Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Cannot handle the tears

Cannot handle it when high school boys cry. Seriously. Girls? Bring it on.

But when a 17-year-old boy breaks down in front of me crying, I just cannot handle it.

Dinnertime

We typically don't eat together as a family. (GASP. The HORROR.)

We  just have funky schedules at night, and most of the time the girls just eat in front of the TV (GASP) and we (or just me, if Bobby is at the station) eat in the kitchen.

So last night I thought we'd try eating together as a family. I know it's important, blah, blah, blah. I cleared off the kitchen table. We had exactly 15 minutes to eat together, before the evening activities of Girl Scouts and dance started. Bobby had thrown chicken and potatoes in the crock pot in the morning, so the whole house smelled yummy.

The girls and I sit down, Bobby is doing something in the kitchen, probably taking his time sitting down at the table. Macy has a major scowl on her face, and is just picking at her food with a fork, slumped down in her seat. Kaylin is doing the same, but making little whiny noises from time to time.

"So, Macy, how was your day?" I said, very cheerful.

"Fine." She didn't even look up.

"Kaylin, how was your day?" I try the other daughter.

"Fine." Insert whiny noise after.

"Bobby, how was your day?" He has joined us by this time.

"Fine." He says, big grin on his face. He knows how painful this is.

"Mooooooooommmmmm, this is gross!" Macy whines.
"Mommmmmm, I can't eat this!" Kaylin says.

It didn't get a whole lot better from there. Macy ate a Lunchable, Kaylin ate 2 hot dogs, but they did talk a little more.

Roughest 15 minutes of my life.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Boring post about our weekend

Friday afternoon we sent the girls off to Chillicothe for a church retreat with the group of girls they meet with on Wednesday nights. No tears, just hugs and see you tomorrow! I'm so glad we have no issues in that area.

Saturday Bobby and I worked at the winery all day while they were having an auction. I handed out cup after cup after cup after cup of hot chocolate or coffee, plate after plate after plate after plate of hot dogs and hamburgers, and then went to pick the girls at 5 from their retreat.

They had a great time and it was good to have them home!

Friday, March 25, 2011

I eat losers for breakfast...

Once upon a time, Macy was obsessed with the movie Cars. We watched it over and over and over and over and over. She had a Cars birthday theme for her 5th birthday where we watched the movie, ate popcorn, and made Cars keychains. So when I heard that the actual cars from the movie would be town yesterday only, I started scrambling to figure out a way to take them. I found out about noon, and it closed at 6. Lots of juggling, but we arrived at 5:55. I was watching Jesse's two girls last night, and the Mulkey family came with us.

 Here they are with Lightning McQueen himself.
And Tow Mater. My favorite line of his from the movie? "I'm as happy as a tornado in a trailer park!"

And my favorite car...Sally the sweet-talking Porsche.

It was all over by 6:15 and we were back inside Crown Center where we played around for a while then headed home. It was crazy by the cars--see the black rope in front of the cars? Obviously there for a reason. I was shocked to see little kids moving the black rope, and leaning on the cars, hitting them, etc. Seriously? What kind of parent lets that happen?

It was a crazy thing to do on a weeknight when I had 2 extra kids in tow, just for a 10 minute photo opp with cars, but I love building memories with the girls. Surely this is one they will remember!

**Excuse the picture quality...I was carrying Giselle and didn't want to lug the big camera, so I used my phone. My arms are sore today! 

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

I ran with Cheryl

There's a trail .5 miles from our house. I usually walk to the trail, run 1 mile, turn around and run 1 mile back, then walk home. It works well. Total mileage=3 miles

Last night I got the brilliant idea to NOT turn around, but do the whole trail. The whole trail is 3.75 miles, plus the walk to/from the trail. I didn't think about the trail being longer than what I usually do.

No biggie--I was doing fine. I had ran more than usual, but that was okay. Had about 1 mile left to run when I see my friend Cheryl waving at me. Then she turned around and said, "Care if I run with you?" See, I'm a slow runner. Cheryl is not. She has ran SIX half-marathons and is FAST. I said, "Sure, if you don't mind me slowing you down." She laughed, "oh, you won't slow me down."

That last mile went by in a blur. I kept up with her, running at a pace I have NEVER done before. She was just getting started, I was on the tail end of my run She was carrying on a conversation, I would get a few breathy words out to contribute to the conversation. She bounced along, I felt like I had on iron shoes. She was all-fresh-faced, I felt like my face was on fire.

But I did it. I survived and walked home. Total mileage 4.75. Bobby took one look at me and said, "How did your run go?"

"I ran with Cheryl" is all I needed to say.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Staycation

We were supposed to go to Atlanta this week and didn't. Instead, we've been hanging around town, having fun just being together.

Wednesday,
Went to a nature sanctuary for a hike
Drove around looking at campsites
Took a friend to the ER with a potential broken ankle

Thursday
Ran 2.5 miles (goooooo me!)
Went to the zoo with friends
Went camping
Almost froze to death

Friday
Went to Kaleidoscope with my sister and niece
Toured the winery with them too
Ate way too much at Texas Roadhouse

Today (so far)
Ran 2.5 miles
Cleaned out garage
Cleaned out closet

More than you really wanted to know about my week, I'm sure.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

First 5k

Yesterday I signed up for my first 5k, Rock the Parkway

I've said before that I was going to run, and just never have. Been too scared, too nervous, whatever to actually do it. With Bobby's strange schedule, it's hard to train. I can't follow training schedules found online, and he'll suddenly work overtime and can't run for three days in a row. It's getting easier though--the girls can stay home by themselves for a short time, and I'm making more of an effort to force myself. The training is going pretty well, so I felt comfortable paying money and signing up.

I'm running with 2 others I work with, so we talk about it at school, and I'm getting excited! It may be miserable and I may hate it and never do it again, but that's okay.

I've blogged about this before, but it's something I feel strongly about. It's important for the girls to see that I do things outside of taking care of them. So many parents are wrapped up 100% in their children and don't take time for themselves. One of these days those kids are going to grow up, and what has the parent done for themselves? What goals has the parent showed the child they can achieve?

Running a 5k is something that I hope the girls can see me do and appreciate that I am taking time for myself.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Luck o' the Irish

Who am I kidding? I have no luck. Anyway, pictures from Saturday's Snake Saturday parade.

Kaylin and her super-cool shamrock glasses

Macy and her super-cool shamrock glasses, doing her super-cool gangsta look.

Macy and her BFF Kaylee, gangsta style


Me and the girls, along with part of Joseph's head. No idea what Macy's deal was on Saturday with the pictures!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Saturday Tidbits

It's been a busy week of doing nothing. My student-teacher is still teaching, so I spent the week watching the Big 12 tournament in school, researching things to do in Anaheim with 20 high school students (one month from tomorrow!!), and generally doing nothing productive.

When I woke up yesterday, I saw on FB that my second cousin was in Japan when the tsunami and earthquakes hit. She couldn't text or call, but could get on FB so that's where she posted her updates. Before I left for school, the girls and I prayed for her and all the other people in Japan. I followed her updates on FB all day, and right before I went to bed, she got on a plane to Detroit. Yeah!!!!!

Macy had guitar last night and is getting pretty good at Hokey Pokey.

Spring break for the girls is all next week. I was supposed to have the same, but because of snow days, I have to go Monday and Tuesday. We were going to go to Atlanta, but not getting the full week plus gas prices are making us stay home. :(

Off to the Snake Saturday parade in about an hour! Can't wait!!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Kaylin cheerleading

Kaylin finished up cheerleading on Saturday. She had a fun time, just like last year. I was her assistant coach, and had fun too. One of my good friend's Melanie was the head coach, and it was fun spending a couple hours a week together.

Here's Kaylin at her very first game, way back in January. Her dad took these first two..good job!


Clowning around with her friend Kirsten. They have a love-hate relationship that changes by the minute.

My sweet, sweet girl! Love her smile.
Being silly with her squad. One girl is missing, but look at how tall Kaylin is compared to the others! All her age or a tad younger. The girl missing is a year older, and Kaylin is about the same height.


Upward does a big celebration at the end, and this year, all the cheerleading squads put together a performance. It required several extra practice times, outside of the regular practice time, but it was worth it. It was neat to see the girls up there!

On another note, Kaylin went to the doctor yesterday for a check-up. She's in the 90% on height (meaning 90% of kids her age are shorter than her) and in the 20% for weight (meaning 20% of kids her age are skinnier than she is). She's definitely tall and skinny if you haven't seen her lately!

Oh, and she got a shot. Cried like a baby. Haven't seen her cry like that in a loooongg time!

Monday, March 7, 2011

My Posse

This is my Posse (yes, capitalized because it is that important):  Misty, Maria, Jenn R, Ronna and our newest Posse Member, Roselynn. All teachers, although Jenn R got out of teaching but is still a teacher at heart. 4 of the 6 still teach together at LN.

We started our Posse about 7-8 years ago. The Posse started as a book club, where we, in theory, read books and discussed them at length with great discussion. In actuality, we read the book, maybe talked about it for 5 minutes, then moved on to other conversation. We met at someone's house, there were other member's in the group, and Misty was not allowed because she didn't read books. :) Roselynn was still in high school at this point. :)

Then we dropped the book club part, started meeting once a month to do crafts and hang out. Misty was allowed in, other members dropped out, and it was just this group.

The craft idea didn't last too long either. Have you seen me attempt to make a craft? It's not pretty.

Anyway, the Posse now meets religiously about every month, just to hang out, eat, talk. And I do mean religiously--sometimes it is every other month, but not often. We aren't consistent in our days; sometimes it's a Friday, sometimes it's a Monday--we are all busy people with busy lives, but we make it work because the Posse is that important to us.

We've gone on a float trip twice, and taken our husbands bowling, but mostly it's pretty low-key. We like it that way. Once we did a sleepover at Misty's house, kicking out her husband and kids for the night.

This a long post, but I can't tell you enough how much these women mean to me. Through thick and thin, we are there for each other. Nothing is too private to share with the group, and if any of us needed anything, the others would be there in a heartbeat. We come from different backgrounds, different situations, but we respect each others opinions.

Everyone needs a group of friends like this.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The story of the lunchbox

Yesterday Kaylin came home with her lunchbox in a Walmart bag, tied shut.

"Do you want to know why my lunchbox is in this bag?" She asked first thing. Why, yes, I do want to know.

"Ants were in my lunchbox. I had to buy hot lunch and I hated it and only ate two bites and now I'm starving and what do we have to eat."

I'm thinking, what? Ants in her lunchbox? We don't have a problem with ants right now (although we sometimes do in the spring) After asking her a million questions, and talking with her former kindergarten teacher at church, Mrs. Clapp's class is having a problem with ants. She can't figure out why, and they are eating everything. And they attacked Kaylin's lunch box yesterday, forcing her to buy hot lunch.

So until I hear that the ants are gone, I am either forcing her to buy lunch, or sending a Lunchable. No ants can get through to a Lunchable! I'm not sending a lunch for it to be ruined again, or make her eat something she doesn't like with hot lunch.

And, on a side note, here's what she did to a piece of bologna yesterday. I think she looks like Jason with his hockey mask.


Love this girl to pieces!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Tuesday Tidbits

It was such a gorgeous day today, and I needed to get a walk in. It's hard to do that Bobby is working. Macy stayed after school for Drama Club, so when Kaylin got off the bus, she changed  into tennis shoes and we set off for their school to get Macy. It was a nice walk, maybe two miles roundtrip, and it was neat to get outside with the girls. It was a little strange to be walking through the car rider line, though!

Macy got the part of a Kid in her school play (not sure what that means, exactly) and is the understudy for Pig 2.

Macy is done with basketball and Kaylin has one more cheerleading Saturday left, and then we get our Saturday's back! Woo-hoo!

We are thinking of going to Mount Rushmore this summer, and probably camping/canoeing like we did last summer.

Time to wrap this up; Macy is awake and is dying to read this.

**She has read it and approved this blog post. And a Kid sings a song.