Why Not?

I am not getting much done today so why not post on my blog?

I went to the dentist this morning.  I am finally going to get my teeth redone.  I have been putting it off for years due to lack of funds and lack of confidence in dentists.  Today I saw my friend's dad.  It's just perfect timing.  I love how God works things out.  He was so great. I felt so comfortable and I am ready to have it done.  I just need to talk to Dan about funding it all.  Ugh.  Teeth are expensive.

I watch shows years after they aired.  I don't know why, but it has just worked out this way.  So, I am watching Friday Night Lights.  It is a fun show, very relational, but real life scenarios for the most part.  I LOVE the main husband and wife characters.   I want to have them over for dinner.  Alas, they are fictional :)  Things keep coming up though that Dan and I talk about and I keep trying to refrain from saying, "They just went through that on FNL ..."  I usually end up saying it though even though I try to refrain.  That's just how I am with Dan.  I can never keep stuff from him.  I tell on myself all the time, but that's a subject for another day.

Peyton has two cavities.  He went to the dentist last night and found out.  He didn't hesitate to tell me at 6 a.m. this morning when he walked in the door.  He seems excited about them though.  He said he is going to get stars put in his teeth and they are going to dig with a sort of shovel that sounds like a train.  He said it doesn't even hurt.  Oh my.  He is funny.

This has been a fairly quiet week which can be good and bad.  Good because I feel more on top of things.  Bad because I need to interact with people.  I am happy though.  It's a good feeling to be happy.  I know I won't always have these quiet days at home so even when it feels a little lonely I try to be thankful for these days.  I know they won't last forever. 

Another Great Day? WHAT!?

Today I took my doggies on a walk on the new path that runs behind the neighborhood next to ours.  It was fantabulous!  I used to take Daisy to the field that is now adjacent to the path, but she would always roll in deer poo.  I got tired of having to bathe her after our fun outing so we haven't been over there in a while.

Thankfully we now have the path!

We were all so happy.  I was able to let Daisy's leash go so she could keep up as she wanted.  She is the best, most loyal dog.  I love turning back to see where she is to see her run to catch up with me. 

Molly on the other hand would have been lost in the corn field after spotting the first bird.  I would probably never see her again. 

Poor Daisy can only go so far though.  She was really struggling to keep up by the time we got home.  She's getting to be my old lady dog.  I can't even begin to think about losing her.  She is so much more affectionate the older she gets too.  I love that dog.

The best part about the path is that it is far enough away from the houses that I can sing to my ipod and no one will hear me.  I love singing to Mumford and Sons.

We also had a fun dinner with Megan and her kids.  Her husband is traveling so they spend Tuesday nights at Hoss' since kids eat for $.99.  Madelyn and I ate for $10.  Dan and Elijah were at karate.  It works out well because Hoss' is two seconds away, the husbands don't care for it (the moms don't much either), but the kids have a blast and eat for cheap.  The salad bar is yummy though.

Good times.  I am tired now though.  The days are catching up to me.  And, I didn't sleep as well last night.  After having another fire issue in my oven yesterday I was then dreaming that the house was going to burn down from the fire pit I just bought for Madelyn's party.  I want to go back to the island I dreamed about the other night ...

Dreams

The night before last I dreamed I was on an island.  I had flown there early to check out our vacation house.  It was such a relaxing feeling being there, and by the time I woke up I was waiting for a mani/pedi.  I don't remember the last time I felt so relaxed about life. 

Sadly, it was a dream.  But, I had a great day yesterday!  I wonder how much it had to do with having such a relaxing dream.

This morning I woke up from a dream about Madelyn's party only it was me and a friend who were sleeping outside.  I woke up with a stuffy/runny nose and had to get inside to blow it as soon as I could. 

Lovely.  And, not so relaxing. 

On another note, Molly, my chihuahua, now sleeps in a crate at night.  She no longer sleeps in our bed under the covers.  She has handled this move surprisingly well.  What is funny is when I wake up in the morning and let her out.  She runs straight to our bed and snuggles under the covers with Dan. 

This morning I had to get her out of my bed to let her out.  It is cold out and as soon as her little paws touched the cold grass she tried to come back in.  It's got to be a rough awakening to be in a warm bed one minute and in cold grass another.  Once I let her in she ran right back to bed.

The interesting thing is that when I am in my bed and she wants up she whimpers because she can't jump up, but if it's just her or Dan in there she has no problem at all, the little baby.

Okay, off to wake people up and make lunches and breakfast ...

A Good Day

Today was such a great day, great attitude, great productivity, great behavior from all the kiddos I entertain here daily.  Just an overall good day.  The weather was perfection too.

I wish all days could be like today, but I will enjoy it while it lasts.  It made me think tonight though how this school year has just been a good school year overall for me.  We've had our issues, sure, but personally I can't complain.

And, it's Fall.  Who doesn't love Fall?  Perfect temperatures.  The weeds aren't out of control.  Flowers are still blooming.  I love it.

Madelyn is super excited about her birthday party coming up.  She took her invites into class today and the reaction from her friends was such excitement. A couple of them told her they were coming early that day because they are so excited.  So funny.  The girls in her class are cute girls though so it should be fun.  Crazy, but fun.  Her teacher even exclaimed over how I was willing to have all the girls over for an all-nighter.  I told Madelyn to tell her teacher to pray for me.  Then Madelyn mentioned she wanted to invite her teacher.  We keep adding to our invite list.

Both kids were at the neighbor's yard yesterday trying to sell balloons to people for a quarter.  The other week they were selling mini balloons and drinks.  I don't know where this entrepreneurial spirit is coming from, but they are working it as best they can.  They sold a whole bag of balloons to a man who was going to visit his sick sister.  Madelyn told me she made cards that said "Jesus Loves You" on them too, but they were free "since everyone needs to know Jesus loves them."  I had no idea she was making those cards.  It was really sweet though.

Elijah hid with a friend at church yesterday.  Scared the you know what out of me.  Every gray hair that shows up on my head is a result of that kid's antics.  Our church is in the city and is a super old building with all kinds of nooks and crannies.  I was up and down the church looking for him only to find him under a pew.  I yanked him out from under there as fast as I could.  I know he was just being silly, but oh my.  Best advice for kids is "Don't scare the crap out of your mother because you will suffer the wrath of that fear!"  Too true.  He was so sorry.  He is so sensitive so he knew I was upset and told me he was "so sorry!"  We got over it.  I don't think he will do that again, but who knows.  Boys have a different way of thinking about things.

I bought a fire pit for Madelyn's birthday party and I am looking forward to burning some things.  Although just in the past week I have had two little "episodes" in my oven that could have really started a fire so I am not too confident right now as far as safely burning things.  Of course now that I think about it, having a fire with at least ten ten year old girls is probably not safe from the start.  We'll see.

5:45 comes early so I am off to bed.  Here's hoping for another good day tomorrow!

3 Weeks?

Seriously?  Has it really been 3 weeks? 

Shannon and the kids have been in town for 3 weeks and leave tomorrow.  Waaaaahhhhhhh ... so sad.

Addie and Madelyn have been attached at the hip with matching clothes and everything.  They are super cute.  The boys have been getting along so well too. 

We have visited with friends, family, hit the beach, eaten crabs, swam in pools, and on and on ... good times!

It will be a hard goodbye tomorrow.  We hate to see them go.  They just live way too far away.  We will all be in mourning for the next few days ...

My Funny Boy

The other night we were in the car leaving a friend's house and Elijah says to us,  "When people get older, no offense, but they get non-funnier."  ha ha  We were cracking up.  Dan then went on to explain the differences in senses of humor at different stages in life.

Tonight a friend came by and made sangria for us so we sat on the patio sipping it.  When I went to say goodnight to Elijah he was already in bed falling asleep, but we still had this exchange ...

"You smell like the rolls at Logan's"  (His favorite restaurant where he LOVES the rolls."
"haha I do?"
"Yes.  I'm serious."
He was falling asleep so I left him and started downstairs cracking up.  He then yells to me ...
"It makes me want to eat you!"

ha hahahahahha ... I then told Madelyn and Dan and we all had a good laugh.

Birthday

Elijah had a birthday back in April, the 29th to be exact.  This is how on the ball I am.  It's June 20th and I am finally blogging about it.

We had a birthday party for him because that is ALL that poor boy has wanted since I can remember.  He was so so happy.

We did a Mario Bros. theme and invited the boys from his class.  The best part is they had to wear fake mustaches in order to play any games, you know so they looked like Mario and Luigi.

We did a coin hunt and had a pinata.  They were so cute in their mustaches!

The best part is when they sang Happy Birthday to Elijah they called him Mario.  He loved it. 

The party ended with a massive wrestling match with Dan at the center.  Thank goodness too.  Nine 7 year old boys is insanity.  Trust me.  As much as you want them to stop trying to wrestle each other you quickly learn it is a losing battle.  Dads then become handy in these situations. 

It was a two hour party that seemed like ten hours, but my boy was happy and that made it all worth it.

Recently ...

We went to Knoebels.  Good times.  We met Kate, Ean, and the boys there.  It went perfectly because Peyton and Elijah like the same kind of rides and Madelyn and Bodie are buddies so they partnered up nicely while riding.  Then after lunch/snack Madelyn found her TKA friends and hung out with them. 

I was so proud of my girl.  She went on some big rides that she had never ridden before.  I was kind of sad to miss it, but I also knew she might not have gone on those rides with me there.  Her friends offered some positive peer pressure.  She had a blast.

I went on the haunted house ride with Kate since she said that last year was the first year she ever rode it and opened her eyes during the ride.  I understand why now.  It is sooooo pitch black on that ride until things light up or jump out at you or touch you!!  Yes, things TOUCH you.  EEK!!  Kate was laughing her head off at me the whole time which made me laugh too when I wasn't freaking out.  It was funny.

Saturday we went to celebrate Jess and Jon's twins turning 3, the little cutie pies.  We were at Jess' parents' house so we stayed, cooked out, and the kids swam in the pool.  We met some of their other friends too which was nice, although generally I am against our friends making other friends besides us.  Just kidding.  (not really)

Jess' brother and sister-in-law just got a bull mastiff puppy and they brought it that day.  Oh my.  You know how some people are with babies?  That's how I am with puppies.  I kept having to hold him and snuggle him.  He loved it.  He was so scrumptious and snuggly and soft and sleepy.  He was only 8 weeks old and already weighs more than my chihuahua.  There will be many puppies like that in my house in heaven.  I just know it.

This was all before Father's Day.  Welcome to my non-chronological blog.

Father's Day 2012

I woke up this morning to Dan bringing coffee to me in bed and announcing that he made pancakes.  Yay!

He's the best.  His children agree. 

We celebrated Dan today by taking him to Bojangles for fried chicken after church today.  Blech.  But, he's worth it.

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out playing the wii, watching Phineas & Ferb (that show is so stinkin' funny), monkey in the middle in the yard with Dan in the middle while I watered flowers and my children, and a game of UNO (I won).  A good day over all.

I am so glad my children have the father they have.  Seriously.  I don't think I could have ordered a better one for them.  They are truly blessed, and so am I.

POOL!!

We have been waiting many weeks for this day, the first day of summer vacation!!  Yay!!

We got a pool membership this year and pretty much plan to spend our days there.  We know a lot of school families who go there so that should be fun because the kids will have friends to play with.

The last few weeks of school kick our butts.  There are so many field trips and school activities that I have been a part of and poor Dan is dealing with enrollment, preparing for graduation, etc.  We were beat this past weekend after all was said and done.

So, now we look forward to summer fun, staying up late and sleeping in.  Yippee!!

Sad Dream With a Side of Cheese

I had a horrible dream that Dan and I were breaking up.  It was so sad.  I just remember lying in bed thinking about how all the people must have been right.  We should have never gotten married young.  I could hear my Twilight friends (characters from the book) talking about how they were going to have to go "tracking" to find me.  Apparently I was missing, but I was in my bed.  Remember this is a dream.

Anyway, while I was lying there feeling so so sad I was also thinking about how Dan and I were supposed to grow old together.  It was like that image was completely washed away like a wave washing writing in the sand away.  I saw myself just trying to date and find some meaningful relationship to cling to, but I didn't think any of them would or could compare to Dan.

Thankfully, we didn't have kids in this dream.  It was sad enough as it was.

Then I woke up. 

PRAISE THE GOOD LORD I WOKE UP!  I walked out of my room and Dan was coming out the bathroom.  He gave me a hug and I told him my dream.  He assured me it was just a dream. 

Whew.  It seemed so real and it still makes me so sad to think of how I felt in my dream. 

(Here comes the cheese ... )

Then I heard this song on my way to the store today ...



You can ignore the people in the video even though I know they look just like me and Dan.  I am still wondering how she got a hold of my favorite jean shorts ...

But, hearing this song again reminded me just how much Dan loves me.

When Dan heard this song he claimed it as his song for me and that makes me happy.  He does tell me kind things all the time and I always brush it off because he is my husband and he has to.  He swears that is not why he says them.  Either way I don't mind hearing all the kind things he says.

I sure do love that guy, and my dream only made me realize it more.  I don't even know why we were breaking up in my dream.  I just knew he was gone.  Oh, it was awful.

I can only pray that will never be a reality.  I plan to end our days the same way The Notebook movie ends, with the two of us snuggled up together on a bed in a nursing home having died together with each other ...

Shush, let me have my fantasy ...

Easter Weekend

We surprised Dan's Dad big time by showing up at his house on Saturday unannounced :)  Lois knew we were coming, but Vern had NO idea.  Just hearing him come around the house and say, "WHAAAAAA ..."  was priceless.  Dan said, "Happy Birthday!" and gave him a hug. 

Vern turned 70 on Monday.  We had been planning to go up there for Easter and birthday celebrations, but Lois wanted to keep it a secret.  I'm glad she did.  It took a good 15 minutes for it to sink into Vern's brain that we were actually there.  So funny.

We went out to Outback with Robbie and Donna and their kids.  Then we went back to their house for cake and ice cream.  It was a really nice time.

Then Dan threw up in the night. 

Boo.

Poor guy.  My stomach still was not right.  It has taken a long time for my stomach to get back to normal.  So, we did not make it to church that morning.  Dan slept and the kids and I did our own Easter service in the living room.  We watched a little video we found online and then spent time praying and thanking God for His love for us in sending Christ for us.

Elijah prayed, "... and thank you Lord that when we draw nigh to you, you draw nigh to us ..."  That's when I went WHAAAAA (in my mind)  ...  so stinkin' sweet!! 

Then we watched lego videos of Christ's story on youtube.  The kids got a kick out of it.  Some people have a lot of time on their hands.

When Dan woke up he watched a church service online from one our local churches.  He then went back to sleep for the rest of the day. 

After dinner the kids enjoyed their Easter gifts and then we went to Robbie and Donna's for an Easter egg hunt.  When your teenage cousins who are super sweet put together eggs for an egg hunt you end up with 60 eggs for 2 children to find.  They loved it. 

We spent the rest of the evening with them and Dan's cousin who stopped in.  We were hopeful for a new episode of Once Upon a Time since we all love that show, but it was a rerun. 

We were pleasantly surprised when we got home to find Dan out of bed and in the kitchen.  He ate a little, and then promptly went back to bed.  This bug we had just wipes you out.  Thankfully he was well enough the next day to make the drive home.

We went skating that night and then enjoyed time with our friends from NJ the next day.  Before we knew it we were back in the school routine.  Spring Break seems a bit like a blur, but it was fun.  I am looking forward to summer break now though.  There are just too many fun things to do and people to see.

Happy Easter!!!

A Sad Tale

I got the stomach flu on Tuesday.  I woke up at 3 a.m. and wasn't quite right.  Oh man.  You forget just how miserable the stomach flu is.  You can't get comfortable.  You just want to puke.  You can't puke so you just lie somewhere praying you will puke.  When you finally do you have a moment of relief where you might actually sleep until the cycle starts all over.  Ugh.

Finally I just stopped trying to drink anything because I figured it was making matters worse.  I learned some other things as well ...

Fresh everything bagels are super deelish ... until you puke them up.  It will be a while before I can eat them again which stinks because we still have a bunch left.  Peyton's dad works at a bagel factory and brought us some fresh the other day.  We dug right into them because we were so hungry and they were so yummy, but I regretted that later.

The aches and pains are so horrible.  You can hardly rest.  Alka Seltzer was my best friend once I felt I was able to keep stuff down.  It calmed my stomach and took away my pains.  Thank you Alka Seltzer.

My husband is the best.  He came home from work twice to check on me.  I had Elijah home sick with a cough too so he took care of both of us.

Apple sauce was the best thing ever come midnight when I wasn't feeling so much pain anymore and something actually sounded appetizing to me.  I took a shower too which felt so wonderful.  I was still a bit chilled and uncomfortable, but feeling clean made a big difference.

The saddest part is that Madelyn and I were both supposed to go to NYC on Wed with her friend and her friend's mom.  Well, I could no longer go.  She was a brave girl and went by herself though.  She and Alli wore matching shirts and looked super cute.  I was sad to see her go, but they had so much fun shopping at a ton of stores and walking for miles.  They drove to NJ and took the ferry over.  We want to go as a family and go to the statue of liberty and other places so I will look forward to that instead. 

I was still moving pretty slowly yesterday, but I am feeling better and better.  I don't think I ever felt so thankful to be able to do laundry and other mundane chores.  Ahhhhh, good health, definitely nothing to be taken for granted.

Looky Here, It's a Blog Post!

What's been going on with us lately?  ...

Madelyn LOVES Star Wars.  It's so fun.  She now has replaced her Scooby Doo characters on her bedroom door that she had drawn with Star Wars characters.  I have to say they are super cute.  I will get pictures soon.

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Elijah is sick today so we are all home from church.  Usually Dan will go without me, but he stayed home today too.  I can't say I am upset about that.  It's been a nice morning so far.  Well, except for Elijah being sick.  Poor little guy.  He's my early riser, but he was still in bed when I got up this morning.  I woke up to him coughing quite a bit in the night.  He got up around 8:45, but when he didn't come downstairs I went to look for him and he was back in bed asleep.  So sad.  He is achy and uncomfortable, but so far no fever.

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We have seen quite a bit of my mom lately which has been fun.  She is way into Geocaching now so we do that when she comes up.  It's good because it gets us out of the house and we laugh a lot.  It is so rewarding when you find one of those things.  It's so funny how caught up in it you can get.  It will be fun this summer to go with Shannon and her kids.

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Dan just had a birthday.  He is 39 now.  He kept saying it was going to be his last birthday because no one wants to say they are older than 39, but it sounded so morbid when he would say it.  I got him a Bruno Mars CD for his birthday and Mario Kart.  We had Mario Kart before, but it stopped working.  It's a wii game we all enjoy and all 4 of us can play at one time so that has been fun.  We got take out and hung out all evening.  It was one of his best birthdays.  We had fun.

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My Mom had a birthday the week before and ended up coming up here.  She and I went Geocaching and then came back here for dinner.  We laughed a lot geocaching because I kept finding the caches, but it was her birthday so at the one I tried to pretend I didn't see it, but it was too late.  She was closer to me than I thought and I looked way too guilty.

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Peyton and I played Mario Kart on Friday after my family left for school and he had about 20 minutes until his bus came.  He was so cute because we played on the same team so he was encouraging me or apologizing for not doing well.  On the way to the bus stop he was telling me that I was such a good racer.  He was really impressed.  He is such a sweet kid.  It's been fun having him here.

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Girl?

We were at Chick-fil-A Thursday with friends.  I had Bodie, Peyton's little brother,  all day.  He's 4 so when I know I am going to have him I try to plan to get together with friends who have little boys that he can play with.

So thankfully this week Dorie was available.  The kids were playing in the play area.  There was a boy in there who was such a bully.  He kept beating up the other kids.  His mom was not paying attention and wasn't even sitting where she could see into the play area.

Ethan kept coming out to Dorie and telling her that the girl was being mean.  The bully had long hair and the kids all thought he was a girl.  Ethan finally figured out he was a boy, but then the bully was beating up another kid, ends up on the floor and Ethan starts kicking him.  Bodie comes running out and says, "Ethan is fighting that girl!  I had to fight her too!"

Dorie was already in there trying to get things under control.  The mom finally realized there was something going on and I told Bodie the bully was actually a boy.  It did make us laugh that they all though they were fighting some kind of tough girl.  So funny.

Oh, and the mom pulls her son (the bully) out and buys him ice cream.  I'm sure that will teach him to not do that again.  Oy.

Lester

When I was little I saved my money for a ventriloquist doll that I had seen in the JCPenney catalog.  I finally was able to buy it and I was so excited.

Meet Lester ... and friends ...

   

Creepy Right?  But, I loved him.  I took him to school with me and entertained my friends with him during lunch and recess time.  I remember doing Bill Cosby routines with him and my friends cracking up.  It was so fun.

Sadly, he got tucked away in my mom's attic and when I retrieved him years later as an adult his head had melted a bit from the heat so it was a little crooked.  I took him home, but he lived in the trunk of my car to later be put in the giveaway pile.  Poor Lester.