I See a Pale Moon Risin'

Let me set the scene for you. It's 12:00 Tuesday. Isaac, Meagan and I had just walked in the door from a busy morning out on the town - Library story hour, then to work to write a check and print a report, then to our treasurer's house to get a second signature on the check, then to my friends house to pick her up for lunch and afternoon shopping. We had literally followed Lucas down the road on our way home, so we all had just basically walked in and dumped our coats off. We were in the process of determining what to eat for lunch when the phone rang.

As I'm in the habit of doing, I checked caller ID before I answered the phone. The Public School? Oh no, Sebastian must be sick or hurt again. I answered.

"Hi, Rebecca? This is Deanna from Sebastian's School. We had a message today that Friday in class, Sebastian exposed his bottom - you know, mooned - someone in his class."

Stop there.....WHAT!! That was TOTALLY not what I was expecting to hear. Immediately, my mind got a visual of that, and I just started laughing. I know that's not the 'responsible parent' thing to do, and I'm sure the lady on the other end of the phone was hoping I would react differently. But I couldn't help myself. It was funny! I mean, it's just so out-of-character; so unexpected. I tried. I tried to concentrate on what she was telling me, but I was concentrating harder on not laughing. The only thing that saved me was that I could hear a bit of a chuckle in her voice too, so I don't think she thought I was a totally off-the-charts-crazy mother.

Anyway, she said that, from what she could gather, he was mad at someone and in response, he pulled his pants down. She and the principal had a serious talk with him - her words were, 'We both sorta raked him over the coals' - and she said he hid his face in his shirt the whole time because he was so embarrassed to talk about it. Good - he should be embarrassed. There's a reason they are 'private' parts! Sheesh kid! They explained to him that anything that a bathing suit would cover is inappropriate to share with others.

The whole time I'm having this conversation, Lucas and Kim (my friend who was with us) were watching me with curious looks on their faces. They knew it was the school because I had read it out loud on caller ID. They had heard me start laughing. And they had heard bits and pieces of a rather odd and unexpected conversation. As I hung up the phone, I looked at them to explain, but I was completely overtaken with laughter. I think through my laughing I managed to say, "Sebastian mooned a kid." So they both started laughing hysterically too. OH, CHILD! What were you thinking?!

Well, like good parents are supposed to do, we had a chat with him when he got home from school. When I asked him if he had been in trouble recently at school, he told us about it right away. According to him, it wasn't because he was mad at someone. They were all just playing and having fun. He doesn't know why he did it. No one told him to. He just did. Who did he moon? A little girl, of all people - the little girl he has told us before that he likes and thinks is the prettiest girl in his class (we seriously need to work on his pick-up techniques!) That poor girl is going to have my son's butt as a memory for the rest of her life! That hardly seems fair to her! Again, WHAT were you thinking?!

After we talked for a minute, I asked him if he knew it was wrong. He said, "I do now." I asked him if he understands why it's wrong. He said no, he just knows because he got in trouble for it. So we talked a little about the appropriateness of our bodies. As punishment, he lost the privilege of going to wrestling practice last night. He also lost all forms of electronics for the evening. And he was given a strong warning that if anything of the sort EVER happens again, he will have much more severe consequences.

And I think to myself, Rebecca, welcome to the world of raising boys.

Confessions of a Neurotic Grocery Shopper

Okay, Kelli. You did yours, so here's mine. I kept thinking about your post as I was shopping yesterday. I think it's so funny that I'm not the only one who is so over-the-top about groceries. Here's my confession...

I haven't always cared so much about grocery shopping. I didn't get all worked up about coupons and sales. But now it's bordering on obsession with me. It's hard for me to make an unplanned trip to the grocery, because I can't help thinking that I don't know what the sales are, the best deals, or what I might have coupons for. Before each trip, I cut the coupons, scour the Meijer add, compare the add to the coupons, then create a grocery spreadsheet that calculates the add price minus any coupons I have plus tax to get a total of what I'll spend before I go. I make my list based on a menu I've made, plus any coupons I have to get really good deals with, and I try to limit my list to $150. Print it off, and off to the grocery I go. This can be an all-day process if I'm not careful.

Once the list is done and it's actually time to shop, my OCD ways continue. I have a certain order and a certain way that I have to put things in the cart. And I will often choose a line not by the length of the line, but by the cashier. It drives me crazy when people bag my groceries funky. If I take the time to put all the boxes, cans, frozen food, produce, etc together on the conveyor, then they should make some effort to bag things in a logical order....shouldn't they? If ever anyone offers to 'help' me put things in my cart or in my van, I always thank them but decline the help. Again, my experience has been that they'll throw the smushables on the bottom and dump a bag full of cans on top...what's up with that! Nope, I'm pretty particular about how the groceries go into the cart and into the van.

Well, yesterday was my shopping day. I ended up spending a total of $194, but I had some things besides groceries to buy. Here's what I ended up getting for under $200.

Life as usual

I'm falling behind a bit on my 14-posts-a-month goal for February. But there's still plenty of time to catch up...if I can only get my act together.

I haven't posted much lately because there's just not been much to report on. I worked every day but Friday this week. We did not go to wrestling on Tuesday or Thursday because Sebastian has an ankle injury. Last weekend, they were feeling a little stir-crazy, so they were dancing and spinning in the living room. I'm not exactly sure exactly what happened, but Sebastian dropped like a fly and started crying, saying he heard something crack in his ankle. It didn't swell. It didn't discolor. But for the first few days he had a really hard time walking on it. By Wednesday he seemed to be doing better, but then yesterday in gym, his teacher made him participate, and he slipped and twisted it again. Now he's back to limping and hopping around. So, it looks like maybe no wrestling this week, either. We'll see.

Anyway...no church Wednesday because of the weather. And I already told you about our day yesterday. So far today, we've done recycling, had lunch, and now I'm (supposed to be) making a grocery list. Maybe get some laundry done. Maybe. Pretty normal and uneventful around here, like I said.

One fun thing I can think of though...this weekend is the first drag race of the year! So we'll get to watch races tomorrow! I guess that's something! Until then, life goes on as usual. Sometimes, I am very thankful for uneventful, 'normal' days. I think I'll just enjoy it!

Never a dull moment...

I swear life with Meagan is non-stop! That child can get into things like nobody's business, and this morning was no exception.

Last night she woke up around 1:30, so I got up to check on her. As a result, I was AWAKE...I mean mind going 90 miles an hour, can't fall asleep. I tossed and turned until some time after 4:30, and got about an hour of sleep before Lucas's alarm started going off at 5:30. So, needless to say, I was not up before my children this morning.

Well, usually I try to get showered before Meagan wakes up and gets going. That way, I don't have to wonder what she's getting into or worry she might get hurt while I'm not watching. This morning, since she was awake before me, I couldn't do that. So, I decided it would be best if she got in the shower with me. She loves showers, so she was all for it. Like every other time she has ever showered with me, I got out first and let her stay in the shower and play in the water until I was ready to dry her off. I was talking to her the whole time to make sure she was okay. But while I was putting my contacts in, it got quiet. Just as I was saying, 'Meagan, are you okay?' she opened the shower curtain and had blood all over her mouth.

I grabbed her out of the shower and wrapped her in a towel. I couldn't tell where the blood was coming from, so I gave her a cold wet wash cloth to suck on for a second. While the wash cloth was doing its trick, I hurried and got dressed in the first thing I could grab, and then went back to check on her. She was still bleeding pretty badly, but I could see that she had a cut on her top lip - right at the dip right in the middle of her top lip. I checked the shower to see what the culprit was, and found my razor lying on the ledge - not where it had been a few minutes ago. Whenever she showers with me, I put it up out of reach to avoid just such a thing. But we have the little seat things in our shower, so obviously she climbed and got a hold of it anyhow. It's one of those razors that has the bar of soap-like stuff surrounding the razor, thankfully, so she couldn't push down on it very far at least. The soapy part was covered in blood...it doesn't take a rocket scientist to deduct that she stuck her mouth on the razor and sliced it. I just didn't know how bad the cut was because it was bleeding so badly. And for the life of me, I can't figure out what would possess her to do that in the first place. ???

Finally, about 10 minutes later, the bleeding slowed, and I could see that it was really just a knick - like when you slice the top layer off of your ankle or something - it stings like crazy, and it bleeds a lot, but it's nothing unmanageable. So that was good. I'm praying that it won't scar, but other than that, I think she'll heal fine. For her part, she has been clinging to that wet washcloth all day now. She's even taking it to bed with her for nap. Poor punkin - she needs to learn to stay out of things, for her own good, and for her momma's sanity!

Woohoo! I Finally Undecorated!!

Well, it's official! Christmas has FINALLY left our house! Meagan has given up on her constant Jingle Bell-ing, and today I finally took the tree down!!!! Yes, it's February. Yes, my Christmas tree was still standing until about 5:00 this evening. I started about a week ago to undecorate, but I didn't get finished. So, we've had boxes sitting in the living room for a week now, just waiting to be packed away. It's so nice to have my living room back! Only 10 months until we do it all over again! I love Christmas, but living rooms were not meant to have giant sized pine trees in them on a long-term basis *LOL*. For now, it feels good to say, 'Goodbye Christmas!'

Painted-On Tattoos

I finished this page over the course of a few nights. I think I started it this weekend? I finished it last night to unwind a little. These pictures were taken in July '07 at a park nearby. Our church had a summer rally - they had hot dogs and games, they did some dramas, and best of all, there was face painting. The boys decided they wanted 'tattoos' instead of having their faces painted. Sebastian picked a crab (LOL - Sebastian the crab! It's still following him around!), and Isaac picked a fish (which turned out to look a lot more like a shark, so we called it a shark).

Right about now, I am REALLY missing the warm weather of July!!!!

Practicing the Parent Poker-Face

Twice tonight I had to keep a straight from something each of the boys said. The first happened while I was making dinner. Meagan decided she wanted to watch Dora, so she turned the TV on. The TV, however, was set to DVD input, so when she turned it on, the screen was black. Sebastian came barrelling into the kitchen, proclaiming the world's largest emergency ever. "Mom!! I think there's an emergency! Meagan turned the TV on, and it was all black! I think the satellite fell off of the roof!! You have to go check!" A smile started to sneak out, but I held it back, and calmly told him it I could fix it in a minute.

That was a funny moment...But wait....it gets better. Although the setting and the background story are quite sad, my friend Kim and I actually had quite a good belly-laugh from this instant Isaac classic...

There is a family in our community with a little boy who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Sadly, Sunday the little boy passed away. The viewing was tonight, and Kim and I went together to pay our respects. Well, Lucas took Sebastian to wrestling practice tonight, which meant Isaac and Meagan had to go with me to the viewing. Before we left, I prepared them for what they would see. I reminded them of a family funeral we had gone to not long ago, and told Isaac it would be kind of like that, except it was a little boy who had died. He seemed to understand, or so I thought. While Kim and I spoke with the parents, Isaac and Meagan sat off to the side and colored. When it was time to go, I told the kids how well they had done - they were very well-behaved the whole time - and we went out into the entryway to get our coats. As we were putting our coats on, I could tell Isaac was thinking something over that he wanted to say. I asked him if everything was okay. He stopped and looked at me and said (with the most mystified tone of voice and confused look on his face), "But Mom....we didn't even see anybody die?" NOT what I was expecting to hear. I bit the inside of my cheek, and said quietly, "Let's talk about it in the van." Then we left...as quickly as possible (I was praying the whole time he wouldn't say anything else about it to where someone might overhear him). I glanced at Kim, and she looked like she too was trying to keep from laughing. We made it to the van and almost out of the parking lot before we both busted up laughing. The poor little guy obviously didn't understand quite what we were doing at the funeral home after all, and I think he was just plain confused. I know it was a sad evening, but leave it to my kids to bring some comic relief.

Aren't we cute!

We've had our family pictures back for about a month now, but I keep forgetting to post them. In the last week, I've had a few people ask me about them, so here there are!

What about Second Breakfast?

Well, Sebastian returned to school today, still itching a bit from his *hives?* but, all in all, feeling much better.

As he was heading out the door this morning to get on the bus, I reminded him that he was buying lunch today.
"And I do need more lunch money, Mom," he said, as though he had told me this at least 20 times before.
"Why would you need more money? Did you give your teacher the money I sent at the beginning of the month?"
"Yes."
"Then why do you need more money?"
"I don't know. Ms. Kelly just keeps telling me I need to bring more lunch money."
"That doesn't make sense. I sent plenty for the whole month. I'll call and see what's going on."
"Okay. Bye Mom."

As soon as he got on the bus, I called the school to figure out how he could possibly be low on lunch funds already. Lo and behold, my dear, darling, lovely six-year-old has been buying breakfast and lunch every day since the beginning of November. !!! No wonder I keep getting statements from the school saying his funds are getting low. I'm only paying them enough for lunch! LOL! So, he's eating breakfast at home every morning, and then going off to school to eat a second breakfast! I'm raising a hobbit!!! ("What about second breakfast?" any Lord of the Rings fans out there?) *LOL* So, I told the lady at the school to put a breakfast block on his account for now to limit the amount he's spending.

When he got home from school today, I asked him if he's been eating breakfast at school. At first, he started to say 'no' but then stopped himself and changed his answer (hallelujah! the child is finally figuring out that we often already know the answers to the questions we ask!) I told him that that was why he was running out of lunch money - because he was spending his lunch money on breakfast instead of lunch. I don't think he realized it was costing money every time he got breakfast. They don't actually exchange money for food - it's all done on account, so he would really have no way of knowing how much he was 'spending' at each meal. He told me he was sorry and he didn't mean to use up his money. No big deal - how can I be upset when he never knew, and I never told him. All that's left to do is to pay off the $15 deficit I owe the school at the moment...and apparently I'm going to have to start feeding the child more at home before he leaves for school!

Holy Moly Batman, You're covered in red spots!

It started yesterday around 3:30, when I got a call at work from Nicole saying Meagan was running a 102.6 fever and was complaining of being dizzy (I didn't even know she knew what dizzy meant, but apparently so!) and saying her thumb hurt really badly. So, I packed up and left work earlier than planned. When I got to Nicole's the kids were having snack, and Meagan seemed to be acting fairly normal, other than when she would get up to walk she was a little woozy, and she screamed like a maniac if anyone even looked at her thumb. We examined her poor little thumb, but it was so black/blue/purple and ugly that we couldn't see anything because of how dark her skin was around the opening. As a precaution, I called and made an appointment with our family doctor for this morning at 8:30. And that was that...for a while.

When we left Nicole's I loaded the kids up in the van and made a bank run. On our way back home, about a block from our house, Meagan says, 'I have a full tummy.' I figured she was full because she had a pretty big snack of pretzels and apple slices, and I didn't think much of it...that is, until we walked into our house and she threw up all over the kitchen floor. 'I spit out on the floor!!!!!' she wailed! I took her coat of (yes, she threw up down the inside of her coat...lovely, isn't it?) and got her into the bathroom and got her cleaned up. So now I'm thinking, is this because of a bug, or is her thumb infected and that's what's causing it. Still, I didn't see anything overly alarming about her thumb, so I decided to wait it out and see how the evening went.

Her fever fluctuated quite a bit through the evening, spiking up but coming back down to a reasonable level with Tylenol. She didn't each anything at all for dinner, but she was drinking fine, so I didn't push the issue. She laid on her Dora beanbag couch (thanks Grandma & Grandpa!!) and watched TV most of the evening. Occasionally she got up and attempted to play with the boys, but she kept finding her way back to Dora...I could tell she wasn't feeling too well. Around 7:30, I went into the living room to check on her, and she had fallen asleep on her Dora couch. When we put the boys to bed at 8:00, we just left her where she was and let her sleep.

When Lucas and I went up to bed around 10:00, she woke up. So, we drug her Dora couch and her blanket up into our room and let her sleep on the floor in our room (we figured she was inevitably going to wind up in our room at some time during the night anyway, so we may as well be proactive and just stick her in there to start with *LOL*). She watched American Idol with us, and eventually fell asleep. She had a rough night, waking up every half hour or so, so I didn't get a lot of sleep, but no worries...I had already braced myself for lots of interrupted sleep.

I was surprised though, when a noise woke me up around 1:30 or so. I figured it was Meagan again, but when I peeked down at her, she was sound asleep. Then I realized our bathroom light was on (funny how things take a minute to register when you're tired). It was Sebastian. He had come into our bedroom - probably to tell me he wasn't feeling well - and ended up in our bathroom getting sick. Poor guy. But any suspicions that Meagan's thumb was causing her sickness went right out the window...now that 2 kids are at it, it's more than likely a bug.

I got Sebastian straightened out, cleaned up, and back into bed (on a blanket on the floor so he could get to the bathroom faster if he needed to). After that, for the most part, the night was pretty uneventful.

We woke up late this morning for the doctor's appointment, so we were kind of rushing around to get dressed and ready. I was in my room looking for clothes for Meagan (because all of our clean kid laundry is in baskets in my room right now), when Sebastian came in. "Mom, my back is really itchy. It's driving me crazy!" I figured he had dry skin, like he often does. I told him to turn around so I could check it out, but I was not expecting what I saw when he picked up his shirt. His entire back, neck, sides, and lower torso, as well as forehead and hairline were covered in red spots all over. My first thought was CHICKEN POX. But at closer look, the spots didn't look like I remembered chicken pox looking. Thankfully, we were heading to the doctor.

Well, as I ultimately suspected, Meagan's thumb was not the trouble. She has a bug that seems to be going around...so does Sebastian. But Sebastian also has some other upper respiratory junk that he had to have an antibiotic for. And what's the deal with the rash? Our doctor said it's an immune system reaction to something his body is fighting off...how getting an itchy rash is supposed to help your body, I have no idea. But he gave him a steroid to treat it. So, obviously, no school for Sebastian today. No church for anyone tonight, and tomorrow is yet to be determined. I guess I'll spend today cleaning the house since I can't really get much work done from home right now. We'll just go with it, and I'll try to get our house germ-free so we can be done with all the yucks! Keep us in your prayers!

Modern version of soap in the mouth

Today was interesting. Pretty normal for the most part, really, except there was no school. So I left work early to go get the kids from Nicole's so we could spend the afternoon together. When I got there, though, she said she was having a language issue with my darling first-born. He decided today to experiment with using naughty words - in particular the a** word. I asked him about it, and he admitted that he had said it. I told him if he wasn't a big enough boy to choose his words better than that, he was going to take a nap like a baby.

When we walked in the house, Lucas was home, so Sebastian had to explain to his dad why he had to take a nap. He got a second round of scolding (and rightly so), then was sent to bed. All was well for a moment. It wasn't long before I went upstairs to check on Meagan, and I caught Sebastian in the middle of his room playing. Hmm...he got himself in some big trouble for that. When Lucas heard that he had disobeyed and gotten out of bed, Lucas went upstairs to have a chat with him. 'Since taking a nap is obviously too easy of a punishment for you and you're not taking it seriously, I guess we'll have to give you something else to do.' So he gave Sebastian the task of cleaning up the entire basement all on his own...while Isaac sat down there and played play station. Ouch. That hurts. It took Sebastian about an hour and a half or so to clean it up...there were a LOT of toys to put away. Not once did he complain. And only once or twice did I have to prompt him to stop watching his brother play and finish his work. All in all, I got a clean basement out of the deal, and I'm pretty sure Sebastian got the point. Let's hope he thinks twice before trying out ugly words again.

Sweet Girls

Here's a layout I finished last night. I had a whole series of pictures of Meagan and Keylee (our neighbor) that I hadn't done anything with yet. A lot of the pictures were blurred because the girls were playing on the swing set, but some of them turned out really cute. Aren't they pretty girls?! I love the sun hitting their blond hair(s) *lol*.

Itty Bitty

I started this layout a few nights ago. I went back and looked at it again last night and decided to totally ditch what I had done and start over...not out anything but time, right?! Tonight I got my 2007 bank accounts reconciled for work, so, to celebrate, I figured I should do some scrapbooking!


This picture is old (LOL)! Sebastian was 5 days old when this was taken. So many things about this picture brought back memories - especially about that house. Sometimes I miss that house - it had cool character (that's code for drafty windows and peeling paint - LOL). But what I remember most from looking at this picture is the rough ride we went through trying to adjust to being parents. For some reason, I had had it in my head that it wasn't going to be as difficult as everyone said. In some ways, it really wasn't. But in many ways, I WAY underestimated the power of the itty bitty baby. I still have to laugh at myself for calling the hospital the night we brought him home! I was freaked out because he kept throwing up on absolutely everything...he just wouldn't stop! I thought I had done something wrong. I mean, he didn't puke like that in the hospital, so why was he doing it now?! But we managed to get our bearings and muddle our way through until we kinda sorta figured out what we were doing.


I remember taking this picture. It was a non-puking, uneventful, peaceful, quiet moment. I grabbed my camera (like always) because it was just so cute the way Sebastian fit so snuggly and perfect in Lucas' lap. Wasn't he cute? Hard to believe he was once that teeny tiny. Man, time flies.


Journaling: Five days into parenthood, we still had lots to learn. But Lucas had already learned all he needed to know...that his lap was the perfect fit for his sleepy, itty bitty baby boy. When you have that figured out, what else could possibly matter more?

The Macaroni Rules

Macaroni and cheese has been the source of much drama in our home for several months now, and last night's dinner was no different. We had the good-ol' mac n cheese standby for dinner, and you would have thought Isaac was going to die from it! He was sent to his room 3 different times to calm down before he ever even took his first bite, and then he was sent a fourth time for throwing a fit because it was cold by then. Sheesh.

I'm not sure what brought about this drastic change in taste. He used to gobble the stuff up, but now it may as well be poison. However, he does have some exceptions to his total macaroni boycott. The rules of macaroni engagement are as follows:

1. Kraft macaroni & cheese is unacceptable. If it's boxed macaroni, with the little skinny noodles, the only hope of cooperation is if it's Meijer Brand. Go figure.
2. Absolutely NO shaped noodles - no cartoons, no seashells, no spirals - especially no spirals! UNLESS....
3. Shapes can be mixed, and then the macaroni is the best food on earth. But only if the combination of shapes includes one box of cartoon shapes and one box of spirals. All other combinations are out of the question.
4. The best hope for macaroni consumption is fat macaroni. By this I mean something like KFC or Bob Evans or Stouffers. Fat macaroni is obviously of a much higher quality, and therefore is more acceptable for his delicate taste buds (or whatever)!

So basically the problem with dinner last night is that I broke all the rules. I served Kraft. No shape combinations. Definitely not fat macaroni. As a result, he went all drama on us, and dinner was one of those dinner-times that we struggled to get to the end of. Poor kid - if he only realized how many dinner-time stand-off's I've endured with Sebastian, maybe he would also realize he would be much better off to just accept his fate and eat the macaroni.

OUCH!

Tuesday was an interesting day. The morning started out great - everyone was listening well, and playing together well, and getting along well....that is, until tooth-brushing time. After Meagan brushed her teeth, something went sour between she and Isaac. They started arguing - I think she was being a pesty little sister and invading his space on the step stool and so forth. I tried to distract her and get her to follow me into my room while he finished up, but my plan didn't work as I'd hoped. I went, but she didn't follow. The next thing I realized, I heard the door shut, and Meagan start crying. I figured he had gotten her out of the bathroom somehow and shut the door and made her mad. But quickly the scream escalated to a shriek, and I knew there was something more to it than she was mad.

I walked back around the corner to find the door shut on her thumb...I mean all the way shut. So, I tried to open the door...it was LOCKED. So now we have Meagan screaming and trying to rip her thumb out of the door, I'm pounding on the door trying to scream louder than Meagan so Isaac can hear me, but he has his head in the sink with the water running. I pounded on the door and yelled for Isaac to open it, to which he responded, 'I'm brushing my teeth, just a minute.' 'OPEN THE DOOR NOW OR I'LL KICK IT IN!' He opened the door, and her thumb was freed.

She looked at her thumb, then looked at me and said, 'Mom, I think I need a band-aid!!!' Then she stuck her hand up over her head (so, the blood was gushing in her hair...ew). So, we got gathered up and ready. I took Isaac to Nicole's and Meagan and I headed to the ER.

After x-rays and lots of people peeking and examining, they determined that there was nothing broken or dislocated internally. Externally was a different story - NASTY. The doctor wanted to stitch the cut, but he said the tissue was too soft and torn, and stitches would pull through the skin - YUCK! They had to burn a hole in her fingernail to relieve pressure and then put a gauze splint on her thumb. Let me tell you, she didn't appreciate having a hole burnt in her finger! She yelled at the doctor, 'I DON'T LIKE THAT HOT THIIIIIIING!' And every time someone would look at it but not fix it, she would say, 'IT'S NOT ALL BETTER YET! YOU HAVE TO FIX IT!' The doctor just laughed and said, 'Wow, she has an opinion about things, doesn't she?' That doctor has no idea (LOL).

When we got back, Isaac gave her a big hug and apologized. She said, 'That's okay Isaac. It just hurts.' What a goofball she is.

We went back today for a follow-up at our family doctor. He took the splint off and checked it out. She's healing fine, although it looks ugly! Then he just put 2 band-aids on it (she finally got her band-aid). She still refuses to use her right hand for anything, but I'd say she'll be just fine.

Oh Mut Pun

Meagan is still hanging on to Christmas, and she's doing it in the form of Jingle Bells. She walks around the house singing it. She sits at the dinner table and sings it. She commands the rest of us to join in. She is a Jingle Bell maniac.

I have to admit, Jingle Bells is not one of my favorite Christmas songs to begin with, so under normal circumstances, I would have grown quite tired of hearing it sung over and over by now. But I have to forgive her, and, I even sometimes encourage her to sing it, because when she sings it it's funny. Her version is, 'Jingle Bells, jingle bells, jingle a du bay. Oh mut pun it is to ride in a [mumble mumble] horse say. HEY!'

I gotta say, OH MUT PUN gets me every time!

Did I hear a 'Roger' in there?

Aah, the sounds of morning at our house...wake up on a Sunday morning, to the peaceful sound of ....

BEEEEEEEEEEEP....'(crackle crackle) I'm upstairs playing Legos. What are you doing? (crackle crackle)'

'(static, crackle) Roger. I'm in the basement. Over.'

BEEEEP... 'Roger that. Are you having fun? Over.'

And the conversation went on for several minutes in much the same fashion...a normal conversation being held in the midst of static and Rogers and Overs. I laid there and listened to them for a minute, smiling to myself. Then I rolled over, and opened my eyes a crack, only to find Lucas looking back at me. 'Did I hear a Roger in there?' We both cracked up laughing. What a classic moment in raising boys. Gotta love waking up to the sound of walkie-talkies!

Put it in perspective

Well, I thought I was having a bad day yesterday...until I got a call from Nicole saying that Sebastian was covered in puke, and could I please come get him so he could change his clothes. That's all it took to change my perspective - apparently my day wasn't going so badly after all. I guess he was on the bus and a little girl nearby just sort of lost it...in Sebastian's general direction. It got on his coat, his pants, and a little speck (that he completely had a cow about) on his lunchbox. So I rushed home to rescue him and spent part of my evening washing someone else's kid's throw-up...eww. But all in all, relatively speaking anyway, my day wasn't so bad after all.

Old School

What a funny way to spend the evening. We had some running around to do yesterday, so after dinner, we all loaded into the van and headed out. We stopped at Meijer for a few errands...get the boring stuff out of the way. Then we headed to Wal-Mart for some shopping with Christmas money. Meagan picked out another set of furniture for her doll house, and Lucas bought 2000 wii points (I looked at stuff for my ipod but couldn't make up my mind, so I decided to wait). When we got home, we used the wii points to download games - OLD SCHOOL games, like from the very first Nintendo system that we had when we were kids! Lucas picked Legend of Zelda, and I picked Super Mario 3....I LOVE that game! Erica and I used to spend hours in front of the tv playing 2-player Super Mario.

We played a little. Then we let the boys have a turn - I think the 2-D threw them off. Maybe the games were so simple they were complicated? When the kids went to bed, Lucas and I played 2-player Mario for about 2 hours. We didn't get very far, and we kept having to hit continue (especially for Lucas) because we kept running out of lives. But it was lots of fun! We laughed quite a bit. It's funny, I played so much when I was little that I still kind of remember where the secrets are almost twenty years later. I had forgotten how much I used to enjoy playing Mario. Aah, childhood memories...LOL! Gotta love old school games! Now I'm just waiting for paperboy! LOL!

Night off

What a nice husband I have! Last night he bought dinner (Rally's just opened here in town - I hadn't had Rally's for a LONG time), he put away laundry, he did the dishwasher, and he swept the kitchen floor...and put the kids to bed (after which he crashed, since he was home sick yesterday, and all that work wore him out). And because he did all of that, I was able to talk to my mom on the phone for a while, make two mii's on wii (making mii's is my new addiction by the way), and then come down to the basement to scrapbook. (Wow, this post is making me sound like such a bad wife - LOL!) It was definitely relaxing to have the night off! Here's what I did with my time:


I guess the picture probably looks pretty familiar, since I just posted it yesterday! It's Sebastian playing in the snow on New Year's Day. I adore the look of pure joy on his face. He's such a cutie!

New Year's Day

A few days late, I know, but HAPPY NEW YEAR! We spent New Year's Day just hanging out and enjoying life. Lucas went out to clear the driveway and sidewalks, and we all followed him out to play in the snow. I got the kids all bundled up, handed them some buckets, grabbed my camera (of course), and out the door we went.

They tried to build a snow fort, or a snow man (either one would have done fine for them), but neither one worked. Not quite the right kind of snow for building. It almost stayed together, but then crumbled in the end. Oh well. They were more than happy to resort to snow angels (or snow belly-flops as Isaac's version goes). They hid in the tree 'snow fort', which was basically a low-hanging branch of one of our pine trees that was weighed down with snow. They even attempted snow balls (which really didn't work so well, for the same reason the snow man and snow fort didn't work, but they still had fun trying). And they made a big game out of making a million tracks in the snow.

I'd say we were out for about an hour. When we finally headed inside (once my camera battery died LOL, and Lucas was done with the snow blowing), we had homemade apple pie and hot chocolate to warm up. Other than that, we played wii, and just hung out. We had a great New Year. I hope you all enjoyed the holidays - and Dad, I hope you had a happy birthday - sorry I missed you when I called.

Tomorrow is the last weekday of Sebastian's school break. Monday he heads back to school, and we have to work to get back to our 'normal' schedule, whatever that is. I'm not working tomorrow, so I'm thinking we'll head to motor development in the morning, and maybe the library in the afternoon before nap. (Maybe the library will be pushing it? We'll see).

Not a resolution...more like an 'I'd like to"

I have to laugh at myself. I was reading some old blog posts, just looking back over the year 2007, and I read one that indicated I felt really bad about missing ONE day of blogging! LOL! Now I think I'm doing great if I get something posted every couple of days! My how times change...actually I think it might have something to do with the projects going on at work that seem to be commanding quite a bit of my attention for the last few months. The good news is I can see the light - I really truly expect it to level off within the next month-ish. Keeping my fingers crossed and plugging along until I get there.

I'm definitely not making any promises, but I really would LIKE to get back to posting more often. I think when I blog it forces me to rethink the day, and the little things that have happened that I might otherwise forget about. Like I was just rereading a post from last Feb. when I got my grocery cart stuck in the snow. I had totally forgotten about it, but when I read that post again, it all came back to me...that was a pretty funny experience actually.

I'm not one for resolutions for the new year, but this will be one of my goals for the year - to post at least 14 posts each month...think I can do it? I hope! I'll try...

S'mores Ornaments

FINALLY! After nearly 2 months without scrapping, I finally broke down and did a layout. Of course, this required me to deliberately ignore all of the other things that are much more urgent, and therefore should be higher priority. But I've been doing the 'responsible' thing non-stop for weeks without allowing myself much of a break (unless you count Christmas shopping, which wasn't really all that leisurely). So, I decided to be a bit selfish with my time today...since it is a holiday and all.

Back in November, while we were at Grandma & Grandpa H's house, the kids did some Christmas projects (of course, since Grandma H. is the project queen). They did a gingerbread house and some penguin ornaments. Then, Sebastian got the idea to make s'mores snowman ornaments out of marshmallows. He decided they could make their own ornaments like the ones hanging on Grandma's tree. Cute idea, really. So, they dug out whatever supplies they had on hand and set to work. They all 4 made one - Grandma included. So, here's the layout to capture their ornaments.

Journaling: On Thanksgiving break, Sebastian had a great thought. Let's make s'mores snowmen! We'll like them a lot! So they got the marshmallows, chocolate and white, and as they created, their hearts filled with delight. They put on the scarves, the noses and eyes. Then they showed them to Mommy. What a great surprise!

Do you believe in miracles?

I have a story for you. You can decide for yourself if you believe there was any divine intervention. I know what I think...

For his birthday, Isaac got a Notre Dame jersey and a Pirates of the Caribbean movie/computer game combo pack, among other gifts. We loaded everything up from the party, stuck it in the van, and headed to Lucas' parents' for Christmas. The next day, after opening gifts, we packed up the van once more and headed back to my parents' house for another Christmas celebration. Isaac was wearing his new jersey.

We spent the day at my parents. The kids played; we all opened our gifts, sat around and had lunch, and just hung out. We ended up having to stay the night due to the weather (which I already shared in a previous post). So, the next morning, once more, we loaded the van, which was packed to the brim at this point, and headed home.

When we got home, we unloaded everything. Lucas went through all the gift bags and took each new toy, game, movie, and article of clothing out and put it away. When he was done, he asked me what I had done with Isaac's Pirate movie. I told him that I had put it in the red and blue gift bag with some other gifts. He told me that he had seen the other gifts, but not the movie. We looked through everything once more. We looked in the boys' room, in Meagan's room, and even under the tree more than once. No movie. We called our parents and asked them to search. Lucas even went out and dug through the boxes and bags in the garbage to make sure it hadn't been thrown away. Still no movie.

The next day, I was putting the rest of the laundry away. I noticed that Meagan and Sebastian's blue ND jerseys were there, but not Isaac's green jersey. So, yet another search began. I looked in everything - under everything - pretty much everywhere I could think. No jersey. Again, I called my mom and Lucas' mom, and asked them to look. We even went back to pictures we had taken to see if we could see the last place Isaac was wearing his jersey. I had a picture of him wearing it just before we left Guy & Jane's, but we couldn't find any pictures of it on him afterward. Not very helpful.

At this point, I was getting mad. It was almost like things were disappearing right out from under our noses. I know I tend to be a bit scatterbrained, but this was beyond that - it was just plain ridiculous. So I prayed and asked God to return them to us or show us where to look. It seemed like a funny thing to pray about, but I prayed it just the same.

Well, the last time we had seen either of the two gifts was on the 15th (the movie, as we packed up to leave Isaac's party) and 16th (when Isaac was wearing his jersey). Nine days later we find ourselves at our house on Christmas morning opening gifts. I had just given a gift to Lucas. I turned back toward the tree just in time to see Meagan reach into the middle of the present pile and pull out the unwrapped Pirates movie and computer game. Just like it had been there the whole time. I think my jaw might have hit the floor. I know I had looked under the tree two or three times. I know Lucas looked. And each of us looked again as we were putting our gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve. That movie was not there earlier. I will never be convinced that it had been there the whole time and we just continually overlooked it...it was NOT there. Yet, somehow, on Christmas morning, it appeared under the tree, right under our noses as if it had never been gone. At that moment, I thanked God, and I asked again, 'now, can we just have the jersey back.'

About 20 minutes later, the phone rang. My mom had found the jersey. It had somehow gotten shoved into the tiniest opening underneath a big set of drawers in one of her guest rooms. Why it was there, I have no idea. She had looked in that room a few times already, but she felt prompted to look again. She looked through the closet with no results. So she laid down on her back on the floor, and turned her head in thought. As she did, something caught her eye...no other way besides getting down to where she was would she ever have been able to find that silly shirt. Yet, she found it. Very cool.

Now, maybe it was just a long string of coincidences. Maybe we had misplaced the movie under the tree and repeatedly overlooked it. Maybe Meagan had stashed it away, just waiting for the perfect moment to reveal her hidden treasure. Maybe. But I don't think so. And maybe my mom would have eventually come across the jersey tucked away in the most obscure spot imaginable. Maybe she would have looked there, but it's unlikely - really, it would be much easier to believe that there was no way the jersey could have gotten under that particular piece of furniture to begin with. For my part, I choose to believe that God returned to us what had been lost, and helped us to find what we may never have otherwise found. I believe it because He's just cool like that! And what better day to show up with a miracle than on Christmas?

wii wish you a Merry Christmas!

What an absolutely beautiful Christmas we had! This year we continued our 'tradition' that we started last year - camping by the tree. So, on the 23rd (because they can't be in the living room in tents when Santa comes to bring the presents, you know), we set up their tents in the living room. We all watched the 3rd Pirates movie together (finally...long story...I'll share in another later), then the kids went to sleep in their tents with Christmas music and Christmas tree lights on. (Don't you love Meagan's static?)





Christmas Eve, we kept up our tradition of eating at The Gavel, a little hometown restaurant here. Our first Christmas here, right after we moved in, for some reason or other (which I can't seem to remember right now...maybe we didn't have our kitchen appliances yet?) we decided to go out to eat for dinner. Every year since, we've had Christmas Eve dinner at the Gavel. Anyway...after dinner, we came home and let the kids open their one gift for Christmas Eve (yet another little tradition we have around here). This year, Meagan got a Dora Play-Dough set, adn the boys got Moon Sand (which might possibly be the messiest gift ever! We've postponed further moon sand playing until spring when they can go OUTSIDE). Then we headed to church for the candlelight service (which started at 9:00...wow, that's an hour past our kids' bedtime, which meant it was 2+ hours past bedtime when they actually went to bed...but it was worth it). I didn't get a chance to take pictures before we left, so I attempted it when we got home...they look pretty whooped, don't they?!




Well, around 6:30 Christmas morning, Meagan came in and got in bed with us, but, thankfully, she was willing to lay still and go back to sleep! Sebastian got up about an hour later, and the rest of us got up about a half-hour after that. Meagan sort of jumped the gun on opening presents...before we got out of bed, I heard her in the living room shouting "Wow, my very own dragon!" after which I got up quickly (LOL). Other than that, Christmas morning went off without a hitch. The boys liked all of their gifts - they've got quite a transformer collection now - and Meagan loved her dollhouse (she calls it her princess castle). I was super excited to get an ipod!!!!! and I spent at least an hour in the evening downloading songs with all of my itunes cards I got for Christmas! And Lucas' favorite gift, I would have to say is the wii. Thanks to our favorite Canadians, we had a wii under the tree this year! We wii boxed and bowled and played tennis, and boxed some more. And my arms turned to jello-y mush, and my shoulders stopped moving the way they're supposed to move, and I'm just all-together sore right now. But it is WAY more fun the I was expecting.


I think tonight was our last bit of Christmas celebration. We went to dinner with the church staff and spouses to celebrate Christmas together. We had a great night and I got to eat turtle cheesecake and drink Mt. Dew, which is always a good thing. Now, we're off to bed to watch The Order of the Phoenix until we fall asleep (for the 3rd night in a row...we aren't getting very far...we're only at Christmas break...maybe tonight we'll stay awake for more than 20 minutes). Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! (Oh, and sorry I didn't get my Christmas cards out - I lost my address book and didn't get around to recollecting addresses in time. Which means I could use your addresses sent to me again in some form or fashion if you get a second...thanks!) Goodnight!

A reminder to me

This evening I went out to pick up dinner...we had a busy cleaning day, and it was 6:00 when I stopped, and by then I was out of time to prepare and cook anything that we have...anyway, not the point of my story, so I'll move on. On the way home, as I turned down our road, I was taken back to December 2004 - the night we bought our house. We turned down that same road - the road we now travel without a second thought - in the dark cold. The road was lit, just like tonight, with Christmas lights on many of the houses. I remember Lucas commenting how well the kids would like our road because of all the lights. I remember how excited I felt as we passed all the lit houses - excited to be moving to a small town in a new state - excited to be moving into such a nice, new house with new windows and a working furnace - and a little nervous about the next few days and all they would bring. But I mostly remember being overwhelmed with gratefulness at all that God had given us and brought us through. I was so thankful. And tonight I was ashamed of myself, because I realized how quickly I have begun to take it all for granted. Instead of excitement about the lights, I have thoughts about how tacky some of the yard ornaments are. Instead of anticipating the drive down the little side street that we live on, I grumble in my head because it's not plowed properly. And I open the garage and pull in and park without giving a second thought to all that we have been blessed with. Shame on me. Instantly my heart flooded with a renewed sense of thankfulness - a realization of how very blessed we really are and how much we have to be grateful for. I hope I don't forget so easily again all I have been reminded of this evening.

The last few days...

Ta Dah!! Done with Christmas (other than buying 1 pack of undies for Sebastian's stocking)! Everything is bought, wrapped, tagged and accounted for! Now I'm TIRED!

This morning the kids and I left the house around 10:00 and headed to Target and the mall. Then, later this afternoon, I finished up at Wal-Mart. While the day was full of momentary frustrations, I am happy to say that I (for the most part) kept my cool, wasn't rude - which took lots of effort at times - and I got quite a bit done in the end.

I even put a basket of small things together to take to a family here in town This family has 6 kids, and the youngest is on hospice care for a brain tumor. The mom has had to quit her job to be with him, so they've found themselves in a really tough spot. What I put together for them really isn't much, but I hope it's enough to let them know that people care - that God cares. I'm excited to give it to them...maybe tomorrow. If not, probably Monday.

Well, this past Tuesday we celebrated Isaac's actual birthday. My second baby is FIVE! Yikes! That evening was not only Isaac's birthday, but also Sebastian's school Christmas music program. So, for dinner we stayed in town and headed to Pizza Hut. Sebastian had earned a free pizza for book-it (funny, I remember those from when I was in elementary), and Isaac wanted pizza, so it just kind of worked out. We had dinner, then headed back to the house for presents and cookies. (He picked ice cream cone cookies instead of cake. I must admit, they looked a lot better than they tasted...oh well, he liked them).

Sebastian's musical started at 7:45 at night...WHAT! HE'S IN 1ST GRADE...SHOULDN'T HE BE GOING TO BED AROUND THEN? Oh well. They said 7:45, so that's what we did. It was pretty cute. During one song I was having difficulties videoing because I was laughing so hard. It was a rap - yes, a Christmas rap done by 1st and 2nd graders. 'You're puny. You're small. You're not even tall.' And then, while they were rapping, they were bending and clapping and dong motions....um, can you say NO RHYTHM! It was the funniest thing I've seen for quite some time. I tried to control myself, but try as I might, the camera was still shaking, and I am quite sure that we'll hear me laughing on the video when we replay it.

Oh the things she will say

Here are a few funny things Meagan has said, or has been saying regularly lately. Just want to record it now so I don't forget it later...

1) The other day, she stopped playing and came running over to me hysterical. 'Mommy! Fix it!' 'What's the matter Meg?' 'My eye is dancing! Will you kiss it?' (she had a twitch).

2) Every time she pees on the potty she peeks in and says, "Is it yellow? Like an egg? Yep, it's yellow."

3) YETTI YETTI YETTI!!! (This is her call to Daddy whenever she wants his attention. All my fellow parents of toddlers out there will probably recognize this from the Backyardigans. Gotta love the yetti stomp!)

4) A friend of mine was telling me a discipline technique she has used on her kids for years. It's called 1-2-3- Magic. Well, I started putting it into practice on Meagan, since we're having such attitude and obedience issues with her. The idea is give 3 warnings and then put her directly into timeout. That's not all of it, but that's the gist for this story. Anyway, true to form, she has found a way to get in the last word. The other day I gave her her first warning - 'Meagan this is 1.' Her reply: 'And 2 and 3.' So, since she had gotten to 3, I put her in timeout (it was the only thing I could think of to take back the last word, so to speak.)

Happy Birthday! Merry Christmas?

Wow, the last few weeks have been a blur. Life has definitely gotten in the way of blogging (LOL)! I've been going going going between work and kids and church and Christmas shopping and traveling and housework. And on top of it all, my husband wants me to scout out wii's (LOL)! He must think I have nothing else to do!

Friday we headed down south to visit family, have Isaac's birthday party, and celebrate Christmas (since we're all together). Saturday was Isaac's party. We reserved the rec hall at the refinery, so there would be room to run and play...winter parties are tricky when it comes to finding room for everyone to hang out. We ordered pizza, had cake, and just kicked back...well sort of. It still required a lot of energy setting up and tearing down and all that jazz. He had a good party, though. Transformers. Gotta love Optimus Prime.

Speaking of birthdays, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND KELLI!

Last night we headed down to Lucas's parents' house to spend the evening. I had some last minute running to do (finishing Christmas shopping for today, to be exact). It was midnight before I tucked into bed, and nearly 2:00 before Tina got home from work and the guys called it a night. Then we got up at 6:30 this morning...well, I did. When I got up Sebastian and Jane were already in the kitchen eating warm cinnamon rolls. Meagan was just heading up the stairs ahead of me. Guy went and picked up Great-Grandma and brought her over to the house to have Christmas with us. It was awesome to get to see her and spend some form of holiday with her. We usually don't get to do that. Anyway, it took nearly 2 hours to open all the presents, just in time to load up the abominable snow van and head back to my parents' house for another Christmas.

Well, let's just say the usually-40-minute drive took us an hour and ten minutes, and more than once we skated our way across ice on major highways. There was a horrible crosswind and cars and trucks and semis stuck in ditches and snow banks all over the place. So we counted ourselves lucky to make it on our short trip safely, and we decided not to travel home tonight. Lucas called his bosses and told them...they laughed at him. I will just have to do payroll remotely from home and have someone put the checks in the printer for me. And Sebastian will have to take a snow day off of school. Oh well. Hopefully tomorrow will bring better road conditions.

So, for the evening, we're just chillin' here. I may try to get a little work done....maybe we'll watch a movie or two. Just take it easy and recoup from a busy busy couple of weeks.

For the First Time Ever

I finally bought something on ebay! I have been trying and trying to find an Optimus Prime for Sebastian, but they've been sold out for weeks (if not longer). I thought I had another plan when I found a smaller version at Toys R Us online, but that ended up selling out before I got around to ordering it. Eeeek. This is like the one main thing he wants for Christmas, and I haven't been able to find it! So this afternoon, I got up the determination to check on ebay. There were several of them. The one I got was the most reasonably priced, although shipping was a couple bucks higher than some of the others. All in all, though, I ended up spending only about $10 more than I would have to buy it online and pay shipping. So not too bad. Hopefully it gets here in time! But I was pretty proud of myself for finally breaking through my ebay barrier that I've been living with for years!

Little Miss Sunshine

I started to post this the other day, but got distracted. Better late than never.

This may not be funny to anyone else - especially if you haven't seen the movie Little Miss Sunshine. Well, our van is really starting to act up on us, but in weird ways. Like, the heater fan only works on setting 3 or higher; The driver's window gets stuck about half way down and you have to give it a push to get it down the rest of the way; the Traction Control System is moody and works only some of the time; and - my personal favorite - the tail lights are totally wonky... hazard lights come on when you back up, the right turn signal doesn't work right if the lights are on, and the reverse lights come on when you hit the breaks.

The other night when we were leaving JC Penny after getting our pictures done, something started acting up in the van (I think the TCS warning light came on or something), and Lucas, with his hilarious and somewhat dry sense of humor, says how much he loves our van - 'Just call me Little Miss Sunshine' he says. It struck me as soooo funny - maybe because all you can do is laugh when there's nothing else to be done - and I just cracked up. I laughed until my cheeks hurt. I could just picture us driving down the road, warning lights on, driver's window half-way down, hazard lights blinking and reverse lights on....thank God that (at least for the time being) we don't have to push start the van on a decline, and we can drive down the road without the horn honking involuntarily! I think at that point it would be time for a new van. :)

Round Two?

Remember the PB&J incident a few weeks ago? Well....today at lunch, I saw a glimpse of proof that Meagan remembers it too! She was having a fit about having to sit down in her chair. So to make her point, she decided she was going to boycott eating. She took her turkey off of her sandwich and hauled back to toss it. But as her arm swung forward, instead of letting it fly, she hesitated and held on tight. Then she stuck it in her mouth right away and look at me and said, 'mmmmm.' I just smiled to myself. What looked like the beginnings of round two turned out to be a hint of success. Still, though, we have a long road ahead of us with this girl!

I survived my worst nightmare!

Wow, what a day! I think I packed maybe one too many things into the last 24 hours, beginning with last night, when I decided to stay up to watch Lady in the Water until midnight when I should have gone to bed around the time we started watching it. Oh well.

Anyway, today was full - I worked this morning. I left around 1:30 and got home in time to eat lunch (and watch 10 minutes of the E True Hollywood Story of NSYNC while I ate my microwave burritos - a ten minutes that just made my day complete, as I'm sure you can imagine). After that fulfilling 10 minutes of daytime television viewing, I started getting ready for our family pictures later this evening. First I threw a load of laundry in - the clothes we were going to wear for our pictures...white shirts and jeans...new jeans I might add...all in one load...I later discovered this wasn't the best decision I've ever made. Anyway, after starting the laundry, I cut Isaac's hair...with a broken set of clippers...so I nearly buzzed the side of his head down to nothing when the 1/4 inch shield fell off as I was getting ready to cut...that would have made a great family picture hair style! Then, while he was getting a bath after his haircut, I decided to dye my own hair...what phenomenal timing I have. So, I put the gunk on my head, and then washed him off, got him out and got him dressed while it sat. Then, I jumped in the shower to rinse the color out...in the process, I managed to somehow stain my bathroom door with hair dye??? I also managed to get dye splattered all over the inside of my shower...it looked like someone had been severely injured in my shower. But, I got all the color rinsed out and got my hair dried just in time to rush off to pick Sebastian up from school. Then off to the bank. Then back to the house to get dressed.

When I pulled the clothes out of the dryer, I noticed a blue spot on my shirt. Then I noticed one on Meagan's. AAAAAHHH! Did I really just turn our new white shirts blue? Yes, I think I did. Oh well, it's either wear blue/white shirts or go naked at this point. So I opted for the shirts. I don't think the discoloration actually showed up the in the pictures, so no harm done. White shirts are really for wearing underneath clothes anyway, right? (LOL - at least that's what I'm telling myself to make myself feel better. Maybe I'll try bleaching them tomorrow.)

Anyway...we got to pictures on time, and thank God we didn't have to wait very long before we went in. We started out with pictures of all 5 of us. Then pictures of just the 3 kids. The family pictures went fairly smoothly. The first picture of the 3 kids went okay. But we had been there for about a half hour by now, and Meagan was quickly approaching her limit. She was actually doing well. But the photographer would get her in position and then would say something to one of the boys - 'Isaac sit up straight,' or 'Sebastian put your hand on your knee.' Whatever instruction she gave to the boys, Meagan would follow also....totally undoing any position we had accomplished with Meagan just moments earlier. Aaaah! We tried. But the more we tried to get all 3 of them situated, the more Meagan lost interest. Then Isaac quickly followed. Then Sebastian's eyes started drooping. It was definitely time to wrap it up! So we called it quits on the kids' pictures. I gave them each a baggie of cereal to snack on while Lucas and I took a few quick pictures together. Then we were done....or so we thought.

I didn't get to actually see our pictures, let alone place the order, for another 20 minutes or so. So needless to say, it was a long night, and everyone was hungry and ready to go. As soon as we could, we headed down the street to Red Robin. Mmmmm, I love Red Robin burgers...usually.

We were so hungry, we didn't even look at our menus. When our waitress came to take our drink orders, we just went ahead and ordered....my mistake. The food came. I started eating. I checked for mayo, as always, and saw nothing but a BIG pile of lettuce...but it didn't register (at least not until later) that half of the lettuce stuck to the bun when I picked it up, while the other half stayed on the burger...hmmm, I wonder what's making that lettuce stick...nope, that didn't register at all. I started eating. Because I'm weird, I ate around the outside part of the sandwich first...just something I do...the middle part of the sandwich usually has all the good stuff, so I save the best for last. But tonight, the closer I got to the middle of the sandwich, the more I thought, 'Hmm, this tastes weird... Ew, that tastes kind of funky... Is the tomato bad?... Okay, I think I'm done eating.'

At that point, I sat the sandwich back down on the table. When I did, a piece of tomato rolled off of the sandwich, COVERED IN WHITE STUFF! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! I started cringing and shivering as the realization of what I had just done began to sink in. I was hit with this uncontrollable gag reflex like I could not begin to explain. Lucas about lost it laughing at me while I sat across the table from him trying not to be ill (I have such a compassionate husband). His suggestion was, 'Just think of chocolate.' What, chocolate mayonnaise?! EW! That's even worse! I downed half of the coke at the table. That didn't work. I ate another french fry. That really didn't work. Finally, I took a trip to the rest room and hacked and spit to try to get the gross residue out of my mouth. (Ew, I'm seriously starting to have issues again just retelling this story! I am such a basket case!) I think I spit a few more times as we walked through the parking lot. And as soon as I could, I rinsed with Listerine when we got home. Needless to say, I didn't get a box to bring home my left-overs. Lucas didn't even want it. He said it's hard to look at food the same once your wife has gagged on it so extensively. I guess I see his point. Anyway, I've survived my worst nightmare. I had family pictures taken at dinnertime in the middle of holiday picture season, and then followed it up by unknowingly eating mayonnaise, and I survived..... barely.

New versions of an old classic

I really need to get my act together - it's been over a week again since I've posted anything!

I emptied out my camera today, and I have pictures on there of soccer from way back in October. Yikes! I'm behind on all my archiving stuff! Some of the pics were of Thanksgiving, and I was reminded of something that I wanted to blog about but never got around to.

For Thanksgiving at Mom and Mikes, Missy and Brandon and their families came over, and we all had a nice dinner together. After dinner, while all the adults were ready to crash on the couches, Meagan and Carmen found a new burst of energy. They spent about forty-five minutes or so sprinting back and forth from one end of the room to the other. When that finally (FINALLY) got old, they moved on to 'Ring around the Rosie.' I must say, I've never seen or heard it played in quite that way. Each of them had their own funny little version.

Carmen just spun in circles saying 'Ashes ashes ashes ashes ashes' until someone (other than her) finally said 'We all fall down!' Then she would topple over (half from dizziness I think) and fall down like the song says.

Meagan, spun in circles singing the following:

Ring around the Roadies.

A pocket full of Ponies.

Ring around the roadies? Don't you wonder what she thinks that song is actually about? We were laughing so hard at the two of them! My mom had tears in her eyes, and I thought my side was going to burst. At any rate, they were 2 of the most interesting and entertaining versions of Ring around the Rosie I've ever witnessed!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We woke up this morning with snow covering everything outside. The kids were so excited that the first snow fell on Thanksgiving. We got up early, had breakfast and got ready to start our day. We went to Wal-Mart this morning, supposedly to buy the ingredients for wilted lettuce. But as we were getting ready, Sebastian's coat zipper busted. And Isaac's shoes wouldn't go on (they've been getting tight for a while). Plus, we still hadn't gotten Sebastian his gloves for winter. So, we added gloves, shoes, and a coat to our shopping list. Then, I remembered that I needed a new powder compact. So, we may as well add that to the list. Then, when we got into the glove area, we decided to get matching hats and scarves (plus Isaac got another pair of gloves to match his new hat and scarf). In short, I went for onion, bacon and lettuce, and I got out of there with $95 worth of stuff. (It's funny how that stuff happens, isn't it?)

We had our Thanksgiving for lunch - just the five of us. Lucas got out of work really early!!! I was so super excited when I heard the garage door opening at 9:30. I was bracing myself for him to be gone all day. Anyway, we had ham, homemade mac & cheese, broiled potatoes, peas, apple bread and apple crisp...plus wilted lettuce. We have tons left over, so I guess we don't have to worry about what we're having for dinner tonight. Tomorrow after Lucas gets home from work, we're heading to the families'. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone....the kids are counting down the minutes until we leave (as well as the days left until Christmas, but that's another story).

For the rest of the afternoon, I'm going to work on some layouts for Grandma's album, and maybe we'll watch a movie or something. Just chillin'. We're a just chillin' kind of family. I'm thankful for that.

Oh, one more thing. Lucas asked the kids today what they were thankful for. Sebastian's answer: the Mayflower. ??? Isaac's answer: I'm thankful for Jesus....and food. LOL! Our kids are too cool.

Ninjas

Here's a layout of the boys playing ninjas this past June. I blogged about it (thankfully, because my journaling came almost directly from the blog entry), so the story may sound familiar, but I really wanted to do something with the pictures. They were sooooo seriously into their imaginations! I love that!



Journaling: What happens when Daddy falls asleep watching a movie while Mommy is in the basement scrapbooking? The boys watch the movie still playing on TV and begin to imitate it. Today the movie just happened to be House of Flying Daggers. The next thing I know, the boys are flying around the house babbling made-up Chinese, like 'hung chu ku do wa' and other such nonsense. Occasionally, English prevails in the form of 'OW' or 'Mom, he hit me!' or Isaac, no throwing swords!' It's great to be a kid - to be a boy growing up with a brother to play and imagine with. It's the best to play 'ninjas' with pirate swords that have blood colored on them with red crayon (very creative, I might say). But the best is knowing you've passed a warm day in june playing outside and having a grand adventure. You just can't beat that.

Grandma Jesus

This morning after breakfast, I turned noggin on in the living room for the kids, and I went upstairs to fold some laundry. While I was folding, I decided to watch a tivo'd episode of Joyce Meyer (for those of you who don' t know, she's a lady on TV that teaches about Jesus). I was about 1/2 way through the show when Meagan walked into my room. She looked at the TV and said, 'Aaawww, I don't want to watch Grandma Jesus. I want to watch Word World.' I almost couldn't believe my ears. Did she really just call her Grandma Jesus!?! That's the funniest thing I've ever heard! What makes it so funny is that Meagan picked it up all on her own. I've never told her what the show was about. She just figured it out...what an observant little girl we have!

Journey

One more layout done for Grandma's book. I'm getting down to the end! I had a bunch of miscellaneous pictures of Grandpa from his younger days. I thought it would be more effective to group them together than to scrap them individually.



The quote says, 'It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end.'

Pregnancy Prevention

This was a few weeks ago now, but I thought you might get a kick out of this glimpse into our daily lives. (This is one of those stories I meant to tell you, but then couldn't remember when I sat down to type.)

I think it was 2 Mondays ago...I went to pick the kids up from Nicole's, and in conversation I asked how the kids were that day. "Meagan was horrible," Nicole says. She went on to explain that at lunch she wouldn't eat her peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and in fact, she chewed it up and spit it out all over. She screamed and yelled. She woke the babies up at nap time, and she bucked all day about the potty. Lovely. It was a Meagan day, to put it mildly.

That night for dinner, I ordered Applebee's for Lucas and me. The kids all wanted PB&J, so I made them sandwiches instead of ordering them something (way cheaper that way anyway). Even though Meagan had made such a fuss at lunch about PBJ, she asked for one for dinner. So that's what I made her.

She started out good. She took a few bites of sandwich without incident. Somewhere along the way, however, she decided she wanted her sandwich cut into 4 pieces instead of 2. I explained it was already cut, but she insisted, so I cut her 2 rectangles into 4 squares. Oh, that's when it all started! She screamed at the top of her lungs, 'NO YOU BROKE IT!! FIX IT! PUT IT BACK!!' Are you kidding me?! She went on for a few seconds, until I got her attention and told her to knock it off. Clearly not in the mood for authority, she took her stand. In a matter of seconds, she had peeled her sandwich apart (so the peanut butter and the jelly were exposed), and threw both pieces across the room. They stuck flat on the kitchen floor. I whipped her up out of the chair and marched her straight over to pick them up. She bucked and threw herself backwards and screamed and yelled, and ultimately got herself a 'consequence.' Finally, she appeared to have given up her struggle. She bent down and reached for the sandwich. BUT, when her hand got about an inch from the bread, she froze. I could see the wheels turning in her two-year-old brain, and clearly, they were turning in the WRONG direction. She paused, stood up, turned and looked me straight in the eyes. And then she crossed her arms and STOMPED on her sandwich, smashing it onto the floor.

Needless to say, there were more consequences for her actions. When all was said and done, however, she picked up her sandwich, sat down, and actually ate the sandwich that she had just picked up off the floor (her idea, not mine...I just wanted her to pick it up). She finished dinner without another word or another step out of line. Lucas joked that I had tamed the beast, but, WOW, that child has a will about her! (I'm thinking of lending her to a pregnancy prevention program! I think she would be an effective tool! What do you think? LOL!)

Girls' night!

I've not forgotten about you! I don't know what my deal is, but lately every time I sit down with a free minute to blog, I can't think of anything to write about. During the day the kids will say and do funny things, but then I totally forget them by the time I get a chance to come downstairs to the computer. Sad, isn't it? My 7th grade history teacher used to say, 'You know, your memory is the second thing to go with old age ... I can't remember the first.' He was an interesting character. But right about now, I am starting to understand what he was talking about! LOL!

Here's one thing I can remember...

This past Friday I had a girly spa party. If you know me, you know that I DON'T do home party things. I tried once, and the only person that showed up was my mother (thanks Mom!). But I had gone to a spa party a few weeks ago, and it was really a lot of fun. I decided to give it a try, so I broke from the norm and scheduled a party at my house. I was hoping for at least 4 or 5 people to show up, since the lady was driving from an hour away to do the party. I was shocked...8 people came! It was a great time (although my living room was barely big enough for the demonstrator, myself, and 8 guests!)! And I even got to know some people that I don't know very well, and do some good ol' girly bonding with those that I do know.

During the party, Lucas took the kids to McDonald's to eat and play, and then they went Christmas wish list shopping through the isles of Wal-Mart. The next day, the boys had a list a mile long of things they saw that they just have to have! Now, if I can only remember them all when it comes time to buy Christmas gifts, I'll be good! I know there were several transformers on the list! And some video game from Isaac (no surprise there). The boys picked out 2 new chess sets - one Pirates (I think) and one Transformers. And Meagan wants one of everything Dora and Diego. We'll see....

When can we get a back yard like this?

Tonight the kids and I went to a bonfire at our children's pastor's house. She and her husband live about 15 minutes from us, way out in the country, on 3 acres of beautiful, wooded property. Well, when we showed up, it was about 7:00. We rang the doorbell, and no one answered, so we headed out to the back yard where the fire was. We walked around to the back of the house, which has a walk-out basement and gorgeous landscaping that backs up to a big wooded area. Isaac looked at me and said, "Mom I like this back yard. When can we get a back yard like this?" Funny, I think his daddy might feel the same...especially with the permanent tree stand about 50 feet from the back of the house.

The kids were great! They were the only kids there, but they were really well-behaved. They went back and forth between playing in the toy-furnished basement and playing in the big back yard. They had a ball and were bummed when it was time to go. But with all that energy they thought they had as we were leaving, by the time we got home, 2 out of 3 were asleep, and the 3rd was only minutes away. I had planned on giving them a bath tonight, but I just stuck them straight into bed. I guess they're gonna smell like camp fire for church tomorrow.

The Art of Word Use

I think it was yesterday that this happened...

While I was making dinner (or maybe lunch?), Sebastian got out one of those giant coloring books that's about 3 feet tall and started working on a dinosaur page. He was taking his time, being very detailed, as he typically does - that's just the Sebastian way. Well, about 10 minutes into his masterpiece, Meagan wanders into the kitchen and decides she would like to join her brother in his coloring adventures. Sebastian offers to share, but tells her in no uncertain terms that she can't color his page; she has to color the page opposite. So she starts scribbling all over some tree tops and whatever else is on the page to scribble up (although she really was giving it her best shot). Well, as I was finishing cooking, Lucas walks in. As I got plates together, the kids greeted Daddy, and the coloring book clean-up was neglected.

Well, our dinner conversation finds its way to what the kids had been doing that day, and Sebastian proudly announces that he has been working hard on coloring in the dinosaur book. 'I bet you can tell which page is mine,' he says, pointing to the book still laying open on the floor. Lucas, teasing, points to the other page - the one Meagan had been working on. 'You mean the one that's not scribbled, right Dad?' Lucas points again to the scribbled page of trees and says, 'Yeah, I mean that one.' Trying his best to be patient, Sebastian says, 'You mean the one with the big dinosaur, right?' 'No, the one with the trees,' Lucas says, somehow keeping a straight face.

With a hint of exasperation, and a notable amount of shock, Sebastian says, 'No Dad! That one's not mine. It's all scribbled. Mine's QUALITY!'

We about rolled out of our chairs laughing. All Lucas could say was, 'That's a great use of that word, Buddy!' That kid cracks us up!

Updates

For those of you who are wondering, Sebastian is doing much better. Thursday he stayed home from school. He was still pretty lethargic and had a low fever. He didn't eat much, and he slept a little during the afternoon. We went to the doctor that afternoon (for me actually), and our doctor put all of us except Meagan (and Lucas, because he wasn't there) on medication. So we all took it pretty easy Thursday.

This morning when Sebastian woke up, he seemed much better. He had a lot more energy, and quite a big appetite. I still made him take it easy on what he ate...thankfully, because he got full a lot more quickly than I think he thought he would (after not eating for 2 days, he thought he could eat one of everything!). Anyway, there was no school today, so he stayed home again. We ended up going to motor development this morning. He seemed to do fine, and he ate a little more at lunch. I think we're on the road to recovery. So there's your update.

Speaking of updates...I can't seem to leave things alone! This layout was bugging me for some reason. It felt too harsh and empty for what I was trying to do. So I opened it back up and messed with it a little more tonight. I think I'll have to look at it for a little longer before I decide for sure if it's really an improvement or whether it's just the mood I'm in right now...LOL! I'm such a moody scrapper. Tomorrow I may like the older version better! But I thought the background of this one felt softer. Anyway...I'm gonna try to leave it alone now.