Another side of randomness

 Last week was just nuts. In addition to the gas line at the high school being struck which caused school to be cancelled for Thing Three, I also had a two hour fog delay. We repeated the process on Tuesday, and though the gas line had been repaired, school was still cancelled for him as well as for me this time because the fog was still hanging around come bus time after the two hour delay. I think Wednesday everyone was on time, but I was subbing in first grade instead of hanging with my preK friends. Thursday I was back with my 3 year olds and then Friday was a work day and aides weren't required to report, and Thing Three also didn't have school because his teachers had a work day as well. 

My Mommeee arrived Monday afternoon and left Saturday morning, so we had a great, long visit this time. Thanks for making the trip! I miss you! Dada had been in Mexico for work since Sunday, and he made it back safely to us on Saturday after my Mom arrived home.  

This week will hopefully be a little less bananas, though I'm back in first grade on Wednesday again, and Thing Three has no school for conferences on Friday. Our school has them next week. I can't believe it's the end of the first quarter already...

My hindsight-is-always-20/20 observation is to not schedule surgery wherein your recovery requires no lifting within the same year as having lymph nodes removed in your arm. Hopefully none of you will ever go through the experience, but if you do, be forewarned that the second surgery and no lifting will set back your PT and stretching exercises rather alarmingly. I've been experiencing a ton of tightness throughout the right side of my chest, right armpit, shoulder, and neck. Over two weeks ago it was so bad that I whimpered when bending over to tie my shoes; the combination of extending my arm while having it tightly in front of me pulled all kinds of muscles in what felt like all the wrong places. At times, while stretching, I sounded snappy like a KitKat bar. As anyone with cording can tell you, the snap kind of takes your breath away a second and you're wincing the whole time you're working, either because it actually does hurt sometimes but also in anticipation of it zinging another stab of pain. For instance, I do 10 reps of various exercises, and sometimes the snap won't come until the 9th rep! Then you hesitate in dread a moment before starting the 10th, and breathe deeply when that set is done. I'm not particularly a fan of sounding crispy. Dada, however, is enjoying working on me with the massage gun we got; meanwhile, my vision when he's doing it makes me feel like the Blair Witch Project choppiness and it reminds me of how we'd vocalize as kids riding our bikes on our brick street, "heeeeyyyaaaaheeeeeyaheeeeya"... oh well. This, too, shall pass. I certainly won't win any Heisman trophies anytime soon!

School has been entertaining. For the most part, the kids are a hoot and I love the staff. I am tired of the squabbling over who is the line leader, but generally I am having a ball. I'm thrilled to be able to help. I missed so much time last year. 

Our weather has finally cooled off, I'm super behind on #Inktober, I have plenty of small projects to keep me busy when I'm home, and I'm glad for the time we had with my Mommeeeee. Too bad she didn't take Bos with her when she left. (I can hear you laughing, Mom. Pipe down.)

Did I blog that we had to put Honey down? I don't think I did. Our Honey girl was elderly and way past decrepit, so we made that worst best decision and our wonderful vet helped us send her off pain-free. Bos never even noticed. He still scurried to her dish for days afterwards to see if she'd left him any morsels and then he'd look at us like, "how rude." I think the only reason he'd miss any of us is because he doesn't have opposable thumbs.

One more football game and then the marching band season winds down. They've already had their concert and we learned the hard way to sit in the center of the auditorium versus towards the back. Having a line of trumpets three rows behind you is not recommended. Had it been drums, I'd have been great! I love to feel the beat in my sternum!

Have a wonderful week, everybody, and stay healthy!

Little Drummer Boy

Why yes, Mama, I'm drumming on the pots in the dishwasher. It makes such a nice display.

What's that, Conductor? Certainly I'm reading for my close up. Cheeeeeeeese!

Christmas Eve 2007

Merry Christmas!

I took Carrie to church tonight. We had all gone yesterday. But Dada and I sat through a kickin' version of "Little Drummer Boy" that we knew she'd just love, so I took her to see it tonight. Think STOMP comes to CedarCreek. It was amazing. Midsong, the drummer removes his coat, rolls up his sleeves, and goes to town. The rest of the music team right down to the girl who's usually on the keyboards all brought in these huge metal garbage-style cans, and they ALL go to town. Incredible.

As predicted, she liked the drums. She said she didn't like the "green lights that move around. They were shining in my eyes too much. Not the ones from the sky, and not the other ones that moved around... just the green ones." I imagine we'll be hearing more about those drums and lights.

On the way home, we passed our house to drive around and check out the neighborhood holiday lights. One house back towards Rita's has lights set to a radio station. Carrie was delighted, and promptly observed: those lights can hear! Hahahahaa. She even got to hear "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" as we sat there. Lots of other people's lights have gotten blown over this weekend too. She noticed several trees and a candy cane lying down on the job.

So the kids are nestled all snug in their beds... or as snugly as their head colds/ bad coughs will allow. Liam is actually stirring right now. I can hear him doing his rhythmic kicking, but softly. I'm hoping for a night of sound sleep for both of them, but judging from how his cough sounded before bed, I'd not be at all surprised if he'll cough himself into needing clean jammies and sheets. Poor baby. Hers is pretty much only bad if she's been all wound up. That includes laughing too hard!

The cookies and carrot sticks are out for Santa (and reindeer), and we checked the Santa tracker before she went to bed. It said he was in Uruguay and then in Argentina, so she scurried off to bed. She reminded us to turn off our fireplace, too.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Especially to the new people for their first Christmas- Lizzie, Bing, Cole, Jack, Evan, Micha, Mariah, and others. And I pray for special Christmas peace for those who have lost some loved ones this year. Happy first Christmas in Heaven, Grammy and Jan!

To all a good night!

Almost 4

For those of you keeping score, Care Bear is almost 4. So we bought her a bike. It's a Dirt Dawg, which tickles me to no end. That's the one she wanted, and man, she is fast on that thing. Now we just have to find a helmet for Liam and we'll be all set for family bike rides. Hehe! I'm sure you'll like the pictures of the almost- birthday girl.

And there's some of just everyday stuff around here. Caught the kids in their usual poses and figured all y'all would like to see them. Will take more this week, it being the birthday week and all. She's informed me that she wants cookies instead of a cake this year. No problem there. She wants "chocolate chip ones... and I wanna taste the chips before they're cooked." Yes, ma'am. She certainly knows her own mind, that one. ;) Like aunt Lisa says, "she dances to a different drummer." My reply is, "yeah, to bongos. In a drum and fife corps..."

Don't forget all the outstanding moms in your life- next weekend is Mother's Day! Since I am a mom, and I'll probably forget next weekend to say it, I want to celebrate all the beautiful Girlfriend moms who bless my life. You know who you are. Thank you, thank you for restoring my sanity. Glad we can all be there together, surviving our kids' childhoods. I mean, glad we can all be there for each other. I mean... hahahhaa. You know what I mean ;) *whistles innocently* And Mommee, you rock too ;) Thanks for being you. Can't wait to see you next week!

Have a good one. Hoping the wind slows down some so we don't get blown to Yakima! =D