Update on Crazy City

Things are still busy in E.W.

PGO
I finished typing and binding the first set of books I brought home. The day I dropped them off I received 6 more to bind (already typed by another volunteer, thankfully). Those are now sitting on the counter awaiting my attention. One of the books is R's book ("All About Rocks") and it's quite the masterpiece. Not that I'm biased or anything.

The PGO is holding a Tag (or Garage or Yard, depending on your geographic location) Sale on Saturday. Looking around to see what we had to donate was a rather dangerous activity. It made us start to think about whether we have stuff for our very own tag sale. This in turn lead us to begin a rather massive Spring Cleaning Frenzy which has resulted in one bay of our garage being full of tag sale-able items. I will be bringing some stuff to donate to the school tag sale but the remainder will wait until next weekend when we will have our own sale. The girls have even been bitten by the tag sale bug (they are anxious to get some cash to buy NEW toys...) and have willingly brought out some toys for sale. They are even will to part with some of the larger outdoor toys that are just sitting out back collecting wasp nests and dirt. In fact, over the weekend, they got out the garden hose and scrub brushes and had fun getting a few items clean enough to sell!


CE Board
Things are at a standstill on the CE subcommittee to find our church a new Christian Ed. Director. I'm hoping that our job is complete and I'm anxious to see what the hiring decision will be (we have given our input to the Pastor who must complete the next step in the process). I still have those darn meeting minutes to type up. I hate having stuff like that looming over my head but I just have not had the time!


Celebrations
We had a nice visit with some of Rick's relations this weekend and the Saturday birthday BBQ was enjoyable and delicious. The next celebration coming up is Father's Day. Negotiations are in progress to figure out just when and how to celebrate with the dads in our family. Thankfully, it's usually a low-key affair.


PreK Graduation
A's graduation was short and sweet and I was the first-class idiot who forgot her camera that day. I did ask a few parents to take some photos of A for me and will hopefully get some copies emailed to me very soon - at which point I'll be sure to share them here. A's class sang three very sweet songs and each child received a small gift (a book) and a certificate that stated one reason they were so valued in class this year. A's certificate this year was for "development of her leadership skills" (last year she got a certificate for "being a friend to all"). After the certificates were handed out I said a few words and presented the teachers with the monetary gift from the families and another mom handed out beautiful baskets of flowers. Then we all enjoyed a potluck lunch together and headed home. A is signed up to continue at school for "camp" which is basically an extension of the school year (for an additional fee) to more closely match the public schools. So, she has not yet said her final good-byes to her teachers.


Head Cold or Tree Pollen?
Seems to have been a head cold that I suffered from recently because a few days after I came down with a sore throat and stuffy nose Rick became the next victim. I can't for the life of me figure out why I am so blessed with the spring sniffles every freakin' year but this year I am fairly certain that it was not an allergic reaction to tree pollen. It was just another stinkin' cold. Grumble, grumble.


Life
They say that time flies when you are having fun. Well, I must be having a BLAST because I can not believe that it is nearly June already. In some ways I feel like we skipped May because it has been such a blur. This whole 'work' thing is putting a Fast Forward button on life. If anyone knows where the 1/2 speed button is, I'd love to hear from you. And if you can figure out who these "kids" are that are living in my house and what the heck they did with my 'babies' I'd be happy to know that tidbit as well.

What was that? Something just whizzed by....

Zzzzerrrrooooosh!

That would be me - in my fly-by posting mode. I've been a bad, bad blogger of late. Life is just going full-tilt of late and not leaving me much time to ruminate, much less write about my ruminations.

Some of the stuff I'm doing these days:

• working 2-3 full days a week

That is going very well and I'm loving my job. I love the techie side of things and learning about all the new and exciting stuff in the world of augmentative communication. And I've met some really great kids who are an inspiration and a challenge all at the same time. My co-workers are amazing. Even though I've been dealing with a fair bit of chaos and certain conflicts among members of the team, I would not want to work anywhere else at the moment.

Eliza is dealing (mostly well) with the transition to my status as a WOHM. She has her moments of not dealing so gracefully but I have two capable and loving people who care for her (her Grandma and Godmother, no less...) and she is just having to make that adjustment of not having me 24/7.

• Getting more involved with the Parent/Guardian Organization
  

I have not been as involved as I feel I should be in the past couple of years - I'm making that more of a priority and looking ahead to next year. They have lost quite a few of their highly involved parents over the course of the year and they are down to bare bones and looking at the dissolution of the PGO if people don't step up to the plate. I certainly don't want to see that happen.

This week I'm trying to help out by typing and binding a few books for R's class. Each year the K-3 graders write and illustrate their own books which the PGO volunteers to type and bind so they look more professional and official. I went to the Ice Cream Social with Rick and the girls last week and while families were enjoying a bit of musical entertainment I went to the community room and learned how to bind the books. I have a bag sitting in my kitchen just waiting for my attention. Must find time! Soon.

• Board of Christian Education (CE)
  

I'm a member of the CE board at church and we are in the process of trying desperately to hire a new director for the youth/family program. It's not been easy! This week things have come to a head and we are in the process of scheduling meetings and interviews. I'm sort of the coordinator by default since I was the only subcommittee member at the last committee meeting. It's been a bit hectic and crazed pulling that bit together in a very short time. I am also the board secretary and still have the minutes from the last meeting to type up -- which is probably what I should be doing instead of updating my pals here on my blog? Nah....

• Preschool Graduation

A's second, and final, year of preschool is coming to an end. I am so sad to say goodbye to her little schoolhouse for the next year but E will start there the following year so it's more of a 'see ya later' than an actual goodbye. And it's truly a bittersweet transition because while I say goodbye to her preschool days I'm thrilled for her as she enters the next phase and becomes one of the big kids who rides the yellow school bus and look forward to all that she has ahead of her. Ask me in a few years if I'm as excited for my 'baby' to be heading off to Kindergarten and you might find that I'm in a completely different mindset about that 'last one heading off to the big kid school' -- or maybe not. Both A and E are October babies and I'm sure E will be just as eager and ready at nearly six-years-old as A is right now. A is chomping at the bit for bigger and better things and seems to want to be older NOW.

I've stepped into the role of coordinator for the teacher gifts for the past two years. It's not a huge deal but it is one more thing that needs a bit of attention. I am collecting money from the families to present (along with flowers and cards) to the teachers to thank them for their hard work. The check will be used to buy something for the school that would not ordinarily be purchased from their budget. For instance, one year they replaced the clothesline/clothing pin system with an honest-to-goodness drying rack for all the beautiful artwork the children create each day. I had honestly not even realized until last week that the graduation date was fast approaching. No one else mentioned teacher gifts so I just decided to take the bull by the horns again and get it done. Everyone is usually very appreciative of the effort and I don't really mind doing it because I love our preschool....but I won't be there next year so it is time to pass the torch along! And with everything else going on I'll be glad when I can check one more thing off my list!

• Birthday/celebration central

Over Mother's Day weekend we celebrated on Saturday night with Rick's parents and had a nice steak dinner here at home. On Sunday I drove to Boston with R and A to meet up with my two sisters, one niece, two nephews, my brother-in-law and my parents. We all went to see one nephew in a HS production of West Side Story (which was amazing and fabulous and funny and heartrending). Then we all went out for a Mother's Day dinner at a restaurant in the Back Bay section of Boston called Fire & Ice.

This week is not only Rick's (40th!) birthday (today!) but also his mom's (Saturday) and my mom's (yesterday). Happy Birthday to all the special people in my life! Tonight we are doing a very quick dinner and cake and ice cream with my in-laws (because of my 6:30 meeting at church regarding the CE director position - see above!) and then on Saturday we are doing a full-blown cookout with more family in attendance. Burgers! Hot Dogs! More cake and ice cream! (And to think that life is creating a perfect storm of late that is keeping me away from the club and my morning walks! eek.)

• Head cold or tree pollen?

Every year since the year of R's birth I have suffered from a 'seasonal' (April and/or May) onslaught of cough, itchy throat, and sinus congestion. It lasts for a few weeks and from the best I can tell by googling symptoms and allergens each year at around this time, I think I'm allergic to either oak or birch trees (or both). It's a total drag. And it's really not a convenient time - particularly this year - for me to be dealing with this nasty crap. I'm giving Claritin a trial but so far, three days in, I'm not noticing any difference. A friend recently told me that the 10mg that is the OTC Claritin is not actually clinically beneficial and that I should give Zyrtec a try. Another friend suggested Tylenol Sinus. I was very glad for those tidbits and will likely make another trip to the drugstore to give one a try. I'm trying to be patient and wait another day or two with the Claritin before I toss them and try something else. But, something has to be done. And soon.

• Was there anything else? Or perhaps that list is the exhaustive (and exhausting) list at the moment. It is certainly plenty to be juggling and I'm hoping that I've not forgotten something... What a crazy month this is!
  

It's All Good

Yesterday afternoon we had R's parent-teacher conference and today we went to A's school to talk to her teachers. I must say that I feel so blessed to have healthy and happy kids who do well in school. It makes the conferences something to look forward to and enjoy!

Last year at this time I was angsty and twitchy about R' s conference because the classroom she was in was just not a right fit and the year was a difficult one for her socially and emotionally. She was not happy and not challenged in the right ways. Additionally, the teacher was having her own personal issues that impacted the class as a whole due to her stress and her frequent absences. This year was a huge improvement. Her teacher has been fabulous. She was aware of R's social needs and worked on helping R build relationships with other kids. It wasn't always smooth-going but R made some great strides this year and was with a group of really great kids which helped make the process that much easier for her. I think she is developing a few friendships that will hopefully carry over into 3rd grade. Her teacher let us know that she is going to try to place R with kids that she works well with (and she is going to specifically ask R who she might want to be with in 3rd grade) so that the friendships can continue to grow next year. The teacher also had to work on encouraging R to talk more in small and large group discussions. It was something that she was very resistant to in the first half of the year and her teacher told us that it is something that will be expected of her a lot more in 3rd grade. We talked with her and explained that it was not really optional and that it was her "job" at school to share what she knows...particularly when she is asked a question by the teacher (her response was usually to drop her head and refuse to look at the teacher or answer the question). She is a very "rule driven" kind of kid so once we laid the groundwork and told her what was expected she really rose to the occasion and started working harder on those skills. Academically, R is doing really well - her teacher showed us some of her writing (and we all had a good laugh over the "how to" pages) and she told us that she has really developed some great writing skills over the course of this year. Her math skills are right on target (or even advanced in some areas...which must be Rick's genes at work in her because she doesn't get that from me!) and she is decoding above grade level with comprehension skills at least at grade level (she had inconsistent test results because of R's reluctance to talk/answer certain questions on that day). It's always nice to hear that your kid is doing well academically but I was even happier to hear that the social piece is starting to fall into place for her to a certain degree. I don't expect her to ever be the 'social butterfly' kind of kid, but I also don't want her to feel out of the loop and alone in those instances where she might want to be part of the action but just isn't quite sure how to go about it.

And speaking of 'social butterflies' - today was our conference with A's preschool teachers. It was another great meeting that reinforced our notion that A is more than ready for Kindergarten and is doing well both academically and socially. Her teachers have been so happy to have in her the class and she is a good friend to all the kids at school. She shows none of the sassy 5-year-old attitude that we experience here at home and her teachers were surprised to hear she was even capable of such behavior. Boy, she's got them fooled all right. But, in some ways it is nice to know that she is able to self monitor enough to realize what is and is not acceptable behavior depending on the setting. Not that I find it acceptable for her to sass me or Rick - or that I let her get away with it (far from it!) - but at least she knows that home is a safe place to test those limits and she knows better than to test them in school with her teachers. The teachers also told us that she is taking on more of a 'helper' role in the classroom when it comes to her interactions with her classmates. She likes to explain things to the other kids - like how to play a game - and she does so in a very nice way. And she is getting better at speaking out for herself when she encounters issues or problems of her own - last year she often sought out a teacher to fix the problem but now she is having fewer tears and using her language more to resolve an issue with peers all on her own. She has had a wonderful (almost) two years of preschool and we are all looking forward to her transition to kindergarten next year. We are hoping that she has the same great teacher that R had for kindergarten and there is a good chance that she will know at least a few other kids in her class - one from preschool this year and a couple of others from the neighborhood. However, we feel fairly confident that she will make plenty of new friends next year and will have a great time!

Random Blogging

Catching up on happenings in the land of Elastic Waistland. Be prepared for random thoughts, scenic detours, and general meanderings. If any of that sort of thing offends your blogger's sense of style feel free to click along to someplace more palatable.

Where to begin.

Well, the school year is off to a good start. I have my handy-dandy planner and we have all settled in with the fall schedule fairly well. I have days where it just seems like I spend all my time in the car shuttling kids between various activities and engagements with barely a moment to catch my breath, but there are also days that are more laid back and I can actually sneak a few pages of my current read before running off to the next pick-up, drop-off or errand. Alas, the house could be cleaner, the dishes sometimes sit in the sink until dinnertime, and there is still a pile of mulch in the driveway that needs to be dealt with at some point (hopefully before the snow flies!) but, all in all, life is chugging along fairly smoothly. And I'm not one to worry my little head over a layer of dust, toys strewn hither and yon, or those aforementioned dishes that sit in the sink for a while. Life is much too short.

R just started her art classes and she is enjoying the subject of "Fairies" that all the projects will be centered around. This past week they worked with real leaves as templates and colored their creations with pastel crayons. I'll post a picture when she brings home that project - she is off to a very nice start. Swim classes are going very well and she is getting much better at her standing dive. After her classes on Saturday mornings I've been trying to get in a workout at the Y. I drop her in the childcare area and head to the gym for a while before we head home in time for lunch. The two younger girls are home that morning with Rick. It's the only time I get to workout at the Y right now because the issue with little Miss Cling-E is still going strong. In fact, the last visit to the Y all I had to do to elicit screams of terror was to walk into the childcare area with her by my side. She wanted NOTHING to do with the place. She also has a screaming fit whenever we approach the showers for some unknown reason. My best guess on that one is that she is afraid she will get wet but this even happens when she is wearing a swimsuit so it might just be the noise and confusion. Good times. (not really)

A is enjoying swim classes and her weekly gymnastics as well. She recently decided she wants to be on the gymnastics team. I told her to keep working hard on her skills and maybe in a few years she'll be invited to join the team. She wasn't too pleased with that answer and we'll see how much longer she actually stays interested in the sport! For a while now she has been angling for horse-back riding lessons but I've explained that they are very expensive and that she needs to be a bit older before she can start. She has also mentioned more than once that she wants to be a horse-back rider when she grows up (although today she added the possibility of being a tie-dye maker/mom...we have a friend in mommy group who has a home-based tie-dye business). So, who knows what her plans will be tomorrow...or the day after that.

I've been spending Tuesday mornings at R's school helping out in any way I can with the classroom teacher or the librarian. This past week I spent time trying to do some copying (but the machine was getting jammed so I took the project with me and decided to get it done at the copy shop and donate the cost of the copies to the classroom) and processing library books that were headed for the shelves. I also spent time there on Friday last week helping with the hearing screenings. I served as hall monitor and kept the noise to a dull roar and ushered kids in and out as necessary. The audiologist in charge of the hearing screenings was my grad school supervisor so we got a chance to catch up on life in general and on goings-on in the department.

On Tuesdays E spends time with my in-laws and although she is otherwise super clingy and in hyper stranger anxiety mode she is more than pleased to go to grandma and grandad's house for the morning. She barely gives me a second glance, let alone a kiss goodbye, on those mornings. So, there is hope! She even allowed our neighbor (who also has a home daycare) to babysit her here at home with her sisters while Rick and I went to the 1.5 hour curriculum night at school last week. Baby steps... Some day I will get to utilize my Y membership to its fullest potential!

In other news, I'm trying to get back on the wagon and reign in my eating and increase my exercise once again. I've done pretty well with the walking regime (3.5 or so miles in the morning) but I've slacked off a lot in the high intensity cardio and the strength training sessions that I was doing last spring. So, the reduction in exercise and the increase in food intake - which seems to happen whenever I don't keep a food diary - has caused a 7# gain since early May. I started using my LifeForm program again to keep myself accountable and I even recently managed a couple of hikes to a beautiful overlook here in the southern part of our little New England town. The view from up there is so beautiful. The leaves are just beginning to turn so it was not quite the colorful spectacle that will appear in a week or two, but it is still a great place for a hike. The first hike was a solo one during the scant couple of hours I had between dropping off and picking up A from a friend's birthday party. It was a good hike for the soul to sweat it out on the way up the mountain and then relax and enjoy the views from the top in solitude. I needed that time to regroup and refresh. Last Friday, Rick and I took advantage of some gorgeous and unseasonably warm October weather and hiked the mountain again. My in-laws babysat for us and we had ourselves a very nice date night - hiking the mountain followed by dinner at a local brewery and then a movie at the small theater in town. Good times! (really!)

This past weekend was A's 5th birthday party. I plan to post some pictures of that soon. She had a dog party with a slight emphasis on pink poodles and she and her preschool friends had a very nice time together on Saturday afternoon. Next weekend we are heading to the Cape and spending some time with my family (both immediate and extended) for a big celebration and the following weekend is Miss E's 2nd birthday which will be a much smaller and more relaxed event.

That about wraps up the events of late in the E.W. and the busy life of yours truly.

Which way did she go? Which way did she go?

Things have been busy, you could say.

The last few years I have not felt the need to keep a schedule book handy at all times. I've been able to keep tabs on our schedules by sporadically writing things down on a wall calendar in the kitchen, but mainly just keeping track of who needs to be where -- and when-- in my head. I've kept the few numbers I've needed handy in my cell phone. And although I've been caught unawares by a phone call or two reminding me of a dentist appointment that I'd completely forgotten to write down when it was scheduled six months prior, on the whole been I've able to get by just fine.

Now? Not so much.

The two older girls are involved in two extracurricular activities this fall (gymnastics and swimming for A and art class and swimming for R). Not too hectic, you might say, but I am also dropping off and picking up A from preschool four days a week, doing a childcare swap on alternating Thursdays with a friend, and my in-laws are taking the girl at various times to spend some quality time with them individually. To help R with some social issues (real or imagined) that seem to be bothering her (she can be painfully shy and feels like she has no friends right now) I am also working on scheduling semi-regular play dates with a few choice classmates in the hopes of nudging along a friendship or two. And A refuses to be left in the dust - she's the social butterfly of the family with a social calendar to match!

Oh yeah, and I've decided to spend Tuesday mornings at R's school volunteering in the library and as needed in her classroom. It's a worthwhile investment of my time as I like to be aware of what is happening at school, and recent budget cuts have reduced the support in the library and classrooms to nil or almost nil. Luckily, R is still of an age where parental visits to the classroom are encouraged (by her and by her teacher). I'm sure there will come a time when mom's arrival at school will be a complete embarrassment so I'm getting my time in while I still can!

And then there are the evening meetings - preschool board meetings (not very often, but still can't forget!), book club (a monthly "me time" that I hate to miss), school events like curriculum night and the welcome back picnic that happened last night (the kids had a ball!), helping with fund raisers like bake sales, and so on and so forth.

To add to the mix, there is also church, choir practice for the girls, teaching Sunday school (luckily I just have to show up and teach - the lesson is all organized and prepared for me ahead of time), and a host of fall birthday parties on the horizon (including the party planning and prep for my two October girls).

A couple of weeks ago I started to feel the weight of the scheduling nightmare -- and a bit old and addled at the thought of trying to keep everyone's schedule straight in my head -- so, I went out and found a nearly perfect planner. If I could tweak its contents a bit I would, but it serves me well enough and it is certainly helping to keep me sane (relative term indeed...it is keeping me from jumping off the cliffs of insanity anyway). I also purchased a new bag ("Hi. My name is Jeanne and I'm a bag-aholic.") which has a handy outside pocket into which my bright and shiny new planner fits perfectly! (Thank you, mom, for the birthday money that financed the new bag purchase!). The bag also has end pockets with mesh bottoms that are perfect for a bottle or sippy cup of milk or water for the wee lassie as well as what should be my ever-present bottle of H2O (working on that daily goal). And the main compartment is big enough for my wallet, a diaper or two, a travel wipes container, and I bet I could even fit my latest book in there in a pinch if it is paperback and not too thick.

So, armed with my life in a book and a bag (and all neatly labeled with a few different colored pens and highlighters), I'm as prepared as I am ever going to be for the crazies of the season! If you are the praying type, just pray that I don't lose my portable brain planner or I'll be sunk!

In the Good Ole Summertime...

**updated to add pics and video link**

Summer is going by so fast.

R and A are bronze-hued and sun-kissed. Though E is still looking like a fair maiden as any part-Irish, not-yet-two-year-old should look.

We have had a couple of trips to the Cape to dig in the sand, frolic in the waves, and soak up the sun.

Early in the summer, just after school let out, we took the kids on the Virginia adventure 2007 which, on the whole, went well. We are, however, considering alternatives for next years "big adventure." In fact, Rick is turning the "big 4-0" next year and his parents are each hitting milestone birthdays so a big ole family trip to somewhere is being discussed.

Other summertime excursions have included road trips to go Geocaching, splashing in rivers, and dips in a friend's pool.

The older girls have had a chance to enjoy some time at camp and they are currently enrolled in swimming classes.

All in all, a good summer. One that I'm sad to see end. The girls are doing so well and we've enjoyed some great times together this summer.




R is growing up so very fast. She is reading at a fast and furious pace. She probably reads faster than I do now and she is taking after her dad and devouring books faster than we can replenish her literary plate...which reminds me - a trip to the library should be on our agenda this week.
Just in the last few weeks I'm finding her to be maturing in leaps and bounds. She is more "even keeled" and able to problem-solve issues with little to no intervention. She still lets A get under her skin at times but yet there are times when she handles formerly tension-fraught moments with ease. I've found her to be, in the past, rather negative and fatalistic when it came to problems or things she merely perceived as insurmountable problems and now she seems to be able to see past that mentality and is finding the solutions. This has reduced stress on so many levels. And I think she is even starting to look forward to second grade...at least for today. She was excited to buy a new backpack and seemed to be looking forward to the new school year. We were wondering together who her teacher will be and who she might have in her classroom - she has one friend in particular from Kindergarten that she is hoping will be with her again this year. If history repeats itself she might begin to show signs of stress as we get closer to the first day of school - but with her newfound maturity maybe it won't even be more than a blip on the radar screen. In other exciting, "R News" - she is turning into quite the fish! The last two evenings at swim class she has managed to figure out and execute a standing dive. Her swimming has improved dramatically as well and she loves to be in the water.



A is on the cusp of 'big girlhood' now that she is nearly five (5?!). The last few months have been a bit rough with A. She has been testing limits and asserting her independence a little bit too much for her own good. She's been reverting to that annoying 2-year-old phase where her favorite word is "no" and she has not been shy about using it. More times than I can count I've had to have the "who's in charge?" discussion with her and it often took asking that question more than once for "Little Miss I'm in Charge" to get the answer right. I've vented at length with Lauri during our morning walks and she has assured me that many kids go through this stage just before they turn five. She doesn't quite know why it happens but it seems to be something to do with that fear of the unknown, cusp of becoming a big kid thing. It also seems to coincide with those months leading up to Kindergarten. I'm so hoping that A is getting this phase out of her system and we don't see it rear it's ugly head again next summer before her big transition to Kindergarten. Being an October baby means she will be starting Kindergarten about month before she turns six. So, she has one more year of preschool and she is looking forward to being one of the "big kids" at school who already knows the ropes. There are six kids in her class who will be returning for their second year of preschool - the rest will all be new students. Unfortunately, last year A befriended many of the kids who are now moving on to Kindergarten so she will have to make new friends this year. Fortunately, I have no concerns about her ability to do so. At the end of year party at school in May all the kids received a certificate from the teachers that highlighted one of their strengths and A's certificate was for "being a friend to all." So true. She is really my social butterfly and the one most likely to make friends no matter where she goes - school, the playground, story time, the library....you name it! So, A is also looking forward to the new school year and all the time she will get to spend with her friends - new and old. She, too, has made leaps and bounds in her swimming skills this year and will now eagerly jump into the pool without holding the teacher's hand. She goes completely underwater and bobs back to the surface and the teacher helps her swim back to the edge. She is so brave!

Check out this video of the two of them at swim class.




And last but not least, my sweet little E. She is just wanting to be one of the big kids so badly! She jumps at the chance to do whatever they are doing - riding...or rather sitting...on a big kid bike, wearing goggles at the pool and attempting to put her face in the water (she is by far my most fearless kid when it comes to the water), helping (well, hindering might be a better choice of word) with setting the table, clean up time and other chores, climbing up the ladder to the tall platform on the playground equipment, etc... Her speech and language skills are exploding and she is putting strings of words together to make her desires quite clear. She can be quite a bossy little thing but also very sweet and thoughtful (she will often say "danku" unprompted, as well as "bess you" when someone sneezes and "cooz me!" when she passes gas...of course she thinks it is hilarious to pass gas and will often try to do so on purpose. Such a delicate and refined little lady). She already loves to accessorize and play dress-up. A is more than happy to help her into a princess costume and tiara and some of E's favorite things are shoes, hats and her Dora sunglasses. And the more shoes, the better, by the way. If we go out shopping and she sees shoes anywhere she is begging and whining for me to take off her shoes so she can try some on. My very own little Imelda. She even has a fascination with trying on other peoples' shoes and will often clomp through the house wearing my sneakers, Rick's boots, or the older girls' flip-flops (which she charmingly calls "bee-bops").

I guess I'm just realizing that they will never be 7-ish, nearly 5-ish and nearly 2-ish again and I'm realizing that as crazy and annoyed as I can sometimes get "in the moment" with all of them that I've really had some wonderful times with them, too. They are growing and changing constantly and although they are exhausting and exasperating and complicated they are also wonderful, amazing and unique. We have more fun times ahead, I'm sure, but right now I'm wanting to hold on to this summer and not let go.

Ok...so maybe there is also a tiny part of me that is looking forward to the start of a new school year when I might be able to carve out a bit more kid-free time during the week... And perhaps my desire to extend those lazy days of summer has a tiny bit to do with the fact that the end of summer means...well...it means that another year has gone full circle for me. When did the milestones turn from celebrations (first steps, riding a two-wheeler, turning 21, first real job) to moments of dread and distaste (first gray hair, another wrinkle laugh line, turning 37 thirty-something) anyway?

Sorry to Blog and Run...

It's been a busy week...and it's not quite over yet. We had a snow day on Wednesday so the girls (and Rick) were home on Valentine's Day. I wish I could say it was a nice, happy, calm day but it seemed like the girls were on edge all day - might've had something to do with seeing all that snow (that we have been deprived of so far this year) and yet not being able to go out and play in it because it was so FREAKIN' cold! It was windy as all get out and at times the "snow" was actually coming down in sheets of SLEET so it was not a pleasant day to go out and play in the white stuff. Bummer. And it means that we do not have packing snow AT ALL (it's actually so hard the girls can pretty much walk on it and not break through very often at all) so we can't even go make a snowman now that the storm has passed. Blah. So, basically things were a bit rough on Valentine's Day because the girls could not play well together - ugh. In the afternoon I popped some popcorn and then we all went downstairs and watched "Dreamer" together - cute movie. Not one the girls would have picked to watch on their own but it was a nice to watch it together as a family and they did enjoy it.

Yesterday was the delayed Valentine's Celebrations at school and the girls brought home plenty of cute Valentine's cards as well as the usual slew of candy that goes along with that. They've been on quite the sugar high! In the afternoon, I got to baking the cupcakes for R to bring into school for her birthday celebration. Since she has requested a frog themed party for Saturday I decided to make the classroom cupcakes in the same theme. Here's the birthday girl with mom's froggy creations!


In case anyone was wondering - the eyes are made with those white candies that they sell for melting and pouring into molds and a chocolate chip for the center and then I used shoestring licorice for the mouth.

Tomorrow is R's 7th birthday - SEVENTH? Yikes. That means she is more than half-way to becoming a teenager?! Oy. And I'm already seeing signs of teenaged attitude...maybe she's getting it out of her system early? (Shut up. Leave me to my delusions.) She has invited some friends from her class for an afternoon froggy party. I just pulled the cake out of the oven and once it's cooled I can get to the frosting and decorating part. A is off on a playdate with a friend and she actually has a Valentine party to attend this afternoon (postponed due to that dratted snow). So, it's just me and E for today and I'm busy with party prep and getting this house cleaned. (Why do I bother? It will be ransacked by a bunch of 6- and 7-year-olds tomorrow anyway...). I'll be happy when tomorrow afternoon is over and done with. I know R will have fun but I'm already getting party burnout from the last couple of weeks of gathering all the "stuff" and making all the preparations.

And speaking of burning out....I have been keeping up with my exercising this week and the eating has been going pretty well. I did Burn it Up on Monday and Tuesday but on Wendesday I tried to do the workout and practically fell flat on my face. I could NOT. Move. My. Muscles. No way, no how. I was in burn out mode, I think. I stopped the workout after 15 minutes then went to bed early and CRASHED mightily. I guess my body was saying "ENOUGH!" But, I jumped back in last night and it went MUCH better, so I feel like I'm still on track. I just need to give my body more breaks and not follow the schedule that comes with the workout program - they do say "listen to your body" so I'll go at my own pace and I'm sure I'll still see the results. It will just take a little longer and that is fine.

OK, so I've gotta run now. I will be back after the party with pictures of the festivities to share!

Have a good one!

The Fourth Deadly Sin

I'm feeling very slothful today.

I don't know why....maybe I can still blame it on yesterday's sugar high.

OK, maybe not.

I didn't get dressed until almost 11am. And I decided not to take another shower this morning. I took one last night after exercising so I didn't really need one, but my hair is just hanging limp and lifeless because I did not feel it necessary to style it after my shower last night. I don't plan on going anywhere today so I'm not too worrried about the lack of style to my hair.

E is taking her nap right now and I feel like crawling back to bed myself.

The older girls are being left to their own devices and seem to be playing together fairly well. For that I am thankful because, like I said, I'm not feeling very energetic today. I'm not feeling very creative or inspired to do much so it's good that they are finding something to amuse themselves.

Rick has already been out running errands this morning and now he's back and working on a project in his workshop - something to do with making brackets for a mounting system for his Jeep. He often needs to buy extra long things - conduit and the like - that doesn't fit in the Jeep and needs to be attached to the roof to get it home. So, he is constructing something that will make that an easy task, I guess. Don't ask me. I'm clueless. And he gave up his project blog long ago so you won't be finding any answers there either.

I have things I should or could be doing - entering receipts into Quicken, baking cookies for tomorrow's bake sale at church, knitting, reading the book for book club meeting on Monday (except that I never picked up a copy of it - oops), etc.... I'm just not feeling any drive to do any of it. Where the heck is my motivation?

In Which a Theory is Still Mostly Unproven

OK, so the stomach bug theory (unless it was a very, very, VERY short-lived one....highly doubtful) did not pan out. E was fine all day yesterday - ate well, no further eruptions, and slept well last night. The other two girls were fine - no stomach upsets, no signs of illness. Thus, I don't think it was a stomach ailment that caused the vomiting yesterday.

The car seat/new perspective theory seems to be the winner. And after trying to clean the stupid car seat out and also not being happy with it's completely upright orientation in the car, I decided to switch her to a different seat. We have a seat that used to be A's when she was still using a 5-point harness. It seems to fit in our car much better in the forward-facing position than the other one - and as a bonus it is easier to remove the cover and to clean! I also like the fact that this older car seat can be installed at a bit of a recline. E is used to being reclined rear-facing, so maybe by keeping a slight recline in the forward-facing position she'll fare better. We can hope! Today's trip to school was much shorter - I didn't forget to bring A's lunch because she is not actually staying for lunch today! So, on the short rides to and from school she did fine. Thankfully. I did not want to be dealing with another pukey load of laundry and another car seat to clean and sanitize. That might have sent me over the edge. OK, well, not really, but it might have made me cry a little and you would have had to listen to another whole venty post. Not fun.

So, today is much calmer. Still very cold out there. I did not walk again this morning. But, last night I did another 45-minute workout video. That one kicks my butt - literally. There is this one sequence where she has you on your elbows and knees and you do these leg exercises and she goes from one move, to another, to a third - all in quick succession - and MAN, does it burn my butt. Ouch. I generally don't get through the whole sequence without at least three breaks because it just hurts too much. And then the sadistic wench lady on the video says something like "If it's burning, that's good! It means it's working! So, push it a little!" in this way-too-cheery kind of voice. Makes me want to smack her. But, instead, I just push it as much as I can and grumble to myself since smacking the TV will do no good. And who am I kidding, I'm the one torturing myself anyway... But, the good news is that as of this morning I'm down 4.5 pounds since mid-January. And recently my clothes have started to feel a little looser. So, the torture is not all in vain. Still a ways to go but it's nice to have made some progress of late!

Time to get going. E just walked by and I smell something suspicious...

A quiet moment...

The older girls are watching an "Arthur" dvd and the youngest was acting psychotic so I plunked her in her crib with her paci and she is happy to play in there....go figure. Guess we all need a few moments of solitude now and again. I know I do.

Rick is being the good husband and is off doing the grocery shopping. (Thanks, hon!) My hip is still being irksome and so he's trying to help me rest it for now. I did well all morning at church but by lunchtime it had started to twinge and then it was aching up a storm by early afternoon. I took some ibuprofen and stuck a heat pack on it to warm up the muscle and one or both took the edge off for now. Here's hoping I don't need to go for another adjustment before this bout of sciatica clears up. I'm so sick of dealing with the damn hip at random intervals!! It is so frustrating, particularly when I tried something new like the workout video I did before this recent flare up and then I get sidelined because my hip can't handle it. It really makes a body feel old, ya know?

Speaking of feeling old, I have been doing some internet searches to try to find other "old folks" like myself who apparently have an evil milestone fast approaching. I managed to find a couple of fellow grads and passed along whatever information I could glean from websites and online articles to the appropriate coordinators. I think I've tracked down about three people and we now have about 50 graduates that have been "found"....out of over 400. There's lots more work to do, obviously. One of the coordinators emailed me her current list of "finds" and I saw a name I recognized on the list and asked her to forward that person my email. A short while later I got an email from "Sue" and got caught up on the basics of her life over the last 15 or so years since we last spoke. It was great to hear from her and I hope we can reconnect and perhaps get together when I am visiting my hometown again. (I could even invite her to join Karyn and me when we have breakfast at our usual hangout!)

Other than that, not a whole lot going on. We won't be watching the "big game" tonight - heck, the only reason that I even know it's Superbowl weekend is because the Youth Group held their annual "Soup-er Bowl Sunday" fundraiser. The youth collect money in big soup pots as people are leaving church and they decide where to send the money. They collected over $300 this morning ($100 more than they collected last year!) and will be sending it to a local shelter.

Rick just got home from the grocery store and the girls movie just ended so my quiet time has come to an end. Time to go figure out what's for dinner and get the girls started on their evening clean-up routine. Have a good one!

Hello out there

Quite the catchy title there, eh? I'm not feeling very witty this morning, I guess. And this will not be a blog entry with any real focus. Just giving you fair warning in case you wish to move along to a more inspiring or thought-provoking site.

I got out this morning for my walk with Lauri. After working out in the basement on my treadmill and with my weights the last number of days it was nice to get out in the fresh air again and chat with my walking buddy. We talk about everything and nothing in particular. It makes the time speed by and I don't focus on how much longer until I am done - which is what I most certainly do when I'm walking by myself. When I'm on the treadmill the numbers flashing on the screen at each tenth of a mile keep me going for a while. It can be tough to push through a full hour, though, and I often want to give up after about 30 minutes. I barely get to the 45-minute mark before I declare myself done. Watching movies helps a bit but it's not the same.

This past Saturday, grandma and I took the girls to see a community theater production of "Beauty and the Beast" and it was amazing! I wish I could have taken some pictures to show you the incredible costumes that were (I assume) made by this local theater group. I was just thinking that it is possible that they rented some of the costumes - they were that good - but we do live in a very diverse community with lots of local talents so I would not be surprised at all to hear that they were made by the local costume designers. I know a few of the people involved in the production - both on stage and off - so I'm going to ask about that because I'm just curious. The group also did a great job with the casting for this production. The woman who played Belle has a beautiful voice and she looked adequately diminutive next to the 6'7" guy who played the Beast. When he finally removed his "beastly" attire I was shocked to see how tall he still was. I had assumed it was the costuming that made him appear so much taller than Belle! The other lesser parts were equally well cast and I was reminded once again how fortunate we are to live in a community filled with such talented people across the generations. There were kids in the production - most of whom I would guess have attended one or more of the local ballet/dance schools in the area - as well as high school students, college students from some of the 5 local colleges/university (quite a few of those actually - most of them studying theater or a related field), and of course adults of a wide age span. Everyone was fabulous and it was an enjoyable way to spend the afternoon. Of course, it makes me want to get back to NY soon to see another Broadway show, but that will have to wait until later in the year - hopefully some time in April or May.

Today is a 'teacher work day' and both R and A have the day off from school. So far, they have been playing nicely together but there have already been a couple of skirmishes and I've had to threaten to "separate them" if the fighting continues. They loathe the thought of being separated, even when they are at each other and don't seem to be enjoying each others' company. Go figure. So, it's a threat that sometimes works to keep the peace. Sometimes I have to resort to actually separating them - and listen the resulting screeches of "not fair!" and "I hate you!" - but usually the threat is enough to get them through a rough patch. It's almost 9:30a and I still need to shower and dress but for now I'm just drinking my coffee and hanging out on the computer. This afternoon A has her gymnastics class and I've roped grandma into coming over to stay with R and E. Once I drop A off at gymnastics I'm going to use my kid-free time to get the grocery shopping done. You gotta multi-task when you have those kid-free moments, don't ya know?

I've been receiving some personal email through Classmates.com of late. Seems that there are some people out there who have mistaken me for someone really OLD who is coming up on her 20th high school reunion. Ha. It was not THAT long ago that I graduated from high school. Someone thinks their little gag is soooo funny. I mean, really. Was it really that long ago that we were wondering "Who Shot J.R.?", playing Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man at the arcade, learning the lyrics to "Karma Chameleon" and "Like a Virgin" on the radio, watching the latest Brat Pack movie, and dressing preppy in our pink and green ensembles with little alligators on the chests of our shirts (collars in the 'up' position, of course) and our jeans appropriately cinched and cuffed at the ankles? It wasn't that long ago that typewriters were commonplace in homes and offices, they used mimeograph machines to make smudgy purple copies of tests and homework assignments, Trapper Keepers with cutesy covers were the norm among the organized high school set, and the Rubik's Cube was the newest, most annoying toy on the market....was it? Wait. Don't answer that...I don't really want to know. If it's all a delusion of my own making, I'd prefer to keep it that way for a while longer.

Ok, the girls are getting restless, E needs to go down for her morning nap, and I need to clean up those breakfast dishes. Have a good one!

Just tired...

Yesterday, I was feeling completely spacey and out of sorts all day. By the time Rick got home I was dead on my feet. When he saw how pale I looked, he promptly sent me to bed. Actually, he escorted me to the bedroom and tucked me in.

Yeah, he's a keeper.

I ended up taking a nap for at least and hour and a half and Rick, bless his heart, managed the girls and also got dinner on the table. I was still feeling tired when I got up but a bit better and Rick commented that my color was back somewhat. We hung out a bit in the evening after getting the girls to bed and then we headed to bed ourselves at close to our regular time. Even after the nap I had no trouble getting to sleep. Obviously my body needed it. I had turned my alarm off for my morning walk because I was not sure how well I would be feeling and figured I might need the sleep more than the exercise.

When I got up this morning at 6:45 (not long after A had woken up and climbed in with me) I was still groggy. Not sure if it was from too much sleep or the effects of whatever my body is trying to fight. The morning seemed a bit rushed and we were not out the door to drop A off at preschool until about 8:50. I did not find time to make my coffee before we left so I was still not feeling too lively when I dropped her off. As soon as E and I got home I put on a pot of coffee and downed a couple of cups of caffeine goodness. It helped me wake up a bit and I'm feeling more human now. Most of yesterday's weirdness - tight throat, light headedness - is gone but I still feel on the tired side. I just don't have much energy or motivation to do anything. So, while E wandered around and played with this and that and brought me toys I sat here and watched episode three of the Grease reality show. I've been enjoying it so far and am very curious to see who makes the final cut! Personally, I'm liking Derek and Jason as "Danny" (Austin is really good but he just seems too pretty boy for Danny and as much as I love Max's voice I can't see him as Danny either) and I like Juliana, Laura and Ashley as "Sandy". Those are the ones I'm rooting for at this stage of the game!

This afternoon will be busy with just running around - I have to bring R over to the main pediatrician's office for her second dose of FluMist (it was supposed to be administered when I brought her in to the local office last week but for some reason they had run out of doses and because the vials need to stay frozen they could not transport one from the main office to the local office for us....grrrrrr....). We need to leave as soon as she gets off the bus. Her appointment is at 2:15 and one never knows what the traffic over the bridge will be like. Then, R has her first art class of the semester back here in town at 4pm. I hope the nurses at the main office are not running late today. We should have plenty of time but that office can get a bit crazy and I never have much luck getting in and out quickly - especially when I have somewhat of a schedule to follow. Thankfully, grandma is coming over to watch A and E while I run around with R. Otherwise, I think I would've just said "the heck with it" and rescheduled the FluMist appointment for another day to reduce the running around with three kids in tow.

Needless to say, I'm taking today off from any form of exercise. I am getting a bit discouraged because I've been trying to eat less and move more, but the scale is not giving me any satisfaction! I had hoped to gain some additional motivation from the numbers on the scale, but so far they are really not budging and it's annoying! And feeling like crap yesterday and just plain old tired today is not helping matters.

Well, E is now down for her nap and I need to think about getting myself some lunch before leaving to pick up A from school. I'm going to try to get to bed early tonight and hopefully tomorrow I'll find more energy - for now I'll just keep on keepin' on as best I can.

Feeling a bit "off"

Not sure if something is brewing under the surface but today so far I've just felt a bit "off."

My throat feels funny - tight, but not painful - when I swallow. My stomach does an occasional flip making me feel uneasy. I feel light-headed as if I'm on the verge of a headache but thankfully it never seems to get worse. I just wish it would go away all together.

Perhaps I brought this on myself when I was walking with Lauri this morning and commented on how well we've made it through the "winter" so far (of course, the real winter seems to be hiding somewhere in TX this year, but that's beside the point). "We" being the me and the girls....Rick has had more than his fair share of illness this winter but finally seems to be on the mend.

So, I've just had a glass of water with an effervescent Airborne tablet droped into it. Hopefully, that will give my immune system a boost and keep the nasties at bay...one can hope.

I've also been drinking more water because I am wondering if I am suffering from some dehydration. It's possible. I don't drink nearly enough water on a good day and I've been keeping up with my daily workouts so I probably need even more water than the standard 8-glass-a-day recommendation.

There's enough going on this week between doctor's appointments, dentists appointments, and a theater production on Saturday that I really would like to stay well...please? I'm taking the girls (and my MIL) to a local community theater production of "Beauty and the Beast" on Saturday. I think the girls will really enjoy it. Grandma and I toook R to see "Oliver" when this same group staged it last year and she really enjoyed it. I suspected it would not be as appropriate for A and after seeing it, I think I was right to leave her home with Rick last year. This year's show is right up A's alley, though, and she 's a year older so I think she's ready.

It's time to head off to pick up A from preschool. E seems to be finding all kinds of "no-nos" in the playroom that she is presenting to me every few minutes as if to say "hey, I don't think you want me to have this...do you?" So, I'd better get a move on. If I can muster up the energy right now. I just want to lie down and take a nap.

But, sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. Onward...

What's that white stuff?

Woke up this morning and there was a thin layer of white stuff coating the grass and driveway. Since when are we getting snow this winter? I thought (happily, in some ways...) that we were looking at a snow-free winter this year. The girls, however, were thrilled that there was some evidence of winter out there this morning. Not possible to please everyone, I guess.

It was 5:50 when I dragged my butt out of bed and I wondered if Lauri was up for our morning walk or not. And I wondered what the roads were like. From the warm comfort of my living room they seemed clear of snow but I wondered about the possibility of icing. I glanced at Lauri's house and saw that she had not yet turned on her light. I went to the back window to turn on the back flood light to get a better look at how slippery things might be. By accident I turned on the front garage lights. Twice. The switches are next to each other and I was not yet awake. The conditions seemed pleasant enough - temp was around 30, snow was minimal, and falling from the sky were tiny, fluffy flakes of snow. I went to the front windows again and this time I noticed that Lauri's front light was on (perhaps she took my fumbled attempts with the light switch as a sign?). Ok, looked like she was game so I quickly found my exercise togs and threw them on and got outside not too long after 6:00. The walk was actually very nice. The traction was fine except in a few spots where it seemed like they had not bothered to throw some salt/sand in the wee hours of the morning. But, the accumulation was minimal so it was easy going. About halfway through our walk the snow picked up pace a bit and we did get a bit damp, but it was still enjoyable and I was glad I got up and walked this morning.

The snow continued for another hour or so and we have a coating of snow that doesn't quite cover the grass completely. R looked out the window at the falling snow and said "Ya know what, mom? It would be beautiful out there if those houses were not there." She really is a daddy's girl - she loves nature and has, it seems, an innate resentment for anything that impinges on the natural world. The snow really does look lovely on the trees out back (without all those pesky roads and houses marring the view).

It is somehow Friday once again (how did that happen?) and so it is time for a trip to the museum for story time. However, A was being extremely difficult this morning and I told her "no story time trip" because she was being such a noodge. Her attitude has improved quite a bit and now I need to decide whether to recant on my earlier statement or not. It would be nice to get out of the house this morning and goodness knows she would be thrilled. I have about 15 minutes before we need to be out the door if we are going.

Tomorrow is Saturday and we have no plans but on Sunday we will be heading to my sister's for a memorial mass for my brother-in-law, Tom. He passed away 5 years ago after undergoing "routine" heart valve surgery and having something go horribly wrong. He is greatly missed. My sister and her kids (ages 11, 13, and 15) will be participating in a walk for the American Heart Association this April 29th in memory of Tom. Here's a link to their team's web page if you want to support their efforts! I'm trying to figure out if it will be possible to join their team on the day of the walk.

Ok, I guess we are going to story time so I'd better get these girls ready to get out the door. Have a great day!

Baby Steps...

Yep. Tuxbaby is right. Baby steps.

Today I tried to balance the good with the not so good. Lauri and I did get out for a walk this morning (3.2 miles). After I got back I had a good breakfast of steel cut oatmeal with apples and walnuts and a bit of brown sugar and cinnamon. By lunchtime I was famished and we were going out for lunch. Bad combination.

As usual for a Friday morning, we went to the museum for story time and met up with friends. Some weeks we go out for lunch together after the museum visit and today was one of those days. We decided on one of the local Chinese restaurants that serves sushi because my friend's daughter was jonesin' for some raw tuna. Um yeah. My friend will actually say stuff like "if you are too crabby we'll just have to go home and you won't get any raw tuna"...ha! like that would be incentive for my kids to act nicely! They would start acting like Attila the Hun just to NOT eat raw fish. Lucky for them I'm no fan of raw fish. In fact, I once asked this friend to help me order some sushi so I could give it a try - what can I say, it was a daring moment for me. Let's just say sushi was not my cup of tea. Blech. But I digress...

If you haven't guessed I ending up eating waaaay too much for lunch. But, it was soooo good (no sushi on my plate!). I did get the brown rice which should count for something, right? I should have just had my meal - which was plenty of food by far - but I ended up eating a couple of the pork fried dumplings that A ordered on top of my luncheon special. Whoops.

So, I tried to balance things out a bit. How, you ask? Well, I tried to keep the portions/calories down at dinner. We made some homemade calzones with shrimp and veggies and I only had a small portion of one of them with a glass of wine. Hopefully, that helped even things out.

But that was not all. After the girls were in bed I was sitting at the computer feeling like a lazy ass. I had not yet done the upper body workout that I mentioned in yesterday's post so I decided to stop procrastinating. I went downstairs and turned on my current movie (yep. you guessed it. Broadway Whore again today with the next installment of "The Chorus Line") and did some upper body exercises from my Jorge Cruise book. I'm not following the book in sequence this time around. I'm just picking and choosing the exercises I like and trying to group them into separate upper body and lower body workouts. So far, so good. My legs were pretty sore after my leg workout earlier in the week. Jury is still out on tonight's upper body workout...I'll give an update on how my arms, chest and back are feeling tomorrow.

The movie hooked me in for longer than the exercises took so I watched for a while longer and did some stretching while I was at it. I am soooo not flexible. It's something I really need to work on because I'm so bad at it. Baby steps, right? Right.

Not sure what is on for tomorrow. There is a "birds of prey" program at the library that we think the girls would enjoy (well, R especially...). There will be a guy there with some live owls - right up my nature girl's alley. I'm not sure yet if I'll be going but I think Rick and/or Grandad will be taking the older girls (or just R if A is not interested). The weather forecast doesn't look so great for tomorrow - rainy, cold, perhaps some freezing rain early in the morning, perhaps some sleet or snow late in the afternoon - so it sounds like a good day to stay in and stay warm. I plan to carve out some time to get on my treadmill. (You read it here so now I will feel like I have to do it - See? You are a good influence without even really trying! You rock!).

It is now officially past my bedtime. Have a great night!

In Which I Search For The Pause Button...

Life has been moving in fast forward motion these days...at least for me. Rick, on the other hand, has made good friends with the living room couch. He's been sick for a couple of weeks with a bad cough. He seemed like he was a bit better at the end of last week - he even worked a couple of days - but over the weekend he got a lot worse and ended up going in to see the doctor on Monday morning. Diagnosis: pneumonia. He came home with a big bottle of cough syrup with codeine and a small bottle of antibiotic pills in a funky green hue. Last night, armed with the codeine and the first dose of the antibiotics he had a fairly decent night. And today he is feeling a little bit better although his breathing still full of yucky sounding gurlgies. So, we are hopeful he is on the mend. But, his butt needs to stay on the couch so he can rest and get better. He's not the kind of guy who likes to sit on his tuchus and relax so he doesn't generally make a very good patient.

So, with Rick on the couch I've been trying to keep things moving along as best I can. I'm beat but it has actually been helpful to have him here at home this week. I've been able to get some time to go shopping without any kids in tow while the girls were in school because I was able to leave E home with Rick for an hour here or there. Sometimes she's been napping while I'm away and sometimes she's been awake but able to keep herself amused so that Rick could just veg on the couch and keep an eye on her. So, even though things have been crazy-busy, they could certainly have been a lot worse!

So, what's kept me so busy?

*I've been busy finishing up the holiday shopping - which I'm about 98% done with (phew). The next step will be the dreaded job of wrapping everything. It's 8:30 and the girls are still not asleep but I hope they will be soon so I can get started. Rick just went to check on E who was crying and found that the older two were still awake (ugh....). R was still reading in her bed and A was just restless and not yet asleep for some reason. They are usually conked out by this time so I have no idea if it's the excitement of Christmas coming or what but they are certainly wound up!

*I have been busy baking. After making the pizzelles for our neighbors I whipped up another batch to bring along to last night's book club meeting. We had a great night drinking wine, eating cookies and other decadent treats, and discussing the book "Patty Jane's House of Curl" by Lorna Landvik. It's a good, quick, fun kind of read - just the kind of book we like to pick for our December selection since it's a busy time of year. I recommend it highly if you want something not too deep or thought-provoking that is a fast read. Our January book is (I think...LOL) a novel called "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" by Marisha Pessl. It's certainly one of the books we'll be reading sometime between now and May but I can't remember if it's the January book or not. I should probably find out soon so I can get the right book ordered and start reading. But, back to the topic of baking...I also made quick breads to hand out to some of the teachers at R's school later this week. I made some apple pecan and some sour cream gingerbread quick breads - yum. I made them into mini-loaf sized breads so I was able to keep a couple for our enjoyment and they came out so yummy (if I do say so myself). For R's classroom teacher I am going to put some of the quick bread into a basket along with some treats from Trader Joe's, and a Trader Joe's gift card. The other loaves will be going to other assorted teachers like her art, gym, and music teachers, the librarian (who I have been volunteering with this fall), and I'm thinking that I'll just bring in a few loaves and some cookies or candy and leave it in the front office for the administrative staff to share. So, I have a bit more baking to do tomorrow but not too much. I'm usually in the school on Thursday mornings so I will plan to bring in the treats then and have R join me in handing them out to her teachers.

*I've been busy knitting (I bet you could guess that one!). I finished R's socks and immediately started in on a pair of socks for A in the same yarn. I'm about 95% done with sock #1 and hope to finish it and its mate before Christmas - wish me luck! And of course, I have other projects waiting in the wings, but they are not slated to be Christmas presents so there is no rush on those, thankfully.

And then there is just the miscellaneous stuff of everyday life - cleaning, laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, preschool drop-off/pick-up, etc., etc., etc.... Today was actually A's last day of school before the holiday break so that takes a bit of a load off...but having her home allllll daaaaayyyy adds a load of a different kind...I put the word out at preschool that we are available for playdates this week and I'm hoping that something pans out to keep her from careening off the walls in psychotic anticipation of Santa's impending arrival.

Lately, I've wished more than once that I could find the Pause button so I could get off the Merry-Go-Round of Life for a minute to catch my breath, or even just the Slow-Motion button that will allow time to stretch out a little and give me more room to breath, and a few times I've even wanted there to be a Rewind button so I could relive a sweet moment that I shared with a friend or family member or to take back a harsh word that was uttered by the stress monster from within. Alas, life does go on at its annoyingly steady pace and I just have to figure out a way to keep up. But, if you happen to locate any time warp buttons be sure to let me know!

All is quiet - for the moment... Time to go be productive!