bleh...

So yesterday I started to feel it.

That narsty ickyness in my stomach.

I couldn't decide if it was me becoming ill or just the placebo effect of everyone around me being ill and me thinking I could have gotten it too.

So I went to my Love and Logic class at the school last night and then came home and went to bed.

This morning I felt downright crappy. You know that feeling where if you lay down you feel like everything is up in your throat, but if you sit up you think you might hurl? Yeah, that feeling.

Jer took care of getting the kids up and getting them out the door, I did Missy's hair in a pony tail while she ate and then went back to bed. At some point my mom came by and dropped some things off.

Jer let me sleep.

I woke at about 11 and decided it was probably time to get a shower etc and that I felt remarkably better. I felt better for a while.

and then not so good.

Then better.

So, here is the question... at what point can I say "I feel better" when it's so off again and on again?! I had been planning on taking Missy to see some friends preform with their dance classes tonight... and tomorrow I had planned on going to Utah (I know my grandpa is really looking forward to the visit) and going to the aquarium because Missy has been asking to see "fishes" lately and it will be a while before I get another weekend that we can do that.

So if I don't start feeling crappy again, do you think it's alright to go ahead with my plans, or do you think maybe not?

Considering Dance and When do you speak up?

Today Missy woke up at 4:45 am with news that she had puked on her bed. Poor girl. I gave her a bath to clean her up and wash yuck out of her hair while Jer (saint of a man) cleaned up her bed and got new bedding on her bed. She was surprisingly happy considering and I was able to put her back in bed without much fuss.

At 7:45 she was back in my room saying she was cold... I had her lay down with me and after a sec realized that she was swallowing a lot. We raced to the bathroom and she lost it again. Poor thing. I noticed her hair was wet and thought it was because of the earlier bath, but upon checking her bed found that wasn't the case. Into the bath again and another sheet change. Again she was remarkably upbeat.

By 9am she hadn't gotten sick again and seemed to be doing well, so I took off to a dance festival in a nearby town to watch a friend's daughter preform their dance routines. I had said I was interested and would try... so off I went.

To sum that up, it was really really cool, I think I will probably be taking Missy (and maybe the boys of they are interested) to watch a performance this Thursday. If they are interested I may go ahead and sign them up.

Goober already thinks he has mad dancing skillz... but he really doesn't. If he wants them though I'm happy to give it a try, maybe he just needs some tips from someone who CAN dance. lol

In other news: I think I may have started a fire storm on a friends blog. I hope not though.

She has a wonderful little boy who happens to really enjoy girl things. Including pretending to have long hair and put bows etc in it. He is so cute! :)

Anyhow, comments keep popping up (not just one time but many) on her blog that conclude decisively that he "will grow out of it"... and I admit, he might. That would certainly make life easier for him (and all those who love him) in the long run, and probably the short run in many ways as well.

My concern is this... what if he doesn't? Are these people inadvertently saying that they won't accept him if he doesn't? are they saying that they will blame his parents if he doesn't or that they will think something is "wrong" if he doesn't?

I certainly don't think they are intending to be insensitive or hurtful, but I think to many people these comments may come across that way.

So I tried to gently say that things may not end up exactly how others want it to, and that is alright. That little boy will be loved and admired and have loads of potential in spite of (or maybe because of) the things that he finds enjoyable and that he is drawn to in this life.

I know my friend will take my comment the way I intended it, and I made sure that she knows that she can delete it if she wants to and I won't be offended or have my feelings hurt.

So what do you do when you think others may be unintentionally causing harm? Do you say something or do you stay silent... and if you say something, well, at what point do you say it?

Silly Kidlets

 Okay, I know I haven't posted in a while... but I was just uploading pictures to my computer and thought I would share... because I find some of them amusing. :)

Often, after Jer comes home from work, I will walk through the living room to something like this:

 I hit my "wall" at about 1-2pm and feel like I need a nap... he hits his right after dinner.

On this day Turbo was making a weird face... often. Jer and I were trying to figure out what was up with it.

 He would even do it upside down...

 Then Missy decided she wanted in on the action... and Turbo decided he wasn't done apparently.

Then it turned into the "Duck Face"

Jer and I got laughing pretty hard about this... you know how some girls pull this face thinking it's somehow sexy? Yeah? well... we don't get that and think it's absurd and a little atrocious looking.

The other night we went up to my parents house... the kids were having a lot of fun and at one point Jer used my parents washable markers to make a mark on Missy's face. Missy got upset and Jer had to show her that it washed off... then the boys saw it and decided they wanted to be "Spider man!"

Yeah, I'm starting to think that "washable markers" should also be called "face paint markers".

And here is Goober's "Serious" spidey pose...

And Turbos "spidey" pose...

Peace out. :)

Missy Minus Training Wheels

 

 So Missy had me take off her training wheels last week... what's funny is that she is usually more of a risk taker than Goober, but for whatever reason she didn't want to try riding her bike sans training wheels for very long and soon asked me to put them back on. I was a mean mom and refused to reattach them (she could totally ride without training wheels she just lacked the confidence!)

After she got a bit of a grip about that she soon found that, sure enough, mom might have a clue what she is talking about! lol And she is once again following her big brother all over the neighborhood looking for friends who are home to play with!

On an unrelated note, Jer and I finally got the playhouse stained! Yes, it took all summer for us to get to it, and no we did not intend to wait until October to do it! But alas it is done before the snow flies! Yippy!

 

 (it's not done well, mind you, but it is protected from the weather, which is what we were worried about!)

SCHOOL!!!

So Saturday was the schools openhouse :) And then today Goober and Lissy took off for the big first day!

And yes, I'm aware that these don't look much like "first day" pictures... I think it's the lack of backpacks, but HEY no backpacks means no daily homework... and I'm ALL FOR that! :)

And in other recent news, we are "trying out" a dog for a couple of days. Here, meet Whiskey... he's a mutt, but a pretty nice one and he isn't going to grow any more... I do have to brush him and if we keep him I'm going to have to cut his hair too. Sooooo we shall see....

Adventures in Braiding

So recently I've become ambitious with Missy's hair again. I decided that even though I don't know anyone personally (that I'm aware of) that know how to do 4 stranded or 5 stranded braids, that I was going to figure it out. This is my first attempt at a 5 strand braid, and no, I did not try it "non-french-braid-style" first. I probably should do that...

Anyways, Missy's hair is a little short for it... hence the mess near the bottom and the end in a messy bun. So since her hair is so short, today I tried it with two on her head instead of one... and with the "french" part being pulled into the top.

Much better! Basically, all braiding is, is weaving with hair.... if you put your mind to something... you CAN learn it! (BTW I originally learned this from my favorite hair blog)

Missy's Last Day of Prechool!

Yesterday Missy had her Preschool Program because it was the last day of preschool for her this year. I couldn't help but chuckle because the most of the program was her being mildly interested in doing what she was supposed to be doing and the rest was her raising her eyebrows at me! lol I even caught a video clip of it!!!

Enjoy!

Cake Wrecks...

Okay, most of you know I'm not really keen on cooking. I really don't like it much, I tend to use mixes or pick easy fast recipes if I do cook. Either that or Jer cooks.... cause he likes it.

Well, on Friday I decided that we would do a get together for Missy's birthday... just family, you know the routine!

Anyhow, on Friday morning I clean, clean, cleaned the house (cause it was narsty and looked like the filth-monster had come and vomited all over and that is just embarrassing with the in-laws and everyone comes over!). Somewhere in the middle of all of that I got Missy up so that she could get ready and then help me make her cake. She had expressly asked if she could help the day before and I said yes... so, we mixed the cake (cause I was very non-molly and bought a mix from Voldemort) and shoveled it into the oven and I set the timer.

Missy and Turbo went downstairs to watch the Incredibles while I started to clean the narsty bathrooms...

40 minutes later my timer goes off.... and I take the cake out of the oven (burning my thumb in the process, see I told you I had skill!). I took a look at the cake and thought "that doesn't look right...." and then I raced off to take Missy to preschool with her store bought treats for her classmates and went to lunch with my mom. Once I got home I showed mom the cake and said "I don't think it raised..." and she reaffirmed my thoughts with a definite... "Nope, didn't raise! But that's okay, I'm sure it tastes fine."

So after I went to pick Missy up from preschool and Goober got off the bus I loaded everyone into the van and headed back to Voldemort... and bought another cake mix, but a different brand... because HEY! The last one was FAIL. Then we all headed home and I made the cake again, put it in the oven and went beck to cleaning....

This time the cake did rise. Unfortunately it didn't cool fast enough though and I tried to get it out of the bundt pan before it was ready because, dangit people were going to be coming soon!

Yah, then commenced the cake wreck. I even said it was a cake wreck, which triggered Missy's tears... I quickly told her it would taste great and that I would still let her put the sprinkles on it! Because Missy really wanted to put the sprinkles on something...Which meant I had to try to frost the narsty thing...

At least she had fun pouring the sprinkles on it... and I wasn't in the least tempted to micro manage that, it was unlikely that the poor girl could make it any worse than it already was....

So I quickly called my mom and had her pick up a cake!

Much better! Happy Birthday again Missy!

Happy 5th Missy!

Happy Birthday Girlie! Wow, she is already FIVE. Holy crapola... she's going to be in Kindergarten next year!

Missy is my sweet cuddle-bug and boy can she pull faces. I have to admit it was with some trepidation that I found out I was having a daughter, but you know what? I wouldn't trade her for the WORLD!

Dead People

This morning I prodded Missy out of bed so that I could run over to Jer's aunts office.

You see, I recently realized that Turbo's name is spelled wrong on his Birth Certificate and on his SS card.  Ahhh! Glad I caught that before Kindergarten! Well, the misspelling changes his name into something horrid... The poor kid could be scarred by a misspelling like that. Lame! So now I have to get it all fixed... which includes having to sign an affidavit and getting it notarized. Wooooo! funfun. Well. Jer's aunt can notarize it... so off we went.

On our way home as we listened to the radio I thought I heard Missy say something.

Something like: "Dead people."

"What did you say sweetie?"

"I saw dead people!"

(anyone else getting The 6th Sense vibes?)

....

"OH!  You mean the CEMETARY!" :)

Goldilocks No More?

 

 Today we cut the kids hair. Usually when we cut the boys hair Missy doesn't want anything to do with it. She is pretty proud of that blonde stuff on her noggin. 

Well, today was different. She wanted hers cut too.... 

So we did. First ever REAL haircut.

She seems pretty happy with it! She doesn't have to worry about it falling into her food or getting caught on things as much, but then again, I can't do some of the fun things I've done with it in the past either... I will have to experiment some :)

"I love you MORE!"

When I was a child I remember always playfully arguing with my mom whenever she would tuck me in for the night.

She would come into my room in the evening when I was ready for bed, tuck the covers around me, kiss me and hug me, and with a wish of "sweet dreams" would leave the room. As she made sure the door was open wide (the way I liked it) on the way out she would say "I love you!"

"I love you more mom."

"You will never know how much I love you until you have children of your own! Sweet dreams kiddo..."

Then she would leave to go read or to finish last minute things before going to bed herself.

Sometimes we would tease each other about who loved the other more throughout the day:

"I love you mom!"

"I love you too April"

"I love you more!"

"I love YOU more."

"Nu-uh!"

Back and forth until in the end mom would say "Until you are a mother yourself, you will never know how much I love you!"

As the years past we had these kinds of playful conversations often. Through my teenage years, even up to when I was married.

Then I had a child of my own.

She was right (as she often is!). We no longer argue about who loves the other more... We both know who loves the other more. But since having my own children I know that my love for her has grown as well, due to knowing just how much she loves me.

As I go throughout my day, tidying up (lets face it, I don't like to clean), and making sure homework gets done, making sure the dishes are in the dishwasher, and being a mediator to my childrens arguments sometimes my daughter will say to me:

"I love you mom!"

"I love you too Missy."

"I love YOU moooore!"

To which I reply "You will never know how much I love you until you have children of your own!" And I hug her and squeeze her and watch as she goes to find her brothers to play with.

Hair Bow!

I have to say, I love this hairstyle, and so does Missy. She's asked for it two days in a row. It's a variation (only one ponytail initially) on this one from one of my favorite hair blogs in the whole world! :)

School!

Okay, so I know school is almost out for the summer, which I'm excited for as well and a little worried about lol have to find out when swim lessons are this summer!

This summer Goober will be in summer school for a month for Title 1 reading help. I know with the change in everyones schedule that I probably won't be so good at making sure he reads and I don't want him to loose all the progress he has made this year! My mom is awe-some and is willing to take him while we are out of town for a week this summer (really, could I ask for a better mom?! I don't think so!)

All this year Missy has totally resisted learning much (unfortunately) but it IS preschool, so at least that is some comfort... she refuses to learn how to spell her name (or work on it at all with me) and her teacher says she needs to work on using scissors. I'm hoping that bribery with gummy bears and some help from her older brother might help. Considering this, I'm also hoping that a different teaching method might help.

Recently it was advertised that there is going to be a new Montessori style charter school starting in our area. I applied for both of the older kids and got them both in! One of my friends husbands did the design on the building (it won't have grass on the top though) and I drove by the other day and the tractors are going, getting that baby up and ready to go come this fall. I'm excited, but I little worried because it will be it's first year running and of course everyone will be scrambling to get things into smooth running order... I hope everything falls into place quickly. I looked at the committees they still need help on and don't see that I'm qualified for where they need help. I think I will offer to be a willing body, even if it is just to run out and get coffee and donuts lol.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to the changes!

Feeding Birds who Aren't Hungry.

This weekend the weather has been beautiful... so of course I told Jer we should go "Feed the ducks" at the river. Then I proceeded to scan pictures, because Turbo was taking a nap.

Well, little did I know, at some point Jer snuck upstairs and cleaned out the freezer (which is where I chuck all the bread heals that no one in our family really wants to eat, so that at some point I can take the kids and feed it to the ducks.). He gathered all of the frozen bread heals into one bag and set them on the counter to thaw.

When Turbo got up Jer decided it was time to go, which I was glad for because I've been kind of mopey today (weird, I know, for a perfectly sunny day... I think it may have to do with the fact that this is the time of year I want to totally revamp the yard in about a bazillion ways then I realize that there is definitely not enough funds for that...), we loaded the kidlets into the van and off we went to "feed the ducks".

Well, the ducks really weren't that hungry (everyone else in town apparently had the same idea and the poor things were gorged)... but the kids still enjoyed huking small pieces of bread into the river and watching them either a) sink for the fish to eat, or b) the seagulls swoop down and scoop them up.

After the bread was gone we all just sat and watched the birds for a while.

Turbo wasn't terribly happy with trying to look at me with the bright sun in his eyes, but HEY, there was SUN! Yay!

Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to plant in my garden...

Missy and Me...

Ooooookay, I guess I must conceed... Missy does look a lot like me. All she needs is a haircut and freckles... :)

Ahhh the Joys of Children...

Jer: "Missy, why didn't you ask me to do up your buttons?"

Missy: "Cause I don't want them done up."

Me to Jer: "Meh, she always has them undone when she gets up in the morning anyways."

Jer to Missy:"We don't want to see your chest."

Missy:"Yes we do!"

Jer to Me:"When she comes home one day with Marti Gras beads... I'm blaming you."

Not much going on over here....

Just mostly sitting around waiting for the tax returns and spring....
have a feeling spring isn't going to be around for a bit, it is after all, Idaho... and February.
Bah.

Any G

Tonight as Missy is running back and forth across the room as fast as she can...

Jer: "Missy, did you not get enough energy out today?"

Missy: "I don't have any G... just at school"

Santa's Helper

Every year Grandpa S ends up pretending to be Santa. Really, it's awesome! Can you imagine how freaked out EB would be if this person WEREN'T His Grandpa!?!?! As it is, he looks a bit... unsure.
Basically, Grandpa is Santa's helper. He helps because Santa is busy getting the toys and stuff together for the Big Night. So Grandpa listens to what the kids want and then makes sure Santa knows!
The kids know to pretend that Grandpa is Santa when he is pretending too. It's all part of the fun of Christmas!