It's tall enough to lose a small child in it. See anything? What about now? Can you see Preston's back? He's not even lying flat, but rather crouched down and you can still barely see him. I really lost him yesterday when I went into the garage to get something and couldn't find him when I returned. I asked Kate where he was and she said, "He's in the grass!" We are SO embarassed about this to no end. Our yard is always so meticulous. I'd been telling Christopher to mow it for 3 weeks now but he said it didn't need it. He won't let me on the mower after I wrecked it, or I would have done it myself! But after 6 inches of rain in less than a week, and other rainy days off, our grass now measures well over 15 inches tall. I believe, after driving around town, that we are the only people that have not mowed our grass. And wouldn't you know, we have at least 3 inches of standing water in our backyard as I type, and more coming Saturday.
I saw this on the Today Show this morning and have been loving it ever since!
How fabulous is that? I'd never have the guts to do that!
It reminds me of a kid I went to school with. His name was D. Pancake. Yes, Pancake was his last name. His mom's name was Kitty Pancake (think of that visual a bit...). I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. D. was different. If I had to pick, I'd say he had Asperger's Syndrome. He was highly intelligent, but was so backwards and introverted. If you tried to talk to him, it was not easy to have a conversation. The poor kid was the butt of so many jokes/pranks.
One day in civics class, we were given a project to work on where we had to recite various things (Gettysburg Address, etc.). The teacher jokingly said that he'd give extra credit to anyone who sang the National Anthem. When it came to D's turn, he stood up, as stiff as a board, put his hand to his heart, turned to the flag, and belted out this super serious version of the National Anthem. We couldn't help it, and the entire class was in an uproar, nearly falling out of our seats (you really had to be there). We looked back at the teacher and he was beet red, trying his best not to bust out himself. When D. finally finished, the teacher, with tears streaming down his face, and in between trying to catch his breath from laughing, said, "I was completely joking when I said you'd get extra credit for singing because I didn't think anyone would. But you've definitely earned extra credit!"
It's one of those totally random moments in life that stick with you forever. I wonder what ever happened to D. after high school...
It was one of those days. A very trying, aggravating, want-to-bang-your-head-against-the-wall days. I am SO thankful that today was the last day of spring break!
The kids started fighting at breakfast. Kate ended up being sent to her room and spent a good deal of time there until I cooled off. We had a few good hours of relative niceness, but it started again after lunch and I'd had ALL I could stand. I may or may not have lost my temper. At that point they were told they were going to bed as soon as dinner was over- not a fun thing to do. But they're lucky because at that point, I was ready to send them to bed right then and there, and it was only 2:30. Sigh...
And wouldn't you know, it started thundering again as soon as it was time to get Preston in bed. EVERY STINKING NIGHT for the past week, it has started storming precisely at bedtime. That means that I have to lie down with him and cover his ear with my hand to dampen the sound. He's already been woken up once tonight. I don't know how much more of these storms I can take.
Easter in our family is a weekend-long event. Two days, three gatherings, enough candy to make your eyes boggle. If anyone needs any peeps, we may or may not have a shelf full... Thursday, as soon as we walked in the door from our day of shopping, we dyed eggs. The kids have done this enough times that they are pretty good at it. But I stepped from the room to call my mom and come back to find them mixing the colors and had dye spilled all over the table and the floor. I am SO thankful we had oak laid last summer instead of carpet!
We have had an extraordinarily stormy week around here, with 4 inches of rain in just two days alone, with another 4-5 forecasted over the next 3 days. Good Friday wasn't necessarily "good" for our area as a tornado swept through St. Louis that night and took out a good majority of the airport and leveled many neighborhoods. We watched that coverage as we sat in the basement with tornado sirens going off for the third time in 2 days. The kids were scared. There was a tornado the next county over, but luckily, we were spared once again. So because of all of this stormy weather and excessive rain, egg hunts were inside.
Saturday, we went to Grandma Lou and Grandpa Ed's house. The kids LOVE going there, and their favorite thing to do is play in their garage. Lou sets up toys for them and they primarily stay out there having a grand time! This time they had bubbles, which Preston promptly spilled an entire container on her rug. After lunch, they hunted their eggs. Each year, Unlce Eddie has a "big kids" egg hunt which is for the adult children (us and cousins). He lives for this each year and starts planning it as soon as Easter is over. Over the years, they have included elaborate puzzle boxes, secret codes and compartments, you name it. This year he claimed as always, that this would be the hardest one yet. He was right! We searched through every cabinet, drawer, under every piece of furniture... nothing. He finally gave us a clue after we all admitted that in fact, it was the hardest yet. He had bought a bunch of secret containers that looked just like cans of fruit, shaving cream, Liquid Wrench, soda cans and a water bottle. All of them were hidden in their appropriate areas (fruit in the cabinet, soda in the fridge) and contained an egg with a number on it. After we found them all, we had to figure out the combination to a small safe from the numbers on the 7 eggs to get our prize. We always have so much fun with this every year and I know he enjoys it just as much!
Preston was up bright and early at 6:30 this morning. He went down and saw the Easter baskets and ran up to wake Kate, who had no intention of getting up before 7:00 and told him so. So we waited and at 7, I told him to go get her. They were excited to see Star Wars Legos int heir baskets along with Corn Nuts. Preston was beyond thrilled! Kate was too tired to hunt eggs as well, so Preston tore through finding all of them. I love the dropping eggs as he runs to find more! Ready for church. Our twin neices, Abbie and Issie were being dedicated this morning but unfortunately, I forgot to even get a picture of them after church. The kids ready to hunt the eggs. From front to back: Issie, Abbie, Kate, Sarah, Preston and Gracie. Each year since I was little, my Granny has always had a scavenger hunt type egg hunt for us where each egg has a clue to the next egg and a prize at the end. The kids always love these and as wet and muddy as it was, she still had it! By the time they were done, they were wet and muddy! Here's Pa, still nursing that broken ankle. She how good his foot looks? Just a month ago when he had his accident, it was pretty mauled up, and now it is pretty much healed. He's getting around better each day and as soon as the bone heals, he'll be up and around! We had dinner next door at mom's and she had eggs hidden in her basement for the kids. They tore through in no time flat and went through even more candy! And this was just minutes after my brother, Seth, trying to be tricky and balance in a spare wheelchair, lost his balance and flipped over backward. I wish I'd caught that on film! Cooper, little Glen, Preston and Kate. Overall, we had a really good Easter and enjoyed spending time with family. Now if we can just survive the next three days of storms without being washed away. The river in town is well past its bank and with as much rain as we've gotten and are supposed to get, I can see it quickly tempting the tops of the levees. It's really something.
I'm a brave woman. Either that, or I'm a glutton for punishment. I braved taking both kids shopping for an entire day. It went better than I expected- better than the last time, but it certainly took at least 3 times longer because they were always stopping to look at something or other. I had hoped to be home well before 3:00, but we rolled into town at 4:30.
Kate had so much store credit for Abercrombie from returns that we breezed through that store with a full bag and still have an unreal amount of money on her gift card. I didn't even tell Christopher how much credit she had between birthday returns and Christmas gift cards. But we got her returns all made at all of the stores, and lots more summer clothes, so I'm really glad about that!
It seemed like every store we went into, everything was complicated and took forever. Checking out was crazy! Especially at Justice where they messed up our store credit and it ended up taking 10 minutes to check out for 2 items... Combine that with Preston who had been crying all through the store because I wouldn't pay $20 for smelly pencils. Kate was so embarassed that she walked off and looked at clothes while I tended to the melt-down. Argh!
Then we lost Preston's jacket. We knew he had it on when we went into the mall, but didn't have it when we left. Of course, we didn't notice that until we'd already left the mall and were at another store. So we went back to the mall, taking even more time, and went to each store we shopped to see if someone had found it. We finally gave up. Then of course, when we got to the car, I looked in one of our shopping bags and there it was. Sigh.
But we pride ourselves as being great songwriters! We'd been listening to the Beatles Past Masters cd and "She Loves You" was playing, so we made our own song to it's tune.
You say you've lost your coat. Well I saw it just today-ee-ay You searched all through the mall And you didn't find it anywhere.
Well, we found it, and you know that can't be bad. Yes, we found it, and you know you should be glad.
We found it, yeah yeah yeah We found it, yeah yeah yeah We found it yeah yeah yeah yeah.
Yesterday was a doozy weather-wise. Early in the morning, thunder rolled and it quickly escalated to tornado sirens at 7:30. Down to the basement we went but it was short-lived and we went on with getting ready for school. I turned on the news after I dropped the kids off and near St. Louis they had reported tornadoes and *baseball-sized hail*. Yeah. They were reporting that even worse storms were coming in later in the evening and to be prepared.
They were prepared- the National Weather Center was in town, they cancelled all regular programming to provide constant storm coverage. We could see it coming toward us. Dad called to see if it was doing anything our way yet as it was getting pretty rough down his way. While talking, the winds came out of nowhere. Fierce winds. I took Preston upstairs to read before bed and we heard it again... tornado sirens. No sooner had we gotten to the basement, hail started pounding. Thankfully it was only that size of marbles. I had the tv on and they were reporting strong rotation over our town and our road. Talk about things that make you scared! Luckily, we were spared. Once the storm passed over, we were off to bed. I don't think there was any real damage that we know of. We were very lucky!
And like our crazy winter that dropped half a foot of snow on us once a week, spring is dropping severe weather every few days. They're forecasting tornadoes again for tomorrow night, and more severe weather Sunday/Monday. It's crazy. Kate is convinced it's the end of the world.
After finding mushrooms in our backyard and over the hill at Pa's, we've been itching to go mushroom hunting. So this afternoon, the kids and I went along with mom up to Granny and Pa's land up in Ramsey and set off. Just look at some of the whoppers we found! They were everywhere we looked! The kids weren't too into it at first, especially when they found a tree frog that they quickly put in their sack and carried around all afternoon. Once Kate spotted one, she was seeing them everywhere and Preston caught on just minutes after that. So we had all four of us in hot pursuit of those yummy little guys.
Here's our haul- nearly 2 full grocery sacks! There weren't many morels, which are the best. Mainly just a bunch of pecker heads (sorry, but that's all I've even known them to be), but they fry up nicely, too! We'll be heading up to mom's this week to have mushrooms for dinner! I brought a few home to fry up for myself for lunch. They make Christopher VERY sick, so I get to enjoy them all myself! For those of you who don't know too much about these wild mushrooms, the ones with the light-colored heads are morels, and are worth quite a pretty penny in restaurants since they only grow in April/May in certain areas. The others, well, I'm not sure if they're worth anything, but they're pretty tasty! Kate was the one that found to most morels. I told her that was because her best friend's last name is Morrell.
We had an adventure on the way home... Kate is deathly afraid of ticks, as am I (they make me want to vomit). Well, she found one on her shirt and FLIPPED OUT into a full blown panic attack. We had to stop the car along the side of the road, get out and get the tick off. She was screaming, bawling, hyperventilating, the whole works. She refused to get back in the car because she knew another was in there. We finally got her back in and a little down the road, I noticed that we hadn't gotten it (we thought it fell off in the fiasco), so I told mom and she pulled over on an old road that has an abandoned bridge and said she wanted the kids to see it so that we could get Kate out of the car and wipe the tick off before she knew it was there. Panic attack averted. Whew! We all changed clothes when we got to mom's and made sure there were no more ticks on anyone. As much as I fear ticks, those mushrooms are worth it! Nothing else will get me in the woods!
We are officially done with the birthday parties (except if you count the friend party, if we have it, which I will not go all out for...). I can now relax and enjoy myself for the 3 days I have this week until spring break starts. Aaaaaaa! Not that I don't have something planned each day until then...
Bear with me as this might be long- two parties in one! Back early last week, I set to making sprinkles for this fantastic cake that I had in mind. I believe I posted about slaving away all morning to make them, only to have the cat jump up and *stand right in the middle of them*! The cat is lucky that I love him! These pictured all went to the trash can and I had to start over. It's a good thing Kate is worth all of the trouble I went to! While brainstorming last minute 2 weeks before the party, we decided that monogrammed treat buckets would be perfect for the girls! I scrambled over town, scoured the web, and finally special ordered some steel pails from True Value which came in just 2 days. Got to love them! I spray painted them and then free-handedly painted them with her hot pink and zebra theme. I LOVED how they turned out! Here they are all filled before the party. And this my friends, is the cake (well, one of them). Kate and I mulled over this cake for weeks, deciding exactly how we wanted it. I already knew that the sprinkle would adorn the sides, but something else was needed. I made 2 pink and 2 zebra striped cake layers inside, but forgot to photograph them. I used the same glaze that I used for the sprinkles to make the stripes on top, which spread like crazy, but still looked nice. I also got an idea to make tissue paper pom poms for decoration. I saw them on Etsy for $7 a piece. The thrifty mama in me decided I could make them myself, and after finding a tutorial, got tissue paper and set to work. I made 2 from each pack of $1 tissue paper, and they were really simple! And here is Kate blowing out her candles. You can probably tell that I was not behind the camera at this point. Today was her second family party. I really didn't have to do much of anything for this party as my mom hosted it, but I did have to bake the cake and that provided me no less stress than last week! Yesterday was so busy that I obsessed over this party terribly. I had to have Preson in Effingham for a re-check on his new asthma meds at 9:30. I dropped him off at school at 11:15, ran and bought groceries, took them home and put them up, then had to grab something to eat before being back at the school by 12:45 to run the big bucks store. Then immediately after school, Preston had a haircut. It was after 4:00 when we got home, and I had to bake a cake and fix dinner, all with a severe storm with quarter-sized hail and reported tornadoes was coming directly toward our town. Can you see that I was pulling my hair out?
But I need not have worried so much as this morning was pretty relaxed before heading up to mom's for the party. We were all SO glad that my grandpa was able to make it! We all enjoyed him being there and I think he enjoyed the company as well! Here, Kate, little Glen, Preston and big Glen before the party. And this is the cake for today. I had some leftover sprinkles and basically used them and added some stripes. Easy. Hey, where have we seen those poms before? Just doing our part to re-use! Kate told little Glen that he could help her open presents. And he did, sometimes faster than she could get one present unwrapped before he started in on another! She had a pretty good "birthday week" keeping the celebrating going for an entire week. Still can't believe she's 12...
It's Show Us Your Life Friday at Kelly's Korner, and this weeks topic is all about what we're reading.
I'm not a big reader. I have to be totally engrossed in the subject or I just can't make it through. That may be the reason I nearly flunked the second semester of senior English in high school- 5 months of classic American literature. Zzzzzzzzzzz. Anyway...
I've been reading The Beatles by Bob Spitz. Preston found it at the library 3 weeks ago while hunting for George Harrison books for Kate's biography project, and insisted upon checking it out. I humored him even though I knew he only got it because it was about the Beatles.
It is the ultimate biography there is, and is as thorough as it gets- all 900+ pages of it. It was a little slow at first, going into great detail about John's descendants waaaaaaay back, and did the same (although not as far back) with the other Beatles. There is little that this book leaves out. It goes into such detail that you can picture the scenario with feeling. One of my favorite parts was when they were playing in Hamburg on a rickety makeshift stage. They and Rory Storm and the Hurricanes were making bets on who could bring the stage down. One night, they decided that that was the night, the stage was coming down. During one rowdy song, they all got in the center and started doing the stomp, determined to bust through. By the end of the night, it was still holding and they left in frustration to get something to eat across the street. A bit later, here came the Hurricanes having succeeded in bringing down the stage! Reading this, I could picture them stomping with all of their might, the music, and the roar of the crowd. Ahhh, to be back in time.
This is a must-read for any true Beatles fan. Being a lifelong fan myself, I thought I'd heard it all, but this book fills in all of the missing details other books leave out.
Yesterday while Christopher was out doing yard work, he found a morel mushroom growing under our apple tree, and I found a second one. I detest mushrooms. Absolutely HATE them, but these little suckers are fabulous (fried crunchy). Around here, hunting these guys in the woods is big stuff this time of year (the only time they grow) and it's a lot of work to find them. Who knew there would be some in our own back yard? Not wanting the mess of frying just two (that and they make Christopher very sick), I picked them and took them up to Pa. He'd had a friend bring a big bag up the day before and they fried them. We got to talking about how this year should be a big year for them and how he wished he could be out there hunting them.
Well, he was bound a determined to get out of the house and onto the mule today to drive around and see everything after being in the house for a month. I pulled the mule up to the house and he was able to get out and onto it by himself and we went for a drive. This was the first time he'd had any "freedom" since his accident. He looked at me and said, "You don't know how good this feels!" with this big grin on his face. I knew how good it felt for him, and I was so happy to be sharing it with him. It truly made his day, and I don't think there could be anything else that would have made him happier then! I was supposed to be mowing for them, but right at that moment, I only wanted to take a ride with him. We drove over the hill near the fence row and stopped. He saw a mushroom! I got off and picked it, and found another a few minutes later! We ended up driving all around the fence row looking for mushrooms. He got to go mushroom hunting after all! We then drove around looking at the garden, just enjoying his ability to get around by himself! I have a feeling that now he'll be out and about on that thing a lot since he knows he can do it. I was so proud of him, I had to tell mom all about it when she called from her trip, and I knew it made her so happy!
Tonight was Preston's 1st grade musical. I have been so excited about this for several days! They went all out with decorating the halls in a dinosaur theme. They really have some talented workers! This was the display outside of Preston's classroom. This is the kindergarten hallway with the pterodactyls hanging from the ceiling. And this is the 1st grade hallway. Preston did SUCH a great job! They all did! Usually, Preston isn't a singer, but during one song, I could hear him above the others! If you click the picture, you can see Preston in the red shirt with a dinosaur on it in the front row. A great performance was the best way to end such a fabulous day for all of us! Now it's hard to swallow that there are only 30 more days of school...
It hardly seems that my first baby is now 12 years old. It seems like yesterday that I was holding my sweet little girl in my arms, and now she's nearly as tall as me (she'll pass me up, for sure!). Hold your babies tight, because they grow up too fast!
Kate had big plans for her big day, and I'm happy that everything went as planned. She'd asked me to pick up Burger King and bring it to her at school. Normally, I wouldn't do that, but for her birthday, she got her chicken sandwich meal and was thrilled! Of course, it's not cool to have your mom come to lunch in jr. high, so I ended up joining Preston for lunch at his school. She requested that I make roast chicken and gravy for dinner. I've never seen her eat so much meat at one time, and she ate probably a full cup of gravy with it! For someone as picky as her, this is a big deal! We also had birthday brownies instead of cake since we had cake last weekend and will this weekend as well. She got her gifts yesterday since Christopher doesn't get home until late and we don't want to hear her beg all day to open them. Overall, it was a great day and I'm so glad she enjoyed her special day!
I have a ton of pics from her party last weekend that I've wanted to post, but for some reason, I couldn't get them off of my camera to the computer until tonight. I think I'll save them until after her party this weekend and just do one big party post!
Pa had his visit with his orthopedic dr. yesterday and didn't get the news we were all hoping he'd hear. We were hoping he'd be able to start walking, but unfortunately, his break has not healed at all. They don't want him bearing any weight on it for another 8 weeks because if the bone would shift, they'd have to go in and pin it, which isn't a good situation after all of this. My mom went with them and she said when the dr. told him that, that his whole demeanor changed and you could see the disappointment. Pa is a go-to guy. You can't keep him down, so the past 3 weeks have been very difficult for him, and I"m sure the prospect of 8 more weeks was a devastating blow.
Hopefully, we can get him used to using his walker more and maybe the crutches- anything to give him more mobility. He needs to keep up his strength. If he can get himself to the sun porch, or even outside to sit or have Granny drive him around on the mule, it will do him a world of greatness for his attitude. They took him to Steak and Shake yesterday before his appointment and mom said he really enjoyed being out and having lunch. Hopefully they'll be able to get him back to church as well so he can be around all of his church friends and socialize.
It's going to be a long recovery, so we appreciate all prayers for a speedy and full recovery. It's hard to believe that a year ago on Memorial Day, he was up on the trampoline with Preston and fishing. We're praying that he's back to himself soon! And please pray for Granny as well. This whole ordeal has been extremely hard on her. I mentioned last week that she ended up in the emergency room herself, and they really didn't know what was wrong. Well, it turned out that it was shingles brought on by all of the stress. She broke out with the bumps/rash a few days later in the same spot where she had the severe pain. She's still not feeling the best. She's fiercely independent, and feels like she has to do everything herself. My mom and I have been helping her all we can so that she can rest, but she can't be kept still, either. Mom said tonight that she went over there and Granny was a mess- she'd been outside doing yard work all day and had worn herself ragged. All she had to do was call and I'd be up there to help her. Or better yet, Uncle Jeff is flying in tomorrow morning for a week to do all of their outdoor/big stuff that they can't do themselves right now. She could have waited to let him do that since that's what he's coming home to do. So please, we'd appreciate prayers for her as well. I know my mom is just beside herself right not, not knowing what to do with her.
Have you ever gotten crazy calls that really make you wonder? I love it, especially at the other person's expense! One time we got a message on our machine from some girl thinking she'd reached her aunt, telling all about her new job. Congrats, whoever you were! I did have a favorite:
Early one morning, around 3:00 a.m., the phone rings, scaring the &^*^@ out of me. I always think someone has died when I get a midnight call. It was Bob (can't think of his real name) the cab driver. I answer and this chipper voice says, "Hey, it's Bob!" "Bob who?" "Bob, the cab driver. I just brought you home." "No, you didn't." "Yes I did, I just dropped you off and was making sure you made it in alright." "No, I'm sorry, you didn't because you just got me out of bed." He apologized for waking me up and I had a good laugh the next morning.
But today's phone call takes the cake. Christopher and I were out in the garage when the phone rang, and that phone has no caller id.
M: "Hello?" D: "Hey, how you doing?" (Insert smooth, male voice) M: "I'm doing fine. Who is this?" D: "D Aaron" M: "I'm sorry, who is this?" D: "D Aaron" M: "I'm sorry, you have the wrong number. I don't know anyone by that name." D: "Yes you do, we've been talking." M: "Where have we been talking?" D: "Up town. I was just wondering if you were seeing anyone or had a steady boyfriend." M:"I've been married for a long time." that's where I hung up.
I started laughing and told Christopher what this guy was saying, and just seconds later, the phone rings again. I figured it was Mr. Smooth again, so I told him to answer the phone. As soon as he does, the line goes dead! I went inside to check the id and both calls were from Mr. Smooth, and it said private caller, so I have no idea who this guy is. I wonder what he thought when my husband answered the phone!
Saturday I had a photo shoot with my twin nieces, Abbie and Isabela (Issie). They were so much fun to photograph this time around. They're 19 months, now, and were so animated! Blowing kisses, playing peek-a-boo, and they had the greatest expressions. It's hard to believe that this was Abbie this time last year when she was 6 months old... And this is Abbie today! I love that he tongue was out both times! Sweet Isabela had the most beautiful smiles!I think she mauled every flower she came across! Abbie was gentle with the flowers. This was Abbie everytime she heard a sound. Peek-a-boo in the tree was hit with both girls! Pure joy! I can't wait to get started on these! With over 300 of them, there's going to be a lot of cute ones!
As I mentioned yesterday, I've been a bit behind in the party prep. Waaaaaaay behind. I always tend to go over the top with the cakes. It's just fun. I love seeing all of the ideas on I Am Baker's site . She seriously has some major talent! I got the idea for Kate's cake last year from her site, and happened to stumble across the post about making homemade sprinkles. Hmmmmm. Sounds interesting. Looks cool. I run it by Kate, mix it up with the idea I already had floating through my head, and we came up with what I hope will be another show stopper like last year's (I've included a link- it's the rainbow cake).
So today's mission was to make the sprinkles. I needed a LOT. I figured I could whip those puppies out in no time flat and use the rest of the day to get other things done. First off, this was not as easy of a task as I thought. The glaze icing is thick, and squeezing it through a #3 tip was no easy feat. When one hand got tired, I'd switch. By 11:00, two hours after I had started, I had a big long sheet of wax paper full of tiny little sprinkles. I have photographic evidence of this feat, but my camera is acting up and won't let go of my pictures... Thinking this was more than enough, I laid them out on the breakfast bar to dry while I set to working on the treat buckets.
As I'm frustratingly trying to trace names on buckets with a stiff, tired hand, I notice something out of the corner of my eye. Nonni, our cat, jumped up onto the bar, and was STANDING ON THE SPRINKLES! I nearly had a heart attack. At this point, I was beyond frustrated as I threw them all in the trash. Luckily, I still had my piping bag of icing in case I'd decided I needed more. I sat down and piped out another big mess of them and this time, set them in the oven away from the cat. I piped out another sheet before dinner and I hope that's enough. It better be, because I won't know until I put them on the cake Friday, and I won't be making anymore at that point.
So after the whole cat on the sprinkles deal, I was just beside myself. I tried painting one bucket and it was a useless task. I couldn't paint a straight line, so I wiped it off and now have to spray paint them all again to cover the pencil marks. Instead of their names, the buckets will have their initial. That's good enough, I though! But, they may just end up being zebra print with no monogramming because I've just had enough!
Tomorrow, I won't be getting much done at all. I have to go up and stay with my grandpa while my grandma is serving as an election judge all day. I think we'll have a good day, but in the back of my mind, I'll be thinking of all I have to do this week. Wednesday is his big day at the orthopedic dr.'s and we're all praying that he gives him permission to walk with his boot. I know he's itching to get out of that bed and move!
Things have been so incredibly busy the past few weeks since my grandpa's accident. I've been up there most days helping out where I could, or just visiting- I know that passes a lot of his time in a more pleasant manner. And since I've been so busy, it just doesn't seem like I have too much time to blog. I have Kate's birthday party this weekend with 20 people coming over, and I've done practically nothing. I'm usually so on-the-ball, but with everything going on, it's just taken a backseat. All the stops will be pulled out just like with every other party, but it's just all going to be crammed into one week. Why do I do this to myself?
So Friday I had to take Preston in for his cough. She agreed that his asthma was what was aggravating the cough and that the Singulair was no longer doing the trick. Because of his allergies, he's at a much higher risk with his breathing, so she said we need to get this under control ASAP. All it would take was an allergic reaction or respiratory infection to throw him off into an asthma attack that might land him in the hospital. Not an ideal situation. So she has him on a Flovent inhaler twice a day instead of the Singulair and we have to go back in two weeks to see if it is helping. If not, something else has to be done. I can't really tell yet if it's working or not. Preston was just glad to get out of school, which turned out to be for the rest of the day by the time we got out, had lunch and got back to town.
Saturday was such a beautiful day! I had told Pa we'd be up to plant the garden, so we were up there around 10:30 to start planting. Unfortunately, my happy helpers weren't too helpful and after 2 rows of potatoes, declared they were tired. So they went next door to my mom's to help her rake leaves and I planted the garden myself. It's still too early for a few plants, so in about 2 more weeks, I'll be hard at work planting the rest.
I had also told Jess that we'd do a photo shoot out at Sonnomon's cabin with the daffodils once the girls were up from their nap. This was at 3:30, and we had to be at my Me-Maw's for the March birthday party at 5. The girls did a great job and were so sweet! I'll share some pics later this week once I have them edited. I need to take Kate back there and do some with her! But our session ran a little long and by the time we got home, it was 4:50. We had 10 minutes to change, clean up (the kids were still dirty from "gardening"), and be back on the road. We barely eeked in at 5:00, just as the food was being taken out of the oven! We had a great time visiting and the kids played SO well with Kullen, Liam, and Hailey. There wasn't any fighting, yelling... NOTHING! Yes! After I got the kids to bed, and took a bath and laid on the couch to watch tv and crashed within 5 minutes and didn't wake up until 2:30 to go to bed. Tired? Yes.
Being that I didn't get the garden completely done yesterday with what needed to be planted now, we headed up after lunch to finish up. This time, my happy helpers didn't even help. They stayed next door at mom's and played outside. It made it to 80 today, although you'd never guess it with 50 mph winds the entire day. You could barely stand up, and you certainly couldn't open any south-facing doors without brute force. Right now, the wind is just fierce, and howling like crazy. Storms are supposed to be moving in tonight, and I pray that the power stays on. Preston is terrified of storms, and even more scared of power outages, so after a day spent gardening, I can't spend a night sleeping on his floor so that he will go back to sleep.
So I can admit that I am exhausted. The next two weekends are filled with birthday parties with planning throughout the week. As much as I like having separate family parties, it's SO much more work, but we're able to visit more and enjoy rather than rush through everything with nearly 40 people in our house. That makes me tired just thinking about it!
What about now? Can you see Preston's back? He's not even lying flat, but rather crouched down and you can still barely see him. I really lost him yesterday when I went into the garage to get something and couldn't find him when I returned. I asked Kate where he was and she said, "He's in the grass!"
We are SO embarassed about this to no end. Our yard is always so meticulous. I'd been telling Christopher to mow it for 3 weeks now but he said it didn't need it. He won't let me on the mower after I wrecked it, or I would have done it myself! But after 6 inches of rain in less than a week, and other rainy days off, our grass now measures well over 15 inches tall. I believe, after driving around town, that we are the only people that have not mowed our grass. And wouldn't you know, we have at least 3 inches of standing water in our backyard as I type, and more coming Saturday.
