 2 pair of jeans and three shirts in my closet? I need to go shopping (yuck, which probably explains the state of my closet). Do they have personal shoppers for the extrememly casual type?

4) Why do children who are feverish and pukish all day perk right up at bed time?

Things I'm Growing To Hate (in no special order)

1. Vegetables

2. People who order cake, take two bites, and push it away feeling full.

3. My twitching palms which long to reach out to said cake.

4. Water

5. Water

6. Water

7. Tendonitis which makes shooting a basketball or dribbling left handed HURT. So much for exercise

8. Snow

9. Ice and Snow

10. Ivanhoe (which oldest dd is reading for Battle of the Books, or should I say we are reading. Nothing like that expectant look that says "What did that mean?") Time to introduce her to the time honored custom of Cliff Notes. * if you're a literature snob, please don't comment*

Happy Birthday Honey

Today is dh's birthday!

FIVE THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT DH!
1. He goes to work everyday, even though he doesn't like his job.
2. He appreciates what I do here for the kids and to keep things running.
3. He has total confidence in my smarts and abilities.
4. He does nice stuff just because, not for specific reasons.
5. He totally gets we are two very different people.

He has to go to work so not much partying planned. I'll make him an apple crisp insstead of a cake because he likes it better. I was going to take him out for a latte this morning, but our *&#%$ school system cancelled school today. It's not that bad and now the kids will have to go until June 2 :-(.