Summer Fun

On Monday we played!
A little food dye and cornstarch!

Proud of his muscles

The Princess on her throne


Unfortunately Tuesday and this morning I had a bad headache so hopefully they had enough fun to make it through to tomorrow.

Any Joys?

During joys and concerns at church 6yo dd held up her hand. Her joy?
L- "My brothers are going to be gone at camp all week!"
Minister- "Is that your joy?"
L- "Well duh!"

Ah, so eloquent my daughter.

Hmmm

This is the part where I'm supposed to make some dazzling or witty entry. (taps foot waiting for inspiration) { Well, we had to replace the motherboard on my washer. I hated spending $200 freaking dollars!!! but the hand wringing each load was getting tiresome. I set the boys to the task and they tied the sheets to a limb and took turns twisting. A great plan except for those *$%@ dirt stains on the one end. I had my garage sale, gave away everything that didn't sell and still have far too much stuff. I need to pick up dd from camp tonight and then deliver C and S to camp next week. And school starts in 3 weeks Wah! Wah! Wah! I hate school.} (Gives up tapping foot and admits there is nothing witty or dazzling here.)

Boooorrrriiinnngg

It never fails to amaze me how a whole chunk of the day can be wasted doing stupid errands. I left home this morning about 9:00 and drove 40 miles to retrieve dd's saxaphone. I took it in to be cleaned, etc in prep for the coming year. (Oh goody, more saxaphone concerts.) We went on to the kids' clothing resale shop where I sold some stuff and bought some shoes, a lunch bag and a dress so L would have at least one. I had taken the older boys with me and we drove cross town to a trade/sell video store. I know how they feel when they are shopping with me now. I find the whole gaming thing dull, dull, dull. They made their trades. We then drove back to our nearer town to get ds an actual hair cut. I've always cut the kids' hair, but since he's entering middle school he thought a style that doesn't rely on his constant movement to look even would be a good idea. I then had to go to the bank to cash in change (especially since I had just been all these places). An entire four hours wasted, when I could have been reading more of my book, wah!!!

Feeling hot, hot , hot!

Like the rest of the country, we are suffering from a heat wave. Yesterday the heat index was 106. Personally, I think once it's past 95 they ought to just say it's hot as h*ll and leave it at that. This morning (before it got hot, lol) I took the kids and did some errands. As a treat (for them, certainly not for me) we stopped last at the 4-H fair. This is a really rural fair, there are no rides or carnival games. We admired chicks, and pigs and goats and starter calves. Except for a slight bought of fistcuffs near the giant cabbage display, we made it out drenched in sweat but alive. We stopped at the dairy stand and I bought chocolate milkshakes for all. Mel is still clutching the cup, hoping it will somehow refill by magic. I'm off to soak in my bathwater temp pool now.

Whew!

I realize it is of no import to anyone but a mother but E recieved 8 blue ribbons (two with special merit) and 1 red (judge did not care for her use of color on her trash can). She was disappointed because she likes perfection, but I told her that a different judge on a different day might have felt differently so....MOVE ON! LOL! I took her back to church camp today. She has been asked to be a Jr. Counselor for a young girl with Down's who will be attending camp. I felt like that was quite and honor to have people place faith in her abilities.... even if she can't cover a trash can.

Blog Junk Food

Judging all day Tuesday and today so all you get is a pre-packaged blog entry :-P

You are dependable, popular, and observant. Deep and thoughtful, you are prone to moodiness. In fact, your emotions tend to influence everything you do. You are unique, creative, and expressive. You don't mind waving your freak flag every once and a while. And lucky for you, most people find your weird ways charming!

The World's Shortest Personality Test

4-H

Where have I been? In a whirling vortex of pain known as 4-H. I bet you didn't know one of those H's was for h*ll. Ok, maybe it's not that bad. I don't even have to do the projects per se, it's just there's always something more to help with or buy that we forgot. This week we covered a trash can and bulletin board, I helped her learn to make french knots, I got matting and framed a painting, bought more potting soil and decorated her flower box so she could repot her flowers, proofread a book report and bought scrapbooking stuff to make the reading bulletin board, and a bunch of other things. Oh, and sat through her making four batches of yeast rolls, to get six perfect ones. During one of the hottest, humidest stretches of summer. Why did I get blessed with a perfectionist?

What else? The air could be cut with a knife, baseball finally creaked to an end, attended a chess tournament (rather like watching paint dry), and began rooting through everyone's belongings to organize for a rummage sale. In black and white that is even a more pathetic use of time than it seemed as it crawled by. This coming week is 4-H judging so that will fill many hours with scintillating copy for the ol' blog. On the bright side, we refused to allow them to do farm animals, meaning I do not have to live at the stinking (literally) hot fairgrounds all week.

What If?

This is sort of an old piece, but it really tickled me.
If Men Could Breastfeed

Is There A Market For That?

Heard from the cheap seats...
11yo-"I'm going to be a veterinarian."
9yo - "I'm going to be a math professor at Harvard."
4yo - "I'm going to be a dragon."

No, silly, where are you going to work?

4yo - "At a castle, where else?"

Home

Neither heat nor headache nor 6 mile traffic jam will keep this mom from picking up her kid from camp.

So Much For Relaxing

Yesterday was slated to be a quiet day, but you know how that goes. Dh's sister and BIL and niece stopped in on their way home to MI. It was good to see them. I then had to run to town for some things resulting in it suddenly being 12:30. I quickly packed for dd and we left at 2:00 for her camp. She was fine with me leaving. In fact her words as I tried to kiss her were "yeah, yeah, you can go now." We got home at 5:00, I threw food at people and we made it to the ball park by 5:30. E played at 6:00 in the championship game and they won! Woo hoo! Now, as dh says, we have a $.50 cent trophy instead of the usual $.25 one. Ds played at 8:00. They were in the losers bracket but managed to pull out their second win of the season that night, so he plays again on Monday. I'm not sure how L's t-ball team did. I can't say I missed trying to squeeze in a third game at a second park. I guess I'll call her coach when she gets home to see if she's still playing. After all the baseball fun, dh decided to tear up the subfloor in the bathroom, so we are down to one bathroom again for who knows how long. And I was just getting used to being a two bathroom family, darn it!

In Bullet Points

* the festival was very fun, including too much noise, grease, noise, fun, noise, activity

* the wedding was beautiful but 19 seems very, very young

* the town fireworks were traditional, down to L sitting in the van screaming during the whole show

* we played, swam and ate on the 4th, none of which I have pics of because the *&%#$@ batteries died

* I knew it wasn't safe to let the kids have fireworks, but I am having serious doubts about dh too

* tomorrow my 6yo leaves for church camp, how come she is fine with being dropped 2 hours from home where she doesn't
know a soul, and I am the one who's feeling iffy about it?

Independence Day

Click here to read The Declaration of Independence.

A Fabulous Festival

This weekend is our little town's summer festival. It will feel even more like Mayberry than ever. Today there are all kinds of rummage sales, and the used book sale at the library (my personal favorite event.) This evening is the parade. Three of the kids are in it this year with their ball teams. Ball teams, chuches, 4-H, girl scouts, boy scouts, lot of tractors, the bank will all be there along with bands. I could be riding on the church float but decided to sit on the sidelines and let the little two collect candy. I just enjoy seeing them react. Parades are still a novelty to them. After the parade there will be a concert but my family and I will buy elephant ears and stand around visiting with friends. Saturday is full of events (oreo stacking, pedal tractor pull, family fued, etc.) We, however, will be attending a wedding in the afternoon. Let's see, Saturday night there is a rodeo. Sunday is a town wide church service, a demolition derby and fireworks. I should be quite thoroughly exhausted by Sunday night.

Summer Complaint

Gee, if it's 90 degrees, wouldn't it be great to have a 101 degree toddler clinging to you. Just for variety the toddler could periodically vomit on you so you can take a cooling shower. When that palls the effluvia could come from the other end. Yes, that would be fun!

Our Very Own

Our very own metro-sexual here. Notice the jazzy juxtaposition of tutu and Power Ranger undies (worn backward so he can see the picture)

Our very own bookends

Our very own reasons for buying a pool.

Home and Hot

Yesterday dd E came home from camp. She had a wonderful time, even though we didn't get home until about 10pm. It was hot yesterday and today it is 99 F if the bank is to be believed. It sure feels like it. I did have to take dd L to t-ball practice this morning and to a birthday party this afternoon. Other than that I've either been in the pool (though I'm afraid it looks like Shamu in a bathtub) or sitting in the lawn chair with my feet in the wading pool while Mel plays. I went to the Farmer's market this morning and bought strawberries. That and some biscuits in the freezer can combine with whipped cream for shortcakes for dinner. It's just too hot to cook.

Oh Yeah!

Hey, go make yourself feel better with this quiz. Of course it's not true, but since I walk into rooms with no idea why I went there, it stroked my ego.

Your IQ Is 140

Your Logical Intelligence is Genius Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius Your General Knowledge is Genius

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Getting My Head Around It

Sometimes there is a synchronicity to thoughts and conversations that come your way. I was looking at 20mo old dd today. Aside from thinking she is one of the cutest kids on earth, I was thinking how much I love this stage. You can almost see the wheels whirling in their brain. I realized when my oldest was this age her brother had been born, and by the time he reached this age my next ds had arrived. The feeling of my stomach dropping away accompanied the thought that there probably won't be any more 20mo olds. That makes me unbearably sad. I then encountered two people today who wanted to gleefully regale me with stories of their tubal ligations. (Why they should want to talk about that I don't know.) I'm feeling grief over a lack of babies and they are celebrating the end of that season of life. Now please, don't leave me snarky comments about how I should be so grateful for the ones I have, I've got my share, yada, yada. I know that and I agree, but... kids are like chocolate, just because you've had some it doesn't mean you don't want more.

Summer in Pictures

Swimming

Sunning

A Little Sandbox Time with a Cool Drink

Some Playhouse Time

A Version of a Summer Cottage

Our Sister Has Left The Building

Today was taken up with delivering E to church camp. She was thrilled to go and a cry of joy came up from her brothers that she will be gone this week. Ah, familial affection. Dh and I agreed we'd really like a week at camp for ourselves. All meals prepared, swimming and games provided, a mandatory quiet half hour at noon, and the evening finished each night with loud music, singing and dancing. Where do I sign up? Instead I'll be slogging off to help with Bible School for three hours every morning, and where am I assigned? The nursery of course. Am I really the only woman in town who likes babies and toddlers?

Chernobyl

I was hoping to post about our trips to the park this week, or getting ice cream, or the fact that the weather has been beautiful, but mostly all I can think of is my 6yo dd's meltdowns this week- nuclear, China Syndrome, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island melt downs. For no apparent reason. Five of them this week. At the rate she's going it'll be October before she swims or comes near electronics again. OK, maybe not October, but a good long while. Maybe I should rethink that corporal punishment stance? Actually, I'm sure that wouldn't help either. I've talked to her and wracked my brain, and I can't come up with any reason for her behavior. Of course there's always that little voice in the back of my head suggesting, perhaps, she'd be an angel with a better mother. Do they inject you with guilt inducing drugs when you give birth?

Play Ball

Two ball games tonight. Here is C at bat, as close as I could get .

This is L at bat in t-ball.

This is L after the game. She hit a homerun, though that is probably more a function of the other team's fielding than it is her hitting ability.

Family Reunion

We went to my father's family reunion today. He did not attend since he is currently embroiled in yet another family feud. (This is not a game show, but a pass time indulged in by family members, wherein at least two if not more people, are not speaking to one another.) It was 90 degrees, then it rained and was a temperate 88 degrees and even more humid. I did see lots of cousins who all told me I'm holding up well (huh?), and the best part of the day was watching my kids climb the same magnolia tree I climbed as a kid at "the folks' place' ie. my grandparents' farm.

Committment

I've been contemplating committment this week as have Chris
and
thicketdweller. 
My life seems to sometimes consist not of my committments but in steering my kids to become the kind of person who keeps THEIR committments. I seem to have succeeded, at least with the oldest three who are 13, 11 and 9. The younger three are works in progress. The one year old's only committment is to put her shoes away after all. I ask them if they need help or send them out the door and let them take it from there. I know some people think I push too much responsibility on my kids. I tend to think their children are whiny butts. It's all in your point of view I guess. I've been wondering if my esteem of responsibility and independence is a product of my having had older parents. My parents were children of the depression. My dad left home at 14 and my mom got a job and paid rent at 15. I left home at 18 and never went back. ( Ok, for a visit, but not to live.) Dear Lord, I don't want them living on my couch when they are 20. We'll have to see what happens. I really do think though, that making it to meetings and practices and places promised will at the worst not hurt them. Heck, it might even help. My committment is not to get them there, or see that they get everything done but to give them the skills to do it themselves. My committment is to let them know they are loved and that I would chew glass for them.

Yet

Is the pool ready yet? Is the pool ready yet? Is the pool ready yet? Is the pool ready yet?

Pool Party?

Well, I worked on the pool but it was no party. After suffering through a migraine Monday, interrupted frequently with pleas of "When are we setting up the pool?', I thought it would just be easier today to get it done. It's not an olympic in-ground but serves our needs nicely. I will say it provides alot of entertainment, I just wish we had a pool boy (preferably a bronzed, muscular pool boy) to take care of the darn thing.

It is only the third day without school and they've already taken bike rides, played tennis, bought too much candy, had involved water gun fights and woven clover jewelry. I wish they'd pace themselves. Maybe I can teach them to make margaritas, put on the Jimmy Buffett tunes and perhaps fan me with palm fronds.

Dance Recital

"Hey, my school turns into a dance club!" Words from my 4 year old ds. Last night was the girl's dance recital. It is held at the old elementary school in our town, now known as the Civic Center. His preschool is there, dance classes, and other stuff. I don't think it quite qualifies as a dance club though. No liquor, no mirror balls, no obnoxious pick ups, LOL. The girls did well and it is another thing we don't have to do this summer. Yesterday afternoon was also L's "blooming" from a Daisy to a Brownie scout. It made for a very full day.

Sisters


Former Daisy

A Hard Game's Night

Some days it's better to stay in bed, and tonight proved sometimes it would be better to keep a kid in bed. I dropped C off at his Little League game and took the girl's to dance recital practice. When I got back to the ball field, I was greeted by my bloody mouthed son with an ice bag. "Hey mom, I got hit with a throw." Uh, great? Second inning comes around, C bravely slides into third base, rips out his pants, and more blood flows down his leg. Uh, try that ice bag you've got. Fourth inning, C is batting, and gets hit really hard in the ribs with a pitch. It sounded sick, but what made it soooo much better was all the other parents asking me "Did you hear that?" Uh, YES! All the coaches and umps rushed over to him. I am proud to admit I stayed in my seat. He eventually shook it off. The best part, they didn't even win the game.

Last Day!!!

Today is the last day of school!! Woohoo! No more asking about projects, or forms, or lunches or did you bathe? Actually Friday was the last day of "school". I think they've been marking time and cleaning class rooms since then. E came home with a fistfull of awards yesterday. C also got a letter from his teacher telling him how amazing his math skills are and to keep figuring out new problems on his own. Who are these kids??? S at least continues my history of underachivement. "S has such potential, but...." LOL. Actually L's last day was yesterday. Kindergarten goes all day, every other day, here. I can't believe she'll be gone every day next year. What am I going to do all day with just two at home? Boring! Oh well, I have all summer with 7 kids (I babysit a friends daughter), that should make me look forward to school by August ;-).

This weekend will be a busy one anyway. L "blooms" up from a Daisy to a Brownie Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening the girls have their dance recital. ( I love dance, but the Moscow Ballet it isn't.) Friday evening they have recital practice and I think C has a Little League game. To celebrate tonight I'm making my "world famous" cinnamon rolls and calling it supper and they are sitting up tents in the back yard and sleeping outside.

On the renovation front, I finally planted flowers out front, sprayed all the weeds trying to retake our drive, waterproofed the deck, sanded the picnic table, and spent a small fortune at the grocery store to prepare for the locusts being home full time.

Happy Memorial Day

Memorial Day Pic--notice the patriotic hat


I have to confess, I'm some sort of manic/depressive housework/home improvement weirdo. I can go quite some time with no desire to do much here at home and then....I'm hit by some sort of frenzy and once I get started forward momentum pulls me along (at least for awhile, there's no perpetual motion afterall). Since Friday I've cleaned 4 rooms of carpet, took up a horrible carpet like substance from the upstairs hallway, painted three kids rooms, a desk and touched up all the spots where paint was chipped in the living room. I wish I knew what brought on these fits, then I could conjure one at will. I can literally go years between the desire to paint. I have now used up all the brushes, rollers and paint I had on hand so I'll have to be done awhile. I could, theoretically, still repaint the dining room (not that we dine there) and paint the outbuilding/playhouse. We'll see if I run down before I get to the store for more supplies.

Disappointment

E has been planning for 3 weeks to attend a sleepover birthday party tonight. It is one of her best friends and they were going to go to the movies and eat pizza and no doubt IM everyone they knew all night. Of course this would be the morning I found her asleep on the bathroom floor. She's throwing up and has a fever. She is disappointed she can't go (as only a 13yo can be disappointed) and I'm thinking.....three day weekend, stomach virus, six kids.....hey, this will be fun.

A Question?

So if you are one, and at the park you fall down and have blood all over your mouth, and you already have a black eye, and your mommy asks you if you've been in a bar fight....should you call CPS? The other mommies thought so.

For Six Kids My A**

So we went to the family class party Friday night. I got in the pool with my little kids because, well , they love to swim and it seemed heartless to just toss them in, since they can't swim and all. Now, I don't think I'm especially fun loving or anything, I just think the women in this town are BORING! Precisely one other mom and two dads got in the water. The rest sat on the bleachers, many making their little kids sit next to them, for an hour and a half. (No way would my kids sit there for an hour and a half.) And do you know the only thing they could find to talk about??? The size of my butt. I know this because not one, not two but three people told me how they all couldn't believe how good I looked for having ALL THOSE KIDS! Are they stupid? Bored? Really hard up for conversation? A bunch of nibby bitches?? You decide.

Baseball and Swimming and Pics, Oh My

This weekend should be tolerably entertaining. Tonight C's class is having an end of year party. We'll be swimming(inside) and grilling out. Most classes don't do this, but they have been together and had the same teacher for three years. They are all very attatched. I'm secretly sure the teacher will be thrilled to get a new group though. C and L have ball games. Saturday morning are ball pictures (which I don't buy but the other kids want group pics) and practice. That's pretty much it. Dh may take C and S to see the Star Wars movie. If it doesn't rain Sunday, I'd like to go hiking and have a "junknic". Coke, chips and cookies are too a meal!

Binge

No, not that kind! I've been on a book binge, thus the low blogging volume (also low houskeeping and cooking volume, but I digress.) I do this occasionally, I find a new author that I like, and then read everything I can get by said author. This time it's Lois Bujold books. It has been nice outside, so, I sit on the swing reading and let the kids play outside. Of course if they want to come in they have to wait until I'm done with my chapter. Yesterday, for some unknown reason, they made a pile of grass.

They then re-encated Little Boy Blue??

At least 4yo is healing and 11 yo is refraining from going around pointing and saying "A pox be upon you!"

The Chicken Pops

F, my 4yo, has the chicken pox, or chicken pops as he calls them.

L, who is 6, had them two weeks ago. Mel had the shot and got two little pox on her tummy and that was it.
I would just like to state that benadryl is a miracle drug. I'm not convinced it really stops itching or runny noses or anything else, but it does bring blissful slumber, and is so much more legal than forcing them to drink bourbon.

Easy Come, Easy Go( or how to go broke in one morning)

Pretty boring here. The weather has turned cold and rainy again. I went to the grocery store this morning -$94.00, gassed up $11.00, went to liquor store (trust me, this was necessary) $29.00, filled an Rx $10.00. $154.00-poof! I sent dh off to work to recoup our losses. What else has been going on? Tuesday we went to a minor league baseball game. The weather was still nice so it was fun. Yesterday it hailed, then turned humid. Maybe I'm not looking forward to summer after all. I also replaced screens in 4 windows. Grasshoppers insist on eating our screen, then when they make a hole my kids oblige them by making it bigger. I am now the queen of spline! I also bought some paint for ds's room. Now for it to warm up so I can open the windows and not pass out while I paint it. Tonight is dance practice, Friday is Cub Scouts and Saturday is a blur of baseball and dance performances at the local "arts festival". There will be elephant ears available though, hmm.....

Play Ball

Gee, do you think she's been to too many ball practices?


"Real" ball games start next week. L is playing T-ball, C is playing Little League and E is playing Sr. Girl's Softball. C's team is made up almost totally of 3rd graders. The league is 3-6 grade and his team is all 3rd except one 5th grader. It should be a really, really long year. E moved up to Sr. League this year, 7th -12th grade. She is half the size of the other girls. I hope no one slides into her. I guess I better get to the store this week and stock up on more antihistimines (allergies) and plenty of mosquito-be-gone.

It's Not Easy Being Green

As part of my ongoing field study of dirt, I would like to go on record as noting that neither soap nor alcohol nor dish soap can remove ground in grass stains from the feet of a four year old. I also learned that green feet are a small price to pay for the sheer joy of running through cut grass, over and over, just because it feels good.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

With the weather behaving true to form, I have gone from sitting in my winter coat Wednesday at ball practice to being sunburned and parched today.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

E is on hour 27 of a rice only weekend. (This is a social studies project, voluntary I might note.) She is not particularly pleasant. Perhaps if we were stuck with only rice to eat, I WOULD eat my young. Of course, holding true to her overachiever personality, I'm sure she'll stick it out until tomorrow at 6pm. She did pause when I suggested a chocolate rice sundae though.

Spring Again

Thankfully we've left the last few days of freezing temps behind and today was warm. All the better to sit in the yard and watch the kids (this translates into sitting in the sun and reading). I read Being Perfect by Anna Quindlen, Speed Cleaning 101 (I sped through that one, lol) and I've started Death of an Angel by Sister Carol O'Marie. I love being able to go on a reading binge. In the last few days I've also reached the top of Mt. Washmore and got in groceries (0g, you hunt, me gather!)

Date Night

It really takes so little to thrill me. Tonight, since we have no dance, baseball, softball, t-ball, play practice or scouts, dh and I are going to the Root Beer Stand. A real one where they bring your food to a tray stuck in your window. I will eat coney dogs with onions (an advantage of 18 years of marriage) and drink cold root beer from a frosty mug. It really is good in a so bad it's good kind of way. We will listen to '80's rock on the radio and generally revert to our younger selves, if only for an hour.

What's -a-doin?

Thursday night L came home from dance and t-ball practice and asked for help getting changed. She doesn't usually need help, but help I did. I noticed the unmistakable blisters of chicken pox. Oooops! I guess we exposed the under 7 crowd in town. She hasn't felt bad really, nothing benadryl and oatmeal can't fix. Now we wait to see if F gets them.
Friday I spent in reading. I got my new Elizabeth Peters book. Now the truth is out and you all know I have plebian tastes in reading material. I did drop S off for a Boy Scout camping trip. He was engaged in a riff on gazing balls in people's yards. It might be a nice respite from his monologues.
This morning I went to yoga class. I stopped afterwards and had a latte. I feel absolutely decadent. Tonight I need to attend the middle school's production of Cinderella. E has a part. I'm expecting it to be a brutal hour. I'm afraid the best thing about the musical will be the t-shirts "Cinderella is proof a pair of shoes can change your life."

Another Advantage to TOK

I was called for jury duty today. The case is 70 miles away and I would have been bussed each day. Now, I have no problem with doing my civic duty but a 7-6 day for 4 weeks is a bit more duty than I had in mind. When they asked if anyone had a reason to be deferred I raised my hand. I explained that there was no babysitter, no daycare, no relatives close by. It was either me or pull 7th grade dd out of school for a month. After the usual attempts at humor by the judge and prosecutor (Gee, that's a full time job. You must have to lease a cow.) and gasps from the room (sigh...yes, SIX) I was excused. I wanted to turn around and tell them about all my cyber-friends with LOTS more kids than me, but it seemed prudent to say thank you and scat. And so I did.

Errandsville

I went to Ft. Wayne this morning to pick up my old iMac which had been repaired. It's hard drive had been corrupted, which to me sounds like it met a floozy cell phone and lived a dissolute life, but I digress. I also stopped by the Boy Scout store to pick up a compass for ds who will be going on his first Boy Scout camp-o-ree this weekend. I hope the weather dramatically improves or it will probably be his last. We had snow on Sunday morning and now it is just damp, chilly and raining. The kids have a half day of school today so they will be home shortly. I had hoped to take them hiking at the reservoir but the weather makes that a no-go. I need to go start foccacia for dinner and I was informed this morning by several people that "We have no sweets because ___(insert name of child excepting yourself) ate them all." It'll be a good day for cookie baking I think.

Migraine

I am generally very healthy, especially for (can you tell this still bothers me? lol) my advanced maternal age. I do, however, get migraines. The past couple of days I had a doozie. Thanks to E and S who held things together here by making meals, taking sibs to T-ball, and practicing spelling together. I took what my kids refer to as "my happy pills" and am feeling better today, though with that weak, shaky feeling I hate. The weather has gone from 80 to 40 in the past 24hours. The weekend doesn't look promising. Perhaps a fire, some s'mores and a game of Euchre will pass the Saturday. Sunday is the Cub Scout Raingutter Regatta. I will go watch my sailors in an event they take as seriously as the America's Cup.

Spring Day

An altogether nice day. I'm going to get spoiled with this great weather and when it inevitably turns cold, wet and miserable again it'll seem even worse. I took my third yoga class this morning at the YMCA. I combined it with some errands so I didn't feel guilty about taking the time or the gas. I sure feel like I had a work out though.
We spent the afternoon hanging around the house doing not much. The kids got out the wagon (because as they pointed out, Mel had never even seen a wagon, let alone rode in one). They took turns pulling each other around so I didn't even have to do that.

Two Feet

That's approximately how far away from home dh was when he had an accident. Argh!!! He was turning into our drive when some 16yo kid (going too fast) passed him on the right, took out dh's tail light, then drove through our yard, narrowly missing our flagpole, porch and van. He made wonderful tire tracks through the front. Then came the two hour wait for the police. Ah, dh was in such a good mood by then. At least none of the kids were in the front yard playing. Dh now has an attractive swath of duct tape holding the light reflector in. We only paid $1000 for the car so it's not like it's worth putting $250 into repair.
The seasons are moving on. Next week starts baseball/t-ball/softball practice. Ds has a Boy Scout camporee to get ready for, dd is in a play at school that they are performing for an Arts Festival and the girls are finishing up for their dance recital at the end of next month. Before I know it I'll be complaining about heat and humidity and mosquitoes. but for today I sat in the yard and watched the 50lb of sand I put in the sand box mostly disappear. *note-most of it seems to have ended up on the laundry room floor and Mel's diapers. Seems to me that would chafe!

Back to Reality

It was a lovely week of mostly warm weather, unrushed children and little responsibility. OK, dh was still doing his best Camille imitation, but with judicious applications of sleep inducing cold medications he caused us little trouble. Saturday was warm, we went to my dad's and he took the kids 4-wheeling. Evidently he is proof that men never outgrow their need for silly toys. One would think a 78 year old man didn't need a 4-wheeler, but he thought differently. We also went to eat at a church soup supper. For those of you that don't live in a suffocatingly small community, this basically means someone else cooked, everyone I knew was there and I only had to pay if I chose to exercise that free will. Sunday was a carry in at our church for lunch. (Do you see a pattern of me avoiding cooking?) The weather was even better. All the kids except E turned up the CD player loud and jumped on the trampoline and kicked soccer balls around. E went to play putt-putt with her youth group. Dh and I sat in the swing and drank (it was for his cold, I swear). Today when the alarm went off for dh to go to work at 5:30 I tried again to think of some way we could avoid work, school, meetings, etc. etc. but the only thing I came up with was early death so onward we trudge....back to reality.

Chocolate Lava Cake

Here is the recipe for E's birthday cake. I think I got it off a can of cocoa years ago. It is really best warm, and if you put vanilla ice cream on it I hear it's even better. (I don't like ice cream, so realize that is hearsay.)


3/4 cup white sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup Cocoa Powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup Cocoa Powder

1 1/4 cups hot water


DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 350 F. Combine 3/4 cup granulated sugar, flour, 1/4 cup cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk, butter and vanilla; beat until smooth.

Pour batter into ungreased 9-inch square baking pan. Stir together remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar and remaining 1/4 cup cocoa; sprinkle mixture evenly over batter. Pour hot water over top; do not stir. This will look weird.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Let stand about 15 minutes.

I always double this recipe because a 9" cake ain't gonna cut it here.

A TEEN

Yesterday I officially became a parent of a teenager. E turned 13 at 7:37pm, but we let her celebrate all day, lol. I took her and 2 of her friends on a shopping expedition. A loooonnnggg day. I'm pretty sure there wasn't a store they didn't hit. They bargain shopped though, so that was good. I made a chocolate lava cake which was a big hit. They played basketball with the neighborhood guys until about 10pm and the last I saw of them they were watching movies. Now if I can just get through the next 19 years I'll be done with teens. Hey, I ought to be good at it by then.
Today I am at a La Leche League conference in Indianapolis. You've got to love computers in hotels. Mel thinks the sight of a 'puter means it's time to nurse so here we sit. Maybe I should vary our routine a little at home? But this is my excuse to be on line. If you can't nak where can you? ;-)
A side note to Paula. I rushed out of the house without your cell number. Somehow at 5:30am this morning I was just trying to get out the door.

Spring Break

The kids are on spring break this week. Amazingly the weather has been pleasant. Sunday S had a friend over. Monday we wernt to Pizza Hut (a big deal) and a park. Tuesday we went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. It was even better than the last time we were there. They had added new exhibits and a "dinosphere" which was very cool. Today we ran some errands, ate at Ponderosa (can you tell eating out is a big thing for us) and went bowling. The kids are outside now. It is clouding up. Tomorrow is E's birthday. I'm taking her and two of her friends shopping at the "chi-chi poo-poo" shopping mall in Fort Wayne, then they will stay the night. Friday I'm going to a La Leche League conference in Indy, Saturday is a baseball game and Sunday is a carry-in at church. I'll need a break from all this vacationing.

10,000 Steps My ...

well padded fanny. The current theory is that if people will just take 10,000 steps daily they most likely will have a healthy weight. I bought a cheap pedometer a couple weeks ago. It kept saying 12,000 or more steps daily. "This must be a piece of junk" I said to myself. "Self, you must purchase a better, more expensive pedometer." Such a pedometer was purchased on Tuesday. I could have saved my money because it says , right now, (and I"m not even in bed yet) 15,316. I must be eating alot because today was a pretty average day. How depressing, what am I going to have to walk, a marathon daily, to lose weight??? Argh! I am down another pound but that seems pretty measly. Of course, I'm conveniently having a black out about Easter candy and birthday cake.

I'm posting a link to this site because I've had so many days like that, but blessedly this was not one of them.

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 :-(.

Monday...again

So here we are almost in March, and we're due to get 8" of snow tonight. Yuck! Phooey! Blech! I'm longing for crocuses and we're getting more snow. Not how I wanted to start the week. I also have decided that swimsuit season is fast approaching so I should at least make an effort at not embarrasing myself or my progeny at the beach. I'm wearing a size 10 jeans right now and I know my swimsuit is an 8 (unless I want to wear my maternity swimsuit which I'm not thrilled about). There is no getting around it, I'll have to diet. Another Yuck, Phooey, Blech. I like to eat darn it. We'll see how it goes. I'll track my calories over at fitday. Usually if I can keep it to about 1800 cal/day I lose. I know you're now thinking, "hey I thought she was a dietitian, this should be easy for her." It just means I KNOW how bad my eating habits are, not that it's easy to change them. My perfect eating day would be coffee and donuts, coffee, coffee, coffee, nachos and beer, pizza and beer, cake. I don't eat that way but I sure wish I could!

S-A-TUR-DAY- NIGHT

Just thought I'd lead off with a little Bay City Rollers in the title.
I've debated whether to even mention the flap over another blogger's Duggar family comments. I'm afraid I found the whole thing interesting in a "can't turn away from the car crash" kind of way. The original post was sort of snarky but was meant as humor. Lots of mud got thrown both ways after that. What it really made me wonder was how other's are perceiving me just from the blog. Hmmm, lots of kids, goes to church---she must be one of those wild-eyed fundamentalists. Hmmmm lots of kids, swears and drinks----she must be one of those welfare types that expect me to support her. Neither one is true but it is so much easier to pigeonhole people. Then after you've neatly categorized you can move on. A human failing I guess.
I've mostly been working on painting the kitchen this week. I also finally got blinds and hung them in the boys' rooms. I bought E a bed frame and mattress. It should be delivered on Monday. She's been sleeping on the floor. Before you accuse me of child abuse, there are two perfectly good beds upstairs, she chose the floor in the downstairs bedroom. She really wanted a couch, not a bed, but it wouldn't fit with the closet jutting out so... mean mom finally decided to move her off dead center and get the bed. She can put it against the wall with pillows and approximate a couch. S went to spend the night with a friend. L,C and F got some movies from the library and are planning a "movie party" complete with Dots and Snowcaps.
In the mean time, I think I'll pull out some of those "big CD's", which is what my 3yr old calls records, and jam to the Bay City Rollers!!!!!

1-2-3

Perhaps I use one discipline technique too much? Last night L was being difficult so I said "go to bed". Off she goes in a flood of tears. I went up 5 minutes later to talk to her. Why the tears? Not because she was sent to bed, because I didn't count! "Mom, if you don't get to 2 how do I know to stop?" Ummm, maybe when I say quit?

The Weekend

Dh and I went to Lowe's (his favorite store I think) and got rollers, brushes, etc so I can paint the kitchen this week. We also found a nice small vanity with sink for $100. We need small because it would give us more room in the bathroom. The plan is to buy a thing each paycheck. We'll get the fixtures, then the new toilet, maybe a light, a new medicine cabinet then maybe this summer we can work on the bathroom. We'll see. Things have a way of not working out exactly like they were planned on paper. Saturday night we took S,C and L to a skating/birthday party. E watched F and L. Since we were in town and we would have had to turn around right away if we drove home, we had Chinese for dinner. It was something we hardly ever do so it was nice.
Today the boys had a basketball tourney game. They lost, so civic center basketball is over just leaving us with S's school team for now. Of course, I met a friend of mine leaving the game. She and her husband run the baseball league and she handed me the forms so in a couple short months I'll be standing at a ball diamond instead of sitting on a bleacher. I don't have climatic season's anymore, I have sports seasons.
I updated my food blog for this week. This week I hope to: paint kitchen, paint cabinets, touch up wood putty spots in bedroom and mud room. Eventually I'd also like to get to the dining room (in which we will never dine) E and L's rooms also need painted. Maybe by the end of summer.

More Accomplishments

For whatever reason I was still feeling full of youthful vigor and promise today so for fun I recaulked the tub. This entailed removing the old caulk and scraping mildew. You may remember we have the world's smallest bathroom, and not only is it small but it's unventilated, thus the mildew. I figured if I was already wet and gross might as well scrub, scrub,scrub the tub. That was so much fun I drug out the carpet cleaner and did the floor. Why the previous owners carpeted a bathroom is beyond me. Perhaps they didn't have six kids. It was....let's say odorous and unpleasant, but it is now clean. Not sure where this working mood came from.

Tonight dd and her friends have gone to a middle school dance. I think dh is not quite comfortable with her looking nice and going to a dance. I went to a Cub Scout meeting and filled in time by letting them arm wrestle each other and me. At least I can still beat the 10 and 11 yos. It's always good to leave them thinking you could potentially hurt them, LOL!

Accomplishment

It's amazing what you can get done if you work hard (and don't sit down and don't eat). I'm occassionally overtaken by the mood to get all those little nagging jobs taken care of. Yesterday I had one of those days. I dropped F at preschool, took L & A grocery shopping, came home, put away groceries, filled out a tedious form for insurance reimbursement, took said form to the post office and stopped at the flooring store where I put a down payment on my kitchen floor. Yeah!!! It's been stripped to the floorboards, the very old, very dirty, floorboards with attractive spots of 1930's linoleum since fall. The new vinyl should be down in a couple of weeks. I picked up F, came home, gave them lunch. A has been grumpy for 2 or 3 days. I'm not sure if it's ears, teeth or what. After finally settling her down I got out all the paint stuff and primed the kitchen walls. They were three different colors. Now they are nice shiny white. The fumes from the primer though, whew!! Since I was all painty I touched up some spots in my bedroom. I also managed to get 3 loads of laundry done and make a pot roast and apple crisp for dessert. If I were this organized and hardworking everyday either we'd live in a lovely home or I'd kill myself for turning into Martha Stewart. I don't feel the mood today so I'll slink off to my slothful corner now.

Random Acts

Neither hard gym floor, nor roaring crowd, nor obnoxious buzzer nor the exciting sport will keep me from my appointed nap!


I should not have given up swearing for Lent.

Swearing would have been a reasonable response to a 6yr old who felt free to throw books and call her mother Stupo (that was a Marx brother wasn't it?)

It is reported tearfully that throwing books and calling your mother Stupo was not worth losing your electronics, sitting in your room all afternoon and going to bed early.

Proud mommy moments (and I think I deserve some after the above incident) 9yo ds got a certificate and 12yo dd gets to go eat donuts and juice for being kind. Dd volunteered to be in the group of special ed kids for a group project. I'm not sure what 9yo did, he won't say.

My Snotty Valentine

Ah, the mucus marathon!! What fun. It is my fervent hope that runny noses are the last stage of the croup,fever,laryngitis extravaganza. Now I just need to buy another gross of tissues until it passes. I have a horrible confession to make too. This virus has given oldest dd horrible canker sores. Great big huge quarter size ones. I gave her tylenol with codeine last night. I figured if it didn't help with the pain it would at least put her to sleep and relieve my pain. Because even though I know it hurts, her whining was about to drive me around the bend!!! When her mood turns a bit south, as from pain, she brings up every injustice in her life. You may be interested to know that she always gets the smallest pancake, her opinion is repeatedly ignored, I don't know how to raise young children, and that she has no recollection that I ever made her heart shaped peanut butter sandwiches as a young child. I didn't think you'd be interested but you can now understand the dose of codeine.

On brighter notes, L attended her first sleepover party on Friday. No phone calls in the middle of the night. She now declares she is ready for camp this summer. I'm not sure I'm ready to send my 6yo off for a week.

S and C raced their cars in the Pinewood Derby this weekend. They finished firmly in the middle of the pack. I will say, however, that their cars were obviously the only kid constructed ones in the race. They were really, really obviously the only kid constructed ones in the race. I of course forgot my camera, as I was trying to bake treats, set up tables, fill balloons, find ice.....you get the idea. It doesn't pay to be efficient because others gladly expect you'll do what needs to be done.

I remembered that I said I'd send cookies to L's kindergarten for the Valentine's Party today. I really hate starting cookies at 9pm. I pretty much like to sit down by 9pm and only get up to go to bed. I just made chocolate chip but I added "sprinkles" to make them festive. Kids don't like heart shaped, exquisitely decorated cookies anyway...right? right???

The brightest note... today at 2:30 I have a massage scheduled. My dh,( yes it is really him not a pod person as was my first thought) scheduled one for me. I am going to enjoy that hour. I will not make lists in my head, I will not feel guilty, I will not plan the week ahead. I'm going to enjoy this darn it. Now if I just don't fall asleep once I get horizontal!!!

Computer virus?

Every blog I go to seems to have families suffering from illness! It is making me wonder if it is spread digitally ? It snowed more here so at least it looks pretty. The trees look frosted. S has his first school basketball game tonight. I have a sore throat and my ears and head hurt but life goes on. I NEED to buy groceries or it'll be grilled cheese and soup tonight. I think I'll just have another cup of tea (ok, it's more like a hot toddy, but hey I'm sick here) and get moving!

The Virus has left the building

at least for the most part. I don't feel so hot but I don't seem to have any sick days in my contract so....The weather hasn't been helping my mood either. It got warm and rainy and after 3 days finally melted all the snow. I was getting in the mindset that after it was gray for awhile Spring might put in an appearance but of course I woke to snow again. Spring is such a tease.
Tomorrow L will go to her first sleep over party. That poor mother has no idea what she's in for. I can only hope she doesn't do anything that would result in our having to move far, far away. The Pinewood Derby is Sunday. Hey, I guess we should start on those. It is not a father/son bonding experience here. It is a mom trying not to take her finger off with a hacksaw and slapping some paint on it experience. Maybe I can just talk them into sticking the wheels on the square block of wood. It would be futuristic don't you think? Hopefully they won't be too embarrassed.

Murphy

Murphy was on to something with that law of his. I actually went to the trouble to change all the sheets upstairs on the kids beds today. This of course inspired Mel to puke all over hers. She has a fever too, so didn't enjoy the bath that followed so much. I predict a night in the chair with my sick baby.

The Barking of Tiny Throats

The really great thing about croup is....ok, I can't think of a really great thing about croup. Unless you like the sound of Harp Seals or something. C started feeling better but F woke me up Saturday night with a decidedly blue tinge to his lips and nails. So I spent more time in the world's smallest, steamy bathroom. When E got up Saturday her eye looked like it had been replaced by a beet. Off to Redi-Med we go. It wasn't pink eye, she had scratched her cornea. We had to return Sunday but it looks like we can avoid a trip to the ophthamoloigist. Now the argument is to convince her to wear her glasses since contacts are out for awhile. Ah, the vanity of a 7th grader. On the bright side, S's party Friday night was a success. Today is one of those days that can even depress a Pollyanna like me. Gray-check, muddy-check, snow melted down to show how dirty it is-check. This calls for tea and fresh chocolate chip cookies. Hey, it's cheaper than prozac!

Friday Fun?

Today is a day from he**. It is our 5th 2hr delay this week due to fog, I have more to do than two of me can accomplish (so much for that schizophrenic feeling paying off) and 9yo ds woke me up at 5:30 with blue lips and wheezing. Nothing like a good dose of terror to wake you right up. Luckily some time in a steamy bathroom (I knew I'd be glad we had the world's smallest bathroom) brought him around. No school for him today though.

Eleven Years Ago

S was born. I went to work that day and was fine. Picked up dd after work, gave her dinner, put her to bed and made a big bowl of spaghetti. About 9:30 OUCH!. I tried to track down dh, waited for him to get home from work, made it to the hospital about 11:00 and he arrived at 11:30. Just under the wire for Groundhog's Day. Which gave me the best line of the delivery "I don't care if he sees his shadow or not, he's NOT going back."

S fancies himself quite amusing (and he really can be funny in a dry sort of way). He is tall and wiry. He plays sports but is only fair at them. His true passion is his imagination. He lives in a world of Yugioh, The Rings Trilogy and other places of his own devising. Thank God he hasn't discovered D&D yet. When he does I know he'll be obsessed. He has yet to develop the annoying teenage tendencies of his sister. Care if he showers? Care if his hair is standing up? No way! He will have 3 friends stay over Friday night. They will be swimming (which I hope wears them out some) eating pizza and drinking Mountain Dew, playing gamecube, dueling with Yugioh cards and watching movies. Apparently, at least for my 11 year old, this will be as close to heaven as he can get this side of the grave.

About That Resolution..00

I seem to remember saying we were going to slow down. This week and last are showing that we're breaking that resolution. It just has seemed to be "the perfect storm" of things to do. I won't even go into last week but this week includes. Mon-2 dance lessons at 6 and 8:15, basketball practice from 5:15 to 6:45 and a 7:00 o'clock basketball game. You'll notice this means I needed to be several places at one time. This involved lots of driving back and forth and leaving the littles in the van, since taking in and out of seats is the time consuming part. Yesterday I also had to return some things to a store (2 wasted hours) and did the taxes (ick!). Tonight is basketball practice and a basketball game. Wednesday is basketball practice, Kid's Klub at church and my ds's birthday. Thursday basketball game. Friday ds #3 basketball game, sleepover birthday party for ds #2, cub scout meeting that I have to attend, leave to pick up ds#2 and then return to meeting and dd #1 has a pizza party at pizza hut for her basketball team winning which I have no idea how I'm going to get her there. Saturday I need to get assorted boys home and we have two basketball practices. Ok, I'm tired just thinking about it. This is the last week for dd#2's basketball team and #2 and #3's should be over in a couple weeks. That will just leave ds playing on the school team. Dd #1 has decided to not do track and be in drama instead. Just as many practices I'm sure but no sitting at track meets or waiting to pick her up from the bus. Ok, this turned into a big vent. It's not that I mind anything they do, I just always feel so time pressured because if you're driving around in the evening all the homework, housework, cooking, laundry, errands must be done before about 5:00. We could become hermits I suppose but I know none of us (except maybe dh, who refuses to leave the house) would like it.