40

Yesterday was my birthday.  It was a crazy busy no relaxing kind of day.

I got the kids up, dressed, fed and to school.  I stopped at Chik-Fil-A for chicken biscuits for breakfast.  I decided I needed some sort of treat since it was my birthday.

I spend the morning shopping and taking J to his doctor's appt.  DH had a super busy afternoon/evening so he had planned to take me out to lunch.   However, J's appt interrupted those plans.  At least I had a yummy breakfast.   After the long appt, I took J back to school.  He missed lunch so I sat with him in the cafeteria while he ate his lunch.  I grabbed a bite to eat and visited a dear friend in the hospital.

After seeing that visit, it was time to pick the kids up from school.  A had volleyball practice and I had to take J to have blood drawn.   Next we tackled homework and missed classwork from all his days out, picked up A from volleyball, came home to more homework, DH managed to reheat leftovers to feed everyone for dinner.  I headed out to the Meet the Teacher night at school for J.  Came home, put boys to bed, ran to the grocery store for essentials and finally crashed in bed.

So it was a just a typical crazy busy day in the life of a now 40 year old mom.

There were some nice benefits to turning forty.

S#1 sent me a lovely box of caramels from Fran's Chocolates.  I've already enjoyed a few.  And I was even nice enough to share one with DH.  The children will not see this box.



Mom came by with roses and her colander that I've coveted forever.



DH & the kids got me a huge assortment of things I need and/or love and/or wanted.



Overall, it was a fine birthday, but I'm glad it is over.

J's First Day of School

J was sick the first two days of school. He finally was forced went to school on Friday. We basically dragged him in the place and shoved him in the door. He wasn't too happy about it. Can't you tell by the look on his face?





 I was an awful mess. I didn't know if he was really still ill or if this was just a bad case of anxiety over going to school.  I couldn't believe that I had actually forced him to go to school and walked away from him when he was crying.  He made it a total of 3 hours before coming home with a bad stomach ache.

By afternoon he perked up and had a great weekend. He was fine until Sunday night when he realized he was going back to school again. He asked DH if he could homeschool.

Monday morning he complained again of an upset stomach. He cried and asked me if I would homeschool him.  I took him to school and peeled him off me. I told him that he was going to stay at school even with a stomach ache. Only fever or vomiting would send him home. I of course went home and cried. Being the tough mom is hard on you when you've got a sad & anxious 8 year old.

Tuesday was a little bit better. No clinging, but some tears. Still complaining about the stomach ache.

Wednesday was still a little bit better. I took to the ped to check everything out. She's running a few tests to rule out anything wrong with him. We're going dairy-free and fructose-free for a week or two to see if that helps. We have a referral to a counselor in case the anxiety doesn't lessen.

J & I had a long talk last night about it. I'm giving him another week to get over this rough transition and then we'll go talk to someone. I think maybe talking to the doctor and acknowledging all the things that could be causing his stomach aches helped him. Last night was the best he's been in a month. There was no tears at bedtime, he actually smiled and laughed a little bit.

This morning at drop off he was much better. He gave me a hug and walked to his line. Instead of running after me as I started to walk away, he stood up, said goodbye again and waved. His teacher gave me a thumbs up.

I'm praying we're getting over this hump and he can finally start enjoying 3rd grade.

Smells like birthday

I'm 2 days away from turning 40. Since I'll spend my birthday night attending the back to school night for parents and since S#2 & family are leaving next weekend, we celebrated with the family yesterday.

My mom asked about my birthday a few weeks ago and I told what I really wanted was to have homemade ravioli. It was my birthday dinner of choice growing up. It's a labor intensive recipe so Mom didn't make it often, normally once a year for my birthday. When I got older, I started making it myself. The last time I made it was 12 years ago when I turned 28 and announced I was pregnant with A. Since having kids, I haven't found the time to make it.

Saturday we all pitched in to make the ravioli. Sunday I sat down with my plate, took a big whiff and declared that it smelled like my birthday to me! Yum.


In addition to my ravioli dinner, Mom and my niece made a mocha cake. Another Yum!



Definitely the best birthday dinner ever!

First Day of School 2011

It's the first day of school today and not the best start for everyone.

J was very nervous. He was up a couple times in the middle of the night. At 6am he finally crawled in next to me crying. He said he didn't feel good. Bad mother was dismissing it has nerves making him feel sick. Then I scratched his back and realized he was hot. It wasn't nerves, it was a 101 fever. J is home sick on the first day of school.

A & B had a good morning. A was over her nerves and ready for school, looking very grown up in her new skirt. B got up without any issues, got dressed with minimal issues (only 3 sock changes before his shoes made it on his feet) and was all set for kindergarten!

Luckily, S#2 lives down the street from St. Monica.  We dropped J off to lay on her couch while we took the other two to school. 




 ready to go    J didn't want his picture taken    off to school 
We walked A to her class only because she forgot a bag of classroom supplies and she didn't want to carry it. I think she was embarrassed by us walking with her. She stayed several paces in front of us.

After dropping off the supplies, we took B to his classroom. He got the teacher I really wanted.  She's my best friend's sister.  He hung up his bag, got his nametag & sat down at his place to read books.  He looked up at me and whispered that he didn't know how to read.  I told him it was okay, that's why he's in kindergarten, to learn how to read. 





 

I pray that J gets better soon and they all have a really good year.

the night before the first day

Tomorrow is the first day of school.

I just put a very nervous 6th grader and 3rd grader to bed.  Both of them were weepy.  Enough to bring tears to their mother's eye.  If only I could take that anxiety away and assure them that all will be okay.

At least the kindergartener is extremely excited.  Of course I need him to stop bouncing around, quit asking questions and go to sleep so I'll be able to actually get him up, dressed and out the door in the morning so we can get to the first day of school on time.

Wish me luck!

life lessons

Yesterday I took the kids out for end of summer torture fun.  We saw the movie The Smurfs.  It was what I expected.

When we left the movie theater, we heard a strange noise that sounded like a bird.  It wasn't a bird but a very young puppy locked in a car in the 100+ degree Texas heat.  I had my niece with me who is a dog lover so I couldn't walk away.  Even without her there, I couldn't have walked away.
They had left the back windows cracked but that isn't enough for a dog, especially a such young one.





I wasn't sure what to do so I called 911 who patched me through to the fire department.  I went to the movie theater and told them I had called about the dog.

The fire dept arrived within minutes.




The kids were very excited that the puppy would be saved.




The firemen were very concerned but not exactly sure what to do. The doors were cracked so they spent some time trying to find a hanger to open the lock. They ended up calling the police to see if they could help get the door open.

Just when someone was able to find a hanger, the owner came out of the movie theater. They had definitely been sitting through a movie so that puppy had been locked in the car for several hours. He got the puppy out, opened the trunk, pulled out a bowl and filled it with water. The dog sprawled on the ground lapping up the water.



At that point, the man started to get mad that the fire dept was there. He said the dog had access to water (it was in a Styrofoam cup with a lid on it) and it was fine. I asked the fireman if he was going to get to keep the dog. He said there really wasn't anything they could do about it. The man was getting more angry, and since the 5 children and I were obviously the ones who had called, I herded them into the car, thanked the firemen and left.

The kids were still worried about the dog and it happening again. They insisted we should have taken the puppy, that he didn't deserve to have that dog.  I told them to pray that the man had learned his lesson and it won't happen again.

Indoor S'mores

Yesterday was National S'mores Day.  Did you know that Girl Scouts are credited with inventing S'mores?  The recipe was first printed in the 1927 Girl Scout Handbook.

In honor of Girl Scouts and S'mores and in deference to the heat wave, we had indoor s'mores for dessert last night.  I heated up some chocolate ganache I had in the fridge and J crushed up some graham crackers.  It was a bit messy but yummy!

another visitor

Last week DH came in from getting the paper and asked me to come outside and bring my camera.  I know its good when he wants me to bring the camera.

Another moth mistook our door for a tree.  It is a Walnut Sphinx moth.


I also noticed hummingbirds at the turk's caps the past two days.  I had been disappointed that they hadn't come back this year, so I was happy to finally see some.  It is too hot for me to try and capture a picture of them.  Maybe next summer.

End of the garden

The record setting heat had done in my garden. That and the fact that I haven't been outside watering at night. It's too darn hot.

This week I've been cleaning up a little at a time, as much as the heat will let me. We gather the last of the fruits of the garden. Lots of grape tomatoes and four shriveled up carrots.


I'm looking for a good recipe to use the last of the tomatoes. Or maybe I'll get eat them one by one!

B is looking forward to the last harvest, sunflower seeds.

We cut down these sunflower heads and hung them out to dry so we can roast the seeds. Hopefully we can enjoy them at a baseball game once the heat breaks.

California Vacation

In a late night, alcohol influenced decision, DH bought four tickets to a San Diego Padres game in San Diego at the school auction. The batting coach's kids go to our school. Since we both love baseball and S#2 and BIL also love baseball, we turned it into a weekend trip. Here it is in photos.


Day One

Tourist time in LA


We drove through Beverly Hills


Up Rodeo Drive


Checked out Grauman's Chinese Theater


Took pictures with Marilyn


People were taking pictures of this place so we did too!


We happened by UCLA and stopped to check it out. DH was dressed for it.


Next we headed to Malibu


stopped to eat dinner


admired the view from our table


checked out the beach


Had drinks right on the water. There were splash warnings on the glass


We happened by Pepperdine and stopped to check it out. 70s looking campus but pretty view.


I thought this was funny. When do you see deer at a deer xing sign?


Day Two
We picked up S#2 & BIL and headed to San Diego.

Spent the afternoon at Hotel Del Coronado


hung out on the beach


I took pictures of this store for S#1 in honor of our family name


That night we headed to the game


At Petco Park


A nice ballpark, I liked how they kept the old building as a part of it


It was a good game despite the loss


Day Three

After a good breakfast, we headed to the horses


It was cool to be at Del Mar but it was a lousy day for betting. I lost all the bets I made, $15.00


We discovered the horrors on CA traffic when it took almost 3 hours to drive from Del Mar to Dodgers Stadium, but we made it.


We saw a homerun but the game was another loss.


Day Four
On our last day, we headed to Venice Beach. It was crowded with people out walking


And there was a Hare Krishna festival going on


After walking, gawking and present buying, we had one last beer before heading home



It was a jam packed weekend but lots of fun.