Holiday Weekend

Summer is right around the corner with the kick off Memorial Day Weekend. The weekend was good. I picked up the kids after school and we left right afterwards for our trek up north. Hubby ended up not going. He wasn't feeling the greatest and I gave him the option of staying home. We would have loved to have him with us, but traveling when you are feeling lousy just isn't fun. So, he stayed home for some R & R.

We made good time for our trek and traffic was surprisingly light my entire way. Not that it was nonexistent, but for Memorial Weekend kick-off I didn't have any issues at all. It took us about four hours total, but that included a stop in King City for some dinner. The kids were ready to get out and we were all ready to eat.

Visiting with L was fun and we did a lot of catching up. She is VERY pregnant and is one of those who get very uncomfortable in the last month of pregnancy. That is exacerbated by an old back injury as well. She kept trucking on though. We visited the Egyptian Museum based on the recommendation of J. The kids absolutely LOVED it! They were much more interested in it than I thought they would be. I thought the real mummies and stuff would freak them out, but it didn't in the least. They wanted to know all about them. I must have read every info card in the place to them. I did give them the Reader's Digest version as some of it was over the top for them. When we first arrived we happened to start out in the room with the pseudo pyramid. It has a dark entrance and you stroll through the maze and look at all the stuff. Lyd and L stayed behind because L didn't want to do more stairs than she really had to. Well, when the rest off us appeared from behind them from the other room boasting how cool it was we all had to go again. Roo though seized the opportunity to scare the bejeebers out of his sister. He ran ahead a little bit and ducked behind a wall. When Lyd rounded the corner, he pounced while roaring loudly! She squealed and was immediately pissed! I almost wet myself laughing so hard. Mind you, this place is not well lit and in the eyes of a six year old, probably a bit creepy, which was completely taken advantage of by the 5 year old brother. I did not take any photos as I had forgot my camera and there was no flash photography allowed in the museum.

The next day we went to the zoo and park downtown. It is a cute little zoo and just about right for a very pregnant woman and three children under the age of 6. Little Char is only 19 months old, so walking for long times was not a good idea. About the end of this journey though, Lyd began to complain of a sore throat. It was indeed red, and we bugged out Sunday as planned, albeit a little bit earlier. The ride home was uneventful. The kids slept about half way, which was a nice break from the constant questions of, "how much longer" and "where are we?"

Sunday was uneventful. Hubby took Roo to work at a friends house. Hubby said he didn't really want to go but had promised Dan. I wasn't too thrilled with that since I wanted to spend time with him, but what could I do? I cleaned house, went grocery shopping and took care of my little Lyd, who was now running a bit of a fever. The entire time I was a bit miffed with hubby being gone the entire day. Oh, the fact that the monthly curse came for visit was just a finishing touch. I knew it was going to come since I KNEW exactly when I ovulated. I was feeling very emotional and knew tears were going to be inevitable at some point in the day.

Tears came...only after hubby came home though. I wasn't too kind to him when he first came home, to which he wasn't very kind in return. We finally started to talk a bit, but he wasn't ready to talk yet. Just ready to get very offended and march off out of the room. Fine. I did my thing amidst periods of tears. I would just go fold laundry or something and give myself a little minnie cry. Once, Lyd came in to talk to me while I was running the bath for Roo. She kept trying to tell me something, and I kept telling her to close the door. She was so sweet, and it was just making me cry all the more. I finally looked up at her, and she immediately asked, "mommy? why are you crying?" I just told her, "mommies just need to cry sometimes". She accepted that answer without question and looked at me while saying, "okay...I will just leave you alone then so you can cry". Off she marched. After that fit of crying was over, I continued on, and hubby decided he was okay to talk now. So we talked some, not a lot, but some. He got some stuff off his chest, but I didn't really say much. He said he would help me with the laundry and stuff since he had been playing all weekend etc. Well, half an hour later he was asleep. I was not a happy woman. I know I shouldn't have gotten so mad by it, but I was.

I got both kids all settled for the night and took some time to myself to fiddle around on the computer. I didn't accomplish anything other than waste time. I finally grabbed my pillow and was heading out of the room ro sleep on the couch. Hubby was still in the middle of the bed and I wasn't about to ask him to move. (insert martyr moment). Well, he woke up about that time and saw me heading out the door with pillow in hand. He said he would get under the covers and that I could sleep in there. But if I wanted to sleep on the couch that was up to me. I came to bed. Layed there for a moment and it all started. I cried, cried, and cried. Hubby asked me why I was crying. I just told him I was very, very, very sad. I got up and went into the bathroom closed the door without turning on the light. I sat on the John and grabbed a big towel. I knew a box of tissues was not going to match anything I was going to do. I cried, sobbed, and cried some more. Hubby walks in after a few minutes putting his arm around me telling me I should come lay down. I tell him now, I need to be in here for a while. He stands there trying to console me while I just let it all out. I finally started talking to him telling him why I have been bitchy, and unresponsive etc, and why I don't tell him how my day goes anymore. In short because he doesn't listen. One of his complaints is that I don't tell him anything...Just give him short cryptic answers. Well, when one gets shut down before they are finished telling anything, then cryptic happens. I unloaded on him. Not with anger, nor with vengeance...I just told him everything that had been bugging me. I told him I quit telling him stuff when after he would ask me, he would pick up a book, or start reading the paper and I would just quit talking. And he never noticed. Never asked for me to keep going etc. Now, I know better than to try and talk to him when he is already reading. He doesn't hear anything when he is reading. Though, I can't understand it (I hear everything when reading) I respect it. I know other people who are not on this planet when they are reading. But, to ask me how my day went and then proceed to pick up a paper and tune me out while reading was not acceptable. I told him I had been giving him a wider berth because I didn't really want to talk with him since he never listened anyway, and if he did have anything to answer back it was negative etc. there were lots of other things I told him which I am not going to delineate, but I finished by telling him I simply feel like a tool. Not a person, not a wife, but a tool. He seemed genuinely shocked by all this information I flooded him with. He was clueless. I didn't do this to heap it all in shoulders that it was all his fault, it isn't, but a fair share of it was his. We then went to lay down in bed and he was very apologetic and said he would pay more attention to his own actions etc and that he never wanted to hurt me. He then asked if I was going to leave him. I don't want to leave him...we just need to get back into a place of mutual respect and compassion. I love having our children, but they do put a certain stress on a relationship.

I didn't go to work on Monday. Lyd was still feeling under the weather, and I woke up looking like I had gone 13 rounds with Mike Tyson. Nothing like falling asleep after a serious cry. I took Roo to school while Lyd stayed home with Grandpa. Hubby called after Lyd and I had been to Office Depot (after an hour or so it was clear that Lyd could have went to school). I didn't take her though. I have been eyeing a new desk and bookshelf to put in our bedroom. I finally bought it since it was on sale. It saved me about $100. Mark called and asked if I wanted to come look at some cars. I was surprised, but he said they had some good discounts at work, and with his employee discount it could save us quite a bit. I am not really looking for a new car. I still owe on my current 2001 Impala which I love. It will have 100K on it very soon. I put lots of miles on my cars commuting back and forth to work. Lyd and I went to look at cars. They were nice and we had fun driving them, but I am still don't think I need a new one. I had a hair appointment at 2:00 and then had to pick up Roo at 3:00. I have been seeing my hairdresser for over 7 years now. She is a hoot, and she does the best stuff with my hair. So, I was telling her about my weekend with hubby and said he called me to look at new cars. She quickly replied, "Oh you should have let him go a little longer! You could have got a new house!" We both laughed ourselves silly over that.

I need to go get my little ones from school.

MIA - explanation? Just plain 'ol busy

For a quick recap of the week. I stayed home Monday because Roo was in hiatus between preschools. The preschool at the college ended Thursday last week and Friday was no problem because we have Fridays off now. But, Monday was a problem, and I didn't really feel like farming the poor boy out, so we stayed home and had a grand time. I have no clue what we did last weekend, seriously, no clue at all.

So, Roo started preschool at the school where Lyd goes. I have been trying to get him in there all year but they never had an opening. Yhey did have one (in October), the director gotf sick, and when I called back after she was better, they couldn't take Roo any more because they had lost a fulltime teacher and couldn't take on more kids even though they technically had an opening. OH well, they still haven't hired a new teacher (strict guidelines for new hires). But, I called a couple weeks before the college preschool ended to see if I could at least get Roo into their Summer program. They do WAY MORE academics at this preschool than the college preschool did. They said that wouldn't be a problem, but since we were at the top of the list, they were going to have an opening on the 23rd for Roo if we wanted it. I jumped at it.

So, Roo started Tuesday. He did great with the transition and seems to really enjoy the academic challenge presented there. He likes the work. Teacher told me she was worried about him before he started because so many people bring their kids in to "catch them up for Kindergarten" and the kids know nothing. She was very happy to see that he knew a lot and was able to jump right into the schoolwork they were doing now without a hitch. She said we did a good job with him. Hooray! The only area he needs to really work on is his coloring. I knew this already because he would much rather build rather than color, but what can you do. So coloring practice in in order. They do a lot of it in Kindergarten, so he may as well get used to it now. The teacher also commented on his excellent behavior. Funny thing, both my kids are perfectly behaved at school. Never a time out, never a complaint at all.

Let's see...Oh, I was about killed on the highway yesterday. Crazy nut driving tailgating me with less than a foot off my bumper. I was scared (read, I have been a passenger in a rear ender on the free way like this. NOT FUN...rolled, spun, slammed into a wall, but was okay). There was no where for me to go while she kept weaving from side to side to see why I was going nowhere. Hello, wall to wall traffic *itch! Finally I was in a spot where I could pull over, got her plate number 5HAK688 in a late model Honda Civic. I was on my cell calling the CHP, when she gets over and exits. I am sure she was about 17 heading to the highschool that is off the exit she took. I stopped the call, because I really had no way of knowing where she was going. If I didn't have a meeting I had to be present for, I would have followed her and gave a good scare to teeny bopper. And, if it would have been at the school I would have hauled her happy @ss into the office and made them call her parents. She was damn scary and extremely dangerous. Good thing my kids weren't in the car, or I would have been late for a meeting. I have NO doubt.

So, today is my first Friday without children here. They are safely ensconced in school. It is kind of strange feeling, but I am enjoying it. I am getting us all ready to head to San Jose this weekend. We are looking forward to the trip, but not the traffic. We will just take our time and enjoy it all.

More on Tuesday! Have a safe Memorial Day Weekend!

Fridays

Fridays are going to be much better for the summer. During our summer schedule at work, we go down to working 4 days per week. I love it! I get the extra day to get stuff done at home or head out early somewhere for the weekend. The kids will be out of school so I can plan on special days to the beach or something. They love going to the beach.

Today is a Friday of catch up on things that haven't been done for the past week or more. Vacuuming, laundry, grocery shopping, and all that fun stuff. What is helping to get this done today is the fact that the weather is kind of crummy. Very overcast and gloomy. That doesn't pull me into wanting to get stuff done outside as much. This evening is the Extravaganza at Lyd's school. It is a fund raiser where each of the classes puts on either a show, a game, or something where people give tickets to participate. I know there are pony rides, a cake walk, bounce house and lots of other games. Money is made off the ticket sales. We have purchased our tickets and the kids are very excited about going. There is a BBQ as well, so we may just have dinner there. They have an awesome BBQ there.

Next weekend we will be heading up to San Jose to visit my friend Leah. She is preggers with their second baby and is due in mid June. It should be a good trip. We haven't seen her in a while. I don't look so forward to the traffic up there. It drives me absolutely bonkers. My favorites are the people who just stop in the middle of the freeway with their blinker on waiting to get over a lane. Of course they do this when traffic is rushing by at 70 miles per hour. I am not sure what we are going to do while we are up there, but I think she was thinking of taking us to the zoo and botanical gardens.

Over and out.

Family Trees & Fallopian Tubes

Well, I have been on my genealogy kick again. About once a year I get into this real kick to do research on my family tree. Now mind you, it isn't a very easy thing to trace due to the fact that my paternal grandma wasn't married when she had my father. The bio-dad was never in the picture, and finding relatives of that clan are hard to come by. One thankful thing is that the last name isn't very common. That made it easy to know I was at a brick wall for a long time. I have made leaps and bounds in the tree the past year or two with the availability of online research tools. The internet is great for that! However, there seems to be some slight name change things, and odd stuff occurring on the census records that keep me guessing as to what really happened. Every avenue I have pursued regarding a possible living relative has pretty much dried up with the exception of one. This person doesn't know a whole lot because the relative in common (his mother) committed suicide when he was just a year old...so, he doesn't really have much to offer me. One of my major quests investigating this side of the family was simply to obtain a picture of my father's bio-dad.

I found another source two years ago. I had found my dad's bio-sister (same father). She was mentally disabled, and never did get the letter I had sent. Well, months after nothing happened with that letter, I was calling the cemetery where I knew my father's bio-dad was buried to find out some info and the guy at the cemetery was more helpful than he knew he was. I had called inquiring about the last name (uncommon one), and he immediately recognized it and asked, "oh, this must have to do with LaReinne?". Now, LaReinne happened to be the bio-sister of my dad that I had written to and received no reply. She had recently passed. I said, "no I was calling about Archie and LaReinne's sister, but was unaware that LaReinne had passed, but could you fill me in on her death date etc." And on a whim, I put on my best Jim Rockford private investigator glasses, and said, "well, it has been a while since I have spoken with the family because I had misplaced their address and phone number and if he had that handy so I could send them a card". He was more than willing to comply and gave me all that plus their names etc. I then wrote a rather lengthy letter explaining how I was related to the family and what I was looking for etc. Well, much to my surprise I received a phone call from a man whom was the nephew of my dad's bio-dad. He had lots of information and was very happy to tell me it all. I expressed what I wanted which just some information and hopefully a picture. This man was related via the bio-father's wife. He said he would dig up a picture and get it to me etc. He gave me an email address (his wife's) and told me all about himself and stuff. I have never heard from him since. I have written a couple more times and get no reply, and sent emails which now get returned with the notice, "this email address is not accepting emails from your address". So, this leads me to believe, that he told other members of the family, and they wanted nothing to do with it. I can respect that being that Archie was married to the lady at the time he fathered my own dad and remained married to her until his death. I can see that as not being very welcome news. Also the fact that I show up shortly after the last descendent of the two passed, perhaps they thought I was after money if they had any. I am not after money in any way, shape, or form. I really just wanted a picture. I don't have negative feelings towards the man (bio-father) at all...sometimes things happen. I know this man is the bio-dad of my father because my Grandma told me the story, followed up with, "don't let anyone tell you, you can't get pregnant the first time! I am living proof, that is a lie". I know my grandma would not have lied about that.

So, I am mulling over what I should do next. The contact seemed so happy to hear from someone interested in his uncle who has been dead since 1969. I am wondering if I should bother him again, or just let it go. I Probably should let it go, but it is hard to be this close to obtaining a photograph. My clutches just don't want to let this lead slip away.

Completely unrelated now...I was in miserable pain yesterday and the night before. Every now and again, I have a very painful ovulation and this one takes the cake. I have gotten this ever since I was a teenager. I never knew what it was, and secretly I thought I had some major disease but never told anyone. Well, after years of infertility. I found out I never did ovulate regularly AT ALL! Sometimes I could go almost a year and not ovulate. So, I went on meds to induce ovulation and it was then I noticed this pain came with ovulation time. I asked the doc about it and he confirmed it was ovulation. Some women can feel it, others can't. Ever since having my kids, my cycles have been pretty regular for me. The other night was miserable. It woke me up from sleep and it felt like someone was literally ramming stick through me while feeling bloated at the same time. I didn't sleep the rest of the night and the next day was pretty bad too. Now, pain is something I can take. I delivered babies without meds, I have had major knee surgeries and used very little pain meds. This pain ranked right up there with both of those. I am wondering if I have another fibroid on my ovary. It seemed that I would get a lot of this pain from the ovary that had a fibroid before they removed the fibroid. Anyway, I am glad that the pain is gone now. I think if I continue to have painful cycles I should see the gyno and get it taken care of.

Today is Roo's last day at the preschool. He seems pretty settled with it. Sometimes he is looking forward to starting a new school and other times he says he just wants to stay at this preschool forever. I simply tell him, he is growing and that the preschool won't be able to teach him much anymore and if he wants to know more about things, he needs to go to other schools. He seems okay with that answer. I secretly wish I could have him at the preschool forever too, but know that he must grow. It is hard to watch sometimes though. Why can't he just stay my little chubby faced Roo?

You've Gotta Love Ebay!

So, after thinking about the poor horse (see earlier post), and how much fun it would be to get a new one for her, it suddenly donned on me. Ebay! I had to look. I wasn't sure if I would be able to find one. I know her aunt found this on clearence at Ross, so that source had long since dried up. Alas! I found one. I found one Belle/Horse combo. The seller clearly states, THIS IS NOT A TOY! LOL. It will be for this little girl again. You know I have to get one. There were several listed on ebay, but that is the link so you can see what it looks like.

Mother's Day, Broken Horses and Broken Hearts

Mother's Day was a nice day. It started out lazy enough. The sun trickling into the room, the kids sleeping in late, a lengthy hot shower with hubby. Just a very nice morning. I accidentally saw Lyd's Mother's Day card on Friday. I was cleaning out her folder from school to make sure I didn't miss any notes, homework, or the like. I saw the card in there, but didn't open it. I told her I saw it but didn't read it. She was highly offended I even saw it proclaiming, "How could I do that? It is supposed to be for Mother's Day, and I wasn't supposed to see it yet". I assured her I didn't look at it. Well, she then decides that if I saw it, I must see it completely. She took it out of her folder and gave it to me. It was the cutest thing. On the front was the little pre-made blurb about Mother's Day and how much the child loved you, and that they drew all these pictures inside the card for Mom. Inside were about 5 pictures she had drawn. Each started off with a preprinted line where the drawing began, and the student drew the rest of it. I was actually pretty impressed! She has always been pretty good at drawing, but coloring, and making up what to draw wasn't always her strong point. I told her how much I loved it, and if she did it all herself. She assured me she did, but Mrs. Adkins helped some. Okay, fair enough. I expected that Mrs. Adkins had done some of the drawing, but she said Mrs. Adkins showed them how to draw the pictures on the board, and the kids drew them all by themselves and picked out which colors to color with. There was a picture of a teddy bear, turtle & mushroom, fish, duck, and sunrise. She was very proud of her handy work, and her coloring was very good! She wasn't able to get all things colored because she had worked so hard on the drawing part. It was very sweet and I will definitely be keeping it forever. I will have to scan some of the drawings, but my computer with scanner is currently down. It may be better if I just take a picture of them. It will get done quicker that way.

Later in the morning we went to brunch and had a very nice time. Lyd ate enough strawberries and whipped cream to last her until next strawberry season. Roo did equally well with his Belgian waffles. It wasn't too crowded there, so that was nice. After we got home we played baseball with the kids. Roo has been wanting to play everyday. He is getting much better at his hitting. It was starting to get hot, so we ducked inside the house for a while and the kids played in their freshly cleaned rooms. It is funny how much they enjoy playing in the clean rooms. I won't see them for days after I give their rooms a thorough cleaning. Later in the afternoon we went to my brother's house and had BBQ. All my family was there beside the two that live out of state. It was nice to sit and chit chat. It had been a while since we were all together. Once we got back home we played a little more baseball and Roo heard the ice cream truck. He yells with much enthusiasm to Lyd, "Hear that music, Lyd? That is the tune of ICE C-R-E-A-M!!!" They race over asking if we could partake of the ice cream truck. Of course we can, so we waited and he finally came around close enough. The kids got some sort of rocket shaped popsicle thing that was watermelon flavored. Roo naturally devoured his in record time, whereas Lyd ate about 1/4 of hers and opted to put it away for later. She likes sweet things, but never finishes a package of anything. The rest of the night was Sunday evening wind down..baths, reading, watching a short movie, and then bedtime. All in all, it was a very nice Mother's Day.


Monday was back to the regular beat. The kids did much better than Dad and I getting up. We were both beat and just wanted to stay in bed. We got going in the end though. What is making it doubly hard this week is the fact that I don't have to be at work at a specific time since there are no labs. I have plenty of work to do, but no labs to prep or man, so I can fudge a little on my morning time and spend more time with the kids at home before we head off to school. This in turn is taken advantage of by me, so I tend lay in bed as late as I can. Kids had a good day at school and I had a good day at work. Very productive, but you can't tell by looking at my lab. I am going through all the drawers and cabinets getting all surplus items boxed up to sell as surplus. We have a lot of it here. Roo and I had a good ride home and once home, we played more baseball. I then went in to Lyd's room to play with her for a while before I started dinner. I could hear her softly sobbing and saw her crouched on the floor over a mass of toys. She had all her boxes down from her closet which made the room appear to be very messy. I asked her if she was crying. She looked up with her big blue eyes pooled with saline while nodding her head. I then see the source of the need to cry. She had dropped her large porcelain horse that came with the Disney Belle Doll her aunt gave her several birthdays ago. Now, don't get me going as to how a porcelain doll and horse are not appropriate for a 3 year old. That is just her aunt, that is all I can say about that. She was trying to pick up all the pieces and figure out how they went back together. She was crying and telling me what happened. "I was looking for my little kitty for Polly Pocket, and pulled down my pony box, but I didn't know my big horse was in there because it was too high. It was too heavy and I dropped it and broke my Hoooorrrrsssseeee! Waaahhhh, waaahhhh, sobbbb, sob, sob. I KNOW she breaks so I was always VEEErrrry careful with her, but I didn't know she was in the pony box.....". What could I do? I picked her up and let her have a good cry into my shoulder while telling her I was very sorry. After she got to feeling a little better I got down onto the floor and started picking up the pieces. Lyd kept asking me if I would be able to fix her. I had to tell her I wasn't sure because she was broken into lots of pieces, so it may not work. She kept telling me sobbingly, "Ohhhhkaaayyy". She understood that part had resolved that she just may be gone, but she wasn't happy about it at all. I then quoted to her the Humpty Dumpty line, "All the Kings Horses...blah, blah, blah. And then it really seemed to sink in for her. This horse was NOT going back together. She wasn't able to throw it away yet, so we left all the pieces on the counter in the kitchen. We got out the vacuum cleaner and I let her vacuum up all the little pieces of the horse that were left behind. This helped her, though her broken heart was still in pieces. I then played dolls with her and let her be the boss for a while over my doll. Eventually Roo strolled in and I asked if he would finish playing dolls with Lyd while I made dinner. He happily agreed. Five minutes later, Lyd must have told Roo the woeful tale of the horse, because they came into the kitchen and Roo gingerly poked at the remnants of the horse all the while offering words of condolences to his sister. He then asked if I could glue it back. I simply quoted the Humpty Dumpty line again, and while horrified he understood. Funny how I never knew that little rhyme would be so helpful! It seemed to really drive it home that this horse was not going to be a horse anymore. The horse was still sitting on the counter this morning. I will throw it out later today, but I need to let her get used to it being broken so that when it is missing from the counter she won't flip out.

Blossoms and Blooms

A few shots of the flowers in my backyard. Many more of the bulb flowers have come up since these were taken. I need to get some pictures of those before they fade.

Giving it Another Shot

I tried to upload these pictures on Friday. I managed to get it done, but then found I had uploaded duplicate images. I tried to delete the duplicates, but deleted them all. I tried, tried, and tried again to upload them again, but they wouldn't show, so I gave up. I am giving another try today.

These pictures were taken during Srping Break. It was late in the afternoon on a warm day. The kids started by making a volcano. Then, it went on to splashing in the mud. At first I wasn't going to let them, but then I remembered my many hours of stompin in the mud as a kid, so I told them to go for it. The only thing was that they would have to strip before coming into the house and get a quick rinse with the hose afterwards. That was the price of admission. Well, as you can see, they had a grand time in the mud. I had no idea they would end up covered from head to toe in mud, but then again, why wouldn't they end up that way? Roo's pants ended up getting so mud laiden that they were falling, so we just took those off him before too long.

When it came time for the fun to end, they were much less than pleased to be stripped down and hosed off, but it had to be done. But, before I did that, I had warm bubbles awaiting them. Lyd's hair was so caked with mud and sand that I literally had to wash it five times, and then only with conditioner did it finally all come out. Roo's was much easier, but he wasn't thrilled about the scrubbing of the scalp. Must have a tender head up there.

Nothing Like a Good Romp in the Mud!

My Roo Being Silly as Ever

Not Quite the Princess she Pretends to Be

Now, How Could a Roll in the Mud be Wrong?

A Splashing Good Time was had by All.

I Changed My Mind

I originally started a draft mostly venting about how angry I ended up being at my very hard working husband yesterday. I have since changed my mind and decided no one really wants to read a gripe session. So, onto bigger and better things.

My son had his "official" last day at the college pre-school. He will be here a little bit next week during finals, but this was the last hoorah. They had an end of the year party which was really nice. It was potluck. I brought pizza, which obviously was a wise choice because it was gone quickly. I, myself, opted for the chinese noodle dish. It was delicious. They also had the kids sing some songs and showed a video slide show of the year. It was very sweet, and before I knew it I had tears running down my face. I won't be going over to the children's center anymore after next week. I will miss my kids riding with me in the car on my way to work, but I will enjoy being able to listen to what I like to on the radio. I know I won't be able to get home fast enough so I can see their sunny faces. Roo is off to his next venture in life...the big K. His sister has done very well in kindergarten, and having her through the hoops now definitely gives me more perspective as to what to expect next year.

Isn't he just too gorgeous?

I am going to end this now and put up another post with pictures of the kids playing in the mud one day and some pictures of my flowers.

Monday, Monday...

How can it be Monday again so quickly. This weekend went by in a flash. Friday, the division meeting ended up going over, so that definitely put an end to going to C's house early for her 40th birthday bash. I knew it was a slim chance, but as faculty kept whining about the placement of a portable building during the remodel, I could hear the clock minutes being sucked down the siphon. As it were, I didn't get home with much time to spare to get ready to go out the planned dinner. Got home, ordered pizza for the kids. Half cheese for Lyd, half cheese and olive for Roo. Call C to tell her happy birthday and to tell her of my situation, telling her I will try to get to her house tonight, but will call first. She was okay with it, but apparently a lot of people had called and been canceling for her party. Bummer, made me feel worse, because I should be there! Pizza arrives earlier than expected. Kids are banging on my door as I get out of the shower, "Pizza dude is here!" I quickly toss on robe and pay the "dude". Kids are quickly appeased with pizza. I get dressed, and M arrives late from work himself. Baby sitter arrives, M in the shower. We finish getting ready and whisk out the door.

Dinner was a nice affair. We were able to see a couple friends we haven't seen in years. All in all it was nice. Nothing terribly exciting, but nice. The entire time I kept thinking I really wanted to speed it along so I could go to C's party. Dinner went long. We did not leave the restaurant until 9:00, which put us getting back home at 9:15. I was beat, and did not call to inform C that I was coming to the party. I snuggled into my pajamas, went and read a book to Lyd and Roo. They were already in bed when we got home, but they weren't asleep yet. I then snuggled into bed and was very quickly asleep.

Saturday morning came much too soon. M took off to ride the three-wheeler with a work buddy. He would be gone most of the day. Kids and I plink around the house for a bit in the morning. I was doing housework, while they were making housework. LOL. Got the laundry started and decided to treat them to breakfast at their favorite restaurant, which is just down the street. We have a good time there, but they were super amped up for the day of parties. Breakfast being done, we headed to Target to get birthday gifts. This took an enormously large amount of time. We were buying two gifts and the kids could not decide what to get the recipients. Now, they could easily tell me what they, themselves wanted. We finally got that all done and took Lyd to her party. It was a princess party so she was immediately adorned in a princess outfit and tiara. I knew this family, so I left her there while Roo and I went back home to wrap the other present.
After wrapping and filling out the card Roo and I played baseball in the backyard. My little lefty boy is coming along nicely. He is sooo darn cute. After two hours, we leave to pick up the little princess and head to the next party.

We arrive before they sang happy birthday and the like. We stayed for that and they played in the bounce house for a while. Roo was the only prince among a harem of princesses. I wished I had my camera. It would have been a very cute picture. We arrive at the next party about 40 minutes late, but it wasn't a problem. The kids had a great time there. There was a bounce house as well, but I don't think Roo went in at all. He was busy playing with all the different boy toys they have at that house. He was in his element. They have some toys he has been wanting for a very long time and has never received. The older boy (Garrett), Lyd's age and in Lyd's class lost his first tooth while we were there. He was very excited. Trent turned 5, so is less than a month younger than Roo. They will probably be in the same kindergarten class next year, and Lyd and Garrett will more than likely be in the same first grade class since we requested the same teacher. What fun it will be! We did not get home until about 6:00 pm. We stayed later than everyone else because the kids were having a grand time. After we got home, I made dinner for the kids. They played for a little while, and then crashed HARD at bedtime, as did I.

This is the final week of labs for this semester. Students are checking out of their lab drawers. It is always a bit nutty during this week. Once it is over though, I will be able to start boxing up equipment not needed for this summer, and throwing old stuff out and surplusing usable stuff. It will be nice to purge a lot of old junk. I can do that more readily since our oldest instructor retired and I know there is stuff that only he used. Now, all that can go by the wayside. There is so much extra stuff in this building that has built up over 30 years of teaching. It will be cathartic to get rid of it. Off to a meeting about this very subject.

Snakes & Volcanoes & Birthday Parties

Lyd couldn't wait for me to get home after she finished school yesterday. She was so excited to tell me that she, "got to pet a real snake today!" She went on to tell me all about the snake. It was a gopher snake and we could sure use one in our yard to get rid of our gophers. The rangers had come and given their talk about Smokey Bear and introduced them to all kinds of park ranger stuff. She adored it all. She got a really nice goody bag full of Smokey Bear paraphernalia, which included an extra pencil she asked for from the rangers for her brother. She never ceases to amaze me with what she will actually like. On the very surface, she is the most prissy, princess & doll loving girl you will ever meet. She is more lady-like in her stature and demeanor than I know I ever could be. She flat out refuses to wear brown. I had bought her nice pair of brown pants and she simply would not wear them. I am sure the battle of my trying to force those pants on her long shanks must have been hilarious. She has never worn those pants. I gave them away. She is VERY comfortable with her femininity. But on the flip side she is very fond of getting dirty and not taking baths, she likes snakes (an all other creatures for that matter), she can throw a football, and she loves to climb trees. Once, while watching Bambi with the baby sitter while we were out, the babysitter starts whining at the hunting scene, "Oh! Those poor deer! That bad, bad hunter!" Lyd looks at her stone cold sober and says in the most disgusted mommy voice she could muster, "Oh, Leighanne! The hunter has to eat too!" The babysitter said she about fell over laughing from being put in her place from a then 4 year old.

Roo is very much into volcanoes right now. He wants to see one RIGHT NOW. He keeps asking me to tell him all about them, and he has a million questions I can't answer because I don't really know didly about volcanoes. I know the basics, but he is asking way more than basic stuff. So, I told him I would take him to the geology teacher on campus to have a chat with him. Well, they were gone on a field trip to Death Valley. They are back now, so I may take Roo for a visit today if our division meeting doesn't go too late today. I did stop by to warn the instructor and asked about which volcano would be best to see. I told him that Roo wanted to go to Hawaii to lava tubes. Well, my lucky day, he told me we didn't have to go to Hawaii. There are some at Mount Lassen. So, I think we may have to head up there soon. He would be thrilled beyond belief to see those.

This weekend is shaping up to be a busy one. Both kids have parties to go to tomorrow. Lyd was invited to a Princess party, and was also invited (along with her brother) to a party for her classmates younger brother. I thought both parties were at the same time, but the princess party starts two hours before the other party, so I am thinking she will be able to attend both. Roo is going to the later one, so I will just pick her up a little early from the other party and go to the other party a little late. All strategic planning of course.

Now, one of my best friends (J's older sister) turns 40 today. I kept the weekend open as long as I could without committing to anything because I thought she may have a party or something going on. Yes, I should have called, but I didn't so shame on me. Well, I hadn't heard from her by Wednesday afternoon, so went ahead and told the people who invited us to a birthday dinner earlier in the week that we would go, Friday night. They had waited long enough for an answer. Wouldn't you know it, later that evening C calls telling me that they are going to have a Cinco de Mayo party at her house Friday and would like it if we could go. Damn. I told her I didn't know if If we could because we had already committed ourselves to a dinner party Friday night at 6:30. She sounded a bit disappointed, and told me her brother H was flying in from Texas, and that everyone except J was going to be there. I tell her I may try to make it before we go to dinner, but didn't know how plausible that was because she lives 20 minutes away, so that would be 40 minutes of driving. To throw in an extra wrinkle, our division meeting was rescheduled to this afternoon, and I need to be there because we planning our big move into temp buildings this summer while they remodel our old building. This is going to run until at least 3:00 o'clock which prevents me from leaving early today to drive my 40 minutes home, get kids ready, and go to C's party for an hour or so before heading out to dinner tonight. How do I get in these messes? I just should have told C I couldn't make it. We have known each other practically our entire lives, so that isn't something to easily disregard either. If we get done with dinner soon enough, I may go solo over to the party for a bit. I would really like to see her and everyone else. M will probably have had enough of parties and whatnot for that night. That is NOT his strong suit. He can stay home and read his books. Man loves to read.

My flowers are coming up nicely. My bulbs did well, but I was a bit disappointed at the size of the early bulbs that came up. They looked HUGE on the package. I expected 14" stalks with a good 5 inches of flowering buds at the top. Well, I got about 5 inch stalks with about 1 inch of tiny flowers at the tops. My other bulbs are doing well now. The leafs are much to look at resembling very bad parsley, but the flowers are just starting to bloom and those are pretty. My roses are also doing very nicely. My pink and yellow roses are absolutely gorgeous right now. The kids ran out yesterday, "LOOK at Mom's flowers!"

Is Friday over yet?

No Trains, fun, or Other Games

Plans for the weekend ran aground early Saturday morning. 1:35 in the morning to be exact. My husband and I awoke to Roo's high pitch crying between gurgling sounds which launched us out of bed like a catapult. We found Roo laying in bed with his head hung over the side emitting his dinner, desert, and whatever other snacks he happened to have. My husband and I work in a team in these matters. I am usually the one in charge of the child, and he handles the cleaning.

I get a huge bowl so I can get him to the bathroom without having a trail all the way to clean up afterwards. He finishes his deed and I clean him up. Poor guy, I had to stip him down to nothing and he was standing there shivering while I ran and got him some clean clothes. After getting him all taken care of, I went to help M with cleaning up the room. The mess was everywhere, and on a light gray carpet, it was obvious there was much work do be done. I strip the bed linens and M is taking care of the carpet. Once I get the bed stuff into the washer, on double rinse, I head back to help M. We get the job done as much as we could, but it was still a huge stain. M had just bought me a new carpet cleaner for Mother's Day. I tell him I will get it out and start to work because if this stain sets, it is all over for this room. M offers to do the cleaning and tells me to take Roo into our bed. So, Roo and I slumber amidst the roaring of the carpet cleaner. Once that was done (and a fine job it did!), I got back up and get Roo's bed in order and get him back in bed with his large bowl. Now, this kid is good with his bowl. He never misses, which is any monther's blessing. We all get back in bed and Roo proceeds to be sick throughout the night needing help getting his face cleaned up afterwards and words of comfort. I was super beat on Friday, so M stayed up with Roo through the night. What a saint! I got up in the morning to take over so M could get some sleep himself. Poor Roo, you know the kid is sick when he tells you, "Mom, I am sorry, we can't go to the trains today". He was that pasty white color with green cast, that just says I am hella sick. He continues to be sick until he finally fell asleep about 1:00 pm. His body had given his stomach a total eviction notice. He woke up and was still feeling under the weather and just took it easy the rest of the day. Sunday, he was appreciably better and running around but not with quite as much zest as usual.

Now, Sunday at dinner Lyd did not eat much at all, nor did Roo, but I didn't really expect him to be ready quite yet. After dinner she said she wasn't feeling good and just wanted to lay down. She said her stomach was hurting. In preparation for the worst, I brought the freshly washed bowl to her bed and told her to try and get some sleep. Hubby and I were talking in our room, saying that she wasn't acting like herself and that I had better head into work and get stuff ready for Monday in the event that Lyd did get sick. Well, as it were, we didn't even finish our conversation when we hear her whimpering in her room. I head in there and there she is standing by her bed, room stinking to high heaven, and the sick bowl with some in it, but the majority of it was on her bed and floor. I whisked up the bowl and put it under her and she continued to be sick for a while. I get her all cleaned up and changed, pull her back into a pony-tail so that didn't end up being caught in the mess as well. We got her bed all changed and stuff started in the washer and get her back in bed with the bowl. Now, she is not like her brother in regards to the bowl. She doesn't hang her head there waiting until she is done. She puts her head upright until the next wave hits her, but then getting her face into the bowl is a little slow and there is always a certain amount that misses because of this. Very frustrating. Anyway, I went to work to finish get stuff done for Monday. I get back home about 9:00 and take the night shift with Lyd. We were up all night. Every 20 minutes she was heading to the bathroom. She was quite sick. All she wanted was Gatorade, and I kept telling her it would make her sick all over again. Well, she wouldn't relent, and I would give her a sip her and there, but she would always end up getting sick with it. Finally, at four o'clock, I couldn't take any more. I traded with hubby so I could get some sleep. Wouldn't you know it though, Lyd slept through from then on out. LOL. Anyway, 7:00 comes too quickly and everyone is up. Lyd is still quite sick throughout the day until about noon when she passes out due to shear exhaustion. Andrew is doing pretty well throughout the day, but doesn't take a nap, so I didn't get one either. Hubby gets home, and I head off to work to get stuff done for Tuesday.

Apparently during my commute home, Roo became sick again with the runs. Uggh, mess everywhere. M had taken care of it though and got that laundry going and set Roo up in our bed with a trail of towels heading to the bathroom to catch anything that didn't make it. Well, Roo had another major event that night. The night was long, but I got some sleep. Tuesday rolled around, and both kids finally seemed on the mend. My sis in law came over to watch them at noon for a couple hours while I went to work to manage stuff for Wednesday. Wednesday came, and all was well and right with the world. Both kids back in school and doing okay. Lyd was a bit resistant to head back to school and was stringing out the sickness thing. Now, I didn't want to send her to school if she were still sick, but she was fine so long as I wasn't asking her to do something she didn't want to do, such as studying her spelling words for the test she was having that day. As soon as we finished that, she asked if she could play. Initially I said no because we x and x to do, but then I said, "yes, go play for five minutes, and then we will finish up with getting you ready for school". That was a good choice on my part, because after that she was just fine and did everything she was asked without any whining. yay!

Now, I am at work, way behind but taking time to get this post up. Now, time to hit the chemistry benches...my lab is a complete disaster. We cannot leave instructors unattended in the lab.