Monday, January 31, 2011

Hi, my name is Jennifer

and I'm a pop-aholic. Always have been. In recent years, I switched to Coke Zero, because I can't stand Diet Coke, and wanted to avoid all the calories in the real stuff. But I drank a lot of pop regardless.

It's been a week since my last Coke, or pop of any sort. Last Sunday night was the last one. I had a small amount of 7up last week, but other than that, it's been water, milk, and juice. I am allowing myself lemonade at lunch, because it's free and it's like crack. It was entirely a spur of the moment decision, based on losing some weight and avoiding all the unhealthy stuff in pop.

It's been really, really hard. I crave pop. One of my students said she read somewhere that it's harder to give up caffeine than cigarettes, and I believe it after this week! Another student bowed down to me in admiration today when I told her about it. I've noticed certain places are hotspots, places where I've always bought a Coke.  It seems harder at those places and times. But it's been rewarding...after the headaches stopped (oh, the headaches!), I felt more clear-headed. And my pants fit better. Nothing wrong with that!

I don't intend to give up caffeine forever, just trying to get myself over this crazy addiction. I gave myself a two-week limit, then after that, I'll try and see how I can handle it.

One more week. I can do this.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Momentary panic

Kaylin's school just called me, checking on her whereabouts. Her whereabouts should have been at school, so I called Bobby. He saw her whereabouts get on the school bus, so I called back to school. They put me on hold for what seemed like forever, then returned with "she was marked absent on accident. She's in class!"

Whew. Heart can start beating again. My imagination had ran wild as to what had happened to her!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

My day

Here's my day, in a nutshell.

Work all day--have a student teacher, but she's not teaching yet. I taught all day, and explained every little thing to her in downtime. Felt like I talked All.Day.Long.

4:00--Get girls off bus. Kaylin crying about her ear (like she does every day)
4:15--Fix dinner for Macy and me; Kaylin won't eat and Bobby is sick
4:30--Make Kaylin doctor's appt.
5:00--Drop Macy off at friends house to play
5:15--Take Kaylin to doctor--bad, bad case of swimmer's ear. Antibiotic ear drops prescribed.
6:00--Drop off Kaylin at cheerleading
6:15--Pick up Macy from friends house
6:25--Drop off Kaylin's prescription
6:30--Go to last 30 minutes of Kaylin's cheerleading practice (I'm assistant coach)
7:00--Drop off Macy at basketball
7:05--Get car stuck in snow and other basketball coach has to push car out
7:10--Get gas
7:15--Pick up Kaylin's prescription
7:30--Pick up McDonalds for Bobby
7:35--Fix Kaylin dinner
7:40--Fight with Garage door; garage door wins
8:00-Pick Up Macy from basketball
8:30--prayers, books read, backpacks ready for tomorrow, clothes picked out
9:00--start working on test/study guide for class tomorrow
11:00--realize I left something at school and can't finish test
11:30--finish what I can; have to get up early to finish at school
11:45--finish this blog post and go to bed

I cannot wait until my husband feels better and life can return to normal. Who am I kidding? Life is never normal.

Insert short joke here

On Sunday, we babysat a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old. I had totally forgotten what it was like to have a baby in the house, and I was exhausted by Sunday night. The two girls were perfect angels, but it was exhausting watching a baby atalltimes in our un-babyproofed house.  Those parents with 4 or 5 kids? No idea how they do it. Coats on, buckle in the car seat, drive, unbuckle, get out of the car, hold hand in parking lot, take coats off, repeat, repeat, repeat.

At one point, Macy was standing next to me. In case you haven't seen us stand next to each other for a while, she's right about my jawline or checkbones. The little 3-year-old Kali looked up at us and said, "You guys are the same age!"

Uh, not exactly.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

I may be terrible, but I'm okay with that

We are not a healthy-food family. I know, I know, we should be, but we aren't. But you know--our kids are healthy, happy, well-adjusted. They are obviously growing well despite the lack of healthy food. As the kids have gotten older, I don't fuss about certain foods, and just let my kids live.

Bobby told me to give Macy a Mountain Dew about a 1/2 hour or hour before her basketball game, time enough for that caffeine to kick into her system and make her hyper. She's rarely hyper on the basketball court, and he wanted her to be more aggressive. Sugar and caffeine will do that for you.

So we were at Kaylin's game, at the concession stand, and I was commenting to another mom that I needed to buy Macy's Mountain Dew. Another mom I don't know overhead, and let me tell you, you would have thought I was going to buy crack for my kid.

"You are buying what?" She said, eyes as big as saucers.
"Oh, just a can of Mountain Dew to give her some energy for her game." I said, shrugging it off.
"Ohhhhh...I would never do that. I make my kids stay away from anything bad for them. Water or milk only for us!" She said, with a completely snotty voice. You can imagine.
"Oh, well, it's one can, and we don't give it to her all the time." I replied.
"But it's full of horrible chemicals that does bad things to their body! You shouldn't put those things in their bodies."

At this point, my friend and I started talking quickly to avoid this crazy lady and where the conversation was going.

When it was her turn, Crazy Lady ordered an apple and a water. I ordered a Mountain Dew for Macy and a Pepsi for Kaylin.

And Macy played very well at her game.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Oh, man. Here we go again.

Currently, there are 7 inches of fresh snow on the ground outside. It's so very pretty, but it also means we have Snow Day #4 tomorrow, and probably Snow Day #5 Friday. There goes my week-long spring break. :(

Roads are bad out there. I slid into the curb (or maybe the grass, it was covered in snow) on my way home (shhhhh....don't tell Bobby). My friend Angee works downtown. She called me at 5:00 and said she'd left her office at 3:30, and had barely gone anywhere in that amount of time. I picked up her daughter from day care, and she got to my house about 7:00. Took her 3 1/2 hours from downtown---a trip that normally takes 20. I saved her $60--she would have been one hour late, and it's $1 a minute!

Kaylin still has a bad ear, so sledding might be out tomorrow. We'll see. Otherwise, we'll hibernate in the house and play Wii!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Kaylin's birthday picture blow-out

Daddy lighting the candles on her cake...she wanted this beach one with flip-flops. So appropriate when it's 12 degrees outside, but whatever. You're only 7 once, right?
Blowing out the candles...
All the lovely ladies before getting in the pool. They were quite anxious at this point, but were good sports.
Not one of my my children, but I loooovvvveee this shot! How cool is it??
Kaylin and two of her buddies...they did this all night long!
Of course Macy was there too...
Attempting to get a picture of all the girls jumping in at one time.
This is Haley, their current favorite baby-sitter. I paid her to hang out in the pool with the kids, mainly so I wouldn't have to jump in fully-clothed to save someone. She had kids hanging on her all night long. She definitely earned her money's worth.
I love doing these pool parties. No party planning, no entertaining the kids...they just splash and play for 2 hours!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Kaylin is 7 today!

Kaylin is 7 today! Hard to believe she's already 7.

7 things I love about this little girl (yes, she's my little girl and always will be)

1. Her blue eyes and blond hair--she's the only one in our little family with blue eyes and blond hair, and I love that!
2. She's named after me, her grandma Jane and her grandma Maggie.
3. Her desire to be just like her big sister, even though it drives Macy crazy.
4. How she has no meat on her bones--she's the teeny, skinniest little thing.
5. Her wacky sense of humor...tonight she told me, "Did you know you can go to Turkey, eat turkey, and be a turkey?" Ha!
6. She's my snuggle-buddy. She loves to cuddle up next to me, and is always in my "personal space". She's always holding my hand, or wanting me to hold her.
7. Finally, at least for this list, the way she plays swordfight on the Wii. Hard to explain, you will just have to see it, but she beats the crap out of her opponenet, and it looks so funny!

Baby girl has had a rough birthday...can't decide if she has an ear infection or just swimmer's ear, but she's been uncomfortable most of the day. She did, however, get into all her new Barbie's, so it wasn't all that bad.

She had a big party last night at the local hotel that rents out their pool. Pictures to come later, but she had a great time!!

Happy birthday, my sweet Kaylin!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Snow day pictures, Take Two.

After the backyard sledding, we went to the girls' school for more sledding with friends.We were out for several hours. It was so much fun. I think I enjoy sledding almost as much as they do!

Kaylee and Kaylin start to collide...
Crash!!
My friend Amy about to run over her own daughter.
Amy's wipeout!
We had to fight the kids for the sleds. :)
My wipeout! Face full of snow!
Oh, such fun!
My KK!
Macy won't ride with me, but Kaylin still will.
Dogpile on Amy! Macy and Kaylee went down the hill on Amy's back like this.
Kaylin bailed off and got on my back instead.

My two lovelies. They were so good...no fighting, no whining, just up and down the hill, over and over and over!

Snow day pictures, Take One.

My favorite pictures from Monday...girls love to go down the slide on their sleds. They also stood on the sled trying to "surf". Our favorite dogs are also in there.










Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Snow Day #3

This was my Facebook status tonight, and judging from the "likes" and the comments, one of my most popular:

I have been a very unproductive member of society for these 3 snow days. I haven't made lesson plans, graded anything, made any Girl Scout meeting plans, written anything, done any laundry or cleaned anything. I have, however, gone sledding, made snow ice cream (several times), played the Wii, played board games, slept in, took naps, played in a fort, made cookies. You know, the stuff that matters.

Back to the grind tomorrow. 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Snow Day # 2.

This post will be as idyllic as yesterday's. Day two of snow days are never as fun as Day One. More fighting, less peaceful.

And it was bitterly cold out there today, as opposed to yesterday, so not as much playing outside.

It was nice while it lasted.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Snow Day!

Ahhhh...the beauty of a snow day. Every teacher and kid's dream. We had one today, and probably tomorrow as well, I'm guessing. Here's what we have done today:

  • Slept until 9 (I needed it; I was up at 2:30, then wide awake from 4-5, dozed from 5-6, slept pretty good from 6-9)
  • Ate chocolate and cinnamon rolls for breakfast
  • Took down our Christmas decorations. Yes, I realize it is January 10. 
  • Bundled up and played in the backyard, riding the sleds down the slide and the deck steps
  • Filled squirt bottles with water and food coloring to "paint" the snow. It didn't work very well.
  • Thought my dog bit her tongue in half. That was a fun moment. 
  • Ate soup and hot chocolate for lunch
  • Bundled up again and headed to the girls' school with some friends. We sledded for about 3 hours! Up and down the hill, up and down the hill. Going to be sore tomorrow! But what fun.
  • Had "quiet time" in our rooms reading books while pizza cooked
  • Ate pizza for dinner
  • Now? Watching SpongeBob 
  • Later? Making chocolate chip cookies
Only thing that would make this day more perfect is if Bobby was home!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Grandparents

I've been a bit out of touch this week, as evidenced by my lack of posting.

Bobby's grandma passed away on Friday, and we traveled yet again to the prosperous town of Salem for her funeral. While it's sad that she is gone, it's not sad at the same time. She was 90, and she's in a much better place, her body is complete again, and her mind is back. There towards the end, the last 6 months or so, she couldn't remember who we were, where she was. Her sisters, her husband, her only child had already died, so there wasn't much holding her here anymore.

My grandparents died when I was young, and even then, I didn't have much contact with them before they died. Two died before I was born, the other two when I was about 9 or 10. I truthfully don't have many memories of them. That makes me sad.

But I am very thankful the girls had a chance to get to know their great-grandma, and while we didn't spend as much time with her, I think they will remember her as they get older. They should have fond memories of my parents and Bobby's dad, and I am very thankful for that as well.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Christmas picture blowout

Leaving milk and cookies for Santa. Our plate says, "Cookies? For me?" and the milk cup says, "No kidding? Milk too?" They're really cute. I went with matching pj pants this year, instead of full pj's.
Not sure who came up with the NORAD Santa tracker, but bless that person. I LOVE that thing! The girls started watching around 3 or 4, and watched pretty much all night. I couldn't tear the laptop away from them!
Opening presents in the morning. She had asked for Jenga, then forgot she'd asked for it. Silly girl.
Ok, could this look any more creepy? Good grief!! She was obviously very excited about this movie.
And look at the expression on her face! Cracks me up. She was unwrapping the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. Yes, she was that excited about a book. As soon as we were done with presents, she immediately started reading. Had it finished the next day. That's my girl.
Moving over to my parents' house Christmas Day. Here's Kaylin and her Papa. The older she gets, the more I think she looks like him. She wasn't feeling well in the morning, and spent a lot of time laying around, but by the time we started opening presents, she was back to herself.
Mom got the girls Snuggies. They love them!
And the best present of all? Pillow pets! Everyone we've talked to got one for Christmas.
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!