When we moved into this house, we inherited this walkway. It has always been ugly to say the least. After a long winter of freezing, thawing, and freezing again, our walkway began to crumble.
Every time it rained, every time Christopher used the leaf blower, more and more of our stones went MIA. It was beyond ugly at this point. It was downright embarassing. Not to mention dangerous! So, we decided it HAD to be replaced. Christopher wanted stone. I wanted concrete. This time, I won!
Yesterday morning, Keith came over and ripped up all of the stone rather quickly. Forming it up took much longer, but he likes to make sure that everything is perfect.
Around 10:00 this morning, my dad showed up with a mixer full of concrete. Yes, we specially requested that he come. And when his boss asked if he needed directions, he told him he though he knew where he was going. ;) BTW, happy birthday again, dad!
Here are the guys working the concrete. They worked for several hours to get it finished just right.
The kids wanted to put their hand prints in the new concrete. Keith mentioned that a guy he used to work with in construction would put a penny from that year into the concrete, so Kate rushed to find a 2010 penny to put by her hand.
Preston desperately wanted to put a penny with his hand, too, but to no avail. A search of every penny came up fruitless, so he settled for a dime from the year he was born and was happy.
And this is our after picture- as good as it gets until the forms come off Saturday. I can't wait to see it all finished and to walk on it! Thanks dad for bringing our concrete and to the guys for finishing it up. I love it!
On a completely different note, and since it saves me another post, Preston finally had his follow-up from the ear infection he had a month ago. His ears looked great today! But, he said that Preston's Eustachian tubes don't work correctly, which leads to his chronic infections despite the tubes. I already knew this... that's what's wrong with my ears. Anyway, he said we're doing all we can do for a kid with ears like his. Infections will happen. Fun... Since Preston has learned to go underwater this summer, his wax plugs have not been keeping water out, so Dr. S. wrote us an order to have molded plugs made. I have to call tomorrow to make his appointment. Hopefully these will do the trick.
When we drove by Ruemellin Park this afternoon, we were so shocked at the sight that we had to pull over and take pictures! I only wish we'd seen it early this morning!
It's really hard to see, but if you click the pic, you can see that the entire back end of the park is underwater. Last night, where we were parked was underwater, and so were some of the houses across the street. CRAZY!
We were at Granny and Pa's when the storm blew up. We weren't thinking much of it, but once the lightening started, it was like something we'd never seen before. Even Granny and Pa had never seen the likes. It was striking everything around us- the sound of it hitting was ear splitting. It was pouring like mad too, and there was no way we were attempting to go home. When the electricity went out at 6:30, I knew Christopher was at home dealing with the sump pump by himself with no electricity. I pictured him racing up the stairs with the bucket to dump in the sink repeatedly.
At 7:15, it had let up enough for us to go home and help out, even though it was still storming. We got down the hill to find that not only was the neighbors' yards completely underwater, but so was Granny and Pa's road and the highway! HOLY COW! I was scared to drive through it, but did, and Christopher called asking if Pa had any gas for the generator. I'd forgotten about Keith lending us his! I turned around and got a gallon that he had and took it home. That would get us through for a while! We got inside and all you could hear was the generator running outside and a nasty exhaust smell wafting in from outside. I was afraid of carbon monoxide, but the detector was quiet and we kept the door downstairs shut. We attempted to all go to town to see if FS was working, but as soon as we walked outside, it got crazy all over again so we went inside. Christopher tried a bit later to go find more gas, but FS' computers were down, so we couldn't use our gas card and he didn't have cash on him. He called his dad and he came in with 3 gallons. We debated on wether or not to send the kids to their house since they had power, and right as they were leaving, the lights came back on! The power was out for 3 hours, and I was SO glad to see it come on! I was scared we'd lose our food, and didn't like having that generator running. In less than 2 hours, we got 4 1/2 inches of rain. Dad said that some people that he talked to today had gotten 6 inches, and I believe it!
Continuing on with our weekly picnics... Thursday morning I decided that we had to have our picnic that day, but we were clueless as to where we'd go. It was HOT, so we knew we didn't want to be right out in the sun. We planned to go swimming afterward, so the kids decided we'd just have our picnic on Grammy and Pa-pa's deck so that they could just jump in and swim afterward, but on the way to their house, I saw the Shrine Club sign and suggested we try it. They LOVED it! They barely ate because they were so excited to be out at the lake!
It didn't take them long to venture into the water. They started out just wading, but before I knew it, they were digging in the sand and building a castle. A clay castle to be precise! That kept them occupied for quite a while and they didn't even care that it was so horribly hot and humid.
I don't know what it is, but I just love these "foot shots." I think I'll have to print and frame this one.
We had this week's picnic today at the park in Effingham. Kate had her school physical and we needed to do some running around while in town, so we decided to have our picnic there again. They had so much fun last time, but we didn't have time to play, so they enjoyed running around this time. And they ended up in the creek. I can't get my children away from water.
Christopher had his follow-up with his dr. from the anxiety attack Monday night. What I figured would be an easy in and out appointment was not to be. He will be going for a brain MRI Thursday to rule out metastases. It's just a guess at this point, but considering he had cancer 4 years ago, there is a chance that it has spread, and they want to make sure that that isn't the cause. He found it odd, also, that it woke him up from a dead sleep with nothing to initiate one- like sleep apnea, sleep walking, etc.
So if you could pray, that would be wonderful. I'm not thinking too much of it right now. He had a full body CT 2 years ago that showed nothing, and although his twice-yearly labs have been stable, his AFP remains elevated and they do not know why. Cancer sucks, and there's no nicer way to say it.
This week at Kelly's Korner, it's all about keeping kids busy! We've had some pretty warm days and some nasty storms blow up lately that's kept us inside, and those are the days that can quickly brew into cranky, bored children without things to do!
Last week, the kids were big into perler beads (see above). These little things kept them busy for hours... no, days! You put the colored beads on these trays that have bumps, and when you're finished, you iron them and the beads melt together. They sell the kits at Wal-Mart in the craft section, just $10 for a bucket of 8,500 beads. That sounds like a lot of beads, but with my kids, they go pretty fast!
A while back, I saw in a toy catalog, something called an "I'm not bored anymore bucket." It was basically a bucket filled with all sorts of craft items- beads, pipe cleaners, etc. and was selling for about $30. It didn't take me long to go through all of our stuff and fill a tote with every little scrap, bead, bell, you name it. When I whipped that tote out, the kids went wild! It was like Christmas all over again! It was neat to see how each one used each item to make their creations. And the best part, is that nothing is really off limits in terms of what goes in the tote. You can cut up a drinking straw, use leftover yarn and fabric scraps, anything!
My kids also like to cook. It doesn't matter how old they are, there's usually something that they can do. If they can stir, they can cook! My kids love to make Chex mix, cookies, jell-o, and anything that involves measuring cups or rolling pins. We especially like this for rainy or cold winter days (who wants to run the oven when it's 100 out?).
Gardening is a big thing around here that the kids enjoy. This works best early in the morning or in the evening when it's cooler. Preston is my weed puller, always has been! They both like to pick whatever it is that's ripe (this week it's green beans). And if you don't have room or time for a veggie garden, plant some flowers or some tomatoes in pots. Having the kids water them each day teaches responsibility, and face it, every kid loves pouring water!
It's been a crazy week around here to say the least...
Saturday I went with Granny to Troy to go garage-saling with her and Diana. We had a great time! I came home with an old dresser that I'm going to repaint and turn into a buffet for our dining room. I snagged it for a whopping $10! It's currently sitting in mom's garage until I a., refinish it, and b., we get our wood floors in. Sigh... Still waiting on those floors.
Sunday was Father's day and we spent the first half with the in-laws and the second half with my family. It was a good day and the kids were worn out by night!
Monday we had another trip to the ER. Thankfully it did not involve the children. Christopher woke up with his arms tingling and numb and was disoriented. He thought he was having a stroke or heart attack. I was in the tub and he got me out, had me call his mom to watch the kids and I took him to the ER. It turned out to be an anxiety attack. We were there until 1:00 a.m. and we were both exhausted!
Tuesday we had big plans to go swimming, but at noon, black clouds came rolling in again and the temp took a nose-dive to 74 and there were severe thunderstorm watches for the entire afternoon. Granny stopped by to have me look at her new computer, so we decided since it was now cool, that we'd go up and pull weeds in our garden. Since the ground was SO wet, those foot tall weeds (yeah) came right out! I made some good progress! Now my thighs are KILLING me because they're so sore.
Today, we planned to go swimming again. No storm clouds, so we were good to go. As we left the house, I asked Kate to grab the swim bag and sunscreen. Apparently, she dropped the sunscreen and asked Preston to grab it. We got to the in-law's house and no sunscreen. There was no way we could swim without it today, and we didn't have a lot of time, so I told them we'd have to go home and do it tomorrow. They were going there tonight anyway for Grammy day, so it wasn't like they weren't going to get to swim today. We get home and lying in our driveway is the tube of face sunscreen. Preston had set both bottles on the bumper of the car. One landed in our driveway and was run over. The other is lying along 185 somewhere. Luckily, we had another. Sigh... So far, every day that I've planned to take them swimming, something has come up. EVERY TIME. Let's see how well it goes tomorrow... they're forecasting rain.
Why is it that moms feel so much guilt. Is it just part of the job? We worry about so much- am I a good mother? Should I let her eat fast food again? Maybe I should have kept him home from school... Everything can easily turn into something we feel bad about or second guess. I don't like that. I know that I'm no perfect mother. I see that everyday. But why is it that I feel so guilty?
Today is just a guilty feeling day. I feel bad because I talked Preston into not going to his last baseball game because it was too hot. It was still in the 90's, the humidity took your breath away, and I knew he'd be miserable standing (and running) in that combination for over an hour. I know there will be other baseball games, but this was the last for this season. Not to mention that it was a make-up, make-up game, twice rescheduled.
Then there's tomorrow. Diana invited me to go along with her to the city-wide garage sale in Troy. I love a good GS, and there aren't too many here in town. Kate needs some play shorts since she outgrew her crooked cut-offs that I made her. I'd love to find a cupcake stand, some Beatles LP's, cute little tables, and who knows what else. But I feel bad about going because I won't be with the kids. I know... I'm with them every single day. I should want to have some alone time (and I do), but the thought of leaving them for half the day for something I want, seems selfish. It doesn't help that Christopher has been making a big deal of the fact that he has tons of yard work to do and waiting for the kids to get up, eat, and get ready so he can take them to his mom's will impede on his time, especially with severe heat warnings for tomorrow. So now I feel bad because I'm leaving my children for the morning, and because he might not be able to get all of his stuff done- and there really is a ton to do since it's stormed so much this week. I almost called Granny tonight to tell her that I wouldn't be going. But something just kept telling me to go, to do something for myself for a change. So I am going. Think of me as I walk around in scorching heat and humidity searching for good deals. And I better find some!
Today we had our weekly picnic at Ramsey Lake. It had been a while since we'd been there, so the kids had forgotten all about what there was. It was a mildly rainy morning, but it was cool in the 70's, so the weather was perfect (it was supposed to be in the 90's). We have a favorite campsite that we like to visit, and it requires about a 20 minute drive through the park. With the hills, valleys, streams, and thick woods, it was reminiscent of our trip to Gatlinburg.
The kids had their lunch on a towel atop a concrete pad after Kate saw several daddy longlegs on the picnic table and refused to eat on it. It's always something... They were making funny faces and were so excited that they hardly ate a thing.
We had a mini photo shoot with Preston. 
Preston "fished" in the lake with a stick and came up with a whole gob of moss.
These legs are so typical of summer- mud, scratches, bruises, and mosquito bites.
Oh, and I got my DQ! ;)
I love ice cream. Can't help it. Absolutely HATE homemade ice cream, though. You can't pay me enough to eat it. YUCK! With 2 kids that can't have dairy, it's hard to eat ice cream, but sometimes, I just have to have it. And don't worry, the kids have their fav. DQ treats that are safe and Preston has his soy ice cream. Anyway...
Last night, I just had to have ice cream. We had just one serving left out of the gallon bucket that had been sitting in the freezer since Kate's birthday. I had the kids in bed. Got the bucket out, got the bowl out, and scooped up the one chunk left. Guess where it landed... Not in my bowl... on the floor. Oh, I was SOOOOO mad! No ice cream for me.
Today, I was bound and determined to have DQ. I told the kids that we'd go at snack time. Preston declared he didn't want DQ for a snack. Again, no ice cream for me.
Tomorrow is our weekly picnic. We're headed up to Ramsey lake for a photo shoot, picnic lunch and some play time on the play equipment. I also plan a little pit stop at the fabric store, but I didn't tell them that. Shhh! I was going to go to Effingham and have a picnic at their park, but this sounds a lot better. A lot closer, and a lot cheaper! Ha! Maybe, just maybe, it will be hot enough when we get back to town that they'll go for a DQ. I don't know how much longer I can hold out!
After seeing an ad for a buy 3 get one free tire sale at Rural King, we decided to break down and buy tires for my hunk of junk. I had been putting it off for over a year (they were bad) because I just knew that the thing wouldn't last much longer. I still don't hold out much faith for it, and as soon as we pump money into it, it's bound to die. I digress. But... it has new tires. And you know there has to be a story, right?
We were at RK bright and early to make sure we got them since they only had 10 left. I'm inside the store and here comes a kid with 4 tires on a dolly, and I'm thinking, "What am I supposed to do with those?" Luckily, he wheeled them down to the tire shop and I drove down to have them installed. Another car was there and they said it would be 1 1/2 hours. I had both kids with me and there was no way they would last that long in Rural King. If the chicks and bunnies were still there, sure, but they're long gone. I call Granny to see if she could come pick us up. No one is home. Thinking they're working outside, we ran to their house. No one is home. I go back to RK and tell them I'd bring it in later when I had someone to pick us up. I was able to get a hold of Pa after lunch and the tires were put on.
While the tires were being installed, we went to Granny and Pa's to wait. Granny was nowhere to be found and Pa couldn't remember where she was. Later on, she called. She and her Methodist Women friends had taken the church bus to the Methodist Children's Home in Mt. Vernon. On their way home, they had a flat. I can just picture a bus full of 70+ year old women with a flat- from what she said, the rubber had come off completely, like a semi tire. They called and Mc Dowell's was going to come tow them, but they called back and told them to put on their hazards and drive 25 mph the rest of the way home- they were only about 5 miles out of town. I can just picture that, too! God must have been with them as they all made it safely back to town!
I'm not a sports gal. In fact, I really loathe sports in general and don't understand all of the hype of being a hard core fan. It's just not me. But, I do like baseball, and have really enjoyed Preston playing this year. He's a natural!
Today, the neighbor boys had some friends over and they were out playing ball. Preston just stood at the fence and watched, and I knew he wanted to play. I called him over and told him that if he wanted to play, to ask them. He did, and ran right over to join their game. Wow! These kids were hard core into their game! They had strike-outs, balls, walks, batting helmets and gloves... the works! Poor Preston, he was the youngest one there, and they had no mercy. He swung at every pitch, even the ones way over his head, and they'd call a strike. He was a bit disappointed with this, and after his turn at bat, came back home. I felt bad for him- he's just not in their league. Minutes later, though, it started thundering, so I was glad he'd already stopped playing- aluminum bats and lightening... bad combination!
He was supposed to have a game tonight, but after the rain we got this afternoon, I pretty much resigned that it was cancelled. Nope! The coach called and asked if I could bring snacks to the game since the girl who was signed up for tonight had quit. I told her I would, so we had to run to IGA before the game to get something. The game was going really well and they were just starting their third inning when a streak of lightening went across the sky. A minute later they called the game, and as soon as the kids lined up to shake hands, the sky let loose and poured! I still had to hand out snacks, so I had a line of hungry kids waiting as I tried to open the package in pouring rain, and we still had a good walk to our car. We were WET! But it was a good game and Preston had fun!
Friday is his last scheduled game, and there is one make-up game but I'm not sure when that is. It's supposed to rain again Friday, so we'll see how well that goes. I guess I can't just assume that a little rain will cancel a game!
My children never tire me with the things they come up with and say. I love their imaginations! But sometimes the things that come out of their mouths are a bit embarassing.
We were at Wal-mart today looking for a leotard for Kate. I just happened to be needing a strapless bra and saw some hanging on the end of the wall rack that the leotards were hanging on. Now, mind you, this was in the girls section, so when we walked up to the bras and I found my size (yeah... girls size), Kate starts in, "No! Nope! I'm not wearing a bra!" Preston: "No, Kate, those aren't for you. You don't need one." Kate: "Well, who else is that SMALL to need a bra like that?" Gee, thanks hon!
Thankfully, no one was around during that conversation. But while standing in the checkout lane, I noticed that the checker kept looking down at the bra while waiting on the person in front of me. Then, when she scanned it, I looked at the screen and it said "girls bra." How's that for making a girl feel good?
I hate mosquitoes. HATE them. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot more of them at this house than when we lived in town. Maybe it's all of the trees, or the breeding ground that is our fountain out back. Whatever it is, it's bad. Then with all of the rain we've gotten, they're even bad in town.
Anyway, Preston is very allergic to mosquitoes (surprise surprise...). When he gets bitten, he swells up, sometimes to the size of a chicken egg. It's not good. See the above picture? That was last year when Preston got bitten on his ear. It was so swollen that it was as thick as my thumb and it stuck way out from his head. Well, Tuesday morning he woke up and he'd gotten bit on the ear again! It was swollen just as badly and his poor ear looked like a tomato! It didn't help that the next day, with his ear still swollen, he wrecked his bike and now has a bruise on that ear. What is it with this kid and his ears??????? Anyway, today he woke up and he'd been bitten on his eyelid! It was red and swollen, although luckily, not as badly as it could have been.
We use bug spray, but bug spray doesn't work. We've tried every kind, and Dee even ordered some all natural organic stuff that they bought when there were in Hawaii that is supposed to be just wonderful at repelling some giant mosquitoes over there. Apparently, this stuff doesn't work on regular mosquitoes. Ugh! Last year he wore long clothes outside most of the summer. I think we might need to do that again.
Last night I got to thinking of some things that my mom taught me over the years. Yes, she's taught me more things than I could ever mention, but here are a few random things that have stuck on so strong that I will never forget them.
Never take a bath during a thunderstorm
I can't tell you how many times growing up I heard her say this. Every time it would storm at night, she'd rush us to get our baths in on time. If a storm blew up unexpectedly or we couldn't make it in time, we'd wait until morning. She NEVER let us take one during a storm! To this day, I still follow this advice in the unlikely case that our house gets struck by lightening while someone is in the bath. Of course, Christopher doesn't follow this advice as he was in the shower the night the tornado passed over our house, and didn't come out until the power went off.
Never leave the house with the dryer running.
My mom NEVER left the dryer running if we weren't home, even if we were running to the store and would be back in 10 minutes. I won't leave ours running, either. I don't even like to run it while I'm outside. Now, I do run my washer when I'm gone, and I really shouldn't. Once during my teens, I was home alone with the washer running and the hose broke. In minutes, the laundry room was flooded, I had NO clue how to turn the water off, and this was back before cell phones, so I couldn't call my parents to help me. Luckily, my grandpa was home and flew into town to help me. Phew! You never know what's going to happen when you're gone!
Lie on the infected ear and it won't hurt as badly.
Can you tell how many time I heard that one as a child? Seriously, it works- but only if one ear is infected. If they both are, you have to pick and choose, and the loosing ear that faces up will be in some major pain until you switch. I still follow this advice for myself and Preston.
Always do the hardest corner first.
When making a bed, always put the hardest corner of the fitted sheet on first- like the one closest to the wall or head of the bed. It makes it SO much easier! When you do this, you're now wedged up against a wall trying your darndest to get that tough corner on.
When we moved into this house, we inherited this walkway. It has always been ugly to say the least. After a long winter of freezing, thawing, and freezing again, our walkway began to crumble.
Every time it rained, every time Christopher used the leaf blower, more and more of our stones went MIA. It was beyond ugly at this point. It was downright embarassing. Not to mention dangerous! So, we decided it HAD to be replaced. Christopher wanted stone. I wanted concrete. This time, I won!
Yesterday morning, Keith came over and ripped up all of the stone rather quickly. Forming it up took much longer, but he likes to make sure that everything is perfect.
Around 10:00 this morning, my dad showed up with a mixer full of concrete. Yes, we specially requested that he come. And when his boss asked if he needed directions, he told him he though he knew where he was going. ;) BTW, happy birthday again, dad!
Here are the guys working the concrete. They worked for several hours to get it finished just right.
The kids wanted to put their hand prints in the new concrete. Keith mentioned that a guy he used to work with in construction would put a penny from that year into the concrete, so Kate rushed to find a 2010 penny to put by her hand.
Preston desperately wanted to put a penny with his hand, too, but to no avail. A search of every penny came up fruitless, so he settled for a dime from the year he was born and was happy.
And this is our after picture- as good as it gets until the forms come off Saturday. I can't wait to see it all finished and to walk on it! Thanks dad for bringing our concrete and to the guys for finishing it up. I love it!
