Toothpicks

I told someone the other day that I was holding my life together by toothpicks right now. Clearly, I'm spiraling and quite thankful for a God who holds me in His hands and is in control {despite my best efforts}.

{Be forewarned, this is not funny or witty...it's a bummer of a post, so read on at your own discretion.}

So, my poor van. If you'll recall, I was rear-ended a few weeks ago. I called to check the status and was told it was deemed 50/50 liability which means we are out our deductible, rental car costs and, in my state, my premiums will all go up. Say what? For being rear-ended? I insisted the case be re-opened per the suggestion of my mechanic and comments the adjuster said when he was looking at my car (ie, "it looks like you were stopped when hit." and "I'm surprised since you know who the person was that she wouldn't just offer to pay your deductible to avoid the hassle" etc). We are still waiting to hear back. I'm doing the call every day in my sweetest southern accent and try to annoy the poo outta them so they just sort it out to be done with me thing...we'll see how that strategy works. We took a calculated risk and reported that our car had been key'd (ps, who key's a van? seriously?) as it doesn't raise premiums and pays for a rental car. Well, for better or worse, it was able to be buffed out. Saved some money, but we were still out for it and no rental car as it was lower than our deductible. Anyway, went to pick up my car on Friday afternoon (after realizing my garage door opener had been left in the rental van...and they say they never saw it and it isn't there...) and found my right front tire completely flat. Like, the hubcap was resting on the ground flat. They patched it (a rusted nail that had evidently been there a while and the nail head finally rusted off= completely flat) but resulted in new tires. Expensive week for my "as good as new" van.

It's just so frustrating!

Add to that, that I've reached the once or twice a night wake up to pee stage which has left me utterly exhausted and moving the boys in to the same room, which has resulted in a rough week of sleep...I'm just beat {In my opinion, all children have a direct link between behavior and sleep. That is certainly the case for my boys, one in particular.). I have no patience. I find myself with little grace. I wake up and my back hurts before I ever get out of the bed. I told Chris I just long for the day I can breathe and move without pain. There are various things in my life right now leading to some stress and worry on my part (which isn't my normal personality, or of the Lord, so I am definitely praying about that) and I'm just tired. And this baby is violent. I've spent the day nauseous praying I won't get sick, and just have been completely unproductive. My mom asked me the other day if I was "cured" of being pregnant. As I have loved {almost} every second of my previous pregnancies I think she was surprised to hear me say "yes" before she'd finished talking.

I'm sure I'll laugh about it some day. That's usually how that works, right? :)

A series of unfortunate events

That about sums up the past few days, Mondays specifically.

A couple of weeks ago I met my mom and a couple of her friends/old family friends I've known forever for lunch. I missed moving my car by nine minutes and got a parking ticket. Granted, I "deserved" it, but that is still annoying nonetheless. The ticket price ($25) doubled if they didn't receive it in 5 days (due on a Tuesday) so when I remembered Sunday evening I put it in the mailbox {I'm just at that point in pregnancy where if I don't do something when I"m thinking about it, it doesn't happen...}. The next morning my alarm didn't go off {who knew, if you don't turn off your iphone regularly, or ever, things don't work properly} and I woke up at 7:28 am. I have to leave to drive carpool at 7:34 at the latest. Thankfully, my friend drove the other two kids and I just had to get Anna-Kate to school. As I pulled out I noticed that my mailbox was open, and the envelope containing my ticket and check were gone. Oh goodie. Thus, Monday was spent trying to cancel checks, flag our accounts and contact the county about the ticket (and I won't even go into my current feelings on my tax dollars, red tape and the obnoxiousness that is bureaucracy.).

Lessons learned: 1.) Never put a check in your mailbox. Ever. 2.) If you need to cancel a check it costs $29 (more than the cost of the ticket, in my case). However, if you cancel three or more checks, it's free. Go figure, but I'll take it (thanks to the hubby for figuring that one out!).

The rest of the week remained about on par with that day for various reasons...I was ready for the weekend for sure.

On Sunday I was backing out of my parking place, had my hand on the gear shift to change to drive when I heard a crunch. Scared the daylight outta me! I'm always a pretty cautious driver, especially with my kids in the car, but when I'm pregnant I turn downright neurotic. Sure enough, my bumper is completely crushed, the side panel pushed under, paint job completely shot. Thankfully, we were all fine as my car was completely stopped at the time so there wasn't much impact. Anyway, I spent most of yesterday and this morning dealing with insurance calls, taking the car in for an estimate, meeting the claims adjuster etc. I did some online research for damage/impact and found the evidence to back what I recall of the incident, (cause, you know it happens so fast I was starting to doubt myself when the other driver claimed we were equally at fault backing at the same time) I was clearly stopped, as there was no scraping, just crunch. My car was hurt, hers wasn't, which showed her hitting me. Bottom line, unless the insurance company cites it as so (we both have the same company) we will be out our deductible. Also, it is a minimum two day repair, up to seven plus if there is damage behind the bumper he couldn't see. The Honda guy felt sorry for me, I think, and is getting me his rate for a rental van, so that's another $30+ a day...and truly, I wasn't at fault. Really praying this one gets sorted out.

Lessons learned: 3.) if your car gets hit in a parking lot and you don't know who the driver was, file an incident report with the police and you will be able to file it under your uninsured motorist coverage which is a zero deductible and free rental car, in my state at least. Perhaps that will help in the future. Unfortunately, I know exactly who hit me.

Well, there are your helpful tips for today. You're welcome. :)

Tip for the day

Wanna know the quickest way to not sell me books door-to-door?

So this girl shows up at my door and knocks. And waits. I see her and decide I am not interested in answering the door so we might have hidden quietly. A couple of minutes, she knocked again. A few minutes later, knocked again. By this time, I was annoyed. I marched down the stairs, open the door and she said, "Oh, did I wake you, it took you a long time to answer." I told her no, I was awake just ignoring the door and then asked her what she needed. She began to open her bag of books.

Me: "this is a non-soliciting neighborhood."
Her: "Oh really? Everyone is so nice here."
Me: "Nice isn't what non-soliciting means. It means you are not allowed to sell things here."
Her: "Oh, well (insert names of my neighbors) took a look at what I had."
Me: "I'm sure they are great, but I am just not interested. We have a ton of books and are trying to pay for private school."
Her: (turning to Anna-Kate/ignoring me) "I bet you don't know why flamingos are pink, do you?"
AK: "Yes, I do."
Her: (clearly, shocked) "Oh really? How do you know?"
AK: "We go to Disneyworld and I learned all about them at Animal Kingdom where we lived in May."
Her: "Oh, I LOVE Disneyworld. I am actually going to go work there in a few weeks. I get to pretend to be Princess Belle."
(Insert my eyes getting huge and giving her the total stink eye)
AK (turns to me) "What does she mean, Mama?"
Me: "Thanks alot" (close door).

So to summarize. 1) If someone doesn't answer their door, they don't want to talk with you. Go away. 2) When they politely decline your offer, go away. 3) Do not ignore the adult after being told they aren't interested and try to peak the interest of their child. This will not ever work. 4) Do not, under any circumstances, ever tell a young child that you "play" someone who in their eyes is real. I mean really, she could have just said, "Hi, I pretend to be the fake Belle. Did you know Santa, the tooth fairy and every other show/book that you read isn't real? Yep, say goodbye to your imagination kid!"

Urgh. And, you're welcome for that tidbit of wisdom for today.

Her roommates will thank me one day.

I am, by nature, a selfish person. I would like to think it is a tendency associated with the female gender, if only to make myself feel better. I think my problem became most pronounced my freshman year of college {my college roommates are probably nodding their heads emphatically in agreement}.

It's not that I was raised with a silver spoon {I wasn't}. It's not that I got my way all of the time {I assure you, I didn't}. I was the only girl in a two kid family where our ages were spaced over three years different, and then, unfortunately, spent my teen years as an only child. Therefore, it just kinda happened. I was never forced to learn to share.

Poor Liana. I got to college and she reached for my toothpaste (or socks, or hair brush, or sat on my bed...) and I probably looked at her like she had grown an extra head. I was queen of sticky notes and here began my love of labeling (at the time, it wasn't an organization issue, as "mine" isn't so specific). I may or may not have been difficult to live with that first year (though, I pray I got better over time!). There is a point to this thought process.

I have three kids, and they are pretty close in age. Jack was born before Anna-Kate turned five. They play pretty well together and share pretty well too. However, I'm finding that I have to be mindful that Anna-Kate, being the only girl, doesn't always get her way. Not that she doesn't share, but in the little things, like getting the pink plate (we have the Ikea set of multi colors) or princess cup. I feel it is my duty to her future roommates and husband to throw her a yellow plate and orange cup every once and again (even at the expense of poor Jack, who often ends up with a pink plate). It's the little things.

And there, is my deep thought for today. This is how my brain works. I truly try to think through my deficiencies and help my kids work throw them so as they aren't ever issues for them (or others) to encounter.

Eat More {free} Chicken!

I would like to take a moment to recognize cows everywhere. Today, in fact, is cow appreciation day. I take this very seriously, so opted to dine at Chick-fil-a, not once, but twice today. :)

I go to great lengths for free food. :)



With her sweet friend, Marin.





Anna-Kate was ecstatic to find a girl cow. Most exciting to Anna-Kate? Her big bow. :)



Poor guy. The one we went to for lunch has a playground that he isn't quite big enough to climb (alone...which is key). Thankfully he was happy to chill in a seat with a juice box (BIG treat for him!).



Dancing. They were doing the "cow" line (cow, cow, cow, cow, cow, COW!).



My boys. This would be for dinner. Ya, we went back.

Busy

It's VBS week and that means my life is crazy! Between that and doing a huge sewing project for a lady, the blog has fallen by the wayside for sure. Unfortunate.

I did get the kids' picture taken for Fathers Day.



I know--all three looking and smiling! Unreal! :) We had a laid back morning--I made Chris' favorite, Southern Living breakfast enchiladas, we went to church as a family and then I stayed to decorate the church for VBS {I'm so tired}. We went out for dinner and just say and enjoyed one another. A lovely day.

Happy Father's day to my wonderful father and to Chris--a wonderful husband and the best father I could hope for my children to have. I am so blessed.

It continues...

Ryan walked into my room this morning a few minutes before 8.

R: "Look Mommy, my eye is crying!"
Me: "Inconceivable! You have pink eye!" {why I was shocked at this point, I'm not quite sure}.
R: "I a boy, I not have pink eye, I have green eye."
Me: "Sadly, you have both at this point."

***

I've almost finished my second bottle of Lysol spray this month. My toys have never been cleaner and I'm exhausted. This is a pink eye super bug, evidently. So I, for one, cannot wait for the month of March to end. We have only had seven days since February 22 that someone hasn't been sick in our house...It has to end soon, right?

Sick

Hopefully, when we are all well someday (I know it's gonna happen, right?) I will look back at this time and truly appreciate the goodness that is health. So I can remember:

Whole month of February and March-Chris has hacking cough
February 22-Jack, double ear infection
March 4-Anna-Kate, pink eye (both eyes).
March 6-Ryan, threw up
March 8-Chris, pink eye
March 11-Jack, threw up
March 12-Me, something got massively screwed up with my back (in bed--still ongoing, just not in bed)
March 13-Anna-Kate, fever
March 15-Ryan-not acting himself, had to pick him up early from school.
March 18-Me-I got Chris' cough finally.
March 18 and 19-Ryan, croup and stridor. Had his steroids both days.
March 20-Anna-Kate-threw up and fever
Jack-double pink eye, suspected ear infection
March 21-Jack-fever

***

Choosing to believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Choosing to be thankful for extra snuggles from sick littles. Choosing to be thankful for a really clean house as all toys have been bleached, all surfaces bleached and the whole house lysoled about 15 times this month (how are these germs surviving?!?!?!?).

I'm tired.

A cup o' and a pretty boy?

Have you ever thought that an adult going for coffee in the morning is much akin to a baby crying for a bottle? I thought about that in my haze this morning.

I woke up and immediately wanted coffee (if it were socially acceptable, I might even cry for someone to bring me hot coffee. Alas, it isn't). I stood by the pot watching it brew then happily poured my cup and took a lovely first sip. I took a deep breath and was ready for the day to begin.

In contrast, Jack woke up and (I can only imagine decided he was simply desperate for a bottle) cried for his bottle. He lunged for the bottle as it was being filled, heated and mixed and then eagerly grabbed it and drank it all, burped and gave me a big grin.

Not so different.

***

Jack and I went out to lunch today (he is such a lovely lunch companion. As long as I give him a pile of food he is happy and giggly to anyone in his presence). Anyway. A woman, who incidently was a (99%) "Pat", (ironic, no?) walked up to my table and said, "she seems to be enjoying this as much as you are". I looked around to see who she was talking about, all the while wondering why she was confiding this random bit of thought process to me, then realized I was the only woman in the place. I'm sure I gave her a puzzled look as it dawned on me that she was referring to Jack, but didn't correct her as I didn't want her to feel stupid (such a kind soul I am). I mean really, he had on a red and white long-all with a helicopter appliqued on it. He had on his blue jacket, blue paci clip and blue paci. And his blue diaper bag with the name "Jack" was on the table. I've been told he is a beautiful baby, but really. I brushed it off and forgot about it, but as we were leaving she looked up and said, "you ladies have a lovely afternoon". Blood boiling. The 2 men I was sitting near looked at her like she was crazy, for which I was thankful. Urgh.

Crazy week

Alternate title: Chris may not agree to put the kids to bed for at least a week. :)

This week has been nuts--but great!

Thursday I went out with some (mommy) girl friends from church. It was so nice to get away after the week of sick kids, long waits at the doctor (not pregnant--just puttin' that out there) and endless piles of laundry.

Friday I got all 3 kids up dressed and to school at 8:30, in the rain, (this is a big accomplishment for me) for Ryans 3 year old preschool registration. It was really weird not registering Anna-Kate, and was a feeling of "no turning back" in the school selection process, but I am at peace with that. Friday evening we had our good friends over for homemade pizza and then Leigh-Ann and I went to Costco to buy for lunch after church. (each homegroup takes 1 Sunday a semester to cook for the church and I for some reason thought it would be a good idea to be in charge of that). We actually had a lot of fun--despite the van full of nacho bar fixin's (side note, should be delicious, especially if the 40 avacados in my trunk are any indication!)

This morning Anna-Kate and I went to a birthday party for one of her sweet little friends from church. I am so thankful for the number of little girls her age at our church, but am still praying for a "best" friend for her. As usual, the topic du jour was schooling for next year. Chris and I both have a peace with the 2 options we've selected, and are choosing to trust the Lord to clearly open and close doors for us. It remains to be seen if I will be freaking out in 2 months when we know for certain what we'll be doing.

After rest time Chris and Anna-Kate attended the annual daddy/daughter Chick-fil-a date night. I'll post on that tomorrow--it was very sweet.

Tonight I went out again with some friends from Ryans old playgroup (one of whom moved away and is pregnant with her second) for a shower to welcome her coming baby. It was so fun to reconnect and chat with friends (can't wait to do it again girls, and congratulations, Sara!)!!

Perfection

Today is day two of the "ice-apocalypse 2011" of the south. We still have yet to venture beyond our driveway (and that was yesterday, but whatev's).

We had friends drop by (out for a walk--really??) today and other than that we drank a lot of coffee, I cleaned like a mad woman, Chris took a shovel to the driveway (to get the 1"+ ice off) then got some work in, and the kids played together. I'd call it a lovely winter day. So thankful I didn't have to get out in the ice.

Any-hoo. Chris grilled some steaks for us, we found boxes worth of crap and toys under the kids' beds cleaned the kids rooms, had our family devotion time and then I decided to indulge my sweet tooth.

Mmmm, perfection.



In my observation, there are many types of marshmallow eaters out there. The "catch it on fire so I can eat it in 7 seconds flat" type. The "I don't want any brown on it, just soft in the middle" type. And then there are those who demand perfection from their marshmallow eating experience {like moi'}. I like my marshmallows dark brown at the edges and just browned across, but completely melted throughout. I can't stand it when they catch on fire, (because they are charred and not melted in the middle.) I'm dedicated to achieving the perfect roasted marshmallow.

What kind of a marshmallow toaster are you?

Facebook status

I often quickly update my Facebook status with cute or funny things the kids say. I thought it would be good to steal some of my latest status updates to document the sweetness (or, funniness, as the case may be) of our daily life.

As I sat with Ryan in my lap he started pulling my collar in an upward motion saying "big, BIG!". I was beyond confused. He finally {in complete frustration} looked in my eyes and emphatically said, "get BIG Mommy!". I said, "Ryan, do you want me to stand up?" He looked at my like it was the most obvious thing in the world and nodded.

***

Just heard Anna-Kate say to her doll, "Gracious, why I am just overjoyed to have you for tea my friend!" Can you tell we've been reading the American Girl Felicity series?

***

Ryan: "Jack, I teach you go potty like big boy! First lift this thing {lid} then pull pants down, then underpants then squeeeeeze 'em in!"
While I helped Ryan put his pants back on Jack decided he'd try it out...by putting both hands in the potty!!! EEEEW.

***

Anna-Kate to Ryan: "what you drinking?"
Ryan: after taking a biiiiig sip, "mama's coke. it's good."

***

When told her ballet teacher was moving to Florida Anna-Kate said, "but she can't stay there forever, there are only hotels for a week at Disneyworld in Florida." I told her that people actually had houses here too, she said, "oh, we need to move there then!"

***

Anna-Kate: "do you know the nice thing to say when you finish pooping?"
me: "umm, no?"
AK: "Say, 'I'm done', but say it very nicely. That's the polite thing to say".
LOL, who knew?

***

Anna-Kate to Ryan: what are you gonna be when you grow up?
R: a pirate
Ak: gonna live at disneyworld?
R: yep
Ak: oh that sounds nice

***

Anna-Kate on the haircut I got yesterday, "you kinda look like a boy. I don't ever want you to cut my hair like yours is." Thanks, Anna-Kate. I didn't think I liked it, now I know...

***

When I was dropping Anna-Kate off at school today I asked her if she had missed her friends {this was from beginning of December after Thanksgiving break} she said, "yes, but my most favorite days in the whole wide world are when I'm with you!" {a little drama with a lot of "aaahh" thrown in--love that girl!}.

It started off with a bang...

Ryan came in my room this morning at 6:50, drenched and needing to go to the bathroom. He somehow made it to bed without a pull-up on (that would be victory, Ryan. His new thing is "going commando" under his jammies, we have to watch him closely. Ugh. I do, however, consider it a small victory for me. I needed to change his sheets yesterday, but opted not to because of the "clean sheet curse"--you know, you change the sheets and the kid either has an accident or throws up within 24 hours. Never fails, so I feel like I beat the system.). I took him potty and then put underwear on him and put him back in bed (he still looked sleepy, so I crossed my fingers and left). At 7:30 Anna-Kate knocked on my door holding Ryan's underwear that he had given her (and she said, "I just don't know why Ryan brought me his dirty underpants. This is kinda yuck, huh?" Um, ya.) There was a ball of poop in them. I was highly annoyed, but when I went to dump it, found that he had finished in the potty, so I couldn't be too upset. He doesn't get wiping yet though, so they had some skids. Thus, pair of undewear #2 of the day were put into the dirty clothes basket at 7:30 am.

I rounded out the morning with a 3rd unsuccessful school visit/interview. Sigh.

Working on numbers

I've been trying to teach Anna-Kate tricks for counting in her head. She is very much a concrete thinker, so today I brought out fruit loops (that I bought with a super coupon for the occasion). The kids did a two part project 1) writing (Anna-Kate) or tracing (Ryan) numbers and then 2) putting the correct number of fruit loops by the number and glueing them on the paper. They thought they were hot stuff!

Just some eye candy of my precious little one for you:



I think they'd do anything when given a promise of fruit loops. Quite the special treat here.





Ryan, with his completed paper



Finishing up her glueing.

My heart is full and overflowing

We've had a lovely jammie Monday so far. My kids and I have been dancing (arms interlinked "cowboy ho-down style") to Christmas music, the kids are doing a craft and have been playing well all morning. I snuck away to check my email and found this from Chris:

"We are a team, and I love having you on my team. In Sunday school we read
about Abigail, Nabal's wife, and I just thought about how she interceded for
her husband and how many times you have done that for me. A wife that helps
and cares for her husband as much as you do for me is truly one of the most
precious gifts God has given me.
I love you dearly and hope you and the kids have a wonderful jammy day."

What a precious way to start the week! Thank you, Jesus, for my family!

(iphone) Photo dump

(thus making it allowable for me to have a random group of pictures in one post.)

So, the wittiness never occurred yesterday. It was between the blog and bed last night and bed won. {shrugs} Sorry to dissappoint.

I know it's grainy, but it's the first time he waved. He crawled from his room to the rail, looked down at me, I waved and then he waved back. Precious.




Boy in a box:



Anna-Kate (obligingly) wears turtlenecks and tights when she goes to school. First thing she does when she gets home? Dresses for summer (with some extra accessories, socks and shoes). It was about 40 degrees outside when this picture was taken (and 65 in our house as Chris decided that was a warm enough day time temperature. Eviently, feeling in fingers and toes is optional here).





He's pretending to be Mary (you know, mother of Jesus. Clearly, he copies and wants to be like Anna-Kate!).



Helping me shop. He kept loudly saying (while holding up the bra and granny panties) "look mama, these are big like you, I love these, let's get them!"



Child labor. Sweet girl giving her brother a bottle (she begged to do it!).



Blesses my heart. She loves her brothers so much!

My Saturday (as told on Monday)

Well hello.

We had a fabulous Saturday and it made me really happy. I could end there, but I'll continue. :)

Chris got up with the kids so I could sleep in until 8:30. Oo-la-la.

Chris took the big kids running errands so I actually got work done while the baby napped.

We had a lovely family lunch.

Anna-Kate had a fun playdate with her friend while the boys napped and I ran errands alone (and picked up Starbucks).

{The starbucks was bogo--so I was a total cheapie and brought one home and put it in the refrigerator for Sunday morning}

We went out to dinner at Maggiano's. It was actually really good. I had been kinda unimpressed the last time we went, but really enjoyed it this time. We got a coupon in the mail advertising their buy a dish for $12.95 and get a second (doesn't have to be the same thing) packaged to take home and any dessert for $2 more. The portions are so huge that the kids ate off of our plates and we got 2 dinner out of it! I love a deal.

As we walked around the mall after we found Santa. I need dig up pictures from Santa visits in prior years. They are hysterical. We talked about just looking and we'll go back another day. Anna-Kate has been trying to gear herself up for it. Ryan looked pretty excited. We rode the escalator (a huge thrill for the kids as we usually take the elevator because of the stroller. Sidenote, I remember as a kid thinking I would never be able to remember which was which: elevator and escalator. Good thing I'm older and wiser now.) and stood at the top looking down on Santa. Ryan plopped down on the floor with his little face stuck on the glass staring. Santa looked up and waved at him and Ryan started waving and said, "mama, he's looking at me!". So cute.



As we went outside to go we saw the huge Christmas tree lit up (and bonus, there were a few hot pink ornaments for my girl to be excited about). I asked Anna-Kate how big she thought it was and she said with extreme certainty, "40 pounds tall, mama." Alright. "How many ornaments are on there--like 5" I said. "No, no, there are tons of them mama--like twenty-five! That's a big number" (never mind that number has come and gone in my life...).



We came home and put the kids to bed then I headed out to a little neighborhood gathering. Lovely way to end the day!

Irony

...or something like that.

Yesterday morning I was listening to the news as I got ready. I heard there was a major accident with fatalities close to where Chris now works. Of course I immediately wondered if he was ok, but then promptly forgot about it in the mad rush to not have free time while the kids were at school (it went down like this, take kids in to their classes. Drag Jack to the post office. Return to school to set up for the feast, complete with grapes, apples, pretzels, goldfish and marshmallows--aka, every kids' dream lunch. Took Jack and Anna-Kate to Target to get a birthday present, fed the baby in the car, went back to school for Ryan's Thanksgiving party. I know.). Anyway, so when I got back I called Chris, but it went to voicemail. A couple of hours later, he still hadn't called me back so I called his cell phone. Straight to voicemail. I was a bit worried, so started texting him. He's fine, not involved in that wreck. (here's where the irony kicks in). On his way home he had a little fender bender and called me to tell me I had jinxed him. Hmm.

***

This morning was one of those mornings that I could hardly wait to get a sip of coffee (you know that kind of morning, right?). It had just finished brewing when kids began getting up and I had to help get dressed, make beds etc. We get downstairs and I poured my coffee and put it to my mouth to take that first luscious sip when the baby woke up and I had to go feed him. I came back downstairs and realized we had to leave that minute to avoid the "walk of shame" (you know, when you have to walk your kid into preschool because you are too late for carpool). I was rushing everyone out the door and holding my precious mug of coffee. The kids were a good 10 feet behind me as I took my first sip of coffee (still kindawarm, definately not hot). Anna-Kate decided that would be the moment to obey quickly and came running into the garage, knocking my arm, which knocked my mug, which shattered. I probably had the stupidest look on my face as I stared at the floor, contemplating what to do first. Shards of glass? Deal with hysteric girl (who hates being wet and was absolutely drenched: dress, tights, shoes of coffee)? Get myself a new blasted coffee? (you'll be thrilled to know good mommy won out). I tried to calm her down while also successfully keeping the boys from walking/crawling into the coffee/shards of glass. I ran upstairs and got her new clothes, (that matched her bow--one bit of time savings!) got her redressed, alarm set, everyone buckled in...then noticed I had forgotten my coffee. Went back in, undid alarm, got coffee. Set alarm, started to back up. Realized I forgot my phone. Pulled back in, undid alarm, raced back upstairs to get it, reset alarm. I was the last car in carpool. God knew I probably couldn't handle a walk of shame this morning. So, I rolled in, coffee in hand, kissed Anna-Kate and headed to the grocery with the boys.

But that's a story for another day.

Down for the count

We're dropping like flies over here.

So Chris and I did the driver swap at church yesterday (I drove Anna-Kate and I to church, then Chris drove the boys out and stayed for church while I took the kids home). It's actually a great system, I just pushed it yesterday (you could also insert last years rant on daylight savings time. I'll save myself the effort of re-writing. My feelings are still the same. AND, one would think that at least I would be on time to church, but since I had the "extra hour" I, for some reason, felt no need to set my alarm. Yep, late.). Obviously, the boys stayed home because they were sick. Jack's cough is still horrible and Saturday night, Ryan was coughing so hard I gave him his steroid and spent the evening praying we wouldn't end up in the hospital. Thankfully, the Lord answered my (and many others') prayers and he completely quit coughing 30 minutes after the rx!

Anywho. I really needed some baby food and I had coupons for free food, but the brand is mostly sold at Toys R Us. So, I decided it would be fun to stop and grab some cereal and puffs at the largest toy store in the area with 3 recovering kids. Brilliant, I know. We started off strong. Evidently, yesterday marked the first day of Christmas in the retail world. Christmas music, trees, and blowout sale. I simply had to partake, so I got "Hi-Ho Cherio" and "Cooties" for my kids' Christmas for $3 each (after sale and rebate). Ryan was less than thrilled that we only visited the Thomas section for 10 minutes, but he obediently followed (albeit crying). The cashier (new, of course she was) was sweet and tried to ring me out, but couldn't figure out my coupon, called a manager etc. I broke it up into 2 transactions so I could "buy" more free food, the 2nd transaction contained the games. The rebates didn't spit out. I had to wait through the customer service line (this was a universal problem, he he was returning the games and then manually reselling them for the price, less rebate). Ultimately, it was a good thing since I now don't have to mess with a rebate, but we got there at 11:02 and got to Moe's (1 block away) at 12:08. My kids were starving (in their worlds, this was 1pm, remember?). I fed Jack in the car and we headed in. I got the big kids situated, and was halfway through feeding the baby when I heard Ryan say, "I got to go potty Mommy". {of course you do.} I scanned the (packed) restaurant looking for anyone I knew. I saw a little boy we know who was with his dad and siblings (who I don't know) and the woman at the table next to us waved and spoke to him (the dad), so I said a quick prayer and asked her to watch Jack and Anna-Kate as I took Ryan to the potty (I can't believe I'm writing this...).

We finally got home at (new) 1:15. We got the kids down (I say "we" as Chris beat us home from church) and then I promptly started feeling sick. I had to run a couple of errands, so I powered through. Poor call. I was dizzy, nauseous and experience the "belly rumblings". I came home and as I fed the baby, willing myself not to throw up, I heard Chris yelling my name. Anna-Kate had thrown up everywhere (including, all of her open tag books. God bless Chris for cleaning that up!). We got baths and turned on a show to sit together and veg and she did it again. I'm praying it's food poisoning so we'll feel better today. Also, added bonus of her throwing up, she can't go to school (again) and I now get to take all 3 to Ryan's pre-op appointment today in the middle of Jack's morning nap (while still "recovering" from blasted Daylight savings time). Yippee.

(On the up side, I didn't have to cook dinner.)

I laid in bed from 6-7:30. I felt OK as long as I didn't move, but if I moved at all I started getting the cold sweats. I carefully got up, fed the baby and helped Chris get them all to bed, then went back to bed. Fortunately I read my email on my phone where a girl emailed me to ask what time she could pick up the towels. I had promised her to monogram her towels by today and had completely forgotten with the craziness of the shows/sick kids last week and then sick kids/self this weekend. I emailed her back to assure her I would have them then stumbled down stairs to do it. Sigh. She emailed me back and said, "you must be superwoman to handle everything at once." I had to laugh (and, sidenote, isn't the word "mom" synonymous with "superwoman" anyway?)

If you only knew.

Fashion Statement

Rockin' heels with her swimsuit (Dreaming of summer already. She's asked me 3 times this week when we can go to the pool.)



A little "risky business". I had to laugh.



Sibling love.