Family Date Night

We had a free Saturday. B played in a couple of indoor soccer games in the morning and that was about it.

The weather was pretty in the afternoon and the kids asked nicely, so I took them geocaching.

Not sure what face B is making there!


J hid behind B because the sun was too much for him

It was a good afternoon for geocaching. We were 4 for 6. One of "DNF" is one that we've looked for multiple times and still haven't found. The bushes are too sticky for us!

After geo-caching, we returned home, picked up DH for 5pm mass, and headed out for the rest of the evening.

DH bought tickets to the Chinese Lantern festival at Fair Park on Groupon. It was the second to last night of the festival so it was our last chance to see it. It seems that everyone else had the same idea. The line to get in was so long. We had pre-purchased 4 tickets and had to buy one more. I stayed in line with the kids while DH went to find the box office. A few minutes later, he called to tell me to go to the other side. The line from the other direction was much, much shorter. What could have been an hour wait was closer to 10 minutes.









B's favorite part of the evening, the REAL Cotton Bowl 

It was a nice exhibit and I'm glad we used our tickets. As we left the lines on both sides were equally long and longer than when we arrived. If we had arrive then, I would have eaten the tickets and left. The lanterns were pretty but not worth that long wait in the cold.

We headed out to dinner after a long debate on where to eat. (Parents:no pizza, Kids: no to all other suggestions) Parents won, we ate at Fish City Grill and had a great meal. The crawfish etouffee on the specials board was delicious!

Saturday Night at the Ballpark

We went to another Rangers game on Saturday night. We're trying to get a lot of baseball in early this year. Mostly because we're too busy in the middle of the summer and it is too darn hot. (It is already starting to get hot here in Dallas, we've hit the 90's a few days and average highs are in the upper 80s, I'm not ready for it yet.)

We picked a good game to go to this weekend since we saw a win. The Rangers lost to the Rays on Friday and Sunday, our first series loss of the year. It was a good game except for DH's hour long trek in search of ice cream cookie sandwiches. It was a long ordeal and he still doesn't like to talk about it, unless you mention it, and then he'll tell the whole long story again (just kidding!) I can tell you that the children will not be eating ice cream cookie sandwiches again this year. We ended up staying for the whole game since DH missed so much of it. It was a late night and made for tired kiddos on Sunday, but we all had fun.




DH took this picture at the game.  (K - Another one of me on the blog.)

Friday and all is well

Last night a huge storm blew through. DH was at Dad's Club. I was asleep in bed. It woke me up at 10:45 and suddenly remembered that I hadn't parked the car in the garage. The thudding of hail made me run, find the keys, race outside, park the car, calm down the dog, close the open kitchen window and worry.

I spent the next hour watching the radar, wondering where The Pines camp was, worrying if the storm was going to get worse and would it hit the camp. I am a pessimistic and imaginative person and could not stop thinking about the disaster that was about to occur. Lucky for me the local weather channel stopped covering the storm when it exited its viewing area, about 2 towns away from the camp. I couldn't watch the storm move across the state on the radar anymore so I finally fell asleep after 12:30. I woke up this morning and, although there was lots of talk of the storm and the hail, there was no talk of a camp full of kids being killed. I decided they must have survived okay.

Today I was scheduled to take a drop spindle class at the Shabby Sheep, a LYS. I've always wanted to spin yarn. Our family took a trip when I was about 8 years old. Mom took us girls and a cousin to San Antonio to visit the Five Missions. I don't remember much except the heat, S#4 throwing up, and the woman at one mission demonstrating spinning. I got to use old carders to clean wool. I think that must have been the inspiration for my current fiber enthusiasm.

I enjoyed the class today even through I wasn't very good at it. My yarn was very kinky. This little hank was about 1 1/2 hours worth of work and is about 3 inches long and 1 inch thick. I guess it isn't too bad for my very first try.



I came home from class to find A safe and sound. No problems. They had a little rain last night and she slept through it. I'm happy that they weren't frightened. She told me all about her trip. Now A & J helped mom make rolls for dinner tonight.



It is nice having my little family back home together.

CVS killed the Easter Bunny

I asked A to clear the table for dinner tonight. There were some newspaper inserts, some cups and napkins. Not a hard task, unless you're a 7 year old and then everything asked of you is incredibly difficult. Instead of clearing, A sat down and started looking at the newspaper insert.

Next thing I know she stands up and exclaims, "I was right, there is no Easter Bunny. You guys fill the baskets." I didn't know what to say, so I replied, "What are you talking about?" She said, "Look at this, it proves it!"

I looked at the CVS insert. There across the top of the page was "Fill their baskets with treats they really want."

I told her to bring the paper and follow me. We went to DH's office and I asked Anna to show her dad. He said with his usual parental response, "If you don't believe in the Easter Bunny, then the Easter Bunny won't come." A huffed and turned to me with a sassy, "Mommy?" DH was behind her waving his arms, shaking his head and mouthing "No, don't tell her."

I'm such a bad liar. I didn't know what to do. I finally repeated that the Easter Bunny doesn't come if you don't believe. If she didn't believe then the Easter Bunny would come for her brothers and not for her. I asked her if she believed and she said that she would. I mean, who's going to say no to candy and presents.

Then after we left DH, I pulled her aside and said I didn't care what she believed but she has two little brothers and she could not talk about her doubts in front of them. She agreed. Hopefully they will keep the magic of Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy a little bit longer.

LYS is over

The LYS that is across the street from #5 sister is closing. They are suppose to re-open somewhere new the fall. I've been getting emails for the past couple of weeks warning of their closing and announcing their sales. I keep meaning to go but I hadn't gone.

Saturday morning, A had her cookie booth sale. I got her up and announced an hour early that we were leaving on an errand. Once in the car, I told her the true reason for leaving early. I called #5 sister and she met us there.

It was a nice visit. There was still a bit of yarn left. I wandered through, looked, picked up, looked some more but I couldn't bring myself to buy yarn just because it was there. I'm not a stasher at all. I wandered more and found a copy of VLT. I found a pattern for a skirt for #5 sister. She admired a wreath of felted flowers so I bought a noni pattern and told her I would teach her to knit so she could make her own. I still hadn't bought yarn for me, I needed yarn for a project, not just yarn. I decided to knit socks. I found a woman who worked there and told her that I wanted to try knitting socks. She pointed me to the yarn. When we debated what size needles I should use, I bought both sizes. Hey they were 50% off so I was getting 2 for 1 anyway. I'm kind of excited to try and see what all the hoopla is about.

This morning I got an email saying the store was still open today, come on down and buy some more yarn. Well, I couldn't make it but #5 sister could. I sent her over and she bought me a couple of skeins of cascade 220 and some purple cascade 128. I guess I might be a stasher afterall.

By the way, my abbreviations are getting confusing. The oldest sister can be the chicago sister. The other could be calgary sister, but she doesn't live there yet, she's still here in dallas. The next sister could be the other dallas sister and the last one could be the "single, unmarried, childless" one, but I know she hates it when our mother refers to her that way. So I've decided on numbers. #1 is chicago, #2 is dallas/calgary, #4 is the other dallas & #5 is the last one. It's easier that way.

Another weekend gone

This one wasn't nearly as hectic as the last one.

Friday we picked up J's glasses. I still don't have a picture yet. He's still a bit shy about them. But he looks handsome in the glasses, and older too.

Saturday was A's basketball & indoor soccer games. B-ball was awful. They played the other 2nd grade team and lost by a lot. A's not into the game and didn't care. Indoor game was a bust, the other team didn't show. They scrimmaged instead.

My big news was I got a haircut. Again, no pictures yet. I just keep forgetting. I like it okay. The layers are more distinct than I'm used to. It looks a lot better than it did before. Not many people have noticed, which I find strange since I had 5-6 inches cut off.

Yesterday night we had a good time. A had a friend over to play, the daughter of one of the GS leaders. We ended up going to their house for dinner. I like this lady but haven't spent much time with her outside of GS. It was an enjoyable evening. The food was good, lots of talk & laughter. I'm glad we went. Also, she has the same sewing machine as me. We talked about taking the classes for it together. DH keeps telling me that I have a new sewing friend. He's excited about that for some reason. Funny coming from the guy who got really grumpy when I bought the thing.

On the knitting front, I'm working on a hat for J using the leftover sweater yarn. I'm making a london beanie. And I'm making a scarf for the rest of the wedding present. I've made adjustments to this pattern because I only have one skein of 220. But I'm getting worried that it will be too short. I told my niece I would give it to her it is too short. Again, no pictures. Not sure why I have no pictures. I'm going to that to work on that.

December 28

Nothing exciting to write about.

Here's my day:

• made banana bread
• worked some
• went to the Y for the first time in 7 years or so
• played a game of Mousetrap

Now I'm waiting on my mother to come over to babysit the kids. She offered today. I took her up on it. Now at 8:15, I decided to call. She thought I meant tomorrow night. She was still in her pajamas. I should have learned my lesson by now. She did say that she would get dressed and come over. But I'm sure she's not happy about it.

She's suppose to sit for us on New Year's. I think I'll tell her no. I'm sick of the flakiness. I love my mom, but she's like that.

Bathtime

C did it again. He gave the boys a bath. It's the first bath since the last bath incident. Not that they haven't had baths for weeks, but I've been giving them showers instead.

I could hear C talking to them as he put them in the tub.

"Okay, B. No pooping. Do you understand?? You cannot poop in the tub!"

Then I heard A in the background. "Are you sure you want to do this? Don't you remember what happened the last time? Mommy isn't going to clean up a poopy tub, you know."

At least everyone know where I stand on the subject.

C was lucky tonight. We were "Baby Ruth" free.

I don't like candy corn!

Baby B has sitting on the potty chair. He will sit on it for a long, long time. Especially if Noggin is on.

Thus I have the song 'I don't like candy corn' stuck in my head. I woke up in the middle of the night with it running through my head. Ugh. I tried to get it out of my head and in popped Fabulous from High School Musical 2. A was singing it in the car yesterday.

Why can't I get my childrens' music out of my head.

So back to the potty chair. B been on sitting on the potty chair for awhile now. He sits for a long time. Eventually he will insist on putting on his diaper. He then proceeds to wet his diaper and gets mad and insists on being changed.

Last night before bath he wanted to sit on the potty again. I put him on but no Noggin. He sat, read books, ran around and sat again. Eventually he got up and ran away crying. I went to get him so we could get in the bath before he had an accident. That's when I heard J say, B went pee-pee in the potty. Sure enough he did, and it freaked him out. He ran away from me crying. I followed him clapping & yelling 'Yeah, B, what a big boy! A & J joined in. Finally B slowed down. We showed him the potty and everyone cheered. He finally stopped crying and started laughing and clapping with us.

I don't know what this means. I'm certainly not ready for potty training. He's not even 2 years old. This morning we got home from taking the kids to school and the first thing he wanted to do was sit on the potty chair again. I guess I'm going to be forced into this.

photo ops

This is Baby B after a particularly hard morning. He was playing I was working and all were happy. Suddenly he started throwing a fit. I realized that it was 12:30, we were an hour late for lunch and a half hour late for nap. I tried to skip lunch and just put him down for a nap, but he wasn't doing that. So I put him in the high chair and started to fix food. Next thing I know, here he was.

We went to an Oktoberfest party at a local shopping center. They have the party every year and every year we say we should go and never have. This year we made it. We saw a bunch of families we know from school & church and the kids had a lot of fun. We waiting in line for almost an hour for the face painter. A & her friend got matching flowery things. J & his friend got pirate skulls.

updates

Running:

My calf has been bothering me. I walked tonight and it wasn't too bad. I think I'll try running a little bit tomorrow.

Knitting:

I finished the baby hat for friends' new baby. It took me about a day to get it done. I finished 2 pink wristbands for my sisters' 3 Day walk. I'm glad that is done and out of the way. I need to get back to J's sweater. I emailed the lady who created the touring wrap. I asked her how many repeats she had in the original wrap. She responded and it is 44. I've only done 13. Who knows when I'll ever finish it, but I'll keep trudging along.

Family:

Not much new. I've been asked to decorate the pumpkin for the Autumnfest silent auction for J's class. Here's how that happened.

I make napkins for J's lunch every day. I draw a little picture and write something like 'Have a good day!' on it. I started picking pictures based on the letter they are studying, A is for Apple, B is for Bear, etc. The teacher thinks I'm very creative. She started keeping J's napkins and hanging them on the board. She told me she's going to make a napkin book and asked me to make some A's and B's for her since she didn't keep those napkins. So she thinks I'm some sort of artist and asked me to decorate the class pumpkin. I said okay.

But then I went into a panic. What was I suppose to do with it?? I haven't never looked at the pumpkins at Autumnfest before. I didn't know if there is a theme, if I was suppose to carve the pumpkin or not. I did a little asking around and found out:

1. You don't carve the pumpkin, you just decorate it
2. You can incorporate the class by putting all the kids' names on it
3. There is a theme. Since it is close to Halloween this year, it is a Halloween theme. But nothing gory

So I talked to J & A and we decided on how to decorate. I'm going to paint a haunted house on the pumpkin. Then we're going to make bats & ghost with the kids' names, attach them to wire and push them into the pumpkin. It is actually a plastic foam pumpkin, not a real one, so I don't have to worry about it rotting. I hope it turns out okay.

Pictures:

DH is home with my card reader so I can finally post some pics.

Dad's Club Night or Playing in Daddy's room

Daddy's room is Daddy's room. Generally, no toys allowed, no playing allowed, quiet sports watching is always welcome. We do bend the rules but it is easier when Daddy is out for the evening. Tonight is the 2nd Wednesday of the month, Dad's Club night. The gate to the fence wasn't closed before the dog house building started, complete with window.

 

 

Bootball
This is B cheering. He yells 'Bootball' for pretty much any sport. He's also a ham, so when he saw me with the camera, he started yelling and posing.

 

Here's A. She's hiding in her bed with the latest Highlights magazine, avoiding the boy chaos for awhile.

 

Wednesday Sept 19

Nothing new or exciting to write about. No funny kid story or humorous circumstances to relate.

DH and I just celebrated 9 years of marriage with Mexican food and a single scoop of our favorite ice cream at Braums (peanut butter cup for me, chocolate almond for DH.) We actual talked for the whole meal with very little of the conversation focusing on the children. That is an accomplishment. It was a nice evening.

I look forward to the next 9 years and more.

Crazy, Crazy Fall

We're headed into that time of year. I think Sept-Dec is crazy busy. Our calendar is already starting to fill up.

I think this year is going to be especially hectic. We now have 2 soccer players in the household. J's first practice is tomorrow and his first game is on Saturday. I was hoping that we'd have a good schedule and not too many overlapping games. Instead we got the opposite. There are 2 weekend where A&J don't have games at the same time. I guess we'll have to take turns going to each of their games and make sure we have parental attendence equity. I think DH is more concerned about who is taking B. I think we'll have to flip coins on that one. The worse part is that A has 3 or 4 games starting at 8am. It is hard enough getting her up for school on the weekdays, so why in the world would they schedule games at that time.

Soccer is just the start. We've got college football (which takes most Sat afternoons), Oktoberfest (school party), Autumnfest (another school thing), Walking with Dinosaurs show, Halloween, Thanksgiving, B's bday, Jamaica, Christmas, J's bday. And then all the various things in between.

I'm looking forward to January already.

Tuesday September 11

Tomorrow is DH's bday. Since tomorrow night is Dad's Club (and he can't miss Dad's club, free Mexican food & a keg of beer), we're celebrating tonight.

DH requested steak dinner at home. I told him he was in charge of the steaks. I'll handle the rest.

I've made the dark chocolate almond cake recipe that he said sounded really good. I'm pretty impressed with myself. I made the cake and while it was baking, I cleaned the kitchen. Next I have to make twice baked potatoes. Plus I need to come up with another vegetable or salad. I'm thinking salad because it is easiest and I have some tomatoes from the garden.

I need to get potatoes made this afternoon because I'm taking J to the doctor after school. His allegies/cough/congestion/etc is turning nasty. His current medication isn't working and I'm afraid he'll get and/or has a sinus infection.

Baby is making a mess somewhere. I hear little things dropping on the floor. I must go take care of it before it gets worse.

Transitioning to 2nd Grade

A did well in K & 1st. No problems adjusting, no big issues with the change.

But 2nd grade is different. We've been having screaming, crying, "I don't care if I get good grades, I can't do this" meltdowns. And of course, any suggestions from me are met with looks like I've grown horns and have become evil incarnate.

She had a religion test yesterday. It's a Catholic school for those who don't know. Wed night she had to memorize the days that God created the earth. She was so mad. Mostly because it didn't make sense to her. On the first day, God created heaven and earth, dark and light. It wasn't until later that he created the sun, moon and stars. She couldn't get past the problem that if God created dark & light on the first day, why weren't the sun & stars there with the dark and light. The sun provides light to the earth, why wasn't it there when God created light. Then she had a problem with the day where god created all the land animals including man. How could he have created all the land animals including man if dinosaurs lived before man.

Wow, she had some valid points. I had no idea how to explain to a 7 year old that the bible doesn't necessarily have to read literally, it can be interpreted. Especially when she is suppose to memorize what the bible says word for word in order to pass the test.

So I took the easy way out. I told her 'Just memorize this sheet and ask your teacher these questions in class.' I'm a total wimp!!!

That didn't go over too well, because I discovered that she didn't know how to memorize things. I guess what she has learned before was easy enough that she didn't have to really try to remember the information. I told her to write them all down 5 times. That would make it stick with me. Well, we had a repeat of the 'teeth baring, you're horrible for even suggestion such a thing, door slamming so the whole house shook' episode.

Then we had to have a discussion on how to handle our anger & frustration over schoolwork and not take it out on the mother & the door. After her cooling off period I sent DH in to try his hand at helping her. Luckily, he figured it out with her. He told her to read each line, turn the paper over and try to repeat it aloud. It did the trick. 30 minutes later she could recite the information word for word.

She still questioned the order of things in the bible and evolution but we'll deal with that later. Seriously, I think I need to take a refresher course of some sort to handle these situations later. I tried taking a course at church last year, but it was much more about spirituality and prayer life. They need to offer a repeat doctrine class for all of us who forgot what we were taught in our 17 years of Catholic education.

Thursday August 30

I just read a friend's blog. She sent me the link awhile ago. I read a post or two the day she sent the link. Then another friend referred to it, so I added her to my reader. It was amusing. She's the mother of 4 kids 5 & under. Crazy chick who said she would never in her life have children and then had a whole bunch real quick.

So I was thinking I should start to write amusing anecdotes about my kids. Her entries are full of chaos and laughter. I don't have the equivalent here. It is more bickering, poking, screaming, personal space violating, non-vegetable eating mess with some more screaming in between.


There were some good points today:

J & cousin M caught a gecko and named him Alex. Then they let him free after begging only 3 times to keep him as a pet.

A had a melt down over learning spelling words (science & religion were the killers) but finally agreed with me that writing them 10 times each might help her remember how they are spelled.

B was his general happy self. Except for his adament refusal to eat any form of vegetable (even a single corn kernel) and the ensuing 20 minute fit because I refused to feed him seconds of chicken until he ate the single kernel which in turn wore down his father's defenses causing him to proclaim that I was being harsh and should feed him the chicken to make him shut up, he had a good day. That third child is spoiled rotten.

Nobody complained about having all the leftovers from the fridge for dinner tonight. Except for the above vegetable fiasco, but that happens most nights.

Overall, a good day.