Sunday Fall

Well, I definately wasn't planning on falling down our upstairs stairs today-but I did. '

Ouch.

AND I was carrying E bunny at the time.

I slipped halfway down today for no apparent reason, luckily landing on my behind, scraping both elbows and my back.

I managed to hold on to E, but barely.

I sent JJ a running, since it sounded like thunder on the stairs.

I'm so thankful it wasn't a header, I dropped E or hit the back of my head.

I will be feeling it for a couple of days.

Saturday

There's just no other word than Saturday. A day when the kids play together, spend time together and we have a day off.

Today was not that type of Saturday.

Today was run to the medium city for groceries and Wal-mart w/3 kids and my mom.

It was grey and cold-unlike the weather report said it was going to be sunny and warmer.

The kids were a little difficult in town, where Miss A had a foot-stomping temper tandrum in Walmart.

We got home and things got even worse. The older 2 fought ALL DAY.

How is that even possible?

Miss A ran into the corner of the bannister upstairs and will have a black eye in the morning.

That will be great for church.

The older 2 were mad because I didn't play with them.

Um, it's hard to play with people when they are trying to kill each other.

Seriously.

Today's not been stellar.

And I haven't gotten JJ to talk about when or how I'm going to get more space on my laptop so I can download all of my new pics from the last 2 days of stuff I actually got to go to and put them on the blog and so on.

And he's fairly crabby tonight. We're both tired, but I'll end up doing bedtime anyway.

Let's hope tomorrow is better.

Busy Day

Today was a very busy day, and with my laptop down, I can't do pictures right now, so I'll have to add them later.

The girls got to watch JJ and I sweat as we pushed the old piano out the door this morning. It came with the house and we had the blessing of the whole family to remove it from our possession.

I went to IC's Kindergarten Olympics and it was fun. The kids did a torch run around the gym, had nine different things to play for their Olympic games and all got medals in the end. Then, since the whole school had met the box top goal earlier in the month, it also happened to be ice cream sundae day to celebrate. It was a good way to end the day at school!

In the evening, I drug the kids by myself to IC's first wrestling meet. It was a little confusing at first, but we managed. Of course, the girls were hard to corral and I was glad when grandpa and grandmas and JJ showed. IC had 2 matches, both with kids with more experience. Even though he was pinned, they didn't keep score with the Pre-K and K, and all participants got REAL medals (not the fake plastic they got at the K Olympics). It was a good lesson for IC on real matches and real wrestling.

All in all, we had a good day today.

Precious Girl

Believe it or not, I FINALLY got a layout accomplished this week! This is of E when she was 2 weeks old.

In only 21 days, she'll be 2 YEARS old. My baby's growing fast! She's into everything, and just learned how to nod her head up and down to say "yes" (but she really doesn't like to use that, she'd rather just say "NO" in a very loud voice, whether she means it or not).

Scuffed Chins & Leaking Pants

What do you know-I finally have something going on to talk about and show today and tomorrow and my laptop's drive is about full!

Today was a day at home. When Miss A got home from school, she and E decided to watch Dora while I made dinner.

Apparently, she had folded out the rocking chair to recline and E had gotten on the foot part. We are constantly telling the kids not to get out on the edge of the recliner when it's unfolded. So, she got the great idea to refold it while E was on it.

E came screaming to me after that. She'd hit the floor face first, got floor burn on her chin and a huge cut on the inside of her mouth. She was bleeding enough I had to make sure she hadn't knocked out any teeth. Thank God she hadn't.

Now she just has another scuff for people to ask about tomorrow. Joy.

I took the above pics of the girls this afternoon after E's nap. Miss A was trying to teach E how to play the fishing game. The ended up doing everything else with the fish instead.

E's pretty good at forgiving wrongs at this point, so all was well. Of course, the pic shows E without pants. That seems to be the norm for E lately. I've changed a LOT of diapers lately that have leaked.

ALL of my children go through this sometime during the diaper years, along with the chronic diaper rash - it's annoying, but this is my last one, so I'll make it.

Hopefully, so will my carpet, bedding and furniture!

Accomplishments?

I think I've managed to accomplish not a whole lot this week.

Where did the days/time go?

It's Wednesday and I've got very little to show for it.

A house that's 1/2 clean, a livingroom wall only 1/2 decorated (I'm in the process of rearranging my wall of pictures to better accommodate the increase in photos that I want displayed), and the kids' (but not JJ and mine) clothes put away FROM LAST WEEK'S LAUNDRY.

Oh yeah, I'm kinda pathetic this week.

I'm not sure I can pick up the pace, either. IC's Kindergarten class Olympics and wrestling meet is Friday and I think I have to go to the medium city on Saturday for the necessities.

That leaves tomorrow, because I HAVE to go to choir practice this week or Margaret (the director) might flip out since I've missed a couple of performances and practices lately and she's got this big Easter cantata planned and the music is HARD.

Did I mention, JJ wiped out on the ice today and bruised himself good? He came limping into the house today and I was wondering how he's going to get things done the next few days.

Could be one of those weeks of utter non-accomplishment, I'm thinkin'

The Wrestler

Here is last week's Wrestler of the Day. His first meet is this Friday.

My Little Dancer

My little dancer looks great despite the fact that her Momma's a plain jane. Even JJ said she was cute.

Crazy Days

It's been a tiring start to the week.

Today started with a quiet morning and me not accomplishing much, as I was still tired from E bunny's fuss from 4:30-5:30 am that required me to "sleep" on the floor. Floor sleeping is awful for me. It makes my bad hurt immensely.

JJ does so much better sleeping on the floor, but he tends to not wake when there's fussing in the middle of the night.

Back to the day: At school pick-up time, I watched the little kids get dismissed from school. The handicapped kids are let out at 3, followed by the pre-kindergarten kids at 3:05. I was thinking as I watched the parents picking them up, how IC was in that class (one of the 3 classes) last year. And then I realized Miss A will be in that class in the fall. Time just goes by so fast.

It's a cliche, but I don't care. I hear it all the time from people, most well-meaning. It's get's annoying, actually. Yes, I realize that time goes by fast and the kids grow up quickly.

But, when you're in the middle of the 2 yr old getting into everything you own, the 4 yo crying over EVERYTHING and the 6 yo being a smart mouth know it all, you're just hoping you can survive. Seriously, if you are thinking nostalgic while you are struggling to get your kids out of bed and ready in time for the bus (had THAT problem with Miss A this am), then you must have too much time on your hands or something.

I think it's only when you sit down and really realize that time goes fast, does that factor into your thoughts.

My kids are growing up fast. I know it.

But I am also tired tonight.

After KFC, then it was eat lunchables quickly at church, get Miss A dressed, go over to dance, try to keep E bunny from being annoying, heading home, drag what seems like too many bags into the house, struggle to get the kids cleaned up, clean up the stuff from the van, have a few minutes to sit before getting kids to bed, emptying the dishwasher and refilling with dirty dishes, changing dirty diapers and FINALLY getting a shower.

Sigh.

I know, JJ tells me, "what are you going to do when it gets REALLY busy and you have 3 kids in three different things on the same night?"

I'll manage, but I won't have a near 2 yo to try to keep out of trouble, either.

Random Incidents for Sunday

E bunny has discovered TV in the past couple of weeks. Not great in some ways, convenient in other ways, and inevitable anyway.

It's been a little helpful since she's had the flu and I needed something to do while holding her for hours.

E was sick a week and a half ago, but has continued to have intermittant diarrhea since. It worsened over the weekend and if it's still going by tomorrow, I am calling the dr. clinic AGAIN.

I took the kids to Sunday School, and was supposed to sing in the choir, but I elected to go home after E just wasn't being herself.

Besides, it had snowed about 3-4 inches, which was drifting a little and I was ok with going home before the drifting got worse.

It's been kind of a hard day, with changing E multiple times, IC more obnoxious than usual and Miss A being her normal whiny self. Coupled with E not going to bed until 11:30 last night-we're kinda tired today.

Being a little still under the weather didn't stop E from getting into trouble. Like taking the potty chair from the bathroom to the office, using it to climb into my computer desk and go through my scrapbooking stuff.

I know, I know, I'll miss it someday. That someday is feeling like it will be a LONG way off.

Basketball Fun

IC has been going to a basketball camp/clinic every Saturday for the past 4 weeks for 1 hour in the mornings.

He's been having a pretty good time and seemed to enjoy it.

The girls, however, found it hard to tolerate an hour of behaving. Miss A wants to do some of the things IC gets to do so badly, but she has to be in Kindergarten and is still over a year away from that.

She will get her chance, but I know it's hard to wait.

Today was the final day and I finally remembered to bring my camera. The kids got T-shirts and us parents got a form to use to buy a child-size basketball.

Afterward, we took the recycling stuff in to the center, got a few groceries, and got a tire fixed that was pretty low.

We were able to get home right before, you guessed it, it started snowing AGAIN.

Fun times, for sure.

Another Crummy Day

It's been another crummy start to another crummy day.

It snowed overnight. Not much, but enough that the roads are slick.

This, of course, changed our plans to drive to the big, big city to see our nephew wrestle at the state tourney. Yesterday he won his first match and lost his second match. Today, he's wrestles at 2pm, but we won't be there.

JJ, of course, didn't make the decision, I basically had to, again. I hate making big decisions like this, especially alone. He told me I was basically the one looking forward to going, he wasn't going to be disappointed not to go.

That's just great.

So, I probably did a good thing by saying no so that we'd not run into bad roads, scary drivers, etc.

But I'm still disappointed.

He gets to leave the house and go hide in his work.

I have to stay in the house with three easily bored children, mediating fights and getting E out of my drawers and everything else she's into.

The same old thing.

I was looking forward to getting away for at least a few hours. Sigh.

It could be a long day today.

Good Morning Sunshine!

THIS is the mess I have every morning when E bunny gets up. Often times, things are 1/2 that mess after nap time.

It takes a lot of water and hair detangler to get her hair under control. Here she is consulting the various papers on the fridge to see what's on the schedule today.

What a cutie! (At least, in my opinion!)

I hope we are getting to a new road with E bunny. She's had major seperation anxiety for several months now, but I was actually able to leave her in the church nursery on Sunday. And for the first time, she didn't cry when I left her with JJ on Tuesday when I took IC to wrestling practice. I don't want her to grow up TOO soon, but being able to leave her without a major cry-fest would be ok!

I thought I'd better document that Miss A and E bunny CAN get along and play together. Miss A can even be protective of E when she wants to. :)

It seems like I've been running this week, although nothing new has been added to the schedule until Friday.

This morning, I worked on the girls' closet, which was the project I started YESTERDAY morning. I did FINALLY get done and the house is cleaned, too. Luckily, the migraine headache that was starting this morning wasn't as bad as I'd feared.

I started getting the outgrown kids' clothes ready for the cosignment sale in April. There's always a lot to prepare before I'm all ready, but I hope I can get moving better on it than I did yesterday-I didn't get very far at all.

Friday, we are planning to go to the Really big city, about 2 1/2 hrs away, to see our nephew in the State Wrestling Tourney. I am hoping the sunny, warmer weather that's occuring today holds.

Since IC doesn't have school that day anyway, the kids won't have to miss and they will have something to do that day. I'm looking forward to it.

Tonight is the Ash Wed. service at church. The choir has to sing and I've managed to get out of it the past couple years, so I supposed I should go this year. Usually, there's more in the choir than in the pews!

Another Day Like Normal

Today's just one of those days where you run around and don't feel like you've accomplished anything.

Now that the older 2 are in bed, I'll be chasing the baby around for awhile and not accomplishing anything some more.

Such is the saga of most of my days. :)

It's One of THOSE Mondays

Today is starting out pretty much messed up schedule-wise, and I hope that's not an indicator of the week in general.

First, since E bunny went to bed too early last night, and fussed at 12:30 am for awhile before going back to sleep, she decided to get up at 6 am.

I'm normally getting up around then anyway, but it's to get things DONE before I wake up children.

That didn't happen this morning. Since she was up, but tired, she wanted to be held...and held...and held.

This, by the way, is inconvient if you want to get ANYTHING done. It's one thing if it's a 8 lb newborn, as you have wonderful things like snuggli's.

A 28 lb toddler is a tad bit different. And it's worse if she bawls the minute you put her down.

So, I lost productive time and determined to let her bawl when it was time to get the older 2 up.

No sooner had I got them up, then the bus driver called.

Apparently, with the wind blowing, the roads were drifted in many places.

He got stuck. And wouldn't be able to make it to pick up my kids. Swell.

So, I got them ready and out the door we headed to school.

Of course, E didn't want to change into clothes, so I put her shoes on over her pj feet and we went like that.

After dropping the kids off, I got gas in the blistering cold wind, and stopped at Dollar General for supplies before heading home.

By that time, E had fallen asleep and proceeded to take a 1 hour nap, which will mess up the afternoon nap time AGAIN.

I decided to try to get SOMETHING done, so I was working the girls' rooms and came downstairs after E and surprise! JJ was meeting with the crop scout.

He neglected to let me know that the guy was coming this morning.

I hope I wasn't too messy in my oversize t-shirt and workout shorts, since I was dressed to do my workout program that I didn't get to do today yet and it doesn't look promising that it will happen.

Sigh.

I have to pick IC up from school and take him to KFC. Pick him up from KFC at 5, eat lunchables with the kids in the church's nursery, and take Miss A to dance class at 5:45.

I think I will be glad when it's bedtime-for Mommy!

Game Day

Yes, Mommy played, too.

E bunny, the table dancer is very talented at doing two things at once. I guess you have to do SOMETHING when everyone else is playing board games!

One of the few times today when the kids were all getting along, bonding over the Littlest Pet Shop stuff!

Miss A, playing the Wii.

Wow, what a day.

First of all, we DID get to go out to the movie last night. E bunny didn't have any yucky diapers and according to my MIL, they were all good.

The movie was ok. It's one of those you'd have to watch more than once to catch everything. It was well-worthwhile for getting out of the house and away from children.

On to today, which started out not good for Valentine's Day.

First, I took the older 2 to Sunday School and it was blowing and snowing some.

By the time I headed home to go pick up JJ, it was NASTY. The visibility was REALLY REALLY bad. Did I mention it was really bad?

I was scared driving back to town and prayed a LOT.

We obviously made it in one piece and got to enjoy the older 2 kids singing in church.

After that, we picked up groceries and pizza and at that time, the sun was out and it was still snowing/blowing, but visibility was GREATLY better.

In the afternoon, after some cartoons, we played games-Hungry Hippos, a game about sharing, Candy Land and Disney DVD bingo. If IC hadn't been so mouthy and bossy all day, it would have been a little more fun.

We caught a little of the Olympics, then JJ headed out to chore.

After supper, we played some Wii and once again, IC's mouth got him into trouble more than once.

E bunny fell asleep at 7:30-not good. She'd had a small nap this morning and then I didn't force a later nap in the afternoon. I probably should have. Hopefully, she won't wake at 1 am and not be able to sleep for a couple of hours.

The Suspense is Getting to Me . . . .

I stayed at home today and made JJ take IC to basketball camp because E bunny started with some very messy diarrhea last night, which is what IC had.

Well, she hasn't had any today.

So, was that just the flu getting out of her system, or is there more to come?

Honestly, this question is getting to me today, since if the kids were healthy, JJ and I were going to go to see the movie in town.

He doesn't see a problem leaving even if E has some residual mess coming tonight-I on the other hand, do.

I don't want to leave my child if she's still sick.

Does she act better? Yes, but IC wasn't all that the sick the last couple of days except for an intermittant tummy ache and diarrhea.

Is she eating? Not as good as usual, but she's still taking in food and water (I took away milk temporarily).

What to do? Not sure.

It's a possible incoming fight between me and him if there's not a definate sign soon.

Sick child #2 THIS WEEK

Well, after I posted yesterday, E bunny began vomiting.

Sigh.

She quit right around dinner time, but needed constant cuddling all day, as I am sure her tummy still hurt.

We had to pick up IC from school, since he had wrestling and wrestling pics that evening.

She did fine, though I was watching her closely.

Daddy had to come in early to take IC to wrestling. I stayed home with the girls.

I let Miss A watch more TV than usual in order to help keep E bunny quiet and resting and so that Miss A didn't feel quite so abandoned by Mommy.

E ate in the evening and slept all night.

And she was up Early for her this am- 7 am. She'll be ready for a nap around 10:30 -11 I think.

Miss A is home today since there's no preschool, so I will have to work harder to spend some extra time with her.

I am praying we are done with the flu for awhile and that Miss A will come away unscathed this time.

E bunny Down

I'm currently typing one-handed.

E bunny got up this morning at 8:45. A decent time for her. She's been half-asleep on me ever since. I'm thinking she doesn't feel good, either that, or she thinks she got up too early.

She's not running a temp.

I did hear her cough a little this am.

She didn't have a good nap yesterday.

The flu and colds have been running their germs around the house.

A lot of variables factor in.

She's not asleep enough to lay down, but not herself enough to run around.

So, we sit.

Future Scrapbooker?

I think E bunny's on the trail to be the next scrapper in the family. She's always into my stash of scrapping magazines, supplies and camera!

Actually, IC likes to scrapbook, too. He has sent a page to the county fair 2 years in a row now.

Miss A hasn't shown much interest, except wanting to do something when IC does.

Maybe 2 of the 3 will carry on my interest for preserving memories-you never know!

Getting Back to Normal?

I finally got to send IC back to school today.

E bunny slept in this am so I got my workout done, house 3/4 cleaned, some laundry started and the trash dumped.

REALLY a big plus, as that's more than I've gotten done all week!

Planning to pick IC up today from school so he doesn't get too wore out on the 1 1/2 hr ride home on the bus.

IC has wrestling practice AND wrestling team pictures after practice tomorrow evening, so I will have to pick him up from school AGAIN on Thursday.

It's such a nicer day today. No wind and the sun is shining.

Life's back into the groove again, even if it's just temporary, it's great!

A New LO and other things

I got a double LO done for IC today, for his soccer stuff he did this past year. I should be working on further back LO's but this was on my mind, so I did it anyway.

It's was a little better of a day today. IC stayed home one more day, but will DEFINATELY be going back to school tomorrow. Now, if the rest of us won't get the flu, we will be doing good!

E-bunny came up with a new word today "Ewwww" - she apparently learned that from the other 2! It's kinda cute coming from her-she doesn't have a clue what it means!

Icky Monday

The week isn't having a great start.

It's windy AGAIN. It's cold AGAIN. It's blowing snow AGAIN.

I took Miss A to school this am because IC is STILL sick AGAIN. I actually thought he was getting better because last night he ate a decent supper and wanted to play the Wii. But he's still got a tummy ache this morning. He's just sick enough to be at home, but not sick enough to be completely down and out.

IC won't be going to KFC, so I don't have to wake E up from her shortened nap to load the girls in the car and drag them into town. That's kinda nice today.

Miss A still will have dance tonight-unless it gets nasty outside, that shouldn't be cancelled.

I am hoping JJ can make himself be in early enough that I don't have to drag them all to dance, but we'll have to see how cooperative he will be today.

I was hoping I'd get more layouts done yesterday, but I managed to waste time instead of accomplishing anything.

THAT always frustrates me.

Maybe I can accomplish something today.

Maybe.

Sunday in a Nutshell

It's been snowing all day AGAIN. This is almost worse this time around because it's warm enough to melt, so the roads are soft and messy.

IC stayed home (w/JJ and E bunny) today, as he's still sick. I know he's still sick if he's not wanting to play the Wii.

E bunny doesn't seem to have any side effects at this time from falling down the stairs.

Miss A got one-on-one time with mom this morning, as it was just us that went to church.

Our Sunday, in a nutshell.

Words to Live By

"mom, do we have some crowns?" That's crayons.
Miss A, age 4

"B" aka:Barbie, most any word that starts with B
"be-be" Baby, that's actually an easy one to get
"halp" Help, that's one is said A LOT
Sticking her tongue out and moving it side to side. Means bananas or grapes
"E" E bunny and often anything else she can't pronounce
"A" Miss A and often anything else she can't pronounce
"ban-aa" Bandaid-something she wants a lot,but never leaves on longer than 5 minutes
Ebunny, almost 2

"Mom, I burped" actually, he means fart (mom doesn't like the actual word)
IC, age 6

Blessings

I realize in my last post I sounded rather petty, ungrateful, etc.

Maybe so or maybe not.

I realize how blessed I am.

I have a home, paid for.

A currently healthy hubby and self (pretty much)

Three children, relatively at this point, healthy. They aren't knowingly afflicted with cancer, struggling with a birth defect or suffering from an injury.

At this point in our life, we struggle with money issues, but still have food on our table and toys for the children.

We have "normal" struggles, frustrations and joys.

I realize, how blessed we are.

I am following some blogs of some people with some real serious life struggles. Two recently had devastating miscarriages, one lost her baby at 8 weeks from pertussis (pertussis! For those who don't vaccinate their children-they need to read her story, she DOES have her children vaccinated, by the way). Another woman's 1 1/2 yr old nearly drown in the bathtub-he's still on a ventilator and the brain affects are not all known, yet another has a severly handicapped child, who's just a little younger than IC. I read 3 blogs that each have a child with cancer-all are having many treatments and side effects of chemo. And one other, whose child is now cancer-free, but who's child suffers from severe side effects from chemo.

These people's faith is amazing. It's doing a lot to help me with my fledgling faith that has gotten shoved aside in my "normal" life. I can't imagine having to go through what any of them have, but they have showed me how to handle it. The faith of all of these people in the midst of their struggles of real life have really opened my eyes.

So, yes, I realize how amazingly gracious God has been to me.

I can only hope to continue to work toward improving myself daily so that my children can someday realize how gracious our God really is.

Another one of THOSE days

The kids were aggrevating today.

I took Miss A (along w/the other 2) to make-up dance class at 8:30 am. Then, took IC along w/E to his basketball clinic at 9am, ran back to dance to pick up Miss A and then back to the basketball clinic.

After that was done, drug all kids to the grocery store and Duckwalls.

Duckwalls, our main catch-all store, is going out of business. I have no idea what I'm going to do when it's gone. The Dollar General in town just doesn't have some of the stuff or the quality of stuff that Duckwalls has.

Of course, the kids were finding toys that they didn't really need, but really liked. Mom was a bummer and only got some things she NEEDED, like kleenix.

After dinner, I was feeling crummy, so I let the kids do the whole wrestling on the floor for awhile. We later ended up upstairs playing, which was fine.

Then, we headed downstairs. That's when the trouble began.

I was headed down first, with E behind me. The next thing I know, E is falling down the last 6 stairs and I didn't catch her in time.

She cried for a little, then I just held her and she seemed to be fine.

Then, Isaac announced he had a tummy and headache. Lovely.

Next, Miss A wanted to go outside to play w/B, my niece.

Since IC didn't want to go out, I knew he didn't feel good.

He also didn't hardly eat any supper and had a few crackers just before bed. I'm really hoping they stay down all night.

I took E for a bath and Miss A was back in the house in a 1/2 hr. Apparently, when B threw a snowball at her, Miss A decided she was done. She does NOT like being hit with snowballs.

I admit, my day could have been a lot worse and it doesn't sound so bad here, but coupled with a nasty cold, the threat of a sick child, another child trying to give herself brain damage, having to miss my art club for my rather ungrateful children who were crabby this am-I've had better days, really.

This Week's Accomplishment

This is what I've been doing today-2 different layouts.

It seemed to be more fun than cleaning the house.

The first one I put together today.

The second one I've been working on all week.

I had to have something to make it look like I got SOMETHING done.

The girls gave me their cold, so I've been an underachiever this week, feeling rather crummy for a few days now.

Hopefully, I'll feel better next week and can get the sticky off the kitchen floor. :)

Change of Plans

We were supposed to go to IC's first wrestling meet tonight in a nearby town about 30 minutes away.

We had to change our minds last minute.

It snowed ALL DAY. We got about 3-4 inches, but it's not frozen. It was warm enough to be slushy and wet. By the time I'd picked IC up from school, the country roads were a mess.

Yuck. So much for a clean van.

Anyway, with the country roads nasty and soft, the snow not appearing to be done for, at least, the weekend, and the worry that it would freeze at dark and we'd be coming home on ice, we chose to stay home.

I think I'm more disappointed than IC. Not that I thought he'd do magnificent, I just thought it'd be good for him to have a real match. Not deal with a hyper-wild child or a 4 yr old too small for him (which is what occurred last practice).

On a good note, Miss A had her 4 yr checkup today and is doing well. She's at 75% for height and weight and has no major health issues at this time.

Now, if I could just get the reverting to baby behavior and the constant crying from occuring all day, we'd be even more great.

Winter Party

Today was IC's Kindergarten class' winter party. There was singing, eating, making pinecone feeders and stringing popcorn/cereal to put on the tree outside for feeding the birds and cutting out snowflakes and a minature snowball fight with wads of paper in the hall.

It was a fun and busy hour.

Bonus:IC really was nice to Miss A and let her help make the popcorn string, helped her hang her pinecone feeder on the tree outside, put out peanuts for the birds and walked her back to the classroom when we were done outside.

I wish he could be that nice more often.

A Rude Reminder

I really didn't need a reminder of just how out of shape I've become.

But I got one today.

I helped JJ vaccinate about 1/2 of the baby calves (the rest aren't born yet), vaccinate 13 heifers and sort and move the cows/calves and heifers.

I only fell once, but I did it pretty good, by the way. I should consider myself lucky if I actually can get out of bed tomorrow.

We chased 3 rouge calves around the yard for way longer than I wanted to.

We started at 9 am and were done after noon time.

I survived, but I told JJ I need to get out on the farm more.

Now, it may be the middle of the day, but I'm taking a shower.

The "IT" factor

Just once I wouldn't mind being one of those people who know what they're doing and have "it" together.

Unfortunately, that's not me. And it was made, once again, apparent tonight.

Tonight was dance pictures. Miss A's class, being the youngest, was the first up at 5:30. We got there in plenty of time. I had put up Miss A's bangs & sides in a ponytail, jammed her hairclip that has a huge flower-thing on it and got her dressed in her recital uniform. We had picked IC up from KFC and dropped him and E bunny off at my MIL's.

At our local photography studio, which has an EXTREMELY small waiting room, by the way, we were the 2nd ones there. It became more obvious as the others arrived that I'd inadvertantly failed Miss A.

The only thing that is saving me, is the fact that she's 4 and unaware of my failure.

Every child that came in tonight had her hair curled, most had pretty lip gloss on and a few had sparkly hair or makeup on.

No, I didn't think to curl her hair (it wouldn't have curled much, but maybe some) and I had her flower on top of her head with her ponytail.

Everyone else had the flower on the side of the child's head.

While JJ says that only you yourself can make you feel bad-other people can't do that to you, I feel like a failure. I let a few tears fall in the dishwater tonight while I was washing IC's lunch stuff up after supper.

I can't tell JJ-he doesn't have much sympathy or understanding.

I'm hoping she still looks great despite the fact that her mother's a plain jane and only knows how to dress her children likewise.

While I can learn to dress up my daughter the next dance session, I'm glad she didn't realize the other girls' pretty hair and lip gloss.

At least with IC, boys don't have all that fuss and such, I may make it with him unscathed. It's not too complicated to take him to wrestling practices/meets.

I'm going to have to figure out the fashion train, though, as I've got two girls that I hope I don't embarrass their whole lives.