Happy Veteran's Day

Yesterday was the Marine Corps Birthday. I should have made a cake, but we still have Halloween Candy to finish off and I didn't want to add to the weight-gaining possibilities. Today was Veteran's Dan and I made cookies. Totally different.

In honor of Veteran's Day, we had received several different lists of places that would feed Dan for free today. Dan has always proclaimed he won't wait in the eternally long lines, so I did not expect him to take advantage of it. I took advantage of Dan being home and took Delaney off to get her hair neatened up a bit. It looks better, but there really was only so much that could be done.

Later that afternoon, I was surprised to hear Dan say he wanted to go out to eat. I was in the midst of cookie making, which also includes cookie eating, so I was very not hungry. Dan took the 4 oldest children and left a napping Rylee behind. I ate cookies and enjoyed the quieter house.

Dan and the children came back a few hours later. They had gone to Chili's. (If I had known that, I might have gone too!). Dan ate for free, and then when they were done, a couple of ladies had paid for the kids' meals as well! They all ate for free. How sweet is that? These nice ladies paid for 4 kid dinners! I am humbled by the generosity and kindness of those women to make such a gesture to my family.

Thank you to all the other Veterans out there, past and present. You make me proud.

We're having a week

Honestly, I do not know if it is the time change, the post Halloween sugar crash, the weather, or what, but everyone is a bit off this week. Rylee and Delaney seem to be having an especially hard time. Yesterday we had to leave the gym early due to a colossal screaming meltdown by Delaney. It was the first of several crying fits for her. We survived that, as well as Rylee's snotty-nosed neediness that has just arrived. However, this morning brought a whole new onslaught!

I was setting up my elliptical machine for use (since we're not going to go back to the gym for a while!) and I overheard the words "cut your hair" in the dining room. I flew in there and saw that Rylees lovely mullet was still intact. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that someone else's was not.

Yep, Delaney trimmed her hair. I love that she is still holding the scissors here. She did feel bad when I gasped at her newly short and sticking up hair.

She defiantly told me she did not want to have to have a pony in her hair. Granted, she had mentioned that she wanted to keep her hair short, but I did not! I was excitedly watching it grow and yearning for the day when it was longer again. I guess it was not to be.

I wet it and combed it to see if the double cowlicks in front would lie flat. I guess not. Delaney is thrilled though. No pony, and no hair in her face.

I confess to being quite impressed with her mad cutting skilz. Check out the fade!

And now I cannot wait to see what the rest of the day and the rest of the week have in store for us!

Story Time Story

One of the libraries here has a great Story Time. I have been making the effort to go. The girls enjoy it and it is nice to get out. Plus, I get to see some people I really like when I go. Last week they had the kids wear their Halloween costumes. I mention that because that's the day I took pictures, not today.

There's Delaney in her green M&M costume, and you can barely see Rylee next to her. The lady who does the stories is great. There are also songs and finger plays, which make Rylee giggle a lot.

And then there is a craft. The kids love that part the most. I'm not very crafty, so it is fun to let someone else come up with ideas and have everything ready. Rylee's favorite part of the crafts is the glue.

Delaney loves to cut. She is very good with the scissors and stays in the lines very well. Today she did the entire craft all by herself. And it turned out nicely, and recognizable!

The girls were so good this morning for the story and craft, I pushed my luck and dragged them to the grown-ups section so I could look for some books for me. I set them up at a table to "read" their picture books and I perused the shelves. It soon became apparent this was not going to work, as I saw a hand dart out from underneath the table to snatch a book off the lowest shelf. I looked under and there was a pile of books being hoarded by 2 giggling girls. Time to go!

As I finished putting their hoard of books away, I grabbed a running-away Rylee and discovered she had no shoes on. And then I realized she had peed through her diaper. We left the library sans shoes and pants.

Hot Date!

Tonight was our Marine Corps Ball. I must say, BEST BALL EVER!! They had free (yes, FREE!) babysitting for the kids, and they had busses running every 15 minutes to take us into New Orleans and drop us off at the front door. It was fantastic. Babysitting alone for us would have cost a fortune. Plus, trying to find a babysitter willing to sit on 5 kids for 5+ hours is a truly daunting task. So this was an awesome date for us!

However, for next time, I need to remember a few things. First, know where my slip is. Going slipless was a little too free and liberating for me. Second, buy stockings more often. Ones purchased 10 year ago are lacking elasticity and may creep southward. Lastly, don't forget the corsage at home!

All dressed up! Isn't Dan handsome?!

Hanging out at the table. It was fun. The program was great. It was pretty lengthy too. I was so hungry by the time dinner came, but it was delicious!

And here is the Marine Corps 236th Birthday Cake. Yummy!

Dan and the guys from his shop. They seem like a great bunch to work with. I can see why Dan likes his job now.

And here are some sleepy children as we drove them home at 10:45pm!! I expect some grumpy kids tomorrow!

This too shall pass

I am still working on my letters project. I'm not sure if it is the too many cut-and-pastes, or issues with the original word document, or Blurb itself, but I'm having some trouble getting the letters organized and the changes being saved. It keeps locking up as well. Good thing I'm about done!

It does mean I have been reading and re-reading the letters quite a few times. And I have to say, I am SO glad to be done with that phase of my life. I did believe my mom when she said it was not going to last forever and that it would pass, and it did! It really did. I am also really glad I wrote down what was happening in my life. I certainly do not recall this particular week, because time does have a way of making you forget how bad things were. It makes me so grateful that things do pass. That phase of life wass just that- a phase. Here, you can enjoy what life was like in 2003 and you too can be glad it has passed!

Sunday September 7, 2003

Well, this was a really crummy week. Yeah, I sure could have lived without it. Anyway, not everything, or every day was bad. Just the whole overall everything! It was mostly that Marian has been particularly fussy due to her new teeth, and she has been having a rough time at night, and naptime has dwindled to several 20 minute ones, and not a long one very often. And then Joshua has decided that 6am is an acceptable time to get up. (I would be okay with that if Marian went to bed at 8:30 with him, but she’s been up till 11pm and later. Grrrrrr.)

Monday and Tuesday were fussy, sleep deprived days, but Wednesday was the worst day ever. Marian was feeling sick for reals- she smelled like throw up first thing in the morning but I thought it was just a fluke, and I carried on as usual. I had Deborah’s quilt all tied, and now I was trimming the edges to get them ready to sew. I put down the scissors for a second and Joshua snatched them up and in less than 30 seconds he had snipped a huge hole in the shirt he was wearing (which happened to be my favorite of his!). Aaarrgh!! I was so mad! I did finish the trimming, and then I wanted to get to the library for story-time. As I was changing Joshua’s holey shirt, Marian was lying on my newly completed quilt. Suddenly she threw up everything she’d eaten; there was a 2 foot circle of spit-up all around her! Double Aaarrgh!! I decided we were going to just go, so I didn’t do anything with the quilt, I just packed the kids in the car and off we went.

20 minutes later and 15 circles around the same area, I realized that the library was not where I’d been led to believe it was. I finally found it and we went in. But Noooooo, Joshua didn’t want to be there. Do you know how hard it is to apply for a library card with a 30 pound body pushing your legs toward the door and crying “no, no, no.”, while also holding a baby?! Ug. I was disgusted. We didn’t stay for story time. We left as soon as I got the card. Since that meant we still had an hour till we were suppose to meet for Lunch, I thought hey, I’ll go to Project Love, my favorite thrift store. I was having an enjoyable perusal while Joshua played in the toy bins and just as I discovered a treasure I had to have, Joshua decided he wanted to play with something he shouldn’t. That, of course, let to a colossal temper tantrum which involved rolling around on the floor, crying, screaming, and attempts to throw down anything he could reach. Sigh. I was holding Marian, and having thoughts of dragging him out to the car and leaving him in it. But I didn’t. I left the store and waited for him to realize I was on the other side of the door. So he got up and cried bitter tears till I let him out and we went to “The Steak House” where we were to meet Dan, and Mom and Dad for lunch. We were a little early, but that was okay. I let Joshua play in the car while I nursed Marian.

You’re thinking, wow, that does sound like a rough morning, good thing life is better now that you get to have a nice lunch. YOU’D THINK SO! But it was not to be. We received some really crummy news, which was very depressing. And to make things better, Marian spit up all over me, and I do mean, all over me. My shirt was saturated, my pants were damp and it was trickling down my leg to puddle in my sandal, too. No sooner did she finish that astonishing feat, than I noticed that she had pooped completely through her diaper and her outfit. Yes, my friends, I’m sure someday I may well sit back and laugh about it, but not any time soon.

The rest of the week was not as bad- how could it have been?! Okay, Joshua did throw up red stuff on the white carpet (for the second time), and that was not good. The nights got worse. The last 2 nights I have been up walking Marian for 2 hours in the middle of the night. I don’t know if its teething pain or something else. She’s in pain, but nothings helping! And why only at night? (I’d guess because I’m already holding her most of the day.) I’m almost wondering if its an ear infection. I may call the doctor tomorrow, if tonight’s bad again. I am just so exhausted and tired that I’m really crabby and not having fun.

I’m sure good stuff happened... let me remember... This week was payday, and that was really good! Well, seriously, Joshua rode the horses this week. My mom took him on the saddle with her while she rode around the fence line, and on Saturday I finally got on the horse, too! Joshua and I rode (very sedately!) around the round pen. And Dan and I went on a date Saturday afternoon. We tried out the new “Whitewater Grill” and it was pretty good... Oh, and on the really good side, Dad and I went running this week and it felt great. My ankle is about all better, and my knee is getting there. I’m feeling good about this. We may actually get to more than a mile and a half! Yay. Ooh, mom and I went to the garage sales on Friday morning. I think its too much work for too little pay-off, but we did get a plastic tot sized picnic table for Joshua. I guess the best thing was finishing Deborah’s quilt (And it is washable, so the puke thing won’t be an issue!). It looks so great! Perhaps I’ll have to send out a picture so you, too, can be wowed and amazed at my domesticity. Another great thing is that Joshua made it all the way through church with no problems! Yay! We have been reading the picture scriptures at night and now he says prayers before bed, so maybe that’s helping with church too.

Well, that seems to be plenty long enough, so I think I’m done. I hope this week is better, another one like this last one and I may dissolve into a puddle of despair! May you have a fantastic week yourself.

Rebecca