600

This is post 600.  I’ve been feeling really burned out on blogging so this is almost as much of a milestone as the 500th post.

To celebrate, you get pictures!

 

Scarecrow Gavin

Ethan conquering the school's climbing wall

Monkey Tova

 

Creating Chaos since 2000.

K~

My Buttomous Hurts Alotomous

It’s now 2 days post workout & I am still hurts-to-climb-stairs-&-sit-in-a-chair sore.  I have no idea where the Monday aerobics instructor gets her sadistic workouts, but OUCH!

Tuesday was awesome.  Tova & I had no scheduled plans so we spent the morning curled up on the couch reading books & watching a little tv.  We went on a leisurely search for Gavin’s birthday present & had a nice lunch followed by a 2hr nap.  A school day doesn’t get much better than that.

After school the kids had a snack & we headed out to go costume shopping.  Toys R us had a decent sale & everyone is happy except for Tova who doesn’t like the boys Star Wars costumes.  The other purpose for our trip was to spend the birthday money that was burning a hole in Ethan’s pocket.  He has talked about nothing but the AT-TE Walker for a week now.  He was able to pay for it all by himself & was over the top excited to finally have the box in hand.

He didn’t have much time to build last night & I had to shoo him back to bed at 5:20 this morning.  I think he snuck out of bed around 6:30, dressed, ate breakfast, & emptied the dishwasher so I’d have no arguments.  What a nut.

I generally hate shopping by myself with all 3 kids.  Usually I spend our time out & about feeling like I am herding cats.  Yesterday was actually fun.  Toys R Us was laid out so the Lego’s & the Playmobil, the boys two favorite things, were right next to each other.  For supper we ate at Fazoli’s.  It’s not my favorite place to eat but wow, the service was excellent!  The counter staff was super friendly & helpful.  It was an absolute pleasure to eat there.  Ethan was so excited he even told one of the workers that this was his favorite dining experience in all of Metropolis.  He didn’t phrase exactly like that, but I was impressed he felt compelled to say something.  He’s not usually one to do that.

The evening ended with me getting an Ugly Cry headache.  The Biggest Loser usually makes me a little weepy but, sheesh, last night was tough!  Good thing Jason wasn’t here to make fun of me…

K~

I Hope You Like Bullets

Even though Jason was home most of the weekend, he still wanted a blog post so he knows what’s going on around here.

My life in Bullets:

• The Proposal was better than The Hangover or Year One, but not by much.  At least is was sweet & had no gratuitous crotch clobbering
• The laptop is sort of not working.  It probably needs to have a bunch of stuff moved off it to the external hard drive but that is safely locked in The Safe Which Cannot Be Opened.
• Don’t buy a Honeydeepplacewhereyoudrawwater firesafe with an electronic keypad.  It eats batteries & when it dies, it dies.
• On the other hand, if you are a burglar, a Beenectarwell with an electronic keypad can be opened with a drill.  You have no idea how reassuring that is…
• I hate typing on the desktop.  The keys are too soft & are at an angle.
• I need a recipe for Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Soup.  There’s a restaurant here that serves it on Thursday’s & I should probably learn to make it instead of going broke buying it by the gallon.
• I’m really looking forward to Tuesday – no MOPS, no volunteer workshop at school, no class at the Y;  Tova & I might just stay home.
• Ethan is very patiently waiting for his aunt (*ahem* Jenny) to get her check in the mail so he can buy his ridiculously expensive Lego Star Wars thing.  He’s very cute about it.  Whenever he talks about his future purchase, he always phrases it “If I get any more birthday money, but I’m pretty sure Jenny said she was sending me some…”
• I was looking at ESPN The Magazine’s Naked People Edition & Tova was reading over my shoulder & singled out Adrian Peterson.  Peterson, as he’s known around here, (he even has 2 Mii’s, one is a righty & one is a lefty) was moderately dressed.
• Jason is very proud.  Not that Peterson was dressed, that Tova knew him by sight.
• I’ve decided to paint the trim in our house.  Yes, I realize it’ll probably take me a year & yes I’ll be sick of the project in a week, but it needs to be done.  The house looks so dingy & beat up, I think fresh trim paint will go a long way.
• I keep seeing more & more Rural City people at Target here in Metropolis.  A friend said that always happened to her at about 6 months post move.  Today it was you Jen E.  I have no idea why you didn’t say hi
• Facebook’s Visual Bookshelf recommended Somebody Else’s Daughter.  I read the whole thing but it was not enjoyable.  The author tried to pack way too much stuff in the book & didn’t cover any of it well or make me care for the characters at all.  I finished it but only because I hate to leave books unfinished.
• Tova’s bedtime routine now consists of a story with milk, prayers, a song (I’ll post a video of her singing it later), tucking in, & now counting to 10.
• She can also skip, just not in her bed.
• Gavin has impetigo & yes, I’ve been sending him to school all week with it, because I thought he was getting Kindergarten acne.
• I fully expect to start some sort of epidemic at the boy’s school.  We tried Hand Foot & Mouth earlier this month & we hoped to introduce the plague that has ravaged the Rural City schools, but that didn’t take, so we moved on to Impetigo.  After that, it’ll be strep or pink eye.  We haven’t had those yet this year.

How was that J?  Are you caught up now?

K~

Time Warp

I have no idea where the past week has gone.  I had every intention of doing Ethan’s birthday post & a couple other things here this week & now it’s Thursday I’ve logged in for the first time.

I know I’m just asking for it but, we’ve managed to escape the plague that has decimated the Rural City schools even though we visited with a couple families that were infected (one knowingly & one unknowingly).  Ethan had a birthday, I have spent an embarrassing amount of time on a new website, my new oven doesn’t brown evenly which is annoying, I spent the better part of a beautiful day slaving over said oven in order to create Ethan’s school birthday treat, the vacuum has another short, & it’s raining.  Again.

The important thing is Ethan turned 9 over the weekend.  The whole ‘last single digit year’ was replaced by the whole ‘he’ll be a teenage in 4 years’ thing.  If the next four years go as fast as the last four, we’re in big trouble.

The Birthday Boy

A few months ago, one of my favorite blogs, Cakwrecks, posted these in the Sunday Sweets section.  Ethan’s favorite food is the cheeseburger so I filed the idea away & over the weekend attempted to make my own.  For 26 kids.  This would be the year I get ambitious…  The cupcakes turned out okay.  I couldn’t find my food dye or piping bags & I had wanted to attempt to make fondant but I also ended up with a massive headache so that plan was quickly scrapped.  I thought they turned out pretty well, all things considered.

It sort of looks like a cheeseburger

Birthday Sliders

The kids loved them so it was worth it.

K~

A Punch In The Gut

Ethan’s birthday is this weekend.  A friend reminded me Sunday begins Ethan’s last year in the single digits.

I felt like I’d been sucker punched.  I don’t know why Ethan’s getting older is so hard to take…

K~

Sleep Interrupted

The boys woke the entire house up at 6:20 this morning discussing Star Wars & Lego’s in the bathroom.  Then tonight they talked until 9.  Guess who’s going to take great pleasure in  hauling their butts out of bed tomorrow with a water gun?

I really don’t like waking up an hour before I need to…

K~

Hand, Foot, & Mouth & The Great Escape

I earned Mom of the Year this week.  First I completely ignored Gavin when he complained about his cheeks hurt.  Then I noticed spots in Ehtan’s mouth but really wanted to do my Body Pump class on Friday so I sent him to school.  Don’t judge too harshly, he was running around the house & yelling at his brother & sister & he wasn’t complaining.  Gavin was sooo tired all week but I chalked it up to getting used to Kindergarten.  By supper time on Friday both boys were in agony.  Off to the dr. we go!  Both have lovely cases of Hand, Foot, & Mouth.  You’d think by now I’d know HFM is a virus & the only thing you can really do is treat with pain meds.  Our former dr. would give us Tylenol with Codeine.  I love Tylenol with Codeine.  This dr. wasn’t inclined to prescribe narcotics so we could all have a nice weekend   It’s going to take some getting used to our new dr.’s medicinal preferences.  Tova has been healthy so far.  I’m sure she’ll get sick so I’ll have to miss class & I’ll never look like this:

Give me a few months & I'll invite you to the gun show

I love it when the kids are really sick but I completely miss all the signs.

The only thing that got me through all the whining this past week was the thought of my weekend away.  On Saturday I drove away from the house as fast as I could after lunch for a little shopping.  I as looking for something specific but came away with this instead.

I’ve had my eye on this jacket for months.  Only I wasn’t going to fork over $80 for a rain coat.  All I had to do was wait several months & Sears eventually would sell me the coat for $16!  That’s right $16!!  I love clearance sales.  I also found some cute things for the kids but nothing like the steal that is my raincoat.

After the shopping I headed south to Rural City for a lovely Mom’s Night.  We met for Mexican food & then went to see a friend in the female version of The Odd Couple.  After that it was drinks until really late followed by crashing into bed.  Morning came too early but I did enjoy my breakfast with my friend C~’s kids.  What a great way to start the day, Panera Bagels & 6 kids talking about the fun of ‘our’ sleepover.  I love sleepovers where the kids sleep in a diffrent room than me   I love C~’s kids.

I left my sleepover & headed to our former church for our friend’s daughter’s baptism.  We’ve been waiting for years for them to have a child to baptize (& love & parent, etc) & it was a long-awaited, joyful, & tearful occasion.  It’s always wonderful to be around our church family.  I had a wonderful chance to visit with friends over lunch & had a surprise run-in with a grandma from Gavin’s preschool.  I really miss living in a place where someone familiar is always popping up.

Now I’m home & happy to be Mom of the Year again.

Things I Heard In My House

This morning Ethan threw the ultimate insult at Gavin.

“Yeah well, you’re a Republican!”

Heh.  I guess Jason & I need to curb the political talk while the kids are in the room.

~~~~~

Yesterday during lunch -

Tova – *raunchy burp*

Me – “What do you say?!”

Tova – “That was my mouth not my butt!”

Me – “We still say excuse me.”

Tova – *shrug* “S’cuse me”

She needs some work on her manners…

K~

Two Down, One to Go

It’s official.  I now have 2 kids in school full time.

The part of me that goes grocery shopping is very excited about the start of school.

The other part of me misses the boys already.

I don’t know how they grew up so fast.  I know it’s cliche, but I truly don’t know where the time has gone.  Ethan started 3rd grade today.  3rd grade!!  That’s old!

Our handsome 3rd grader

I thought I put this guy to bed last night.

~

But this is who woke up this morning.

Our proud Kindergartner

I did surprisingly well at drop off.  With Ethan I cried for 3 hours.  Yes you read that right, 3 hours.  I finally had to call the office to make sure he wasn’t traumatized & cowering in a corner.  Turns out, he was having a great day despite the fact he’d seen me crying when we left him in the huge gym full of rowdy, poorly parented older kids (or so it seemed to me).

Gavin was super excited this morning.  He was packed up & ready to go 30 minutes before we had to leave.  If only all mornings would be like this…  Anyway, Jason came home & we all walked to school. Ethan was doing his best to traumatize/encourage his brother.  Gavin was practically skipping he was so excited.  As we got closer to school he slowed a little & held my hand.  We dropped Ethan off at his door & then deposited Gavin in his line & waved as he proudly walked into the building.

I didn’t cry at the school but am feeling pretty weepy now.  I had Gavin home with me for 5.5 years & today, it doesn’t feel like long enough.

*sob*

Okay, I’m done now.  I felt the same way about Ethan starting school, so I know I’ll survive.

Tova & I have a busy day planned.  We have some groceries to get.  I have a haircut & if it looks okay, I may get a new drivers license.  I really hate having to find a new stylist.  I need to get a new phone number & then I have to pack for an overnight in MN for a funeral.  Gavin doesn’t go to school tomorrow, the non-older-sibling classmates start tomorrow, so he gets to make the trip to MN with Tova & I.  He’s not real excited about that.

*sigh*

The house is so quiet…

K~

182 Miles in 8 Hours

That’s right, 8 hours.  It should have taken 3.  Granted we stopped at a little zoo & numerous towns in search of apples & crackers.  But still.  It took me 8 hours to drive from my parents house to my sisters.  I’m not looking forward to the return trip.  It should take us 6 hours.  Any bets as to how long the actual trip will be?

It’s a good thing we are at my sister’s.  She lives on a dairy farm & my kids are truly ignorant of animals.  Mostly my sister has cows, but they also have a couple of goats, geese, & cats.  My boys keep calling the geese chickens & Tova refers to the cows as horses.  We could not have picked a better time to get some real world animal experience.  In defense of the boys, about the only meat we eat is chicken & there is endless confusion when we have pork.  Silly kids.

Speaking of kids.  Kindergarten camp went well.  Gavin was not surgically attached to my leg when we needed to leave him with the other kids, it only took a crow bar to get him off.  He had fun though.  When he was brought to us in the library he had a huge smile on his face & even waved at a few kids.  Every time we’ve been at the school on official business, a particular kindergarten teacher has always made a point of talking with Gavin.  I had really hoped we’d have her as a teacher as Gavin thinks he ‘knows’ her.  Classroom assignments came out today & Gavin actually ended up in Mrs. Nice’s class!  He was really excited when I told him. 

Ethan knows nothing about his teacher which is as much as I know about her too.  I hope he has a better teacher in 3rd grade than he did in 2nd.  His Rural City teacher was lovely, the Metropolis one was a piece of work.  I know the kids are going to have poor teachers.  Everyone does.  But do we really need to pick on the new kid in school?  She was awful & had waaaaaay too much time on her hands.  Luckily, Ethan offset the rotten teacher by making friends so it wasn’t a total waste of 2 months.

I cannot believe we have only 2 more weeks of summer left.  I have a lot of swimming, hiking, parks, & a zoo trip to squeeze in yet.

I’ve finally screwed up enough courage to read A Long Way Gone.  We’ve had the book since our Vietnam trip  & Jason was very moved by the book & frankly, that scared me.  He wasn’t so much moved by Harry Potter, which really moved me so you know it has to be deep. 

It is.  I’m only a few chapters in & Wow.

I’ll let you know if I sleep tonight.

My sister is trying to either kill my child or earn the title of Greatest Aunt Ever by letting Ethan try & drive a kid-sized 4wheeler.  We are such city people…

K~