IC Wrestling 2012

FC Wrestling Tourney

So, Friday evening was IC's first wrestling tourney for the season.  It was on our home turf-and it's always frustrating. Usually because the inattentive coaches never seem to be around when needed.  Surprisingly, one of the coaches did kinda keep track of our group of boys part of the time they were on the mat.

IC wrestled 3 times-he was pinned twice and pinned another boy once, so he ended up with 3rd place.  Not too bad, really.  His best friend, Bob, also ended up with 3rd place.

Miss A's Girl Scout troop also had their final cookie booth that night.  The girls did pretty well, really, and it kept her busy for part of the evening, until she came to watch IC.  It was a long evening, but we finally left around 8:30, after being there since 5 pm (the kids and I, JJ didn't come until closer to 6:30). One wrestling tourney down, 3 to go!

Wii Have Fun!

Thursday was one day that we didn't go anywhere after school.  While the weather was absolutely gorgeous Wednesday, unfortunately, this afternoon was miserably cold and windy.  So, we elected to stay in after school mostly, and I got out a new Wii game out of my emergency stash to keep the peace.

It worked great and the kids had a good time together!

Marti Gra

One of the TYKE classes had their own Marti Gra and when they paraded through E bunny's class, they handed out Marti Gra masks and necklace to each kid.  Here's E bunny in her mask before we headed to gymnastics class.

This girl is all smiles, but she got a note home from her Humpty Dumpty class on Monday that she'd not listened in class and had to have a time out.

Lovely.

Whirlwind Week

It's been a whirlwind week of computer problems, wrestling pictures, dr. check ups for IC and Miss A, working Thursday and Friday at school, and dance pictures for the girls on Saturday.

We've determined to get a new hard drive for the computer and save up for a new laptop, which is also on the fritz, we got the wrestling pictures back super-quick on Friday for the wrestling tourney, and we made it through the dance pictures with a couple of pen marks on E bunny's outfit and tattoos on the girls' arms that I forgot about.

The dr. checks were good for the kids. 

Work was ok, maybe a little crazy, but not bad.

Nut Reaction?

Tuesday, Miss A complained of a mild tummy ache after school as we headed to gymnastics.  She said she was ok to go, so we did.  Her tummy ache was worse afterwards as we headed to IC's wrestling practice.  I asked JJ to come take my place there while I took the girls home.  Miss A laid around awhile and finally decided she was better, so I had her shower.

Which was when I noticed the welts on her arms, legs and tummy.  THAT'S when she told me she'd been itching for awhile.

This made me wonder if the small amount of cashews in her lunch box from dinner had been a bad idea.  IC loves cashews and Miss A sometimes eats nuts, so I'd put them in the kids' lunches to add to them.

By morning, the hives were gone and since Miss A had a dr. appointment, I talked to him about the possibility.  He told me she's too young to have allergy testing done, so I will have to experiment and try one type of nut at a time to see if she has any reaction.

Lovely.  I'm really not too excited about the idea.

And, I want to put the whole thing off. 

I already have her off peanuts at school and home, not that they're the same as tree nuts, but better safe than sorry.

We'll have to see.

JJ's Old Wives' Tale

JJ's got an "old wives' tale"- well, 2 actually.  Today, he said that he officially saw the first robin.  This means, according to him, that we've got 1 snowstorm left before spring.

The 2nd tale is that when the 1st barn swallow comes, then we should be done spring planting.  We'll have to see if that's the case this year, but we've got several weeks to go, yet!

A Short Weekend

It was a short weekend, as the kids were unruly all weekend, it was nice outside (except for the large amounts of mud around) and just being busy in general.  Saturday morning, we attempted to sell some Girl Scout cookies, as we are in the last week-we sold a few in Shickley, but several people were gone to a music contest.  Miss A is currently 4 boxes away from the next level, and we are trying to get rid of what's left.  Blech-I'm rather sick of cookies!

After dinner, I didn't get much done and the kids just played-which was great.

Sunday was the usual-Sunday School, pizza for dinner, and then IC, JJ and I played a game of Clue (JJ won, of course) before I worked on running off pictures of Miss A for her  scrapbook and JJ worked on updating the computer and working through some of the pile on his desk.

It's been great that it's been nice the past week-40 degrees every day.  The kids can play outside for awhile, although, E bunny has been covered in mud the past several times she's been out!

A Trip to Lincoln

Friday, was a trip to Lincoln with the kids.  My in-laws were gone to Omaha to see my nephew wrestle at State (he lost this year), and my mom was working, so the kids were stuck w/JJ and I and our tax appointment.  We made good time getting there, ran a few errands before dinner to get a new kitchen faucet and some office stuff at the Depot before heading to the mall.  After dinner, it was tax time and the kids got bored, but that's life.  Then, it was time to head home after a treat of ice cream at the University's ice cream parlor.

After chores and supper, JJ decided to replace the faucet.  THAT is not a project to start at 8 pm!  It was not a pleasant job and it was 10 pm before I started cleaning up the sink and floor area.  Let's just say I was not thrilled!

Proud Panther Night

While it's a great idea, it was definitely a flop this year for us.

The school started this Proud Panther Night thing a couple of years ago I think. It starts at 4 pm with the book fair in the library (which, by the way, it's the last night for that, as it's been going all week).  There's food to eat from Jill's at 5 pm, and you can visit the kids' classrooms from 5-7.  At 7, there's some sort of kid entertainment.  This year, it was a puppeteer. I elected to skip it. It had already been a busy enough week.  We ate before we came (not because of the food, just wanted to save a headache with wrestling with kids) and then we went into town to visit the classes.  We'd already been to the book fair, so we also skipped that.

We started in Miss A's room.  Her teacher was visiting her child's room, but returned by the time we were leaving it!  She had a scavenger hunt to do, but we just did a couple of things instead of the whole list.

After her room, we headed to IC's room for an activity and for reading several things he had written.

After that, we headed home and enjoyed the rest of the time relaxing!

Tooth Loss #2

It's been a normal week-working a day, going to the regular activities, dealing with kids' attitudes . . . .

Yesterday, Miss A was saying that she had another really loose tooth.  Great, I said, wiggle it and pull it out.

I picked her up from Pioneers Club and she proudly told me she lost her tooth!  So, now she's missing both bottom teeth, but the permanents were already making their way in, so she won't have open spots for very long.

Sunday, a new start?

Well, I was hoping today was a new start to a new and great week.

I know, a little over the top, maybe, but hey, you gotta try sometimes!

So, it started at 4 am, when Miss A got up and complained of a tummy ache.  Lovely.

She never got sick and I made her get ready in the morning and she's been fine all day.

So, after Sunday School, I came home, knowing that we'll be busy this evening with our 2nd official 4-H event-the kickoff party for the year.  IC and Miss A are both excited, I think.  Miss A gets to be a Clover kid and IC of course, will be officially enrolled.  Bonus: we get a free meal tonight-I don't have to cook (yes!!!).

Before that, though, the kids were watching the Jetsons with JJ this afternoon and this is what it looked like:

Yes, JJ is sleeping instead of watching-typical, but at least he's in the room with the kids!

We made it to the 4-H party on time and it was one of those things we don't have to worry about getting to every year!  It was pretty mild-a few of the kids showing their projects, a little bit of info on the new online enrollment, a meal of subway sandwiches, chips provided by the ag leaders and desserts brought by parents.

Now the kids are in bed (sort of-I can hear them moving around up there) and we're ready for a new week of busyness!  

Saturday, Day #6

Saturday morning dawned with me getting IC up in time to get ready to with JJ to town for the make-up day for 4-H.

Any 4-H kid showing a market beef has to pre-weigh their animal.  It was supposed to be last week, but was postponed due to the awful snow.  We had to ask our neighbors to help us out to get Spike to the vet clinic, so they used their truck and our trailer to transport him and their son's beef to the weigh-in.  The girls and I stayed home.

I was supposed to get Miss A to the Girl Scout cookie booth that morning at the auction at the fairgrounds, but it just didn't happen (plus, I'm super-sick of cookies!) and I also had to skip my art club meeting.  Ah well.

So, in the evening, we all headed to town to the JV boys basketball game so that the girls could dance during half-time.  They did a great job-I was very proud of them!

After the dancing, we had just enough time to get to the movie in town of "Chipmunks, Chipwrecked."  The kids seem to like it (the girls didn't like the scary part-I can't blame them for that).  IC got to sit with his friend,  Bob, which was great for him and they even behaved!

Friday, Day #5

I was asked last minute Thursday to work on Friday, so I did.  The weather's been frigid the past few days and the roads and everything is well-frozen, so my mom could come get E for the day.

I was rather tired during work,but it went relatively well, despite the meltdown of one of my students.  I am so glad I have very helpful teachers in Success!

After school, we picked up E and then we got to go home and STAY there!  That was pretty nice. 

Thursday, Day #4

Thursday evening was the Cub Scout Blue and Gold banquet.  It was relatively a rather mundane event.  The food was very good, though, so that was worth it!  There was a short talk by a person from the Cub Scout organization and a few awards given to a few scouts. 

Wednesday-Day #3

Wednesday, the kids got to sleep in a little and watch a little of the Muppet show before school.  They had a 2 hour delay of school starting in the hopes that the road conditions would be better.

By the way, the roads wouldn't be such a mess if the county road people had done their job right and put down the blades on the snowplow.  Let's just say it's ridiculous how bad of a job they did!

Anyway, E didn't have school because of the late start, so I didn't have to go to town until it was time to pick up kids from school.

Then we headed home, only to turn around a short while later to go back to town to the kids' Pioneer Club.  The club had their own pinewood derby.  Neither IC or Miss A placed, but they had fun making them and running them down the track.

Day #2

Tuesday was a day for me to work at school. It wasn't too bad, but the weather was a little windy, flurry, and cold.

I took IC home, since JJ was home, who'd be whacked by the bull earlier in the day, so he was sore and not moving very fast.

Then, I went to get E bunny.  The highway mom lives on was awful.  Snow was blowing across it and it was ice-packed.

After that, I headed back to town to pick up Miss A at Heritage, where she and her girl scout troop had been having tea since after school with the residents.

The girls were all dressed up and when we got there, it was winding down, so many of them were coloring pictures.

I got the girls home, barely, as the one road had a HUGE drift across it that I had to plow through and then our road was 1/2 icy, 1/2 muddy.

By the time I got home, I decided to stay there and we skipped wrestling practice-it just wasn't worth the danger of those roads.

The First Day of a Crazy Week

Monday had everyone headed to school, while I ran errands after dropping E off at preschool. 

THEN I got a call to come pick up E, she'd thrown up at school.

Really? We're going through this again?

I took her home and 1/2 hour later she was ready to eat.

Really?

It was the last day for both her and I on antibiotics, so I don't know if it was a combination of that, sinus drainage, etc or what but she didn't get sick the rest of the day.

She did take a 3 hour nap, but was fine by the time the big kids were home from school and ready to eat a LOT.

I took the girls to dance class.  They got to practice on the gym floor since they have a performance on Saturday at the basketball game.

JJ took IC to boy scouts and the boys got to do their wood project.

All the boys made a bird house.  It looked pretty nice when they were done.

1st Tooth!

Look who lost her first tooth!  Miss A has been working on this thing for a LONG time and she was finally able to pull it out today.  She was so excited and can't wait to see what the tooth fairy leaves her.

Winter Wonderland

THIS is what we woke up to Saturday morning!

What a mess Saturday morning.  For once, the weatherman got it pretty right.  We got several inches of snow.  Since Friday it rained/misted all day, when it turned to snow, the snow was super heavy.  We lost several large branches on our trees-a good 6 huge ones and too many to count little ones.  We are going to have a lot to pick up come spring!

THIS happened just 1/2 hour after JJ and I were up in the morning.  Remember that 1st picture at the top of this post?  This is the same view just an hour later.  Literally, the limb fell down soon after I took the first picture!  Luckily, it missed the house, as did the other limbs.  We were very blessed.  We were also very blessed to keep our power the whole time-usually we are the first to lose it.

This was our cherry tree.  Usually the peach tree takes a hit, but this year, the cherry tree might not make it to spring.  I don't like sour cherries, but this tree has the prettiest blooms in the spring.  It's a shame, it was a nice tree.

This is what is under the snow.  Normally in February, the ground is frozen, but not this year.  With 50-60 degree weather the past several weeks, this ground looks like what it would after a late storm in April or May.  Yuck, what a mess!

I made the girls each a face mask for playing outside in the cold.  E bunny wasn't too sure she liked it, but Miss A was happy.

THIS used to be my Mock Orange Bush.  It's been there since long before I ever lived here.  It's full and bushy and has pretty white flowers in the spring.  And the snow near flattened it this year.  JJ will have to saw it off after the snow is gone and we will see if it makes it or not.

The kids had a grand time under it, though.  It made a great hide-out/house and they had quite a bit of fun playing under it.

It wasn't too long in the afternoon after I'd scooped out all the sidewalks that the cats had come to take up their post on the porch.  These are my constant beggars at my back door!

Dr. Appointments

So, E and I headed to the dr. office on Thursday, with both of us ending up with a diagnosis of bronchitis.  Now, we are both on antibiotics and I keep watching the rest of the family to see if they too will need a little extra help to get over this mess.

The kids did end up having another gymnastics class on Thursday to make up for missing class next Tuesday.  They all enjoyed it and I did some grocery shopping while they were in class in preparation for an actual storm coming this weekend.

Friday, I didn't have anything going on for once, so, after picking the kids up from school, we went home.  That was very nice, by the way.

Last, but Not Least

Sunday dawned with Miss A starting to do some hacking.  The last one in the family is now sick.  I actually got a call from the school Monday morning that she was running a temp, so she was home both Monday and Tuesday.  I sent her today in the hopes that she will make it through the day.  So far, so good.

E bunny and I were finally kinda getting over our coughing, but it has picked up again today.  It's much worse for me than her, but we both have dr. appointments tomorrow to see if antibiotics are needed.

Miss A did make it through gymnastics class last night (at her insistence), but was tuckered out by the time they were done.  We got IC to wrestling practice and had to wait a little while until JJ could make it in, as he was late getting there since he last-minute had to pull a calf.

After he got to practice, the girls and I headed home to clean up before JJ and IC got there.  Miss A went to bed fine, but woke back up around 11 pm and couldn't get to sleep, so she ended up crashing on the couch in the living room.  I don't know why those girls do that, as you'd think it'd be less comfortable than their own beds.

When IC got home from wrestling, he was pretty happy, as his tooth had come out during practice!  The permanent one was already coming up and it needed to come out, but he'd been having a hard time.  Miss A is also working on her first loose tooth and it's ready to come out, but she is also having trouble doing it.  IC told her this morning that she should fall face-first on the floor like he did at wrestling-it worked for him!

Today, I ran to York to a back dr appointment while E was in preschool and barely made it back to town on time.  Tomorrow, while she's in preschool, I'm supposed to go visit a friend and give her some Girl Scout cookies, but I am waiting for her to reply back as to whether she wants me to still come since my cough came back and she's expecting.  I don't want her to get sick from me.

Tomorrow, I also have that dr appointment in the early afternoon and am taking the kids back to York after school to gymnastics again.  We will be missing next Tuesday's class, so the teacher is letting the kids make up for it tomorrow.  Miss A has a girl scout thing next Tuesday after school, so we changed around gymnastics to accommodate that, since her Girl Scout leaders didn't take into account her activities (they rarely do, by the way).

To finish out this busy week, IC has to go to the 4-H weigh in at the vet clinic here in town on Saturday to weigh his calf.  Since we are without a dually truck (ours is DOA permanently) to transport it, JJ has procured a ride with the neighbor's, who are willing to pick them up on their way to weigh-in.  We really have some nice neighbors!  JJ has been working for nearly 2 weeks on getting a truck of some sort to buy for the farm for pulling the trailer, but has not been successful, yet.

Today is supposed to be one of the last nice days this week.  The weatherman has been predicting a rain or snow storm (depending on WHICH weatherman you listen to) by Friday.  We desperately need the rain-it's way to dry out here, but I have to admit the 50-60 degree weather we've had this week has been awesome.  It does kinda worry me, though, that we will have a rough spring since winter has been so mild, but you just have to take it.  It's the way that the weather in Nebraska just is!