Bit of a Bummer

We tried something new this morning, but it didn't work out quite as we had hoped. I found out that a movie theater about 15 minutes from us shows free family shows every Saturday morning. Free - kids and adults! This morning they were showing the Waterhorse. We all wanted to see it, so we got up early (although apparently not early enough), loaded into the van, and headed to the theater. But when we got there, it was already sold out. So that was a bit of a bummer. I guess we'll have to rent it in a few weeks instead.

So, we got back in the van, drove home, had lunch. Not quite what we had planned for the morning. The kids did get to play outside for a little while while Lucas grilled burgers for us. And we're going to have our own movie date tonight instead. We got Enchanted for Easter, so we'll pop our own popcorn and hang out at home for a family movie night. A very good alternative for a movie attempt gone bad.

Happy Meagan

Here's a layout I did last night after the kids went to bed. This is really funny, but you'll never guess what my inspiration was for this...a new pair of underwear! LOL! Last weekend, we came across a sale at Old Navy - tons of really cheap stuff marked down to $2 and $3 in some cases. Well, I found a few pj's and a new pair of pants. I also found a really cute pair of undies for $2. They're green, trimmed in a really cute ribbon - off-white with little pink flowers. Very cute. Well, as I was folding my laundry the other day, I took another look at them and thought, 'Hmmm. That color combination would make a great scrapbook page.' (Yes, I actually have thoughts like that...shh, don't tell anyone or they'll think I'm nuts!) So, last night was my first opportunity to do any scrapping. I put the layout together based on the color scheme I wanted to work with, and then went in search of a picture to use...a little backward, but it worked. I found this picture of Meagan from last Easter. (Obviously, it was much warmer last Easter than it was this year, seeing as she's sitting outside with no coat on!)



Journaling: Yes, that's a black eye. And yes, you still have a huge grin on your face. Not a care, you're just happy to be out in the fresh spring air. Happy to be at Grandma & Grandpa's. You're loving life.

Sports coming out my ears!

I knew that eventually we may be faced with scheduling issues with kids' sports as the kids got older, but I didn't realize it could start so soon. We had the boys' t-ball meeting last night, and basically what I learned is that I'm going to have sports coming out of my ears. Isaac will practice every Tuesday evening, and Sebastian will practice every Wednesday evening. Both will have games on Saturdays - one at 9:30, the other at 10:30. Plus, Sebastian has soccer on either Tuesdays or Thursdays (I'm REALLY hoping for Thursdays) with games on Saturdays. Seems I'm going to have to find a double - for myself and Sebastian. I'm not sure how else to be in 2 places at once.

Oh, and did I mention that the 'coaches' for soccer have bailed and left us coach-less. That means, unless someone steps up as the 'coach' for the team, the kids won't be able to play, even though they paid and registered and did the first half of the season last fall. As I was the team coordinator in the first part of the season, the task of finding a coach has fallen on me. I spoke with all of the parents, and everyone is in the same boat as me. I want to help, and want the kids to be able to play, but can't commit to every practice and every game. That seemed to be the general consensus among all the parents. But one of us has to officially be the volunteer coach. So, guess who that will be...ME! How on earth did I land a soccer coaching gig? I have no idea. But I would rather do that than tell 8 little boys that they can't play because adults chose not to keep their commitments. Anyway...I guess it's time to research a thing or two about soccer! LOL! Actually the league we're working with has lots of resources, practice guidelines, drills, etc for coaches, so I should be able to get a lot of it there. I'll let you know how it goes!

Just think, about 2 more years, and all 3 of them will be going strong! Yikes!

Three days later...

A little delayed in sharing Easter pictures, but that's because I had some technical difficulties with my camera - mainly that I can't find my power cord to plug it in to charge it to take pictures (or to download the ones that are on there already). So, luckily Guy & Jane were up here visiting, and they brought their camera. They took over 100 pictures while they were here, but couldn't transfer them until Monday or Tuesday. So, I now have pictures to share with you. Just one for now because I have to edit the others still (rotate them so you don't have to turn your head 90 degrees to look at them).

We got up Sunday morning and did our egg hunt first thing. Then had a quick breakfast and headed off to church. During church, about 10 minutes into the service, after the singing & announcements and all that were done, the nursery paging system flashed up on the screen, and wouldn't you know, it was Meagan's number. So I got up and left service to go see what the problem was. The nursery leader said Meagan had been whimpering and crying and was acting like her arm was broken. She hadn't seen anything happen. They were playing duck duck goose and Meagan just started crying. It sounded a lot like the way she was acting when her elbow was acting up, which also just came on without warning, so I figured something similar was going on. I thanked the nursery workers, gathered up Meagan's things, and we headed back to the service. As soon as the nursery doors shut behind us, Meagan looked at me and said, 'Are we going to Grandma now?' I told her we were going to go sit with Grandma, but that she had to be quiet and sit still. She laid her head on my shoulder, and for about another 10 minutes, she continued to act hurt. Until, that is, Grandma's lap freed up (when Isaac decided to move). Miraculously (we were in church after all, so why shouldn't miracles happen?) Meagan's arm was fixed! She could move it again just fine, as she climbed from my lap to Grandma's. Nice. All I could think to myself was, 'Man, that girl is good.' I knew I'd been played.

Other than the elbow, we had a hitch-free Easter day. For lunch we went to Logan's. Then, Guy & Jane left after lunch and we hung around and took it easy all afternoon and evening. Meagan played with her new kitchen that she got for Easter (a $40 version of the $100 kitchen sets...$40 very well spent...she LOVES the thing!). The boys played wii, since the Easter Bunny was way awesome and put pennies in their Easter eggs! I think to them that was better than candy!

Battling Sombreros

March has been quite a busy month around work, and there were 2 of us who had birthdays (the 5th & the 6th). Yesterday was the first time we were both available to go out for a group lunch. They left the restaurant choice up to me (since Kim didn't care). Silly me, I did not base my choice on the level of humiliation for birthday celebrations, but rather on the tastiness of the food. I chose Mexican. I should have based it on the first.


I wasn't even giving it any thought, to be quite honest. We were all enjoying our meals; everyone was almost done. I thought we were just waiting for the check. NOPE. First I heard the clapping. Then the singing (all coming from behind me). Then I felt the giant (quite heavy) hat plop on my head. In all the excitement (aka embarrassment), I almost caught my sleeve on fire on my fried ice cream birthday candle! That would have topped it all, don't ya think?

Anyhow, it was fun, although we were both a touch embarrassed. And since we were sitting right next to each other, it felt like a battle of sombreros, as they kept bouncing into each other. Funny stuff!

Artsy Fartsy

Check out this ant that Sebastian drew (not traced - drew!) in school the other day. He said he followed the directions in a how-to-draw book. I don't know about you, but I had three or four how-to-draw books, and my attempts never turned out quite like this. I'm impressed! He's quite the artist.

Front-Yard Football

Another layout I finished today. I started it yesterday, but got stuck for a lack of football *stuff* to put on it. I found a really cute sports kit today though, and downloaded it so I could finish my page. I think my favorite thing about this page is the extraction of the boys' pictures set agains patterned papers and such. I just think it's fun looking, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Journaling:

I want to remember:

• the sound of your laughter coming in through the window
• the mix of determination and joy on your faces
• Isaac's makeshift helmet (bike helmet)
• the feel of a warm breeze and bare feet in the grass
• the comedy of your play-by-play retelling of all of your adventures - not just on this particular day, but as a part of normal every-day life with the 2 of you.
  

Saturday Morning

We had a bit of a busy morning this morning. Besides dropping off recycling, which is a normal Saturday affair, we headed over to the middle school to register the boys - yes, Isaac too! - for t-ball this spring. Then we headed to Wal-Mart in search of a new backpack. Sebastian's 1st grade backpack broke some time ago, so for quite a while (a few months at least) he's been using his Cars backpack from Kindergarten. Well, now that one has COMPLETELY fallen apart! The shoulder straps have both disconnected from the pack, and the back of the pack has detached from the front so that it looks like it has a second zipper that is permanently hanging open. I know there are only a few months of school left, and it's a strange time to be buying a backpack, but we had no choice! Hopefully this one holds up, and he can use it for 2nd grade too (yes, I'm totally intending to send my child off for his 1st day of 2nd grade with a used backpack! It will only be 2 months used, so that's really like almost new!)

When we got back from shopping (we did find a backpack BTW - green and gray and black for only $9.) the kids played outside while we got lunch ready. Lucas grilled burgers for us - I've missed the taste of non-George-Forman grilled burgers! They were tasty!

Meagan was totally MELTING at lunch. I gave each of the kids a choice between a cheese sandwich and a cheeseburger. Meagan chose a burger. So, I put it on a bun, put her tomato & pickle on it like she wanted, and put it on her plate. She went nuts! She was screaming and crying that she wanted a cheeseburger. 'That is a cheeseburger' I explained. 'Where?! I don't see it!! It's goooooonnnnnee!' She was in hysterics! Holy cow. I finally took the cheeseburger off of her plate and gave her bologna. Not sure why that solved her issues, but it did. Clearly, she has a different idea of what a cheeseburger is (just like she insists that tacos are called Taco Bell's). She ate her Sun Chips, her beans, and 2 pieces of bologna. Then, first chance I got, I scooped her up and took her off to bed for a (hopefully) LONG nap! That girl!

So anyway, Lucas and I are hanging out (he's playing some old version of Zelda, and I'm blogging/scrapbooking/whatever else on my computer) for a while while all is quiet. We'll see what adventures post-nap time will bring.

I blogged about this at the beginning of last year, but am just getting around to doing a layout of it. I got this scrapbook kit for my birthday from my men. It's a giant kit from Scrap Artists called In Bloom - love it! I think I bought it mostly for the lace if you want to know the truth.

Snuggle Up & Read

Last night Sebastian's school had an event in their library (aka 'media center' *LOL*) called 'Snuggle Up & Read.' The kids wore PJ's, and brought pillows, blankets, animals, & whatever other bedtime thing they wanted. Then they got to eat popcorn and kick back while several of the teachers read books. It lasted for about an hour, and was really quite enjoyable. They also had a buy-one-get-one-free book fair going on last night. Sebastian picked out 4 books, and they only cost $9 total. Three he picked out for himself - all 3 chapter books - one Junie B. Jones and 2 Jack Sparrow. The fourth book he got to give to his teachers to keep in the classroom. It's funny to me that he is reading chapter books already - he doesn't seem old enough yet. He told us he can read chapter books now because he's six and six-year-old's don't read just picture books anymore. Sheesh!

(By the way, if anyone wants a birthday idea for him, he would like the other 4 or 5 books in the Jack Sparrow collection. Last night he got #1 - The Coming Storm, and Silver (which I think is #6ish?).

Take one down, Pass it around

I feel like we're singing '99 cases of sickness on the wall,' and truthfully, I hope we've just passed around our last one! After I got it the other day, Meagan picked it up where I left off. Tuesday morning, we were going to go to story hour, and then I was going to just stay home with the kids to take it easy and finish recovering. We, however, never made it to story hour, because Meagan got sick at breakfast. Poor thing was NOT feeling well. She had slept until 8:00 that morning (which is about an hour later than her normal wake-up time), then fell back asleep on the recliner until I woke her up again at 8:30 to eat. Well, as I said, breakfast didn't go so well. After that, it was back to the recliner for more dozing in and out of sleep while watching PBS Kids. She then fell asleep again in the van on the way to my chiropractor appointment (which, who knew that a chiropractor would be able to make my stomach feel better, but she did!!). Then she (Meagan, not the chiropractor) took a 2 1/2 hour nap when we got home.

Other than all that sleeping and laziness, she didn't get sick anymore, and seemed to be doing okay. So Wednesday, I took the kids to Nicole's and headed back to work. At about 11:30 I got a call - lunch didn't stay down. Poor baby! So, I packed up and headed home to get her. That afternoon was more sleeping and laying around. By evenign, she seemed to be okay, so Thursday we tried again, and made it through the day incident-free!

Now, we've all started on a fun sinus / head cold / chest congestion combo...but this is it! I refuse to accept any more illness after this! Surely this has to be our 99th case of sickness! NO MORE!

A Case of the Yucks

Let's just say today has not been my best day ever. I woke up last night starting around 1:00 in the morning, and intermittently after that, fighting the urge to get sick. I don't know why I fought it - Lucas says just get it over with and you'll feel better. But I have a thing about that...you know, toilets and all...yuck. Besides, other than the stomach issues, I was quite comfortable, and really didn't want to get out of bed. Finally, around 5:00 this morning, I lost my battle. Shortly after, I fell back asleep and slept until almost 8:00 (which made Sebastian nearly late for school...but we managed to pull it off!).

I was feeling okay when I got up, so I decided to carry on with my day as normal. Sometime around 11:00, I realized that was a mistake. But I made my way through our staff meeting before heading home for a break. I got home around 1:15, and laid down on the couch - just for a minute - to relax. I woke up at 2:45. Oops. I got up and went back to work to take the deposit to the bank and tie up some loose ends. I was quite thankful for the end of the day to come rolling around.

Tonight I ordered pizza because the thought of cooking was just too much. I did what I could to help Lucas do bills, but mostly I'm just laying around trying (again) not to get sick again, and feeling a bit pathetic. I'm hoping for a good night of sleep and a better day tomorrow. Mostly, though, I'm hoping no one else catches this case of the yucks.

21 Again!

Well, it's official...I am no longer 20-something. Yesterday was my 30th birthday! I had an absolutely wonderful day, getting phone calls and cards and emails from so many of my favorite people. I can't tell you how loved I feel, and how blessed I am to have so many great people in my life!


As for my most favorite people - Lucas, Sebastian, Isaac and Meagan - we all hung out and spent the evening together. They all took me out to eat - my choice. Since we have been saying for months now that we wanted to go try a new restaurant near one of our good-ol' standby restaurants, I decided we should go there. Only thing is, it looks like we waited a bit too long to try it, because when we got there, it was boarded up and closed! Hmmm...plan B....Red Robin is always good. So, we took a turn around the block and headed to Red Robin.


Other than Isaac getting a black eye on the door as we were walking into the restaurant, we had a great dinner! We (well, I) was laying low, flying under the birthday radar, and I was loving my husband for not saying anything to anyone (although the attention drawn to our table would embarrass him as much as it would me, even if it's not his birthday). When our food came out, it wasn't our waiter that brought it; it was another waitress. As she's passing out the food, Sebastian looks straight at her and says, 'Today is my mom's birthday.' Ooooo, that hurt. So she asked me about it, and told me there was someone else there that was celebrating her 21st birthday. We talked for a second, and she left. Nothing else came of it.


When we had finished, our waiter brought us the bill, and says, 'Oh, were you the one who's having a birthday?' I couldn't lie to the man, although I really wanted to, so I said 'yes.' Very nonchalantly, he says, 'Well, can I bring you a free ice cream?' The kids heard ice cream and all went nuts. So he says no problem, he'll go grab it... he left out that he was also going to grab balloons and 10 other people to sing.


So, here comes the noisy procession all the way to the back corner of the restaurant where we were sitting. The waitress who had brought our food out to us was in the singing group. She looked at me and winked and said, '21 right?' I just laughed & nodded a little, not thinking anything of it - because earlier I had actually told her it was my 30th. The next thing I know another girl is yelling at the top of her lungs that I'm celebrating my 21st birthday! I wanted to crawl under the table and hide! I think that was more embarrassing than the clapping and singing. I mean, clearly I am NOT 21, and all those people sitting around must have thought I was desperate to lie about my age like that...not to mention I'm sitting at the table with my husband and 3 kids - who I would have had to start giving birth to when I was 15!! Sheesh! Oh well, it was still fun. And it made for a funny memory.


When we got home, the boys and Lucas straightened up the house for me - the boys did the living room, and Lucas did the kitchen. I had taken a vow to not cook or clean at all on my birthday, and it was very nice to not have to break that vow. What sweet men I have! It was a great evening (except, like I said, for Isaac's black eye - poor guy - but at least it's someone else's turn besides Meagan's), and a great birthday! And honestly, I am loving where I am right now, and I am so grateful that I am not 21 again!

A twist on PJ Day

This morning was story hour at the library, and it was PJ day. Isaac got to wear his pajamas, and take a pillow and blanket and stuffed animal. He took Baby Cutie with him, which is his rescue pet from Suzie from Christmas. He loves Baby Cutie! Although he is generally a stuffed animal lover, and to ask him to pick a favorite would probably put him in quite the predicament. I was like that when I was little, too. I remember once in nursery school we had a stuffed animal circus day. We all got to bring one animal with us to school, and we each got a turn making our animals do tricks. I can remember laying in bed the night before, crying because I was torn over the decision. I wanted so badly to take them all, but I had narrowed it down to Rocky the Squirrel and Mr. Tiger. From there, I just couldn't bear to choose (which is funny because when I think back on it, neither was really one of my favorites as far as sleeping with them or taking them around with me and all. Who knows why I was so hung up on those 2 animals???). I finally ended up choosing Mr. Tiger at the last minute...you know....Tigers are more circus-y than squirrels and all. I remember apologizing to Rocky and feeling so bad because I had to leave him home. How funny, the mind of a child.


Anyway, Isaac didn't seem quite as torn as I was in deciding who to take with him today. Meagan, although she's not technically in Isaac's story hour class, decided she needed to take Jolly Tall (or Mommy Giraffe, as she calls her). So, we marched off to the library with 2 kids, 2 animals, one pillow and one blanket in hand. For their project they glued squares of construction paper together to make a patch-work quilt. And their stories were about bedtime-ish things. It was quite the themed morning. He had a blast.


The rest of the afternoon I worked - to get a head-start on AP's this week...maybe freeing up the last 2 days of the work week for projects instead of day-to-day stuff. I'm feeling like I'm so close, but so far away. I'm definitely going to have to put my head down and keep plowing forward. I'm almost there! Keep praying for me, please!


Other than that, not lots to report tonight. We had kind of a late night last night, so I'm thinking we're going to crash early tonight. I do have one layout I can share with you before I head to bed. I did this one last night while Lucas was gaming. It sort of reminds me of the tattoo layout I did not too long ago - maybe because I used papers from the same kit, so it's got the same feel to it. More Cedar Point pictures.

'Kinda makes me wonder...was this ride more for the little boys or the big boys?'

Journaling on the pictures: 1) It was fun at first until the crashing started. 2) The look on poor Isaac's face says it all. 3) I know this is a bad picture, but the look on his face is classic!

To my Birthday Buddies...

It's BIRTHDAY WEEK!!! And I share it with 2 of my favorite people - Lori and Leroy! So, here's my birthday card for my 2 birthday buddies! Wish we could be together for birthday hangin' out! Miss you! Happy birthday!!

Little Green Wagon

I finished another layout of Cedar Point last night. It seems like a silly thing to do a layout about, but you have no idea how thankful I was that we had our wagon with us!

Journaling: This thing was a life-saver! Sure, it was over 100 pounds of weight for Lucas to pull around all day, but we would have been in trouble without it. It kept the kids from having to do such heavy-duty walking. It gave them a place to sit and rest when needed, and it made it super easy to keep everyone together all day. Thank goodness for the little GREEN wagon!

Overheard

TOUGH CLUB
While I was making dinner, I heard a thump from upstairs, immediately followed by a wailing cry from Isaac. He came rushing down the stairs and into the kitchen, with Sebastian close on his heels. Through sobs he said, "Mom...I...hurt...my...chiiiiiinnn." He had bright red and purple scrapes along the bottom of his chin, which Sebastian was quick to explain, was caused by tripping over Sebastian's foot and falling into the hamper. While I was getting out the Spider Man freezy pack, Lucas asked Isaac if he needed a hug. Isaac said, 'No, I'm being tough.'
"Yeah," said Sebastian. "Me and Isaac made a tough club."
Funny, Lucas and I had the exact same reaction at the same time...'Oh Great!'

DINNER PRAYER
We sat down to the table for dinner. I said, 'Let's pray,' and Meagan quickly chimed in with this prayer.
GOD IS GOOD.
GOD IS GOOD.
LET US TAKE A BITE OF FOOD.
AMEN!

Creepy Crawly Bugs

This afternoon, after nap time, the kids and I made bugs. This is their second time making bugs. My first. For Christmas one of the boys got a bug-making kit. You basically fill bug-shaped trays with gooey paint stuff. Then you stick them in an oven and wait for the gooey stuff to cook. And there you have a bug. A bug that can stick to windows like window-clings, in case you were wondering. Meagan made a 'dragon' and a 'wormy' (a dragonfly and a worm). Isaac made a scorpion and a 'black willow' spider (LOL). And Sebastian made a gigantic fly.


Watching them make their bugs, and peek into the little oven to check the progress reminded me of my sun-catcher kit I had when I was little. I spent hours at Dad and Nancy's making sun catchers - filling little metal frames with little plastic crystals and melting them in an oven. We had sun-catchers EVERYWHERE! Their house had a lot of windows, and I think there might have been at least one sun-catcher on every one of them. Too funny. But that kept me occupied and out of mischief for hours at a time. Anyway, these bugs made me think of my sun-catcher-making days (minus the smell of melting plastic). It's just funny to me when stuff my kids do now mirrors stuff I did 25 years ago.

Tea for Two

This morning after breakfast, Meagan sweet-talked me into setting up her Tinkerbell tent in the living room (which led to setting up Isaac's shark tent as well, so now our living room has been transformed into an indoor campground). She got some books & took them in to read. When she got tired of the books, she went on a search for something else new and exciting to do in her tent. What did she decide on, but her tea set.

I had a meeting this morning, so just as she was inviting me to tea, I was getting ready to leave. Big bummer, because every girl loves a good tea party. But, Lucas had just gotten home from work, and she seemed more than satisfied to invite Daddy in place of Mommy. So, as I was leaving, this was the site in our front room. Meagan in her Tink tent and Lucas on the ground, with his lower half hanging out of a pink and purple doorway, drinking invisible tea out of pink, blue, green and yellow teacups. How I wish I had my camera handy! I'm guessing that was Lucas's first tea party. I'm also guessing it won't be his last!