Miss 9 has a hard time playing by herself. She needs some extra pushes from Hubby or I to go and do something, anything. Usually if we send her to her room, tell her to shut the door and stay in there for a few minutes, suddenly we'll find her playing with something from the arsenal of toys in her room. She has an amazing imagination, but occassionally she just needs that extra push.
Lately she has been hanging out with her Webkinz. She doesn't necessarily play with them online as most kids do, but she loves to pose them in new scenarios. Most mornings before school, while she is waiting for Mr 18 to get out of the bathroom so she can brush her teeth, she is setting up the Webkinz for the day.
The picture above is from last week. The animals are all at school: they are studying the States and they each have their own desk. The big blue bear at the front is the teacher. I thought it was adorable.
I love that she is still willing to play with her toys. It doesn't happen nearly as much any more and I will be very sad when the day comes that my house isn't full of toys for kids to play with. Part of what makes it feel like a home is the toys that kids leave laying around here and there. Granted, there are days when they toys have gotten to be too much, but now that I only have one left willing to play with them, it makes me feel a little let down. I no longer have to go shop in the toy department, I don't get to stop at the toy stores on our vacations, and we don't have to pack a big bag of toys to take along to the Grandparents. Instead now they all bring their own electronic device of some kind. Less imagination needed that way. Kind of sad.
I'll try not to complain. At this point we'll take whatever moisture we can. It didn't amount to much, but it came down in huge flakes. By nightfall it was snowing again and blowing all over. We are used to big storms here, and in comparison this was quite small, but it's the biggest we have had all season.
I am one of those lucky people who can't take medications. I'm not a big proponent of putting medication into your body unless you really, really need it, but when you do, take something to make yourself comfortable.
Unfortunately, I am not able to do that. Doc claims my liver doesn't "metabolize" medication properly and that's why I get completely loopy. At the moment I have a cold, nothing too severe, but when I do get a cold, it's entirely in my sinuses and I can't breath through my nose. Not a problem when I am awake, open mouth, take breath, close mouth, etc. It's simple. The problem comes when I try to sleep: lay down, pray your sinuses unplug, close your eyes, close your mouth, suffocate, die!
I can not sleep and breath through my mouth. It just doesn't work. My mouth shuts, I wake up in a panic and I freak out. Last night Hubby couldn't take it anymore and begged me to take some Nyquil. We both know how awful it is to take that stuff for me, but we were also desperate to sleep, so I relented and took 1 dose. I slept, for 4 hours... then BAM I was wide awake. I was able to get back to sleep and I refused to take another dose. I do need to function at some point today. Even then I woke up this morning, still in a fog from the meds and also dry as the Sahara. I don't know how that works since I am still so stuffed up that my ears plug every time I swallow, but life goes on, so I won't whine, much. Yet I'm still waiting for the darn Nyquil to get completely out of my system. In the meantime I can't remember what I was going to do from one minute to the next. I start doing the laundry, get distracted when I go to get the baskets from the kids bathroom and straighten up in there, forget what I was doing when I went to the bathroom and start working in the kitchen, tried to call to place an order with the photographer of Mr 18's senior pics and can't remember what I wanted. Boy, did they think I was a genius this morning. Sigh. I'll call them back when the dang Nyquil leaves me. It's been over 12 hours now. I'm still waiting. I think I'll send it an eviction notice.
Happy Love Thursday!
I hate doing the dishes, but I love that over the past week I have been able to watch so many species of birds out my window. The birds that had flown south for the winter are now back at my birdbath and in the feeders. It is one of my favorite things, and makes doing the dishes much less tedious. We've had robins back for nearly a week now, and the locals are coming out of hiding as well: sparrows, finches, blue jays, nuthatches, etc.
I love that when I'm driving with Miss 14 I don't feel the need to talk with endless chit chat or force her to answer questions. We can sit in comfortable silence and yet still talk about random things we see together. She's most chatty at the end of the school day and all I have to do is listen.
I (mostly) love that Mr 18 comes home for lunch nearly every day. It's the one point in his day where it's just us two and he's willing to chat, even if it's brief. Of course it's also when he usually asks for cash for the things he needs for school, but beggars can't be choosers.
I love hot showers when your nose is so stuffed up you can't swallow without plugging your ears. It's the 5 minutes of heat and steam in the whole day where I can actually breath.
I love that because I am a SAHM my kids can reach me for even minor things. I know that parents who have to work still hear from their kids when they need them, I am certainly not disputing that. But I love that Miss 9 knows she can call me when she needs me and I can literally be there in less than 8 minutes.
I love that Miss 9's school has fun days like today. It's dress as your favorite book character day. I also love that they wear uniforms every other day: no fighting about what to wear to school.
I love that Hubby thinks of me and helps out just because. Last night I was exhausted, and he knew I was going to clean the shower, instead he sent me off to bed and cleaned the shower while I slept. I knew I married him for a reason: Shower Cleaner Extraordinaire.
I also love sleep, lots and lots of sleep. Yawn, snuffle, snuffle!
Family who know me well, know that one thing always cracks me up: certain loud, bodily function jokes. Why yes, I am a 7 year old boy, why do you ask? Yes, I'm immature, but we can't help what we find funny, right?
Last night Hubby had on Bill Engvall on CNN or the Comedy Channel or some channel. I was getting ready to shower and decided I needed a drink of water before I climbed in to the shower. I wandered to the kitchen where Hubby was on the phone and the tv was on. I picked up my glass of water and turned to face the tv to watch while I sipped. Just as I take a big gulp of water Engvall's words caught me. Yes, it was an entire small skit on human gas. You already know where this is headed don't you? The glass is still up to my mouth, and my mouth is full and I started to laugh: water flew across the kitchen floor and down the front of my shirt and all over my face. Mmmmhmmmm, I am a child, I can't even keep water in my mouth. Hubby's mouth literally dropped open as he stared at the mess I have now made. Wow. I was glad that Miss 9 was in bed and the other 2 were off doing something elsewhere in the house, because if they had made that mess, I would have felt the need to lecture them a bit.
Hi, I'm Mama Bear, and I am 7 years old.
It was funny though, I swear it was, the jokes and the mess I made.
Since Easter is now in the books, spring must be on the way right? I know, in some places it's already here, but where I lived it's not. But, oh how I wish it was!
The Easter Bunny was able to hide about 80 Easter Eggs on Easter Eve, along with filling 4 baskets. (Hubby needs one, too!) Morning finally arrived, very early for me as Miss 9 was sharing the bedroom at my parent's house with Hubby and I and she was up early to blow her nose and never went back to sleep, although we were able to keep her from tearing upstairs for the egg hunt until nearly 8:30 when we let her wake Mr 18 and Miss 14. We all went to the living room where the kids dutifully looked through their baskets in order to empty them and get on with the egg hunt. Then they were off. I swear the entire egg hunt took less than 4 minutes. It was like a race! Naturally Mr 18 found the most eggs since he is the fastest and the most willing to knock his sisters out of the way for candy, but he also knows that no matter how many he gets I always even the egg count out in the end before they can even look in the eggs. So he won with the most eggs, but they all ended up with the same amount of candy; which they don't get to eat on Easter save for a few pieces. The rest of their candy gets put away and they get to chose a piece or two each day for dessert. The older two get away with sneaking some now and then, and they think I don't know, but because it's always been this way, no one objects. Works for us! It's the same way with Halloween candy.
I am also thrilled to report that my washing machine died... again! In spite of two or three repairs in the last 3 months, it is now hitting the road. I am not fixing it again. So, instead I'll get a new washing machine delivered this afternoon. I am not thrilled as we are simply buying one that will tide us over until the prices (hopefully) come down on front loaders, but all I care about is that it works for the minimum of 15 loads of laundry that I do per week. I lead an exciting life I tell you!
And now a question for the masses. Hubby suffers from severe canker sores. He used to get the often and many, many at a time, but since cutting out orange juice and diet Mountain Dew along with brushing with baking soda toothpaste and rinsing with baking soda water, he's really reduced his outbreaks. Usually the only time he gets one now is if he bites his tongue or cheek. Last week however he had a huge outbreak. He had 20 in his mouth at one point, and they grew so large that they grew into each other. He couldn't eat without numbing his mouth, and could barely speak. He was/is in such pain with them. What I am asking for is some advice, if you have any. Any ideas? Don't suggest the usual pastes to put on them from the drugstore, just putting that on a canker sore the size of a fingernail is enough to bring him to his knees. I'm looking for new ideas. Please....
He is taking Lysine tablets already. That was a tip from the dentist.
Although I love the idea of a fabulous Friday post, I must admit that I am at a loss as to what to write about. There hasn't been one specific thing today that I would label as fabulous, but then there hasn't been anything too awful either. Hmmmm, what a dilemma to be in, don't you think?
It's fabulous that I get to spend Easter with most of my family. We'll all be together for part of the day on Sunday. That's something fabulous, no it's not Friday, but it will have to be good enough for a Fabulous Friday post.
Another dilemma is that the darn Easter bunny can't think of anything fun for Mr 18's Easter basket this year. Teens are impossible! I think socks are in order.
La Rêveuse, my cousin, tagged me with this one. What's on your fridge? Little did she know that I spent part of Sunday cleaning off my fridge. Shut up, I did, too! So really, there isn't as much as usual on my fridge. We just got a new fridge as well, I don't love it, but it has lots of room in it and it functions much better than the old one which froze my apples! Certain things just can't leave the fridge: magnets from my mother in law in the upper left, she put them on our fridge before we moved in, and I swear she checks for them each time she comes over to visit, a change weekly-monthly calendar which isn't nearly as full as it usually is, thank goodness, a reading calendar for Miss 9, a schedule for church services for Holy Week, a newspaper article on a swim meet, various magnets Miss 9 has given me as gifts, magnets from our trip to CA last July that Hubby gave me for Christmas, a picture of Nephew that is simply adorable, an ortho appt. card for Miss 14, an article on where Mr 18 is headed for college, and up on top, a box of Puffs, and the boxes for my new cell phone/bluetooth things. See, not too much junk, it all has a purpose, right?
Perhaps more telling is this:
This is the inside of my fridge.
Good things to eat of course, but a mess already because I had 3 kids digging through it this morning and I haven't straightened it up yet. I will get to it, when I have to look for my lunch perhaps.
So, Cuz, let's see the INSIDE of your fridge!
On to Love Thursday:
1. I love that I live in a small enough town that I can call up Miss 14's doc and he tells us to just bring her down to be seen. Of course since he is the father of one of her good friends, that helps too!
- a side note to this being that yesterday Miss 14 was home with me all day with her heart acting up. She has a heart condition that causes it to race unexpectedly and at a very high rate. She used to be medicated for this condition, but 2 years ago on Monday she had an ablation to help correct it. It didn't work. It reduced the problem, and made it much more manageable without meds, but it didn't cure it, which was our goal. As of yesterday she is back on meds on an as needed basis. It makes me sad.
2. I love that I could call the school about Miss 14 yesterday and no one judged me keeping her home, or questioned why I would.
3. I love it when Hubby is home on laundry day. Unfortunately he's not home for today's laundry day though.
4. I love Brach's egg shaped malted milk balls!
5. I love my bed in the morning when I don't have to set my alarm and it's all cozy warm.
6. I love finding time to read my book.
7. I love that in a little over a month I get to start shopping at garden center's.
8. I love playing rummy with Miss 9. She's really gotten to be very good at the game, and beats me on a hand or two now and then. A bonus is that it is excellent for her math skills.
9. I love that Miss 14 still likes to be with me now and then. She makes me laugh.
10. I love that Mr 18 emptied the garbage in his room last night. Still waiting on the laundry off the floor, but the garbage is empty.
Last night Miss 9 had oodles of homework. Because of her struggles with school and a written expression learning disability Hubby and I often sit with her to do her homework and help when needed. Usually her main problems are with focusing on the work and spelling words correctly and legibly. At school she is used to doing her work, there are distractions of course, but that is the place for school work, so it's not a problem for her to finish her assignments on time. She also has a handy dandy speller helper that lets her correct her own spelling errors by typing in how she thinks something should be spelled, the checker offers correct spellings and she is off and running. Unfortunately she is not allowed to bring that home, so at home I am the speller checker. Miss 9 also has a terrible time focusing at home. It's not school therefore it's not the place to do school work. Despite a relatively quiet kitchen and all the tools she needs it is still tough for her to stay on task. She has lots she needs to tell us, things to make sure have been done, etc. My mantra at homework time is always the same, "back to work, back to work" or "look homework, let's finish it!"
Because her teacher is a first year teacher, I allow her some mistakes now and then without too much complaining. One of the mistakes was yesterday and it resulted in 4 subjects of homework along with spelling test practice and the required 15 minutes of reading each night. That's a lot for me, let alone for Miss 9 and her struggles. (I HATE the word disabilities for learning issues!)
Miss 9 had a field trip yesterday during school hours. That is wonderful, but it does take away from classroom time. So one would think that the teacher would think, "hmmmm, perhaps since we are missing 2 hours of classroom time for this field trip, I won't be able to fit in all the subjects we usually do." One would think.... BUT... you knew there was a but, right? But... no, she didn't think that, instead she crammed all the subjects into their day. Thus homework for all. Homework is fine, I don't mind homework at all, but hours of homework in 4th grade; that's something I mind. Knowing that I help Miss 9 with homework I don't worry as much. But I also know the other kids in her class aren't as lucky as she is. Many of the other parents never check to see if their student has homework, or even helps them with it. I wonder how many of Miss 9's classmates went to bed last night not even doing their homework. And then I wonder how many parents are going to be reading them the riot act for not getting their assignments in.
On to the Surprise~ Party section of my post. Last night as Hubby, Miss 9 and I were laying on our bed doing the 15 minutes of reading required each night we heard noises: loud voices, slamming car doors, giggling, guffawing. Then we heard the front door open and shut, more voices, more noises, more laughing and lots of footsteps. Since I was comfy cozy and so was Miss 9 we sent Hubby to figure out what was going on. Mr 18 had decided to bring home some friends for a while. That's great! We have the basement set up for just that purpose. We want Mr 18 and Miss 14 and all their posse's to be comfortable enough to hang out here whenever they want. But, poor Miss 14 had just washed her face, put on her very short, shorts that are her pj's and headed to the basement to watch a few minutes of tv before retiring for the night. Suddenly an entire troop of 18 and 19 year old boys, at least 11 strong, are headed down the stairs. Mr 18, demands the basement, and Miss 14 stomps upstairs to avoid the fight that would surely follow. She was a bit put off to say the least. I can't say I blame her. I think perhaps we should ask for a 2 minute warning whenever they decide to bring friends home, that way no one would be running around in clothing that doesn't cover all their body parts. Mr 18 and his friends hung out for nearly 2 hours. They were loud and I was annoyed. I was tempted to chew him out and ask them to be quiet, but that would defeat the purpose of an open door policy to him and his friends, so I kept my mouth shut. They were gone by 11 p.m., so I am grateful for that. But I think a 2 minute warning rule should apply anyway. Don't you?
On a normal day I am awake before the kids, I check to make sure that Miss 14 is up and in the shower at her regular time, then wait until she is done to do my thing so I don't mess with her water supply. This morning however, I slept right through her getting up time. I'll blame my sinuses, allergies are not letting me sleep well, so I was finally resting well and didn't wake as usual. When I did wake up, 30 minutes after Miss 14 usually gets up, I hustled to her door and woke her up. She jumped out of bed and flew into the bathroom yelling, "what time is it?" and in a panic. She was ready, for the most part, in time and headed out the door as usual with Mr 18. However I spent the morning trying to help her be on time, so now my day is 30 minutes behind my normal schedule. (and yet here I am writing about something so mundane... priorities people!)
We had a brief shower of rain last night, and by brief I mean not enough to completely wet the sidewalk. We are in the middle of a drought I'm afraid, and I literally mean I'm afraid. With farming as our main income, well, really our only income, a drought means some scary times ahead. We haven't had anywhere near our normal snowfall, and before that we haven't had any significant rain since May. Scary, isn't it? Sure there are record prices for crops, but what the media fails to tell people is that there are record prices for the ingredients it takes us to put in a crop. We are paying more than 3 times the amount we have EVER paid for fertilizer. Crop insurance prices have quadrupled and I don't think I need to mention the price of diesel or gasoline. Like I said, scary times ahead.
Yesterday we got to head over to see SuperSisterinLaw and LittleBrother, along with their adorable son. He is nearly a year old now, and it is so much fun to watch him play, hear the new sounds he is trying out and see the girls interact with him. He is at such a great age!
Now, since I am 30 minutes behind in my day, I better decide what needs to get done... hmmm... perhaps some online shopping will fill the bill.
Mr 18 graduates this year and I am busily (yup, I'm late, I know!) planning his graduation open house. We are using racing/Nascar as a theme. I have some ideas, but I would love some more. Obviously we aren't doing a child's birthday party type thing, but rather an open house with race track type food, etc.
Please drop a note in the comments with ANY idea you might have. Black and white will be our main color's along with the addition of school color here and there. It's a party for adults, young adults and kids, so keep it clean! :)
1. I love that because most of my cousins and family are regularly on-line I can force them to check out pictures of my kids. I guess force is a strong word, but I can email them pictures and hope they look at them, that way even though we are far apart, they are still part of our lives.
2. I love that even though we span an area across the US from Cali to VT, I have family to call on for thoughts and prayers when things are good or bad. I can email them that morning and by evening have gotten happy thoughts in my inbox.
3. I love that all my "little" cousins and siblings are now starting families. I can hold the babies and check out adorable baby pics and yet still know that I don't have to put up with the stinky diapers, drooly bibs, and sleepless nights. (except for the teen things....)
4. I love that Miss 9 will still randomly tell me "I love you, Mom!" It makes my day.
5. I love that for almost every morning that my children have gone to school in their entire lives I have been able to hug them on their way out the door and wave goodbye in the window. I hope in some small way it makes their day better.
6. I love reading Janet Evanovich's number series and laughing at loud at the ridiculous humor. Last night I laughed until I cried while I was laying in bed; even after I put the book down. It drove Hubby nuts. I love doing that, too.
7. I love when Miss 14 has a "laughing attack" and can hardly stand up straight.
8. I love when the girls lay in my bed with me in the morning or at night and giggle at really silly things. I especially love it when Miss 14 is a waiting in my bed when I get out of the shower at night. That's her favorite time to behave really strangely and it's hilarious.
9. I love when Mr 18 surprises me with a really deep thought or question and honestly wants my opinion. I love when his opinion reflects our values and beliefs especially when his opinion is different from the typical teen selfishness.
10. I love comments on my posts. Ahem.
Happy Love Thursday!
Questions my brain has been pondering lately. Let me know if you have the answers.
1. When do teenage boys learn to stop procrastinating homework?
2. When do teenage boys learn to not let laundry pile up on their floor?
3. When do teenage boys not wait until the last possible second to leave for
somewhere that you can't be late?
4. Where does all the food in my house go?
5. When do 9 year old girls stop throwing temper tantrums that rival a
soccer riot?
6. When will I find time to re-hang the shelves that have been waiting to be
re-hung in the living room since November?
7. Why do I have to shop at a super center?
8. Why doesn't it matter that I reduce calories, eat healthy and still can't
manage to lose any weight?
9. When will I have a hairstyle that doesn't require so much work, and make me look 10 years younger?
10. When is it not my fault that homework is "way too hard?"
11. When will I have to stop wondering what Mr 18 is doing when he's out with
his friends?
12. When will I stop feeling guilty that I can't sub when they call?
13. When will it really be spring and stop knocking back to those chilly temps?
14. What should we do over Spring Break? And why is it in April?
15. How is it possible to brush your teeth and not see the toothpaste left in the
sink when you are done?
Any answers welcome!
I fully intend to whine and complain in this post, so if you aren't interested you can check in next week sometime; hopefully I will be over the whining phase then.
I had to work today. I really didn't want to, and not because I don't want to work, but because everywhere you turn these days someone is sick. The percentages of absences from school I teach in is phenomenal! My daughter is in a class of 16, today there were only 10 there. I taught Kindergarten today. I had only 5 of 9 in my morning class. I am thrilled that parents are keeping their children home when they are sick, BUT... not all of them do this. If they did, we wouldn't have these huge amounts of students out every day.
Miss 9 was home for three days this week. In some ways I felt terrible that she was home for so long; but then another part of me thought about sending her to spread all those germs to the rest of her class. She wasn't able to walk for 2 days with her illness because she was so weak and dizzy. I am sure that some of the students at the school feel the exact same way. Yet this morning, before Mass, which begins 45 minutes after school starts, 10 students went home. Can you imagine? What were these parents thinking sending their child to school? If your child calls you to come home without being in school for a full hour, why did they go in the first place? Surely they were exhibiting some symptoms before you sent them to school; keep the poor kid at home and let them rest. Of all things to recover they need rest more than anything, not school, not play, rest.
There's my vent for the day. I have more, but I'd bore you so I won't.
Otherwise things are well here. I accomplished some household tasks that I have been anxious to be done with yesterday and I was able to get to bed early as well. Although since I was awake at 5:30 a.m., the getting to bed early thing really didn't help much.
Last night Mr 18 and his friends got up on stage at the local high school and rocked out a bit. Well, that is if you call Buffalo Springsteen rockin' out. Mr 18 and a group of swimming and running buds decided to pool their other talents and play some music. Of the 7 on stage only 1 was playing an instrument that they specialize in, that's if you call the tambourine specializing and only 3 of them are still playing music with the high school band. The freshman girls squealing as they took the stage was most likely the reason they did it, but in any case they looked like they had a blast. Mr 18 picked up the acoustic guitar for this one. He hasn't played guitar for about 4 years now. It was fun for me to see them outside of the usual box I see them in. They played the song "For What It's Worth."
Poor Hubby didn't get to go along to the show as Miss 9 chose yesterday to become ill. She woke up exhausted and with a tummy ache. By 8 she had a fever and that "look" that tells us she is feeling awful. She starts by licking her lips, constantly, she can't focus on your face, instead of dark circles around her eyes she gets red rings around them, and she can't even lift her head from the pillow. She spent the morning taking mini cat naps on her bed and moved to the couch in the afternoon. I let her watch tv even though she gave it up for lent. I'm not sure she actually watched anything. The tv was on, but she wasn't very focused on it. I think it was for background noise for her cat naps.
Miss 9 woke up this morning with a little less red around her eyes, more color on her face and the ability to look me in the eye. We've done 2 subjects of her homework and she has eaten 2 pieces of toast. Yesterday she ate nothing but small pieces of a Popsicle every half an hour or so and a dozen sips of water. I hate to see them sick like that.
My goal for her today is to perhaps get through yesterdays homework before bed. But, I also have to go pick up today's homework which will be even more lengthy. I don't think we'll finish it before school tomorrow. It's amazing how much work they do in a day.
One more sport out of the way for Mr 18. Each day that passes seems to bring about another "that's the last time we'll see Mr 18 ______________," It's rather sad for us, but we also realize it's a fact of life and it can't be changed.
This weekend we drove half way across the state to watch Mr 18 swim one race. It lasted 1 minute and 5 seconds! Down and back doing the backstroke. He cut 3 seconds from his fastest time, and he was thrilled! He has spent 2 months this winter and 2 months last summer going to physical therapy for his shoulders. We have spent hundreds of dollars on his shoulders, and we are thrilled that insurance covered some of it, because PT is very expensive! But the biggest thrill for me came when he hit the wall at the end of the pool, looked up at the scoreboard, threw his arms in the air and jumped up and down. He didn't win the race, he wasn't even first in his heat, (for the record he was second in his heat by .04 of a second) but he swam so hard and with such heart that he dropped 3 seconds and the weight of this tough season was lifted from his shoulders. I had tears in my eyes, I'm not sure if it was because he was happy with his race, or if it was because that's the last meet I will watch him swim in. We've been watching him swim since he was in 4th grade. I admit, it's not always exciting to spend all day at a pool in the heat and humidity, but we do it for the kids. I still have 8 more years of watching the girls swim, but Mr 18 will no longer in the pool.
He spent the day of finals cheering for the handful of teammates that made finals. He rallied the team as a captain, and was loud and obnoxious just as a captain should be. He painted himself in school colors and painted his teammates in school colors as well, they looked ridiculous, but they were having a blast. When the team arrived home it was to a disappointing finish at the State Meet, but ever the captain, Mr 18 invited the guys over and spent the rest of his night entertaining and cheering up his team.
I whine and complain about him, but in spite of his attitude at home, I think he is an encouraging and supportive friend, and that says a lot about the type of man he is turning in to.
Miss 9 has a hard time playing by herself. She needs some extra pushes from Hubby or I to go and do something, anything. Usually if we send her to her room, tell her to shut the door and stay in there for a few minutes, suddenly we'll find her playing with something from the arsenal of toys in her room. She has an amazing imagination, but occassionally she just needs that extra push.
