Xmas and MRIs

After the busiest November I think I've ever had, December is shaping up to be pretty darn active too. Last month I had the perfect storm of volunteering for things and having everything happen within a few weeks. I made it through though. Technically, one of my November projects is still lingering because, after busting my butt to get a newsletter completed from absolute scratch, the president of Tucson Moms didn't get back to me for TWO WEEKS about the ads. And then sent an off hand go ahead and print it the Friday before I was helping Diane with the reception, teaching for our church group, and then hosting Thanksgiving. Let's just say that I didn't put the newsletter back on my priority list for a while.
In other news, I've been spending a lot of time at the doctor the last couple of weeks and it looks like I'll get to spend plenty more time there in the next few. To sum up the issues: weird bruise like thing on my rib cage that showed up for no reason 4 months ago and is still there; tingling and numbness in my feet, hands and on my legs that I thought was due to rheum. arthritis is not. Either it might be a spinal cord cyst or it is MS. Neither option is particularly appealing. Anyway, I've just had the blood workup of the century (thirteen separate vials and a 2 hour glucose tolerance) and am waiting to schedule the first of likely three MRIs. Super.
Our Christmas preparations are coming right along and we're enjoying the season. It's been really cold (for Tucson). The kids have been very funny lately and play together so much. We just go go go. On Saturday night we took them to my friend Charlene's to see the lights in her neighborhood and have cocoa. It was pouring rain in buckets. What a bummer. However we had a wonderful time at Charlene's. Charlene doesn't have any grandkids yet and has a major preoccupation with Xmas decor. So it was fun for all of us to see all of her decorations. The kids were entertained for literally hours at her house and I think Charlene was pretty entertained too.
This weekend Charles and I are going to stay at the Arizona Inn for a business dinner. I'm looking forward to a night away. Especially because C has been travelling a lot and won't get home until late Friday night.

Aloha Etc. Etc.

We had a lot of fun in Hawaii. We stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa on Hawaii. Getting there was something of a trial, but I've had worse trips. We had to fly in to Hilo and then drive around the island. We got there at almost 11 at night (started at 9 our time, so that was actually 1 am our time) and then drove 2 hours through the dark along the coast. The kids were WIDE AWAKE the whole time. Our room was in the Lagoon tower and overlooked the ocean and the dolphin pools. This picture is looking directly down from our balcony at the sand pool connected to the main pool. This is where our children spent the majority of the week. We played in the pools, went down the slides, explored the gardens and waterfalls, looked for honu (sea turtles) in the lagoons, and checked out the barracuda in the canals. The boats that usually take people from one tower to another weren't working so that was a bummer, but everything else was great. Picasa isn't letting me upload to my web album right now so I don't have all the vacation photos to show yet. We went to a luau--only Kenna remained awake. I didn't think their luau was the greatest, but we had a good time. With the help of some lovely Japanese ladies, we peeled lychees. And this was the result:

We did the dolphin encounter and that was really cool. Our dolphin was Halea and she was young, so Kenna didn't get to do kisses with her. We got to pet her a lot though and feed her fish. Griffin and Laney kept dropping the fish between Charles legs and the dolphin would grab it. He was getting a little nervous! It was also really cool to be next to the dolphins the whole week. We got to watch them from our balcony in the evenings when they'd free swim together. We swam in the lagoon but I didn't try the paddle boarding like I'd planned to. Next time I'm doing a lot more water sports darn it.
On the last day we drove the rest of the way around the island (Griffin got car sick. Twice) and went to Volcano National Park. This time we were able to drive all the way down to the ocean and that was really cool. I think last time we were there they were having a lot of poisonous fog and we couldn't do it. You decend 4000 feet in 9 miles. At one point it looks like you are about to drive straight off a cliff. I made Charles let us out to do some viewing. He's such a nervous nelly about heights and potentially poisonous fog. Truly. His expression stayed like this pretty much the whole trip that day.  It was a really, really long day. We got up at 6:30 Hawaii time and didn't get home until the next day at 11:30 in the morning. So this week we've all been relatively wiped out recovering from the travel.

Aloha!

Our preschool issue sorted itself out this week and I felt much better. I went to Laney's class on Friday, then went to another teacher's class on Monday. We're going to switch. I was glad I did the observation since it gave me a much better idea of what the problem was. It wasn't the kids. The class is extremely structured. I think Laney will be happier in a more free wheeling class that isn't quite so ordered. I was really stressed out about the whole thing, particularly when it turned in to a "what is wrong with your kid" issue rather than what is wrong with her class. But regardless, I feel confident that we will have a happier kid when school resumes.
Tucson is in the midst of Fall break.  I think that between all the various holidays and half days, Tucson kids don't really spend too much time actually at school. It is handy for us however since we're heading to Hawaii tomorrow. So excited!!
The travel day tomorrow will be really really long. That's the downside of frequent flier miles. You get there...eventually. But we have our reservations for the dolphin encounter and luau.
Kenna is still being a brat to the poor little girl at school. I am not sure why. She seems to feel very competitive with her. Maybe because the other girl is also very small and Kenna doesn't get to be the baby? Who knows. Griffin is just happy most of the time unless he's having a toddler moment.
Laney started swim team this week and it went very well. She's a competitive soul. She won't swim meets until she moves up to the blue team but already she wants to win. She does pretty well, though her attention wanders a little bit every so often. After the rebuff we received last year, the team changed leadership and is now accepting young swimmers. Maybe we'll add G and K in the spring. I don't know though. I think that we might try out some other sports for Griffin. He picked himself out a book on football the other day. He's pretty pro-sports considering his father never watches them. Ever. And Kenna wants to do 'nastics and dance.
Kenna told me that the sun looked blue the other day (?) and that if you ate it it would taste like gum. Griffin has a lengthy story to tell about all sorts of things. He told his dad that he had special monster killing shoes that shoot lightening bolts out of them today.
I need to go try to finish a project now. We almost completely packed and ready to go. Two small suitcases and a backpack each. If I feel crazy, I might try to post while we are in Hawaii. Or I might just Facebook. Yes Mom, you should probably get a Facebook account one of these days. I am so jazzed that I finally got my camera fixed. Whoo hooo!

Jesus Loves Me. I Love Burritos.

Ah. Another day has gone by. If my son doesn't quit peeing in his bedroom, he will not live to see four. We had a personality swap at swimming today. Griffin cried for mommy, Kenna worked it through and ended the lesson with high fives and smiles.
I ran my tushy off this morning after drop off. Went to a meeting about taking over the Tucson Moms newsletter, then to the rheumatologist (yikes. I'm getting a referral to a neurologist now. I'm officially falling apart), then back to school to meet with the director regarding Laney. I am going to observe in her class on Friday and then make a decision about whether to move her. I'm not sure if it is just a stage with her that she'll work through, if it is her class, or if it's her teacher.
Laney was singing in the car today. First she sang "Jesus Loves Me This I Know". Then she talked about wanting to go to Nico's for food. Then she sang:

I love burritos, this I know

Cause my tummy tells me so...

There was more along those lines. Now I'll never be able to hear Jesus Loves Me and not think of burritos!

I also made reservations today for the luau and dolphin encounters. I'm getting excited about our trip. Now I probably need to figure out what we are taking...

Pests...I mean Pets

Griffin has decided that he has a new pet. A fly showed up in our home yesterday and he was thrilled that it landed on him. It is now his pet. He has really big plans for his new pet. They are going to go for walks outside and it will sleep in his room. Kenna was going to swat the fly and he was horrified. I love that boy. And we need to look in to getting a dog.
The twins restarted ISR swim lessons yesterday. Griffin was soooo excited to show Pam how he swims. Kenna was just pissed. Ms. Pam told her that it was ok to cry but not to scream at her. Ah. My sweet angel. Laney starts swim team today. We should be all ready to swim like crazy in Hawaii.
Laney is still having a problem at school. She just doesn't want to go. I'm thinking that her teacher might not be a good fit and we probably need to make some sort of change. She's too little to not like school! I just hate being "that mom" that is difficult. The pleaser in me doesn't like to make waves and be a pain. I am often doing the inner eye roll at other moms that are high maintenance. I guess it is my turn now. Queue eye rolls, mommy is going in...

Just When You Think You've Figured Them Out

I think it has been pretty established that my oldest child is what one would call "independent". She has always ventured bravely into the unknown without a backward glance. Until this week. This week we went to school and my daughter had a full out hissy fit. Begging me not to leave her. Begging to spend the day with me. I comforted and then detached myself and left a screaming child to her teacher. When I returned, she had spent the better part of her day crying. She went to the office to call down. She went to the bathroom to call down. When the teacher asked her about it, she told her "sometimes we have crying colds, like babies, and then we just need to cry". Mrs. Miller thought this was something invented by our family as opposed to something dreamed up on the fly by a dramatic child. ha. Mrs Miller also told me that she was deeply impressed by Laney's vocabulary. I guess not every 4 year old thinks her teacher is "tremendous." Laney has also been mysteriously possessed by a helpful, sweet nature. She's been cleaning house, helping me do things, and taking care of her brother and sister.
Griffin and Kenna have also been having adjustment issues. Griffin "Never" Phillips hasn't been listening to his teacher. Kenna has been attempting to boss other kids with limited success. I suppose we'll all be well adjusted by the time it is Fall break and they miss school for a week and a half.

Staying Afloat in the Sea of Domesticity

Blogging moms are cool, but every so often I read about everything they do (for example Pioneer Woman) and think: Crap. I really suck. Is this just me? Doubtful. But I'm having some serious pangs of envy. Somehow I need to figure out how to do more with my life.
And speaking of my life. What are my big wins of the day? Got bug guts scrubbed off my car and about a pound of kid snack efffluvia vacuumed out. Oh bliss. A clean car. Sigh...enjoying the moment. The sad truth is that I failed to adequatedly remove the remanants of whole colonies of insects that were smeared on the car on our trip north (ahem. yes. in May...) Drive through car wash proved inadequate. Full service car wash elusive. So. I made due and then we returned to AZ. And the monsoon rain did not wash it off either.
I also went to the gym and swam for the first time in a million years. I'm trying to get back into shape again after a long hiatus due to kids and RA. Yea me!
Kids went to school and then we came home and swam in the pool. Griffin can't float but has decided that he is a swimmer. He's swimming between the lagoon shelf and the steps. I think he's swallowing a lot of water while doing it. It scares the heck out of me since sometime he doesn't make it all the way and he flails around for the edge. Yikes! Laney also went to her swim team try out and got placed in a group.
This weekend I'm going to try to dig out from under the pile of "to do's" that have accumulated and get us back to being the well oiled machine of a family we are (ha ha ha).

Snow Day (old post. February?)

We woke up this morning to an inch of snow. The kids had fun playing in it. I was suprised. I thought we were supposed to get bad weather over night but had no idea we'd get real snow. I had trouble getting them all ready to go to church with the excitement of the snow. Charles drove up to Phoenix yesterday night and flew out this morning to Hawaii. I'm glad he didn't chance driving in the bad weather in the dark. Funny enough, my friend Richelle's husband Eric was on the same flight with Charles! It's small world.

I'm trying to get remotivated today. I started the year out feeling pretty motivated but this last week I've been really bleh. Tired and just not into doing anything. At all. Except eating. So I'm attempting to recharge the motivational engines this week.

The kids are sitting at the table with me right now. We just finished playing "dragons" and "baby birds". Our living room nest is still not picked up. I caught K giving Laney's stuffed animal a hair cut. Now they are all chopping away at the newspaper and practicing using scissors.

I saw Rorie's mom at Target yesterday. She told me that Rorie recently changed her plans to marry her older brother's friend and she's planning to marry Laney instead. LOL.

I think the kids are attempting to chop up the table cloth now. Off I go.

[Found this in my drafts for some reason. So here you go. A post from last winter.]

Back in the Saddle Again

We made it home without any major hitches. Griffin puked in Deer Lodge. We'd stopped the car and he got up, then puked. I'm pretty sure it doesn't count if we don't have someone throw up once. It is almost guaranteed if we feed them something pink first. I took the twins into the bathroom and to buy dramamine and this old lady gave me a hug in the bathroom. I thought "weird" but I went for it anyway. Never pass up a hug.
We always dress for AZ on the way home and then freeze to death on the way there. Montana is always cold for some reason. It actually hit 32 degrees going through St. Regis. On Labor Day weekend. I guess things warmed up again later though.
It was HOT in Tucson (suprise) and I'd turned our AC off after I got my last bill ($235. Seriously. And we weren't there). I asked Ernie to come over and turn things on before we got there, but it was hot in the house. I couldn't figure out why it was taking so long to cool downstairs until the next day when I realized I hadn't turned on the AC compressor online.
The kids started school and were just thrilled. The twins marched in to Mrs. Wallace's class and started playing and didn't even blink when I left. Laney is in love with her new teacher, who is new to St. As and pretty young. She pronounced Mrs Miller to be "tremendous!" after school. I was nervous because I'd heard some dissatisfied reports from other moms.
We also restarted play group. I need to get my playgroup hat back on and come up with some ideas. September is one of the hardest months because we're all busy and it still really hot out so outdoor stuff is difficult. I think I'm going to have to do one more lame date to give myself some prep time and then we'll be back in action. I'm considering making ice cream in the park--I saw a cool idea for making ice cream in ziplocks where the kids throw them around. Fun, right?
We've also returned to church again which makes me really happy. I like to go to church and I like that it is something that we share as an entire family every week. I missed it over the summer.
We were looking at the tiny amount of photos we took over the summer and realized that we didn't take "after" picts of the house! I'm going to have to con someone into doing that for me.
Today is dentist day for the kids and errands errand errands.

How Moose Make the Trees Grow

We were on our way up to Sandpoint yesterday to go huckleberry picking and then to my Aunt Kelsey's 80th birthday party in Clark Fork. Laney suddenly brought forth this nugget of "wisdom" gleaned from who knows where (nature shows gone awry?):
Moose make the trees grow because when moose die, the other animals eat them and then that makes trees grow.
[our response: ???!! What?]
Because moose eat trees and when the wolves eat the moose, then the moose don't eat the trees. So then the trees grow.

So. There you have it. Kill the moose, grow a tree.
We went up Schweitzer Mountain to go huckleberry picking and tried to find the spot that my cousin Brian told us about. I think we started counting switchbacks before we should though. We found huckleberries, but they were already picked over and at the end. We needed to go a little higher. But by the time we had hiked up the hill and through the brush for a while, we weren't in the mood to stop again and repeat. We ended up with about 1/2 gallon of berries. Which is not too bad considering we were picking with three toddlers. For those of you not in the know about the huckleberry: it is not a cultivated berry, grows at high altitudes, looks something like a blueberry but it is a lot better tasting. Berry picking involves hiking around in the forest and, since bears including the grizzly also enjoy the berries, we go armed. It adds a certain something to the process. Honestly though I've been doing this for my entire life and have never seen a bear (up close). Kenna was not at one with nature yesterday so she was just cranky about everything. We had a very edifying moment in which we all learned the fine art of peeing in the woods. Girls pee facing uphill, boys pee facing down hill. After picking berries we drove the rest of the way up to Schweitzer ski resort for lunch. The view was great but I shut Griffin's finger in the door of the car so that wasn't so awesome. I couldn't believe how different it was up there. I haven't been up there in a really long (ahem. decades) time and never in the summer.
We went to Uncle Phillip's house to rest and recoup before heading on to Clark Fork. Another place I haven't been to in a long, long, long time. Clark Fork is situated where the Clark Fork river enters lake Pend Oreille. We met up with all of the Hatcher clan at their family home in Clark Fork. I guess Reno's mother owned this little log house there. It's a funky little place and very filled with Hatchers. My aunt Kelsey is my grandfather Phil McNearney's little sister. She married Reno Hatcher and they had 8 kids. Who all had lots of kids (or adopted lots of kids).  Between marriages and adoptions they are sort of a mini UN.
I'm torn between having Charles help me remove doors to paint or taking the kids to Art on the Green today.

August Already?

It's been a difficult summer. Dad went in to the hospital the day we left Tucson with pneumonia and he didn't leave again until last week. His pneumonia led to a heart attack and then on to pulmonary edema, kidney failure, a tracheostomy, medical coma, a series of stents for the arteries in his heart that were blocked 99% (and no bypass surgery because he couldn't survive it), bacterial pneumonia, staph infection, possibly another stroke in a series of strokes, a rehab center, a recucitation, ICU again, a rehab/extended ICU hospital again, another rehab center and then home to my mother's 24-hour care. He was brought back from near death 3 times. He lost so much weight I could see the outlines of all of his bones. He had ICU induced psychosis. Let's just say that it wasn't the summer that I thought it was going to be.
So I haven't written much in my neglected blog. Somehow I need to get back in to the habit again. I'd post pictures, but my camera broke too.
Anyway, enough of all that. What else have I been doing this summer? Yes, I have done other things besides sit in a hospital. I'll give a quick run down of the high points and then I'll try to go back to fill in with more detailed posts.

• We built a chicken coop! My hubbie did a great job and we built the cutest little coop that is just perfect for our two borrowed chickens. The kids named the two hens Peach and Boy. The saga of chicken keeping is worthy of a whole post of its own.
• We painted our house (and are still painting it). Ourselves. Specifically mostly me. I even tore down the old gutters myself and boy was Charles impressed with me climbing on to the roof and banging the gutters off. Not only did we paint it, we painted it black. Ok. Not exactly black. It is a very dark grey/brown called Ebony Field. Yeah. I know. This is also worthy of its own post. And pictures!
• I've made jam like it's a calling from God. Seriously. We went out to Green Bluff with the kids one afternoon and picked strawberries (they taste amazing when eaten in the field) and then made jam with mom. I think we made 24 or so pints that day. Then I got crazy with my bad self. I picked our raspberries and made jam. I picked Dana's cherries and made jam. I'm going to pick huckleberries and make jelly. I bought my own canner this year. I'm officially a grown up.
• We went camping for 6 days over the 4th of July.
• I planted my first garden. It was sort of late since we had to deal with tilling issues and weather, but I put it in and have eaten things that it produced. My first vegetable garden!!
• I made curtains for my living room. Mostly.
• I hosted a pampered chef party and a book club party.

I have a whole list of stuff that I'd like to do before we head home this fall. Some things are little and some are bigger. I want to go huckleberry picking, go to the fair, go kayaking, go to Art on the Green, take the kids hiking on Tubbs hill and to the beach, take the kids fishing, host a cowboy themed birthday party for the twins, drink a few really excellent lattes, maybe make some applesauce, and start to remodel my bathroom. I've got 4 more weeks!

Waiting for the Sunshine

Quick update since last post: Finished school etc., headed to Idaho, got to Flagstaff and found out my dad was put into the ICU and had pneumonia, a heart attack and kidney blockage. Made the rest of the trip unsure whether we would see dad when we got here. He's been in ICU for two weeks today. Tuesday they did a surgical trachistomy and he was able to wake up and respond to everyone yesterday. He even sat up for the first time in 2 weeks. This morning he had two episodes of tachycardia and they are making the decision now on whether to do an angiogram. He's back in a medical coma again.
It's been cold and wet here (suprise. not) and we've been busy busy trying to get everything back into shape in the yard and house. I've got big renovation plans for the kids bath this summer and we're going to plant a garden. My sweet cousin Brian just got a job at the lesbian llama ranch and is bringing a load of "compost" over today for the garden. I've rented a tiller for tomorrow. We're kind of a little behind in getting things planted, but the family tiller hasn't been in good working order (machine or man).
We went to Sandpoint over Memorial weekend and visited the cemetaries. I had planned to do this before dad got sick and went ahead with it. Charles and I took the kids to Pinecrest and visited Grandma's grave (Smith. She passed last spring. Today would be her birthday). In retrospect, given the current climate in our lives we might not have taken the kids. Laney had a lot of questions and I got weepy a few times. Prior to the cemetary, we got lunch and then Griffin barfed all over himself as we left the drive thru window. Appetizing. So we made a stop at WalMart for more clothes. It was cool to see all of the headstones and recognize so many of our ancestors. My grandparents, their parents (with the exception of my grandma's dad) and my Grandma's grandmother are buried there.
After that, Charles dropped me at Uncle's and I met Mom, Aunt Lynda, Uncle Phillips, Uncle Curt, Ian, and Aunt Joyce, Matt and Michelle, and we made the trip out to Pack River cemetary to visit Grandpa and Grandma's McNearney graves. We take beer and have a beer with Grandpa--we each pour out a little for him. Afterward we go plant shopping in honor of grandma. Yeah. We're weird. I love to go out there because that area of Sandpoint is just beautiful. Seriously. Like Oh My God! beautiful. I'll take pictures one of these days if my camera ever gets fixed.
That afternoon we all went to Aunt Joyce's for a BBQ. Charles and the kids went early. The kids got to feed the baby calves their bottles and chase chickens/play in the hay/generally make a ruckus. Michelle took pictures, so when I get some, I'll post them.

Force March Phillips

In my brilliance, I decided to take my playgroup hiking. We went to Catalina State Park yesterday. Of course, it was the hottest day of the spring so far (about 90. seriously). I was initially planning to do a short flat hike at the Romero Ruins, but the guy at the booth said to do the Canyon Loop since there was water still in some pools. So I looked at the map and thought, hey we can do this. When we started, I wasn't sure where the trail head was for our loop and chose the one closest to the parking lot. I had a feeling though that we should start at the other side of the loop but didn't act on it. First part of the hike was a steep uphill and then we went up hill, up hill, up hill. My kids were horrible but everyone else's were great. The twins wanted to be carried though and so I did the majority of the hike holding someone and my friend Jill (bless her heart) carried Kenna quite a bit. The hike took FOREVER. Laney was supposed to go to school but we didn't get back until 12:30 and school, which was a 20 minute drive away, started at 12:15. I felt terrible for making her miss school and boy was she mad. I'm pretty sure all of the other moms were hating me by the end of that hike too. I think we hiked about 2.5 miles. Secretly though I enjoyed the hike even with my whiney kids. We'll have to go again. But next time I'm bringing more supplies. Like trail mix. Because hiking is a lot more fun if there are M&Ms involved.

Wax B's and Eye Disease

Oh, glorious day. I looked in the mirror this morning and discovered that my eye was NOTswollen, red, itchy, and was only slightly peeling/flakey. For the first time since January. It has been just as awesome as you would imagine it would be to have said eye condition for nearly 3 months.
Not much on the agenda today. I cleaned the kids' rooms and we generally hung out. Looks like we're mostly on the mend. The kids still have a cough if they get active, but things seem to be clearing. I can't tell if I'm still sick or just allergic to everything. It is pollen season in the old pueblo.
The kids keep trying to go swimming. The pool is freezing cold, but it's been in the 80s every day for a little while and looks like it will be continuing. Spring is sprung.
As I mentioned previously, writing is a big activity in my house. On my way down the stairs yesterday, I discovered a big red B drawn on the stair carpet using red chapstick. Hmm. Also, a tiny robot looking thing has appeared on Laney's wall. In ink pen. I have a lot of painting ahead of me.
 

Creativity

It amazes me how fast children can change. In just the last couple of weeks, Laney has suddenly become a writer and artist. The light turned on and pow! There it all was suddenly. She's been writing all of her letters and her name and she made Charles a card the other night that was just the cutest thing. It had little people and caterpillars and things. Sure you may say, kids do this all the time and mine is always drawing something. Well, mine didn't. So one day no drawing, the next day figural drawings in lots of detail.
Griffin is still unusually attached to his pajamas. We fight about it whenever I need him to wear decent clothes (like to church) and he only wants to wear his tiger jammies. Hopefully this is a stage that goes quickly.
We went to church this morning and then went started our parenting class again. Then we went to the park for a church picnic. It was fun. Yesterday we cleaned the garage (or at least got a good start on it) and then I cleaned the car in the afternoon. It was amazingly satisfying to clean my car. It was just so gross that I felt bad every time I got in it or someone saw it. Yuck. Now it is clean and good. On the inside. I still need to go get it washed.
This afternoon I made gumbo and we all watched the Princess and the Frog together. The gumbo was awesome. I like okra though. Unlike the ladies on Our Best Bites, I do not believe that it is a vegetable grown in Hell and hoed personally by the devil himself. I guess I like goopy veggies. Now I need to go back and print out the recipe before my temporary membership to the website expires. Sad, yes?
Feeling sleepy now from too much gumbo (and a couple glasses of wine) so off I go. Got to help C get ready to leave again tomorrow.

Home Improving, Health Deteriorating

Bleh. We're all sick at the Phillips house. Griffin caught the crud last week and we've been passing it along. The bummer is that it doesn't seem to go away once you get it. So he's still hacking up a lung and now the girls and I are too.
I painted the living room over the weekend. Ernie brought a scissor lift over and I got to work. It was really fun to use a lift to paint. I'd totally do it again. I got really good at driving it. I painted the room a light tan, but Diane told me that it looks yellow. And I guess it does a little bit in the afternoon. Oh well.
Next up is getting my filthy carpet cleaned. I am also going to repaint the dining room. The piano is going to move into the living room instead of the dining room. It just too squished in there.
Charles and I are going to start co-leading a parenting discussion group at the church. I know, funny isn't it?
Mike went to jail over the weekend and Zack has a broken nose. Not sure what all is going on. We'll find out more this weekend I suppose.
This weekend we need to get out and start cleaning up the yard. My poor palm trees are seriously toast. I'm not sure if they will make it.

Baptism

Last Sunday we were baptized en masse: me, Laney, Griffin and Kenna. Diane and Ernie, Leah, Olive and Don came to the procedings. We came back to the house for brunch afterwards. Later that evening, Charles and I went out to dinner at the Omni for a work thing. Ollie stayed at our house with the kids.
It's Rodeo week in Tucson and Laney had fun at school. They brought bikes to school on Wednesday and had a bike rodeo. Today we went to the park and met Jill and Madelynn, then out to lunch with them and Richelle and her kids.
I think maybe next year we will be ready to try out the Rodeo parade. The kids are a little young yet to brave the crowds for rodeo.

Deep Thoughts and Poopy Shoots

I'm just shocked tonight. I was watching the news after the Mentalist and they did a story on a cold case murder. Last summer, after we had gone to Idaho, a man was murdered at Chik fil A. A man walked up to him and shot him in the head, then pedaled away on a bike. At like 7 in the morning. I heard about the murder when we returned in the fall, but did not realize until tonight--he was the dad of one of the little girls in Laney's dance class. I see his widow 3 times a week at St. Andrew's. I've talked to her at dance class. I had NO idea that this happened to their family. She's got 4 kids under the age of 10. It's unsettling to have so many tragic events occuring to people I know and at places I go.
[pause to reflect]
Ok. On a completely different note: we finally finished the enormous jar of cheesy puffs that I was conned in to buying at Costco. Sadly, we will no longer be able to fulfill requests for "poopy shoots" from Kenna. I laughed every time she asked me for poopy shoots. I'd ask her "do you want cheesy poofs?" and she'd say yes, I want some poopy shoots. LOL.
Griffin told me in the car yesterday on the way to pick up Laney and Rorie (our carpooling friend from school) that he loved Rorie. I said that was nice. Don't you love Laney too? He said no. He didn't love Laney. "Laney smells". These things start way earlier than I ever expected.
Laney is always talking about her future career plans. I am not sure why. I've never asked her for this information, she just volunteers it. Science careers figure heavily with doctor usually leading. This week, she was thinking about giving up the medicine dream to pursue dolphin training at Sea World. We watched Flipper earlier in the week. But it was back to medicine by today. Then in the car we were watching "The Incredibles" and at the end the bad guy gets sucked in to a jet engine (No capes!) at which point she speculated: "I bet his brain came out when that happened." Me: pardon?! Really, what can you say to something like that?

Amen to That

It's official. We're Presbyterians. We completed our two evening new member meetings and we got voted in officially. So now I belong to a church. Next up: baptism. I had to get 4 forms. I feel a little funny talking about it since I'm so not the religious type. I'm still sort of amazed that I'm going to church. But I must admit that I really am enjoying going. I still feel a little bit funny praying so much and talking about God a lot.
I've been working on my preschool packets to register the kids for next year. Yikes. Next year is going to be expensive! Whoo. But so worth it. So worth it.
In other news, I got my allergy testing done. And put up with days of welts all over my arms. I'm allergic to everything. Except mold and arizona cypress. The other 47 things are a definite yes. I was suprised that I was allergic to cats, dogs, and dust mites. I suspect everyone probably is just slightly. I got my first allergy shot on Thursday.
The eye thingy is still going strong. I probably should try to go back to the doctor.
The kids and I took a long walk (they all ran) tonight. The weather was just gorgeous. It's going to be 80 again tomorrow. Too bad everything froze so hard. My poor little petunias are mostly gonners.

Infection and Connection

Well, we made it through the week. My eye infection is still hanging around though and that is making me irritated and ugly since I'm trying not to wear eye makeup. We did the usual stuff all week. School, dance, play group. Charles got home on Friday afternoon and left this morning at 6. He'll be back again on Thursday night. I didn't go to Phoenix to meet Uncle (sorry again Unc) because my eye was bugging me so much and the prospect of three hours of driving (half at night) was just too overwhelming.
On Saturday night I went out for a Mom's Night with playgroup. We had the best time. We played games and laughed and talked until midnight. I couldn't believe it was so late! I think it was one of the best mom's nights we've ever had. Today we went to St. Andrew's to tour the 4 year classes. I don't feel any particular affinity for any of them though. There is a definite preference in the three's for Mrs. Wallace if you ask around, but there doesn't seem to be a favorite among the 4s teachers. Except for Mr. Merritt, who is really cool and dresses up in costumes and does crazy stuff, but he teaches a T/W/Th class that has two mornings and an afternoon. Nah. I'm looking forward to being able to send all of them to school and have a few hours off. Though it will cost a fortune. C'est la vie. Our packets come out on the 15th.
We have our first membership dinner at church Thursday night, which I'm looking forward to. Then we do a second one the following week. I don't know if Charles will officially join since he wants to remain a Catholic, which is fine with me. Maybe we'll go to the Catholic church in Post Falls during the summers. I imagine I'll have to get baptized, which I sort of dread. We'll see. My friend Jill is also joining. I didn't know that she's been doing the Friday woman's book group there.
In the kids department, Laney is really starting to do a lot of drawing and writing. It's cute because she writes her name backwards. The downside of a big long name is that it takes a long time to learn to write it. I found out today that I shouldn't be mixing upper case and lower case letters when I show her name. Oops. I'll start doing the big D and lower case everything else.
Griffin has been a little pill lately as only a 2 year old can be. He's defiant and obstinate. We made mini pizzas together tonight. I try not to think of home many times he licks the spoon as he spreads the sauce. It's just better that way.
Kenna is chapped all over her face at the moment and her other issues are still in force. She told Charles that "her highness" (aka nether regions) hurt the other day. We decided that was a pretty appropriate word for her. She's such a little princess and loves to be waited on. She is really good at playing the helpless baby. She makes me dress her and help her with the potty etc. Griffin dresses (and redresses and redresses and redresses) himself and does all potty business on his own. He's all about the independent. K was gifted with a hand me down baby stroller from Leah and is in absolute heaven.

Fairies, Swimming, and Puppets

Starting out another single parenting week. C left for Vegas today and won't be back until Friday. The kids and I went to church together this morning and then I went to K'Deo, the Sunday school puppet show. They've been after me to go to the puppet show with them for a while so I figured why not? It was ok. I even survived the confetti cannon at the end.
Charles and G went to the hardware store together and got haircuts yesterday. They've been having a lot more father/son bonding time lately. Griffin proudly announces that he's "daddy's little buddy". Charles just finally realized how cool he is I guess--and G is getting less attached to Mommy so that helps tremendously.
I have some sort of weird eye disease. I went to the Minute Clinic on Friday and they gave me some stuff for it that helped a little, but it's getting worse in a different spot now. I'm heading to the allergy doctor tomorrow so maybe that will help. My eyelid is puffy and itchy in a ring around my eye. It's awesome. Really.
We went to the Mini Time Machine museum last Thursday and it was pretty cool. The next time my parents come down we'll have to go see it. Though, unlike some museums my mom and I saw in Cornwall, there were no taxidermied kittens on swings. Yeah, I was disappointed about that. The best part of the museum is looking for the fairy. She flies in near the door and you can see her glow and hear her sparkling, then she goes inside her tiny little door in the wall (it's a light on the wall). She also appears as a hologram image inside the magic tree in the museum. The great majority of the kids' time was spent jockeying for position in front of the fairy hollow. The twins also spent a great deal of time running and screaming in the echoing room. I was really proud that they were mine...
On Friday we went to swim lessons, which everyone adores. Then Charles and I went swimming with the kids during their open swim session. The twins better learn how to float. Griffin is convinced he knows how to swim, so he just launches himself into the water. Whether you're looking at him or not.

Crash and Nearly Burn

(Slow posting this was actually for Wednesday January 19)
We had a good weekend. On Sunday we went to church and Kenna made a project "for Jesus!!" Then we had a relaxing day and didn't do much of anything. Though Charles did finish his wall building and painting. His addition looks great! On Monday I sent them to the park together and I cleaned house. Charles returned and said that he wasn't cut out for that job. Too much to watch for at once. That afternoon we went over to Olive and Don's to visit. They are debating on selling their massive nativity collection (I told them I would help). There are over 300 of them.

Yesterday Charles left and things were going relatively well until about dinner time and then all hell broke loose. I was trying to get dinner ready and Griffin was "helping" me. During a rather key part of the cooking he suddenly lost his balance and fell off his chair--and swept the counter trying to save himself. Down came G and down right behind him came my Pampered Chef batter bowl (it's large, heavy and glass). I watched slow motion as he landed and the bowl bounced about 3 times. On the third bounce it exploded. So I got kind of excited about everything and the girls tried to run in to the kitchen. I yelled at them to get out, ran for the broom to sweep the glass explosion up and came back to start sweeping. Meanwhile dinner was burning. I checked dinner (thank god) and realized that in the fall he knocked the plastic bottle of olive oil over and onto the lit stove. It had melted through the top and was pouring oil onto my stove top. I expect I was about 45 seconds from a massive grease fire. Crisis averted, dinner served, and I had a glass of wine. One of the kids asked me for something and I turned back to find Kenna trying to chug my wine (quite an oenophile that one). So I packed them all off to bed without a bath. Kenna refused to wear her pullup. I caved. I went to bed not long after them.

Kenna peed her bed at about 2 am. I got her cleaned up and put her in my bed, but she woke Griffin who also wanted in my bed. They both wanted to sleep in my spot. We did some negotiating and settled down to sleep. Except my son didn't want to go back to sleep. I finally sent him back to his room at about 3 and he stayed up and kept me up for another hour and a half. Then he was up promptly at 7.

We skipped Kenna's dance class today because she didn't get up until almost 8:30. We went to Laney's. Then we came home and had lunch and went to take Laney to school. I got all the way there, went to take the kids out of the car and discovered that Laney (who had run out to put herself in the car) had declined to wear any shoes. No shoes at all. So we had to drive all the way back home, get shoes and return. I would have skipped it all together, but we car pool with another family and it was my turn to pick up the girls today. I was so mad I could spit. Griffin fell asleep for a nano second in the car on the return trip and that was his nap for the day.

So, not exactly a joy of parenting week. I need a nap.

Thoughts and the Brain

It is so strange to have Tucson be the focus of national news. Seeing the churches, schools and shopping centers of my neighborhood on the news all the time is a little disconcerting. Somehow real life and "news" don't seem to be connected most of the time. But I guess it's the week for surreal life. Laney has a new classmate and I saw his mom and thought "weird, I know that woman from somewhere". Then I figured it out--she is the blogger behind the decorating blog Three Men and Little Lady.
Laney told me today that she's going to be a brain doctor. This has nothing to do with the news (which we haven't watched at all) and everything to do with seeing an ad for a neurology seminar series in the newspaper. She made me read all about the brain to her. She thinks brains are cool. She's just not too sure about shots. Doctoring may be called off if there are shots involved (for her).
We had a great day at playgroup today (my first day as "leader"). The weather was gorgeous. Now that my parents have left, the weather returned to the upper 60s and low 70s.
Kenna told me tonight that she was little and needed "just a little chocolate. not big. Two pieces." Then she gave me a big sly smile and added "or three?"

Wow, is it 2011 Already??

It's been a while, I know. I guess I go into occasional blog funk or something. It has to do with how tired I am at the end of the night I think. Anyway, we've had a busy busy busy few months but I'm back to posting again. In summary: Thanksgiving at Olive's (yea! Tim, Carol and C visited), joined a church (yeah, I know, weird), did the whole Christmas thing (started organized, rapidly devolved), Mom and Dad visited for New Year.
The kids just started a new round of activities. Laney and Kenna are dancing again. I bought the cutest pettiskirt things at Costco. Laney gets tap shoes this time around. Of course, she did her first dance lesson and realized her friend Cameron is in gymnastics and seems to not get along with her teacher so we'll see... Kenna has been dying to go to dance, got there and refused to participate while covering her eyes. I don't really understand. Griffin plays with the car set and is content.
All the kids will be in swimming starting this Friday. Not sure what the twins will think, but given their intense desire to play in the backyard and get water out of the pool, they'd better learn to swim. Laney is taking advanced lessons and learning strokes. I'm also the new playgroup leader since Richelle has decided to simplify by stepping down as leader. We'll see how that goes.
The kids all got bikes for Xmas and we're trying to figure out how to ride them. The twins have these prebikes that don't have pedals. Kenna got pushed on her bike and now doesn't want to bother doing the work herself.
We achieved potty training success in early December (with continued minor messiness). Griffin is completely trained (night time too!) and Kenna went back to pullups at night but otherwise is done. He suddenly got the memo and all was well. This is one of the reasons that I didn't blog for a while. I'm sure you didn't want to continually read about potty training and it was really consuming my life. And a lot of Lysol wipes.
So cute story of the day: Kenna is just the singing-est kid lately and makes up her own songs quite a bit. Her latest is entitled the "Larry Song". Why? Who knows? It's hilarious though and if I can manage it I'll get video of her singing. The Larry song is always sung at high volume. It's about Larry. She particularly likes to sing it while jumping on the bed.
PS Regarding Xmas cards. I have had numerous trials and tribulations attempting to acquire and fill out cards this year. I'm thinking I might be able to manage Valentines. So to all of you: Happy Holidays!! And I probably don't have your addresses anymore unless you sent me a card since my computer with the addresses went kablooie.