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!

Better or Worse?

Okay, I messed with this layout again this afternoon. The lack of stuff on it was bothering me, so I added more. You know me & my messy scrapping. I just can't seem to leave simple things simple. ??? Anyway, is this one better or worse?

Round & Round

Here's another Cedar Point layout I did last night. I thought I'd wait to post it since I went a little post-crazy last night. I'm still not totally sold on this layout, so I may end up messing with it or adding some stuff or moving things around a bit, but this is the basic idea.

Journaling: you can't seem to get enough of going 'round and 'round in circles. from jeeps to cars to planes, every ride in kiddy land does the same as the last. still you're sure to ride them all.

Pennies from Heaven

I've been praying for a creative way to address some 'issues' with the kids - not the least of which is their massive quantity of time playing, or thinking about, or talking about PlayStation or Wii or computer. My kids - at least my boys - are electronic junkies. I don't mind the electronics. What I mind is the significance they seem to be playing in the lives of my kids. I mean, they can't seem to think of much else, and if given a choice, they would almost certainly choose a screen-driven activity over an imagination-driven one. Very sad. My goal is not to eliminate it entirely. Simply to restrict the amount of time and to establish that it is an earned privilege rather than an entitlement.

My other issue has been the general degradation of their manners and behavior. I know some of it is a pretty normal 'boy' thing, but at times they are crossing the line between normal and obnoxious.

Well, you may remember about a year ago, we did a thing with pennies to encourage better bedtime behavior. It worked wonderfully until it became irrelevant - they established good bedtime habits and the pennies were no longer needed. Well, we have decided to revisit the pennies. Only this time, the deal has changed a bit. Instead of starting with 3 pennies in their jar, they start with zero. Their goal is to earn five pennies. Once they have five, they can trade their pennies in for PlayStation, Wii or computer time. We've also given them the option of trading their 5 pennies in for $1.00 that they can spend or save however they choose. We've laid out pretty clearly for them the things they may do to earn pennies - like being kind to each other, helping each other, helping in the kitchen after dinner, cleaning up when they're done playing, listening the first time they're asked to do something, etc. They can also lose pennies for bad behavior - excessive fighting, back talk, having to be told more than once, leaving messes (and thumb sucking...I'm bound & determined to help that boy give up his thumb!).

We talked to them about it tonight at dinner. We listened to their ideas for what could earn or lose pennies. We explained their options and their rewards. They were super excited, and started making plans for what they would play first, and what they would start saving money for and on and on. As soon as dinner was over, they hopped up, cleared the table, and started cleaning the kitchen. Sebastian did some dishwasher duties and some recycling. Isaac cleaned the table and chairs.

At bedtime, I gave the usual 5-minute warning. I didn't even have to ask them to clean up. As soon as I said 5 minutes until bedtime, Sebastian said, "Isaac, we have to clean up what we're done playing with so we can earn a penny." It was done in no time. By the time they went to bed tonight, they had each earned 3 pennies.

As for Meagan, she has sort of caught the helping bug. She helped with the dishes a bit, and she helped some in cleaning up toys in the boys' room. We figured she's a bit too young to really understand what the whole thing is about, but she likes putting pennies into a jar. So, if she's being good, she gets to put a penny in whenever the boys do. She seems to be pretty happy with that.

To Recap....

MONDAY:
Monday was a no-school day, but I still had to work in the morning. I worked quickly, and left by noon. I picked the kids up from Nicole's and then took them over to a friend's for lunch. We had gourmet grilled cheese, cheez-its, pickles and orange slices (which went over quite well with everyone!). Then the kids all hung out and played - all seven of them (if you count the baby, that is). Three boys, three girls, and one baby (boy) - and two mommies who were thrilled to have a chance to sit quietly on the couch and talk and drink tea. What a great afternoon! Around 3:00, the two younger girls were quickly approaching melting point, so we said our goodbye's and parted ways. I'm already looking forward to the next time we have a chance to do that!

TUESDAY:
I didn't work Tuesday. We had story hour in the morning, and from there headed to the chiropractor. After that, not much else happened...until that evening, I guess. Sebastian had wrestling, so I decided to take the other 2 to the grocery with me. Now, I NEVER get the TV carts. I just haven't wanted to start it, so I don't have to fight that fight every time we walk into the store. However, as we walked into the store at 6:45 pm - my full list of groceries, and my 2 kids who were bordering on tired - I decided to give it a shot. I thought maybe I could get done more quickly if their attention was occupied by cartoons rather than by wanting to "help" me with groceries. I envisioned being able to walk at an adult pace through the isles instead of at a distracted-2-year-old pace. I broke down and rented the cart.

Initially I chose Thomas the Train, but the TV wasn't working in that one, so we switched to Dora. I must say, the cart worked like a dream. I FLEW through the grocery. There was no "Meagan put that back" or "Watch out for that display" or "Stay out of other people's way" or "Stop fighting" or "Keep your hands to yourself" or "No running" or any other phrase that has become a typical part of our grocery trips. It was wonderful. My only complaint, if any, would be that the cart space for groceries is smaller, so I had to be creative in loading the cart. Other than that, wonderful.

I ALMOST made it to the end of the trip with no incidents...ALMOST. I pushed the cart back to the 'parking spot' and opened the door to get them out. As I did, I noticed that Meagan had these two bars of some sort - one in each hand. My first thought was, Oh no she broke something. I tried to grab it out of her hand, and complete pandemonium broke out. As she got out of the cart, she threw herself down on the floor in a full-on tantrum. I was dumbfounded, still not knowing what was in her hand. But, it all quickly became very clear to me what the problem was, as a candy wrapper fell out of the cart after her.

While I was paying for the groceries, she had snatched a Spree Rope Candy off of the candy rack and started chowing down. This was even after they both had asked for candy and I specifically told them no. Isaac, although he didn't take it from the shelf, was guilty as well, because his mouth was shoved full. He couldn't even talk because his teeth were sticking together from all the chewy gunk in his mouth.

We marched straight back to the isle we had just been in. I took the candy from each of them and threw it in the trash can (which DID NOT go over well with Meagan - she actually tried to go in after it until I pulled her back). Then, we waited in the line to pay for the candy that had been taken. They each were made to apologize, and they each got an age-appropriate lesson in respecting boundaries. Let's say, I doubt Isaac ever does that again...I wouldn't put anything past Meagan, but I'm hoping for the best.

WEDNESDAY:
Church night. In the 5th & 6th grade youth group, we've been doing crazy nights throughout February. Wednesday was backwards night. Let's just say that I had a tough time finding pants that would zip up backwards...LOL!

The night was going really well. We got there on time. The kids were all well behaved on the bus. They were listening well during service. We even had time to play an extra game before we left. But when we got out to the bus, it wouldn't start. Something in the fuel system wen bad - it was just a tiny little piece, but I have no idea what it was. Anyway...they pulled up a different bus; we transferred all the kids over and headed off.

A little something about this replacement bus. We don't usually drive it because it's a little, shall we say, Quirky. We have lovingly dubbed it the beeping bus because, you guessed it, it beeps...non-stop. Something related to the power steering sensor or something or other. It just beeps. And it's a loud beep. And it causes all the kids to act like lunatics and scream and yell about how the beeping is so loud. So we try not to drive it if we can help it, but this time it couldn't be avoided.

So. We set off. We got to the first stop, slowed down, stopped, let kids off. Then the bus started rolling. While the driver still had the brake applied. Bad. By the time she had gone through the next stop, it was clear that the brakes were failing. Clearly, we couldn't finish the route like that. She was able to make a few more stops as she went around the block to head back to church, so we did get about half of the bus delivered safely home. The remaining 15-ish kids, we hauled back to the church...at a snails pace. It took us about 35 minutes to go down the street, around one block and back to church. By the time we got back, the kids that were remaining on the bus were tempted to panic. While the driver and the other captain were concentrating on the brakes and driving through traffic, I was left to tend to the kids and keep them calm. Man, you should have seen how fast cell phones were flying out of pockets the minute they figured out something was wrong with the bus. I had to ban cell phones just to keep them from passing along incorrect information to parents. Sheesh!

Anyhow, we made it safely back (I've never prayed so hard in my life I think...it's quite a scary thing to be approaching cross-traffic with a bus full of kids and no brakes...we prayed for clearings in traffic...and got them every time...very cool). Between the adults that were present, we were able to fit everyone into cars and vans and deliver them all safely home. It was about 20 minutes later than normal, but at least we were all safe.

THURSDAY:
The most uneventful of nights. Sebastian had wrestling. We left early because a cut on the bottom of his foot had ripped open and was bothering him too bad to practice. End of story. We went to bed early.

FRIDAY:
Friday nap time was a NIGHTMARE! Meagan pitched a fit for 2 straight hours before finally crashing hard in the floor in the hallway outside of my bedroom (where I had put her to prevent her from further trashing her room and playing the second I walked away). She only slept for about 45 minutes, even after all that. Grrr.

After nap time was over, my friend Kim brought her granddaughter over to play. She's two, and it was the first time she and Meagan had met each other. They played quite well together after they got used to each other. So that was kind of nice. Meagan has a new friend.

While she was over, Kim offered to watch the kids for us that night so Lucas and I could go out to dinner together, kid-free. We took her up on her very generous offer. That was awesome. So, we ended up at Bennigan's. It was SLOW service to put it mildly, but it gave us plenty of time to sit and enjoy our free hands and our uninterrupted adult conversation. Nice.

SATURDAY:
Today we slept in until about 9:00. That was heaven! I got up and made breakfast pizza for a late breakfast. After we cleaned up breakfast, I got in the shower, leaving Lucas to tend to the kids. To his credit, he got off the computer, and came up into the living room so he could see and hear what was happening. Even still, Meagan slipped under the radar and found a way to make a mess. She went upstairs to play dollhouse...innocent enough. Then she decided her dolls needed water in their bathtub. So, she took the tub into the bathroom (the one I wasn't in) and filled it with water and took it back to her room (leaving the water running when she left the bathroom). At least once, she must have spilled the water (because the dollhouse was flooded) and gone back for more. At some point, a tube of Goldbond cream (not even sure where she found it) and a bottle of lotion (from their bathroom) got into the mix.

Just as I finished getting dressed, Sebastian came running in "Mom, come and see what Meagan did." Never my favorite thing to hear. I followed him into the bathroom to find the water running, sink near overflowing, bathroom floor flooded, squished Goldbond tube on the counter (cap missing), a trail of water and lotion from the bathroom to her bedroom, a flooded dollhouse, a saturated bedroom floor, and lotion smeared all over the carpet as well as in the dollhouse sink and toilet. Lovely.

I called for Lucas. He came up and manned Meagan's clean-up while I took care of the floor clean-up. My hand-held spray carpet cleaner wouldn't spray, so I had to bust out the big ol' carpet shampooer. When that girl gets into stuff, she does it up right.

Outside Looking In

My first layout in weeks! And my first Cedar Point layout! I have TONS of Cedar Point pictures to scrap. I'm thinking an album is in order. So here's the first layout of it.

Journaling: all the boys - big and little - hopped on the bumper cars for the first real ride. meg, you just weren't big enough yet, and were sentenced to stand on the sidelines and watch. grandma and i staid with you, but it was little consolation as you watched the boys - and grandpa and daddy - crash, spin and laugh. i know it doesn't mean much now, but your day is coming little girl. you're only 2, but before you know it you'll be big just like your brothers. you'll be tall enough to ride the bumper cars. in no time, you will have grown. until then, you'll have to watch and wait, on the outside looking in.

A Day out with Grandma

This morning was the Valentine's party at motor development. Since there was no school, Sebastian got to go with us. Every time he goes, I realize more and more how grown up he is. I feel kind of bad for him because the programming is really geared toward 3 & 4 year olds, and he is basically bored. He was getting a little rough - climbing walls, turning the lights out on everyone, and just being rambunctious, but we had a talk and he settled down. From that point on, he did really well.

When we first got there, they made Valentine holders and got to decorate them with fancy hearts and stickers and such. Meagan the glue queen was in heaven! Then we did our normal playing and stations (like balancing and jumping on trampoline, and ladder walking and so on). But the best part was that after the stations time, we did a Veggie Tales - The Pirates Who Didn't Do Anything carnival. They got to 'walk the plank' on a balance beam, fish for prizes, read a message in a bottle, and play lots of games and get lots of prizes. Very cool. Even Sebastian liked that part.

Grandma B. is up visiting for the day, so after motor development, we, of course, headed straight to McDonald's for lunch and play-land time. Just before 1:00 we headed home to lay Meagan down for nap. Currently, the boys are 'teaching' Grandma how to play Play Station. I think next on the agenda is how to play Wii.

I've been nominated!!

I'm so excited! I've been nominated for Mother-of-the-Year!!! And I owe it all to my wonderful children! Close on the heels of Sebastian's mooning excursion, his sister steps in to drive home the fact that I am worthy of such a nomination.

Yesterday at Nicole's the kids were playing together in the floor, watching TV and just chillin'. In the midst of action, a little boy named Brandon rolled over and smashed Meagan's already-purple thumb - you know, the one she's still not using since she had it shut in the door by her big brother. So she yells at this little boy with all her might, "You stupid idiot! Get off my thumb!" Nicole said she had to turn away to keep from laughing. When she regained composure, she turned back to Meagan and said, "Meagan, that's not a nice thing to say." Meagan's response to that, "Well, Cole, he shouldn't have got on my thumb!"

Nice. I'm fully expecting to win this award. I'll keep you posted if I hear anything.

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...