Earache

"Mom, my ear hurts."

Words that almost always mean a trip to the doctor. Emma is my healthy child and it's a rarity for her to be sick enough to stay home from school. When I called the doctor's office I was pleasantly surprised that they could get us in by 11 am.

We show up for our appointment and breeze right into the exam room. When does that ever happen?! The Doctor looks in her ear and announces that it's slightly red and has some fluid, but she won't need antibiotics. Music to my ears.

Leftover Sunday

We've started a "leftover" dessert night with another family. They invited us over a while ago and in full disclosure they wanted us to know they had already made the dessert. Since their kids didn't like it, they needed to try and foist the rest of the dessert on us. We heartily agreed to bring leftovers as well.

Theoretically, "Leftover dessert night" is a good idea. In reality, if you have leftover dessert, it's because the kids won't eat it. Leftover dessert is rare in our house. Luckily Micheal's cheesecake had some remnants leftover and we were able to share that. They brought cupcakes which satisfied all the kids and then some. I'm not sure that giving sugar to 7 kids is the wisest thing to do right before bedtime...

Happy Birthday

Michael, they say it's your Birthday....Happy Birthday to You!
In honor of your special day I'm baking the traditional birthday cheesecake as I type. Maybe we can sit on your new bench and eat cheesecake tonight. :)
The cheesecake turned out great. I think this is the first time the top hasn't cracked...ever. Let's hope it tastes as good as it looks.

School Pictures

Yup, it's that time of year again. I can't believe school pictures crept up on me again. I swore to myself last year that I was not going to spend the money on school pictures again, but here we are again. To buy bad pictures or not? That is the question.

The school is encouraging parents to dress their children in "fall" colors. They will have an environmental background. It screams 1970's. I especially love the log to lean on.

On the upside, I got Jack and Emma's haircut. If you'll notice, Emma's bangs are a little crooked, but isn't that the charm of school pictures.

Totally Awesome

So, it's Monday. Usually that means "a case of the Mondays", tears for spelling, and some kind of disciplinary action for Emma. I had a slight case of the Mondays when Emma didn't get a sticker today (it was an accident that she kicked the boy in the nose). But my day took a turn for the better.

My day started to pick up when I tried to book an airline ticket to see Debbie. I have been looking at flights since last week and just couldn't commit to buying it. Then I was waiting to see if Sherri would join in the reindeer games and join me in Seattle. (Come on Sherri, you know you want to) Well, I was all set to buy the ticket but I had to register through Expedia and lost the tentative itinerary that I had been looking at. I was frustrated, but excited to get tickets nonetheless. I looked up the same flights and low and behold I was able to get the same flight times (different airline) for $10 less. Paying ten dollars less totally made my day.

To top off my totally awesome day; I made bread that totally turned out good. We went swimming at the Rec Center for Family home evening.

A+ For Effort

We did it! Emma has such a good week at school that she earned a reward for her efforts. She had a playdate with a friend on Friday afternoon.

Last week her teacher and I came up with a "sticker" program for good behavior at school. Emma and I sat down and discussed what kind of rewards she could earn by behaving at school. At first she wanted to earn toys. I nixed the idea because I didn't want more toys added to the millions they already have. Instead we came up with activities that she could do. The list included;

-invite a friend over
-make cookies with Mom
-paint nails
-go swimming
-rent a movie of her choice

Let's hope that we've turned a corner and will not have anymore "incident reports" . Dare I ask for more ideas to add to the reward list?

Lilyisms

Lily has been saying some pretty hilarious things lately and I wanted to write them down for laughter's sake.

-We were shopping for some clothes and we walked by the bra aisle on the way to the fitting room. Lily said, "Look Mommy, knee pads. Do you want some?"

-Lily was watching a neighbor (discreetly) nursing her new baby. Lily asked, "What are you feeding Colin with?" Amused neighbor responds appropriately. Lily asked again, "Does Colin use a fork?"

-We're also going through a "naked" Barbie phase as well. She pointed out that Barbie's elbows (boobs) didn't have knee pads.

Primary Program

I love the two Sundays a year that the children at church file up front and entertain us with comical quips and shouts into the microphone. Today is the Primary program and I have two out of three sitting up front. Lily will be sad that she can't go sit up there, Emma is excited, and Jack is ambivalent. There are lots of songs to remember and Jack is not fond of singing.

I substituted for Emma's teachers the last two weeks so I feel like I got a sneak peak at the program. The kids also went on Friday for a quick run thru of the program. Perhaps because I was there both Sunday's that the kids practiced, these kids have been practicing A LOT! I'm sure there will be mistakes that make it all the more entertaining once the kids are in front of an audience.

So Debbie, if Fast Sunday is open mic Sunday, what is Primary program Sunday called at your house?

Naps

I know what you're thinking. Why am I even trying to take a nap? Well, my allergies are killing me and I'm just loopy enough to need to lay down.

How is it possible to NOT get a nap with one child at home? "Hey Mom, Hey Mom" Tickles toes. Are you sick? It's the scary part (Madeline the Movie). I don't want you to go night night.

I am not usually a nap person, but when I need one, I REALLY need one. It's comical that as children we fight them, and as adults we sometimes crave them.

Off and Running

I've been relying on the sun to wake me up and get the kids ready for school. Well, the sun failed me this morning. I sprung out of bed at 7:27. We usually leave the house at 7:55. Emma and Jack desperately needed showers and I had planned on waking up a little earlier to get that done. Well, the shower was more important than getting to school a little late.

The kids were showered, dressed, feed, and in the car by 7:59. Still enough time to get to school with minutes to spare. I forgot to sign a paper for Emma, rushed inside to grab it and go. We missed the window of "train free" car ride to school. There are train tracks that bisect the route to school. We got to the train tracks just as the arms came down. Whoops.

Jack and Emma were late to school and it was completely my fault. I guess I need to set my alarm and start waking up to that instead of the sun.

PJs

I have great hopes and ambitions today. I need to:

-get the lawn mowed
-trim a crazy bush
-drop off library books
-drop off movie at Blockbuster
-drop off dry cleaning (don't ask)
-do crazy amounts of laundry
-start moving craft stuff to the basement

I started off the day right. I drove the kids to school in my pajamas. Good thing I just open the door and gently nudge the kids out the door. No need to get dressed up for the occasion.

Being Brave

This week I decided to be brave and try new things. I decided to take a class at the Rec Center. I just renewed our membership and needed to feel like I am "getting my money's worth". Well, nothing like diving into the deep end and feeling like I might never take a class again.

The class I took is titled "Butts and Gutts". Very aptly named. Exactly the areas that I need to work. After the class I felt a little sore. That's a good thing, right? Well, it's been two days and it hurts when I sneeze. I guess that's a sad commentary on how out of shape I am. I think that I had deluded myself into thinking that I was doing a pretty good job of staying fit over the Summer by jogging. What a sad delusion.
Well, with school back in session I need to get back into "coconut" shape. Nothing like getting the endorphins moving to take the edge off of crazy homework days. Wish me luck. I may need it for the next couple weeks as I hobble around trying to work my butt and gutt.

Opps

The first rule of blogging is; Never Blog in Anger. (Blog about it when you can see the humor)

Emma had an awful, no good, very bad day at school today. Actually, it was the last five minutes of school that lost her birthday party privileges. Her teacher reported that she's had a good day up until then, but she wasn't listening when she was told to stop yanking on another student's arms. Argh!

Emma is ready to quit school. If there was a chance that homeschooling would work...well, let's not go there. Anyone know of a good military school?

Productiveness

Once in a while I get hit by the "get things done" bug. I've had half the material to make curtains for the girl's room for six months, I just bought the rest last week. I wasn't sure which direction I wanted to go with the room, when I realized that I just needed to start and not worry about the end product so much.
I'd really like to find some pictures/art to hang up, but that might take me another six months to get around to doing. Just getting the curtains sewn was huge, then I actually got them hung. (Insert pat on back)For some reason, the ribbon made all the difference. I was in a "scrapbooking" kinda mood and asked myself if the curtains needed something a little extra. Thank you fabric glue.

Movies v. Books

I ran out of reading material this past weekend and I needed to head to the library to forage for some new material. I'm kinda in a thriller/mystery genre rut, but hey, that's what I like. While I was there I was desperately trying to think of a movie that is coming out soon based on a book. Darned if I couldn't think of the movie or the name of the book.

When I got home, I looked on Apple Trailers. Jackpot. I also discovered a sequel to the book when I did a little more sleuthing. The downer? Well, it's a "teen" book and it's only 270 pages. I'm not opposed to reading "teen" books, but it's such a small book that it might last a day or two if I'm lucky. Anyhow, I was able to place a hold on the books and go back to pick them up.

* Sherri, I think Connor would like these books. I liked the first one better. Tell me if he starts reading them.

Week Three

The kids have been in school for two whole weeks and we're just starting the third. I must admit the enthusiasm for school has worn off, both the kids and mine. Homework is never fun, but we made it through last week with minimal tears.

So I pick up the kids from school today. Emma has gotten a fourth "opps" report. Jack has failed his spelling test from last week. I think I have a case of the "Mondays" and it's actually Tuesday!

I threatened to take away Emma's birthday if she can't straighten up her behavior at school She's been planning a birthday party for weeks and I've kinda let her go with it. I squelched her plans and put some parental pressure to start acting appropriately at school. I really hope that she starts behaving, I really want her to have a birthday party (that will mean she's behaving, right?!). I am prepared to follow through on my threat, that's how good/mean a mom I am.

As for Jack? Well, he has to go over last weeks missed spelling words as well as this weeks list.

Ugh. Nothing like a three day weekend to lull me into a false sense of calmness. Homework plus kids equals crazy mom.