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).