An Interesting Day

I had a total messed up morning this morning.

First, I couldn't find the TV remote so that I could work out at 6 am (yes, you read that right!). So, I put IC's lunch together and dinner in the crock pot. After IC came down, he told me where the remote was. Lovely.

So, I started to work out while he got ready for school. Only 10 minutes in and the phone rings. And I didn't want to work, but it was for Success 1 and I've not gotten to go there at all yet, and I wanted to.

So, I turned off the Wii and went to work.

Well, raced around like a chicken with my head cut off before it was time to leave for work. Luckily, mom could come watch the girls, but my dad drove her since it was slick this morning.

So, JJ had to take Miss A to school while I was working. I liked Success 1 and even got to help in IC's class for a time period.

So, it kept icing and snowing and not being nice outside and finally, school was called off at 2:15. I'm guessing there won't be school tomorrow, either, but we'll see. After all, they are predicting a big storm for tonight and tomorrow.

Fun.

A New Start

Today, I sent my baby to her first day of Sunday School. E doesn't officially turn 3 until mid-March, but with trying to teach Kindergarteners on my own AND since there's rarely anyone in the nursery during S.S., I managed to get her into the nursery class next door. The teacher was ok with it (to my face, at least), so we're are doing it.

I was able to concentrate a lot better on my class, since I didn't have her hanging on me every minute. Today was a thin class-only 4 students out of 11! Plus, the lessons this season around are not great, so I was worried about running short on things to do. Which, we did run out of things to do. I will have to do some more research for next week's lesson and have ordered a few crafts to help fill the time. The head S.S. leader has ordered the spring's lessons from a different company, so I will have some decent lessons coming up soon.

What a mess! We tried a different company for S.S. lessons and it's just not working for the bigger 1st and 2nd grade class or the classes younger than them. Half of the lessons every week are too hard for the kids and their repetition of the same activities weekly is SO boring me, and it's only been 4 weeks!

E, by the way, LOVED her class. There was a problem or 2 with her and Miss A-they will have to be seperate during class since Miss A gets too bossy with E (imagine that!). Hopefully, that will wear off in a couple of weeks. Other than that, she was very proud of her papers and was already singing a song from the cherub choir practice. Lil' stinker's going to grow up way too fast!

It's Saturday, I think

It's been rather, um, not a great day today. I don't know if the weather's setting to change or what, but the kids have been, well, rather naughty today.

I'm surviving, though, and looking forward to my brakes getting fixed on the van today
(by JJ and Phil) and going to the movie as a family tonight. We finally get to see Yogi Bear, after a 2 week delay.

Currently, I've accomplished very little-mostly chasing girls around, doing laundry, vacuuming, and realizing I need to study tomorrow's S.S. lesson!

I've cleaned up a horrendous play dough mess that makes me determined to not ban play dough from the house permently, and ordered some bead stuff for the kids to use and some craft stuff as filler for S.S. since the lessons aren't great and definately not covering the full time. I had hoped to finish several of Miss A's layouts in her book that are 1/2 finished, but I haven't gotten to them today yet-too many other things have gotten in the way.

So, I'll just keep trying to get SOMETHING accomplished before tonight, but there's always tomorrow, if all else fails.

Pieces of the Day

Exhausted from a big day of dragging the girls to York for back appointment, finding a cub scout belt and doing the Wal-mart thing.

Then, I got home to put stuff away for 2 hours, then take Miss A to a belated birthday party for a friend.

After that and having to carry E to the car because she thought she was going to stay for the child's party, I got E outside to play. Except that it was super-nice today, which means super-melting. And the yard was full of mud and slush. LOTS of mud and slush. Yuck. And all she wanted was a ride with Daddy on the tractor.

Which, by the way, never happened. He was too busy working on finally getting the combine winter-ready (i.e. cleaned up from harvest 4 months ago). So, I took her and IC on a quick and chilly 4 wheeler ride. Where we got into some mud, which eventually got kicked up on the tires and all over us.

Inside to quick clean up before going back to town to get Miss A. Home to make supper and then fight with IC over watching too much TV.

Found out we had a set of twins yesterday. Excellent thing, but probably we will end up with a bucket calf (which IC wants to show as a clover kid in 4-H this summer). Translation: Extra work for Daddy and Mommy. I will not discourage him, but ugh-I'm not sure I am ready for showing cattle.

Sigh.

I am crashing for the rest of the evening. Me and the Nook are spending some quality time together.

Waiting

I'm just waiting, I guess.

Miss A came home from school complaining of a tummy ache. She had a pretty loose stool, so now it's the wait game to see if she's really sick or what.

Tonight, we're supposed to go to the boys' basketball game because Miss A is supposed to dance during halftime of the JV game, but I don't know if we'll go.

You know what will happen - if we go, she'll end up getting sick there and if we don't, she'll be fine all night.

Other than the tummy ache, she doesn't act sick and is currently playing with toys while laying down on the "sick" blanket I use for sick times. It might be easier just to stay home, though, and not risk her throwing up in public!

I guess if she's going to be sick, it might as well be now, while it's something minor to miss. I've been basically waiting since IC was sick for someone else to get it-it was just too easy that he was the only one.

And you know, I guaranteed illness since I got the house cleaned this morning! Plus, I'd planned to go to York tomorrow for a back appointment and some laundry stuff/regular supplies. I've had to cancel more than one back appointment due to someone being ill.

So, we'll see, but we might play it safe tonight. I wouldn't mind staying home, actually. We've been running all week, with plans for somewhere to go every day for the next several days. I could use the break (not that I like the reason for it!)

Busy Tuesday

It's been another busy day. I spent most of the morning trying to get some things downloaded to use on IC's class page for the year book. Ugh, I didn't get as far as I'd hoped to.

This afternoon after I dropped Miss A at school, E and I went to the bank to do the signing on some farm stuff (meeting JJ there) before I ran several more errands in town.

Home again to change E's pants before back to pick kids up from school.

Tonight was wrestling practice, but luckily IC got JJ to go tonight.

Soon, IC and JJ will be back and it will be time to get older kids ready for bed. Hopefully, E will go to bed earlier since she only had a short nap in the car. I'm hoping for an early bedtime myself tonight.

100 Days of School

Yesterday, I helped with the 100 day of school celebration in IC's class. I helped with the craft project where the kids each had a paper crown that they put 10 dots of 10 different colors on. Most did well, and between the 2 classes, there were 6 kids sick, so it went pretty fast, really.

After the kids were done with my station, I helped finish another station so one of the paras could leave, and then helped 4 of the kids put together a 100 piece puzzle.

After the kids had recess, a couple other moms and I went to lunch with the class.

After that, it was time to go home to E bunny. Mom was watching the girls this am and had taken Miss A to school for me.

It wasn't long before it was time to pick the kids up from school and head home. I managed to make a quick supper while they played outside and then it was time for dance class and cub scout meeting. Luckily, JJ was in early enough to watch E bunny so I didn't have to drag her along. It was quite a busy day of not really accomplishing much at all.

Miss A's Party

I made it through today-teaching S.S. on my own without someone to watch E-bunny, taking care of Miss A after she fell down a couple of stairs after S.S. (luckily with only a small scrape on her leg and a little shaken up, and putting on Miss A's birthday party for the family today. (Minus the favorite aunt and uncle who were snowed in at home.

Miss A did well. She got a Zhu Zhu pet castle and ballroom with 2 new pets, a Barbie pool, and Squinkee cupcake plaything-all of her current faves. I kinda limped through today with a sinus headache, but hope I can catch up on some sleep maybe during E's nap tomorrow-AFTER helping at school in the morning.

Anyway, she had a LPS theme and the cake turned out pretty nicely for once-THE FIRST TIME! Mark that down-I was pretty happy. The kids were loud, as usual and even got outside to play for a little while. But it's cold, so they weren't out a long time. We only got about 1/2 inch of snow, so there wasn't the big 3-5 inch for us like there was for my in-laws. Hopefully, we'll see them at E's party, if not before hand at IC's wrestling invite.

All-in-all, it wasn't too bad of a day. Now, to get the regular stuff done for another day of school tomorrow.

It's Official!

Look what I got in the mail yesterday-Miss A's Kindergarten Registration papers. It's official-she's moving to the other part of the school next fall.

I just about shed a tear, but didn't. Yet.

Congratulations!

Boys waiting. . . .and waiting . . . . and waiting. There was a slight glitch with the new software for the derby. But they hung in there like troopers!

Setting the car.

Winning a trophy for 4th place!

My cub scout!

JJ did a car in the family derby race. He didn't win, but it still did well.


It was a long afternoon, as we were in the old gym in town from 1 pm-5 pm. And yes, it started snowing while we were in town for the race. After some glitches with the new software, the ones in charge went with the old fashioned way of doing the brackets by hand. The girls got REALLY bored, but it was worth it!

Congratulations to IC, for getting 4th place in his very first Pinewood Derby race (for Boy Scouts)! I am so proud of him :)

Cleaning, Snow and the Derby

My house is clean, my laundry is clean (I still have to fold it yet), and the cake is baked (but not decorated yet).

I am tired. REALLY tired.

The girls went to mom's today while IC was in school so that I could get things done. After Miss A's party on Sunday, I am definately going to have to get into that awful store room that I'd reclaimed right before IC's party from a plethora of toys and clean it out. It basically became a dumping ground after Christmas.

Tomorrow I will decorate Miss A's cake in the morning and in the afternoon, it will be off to the pinewood derby to watch IC race his car.

Oh, and we're supposed to get another 6 inches of snow tomorrow.

Isn't that W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L? (insert sarcasm). Apparently, we are paying for not having any snow until nearly January. We had about 4 inches this week and JJ's pile in the yard increased enough that the kids went out to play on it the past couple of days after school.

You know it must be more fun to be out there on the snow pile if they are braving the cold temperatures to go outside.

Imagine how much more fun it will be if there's 6 more inches tomorrow!

5th Birthday!

It's the big 0-5 today. Happy Birthday, Miss A!

Snow Again

This was the view as I was driving to school to pick up the kids this afternoon. It's been snowing since 10 am and we've gotten probably around 4 inches. Bleh.

All of my activities were cancelled today-the most important being my scrapbooking workshop. I haven't been to one in forever.

They just called for a 2-hour late start at school, so at least we can sleep in some tomorrow.

Snow Pictures

So here's several pictures from this past week-"snow" much fun!

The Hill

This morning started with a somewhat late start to the day, but then we worked on a craft before the kids tried to kill each other while I was trying to make dinner.

After dinner was the real fun, we went into to town to go sledding on the Ipsco hill (actually, it's a ditch, but it's the greatest place to sled). The kids had a blast and we were there about 45 minutes with only one other family there. There were several spills going down the hill and that includes me! But it was a great time and a great way to burn off some energy.

Tonight, Yogi Bear was supposed to be playing at our local theater-we got all the way into town only to find out that they weren't able to get it as planned and will be here in 2 weeks. So, we went home and had our own movie of Alvin and the Chipmunks (a movie I had in my stash for a future movie night). So, it was a good movie night despite a little disappointment.

It had just started snowing well when we headed home, as there's a chance for a good 2 inches tonight, so it will be interesting to see how much is on the ground in the morning. I'm sure JJ won't be thrilled with more, as we have all of the cows home now. They moved them all back home yesterday. We're up to 4 calves but have many more to go. Hopefully, all will go well and we'll not lose any this year. Only time will tell.

Back Again?

IC came home from school today to tell me he'd started having the back door runs-ugh! I so hope we aren't starting all over again with the flu, I was just starting to relax with him and he was just getting his appetite back.

He ate pretty decent tonight and even had his usual 7:30 pm snack before bed. I just hope it doesn't come back later or run out of him faster than it went in!

I am SO sick of flu season already! Looks like this might be a tough year for us. At least, at this point, it's been tough for IC. I keep praying he'll get over it soon.

The Bright Spot

Hard at work.

Daddy helping E make a car out of graham crackers, marshmellows and frosting.

The prize-winning car and behind it is the prize-a big piece of sour gummy candy!

Carrying the flag.

Last night was the cub scout's den meeting and IC's tiger group was the color guard and IC got the privilege of carrying one of the flags! I was very excited for him. Then the kids all got to make "cars" in a contest out of a graham cracker, frosting, a few marshmellows and choc. chips in honor of the pinewood derby race that is coming up. And IC got 1st in the tiger group! It was a definate bright spot in a tough week this week.

Musings for Tuesday

Well, I'm awake, even though I'd rather be sleeping. My internal alarm went off at 6 and of course, even though I'm tired from lack of sleep yesterday, I couldn't go back to sleep.

IC had no bouts of sickness all night, so I am hoping he will awake feeling much better than yesterday.

Due to the high winds, school has a 2 hour delay today. IC will not be going regardless, but Miss A will still have school. I will have to brave the winds to take her and pick her up, plus try to pick up a few necessities in town.

I ran out of Chlorox yesterday-not good with a stomach bug, but I was able to actually get the day's sick laundry done with what I had on hand, plus multiple, multiple loads of regular laundry. I have about 3 more loads of regular laundry today, plus I will probably wash IC's bedsheets and so on if he's pretty much recovered today (which I hope).

I am supposed to work tomorrow at the high school, but haven't decided yet if I will or if I will call in to tell them I can't. If IC's still pretty wore out, I thought about not sending him for a full day, but it will all depend on how today goes. Lots of variables, kinda drives me crazy sometimes. I'm just glad if we're going to have this mess that it's now, while things are quiet and not too busy with activities and calving.

We've only had 2 calves so far-kinda behind our usual schedule, although JJ said there were 3 looking like they could go at any time. Normally by now, we have 1/2 of the heifers calved out, but he changed something last breeding season, so they are more spread out this year.

I'm sure today, JJ will be pushing more snow, as it takes several days to get everything scooped. Yesterday, he did the basics and was still out the whole day.

I realize today that I have less than 2 weeks to get this house in shape for Miss A's birthday party. Yikes! I've got some clutter going on in the kitchen and office (the usual places) that I need to work on. Of course, everything got put aside yesterday, but I hope to get things taken care of this week, barring there's no more instances of flu. I would predict that at least 1 more child would get it, and usually that's E bunny. She usually gets what everyone else has for some reason.

I still haven't set up a family portrait yet. I haven't decided where or when yet, which makes it harder to actually make an appointment! I'm not sure what I want to do. I don't enjoy the thought of dragging the kids to Lincoln to do it, but the local photographers around here are pretty expensive and busy. I'm just not sure what I want to do.

It's slowly getting light outside and since I can see the neighbors, the winds must not be blowing the snow too badly, but it's going to be a cold one today-brrr! IC is up and watching TV, so he's feeling better, but hasn't begged to eat, so he's not 100%. Miss A is up, too, so it's time to get to work!

Snow day and the FLU

We are starting this Monday with an official snow day-they even had cancelled school last night, they were so sure it was going to snow.

Well, it did. The girls got to go out for a short while this afternoon and considered it deep. It had snowed all night long. There's a chance of snow tonight again and the worry that there will be winds bad enough tomorrow to blow all that new snow around to make it impossible to see.

We'll just have to see what happens, I guess. I'm usually skeptical of weathermen, they rarely get it right the first time and often, if you don't like what one says, change the channel-they say something different!

As it is, it's not been an enjoyable snow day with the kids, as JJ and I were up with IC at 1 am this morning with a tummy ache that turned into the stomach flu by 1:30. I was up most of the night and had finally given up by 6:30 and just stayed up. I did multiple loads of laundry, as IC, who'd been good the last couple of times of getting sick, did not fare well in hitting the bucket, much less the toilet. Yuck.

He's managed to keep a little water down this afternoon, though he complains of tummy pain (nausea). I've been able to keep the vomiting and nausea at bay this afternoon with a little medicine, which is good. Poor guy-first an awful respiratory infection and now the flu. You'd think life was out to get him this year.

I so hope the girls don't get this-it's fairly awful as far as flu's go and I can see them crying more than IC has and having even more messes. Double yuck.

Since there's no school, there's no wrestling meeting or dance tonight-this is ok, considering that all I've done all day is clean up, do laundry and try to entertain the girls. The girls have been spoiled today, as we watched a lot of TV, but a day or two of that shouldn't hurt them too much.

I am so hoping IC is better by tomorrow, another snow day from school would be ok, in my opinion, and that the girls don't come down with it. Not too much to ask, is it?

Peace and Quiet

Well, one project done-2 more to go.

This morning's art club meeting went pretty well-I hung in there and did my spiel and it worked out good enough that I got a few compliments.

After that, it was groceries and home to make dinner for me and JJ.

I will go get the kids soon, as JJ and I will be taking them to the Tangled movie in town this evening.

So, right now, I get 45 more minutes of peace . . . . . .

Days of Craziness

The kids went back to school on Thursday-this was a good thing, since they were getting bored and attempting to bring bodily harm to each other on a hourly basis.

This morning (Friday), I was called into work at the high school and ended up getting asked to work a day next week and for a whole week in March! At least, I'm needed somewhere!

Tomorrow is art club and I have found myself in charge of the program. I'm a little worried about it, but after talking to Patty, I am going to talk about the kids' drawing books and everyone can draw something from them. It will either be a really good time-or a complete flop, but it is what it is. And I'm going for it!

I also have to teach SS on Sunday with the new curriculum-ick! I am not liking teaching SS much, but I will keep my committment until it's done in May.

The main thing that may bring problems this weekend is the snow. It's been forecasted, once again, for 4-7 inches of snow starting tomorrow and all through Sunday. The wind's been blowing something awful today, but is supposed to go down tonight, but re-start up on Monday so that all that snow we get over the weekend will get blown around into huge drifts and decreased visibility. Maybe we'll be lucky and not have much, like last time they forecasted a large amount of snow, especially since Monday is the wrestling meeting for IC, and dance for Miss A, etc.-you know, the normal of running kids around to various everything!

Bedtime Delimmas

Bedtime's been a struggle lately, as the older 2 put off going to bed and E jumps at the chance to get ready for bed.

It's great that E wants to go to bed, the bad thing is that she doesn't actually go to sleep-she plays with or without Miss A and she ends up coming downstairs multiple times before we just finally make her stay with us until she's actually sleepy and Miss A is asleep.

I'm a little worried how this will work next school year when Miss A will be in Kindergarten and E will start preschool, but that's a whole 8 months away yet and I realize a lot can change before then (hopefully for the better).

We'll just have to see, I guess.

Direct Quote

"I wuv you, Mommy-you are the bestes(t) Mommy evar!"

So says my baby after getting to ride the 4 wheeler w/Mommy and Miss A while Mommy fed buckets to the heifer calves and bulls.

Yep, it's a Precious Moment-NOT!

There is nothing like catching your youngest daughter trying to use the manger up on the altar in front of the church as a chair (luckily, not TOO many people had arrived yet)

OR

Watching the 7 and 4 yr olds whipping a dead snake around while playing in the feedlot and getting more than just mud on their clothes!

Sunday's Goings-On

Currently, JJ is getting my shelf up in the office-yay! I've waited for a good 2 months for it.

Today, JJ had sound at church, so we went and since there was no nursery help, the girls had to stay in the bench with me. E ended up taking a nap, so she didn't nap this afternoon-hopefully, she'll go to sleep tonight at a good time :)

After dinner at Pizza Hut, I spent the afternoon working a little on several scrap pages while JJ and IC worked on his pinewood derby car for scouts.

Tonight and tomorrow, I am starting to get the kids back on their regular schedule since school starts back up on Thursday.

I have several things I need to catch up on-I kinda took vacation from them this past week. Time for me to get back into routine, too!

Happy New Year!

We celebrated the day by not doing a whole lot. It was kinda nice. We all slept in and took our time getting ready for the day.

Of course, there was a time or 2 of fighting, the occasional "I'm bored" and the definate annoying times of naughtiness, but all-in-all, it was a pretty good day.