Summer break!

Summer break has officially begun, and so far, it's not been too bad. Friday, Kate stayed at her friend Addison's house, so she got a special start to her break. Now, the aftermath of too little sleep didn't fare well with any of us yesterday, and it really drove home the fact that she needs a long night's sleep! But we did break out the bocce ball and badminton sets and had a good time playing them. Although next time we set the net up, we'll choose a different spot. Currently, all of the birdies are stuck in the pine tree. I'm hoping a good gust of wind will come along and blow them out. The racquet did come down after I took a shovel to it, but the birdies... they're just stuck. Oops!

I'm sitting here in a very quiet house- not because the kiddos are sleeping (which I hope they are), but because they're staying the night at my mom's. I've been able to get some stuff done around here so that we can find more time to enjoy ourselves tomorrow before three more straight days of rain hit us Tuesday. Ugh! Tomorrow afternoon we're off to buy Kate's flute. I know she's going to be over the moon! Too bad she has no clue how to play it!

Bye-bye adenoids, hello new tubes

If that title doesn't sum up today's visit with the ENT in a nutshell, maybe I need to clarify.

I knew it wasn't good as soon as Dr. S. looked in his ear and said, "Man, oh, man." He had me look, and even I could tell what was up. His left ear looked good for a fluid-filled ear (at least to the untrained eye), but his right (the one that had the blister) was still quite red, despite the antibiotics. Sigh... He said we had 2 choices: to wait and see if it would go away on its own, or get new tubes, which he advised was the best option. He also feels that taking his ademoids out will also help by hopefully opening his eustachian tubes. I found it a little odd that he didn't want to take out his tonsils, too, considering that they're big (not nearly the golf balls Kate had), and he'll already be under anesthsia. With our luck, we'll be back again later for them!

So surgery is scheduled for June 26. Since they're doing the adenoidectomy, he'll have to be put under general anesthesia instead of just sedation, so that means IV, trach tube, and longer recovery. Thank goodness our hospital doesn't do the IV until they're asleep! He also has to have a soft foods only diet and no active play for 2 weeks. That will be the worst part- it was for Kate! He said that he's going to put in a different tube this time with a wider back that will stay in for a year and a half so that they don't fall out in 6 months, smack in the middle of winter. But with those, he may have to go back into surgery later on to remove them if they don't come out on their own. Poor little guy! He's a trooper, though!

Tomorrow is Kate's last day of school and then it's summer break! I'm excited to get to sleep in, but not so sure I'll enjoy having 2 kids fight all summer...

Field Trip!

Today was our big field trip to the City Museum in St. Louis. We had a really good time! The kids in my group were all really good, especially compared to last year, so I was thankful for that! The museum was really neat, and it was my first time there. It's made entirely of demolished buildings from St. Louis that are put together into intricate mazes, tunnels, slides, etc. If you've never been there, you can't imagine the extent of these tunnels that span 7 stories inside and outside! There's even a 7 story slide that I attempted, but got hurt, so I bailed out!

We did have a bit of excitement, though! Kate's BFF, Jenna, got scared in one of the overhead tunnels and refused to come out. I had been waiting close to 10 minutes for them to go through and come back, and when I went to look for them, I see Kate who yells down from the 2nd floor, "Jenna's stuck!" I ran upstairs, and by that time, a staff member was there to help her out. Poor thing!

I'm so glad that Keith was able to watch Preston so that I could go. It's not very often that I get a whole day to spend with Kate, and I know she really enjoyed my going. Three total hours on a bus, though, wasn't the best, but hey, I survived! I apologize for the lack of pictures (check out the link above). As I was trying to upload pics (yes, more than one), the power went out, so I gave up. Sigh...

Tomorrow is Preston's ENT appointment. Please pray that everything goes well. I'll update tomorrow night.

A Berry Good Day

Pun intended!

Actually, it was a very good day. Little bickering between the children, Preston and I had fun building a massive Geo Tracks set-up, I got lots done with Mr. P. Man, I'm going to miss these quiet days of just the two of us!

As for the berry part, it was a berry crazy day! Literally! Grandma Lou gave us two quarts of strawberries from her garden the other day, so Preston and I made some jam (well, mostly it was me, but he watched). I got 4 pints ready to go into the freezer! Then, Dee stops by after work with another box of berries that had to be used because they'd been picked wet, so I quickly cleaned and hulled them, not sure what I'd do with them, but an idea came to me. I threw some balsalmic vinegar on a few and tossed them into our salad... DELISH!!! We might just have that again tomorrow! And my berry salad went perfectly well with the blackberry chicken I had already prepared. It was the best meal I've made in a long time!!!!! I'll post my blackberry chicken recipe below since it's a staple in our house!

Blackberry Chicken

1/4 mashed blackberries

1/2 c. chicken broth

2T. brown sugar

2T. vinegar

3 garlic cloves, crushed

paprika

Sprinkle chicken breasts with paprika. Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour over chicken. Bake at 375 for half an hour. Enjoy!

Tomorrow we're off on a field trip to the City Museum in St. Louis. Don't know wether or not to be freaking out now, or not! 100-something 4th graders running wild in a museum full of slides and climbing thingies made from demolished buildings in St. Louis. Yikes... Preston will be with Pa-pa all day. I pray that they have a safe and fun day, as well as all of us! Did I mention the hour long bus ride????

My little graduate

My little boy is no longer a preschooler. He graduated, and I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of him! He's made me the happiest mom in the past 5 years. I couldn't have asked for a better son! He really enjoyed the ceremony, and it was soooooo cute! I need to use up the rest of the disc so that I can finalize it and watch it again! As for me, I cried. A LOT! I cried when he washed his hands before school. Cried as I told him good-bye. Cried as I drove away. Cried while waiting to go into Wesley Hall. Cried as I waited for the ceremony to begin. Cried all the way through it. I was fine afterward, but cried again when we drove away for the last time. All in all, it was a very positive experience, even though it means my baby is growing up.

I took so many pictures. He had a whole list of friends that he wanted pictures with, but he only ended up getting pictures with his girlfriends (yes, plural). Really, Maddi Grace is his official GF, that he plans to marry, and I got pictures of them holding hands, which was too sweet! But Brianna and Macie are his other girlfriends. All four of them waited for each other after school every day and played tag, or just chased each other. So really, I had to get a tag group shot. Luckily, they even stuck around afterward and played tag one last time, so I got some action shots, too!

I will miss the preschool and everything about it. I hope that the rest of his school years are as positive as the past 2 have been. He's a sweet little guy, and he'll go far!

Been quiet around here...

My blog, that is! Here, it has been anything but quiet. Extrememly busy, in fact.

My last update was Sunday and I was a bit distraught over Preston's latest ear infection. I've since calmed down, although I still hate the fact that he's got another. We go see the ENT Thursday to learn the verdict, which we pretty much already know...

Friday and Saturday was our big garage sale. WOWZA! I can't even begin to describe the extent of how enormous it was! Driving over the hill Friday morning before the sale opened, I found cars lined up nearly a mile in lenght on both sides of the road! CRAZY! The whole first hour was so busy that we couldn't even sort the money- we just threw it in the box and gave change. The next 3 hours was non-stop. Things calmed down that afternoon, and Saturday was pretty slow, but what all 5 of us raked in combined blows my mind!

Tuesday was super-busy. Kate had Just Say No after school until 3:45, and girl scouts from 4:30-6:00. Then at 7, we were back at her new school for the band display and were there until almost 9:00! She did SO well with the instruments, especially the flute, French horn, and trumpet. Ultimately, she decided on the flute, which we will most likely be purchasing next week. The first week of June starts practice, so we don't have much time!

Yesterday was supposed to be Preston's preschool graduation, but because of a funeral at the church, it had to be moved to Friday. I really don't want it to be over. I know I've rambled about that before. But it has to happen. As much as I hate it, it will happen. The cakes have been baked/decorated, so that's done. Now, to get my little man ready tomorrow for his big day, and out the door early so that he can get there in time for his graduation pictures. Let the tears start rolling. I know I'm going to be a mess!

Saturday we're off to St. Louis with Jessie and Reid, and sometime this weekend we'll find time for some fishing and fun at the property. If I don't get back on here tomorrow (which I probably won't), I promise to try posting a pic of my little grad... ISP cooperating.

My poor baby

4:30 a.m. Saturday morning.

Preston wakes me up crying that his ear hurts really bad. When he wakes me up crying, I know what's wrong. I give him Motrin. He goes back to sleep. When he wakes up for the day, his ear still hurts. We debate taking him to the ER vs. waiting until Monday for an office visit. I have the garage sale to do and people coming. Preston plays the Nintendo DS nicely while I run the sale. Around noon, he runs a temp. 100.3. I call the after-hours number and learn that Dr. H. will see patients on weekends if needed to avoid the ER, and am told to call in today if he's not better. Temp goes to 103. He's miserable all afternoon/evening. I call today and take him in at 11. Both ears are infected pretty badly. There's a blister on his right ear drum that might rupture. It's causing him a lot of pain. They called in a Rx.

Tomorrow I have to call Dr. S, the ENT to get him in. We know what that means. In March, he said he had a 50/50 chance of needing tubes before summer was out. If he got another, he'd just go ahead and put in another set. I hate it, hate it, hate it. I could just cry for him. Even when we were faced with this in March, it wasn't this nerve-wracking. Now, we know it has to be done, and it's scary. Hard. Miserable. Please... pray.

What a day

OMG, you should see my garage! I haven't taken a picture yet, but I need to. All I can say is, that I pray it doesn't rain because you can't walk through the garage! And mom hasn't even brought her wagon-load of stuff yet! It's crazy! If it doesn't rain, we can move a table and clothes racks outside. We'll see what the weather man has to say at 10:00. I did make almost $50 already from 2 preschool moms that came and went through Kate's stuff! Yeah!!!

Poor Christopher's knee was no better today, so he made an appt. with his dr. They thought there was fluid on it and tried to drain it, with no success. He said that was not a fun experience! They did give him a cortisone shot and he said the pain went away instantly and he was still pain-free when he got home. He's never pain-free! I forget what all the dr. said about it, but we do know that it is arthritis. He said something about zero negative arthritis where all of the tests come back negative for rheumatoid, but really it is (???). He told him he could send him to a rheumatoid dr. but didn't think it was necessary at this point... He prescribed a strong anti-inflammatory drug and told him to take ibuprofin. I can't imagine being in constant pain every single day.

Ready or not...

Friday is the big 5-family garage sale at our house (Saturday, too). I don't even have all of my stuff out because I used up all of the banquet tables, but already, the garage is full. Dad stopped by with a load tonight and will be bringing more tomorrow. That's not even counting Diana's, mom's, and Jessie's stuff that isn't here yet. And to make matters worse, it's supposed to rain all day, both days, with chances of thunderstorms. That means EVERYTHING will have to go in the garage. Whoa! I will definitely be taking pics of this sale! Keith is bringing in more tables tomorrow afternoon, and I'm going to have Preston help me hunt for all of the empty hangers in the house so we can start hanging more up. I want this all ready to go by Friday morning because I know there will be early birds... Can I say that I really dislike the early birds that sit parked along the road an hour before the sale starts, hoping they can get in first????

Poor Christopher had a rough day today. He's had knee problems for years, has had 3 surgeries trying to fix them, and it's a daily struggle. His orthopedist told him that he'd likely need a knee replacement by the time he was 30, and at some point, he will (he probably should have one soon). He was pretty much unable to bend his knee at all today. It was a good thing it was his day off! He spent the day on the couch with ice on his knee, hoping it would get better, and asking me to pop him popcorn, get him a banana split for the DQ, make him a PBJ sandwich, etc. If it's not better tomorrow, he said he's going to make an appointment with his dr. at Wash U. What we do know about his knee issues, is that it's not rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, because they tested him for both last month. I don't think I ever updated with his lab results. His AFP came back elevated again, but not higher than the last time (it's always been high). But since his dr. hasn't called about it, there's no concern. So we'll see how things are in another 6 months.

Things that go bump in the night

In our case, that would be things that go crash in the night! We were so nicely awakened at 4 a.m. by a very loud crash coming from the bathroom. Our shower shelf had come unstuck and crashed into the tub. After telling Christopher that it was just the shelf falling, we went back to sleep. After getting up for the day, I checked out the mess. The top shelf was broken, the cap to the face scrub had busted and squirted scrub everywhere, not to mention all of the stuff that was on the shelf was now lying in the tub. I remembered seeing an ad in Redbook for 3M's Command bath caddies, so I did a quick search and found the sollution to our problem! We have a very pourous tile in our main bath, so suction cups won't work, so we've had to rely on these cheap corner shelves from Wal-Mart that had adhesive strips. Those flimsy plastic shelves, though, don't last long (we've been through 2 in the past 17 months we've been here). I love Command products, and the fact that this is metal, makes me like it even more. I can't wait until it comes!!!!

Mother's Day Weekend!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!!! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Our weekend was busy and fun, but that's what makes a great weekend, right?

Saturday morning, Kate had a Girl Scout trip bright and early at 7:30. She wasn't thrilled about it, but ended up having a great time and admitting that she was glad she went! I knew she'd have fun! Once she was home, we spent the evening at Christopher's cousin Aaron's cabin playing with his kids. He was able to bring Chloe down, so the kids (especially Kate) were excited to see her! It had been a year and a half since she's been down (they're from near Chicago). The kids had so much fun! We all did, really! It was nice to spend some time with them. He had a cookout and I ate my first hot dog in probably 20 years! Hey, I was hungry! The kids ran around, we saw a turtle Chloe caught on her fishing pole, and Aaron took all the kids (all 6 of them) on a boat ride around the pond. They'll be back down Memorial Day weekend to camp, and who knows, we might take them up on their invitation to camp with them.

The kids woke me up today asking if I just wanted cereal for breakfast. I immediately knew they were trying to cook breakfast, and I had to nicely put a stop to that before they burnt down the house with the toaster oven. Preston wanted to cook bacon. Not something a 5 year old should do! Kate did pour me a glass of orange juice and set it by my gift, so that was sweet. She had made me a cute punch on a copper plate at school that she informs me, took 4 days to make! Preston gave me his gifts Friday at preschool- a card and a neat flower necklace. I have such sweet children!

We spent the rest of the day at Christopher's aunt and uncle's house and at my grandparents' house. It was nice to all get together. I hope they all enjoyed their day as well!

Remember Lowly Worm?

For some reason, a week or so ago, I got to thinking about Lowly Worm. Growing up, they were my favorite books. I don't know. There's just something cute about that little worm with the Peter Pan hat, bow tie and boot! I told Preston about him, and he thought he sounded pretty funny, so I looked on Ebay (of course), and bought some Lowly books. They came yesterday and Preston LOVES them! I don't know how many times he's asked to read them in the past day! I'm so glad that I remembered Ol Lowly! And of course, I remembered I had some old books at mom's, and guess what I found... the same one I bought, plus 2 more! There were also a ton of others that Preston was pretty excited about, so now we have a whole slew of new books to read!

Morning with Mom

Today was Morning with Mom at Preston's preschool. We had a fantastic time, and I really didn't want it to end. It's my last MWM. I enjoyed every second, cuddled my little Sweets, got lots of kisses, and soaked my brain with every single second to remember! He filled out a cute survey about me, we made a snad castle together, played Find It, ate a snack, they sang songs, but the best part was my mani/pedi, courtesy of Preston! Yes, they turn a group of 4 year olds loose with a bottle of nail polish to do their mom's nails! Mine was quite lovely! If I had a good picture, I'd share it! I had more polish on my skin than anywhere else, but he really did a good job, and I won't be taking it off any time soon! After dishes and giving a bath, the polish is off my skin, though. Pres was quite proud and showed everyone we saw today (and we saw nearly half the family)!

It was bittersweet, though. No more Mornings with Mom- the public school doesn't do stuff like that. They don't do anything special, really. Just 1 play a year. No Halloween program/party, no Christmas program/party, no Easter... you get the drift. The preschool is so family-oriented, and I like the Christian environment. Only 2 more weeks... I will miss it terribly.

The race is on!

Kate's school has a program called Reading Counts. Basically, the students read books and then take tests on the computers to earn points. As an encentive, at the end of the year, students that reach the point goal for their class level, get to go on a special surprise trip. Kate reached the level last year and they all spent a day at an indoor pool. Really, the trips are always really fun! Kate had been lagging in her points all year- reading isn't her favorite subject. We had discussed her points last week, and what she needed to do to make it, but she wouldn't read. So, tonight at dinner, she tells me that she's up to 148 (she needs 180). I realized that tonight is Family Reading Night at her school, so in a flash, we finished eating and headed to town.

Lucking, we remembered that she had read all of the American Girl books and that she could take tests on those. So she spent the night taking tests on Felicity, Samantha, and Molly books! Now she is up 10 166. Her teacher is reading a 13 point book to the class, and once she takes that test, she'll be 1 point shy. She has one unread book in her backpack, and a list in her desk of tests she needs to take, so she should be good to go! We could've taken one more test tonight, but she was completely distracted, tired, and so we decided she'd done enough for one night.

Tomorrow Kate is off to Alton to visit the Lewis and Clark museum, and we're praying for no rain! It's outside, all day, and they're calling for rain! Glad I'm not going along on that field trip! I'll be at Preston's preschool for his Morning with Mom program, and I'm so excited! He gets to go sporting a nice, quarter-sized knot over his eye, thanks to hitting himself in the face with a shovel. I guess he needed something to accentuate his do-it-yourself haircut! Poor kid!

What's worse than ticks?

Those of you who know me well, know that I am terrified of ticks. They're just nasty little varmints, and if they are on me, I will have a panic attack. Yes, it's that bad! But you know what's worse? Bag worms. Seriously, they make me want to vomit. Aren't you glad you popped in today? Preston and I found some in the apple tree the other day, so we had Christopher go out and cut that branch down today and burn them.

Little did I know that simply cutting down a branch to get rid of the bag worms would lead to a full-force pruning task! Before I knew it, he was up in the trees, on a ladder, loping off branches left and right. They really needed it, though! There's not much left to the peach tree, which I think needs to be cut down anyway becaue it's just past its prime. We lost half of it last summer when a storm blew through and knocked huge limbs down. Not to mention that it produces as TON of fruit, none of which ripened last year, and now it's left with rotten peaches still hanging. YUCK! The cherry tree is full of cherries, and hopefully they will ripen. Last year, they all fell off before they were ready. Cherries are my fav!

Allstate STINKS!

What I'd really like to say about them, I'll refrain from saying as this is a family-friendly place. I'll tell you though, I'm not pleased! Most of you remember that in December, Christopher was in a really bad wreck on I-70 and nearly totalled his new car. Totally not his fault. He slid on the ice while trying to avoid an overturned car, and as he slid, some guy plowed into the passenger side of his car, sending Christopher spinning. When you get t-boned, it's not your fault! So this guy claimed that Christopher hit him! Impossible! So anyway, the claim ended up in arbitration, and after 5 months, we got a call from our local agent today regarding the claim. Apparently, Allstate refuses to pay because it claims that it was a 50/50 deal. As for getting even a partial refund on our deductible, we're not even sure we'll see that! He didn't have the numbers on hand, but said that depending on what all went on, we may see half. And as for being reimbursed for the out-of-pocket we had to pay on the extra rental because it took over 30 days to fix, that $260 is gone. So yeah, I'm a little ticked. Really, I'm a LOT ticked!

On a side note, Kate had her jr. high orientation tonight. Yep, it starts in 5th grade here. That will take some getting used to! Not only is there a dress code that lower grades don't have to deal with- no holes in pants, shorts/skirts must be fingertip length, and no tank tops/sleeveless tops, but they have sex ed! OH MY! I'm not even ready to go there yet! We didn't have that until 7th grade! Guess that subject will be tackled before school starts next August...

Not Me! Monday!

Here's something new and exciting for my blog, since it's been a bit dull around here, lately! I've been reading MckMamma's Not Me! Mondays since she started, and really don't know why I didn't try it sooner!

So when my sweet Preston cut his hair yesterday, I certainly did not laugh my head off because even though he was missing a huge chunk right in front, I found it quite hilarious! Then, I certainly didn't tell everyone that we saw that day (not that they couldn't tell anyway)!

Tonight, as I was packing up Ebay packages and ran out of bubble warp, I certainly did not wrap it up in the empty bubble wrap package and deem it good enough to ship! Now that would just be unacceptable!

I also certainly did not laugh uncontrollably at something on Spongbob Squarepants, a show I find highly disgusting and refuse to let the kids watch! For the record, I really did not let them watch it... that would be Christopher!

When Kate was digging though my purse tonight at her school orientation and found a box of raisins, I did not admit to the mom behind me that they were from Halloween! Surprisingly, they were not as hard as rocks!

That's all I can think of tonight, but tune in next Monday for another round! This time, I'll try to remember some good ones!

What a crazy weekend

Breathing a sigh of relief that it's over...

Saturday started off pretty calm. We had to go to Granny and Pa's for Seth's birthday dinner, which was nice. We had fun playing with little Glen. He is such a ham! What a perfect nephew for a first-time aunt! We had to leave right after that to get Kate ready for her Honor Chorus program. She did SO well! I wish I'd taken the SLR instead of just the camcorder because she was just too cute/funny in her wool skirt and orange wig! She was in a Hairspray dance, so you can picture it!

Before the program, Seth had told me that dad and Annette had to take Ali (my 17yo sister) to the ER for abdominal pain that afternoon. Dad and Ashley made it to the program and filled me in on Ali. They did a bunch of bloodwork, a CAT scan, and ultrasound, and she has 7 kidney stones, all of which they say she should be able to pass. OUCH! Poor Ali! They also think she may have an infection in her colon, so she's going to Children's Hospital in St. Louis this week for a colonoscopy. Again, poor Ali! All of this, and prom is this coming weekend! I called her this afternoon to check on her and to let her know I was thinking about her. I pray everything turns out OK!

Then today was just a frustrating day. Preston cut his hair, the kids fought all day, just one of those days. Then Kate used her money to buy herself a real camera (as opposed to a kids camera). She is so proud of that thing! She had to take it to Granny's for dinner tonight, and as I was trying to switch the settings to allow her to take more pics on the card, I lost them all. She was TICKED! She pouted all night, and is still mad at me. If I was a mean mother, I'd take it back. I can't say that that thought hasn't crossed my mind!

Homegrown haircut

I apologize for the very overexposed picture taken in front of the sunroom window. I'm too lazy to edit pics tonight! After months of no pics, consider this a treat!

A week or so ago, I was reading Kelly's blog and her friend Laurie's daughter had cut off her hair. I read Laurie's blog (sorry, don't know the link off hand) and laughed as I saw the pictures. As I sat there, I thought to myself, You know, I'm pretty lucky. My kids haven't done something crazy like that, and now that Kate's 10, and Preston is 5, it looks like I got off easy! Who knew that just days later, I would be eating my words...

Yes, Preston gave himself a haircut today. Right in front of me. He had the scissors, and I asked him for them. He joked around, then acted like he was going to cut his hair. I didn't think he'd do it. I don't think he thought he'd cut it, either, but he did! Right in front. I didn't get mad, and I had to laugh, especially at how I thought this wouldn't happen, but I did take the scissor box and put it high up in the cabinet.

He really does need a haircut, but unfortunately, our stylist is out right now as her mom was in a really bad moped wreck in Georgia last week and is in the hospital down there. Please pray for her as they are worried about infection. PLEASE, Keri, come back! Preston needs to see you before he decides to take matters into his own hands again!

A shirt in the toilet

Just to illustrate that there's never a dull moment in our house!

As Preston was undressing for his bath tonight, he took off his shirt, gave it a toss, and it ended up in the toilet. I grabbed it before it soaked up much water, and quickly asked Preston to run down and get me a pan. I immediately realized that I should not have asked for a pan. He comes back up with a pizza pan that has hundreds of tiny holes in it. I laugh, and tell him that won't work, and ask him this time, for a bowl. By this time, Christopher had come out of his bathroom and saw me laughing, holding the shirt over the toilet, and after telling him what was going on, asked him to go help Preston to find something to put the shirt in. Seconds later, here comes Preston with an old Cool Whip bowl, which was not big enough. A few seconds later, here comes Christopher with a skillet! I then just had to specifically tell Christopher to go get the old ice cream pail that was under the sink in the laundry room.

Man, it must start early... you know, the clueless man stuff!