Out of the running

I've never claimed to be mother of the year, but just in case my kids thought I was in the running I've really managed to dispel it in the last 24 hours! My brain is apparently on overload because I've lacked in several important "mommy moments". The first was yesterday afternoon. As I was waiting on my children to arrive home from school in the steady rain, I realized I had neglected to make sure they had taken umbrellas to school with them. Oops! Fortunately, being kids, they didn't mind terribly much. This morning I remind HT to go up and get dressed and he comes back and tells me that he is out of underwear. I go up to double-check, and sure enough it seems I'm way behind in laundry! The worst though, involved my daughter. She lost a tooth at school yesterday, and the tooth fairy FORGOT! This has happened to her before so she was fairly philosophical about it, but as the person who is supposed to "call the tooth fairy", I felt very badly.

There's baseball in the air...

...the airwaves that is! Today, WLW out of Cincinnati broadcast the first exhibition game. Nothing can make me feel like spring is close like the crack of the bat and Marty's voice on the radio! With the temps today in the 50's, it really feels like Spring and baseball season are just around the corner!

Ouch! Lesson learned

I am stubborn. While at times this can be beneficial, usually I find that it isn't. We have this very old chair in our dining room that sits at our computer desk. It came along in the marriage to my husband. I love this chair because I find it soOOOOO comfortable. Being a stay-at-home mom provides the opportunity to spend many hours at the home computer and a comfortable chair is a must! This chair has been slowly falling apart for about a year, but the rate of disintegration began increasing in the new year. My husband kept saying we needed to do something about it...get rid of it...find a better chair (he doesn't find it nearly as comfortable). I was stubborn though, and basically chose to ignore the problem. This morning, however, it could be ignored no longer. One of the legs began to come apart so I just put it back together in a simple manner. As I was sitting down I was having the thought, "I wonder how long this is going to hold," when I heard a creak. The chair fell into several pieces, I fell with it and managed to bang my head on the plaster wall in the process. Okay, I think it's time for a new chair. In the meantime I'll use a very uncomfortable dining room chair. And HT (5 years old) has assured me that he'll fix it when he's grown up.

Almost over

I'm happy that February is almost over. It's just never been a month that I was ever "gung ho" about. I think it's mostly the gloomy weather. The nice thing about March is that you've got a good shot at having some really decent days, and spring does officially begin! It's going to be a long month at school though, as there are no breaks or days off at all. I'll definitely be ready for spring, and spring break, when the time arrives!

Like mother, like son?

In our house, we have two bathrooms and three children. This of course means that there are times when a child has to stand in line and wait in order to use the bathroom. This happened this evening at bedtime. Our oldest was upstairs taking a shower, and I sent JC to use the downstairs restroom. I gave HT his nightly vitamin and then sent him to wait in line to use the downstairs bathroom after his sister was finished. From the next room I could hear her yell, "Keep the door closed!" I went in and reminded HT that he needed to keep the door closed and wait until his turn. He crossed his arms and announced quite sternly, "I am out of patience!" Gee, I can't imagine where he would have ever heard that before!

A great weekend

Everyone in our family had a wonderful weekend. The kids loved every minute of being overnight guests with my best friend, her husband, and their little girl. They couldn't stop talking about it after we got home yesterday. They were also exhausted which was wonderful! Early bedtimes for them! The adults also loved the weekend. We had some maintenance issues at the hotel but were compensated for those, and we all looked lovely in our formal evening wear. Lots of laughs were shared by all and we loved it!

On a lighter note

The kids have been excited as I've been packing their bags for the weekend. HT doesn't have preschool on Fridays, so he was home with me all day as I was getting everything packed. As I laid out the clothes in the living we discussed many things, including how much fun he was going to have and how long he would be gone, and he watched as I packed his bag. Later as he was getting out of the bath tub, I asked him if he remembered how many nights he was going to be gone. He replied, "Yep. Two nights and three underwears!" (I had thrown in an extra pair just in case. He is five after all). I was amused by his perspective on time-telling!

Sad news

My husband just called with sad news from his school district. This morning, one of their students (he teaches at the high school) was killed in a car accident. It's always sad news when a young person passes away, but this one, well this young man had an impact on my husband, and I believe that my husband had touched this young man in some way. About a year ago, or perhaps a little more, this young man had come to my husband and had given him a book that he thought my husband would like to read. My husband was touched by this, because here was a young man that my husband was pretty sure didn't have two nickels to rub together, but this young man thought so highly of my husband that he bought him a book. I remember my husband telling me that he was going to give him a McDonald's gift card when he wrote the thank you. My husband mentioned to me that this young man had a way of finding himself in trouble, but my husband knew there was goodness in him. Our prayers go out to this young man's family, friends, and everyone whose life he impacted, even if he didn't always know it.

A weekend away!

This weekend we are having a child free weekend! My wonderful best friend and her husband are taking the kids for two nights so we can go to Cincinnati with another couple. Tomorrow evening we are going to the Charter Day Ball at Miami University to celebrate the anniversary of its bicentennial. I am so looking forward to a fun weekend away! At the same time, I know I'm going to miss the three little ones terribly. It seems laughable. I'm so anxious for a break, and then I miss them so much when they are gone! I guess that is the role of a parent though. I know that we will have lots of fun, and we are so incredibly grateful to our friends who are willing to take on three extra people for an entire weekend!

God grant me patience

Everyone knows that I am not a person who has a lot of patience. In fact, I have almost none. On the upside, I recognize this in myself and try very hard to force myself to remain patient with my children (and with my husband, as needed...love you dear)! I was raised where I was asked to do something once, and if I had to be asked again, there were often consequences. I've learned not to yell and scream at my children (mostly) when I'm asking them to do something AGAIN. But the area that truly tries my patience is their homework. It seems as though everything my children learned at school goes out the window the minute they leave that brick building. Furthermore, it seems as though they are completely incapable of reading directions and following them. I realize that this is not a life tragedy, but some days are better than others...and this one isn't so grand!

Howling

The wind sure is howling outside. I'm sure every winter is like this, but it seems as though the wind this year has been really strong. I suspect it's just because we notice it more after the September windstorm. I know the kids are really aware of it and are constantly asking if we are having a windstorm. We were one of the very, very lucky ones and we were only without power for five hours. The experience of it all though, seems to have left a last impression on us all!

Ready for the weekend

It's only Wednesday, but I'm definitely ready for the weekend. Or, a school delay would be nice as well! There is nothing in the forecast to indicate that is a possibility though. I really hate wishing away time. February is just not a fun month though. I've never particularly enjoyed it. When I was working in public accounting, it was the first month of the heavy tax season and the weather was miserable. Even now though, I don't have to worry about tax season and I still don't enjoy this month. Thankfully it's a short one! This weekend will be fun though. My best friend and her husband, along with their four-year-old daughter, have graciously volunteered to host our kids for the weekend. We are going to Cincinnati with another couple and will spend the weekend there. On Saturday we will be going to my alma mater's Charter Day Ball, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the founding. Although my wonderful husband is a UD grad, since he works in that town (and is married to me!) he appreciates it as well. It should be a fun weekend for all of us, and I'll get to sleep in Saturday!

What a day!

This morning at 5AM I awoke to quite possibly the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. It was my first official migraine headache. It was a paralyzing pain, and I just laid there and prayed for relief. I was literally in too much pain to move, and the thought of getting medicine was just overwhelming. My wonderful husband finally stirred about 7 and I begged him to get me pain killers. I had mentioned to my doctor last week that I had begun having "mini-migraines" and he prescribed some heavy duty drugs for me. THANK GOD! Unfortunately, I never really got to sleep so I've pretty much been a walking zombie most of the day. The kids had school today for a make-up day, but my wonderful husband was off today. He spent the day continuing our car shopping from yesterday. Fortunately, he found a used car and we were able to get a really good deal. The dealership was very near my parents, so he was able to return the vehicle we had been borrowing all at the same time. On the down side, my husband has a poor sense of direction, and it took him nearly two hours to make the 40 minute drive home from my parents. He almost ended up in Indiana! By the time he made it home we were both frustrated, and my zombie state doesn't help. We decided to order a quick pizza and we took a ride in the new car to pick it up. We've all been fed now, and since I can feel another (hopefully much milder) headache coming on, I'm looking forward to bed. May tomorrow be a quiet day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We are having a fairly quiet Valentine's Day here. JR has a basketball game this morning. This evening we are having a sitter for the kids, then my husband and I are off to a UD game and then to meet some friends for the rest of the evening. We decided that our Valentine's celebration will be next weekend, when we spend the weekend away with friends. The kids had nice parties this week. I was able to be at both HT's and JC's and they've all got lots of sugar to consume!

Of course!

Of course this morning I wake up feeling absolutely fine...no pain at all! I gave serious consideration to cancelling my appointment, but since we are headed into the weekend I decided I might as well go ahead and see the doc. And just as I suspected...there is absolutely nothing wrong with me! He said there is no sign of infection at all. He did give me some pain pills because I've been having headaches lately that bordered on migraines. So at least it wasn't a completely fruitless trip. I'm not complaining though. Being healthy is always a good thing!

Go Dayton Flyers!

Last night's UD game against Xavier was a very fun game to watch...if you are a UD fan. Xavier is a really great team, and Dayton just hasn't been able to compete the last couple of years. Last night the tide finally turned though, and Dayton won by 13 at UD arena. We have season tickets, although we only have two seats. Usually my wonderful husband goes and rotates taking a child. Last night was the little guy's turn. They both had a wonderful time cheering the Flyers to victory. It's a great win and hopefully UD will be dancing in March! Go UD!

Ear ache

As the mother of three children, I expect to have ear aches in this house. We've been fairly fortunate though, that the last ear problem was almost two years ago. However, as a thirty-five-year-old, I never expected to be dealing with an ear ache myself! I woke up at 5 this morning with this terrible pain in my left ear. I was able to eventually doze back to sleep, but it hasn't really gotten better today. In fact, I've also started fighting a sinus headache and the left side of my neck is getting stiff, which leads me to believe that my lymph nodes are swelling. I have a doctor's appointment at 9AM tomorrow morning. I really don't like going to the doctor. Not that anyone particularly really enjoys it, but I really, really, really don't like to go to the doctor. I'm a firm believer in letting things try to take their course, but this pain has just got to stop! I was 11-years-old the last time I had an ear ache and I vividly remember the pain. Of course, part of my problem that time was that my ear drum ended up bursting so that was a big part of the pain. At this point, I just want to take some heavy duty painkillers and go to bed, but homework calls first!

Totaled

The word on the car is that it is totaled. We were pretty sure that was the case. Now the "joy" of searching for a new vehicle begins. My husband and I have always been pretty much on the same page when it comes to vehicles, but this time we seem to be disagreeing about everything. I want something reliable and safe, and he's more worried about price and gas mileage. I understand with his drive everyday that he hates using a lot of gas. At the same time, I want to know that if he is in an accident with a deer, that the deer won't win! I guess we will just have to see how this works out and what we can find out there. I used to love car shopping, but that was before the kids came along!

Happy Anniversary!

This is the date upon which my wonderful husband and I joined our lives together. We just talked the other evening how lucky we feel that we are still so much in love and that we would happily do it all over again. I'm very lucky to be married to my best friend and to share my life with him. Happy Anniversary honey!

Ladies' Day

I just returned from shopping, normally my least favorite activity to do. However, my husband and I are going with another couple to an alumni formal later in the month. So the wives were off to the mall! We had a very nice day, and were lucky enough to find inexpensive dresses at the same store. I can't wait to see what our husbands think about how well we coordinate! We even had lunch out together before returning to home be Mommies again.

This evening HT is going to be a crown bearer for a ceremony at the high school. He is looking forward to his responsibility!

Finally!

HT's tooth has finally come out! He pulled it out himself this afternoon and he is both very excited and very proud. Now we can all start obsessing about something else!

Returning to normal

Life is pretty much back to normal now. Yesterday, our kids had a 2 hour delay, and the district my wonderful husband teaches in was closed due to a great deal of snow further south. After the chaos of Tuesday, it was very nice to be able to sleep in yesterday, and for he and I to be able to spend a little bit of time together. There has been no word yet on the status of the car, and we are very grateful to my parents for the use of their vehicle. Today, everyone is in school and at the normal time so everything pretty much feels back to normal.

Rough morning

I was awakened prior to 7 this morning (1/2 before normal wake-up time) by JC letting me know that she had heard her little brother vomiting. Sure enough, HT was sick, but fortunately had managed not to get sick in his bed! I brought him down to the couch and was working on getting him settled when the phone rang. The phone ringing at 7AM is never a good thing! It was my wonderful husband, letting me know that he was okay but was in a car accident. I hate that 45 minute drive to work! Apparently a teen had left her car parked on the blind side of a hill because she left her cell phone in the house. Fortunately, she doesn't have any major injuries either. I called my mom right away and she threw clothes on and began the drive down to our house because I obviously can't take a vomiting child anywhere. My mom's drive is about 40 minutes so in the meantime, my wonderful husband got a ride in the tow truck back to town, and after Mom arrived I took the older two to pick him and see the car before I dropped them off at school. Due to the age of the vehicle and the fact that the airbags deployed, we are fairly certain it's totaled. My parents very generously offered us the use of their third vehicle, so my mom took my husband back to their house to pick that up. After they had been gone about 30 minutes, the school called to ask me to please come and pick up JR who had just vomited at school. My wonderful next door neighbor came to stay with HT so I could dash up to the school. It's been a heck of a morning! We are very, very lucky though! My wonderful husband is okay, the other driver is not seriously hurt, and her insurance will take care of the car. The kids will be fine, and we are so blessed to have such a large group of family, friends and neighbors that love and support us. Even though, I'm a little drained at this point, I can't help but feel good about life and all the blessings we have!

Groundhog Day!

For those of us in southwest Ohio, the fact that Punxy Phil saw his shadow is not at all surprising, especially this evening as we had quite a snow shower come through! We received another quarter to half inch of snow here in our town, but hopefully that will be the major extent of any accumulation. I'm not ready to have the kids home again after only one day back!

Also, my brother-in-law happens to live in Punxy. The kids' teachers of course talked quite a bit about the day and the event. JR's teacher explained that Punxy Phil lives in a hole and comes out once a year on this date. JR, who happened to have the benefit of his uncle, corrected his teacher by explaining, "Actually, Phil lives in the library." I'm not sure his teacher was overly grateful for his contribution to the story!

Here we go Steelers!

Yep, we are pretty happy people in this house! We spent the afternoon and evening at our friends' house, staying close to home so that we could bring the kids home right after kickoff. This allowed them to be in bed at a normal time. Why, oh why do they play the Super Bowl on a Sunday?! A sitter met us here and then we rejoined our friends to watch the rest of the game. Our friends are not Steeler fans, but we are all Miami grads so they are Big Ben fans. They were happy to jump on the Steeler bandwagon and we had a fun time. My in-laws have season tickets to Steelers games and had won the lottery for tickets so they were there to enjoy every moment. We are all enjoying our black & gold victory today, and my husband had enough sense to take a personal day today so we can rest up!