None of it's good...

An acquaintance and I were at t-ball practice for our five-year-old boys last week. He also has two older children that are the same ages as my older two. We were watching our young sons out on the diamond as they were interacting with each other and other teammates. I made the comment that it's amazing what the younger ones pick up from the older ones. At that moment my son decided to stick his tongue out and razz another kid. The acquaintance added, "And none of it's ever good." Amen!

Tidbits

I should be better about posting, but when my house looks the way that it does, taking time for something like a blog seems a luxury I should do without. We spent much of the weekend sorting through and trying on spring/summer clothes, and replacing the winter clothes currently in the drawers. The winter clothes also have to be sorted by what might fit again next year, along with what to do with those that won't. I currently have tubs and boxes of clothing pretty much everywhere, and the house wasn't all that clean to begin with! With temps in the mid 80's over the last weekend, putting it off wasn't an option! We also needed to get screens in windows and I should start some spring cleaning...eventually. Yesterday I realized that the garbage disposal has a hole in and water shoots out if we run the disposal or dishwasher. So I've been hand washing lots of dishes (we can use the water in the sink as long as the bucket is under the disposal) but I don't seem to be able to catch up on that either. I also insisted on hanging laundry out on the line over the weekend. The drying racks were completely ineffective because of the 30 mph winds we had going through. So I had to use our rather short clothes line, and just keep checking so that I could replace a dry item with a new wet one. And with lots of the flu last week, we had plenty of laundry to be done! We are gone pretty much every evening with the kids having ball practice. Last night all three had practice, along with one having team pictures. Tonight my husband has his grad class, and two kids have team pictures. Wednesday brings my husband having a meeting, one kid at ballet, one at guitar lessons, and one at ball practice. Thursday my husband has conferences, and we have a ball practice. Friday we can relax, then Saturday is opening day, so there is a parade and three ball games. As much as I would prefer that my house be all picked up and sparkling clean, I just refuse to allow myself to stress about it!

I miss the days...

when just a kiss from Mommy could make the tears stop flowing. They grow up too fast.

Family update

I'm happy to report that everyone finally seems to be mostly healthy today. My husband missed both Tuesday and Wednesday at work, and the little guy missed Tuesday also. Everyone is back at school, although HT still seems to have some stomach issues. We were very grateful that it rained during the day and practices were canceled on Tuesday. Other than that, our lives have been pretty unexciting, and our evenings have been spent mostly at the ball park. We have one more week of practice, and then the season begins May 2. No schedules have been provided yet, which is really a pain. With three playing it doesn't really matter though...I just plan to be at a diamond. The schedules coming out only provides clarification on which one!

Prayer request update

Last week I mentioned that our friend was in the hospital, but that surgery had gone well. I've just learned that an infection has developed and this is definitely a set back in her recovery. She is still in the hospital, and had hoped to go home tomorrow so the family is, needless to say, very disappointed. Any prayers are always appreciated!

Sick kid

It's currently 4AM, and I've been up for the last hour with my sick kid. This time it's the youngest. He gets EVERYTHING that goes around. I'm just grateful he didn't get it right after JR last week and he was able to enjoy all the fun of the weekend. My husband and I aren't feeling so well ourselves so we'll just see how today goes...

Fun Friday

Yesterday was a really, really fun day, although the beginning not so much so. We awoke to HT covered, absolutely covered in hives. We had a meeting at school for him so I went there and my husband took the little guy to the doctor. It's definitely an allergic reaction to something, we just aren't sure what it might be. We are guessing it is either the antibiotic he was on for last week's impetigo, or it could have been the strawberry he ate this week. Either way, we are hoping it starts to disappear today. And the meeting at school went well! After that we took HT to breakfast at Bob Evans, which is pretty much his favorite restaurant. Next came a quick trip to Target where we found some great movies for only $5! Once we came home, my husband decided that since we had some coupons, he was going to go ahead and buy me what I wanted for my birthday. So after the trip to the store, he returned with a wii! I LOVE IT! Last evening we hosted a skating/birthday party for the youngest two. So many friends came, and it was just a terrific evening. JC also got to have a friend spend the night. I wasn't surprised that the kids couldn't sleep last night. Even at my age, I was so wound up from all of the fun things that I had trouble falling asleep!

Update

I'm happy to report that as of last evening, our friend was doing very well. She'd had surgery yesterday and things went really well. We are hoping that she'll be out of the hospital by the middle of next week!

Prayer request

I have a prayer request for anyone who may read this and wishes to offer up a prayer. We found out earlier this week that our friend, Amanda, has been in the hospital since Sunday. She has severe abdominal pains that they have been unable to diagnose. I just spoke with her husband, and today is not a good day. He said that she is in a lot more pain today, and they still don't have a diagnosis. He is grateful for the friends and family who are currently caring for their sons, ages 7 & 4-1/2. Please pray for Amanda, her family, her doctors, and those who are caring for the boys. Thank you.

Kids say the darndest things

We've been having rain here lately. A lot of rain. It rained Monday, Tuesday, and yesterday. Sunday was partly cloudy and that was the last time we saw a peek at the sun. Even the kids have noticed, because this morning HT came running up to me and exclaimed, "Mommy look! It's not raining outside!"

This morning at breakfast (everyone is healthy and eating again) JR wanted to chat. He was asking all kinds of questions, and one of them was "Is everything made from water?" Before I could respond, JC sighed and said, "Everything is made in China."

Enjoy the sunshine!

Calgon, I need to be taken away!

I need to take a warm soothing bath this evening. It's been a challenging 24 hours. Last evening JR was an emotional basketcase. Everything anyone said to him brought him to tears. We finally understood that he probably wasn't feeling well when he vomited all over his bedroom this morning. I'm still trying to figure out how a nine-year-old doesn't try to get out of bed, but that's the way it goes. I've been way behind in laundry, so I was working on that this afternoon (especially given the clean up situation). While I was outside helping my husband put together the new basketball hoop that the Easter bunny brought for the kids, something happened to the washing machine and it flooded the laundry room floor. On the "up side" I had just finished drying the towels that I'd used to clean JR's room so they were readily handy. When I called my husband in to dinner, he announced that he realized he had put part of the portable hoop frame together incorrectly and was going to need to take it apart. Given my husband's lack of engineering ability, this is not terribly surprising. In fact, had I not gone out to look at it for myself, he would have put it back together incorrectly as well. The good news is that tomorrow is another day, and hopefully we'll have fewer adventures!

Losing track

I'm really starting to lose track of what day of the week it is. This is not good, considering everyone has very specific places they are supposed to be, and they are different on each day of the week. The kids are back in school so they can help me keep track. My wonderful husband is on spring break this week. I'm just kind of losing it! I love the breaks in routine, but I'll also enjoy next week when everyone is back in their routine and I have quiet time again. I'm finding I seem to need that more and more with each passing month. I feel selfish about that, but one thing I've also learned about myself is that if I don't recognize my own needs, everyone suffers. I'm also recognizing that I've got to get this house organized SOON, or we are all going to go crazy!

Love the rain

This is one time of year that I really love the rain! I don't like storms, but on a day like today, rain means that the ball practices are cancelled. We can actually have an evening at home. The kids are slowing getting back into the school routine, and since there isn't a ton of homework we will even have time for a board game this evening. I enjoy the kids being outdoors, but I also love family time!

All good things must come to an end...

...and that includes spring break! Although we still technically have the weekend until they go back to school, the vacation has definitely run its course. Today has been full of rain, yelling, screaming, tattling, biting, and all the fun stuff that goes along with too much togetherness! I just about can't take it anymore. The good news is that we have some specific activities planned for tomorrow so that should help, and then Easter will be at my grandmother's house. Have a great weekend!

Rash identified!

We've been to the doctor again today. The doctor mentioned it had been an entire month since he'd seen me...woo hoo! Actually, it hasn't quite been that long but close enough. He assures me that families with children are in his office just as often as we are. Anyway, I digress. The rash around HT's nose & mouth is impetigo. Yippee! A highly contagious infection. He's on oral antibiotics and antibiotic ointment, and we can all hug and kiss him again after 24 hours. Poor little guy...he's my little hugger and he hates that he can't hug his brother & sister especially. Just grateful that it's nothing more serious though!

Turn off the lights!

I am CONSTANTLY reminding my kids to turn off the lights. HT used to try to tell me that he couldn't reach the switch, but I pointed out to him that he managed to turn the lights on so he can turn them off. The older two have gotten better about this, but there is still a long way to go...and I know it won't get better until they live on their own and pay their own bills! Last evening the boys both had ball practice. HT's was only 1/2 as long as JR's, so I brought him home and informed my husband to feed him and JC dinner. I drove back to the ball field, and sat in the van during the remaining of JR's practice, about another 50 minutes. I found it odd that the radio turned off after about 25 minutes. When I finally noticed practice was ending, I got out of the van, but couldn't figure out why the van was beeping at me. Suddenly I realized that I had been sitting there the entire time with the headlights on. Not good! Sure enough I tried to turn the van back on and there was nothing but lots of clicking. My wonderful husband gathered the two little ones and came to jump the van. We finally made it home around 8:30 last night, still needing to eat dinner and take showers. I definitely need to start taking my own advice and make sure I turn off the lights!

Mid week

Well, we've reached the half way point of spring break, and things are moving along. We've been able to get lots of errands completed, and went through the process of trying on some summer clothes yesterday to get an idea of what will be needed this year. We are all enjoying break, but the youngest has developed a very strange rash around his face and nose. It looks like chicken pox. Not only has this child been vaccinated, but he actually got a full blown case about 17 months ago so I can't believe he'd have them AGAIN! I hate it when the kids have weird things happen to them...I'm neurotic enough without these things!

Opening Day

Yesterday was opening day for Major League Baseball! In my family, we basically consider it a holiday. My sister had tickets and went down to deal with the crowds (and snow, if you can believe it!), but I always prefer to stay home and watch it on TV. This year, I didn't realize the date and instead we were coming back from my in-laws. We were able to pick up Marty & Jeff about an hour before the first pitch, so we really didn't miss much. Although my beloved Cincinnati Reds weren't able to pull out a victory, I still enjoyed opening day, and I'm looking forward to the season. We still have 161 games left to be optimistic about!

Spring break!

The kids are on spring break! I'm not sure who is happier, them or me! I am enjoying the less hectic and frenetic schedule. At the same time, in order to accomplish that, it meant that some fun things I had hoped to do aren't going to happen. We are all okay with that though, because we need some down time. Hopefully I'll be a better blogger this week, and with the kids home I'm sure they'll provide material!  Our trip to my in-laws was wonderful, and we are really glad that we took the extra day to stay.  The kids are confused about the weather today, as it is spring break, and yet there are white flakes falling from the sky.  Yep, it happens that way in April at times. Today we are trying on summer clothes and working on scouting achievements...enough to keep us busy, but not to much that we can't relax!

We've almost made it!

We have almost made it through the week! It was a crazy one, but I'm really glad that we all made it through with patience. For me that can be particularly challenging. In addition to everything else we've had going on, the youngest was sick yesterday. Seems to feel better today, but now JC has started hacking. We are supposed to leave for the in-laws this evening, and so far that is still the plan. Last night at conferences we were able to get our kids' report cards, and we were very proud that they are doing well academically. It's been a pretty good week, all-in-all. And next week is Spring Break! Yeh!