Wordless Wednesday

Weekends

Happy Birthday (yesterday) to Papa Ray!!!



A brief look into our Saturday...through the eyes of a child

*You know when you spin around so much that the house starts to tilt?

And then you give up on holding the wall up and just lie down?

And after a brief rest you go outside and play, get all muddy, and need a bath,

And then mommy makes you wash your face and it makes you so sad? Yeah, thats what our day was like.

Military School. Seriously. I need the number. Now. Right now.

Following will be a true conversation that I had with my lovely almost 10 year old daughter this morning.

(And let me add that our day ended the same way, but with a different topic of converstaion)

This morning Gracie got up early. Really early. 5:30 am early. And Odin was up not long after. So they were hungry early. 7 am rolled around and we were in the kitchen before Kelli was up, they were eating Cheerios, I was puttering around the house, making beds and getting ready for the day.

Kelli came up, walked past us all with barely a grumbled "good morning" and flopped down on the couch, changing the channel to whatever show she needed to see at that moment. I also went and grabbed the laundry and put it into the washer.

Then I walked into the living room. Conversation #1

Kelli: I want toast with peanut butter.  (Gives me a "do it now" look)
Me: Ok, the toaster is in the cupboard. The bread is on the counter. The Peanut butter is in the pantry.
Kelli: (whining) But I'll have to get the toaster out.
Me: It doesn't weigh 80lbs. I think you can handle it.
Kelli: (snottily) FINE! I'll just have a yogurt then!
Me: Fine. Give me the remote and go eat in the kitchen.
Kelli: (Throws remote at my head. Literally) I'LL BE ALL ALONE!
Me: I don't care. Eat at the table.
Kelli: YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ME? WHAT MOTHER SAYS THAT! YOU SAID YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ME! AND THE TABLE IS COVERED WITH STUFF! I'LL EAT ON THE FLOOR. HAPPY?!?!
Me: Sure. Go for it.

Then a fight over who would stir her yogurt followed. She did it herself. I refused. She is almost 10. I"m sure she can stir her own yogurt.

And then I went to putter around some more while she sulked on the floor on the kitchen eating her yogurt.

Round 2.

Kelli: Is the washer running (even though she had watched me take the laundry downstairs 10 minutes before)
Me: Uh, yes. It is. Why?
Kelli: I NEED a shower. Look at my hair!
Me: I think you'll survive. Besides you are going swimming in an hour and it will get wet anyway.
Kelli: I HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL, AND PLAY OUTSIDE, AND THEN GO INTO MY CLASSROOM, AND RIDE ON THE BUS, AND YOU EXPECT ME TO GO LOOKING LIKE THIS!!!!
Me: Yes.
Kelli: THERE IS A RATS NEST IN MY HAIR. A RAT MADE A NEST. IN. MY. HAIR. AND YOU WON'T LET ME SHOWER. YOU ARE THE WORST MOM EVER!!
Me: Ok. Go get dressed and brush your teeth.
Kelli: YOUR HAIR LOOKS LIKE A RAT MADE A NEST IN IT. UGH. (stomps off, still screaming at me)

She planted her butt on the couch and said she would not go to school, until I called her dad and he offered to come home and CARRY her to school over his shoulder. That smartened her up pretty quickly.

At this point I started tuning out her whining, insults and rude comments and started repeatedly telling her to go get dressed and brush her teeth. Then she shared this gem on her way down to her room, stomping her feet as hard as possible. With her voice dripping with sarcasm and eyes rolling in her head she said

"Oh yeah, you are the best mom in the world. Won't even let your daughter have a shower".

And I was done. She is now grounded for a week. No friends. No phone. No computer. No leaving our house or the yard unless she is going to school. So for the long weekend she will not step foot off of our property. Not one toe.

And the worst part of it, the very worst part that makes the entire fight pretty much pointless....was that her hair wasn't even messed up. It looked fine.

Sadly for her I will not be her chef and make her breakfast whenever she feels like she wants it. I will not ask her if I can do laundry on the off chance that she wants to have a shower, especially if she has spent the last half hour sitting on her butt watching tv. I do not care if she is having a bad hair day, she still has to go to school. She is not in charge.

Soooo....its been a long day.

Gracie and Odin are both fighting a bug again too. They are both a little grouchy, and not sleeping well. Bleh. Dustin has it too, hes feeling just a little bit off. Not really sick, just not healthy.

I saw the doctor yesterday. I have to get my iron checked now, and again in 2 months to see if the levels have gone up, down, or stayed steady. He said he will call if this first test comes back with unexpected results. He said he has no idea why its going down, and he had done all he knows how to do so for now he is going to "track and treat" as he needs too.

I see the specialist in August. Just a little wait.

He also looked at my leg. He said it is not a hernia (but to do the ultrasound just in case) but its probably the "Flexor Muscles" which is a really big muscle, actually 3 muscles, that go from hip to knee. If it ever gets to the point it was last time they can give me a shot to make it a bit better. It hurts today again after he pushed and pulled on it yesterday. Hopefully taking it easy for a few days will clear that up.

I also chatted with him about some, ahem, tummy issues and he told me exactly what I figued he would. So now with some delicious new meds to help settle things (seriously, its like drinking orange sand) I get to completely revamp my diet and try to make things ok so I can go off the meds.

Sooo....that was our day in a nutshell. Time to go get a hug me jacket and lock myself in a room with padded walls for awhile. That will make things better.

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day! to both Nanas. We love you both very much, and you mean more to us then we can possibly put into words. Thanks for always being there and doing all that you do.

And of course a big Happy Mothers Day to all the other Moms out there!


We had a fun day. Dustin cooked pancakes for breakfast, and gave the sryup monster a bath afterwards. I pried Odins fork and plate off the table then shook my hand viciously until the syrup let go of its grasp on me so I could wash them....

We saw Nana and Papa for a little while this afternoon, they brought the kids something fun....

The kids love the truck. I love the truck. Its been around since Kelli was just a baby, and it will be around for a long long time to come. Nana and Papa needed room for a greenhouse in their backyard, so our lucky kids have a new toy. If they could stop fighting over who gets to drive, that would be great.

It was a beautiful day out today. Sunny, and warm, and except for the wind, gorgeous. Even the wind was pretty warm. We went for a walk around the block, and the kids didn't come in all day. They went out at 8:30, and only came in to eat. They were melting down by 4 because they were awfully tired out, but a second bath to clean off their muddy bodies perked them up. Dustin bbq'd some delicious steaks and potatoes for dinner, and the kids are passed out in their beds well before 7pm.

We ended the day like we often do. With Kelli yelling at me. ts really not a full day if I haven't been told I'm doing something wrong by that kid. It happens so often that its not really a shock anymore. She says I made her the "Boring Life Kid" at school because I won't let her have junk food in her lunch. She says "All the other kids get to take good things like pop tarts, and cinnamon buns, and gummies and skittle and juice. Good juice, not the gross juice that you buy"

I offered to buy her apple or orange juice (because we don't often buy juice, nothing is wrong with water) but she says those are "gross". I guess we are between a rock and hard place because I will not buy poptarts (EVER) or cinnamon buns, or candy, or lunchables, or s'more ritz crackers, or chips, or pop, for her to take to school.

Apparently my version of "good" food and her version are totally different. Sadly for her, I do the grocery shopping and her "good" foods will not be finding the way into my cart.

All in all it was a very nice day and I enjoyed being home with my lovely family. And my leg felt 99% good today! Yay! Healed!

Not Much To Say Today

I don't have much to say today, but I do have some super cute pictures of my little monsters....er.... darlings to show off. They have been pretty darn happy with the sunshine, even if it is so windy they have to fight to stay standing.

Odin showing off his new spoon skills, he very suddenly decided he needed to eat applesauce and cheerios with milk. Now we just have to get him using a knife and hes got it all figured out.

Gracie had her nails painted. Bright Pink. Has to be ready for flip flop weather! And she has a tan. A TAN. A really nice one.

Kelli was unavliable for picture taking as she was having a sleepover. So I had to be sneaky and take one when she wasn't looking...

Kelli has far more freedom this year then she did last year. She can go to her friends houses if she wants to, or to the park, or from houses to park to house to park to house....you get the picture. The girl laying down is Kaylie, her BFF. (Yeah, I can use tween talk) She lives a few blocks away, up near Dr. Kearney and they play almost every day after school, either at one of their houses, or at the school. Soccer nights at Alwin Holland are really fun because they have a few other friends that are dragged their by their parents to cheer on sisters and brothers, so they all meet up and play together.

Replacement Parts

I think I need to call in my warranty and get a few replacement parts. I would like a new right leg, from hip to ankle, as well as a new right knee. I think I also need a new iron to blood absorbtion unit, mine seems to be malfunctioning. It works that way right? They just give me new, better working parts?

Ok, maybe not.

My leg is very slowly getting better, I can walk again. I still can't lift it or stand up straight, but its better then it was. I did see the doctor on Tuesday, he said its either a badly pulled muscle, or a hernia. His money is on the hernia since its something that has happened more then once, and because it went from kind of hurting Monday, to can't-walk-it-hurts-so-bad on Tuesday. We just patiently wait until July for an Ultrasound to find out which it is. I also see my doctor in two weeks, and I'll get his opinion on it all.

Luckily Nana and Papa jumped in and saved the day by taking Gracie and Odin for the weekend. They could have stayed home, but I think it would have taken twice as long to heal. Those kids don't know what "Stop jumping on mommies leg!" means.

I am going slowly insane though. I don't sit and do nothing. I hate sitting and doing nothing. HAVING to sit and do nothing s a form of slow torture.

Dustin suddenly has a very very busy weekend. Since I can't drive (I can't get my foot to move from gas to brake. I've heard braking is important) So that means Dustin gets to do all of his "honey to do list" chores, as well as mine. He gets to take Kelli for her haircut, go grocery shopping, and take down the swingset and take it to the dump. Its broken and the kids seem to think that its to be used as a climbing toy, not a swinging one.

We are also going to drop Kelli off at my parents for dinner while we go out for a date night. They are few and far between, we take them when we can. Tomorrow we are all going to go to see "The Ultimate Avengers".  Kelli really wants to see it (In 3D!) and it looks pretty funny. Gotta love Ironman and the Hulk.

Kelli is really loving spring this year. She is old enough that she can go to the park by herself, and she can go to her best friends house who lives a few blocks away. Usually they meet at the school to play, and a few other kids usually end up joining them too. She had a sleepover last night, I have no idea when they went to bed. They were still up, but tired, at 10, I doubt they made it long after that.

Happy Birthday Dustin

Happy (belated) Birthday to my wonderful Husband. I hope you enjoyed your day!

Dustin had to work on his birthday but we were all here when he got home, we had a spaghetti dinner and CAKE!! Ice cream cake for some of us, cupcakes for others. The kids helped Daddy open his presents before heading off to bed.

Everyone has felt a little bit off this week, so its been a pretty quiet week for us. I was sick all week, and Odin complained more then once about his tummy hurting. He had the grouchy mood to go along with it. Gracie didn't have a tummy ache, but she didn't sleep well and we had far too many early days during the week. I'm pretty sure they don't actually need to be up for the day at 5:25. Today was the first day they slept in for us, getting up at 6:30. Yes - that counts as sleeping in.

Luckily it was also rainy and wet all week and we didn't feel badly about being stuck in the house. Yesterday and today have been a bit better and all the kids have gotten to run around outside and burn off some energy.

Kelli came home with her report card today. Her very first report card with letter grades. She did very well, all A's and B's, and 1 C+.  We are very proud of her. And fairly shocked that she was given a proper report card in the midst of the teachers strike.