April Pre-k, K, etc...

[MrsReber]

Hello! We are back from our trip. Heather, things went very well on the plane, both ways. Brenden was so thrilled by the plane ride. He liked looking out the window. Unfortunately, Casey had the window seat and kept closing the shade. For the most part, Brenden just enjoyed the ride. Casey fell asleep for a while. I tried to sleep, but I was never much for sleeping on a plane. Too uncomfortable. On the way back, I sat with Casey and her cousin and my sister sat with Brenden and her son. The boys and girls tend to pair off. Except for the turbulence, which tends to make me nervous, I was surprised that the trip only took 3 1/2 hours. It's 5 hours going to AZ against the jet stream. Weird.

The trip overall was nice. There was some weirdness at times since this is my half sister. My step-mother was really caught up in the planning and my sister and I felt like outsiders much of the time. It's just a different relationship- even with my dad- because we live far away and my father was never particularly involved in our lives. Now that he's got these 5 grandchildren, he seems a bit melancholy. He kept asking when we'd come back. He was thrilled to death to have me staying there with Casey and Brenden. Brenden was 2 last time he saw him. I could tell, though, that the kids were wearing him out. It was weird for me to see that. I always take it for granted with my mom. She always has enough energy for the kids and I don't think twice about it. They might wear her out, but she wouldn't miss a second with them. It's so much more obvious with my dad that he's getting older and more tired. Speaking of older, we saw my four foot eleven Grandmother, who I haven't seen in 5 years. She'll be 90 this year and she still lives on her own. She's my little Italian grandma. We dropped by on Tuesday since my kids don't remember her at all. When we got back to my dad's house, my stepmother asked Brenden "how is Great Grandma?" He replied "Kinda small." Then, at the wedding on Saturday, he asked me "why is Great Grandma so small?" She cracked up when I told her that.

We stayed with my dad until Thursday morning. My stepmother was having an open house for all the out of town guests (something my half sister asked her NOT to do because it was too much trouble). I went to my brother's daughter's dance recital with Casey and my other neice. Brenden, my sister, and my sister's son went to the open house. My sister told me Brenden was very social, talking to everyone and being great. He was eating shrimp. The groom's brother asked what kind of seafood he liked. He said "shrimp, clams, and seahorses."

Friday night was the rehearsal dinner. Brenden fell asleep on the way there and Casey fell asleep at the table. Actually, the groom's family is long winded. They were all toasting the bride and groom. It was boring. Very boring. My sister recruited me to do the maid of honor speech at the wedding since her maid of honor was our grandmother, who wasn't going to do a toast. I spent so much time agonizing and worrying about it. I'm not much for public speaking. My sister and the groom are great public speakers and, as I mentioned, the groom's family is quite long winded. The groom's brother did the best man speech. Brenden had to go to the bathroom at the same time. I told my dad I didn't think Brenden could wait much longer. He said "take him to the bathroom. He could go 10 times before this speech is over." Anyway, I went up to do my speech, which I had just finished that morning (fine tuning). Well, everyone loved it. My stepmother was thrilled that we didnt' go on forever with stories from childhood (like the best man). My dad said he didn't realize I was doing the toast, but he loved it. My stepmother emailed me today and said my sister told her that the highlight of the reception was the toast. I'm very pleased with myself.

The time change wasn't too big of a deal. I was getting up pretty early- I was up at 4:00 the morning after my sister got there. We never settled into any schedule so it was easier than I thought it'd be to get the kids off to school on Monday. I am amazed at my brother's daughter. She hasn't missed one day of school since kindergarten!!! I didn't realize that. I knew she hated to miss school, but wow. She's a HS sophmore now.

Heather, I'm right there with you on babies. It kills me sometimes to realize that that part of my life is over now. DH had a vasectomy a couple of years back. The deal was that he had to go under the knife since he was the one who didn't want more kids. I told him that if anything ever happened and I wound up with someone else, I might want another child. Not that I could see anything happening, but you never know. I told him to seriously consider that. He said he was done and wouldn't ever want more than 2. I'm still sad about it, but I comfort myself by thinking of how it might be difficult for me with more than 2- how we'd have to buy new vehicles, how expensive it would be. And, to be honest, after having my sister's kids here last summer, I was quite happy to go back to 2 children. I would love to have another baby, but I don't particularly want to be pregnant again- I, too, had easy pregnancies and deliveries. I also don't want to get up all night for feedings. Brenden had me teetering on the edge of insanity with that. I don't want to buy more diapers. But I do feel like some part of my life is over and I miss that. I also miss having a little baby at home, especially as I see my children getting older.

Kim, I agree with you on the pictures. The first thing I noticed were Lainey's beautiful eyes. She seems like the kind of kid who won't be bothered by something like that. As a parent, though, I'm sure it's hard to think about.

Still haven't straightened out the t-ball drama. I think we're just going to have to skip it for this year. I feel terrible because there's not much else that Brenden wants to do. I'll put them back into swimming lessons and try to find somewhere for karate.

Helene, I hope you're doing well! That's great that you have so many good friends who are helping you.

Well, I better get back to work. I'm settling back into the old routine, sort of. The kids will be home from school soon and Casey has a riding lesson. She rode my stepmother's horse in AZ. She has 3 horses right in their yard. They showed Casey once what to do and she took care of the horses the rest of the time- putting them in and out of the three areas they have and feeding them. She adored them.

Oh, and one more thing. Paul McCartney's sister was at my sister's wedding! My dad has been working with her for a couple of years. He had loved Paul McCartney since before I was born. His sister, Ruth, is such a lovely person. So dynamic and just wonderful. She was taking tons of pictures. She told my grandmother "you were like the queen today." and then she gave my grandmother a courtsey! She was dancing with my dad (who doesn't really dance). It was kind of cool to meet her. :)

[JoanneOR]

Susan, sounds like a wonderful trip!! How great to see everyone - your grandma sounds like fun lady! Too cute what Brendan said about her being small.

Kim, glad to hear and see Lainey's eye is healing nicely. She's so cute! Love the curly hair and big eyes! :)

Heather, I have to say after each of my kids except Caitlyn I never really felt done. I just somehow knew our family wasn't complete yet. We almost stopped after Colin, but after 9/11 I realized I really wanted another. Temporary insanity, I guess! ;) DH would have more if I went along with it. But he's OK with four. He better be! :rolleyes: Anyway, right after 9/11 I guess I realized how important life was - I don't know - I can't really explain it, but it made me realize I wanted another baby. I know that makes no sense! But after Caitlyn, I realized I was done and just fine with it. Right now the thought of having another is terrifying!! DH won't have the "snip". I think it's actually fear of something going wrong :rolleyes:. It's actually a bone of contention with us, but that's besides the point. I also am not fond of the baby stage. I think they are adorable, but the no sleep, crying, etc. really stresses me out. Good luck with making a decision. It is tough.

Helene, so glad to hear your eye is doing better. I'll keep my fingers crossed no more surgery is needed.

We've had a rough week or so. Last week was the kids' spring break. Monday morning Caitlyn came down with a fever. Took her to the ped. Tuesday, they heard something different with her heart and thought maybe she had bacterial endocarditis or fluid around her heart. Scared the daylights out of me. Got us an appt. with the card. the next morning at 9am. Everything with her heart was the same as last time she was there, so that was a relief. We still need to go back in July. They wanted her to have blood tests, too. OMG. Quite the trauma. Poor girl was screaming bloody murder with DH holding her on his lap and me holding her arm down. And, the doctor for some reason wanted blood out of both arms, so we had to do it twice. :( Not fun. The looks on the people in the waiting room outside the labs were priceless. Those tests came out clear, too. So, it must have just been a virus. But, she still had the fever Friday, so we took her back in and she had an ear infection and pink eye. So now she's on the dreaded "pink medicine". She's been better about taking it this time, though. We let her do it herself and it takes about an hour :rolleyes: to get 1/2 teaspoon down, but she takes it. The eye drops are another story. One of us has to hold her down and the other pry open her eyelids to get the drops in. Then she cries for a good five minutes, so they are probably all washed out anyway. Someday we'll look back on all this and laugh, right?? ;) Jameson and Ian also got it, but the fever only lasted a few days. Colin, who is the worst eater (favorite food is Nutella :rolleyes:) has been perfectly healthy. Go figure.

Otherwise, things have been relatively quiet. Outdoor soccer starts soon and Jameson is doing track at school. The kids are all back in school this week. I'm getting a taste of what grade school may be like with Caitlyn. She is friends with two girls at school. She comes home and tells me "Alex is mean -she won't let me play with Elizabeth" or "Alex won't let me sit next to Elizabeth". She also says she wants to marry one of the boys in her class. :rolleyes: DH's reaction to that is pretty funny!

[LaraW]

Hello everyone-

Joanne, sorry to hear about your week last week. I do have a suggestion about the eye drops, though. It might work for Caitlyn. If you have her lay down on her bed or the floor and close her eyes, then put the drops in the corner of her eye (by her nose) and then have her open her eyes, the medicine will kind of run into the eye. I remember my mom doing that with me and it was a lot easier. My kids are actually really good about taking medicine (and when only 1 gets medicine and the other doesn't...well, watch out).

Heather, I understand the feeling of wanting another baby. I think I like the idea of another baby, but I don't think I'd like the reality. Now that we're starting to leave the baby phase (sleeping through the night, have been done nursing for almost a year, etc) it is that thought of returning that kind of reigns me back in. I do agree with Kim though, that there are lots of ways to be a significant adult in a kid's life, even if its not the "traditional" way.

My IL's were here visiting this weekend. Boy, it was a looooong day Saturday and Sunday. It was OK. They just moved into a new house a couple of weeks ago and so we heard all about it. Natalie played soccer on Saturday and the weather was up close to 70, so we got in a trip to the park and then went out for dinner Saturday night. Then it snowed on Sunday so it was good that we got out on Saturday :)

Susan, glad to hear that your trip went well. We have a long car trip coming up in a few weeks, so that will be a lot of fun ;)

Helene, glad to hear you're recovering from your surgery. Cute about Victor getting the eye patch.

Kim, glad to see Lainey's eye is healing.

[hrk]

Hi everyone-

Susan- I am glad to hear the flights went well. My kids seem to love to fly and it really makes traveling easier. That sounds like it was quite the roller coaster of a trip to Arizona, but it also sounds like you made the best of a crazy situation.

Joanne- That must have been very scary with Caitlyn, but it seemed to all work out. We have the same drama with eyes in our house. Logan is very sensitive to chlorine and sometimes the pools do a number on his eyes so we try and wash them out with saline. It's funny for a kid who sees DH and I put our contacts in everyday and drops in sometimes, he is paniced when we want to put some saline in his eyes.:rolleyes:

Lara- We will have to try that tip with the eye drops the next time we need them. It sounds like your weather is as crazy as ours here, one day 70 the next 30, but luckily no snow. I think that would put me over the edge right now, I am ready for warm.

So a very sweet story from this morning. Ari has started at his new day care center, which is about 2 minutes from Logan's school, so we are all in the car together. I let Logan pick if he wants to be dropped off first and early or not. So this morning he wants to be dropped off first. As we pull up to his school, Ari says" Have a good day Logan" and blows him a kiss. Then Logan gets out of his seat and gives Ari a hug and a kiss and tells him to have a good day too. Ahh the sweet moments to remember when they are killing each other;)

I want to thank everyone for their very honest thoughts about how I was feeling. It is really nice to know that these are thoughts most women have. Sometimes I wonder though if DH lurks on this board, cause he came home Monday and told me he had been thinking about it all weekend and that if I really felt so strongly he was all for it. so now we will see what happens

Hope everyone has a great hump day.
Heather

[JoanneOR]

Lara, that is a great suggestion about the eye drops. I'll definitely try that tonight. Your weather sounds like ours - warm one day and snow the next. :rolleyes: Glad to hear you survived your inlaws! ;)

Heather, your DH sounds like a sweetie! :D Good luck! ;) And, yes, trust me, enjoy those sweet moments between your boys!! As they get older, they seem to be few and far between. Now I consider it a pleasant morning if no one gets upset because the other is looking at him/her. :rolleyes::D Fun stuff!

Tonight is chocolate fest at school. They're having a band, and vendors selling candy/chocolate/crafts. Anything with "chocolate" in the title and I'm there! Should be fun.

[MrsReber]

Heather, now I'll be jealous if you have another one ;) ! So cute about your boys. That shows what a great mom you are, too, as that's all learned behavior.

I was so proud of my kids while we were away. My brother hasn't seen them for a year and my dad hasn't seen them for 2 years or more. They were just great around everyone. So, while in the airport in Phoenix, I apparently lost my ATM card. I didn't realize it was gone until yesterday (Wed) when I went to buy gas. I remember taking it back from the cashier at the BK just before we got on the plane. The kids needed breakfast and that was the fastest alternative. I took my receipt and the food. She wrapped my check card in the receipt and handed it to me. Then I noticed everyone boarding. I thought I put the receipt in my wallet. I have no idea what happened. I looked for it all over today with no luck so I called to get a new one. Well, apparently some nice soul found my card and called it in to make sure it had been cancelled! There are good people in the world. Too bad I can't thank them personally.

Joanne, my grandma is a trip. DH liked her when he first met her. We went out to dinner and she ordered scotch with her steak. My sister only had wine and beer at the wedding, but someone was sure to get grandma a glass of scotch with her dinner.

Well, seems pretty quiet on this thread today. I have to call Casey's trainer to see if we're riding today. It's pretty drizzly out and rather gross. There's a large pony at the farm who is recovering from a bad ligament injury. They thought she'd never be able to be ridden again, it was really bad. However, she seems to have healed completely. The trainer wants Casey to help build her back up. The pony needs to be walked for 15 minutes 3-4 times a week. Casey will get to do that in addition to her lessons. So, as much as I complain about the cost, Casey does get a lot of benefit from these folks because they just love her. When Goodnight has her baby, Casey will be able to ride and show this other pony till the end of the season. Now if I could just get Brenden into an activity. I feel like I failed him with the t-ball, poor kid!

[JoanneOR]

Just wanted to stop in and wish everyone a great weekend!

Susan, it's so nice to hear stories like yours about your card being turned in. Just think how much could have been charged on it if some dishonest person found it.

Jameson had his last basketball game last night. I'm glad - he really didn't enjoy it too much and the games were a bit painful to watch! :o It's just not his thing. Tomorrow is his first spring soccer game. All the kids are taking swimming lessons - tomorrow is the first time I'll be taking Caitlyn. DH said she hated it the first time and basically cried the whole time. She told me that she was sinking and nobody helped her. I think she's just trying to get out of going! The parents sit right in the bleachers and watch the whole time. I think DH would have noticed something like that.

[HRJ]

My, things have been quiet on this thread! Hope everyone's doing well.

I'm doing OK -- my eye seems to be healing OK, I've been back at work and have been able to spend more time on the computer, reading, etc. I go back to the ophthal. next week, and I'm curious about what she'll have to say. Since we're approaching the end of the academic year, things are getting really busy at work. And I've had to devote lots of time to volunteer stuff from my synagogue -- I'm co-chair of the education committee, and we're in the middle of having to hire a new education director for the Hebrew School, as well as a couple of new teachers for the next school year. So it's been lots of meetings and interviews involved with that.

Victor is doing well -- swimming ended last week and soccer starts this coming Saturday (although they are forecasting rain all day Saturday, so we'll see what happens).

Next weekend (April 19-21), we're going to NYC for Passover -- we're going to have the Seder at my brother's apartment. He doesn't have enough room to put up all of us, since my mother will also be staying there, so we'll be staying at a hotel -- should be a nice break. We're taking the train down, which we've never done before with Victor -- I'm kind of sorry that we didn't do a train trip earlier, when he was still so into Thomas and all the train stuff. But he's still very excited about it.

The thing is, the train ride will end up being longer than any plane trip we've ever taken (about 5 hours). I went to Borders the other day and got a bunch of puzzle/maze/game books for the ride. I'm not sure if there are outlets on the train so we can plug in a laptop or DVD player, so he can watch movies? (Not sure if we would have enough battery-power to get him through a whole movie). We're going coach, not business class, and it's been a while since I've taken Amtrak, so I'm not sure. Guess we'll find out -- or maybe they'll say on their website? I'll have to take a look.

Susan, sounds like your trip to Ariz. was pretty good, overall -- glad the flight went well. And how nice that someone turned in your card at the airport -- nice to know there are still honest people around. Your grandma sounds very cool. (I loved Brenden's comment about her being kinda small!)

Joanne, I'm sure you're probably done with Caitlyn's eyedrops, but Lara's suggestion on how to put them in is a good one. At my ophthalmologist's office, they have all these pamphlets and stuff for older people (since she's a glaucoma specialist, and glaucoma tends to be a disease of the elderly), and that's the same technique they suggest for older people, too.

Kim, hope Lainey's cheek is all healed by now. That picture of her was gorgeouos, despite her injury -- what beautiful eyes!

Heather, hope you're feeling better about things these days, and that everything unfolds the way you want it to.


Helene

[cchhbb]

Helene, I'm so glad to hear that you feel much better. I wish you luck on your next appointment.

I know my boys would love a long train ride. They don't have the attention span to watch movies, but for long rides I bring some new books, quiet games, lots of snacks, and some magnet toys. They love the magnet toys. I think I got most of them at School Box and the dollar store.

Garrett and Griffin both woke up on Tuesday saying thier ears were bothering them. Griffin didn't have an infection, but had issues with seasonal allergies which made him have airplane ears with too much pressure. Garrett has been complaining about his ears itching for the last two weeks and ended up having an ear infection. They aren't sure if it was a fungal one or not.

It's spring break this week and I implemented Camp Fun. We were supposed to go out of town, but the airline went out of business. Each day the boys get to pick something fun to do. On Monday, we saw Horton. It was Griffin's first movie and Garrett's second. I think they liked it a lot, but they both ended up sitting in my lap for about 1/2 the movie. Poor Griffin doesn't weigh enough to keep the seat down. On Tuesday, Griffin had a sitter and Garrett and I went to the Botanical Gardens and yesterday we went to the zoo. Today, we went to a Jumping place which was great until a Day Care Center showed up with a lot of big kids who just ran Griffin over. We had a pizza lunch at the park. I'm tired.

I need to run. Hope everyone is having a great week.

[gertdog]

Delurking to tell Helene that every Amtrak train I've been on in the past few years along the NE corridor has an outlet at every window seat in coach class- I use my laptop on the train every time I travel. I bet it will be a fun trip! :)

Relurking...

[HRJ]

Thanks Stephanie!! :) Good to hear from you! I'm glad to hear that we'll have a power source. I recently got "Night at the Museum" at Costco, but we haven't watched it yet -- think I'll save it for our trip.

Cheryl, sorry both your boys have ear problems. Camp Fun sounds wonderful -- i wish someone would schedule a week for me like that!! :)

We don't have spring break until the third week of April (following Patriots' Day) ... of course, it isn't very spring-like in New England until then, so I guess it makes sense! Victor will go to the "vacation camp" run by his after-school program for two days that week, and I'm taking some time off, so we'll be home the rest of the week. Not sure what we'll be doing.

Our wedding anniversary was Wednesday, so I have a babysitter lined up for Saturday night, and we're going to go out to dinner. (Woo-hoo! We get out so seldom these days!) There's a new Capitol Grille near here -- I know it's a chain, have any of you been to one? We've been wanting to try it, so I think that's where we'll go.

Have a good weekend!

Helene

[hrk]

Good morning all. Happy Friday

Helene- I think Victor will love the train. My boys love being able to see stuff out the window and that keeps them entertained for a while. We also go for walks every once in a while, they like that. And Logan loved Night at the Museum- good choice. Glad to hear your sight is doing better.

Cheryl- Camp Fun sounds great. What a great way to make a good situation out of your trip being canceled.

Well hopefully this will be a quiet weekend. Today it is supposed to be in the high 70's here, but unfortunately it is supposed to rain tomorrow. Go figure. I have some roses being delivered today, so we will have to get those in the ground at some point and the boys have their last swim lesson tomorrow. They do their skills tests and then they turn on all the slides etc in the pool so basically the kids just get to play. And it is the only day they let parents down to take pictures so it is always fun.
We need to pack cause we are going to LA on Thursday. My grandfather is having a corneal transplant and then we are staying through the weekend for Passover. We usually fly American airlines, but this time we decided to try Virgin America. They supposedly still serve food and they have the TV's in the back of every seat, so we will see how it goes. I will still bring the laptop as backup.
Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Heather

[cchhbb]

Helene, Love Capital Grill. I think they have terrific calamari. I haven't eaten in one in quite a while, but I used to go a lot. Have a nice time. I'm trying to line up a babysitter for next Friday. It's my 40th (gasp) birthday.

Today, we're going to ride Marta. It's the train into Atlanta. Then go for a picnic. The pollen count here is really high. Griffin and I are suffering from seasonal allergies.

Right now, Griffin is cleaning windows. Garrett lost his computer time for today so he's pouting. Last night he totally wouldn't go to bed and was very disrespectful so he lost his toy box from his room and then computer time. I know he was just overstimulated and tired. He had a really tough time settling down.

I really need to get some summer camps figured out for Garrett. I know he's going for two weeks to a camp for sensory integration challenged kids, but I'm not sure what else. He really needs to go some structure during the summer so he will do well next year. There is a really great camp I'm looking at, but it is super expensive, so I'm not sure he'll go. It's also a much longer day than I would like him to go.

Have a great weekend.

Cheryl

[HRJ]

I'm so disappointed -- I just tried to get reservations at the Capital Grille, and they're booked for tomorrow night! :eek: This is a suburban location, not in town or anything -- I didn't even think we were going to need a reservation until a co-worker convinced me otherwise. Then I called a fairly new restaurant, also out in the 'burbs, run by the same chefs who own Arrows in Ogunquit, Maine, (if anyone is familiar with that) that has gotten good reviews -- and the only thing they could get me was a table at 6 pm, a little earlier than I'd like, but I took it. I'd astounded -- it's true DH and I don't go out to "nice" restaurants very often these days, but we used to in the "beforetime" (beforeVictortime, that is) and I don't remember it being so difficult to get a table without reserving days in advance. These are expensive places -- isn't the economy supposed to be in the toilet? :confused:

Heather, good decision not to use American this time! We usually fly JetBlue, which also has the TVs in the back of the seat, and they are the best. invention. ever. Since we don't have cable at home, Victor doesn't get to see Cartoon Network except when we're flying, and that happily keeps him occupied for most of the flight. Good luck on your grandfather's surgery, and best wishes for a joyous Passover.

Cheryl, good luck finding camps. I'm amazed at how expensive some of the day-camps are. DH originally thought we were paying too much for Victor's camp, until I showed him some of the websites for other camps that were considerably more.

H.

[MrsReber]

Heather, I can't believe all the plane trips you take with your kids. It's good they're turning into great little travelers. I've had great luck on the 2 flights I've been on- I guess being prepared helped most of all.

Helene, how was your dinner? I hope it all worked out well. How disappointing about having to get reservations. In NJ, we always had to deal with either reservations or a long wait. We never went out on weekends after having kids because it was impossible. Prior to having kids, we'd sit at the bar and wait for a table. That's when we could stay up late :D .

Been very busy with work. I still am. All my contracts seemed to blow up last week. I hope that doesn't happen again any time soon. Our attorney is transitioning to the tax department full time and there's not exactly anyone to replace him. We have other attorneys we can go to, but they're also bogged down with stuff right now. Which means that I'm mostly filling that role. I've been on calls every single day (usually 2 calls a day) which is unusual. When I'm not on scheduled calls, I'm getting calls from co-workers on things. Still, better to be busy!

I finally got out furniture shopping on Saturday. The store that I've been wanting to go to is about 45 minutes away so I knew that shopping would take up most of the day. The kids, however, wanted to come with me. I took them to Toys R Us first as I promised they could get MP3 players for bringing home such great report cards. It was Casey's idea, of course. My liittle negotiator. They never asked for any reward before so I figured it'd be okay. After that, we went to one furniture store that everyone said was too expensive. I filled out the credit app. They had fresh baked cookies, cold drinks and popcorn. The kids really liked that store. Found one microfiber couch that we liked, but it had a bed in it (I think that destroys the sturdy nature- I've had 2 like that). So we went to the next store. Not quite as fancy, but they had gumball machines and that kept Casey and Brenden quite occupied. I found a small leather sectional (no bed inside!) and a matching recliner. DH (no help) said he preferred leather with the kids and the pets (and pet hair!). I went to get everything settled and realized the first store never gave me my license back! There wasn't enough time to get it and then finish my transaction. We had to go home and then run back on Sunday. "Run" being a relative term since the store is so far. Well, Casey and Brenden insisted on coming with me. At least it's all taken care of now. We would've had the couch this week, but they were missing the corner peice so it's going to take about 5 weeks. Oh well, I waited this long! Next I need some tables and a hall cabinet peice and bedroom furniture. DH and I never bought a bedroom set- ever. He thinks it's no big deal :eek: ! I just want decent, matching furniture so I'm setting out on my own to do it all- and I warrned him that I will accept no complaints since he's not doing any of the shopping.

In the midst of all that, we went to Applebee's for lunch yesterday since Casey and Brenden were good sports about shopping so much. Then we had to run to Casey's riding lesson. Casey seemed to like shopping a whole lot. I'm worried about her. She'd spend all my money if I let her. In Toys R Us, she was over her budget (they actually brought their own money to buy stuff) so she told Brenden "you need to share your money with me so I can buy more things." Ack!!! Brenden never goes over his budget with gift cards and money. He still has $12 left. Casey, on the other hand, needed a few extra dollars.

I am hoping we don't have a riding lesson today. I need down time. I came home from the store yesterday and fell asleep before making dinner. Tomorrow night, the school is having a Build a Book night, using Klutz books. It looks cute. Casey is so into these school activities so I try to go when we can. We'll be driving Casey's friend home afterwards. Her mom is a hair dresser and works Tuesday evenings. It should be fun. Wednesday is DH's birthday. I'm hoping his present arrives in time! I ordered a scouting camera for him. I've wanted to get one for a long time. I'm glad I waited- they actually seemed to come down in price a little. My mom is paying for 1/2, too. It's DH's 40th! We're going out to dinner, I just don't know where yet.

This coming Sunday, I'm going to meet Zackaboo from the BB. She used to live in Roanoke. She moved to PA right before we moved here, but she hopes to move back in the future. They moved for her husband's job. She's going to a reunion here next weekend so we'll meet for lunch on Sunday. She's got a son a year or so younger than Brenden. That should be fun.

As for summer camps, there are 3 horse camps this summer. I've been saving here and there to pay for them. Brenden picked out a one week Superhero camp through the recrecation program. They don't have much for boys his age. There's stuff for girls (princess camp, princess dance, and a couple others). He's not interested in soccer or football. I'm still so sad about the t-ball and I'm secretly hoping some kids drop out. I'm also nagging DH to go pick up the swingset we picked out. He's procrastinating again and the kids get older each year. By the time he's ready to put something up, the kids will be on their way to college.

Well, that's my story for the past week. I better get to work!

[slknight]

I'm so disappointed -- I just tried to get reservations at the Capital Grille, and they're booked for tomorrow night! :eek: This is a suburban location, not in town or anything -- I didn't even think we were going to need a reservation until a co-worker convinced me otherwise. Then I called a fairly new restaurant, also out in the 'burbs, run by the same chefs who own Arrows in Ogunquit, Maine, (if anyone is familiar with that) that has gotten good reviews -- and the only thing they could get me was a table at 6 pm, a little earlier than I'd like, but I took it.

Delurking to find out how your dinner was! MC Perkins in Ogunquit is their other restaurant and one of our favorites. I hope their new one is good too.

[RunnerKim]

Susan, how was your lunch with Zackaboo? Fun to put a face to a name! You've had lots of shopping to do - glad the kids are cooperating. I don't think I'd be sane after all was said in done!

Helene - I hope you ended up having a nice anniversary dinner. Good luck with your follow-up eye appointment.

Cheryl - it sounds like you had a fantastic spring break. Lots of fun plans! My sister took Lainey to see Horton Hears a Who and she really enjoyed it.

Good luck with summer camps. I know it can be quite the stressful logistical challenge. I have several coworkers that deal with it every year and I'm not looking forward to having to do it starting next summer (although I might be able to avoid that by keeping Lainey at the after-school place for that time).

We have the kindergarten orientation for the neighborhood school tonight. Lainey's been pretty good about understanding that she's doing it again. I think it'll be different enough that it won't really be a big deal for her (I'm hoping anyway).

Jamie turned 3 last Friday. We just did a little family party - Lainey was quite taken aback that his friends weren't coming. They did a little class snack/party and I didn't feel the need to have a "real" party for him this year. Helene - I'd picked up that train cake pan you'd used and it was a lot of fun. I didn't read the questions quite right and over-filled the pan. I knew I was too :rolleyes: so the train cars looked like the were on barges but with a little trimming, it was fine. I had enough batter left over to make 2 layers of a small round cake (small cheesecake pans) so I made them in to the RR sign. I didn't want to wash and re-use the train pan anyway since I didn't have hot water....

Our water heater started leaking this weekend and that was quite the ordeal. Fortunately DH noticed it fairly soon. He tried to fix it and that was...dramatic. Lainey asked me "Why did Daddy say 'dammit'?" Which really wasn't even the worst that happened but the major stuff happened after the kids were in bed when the water started gushing out. Needless to say we've had it replaced now but had fun being pioneers on Sunday with boiling water for their baths (they were way too grubby to skip them). We're suppose to have a home warranty but the previous owners never paid for it - so it looked like we had one (had an account number) but didn't actually have it. So we're going to have to decide what we want to do about that! It's a lot of money to just be "nice" about. Ugh, not something I want to deal with.

Lainey's scar has healed up pretty well at this point. It's still quite visible but not super-noticeable if that makes any sense. A friend told me about some cream to put on it that's suppose to really help with the scarring so we're doing that. Not sure why the doctor didn't' say anything about it (or maybe it's not really that helpful). DH was the one who took her to get the stitches and I just found out recently what her prognosis on the scar (that she'd have one because of the direction of the cut but it would fade significantly over the next 6 months) was so who knows maybe she said something more and he just didn't hear it/pass it on to me. :rolleyes:

Jamie's gotten much better about not throwing things AT people or hitting. He will still throw things he shouldn't but even that seems to be better. My mom sent me a couple of books when I was reeling from the "stool incident" - one being a "Love & Logic" book. Anyone read one of them? I've just started it and there's much that we already do but I'm finding it's good to stop and think about what we do and see it from a bigger picture then when I'm in the throws of a "situation."

Kim

[LaraW]

Kim, DH and I started taking a Love and Logic class last week. Its a 5-week class, and we have had 2. Its really good, and I think it really goes with our parenting "philosophy". I read the book "Parenting with Love and Logic" a few years ago, and got a lot out of it. I have struggled with finding logical consequences at times, and so has DH. Both of us, particularly DH, struggle with not getting angry right off the bat when things get hairy. The facilitator last week said, and I agree with it, that a lot of it is just the way you talk to your kids.

We have been doing well. Natalie started soccer a few weeks ago and is having a blast with that. I'm glad we signed her up for it. I was kind of afraid she was too young, but she seems to be doing well with it. Colin is the struggle to keep off the field ;) I think I will be signing them both up this fall.

My youngest sister's wedding is next week. We leave for Iowa on Thursday and come back on Monday. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm kind of glad this is the last wedding. Its just a lot. Natalie going to be a flower girl and she is very excited about that.

I am taking Natalie to the doctor this afternoon. We had a really warm day on Monday, and I noticed that she seems to be turning the ankle in on the foot that she broke in January. I think I noticed it b/c she was walking around in bare feet. I called the doctor and they definitely wanted to see her. The timing isn't great b/c the appointment is at 2:00 and we will need to leave here at about 1:40. Colin is not usually up from his nap until closer to 3, and Natalie was up really late last night for some unknown reason, so she is really tired today too. Oh well, I guess they will go to be easily tonight, no? ;)

Happy Anniversary, Helene! I hope you enjoyed your dinner out. Hope your eye is doing well.

Kim, what a nightmare about the water heater! Yikes! Cute about "why did daddy say dammit" :D Glad to hear Lainey's scar is healing. I have heard of that cream - I can't remember the name of it but hopefully it will work well.

Susan, congratulations on the new furniture. DH and my 10th wedding anniversary is in October, and we have decided that we are going to buy ourselves a bedroom set and a dining room set as our present. We don't really do gifts for anniversaries, so I figure we have 10 years worth of gifts to buy :)

Cheryl, sounds like a fun week, but that stinks about your airline ticket. Hopefully you were not out too much money.

Heather, have a great trip.

[HRJ]

Happy Birthday Jamie! I can't believe he's 3!! Glad to hear Laney's scar is healing well -- I've seen ads for that cream that's supposed to help scars, but don't know anything more about it. And sorry about your water heater -- "gushing" and "water heater" are never two phrases you want to have to say in the same sentence. I give your DH credit for not coming up with anything worse than "dammit." About the home warranty, sounds like you probably have a good case for legal action, if it was in your purchase & sale contract -- although it's always a drag to have to get into something like that.

Lara, enjoy the wedding! I'm sure Natalie will look so sweet as a flower girl. Hope everything is OK with her foot.

Susan, the new furniture sounds nice -- I love the idea of a sectional, that's what we should have gotten for our living room. I haven't heard of Build a Book -- what's that about?


OK, here's my restaurant review, for SummerWinter in the Marriott hotel in Burlington, Mass. I'd give the food an 8.5 -- very, very good, mostly stuff on the "hearty" side -- I have a filet mignon with corn pudding and sauteed Brussels sprouts -- I couldn't believe I was actually ordering Brussels sprouts in a restaurant, they seem like such a "common" food, but, OMG, they were tasty!

I knew that the chefs who run this restaurant are into growing their own vegetables and herbs, but I didn't think they would be doing that at a hotel restaurant -- I assumed they would be bringing the produce down from their restaurants in Maine. But no, they were growing the stuff right at the Marriott, in all these greenhouses and cold frames set out on terraces and patios around the restaurant. DH and I had a seat next to one of the windows, looking out the greenhouses -- it was a nice touch, considering it's still only the very beginnings of spring here in Mass., and fresh stuff is in fairly short supply. I had the "SummerWinter Salad Bowl," which was just a big bowl of excruciatingly fresh lettuces and herbs, with a selection of oils and vinegars to dress it with. I'm not a big salad eater, but this was so flavorful, it was a completely different experience.

The services was totally professional -- considering that we only eat at a "nice" restaurant about once a year, this was such a refreshing change from what it's like to eat at Chili's, or whatever. We were not rushed at all. Ambiance was so-so -- even though they tried, it's still basically a hotel dining room. the decor wasn't much to talk about and it was sort of noisy, but I think that may have been a problem of the acoustics in the room. OTOH, parking was free and abundant and we didn't have to deal with traffic getting there, and it was 15 minutes from the house, so the hassle-factor was very low.

Helene

[fci5767]

I was in Roanoke last weekend for my father's wedding. The area was much prettier than it's ever been while I was there. Spring is such a pretty time of year, even though it was so windy.

I may end up moving there in the next year or so. I think it would be nice to be close to my sister and her family. Plus, housing prices are so much lower, I might actually be able to afford to buy.

[MrsReber]

Beth, it's been real pretty lately. The fields are really green everywhere and all the dogwoods are blooming. There are also purple trees blooming everywhere- on the highways and on the back roads- and daffodils all along the major roads. Talk about April showers!

Kim, I'm going to meet Zackaboo this coming Sunday, so I haven't met her yet. Which reminds me, I need to call her.

Glad to hear that Lainey is healing well. I hope things get better for you. I understand the fighting issue all too well. Just this morning, Brenden scratched Casey's arm and made her cry. The reason? They were brushing their teeth and he didn't want to share the sink with her. Last night, he hit a neighbor in the face with a stick. He said "she told me to do it." I just don't know what to do with that kid sometimes. If he's the slightest bit tired, everything is 10 times worse. I think he needs another boy his age to play with.

Yikes about the water heater! Sounds like a recent water pipe event in my house. I kept checking on DH and asking each time "is it time for the plumber yet?" And yes, I did have to call one the next day.

Build a book was fun. The school had dinner (chicken, raw veggies with dip and fruit) and then the families each made a book using stuff they had there and any pictures we brought along. The kids were all sharing pictures. It's more like a little scrapbook. Casey wound up with some pictures of her friends and her friends took pictures of her. We drove her friend home. I really like this little girl. They were in the same class last year, too. They were plotting the whole time. They were trying to get me to take them out for ice cream. I told them we have all summer for that. It was 8:45 and they had school the next day. So now they're planning a sleep over. Casey has never slept over a friend's house, but she really wants to now. That's great. I hope they stay friends for a long time. They're cute together.

Helene, glad you had a nice dinner. That salad sounds great. I love salads.

Lara, hope all is well with Natalie's foot! I agree with you, get the furniture- that's a lot of un-spent gift money. I need a few living room tables and then a tv is next- a flat screen, probably 32 inches. Our tv keeps going blank on us. Helene, I've always had sectionals. I'm kind of tired of it, but it works best with the kids. The can't sit comfortably next to me when we read at night. They insisted on a sectional, like we used to have. Only this one is nicer- and leather, which should hold up better I hope.

Back to work. I was supposed to be on a conference call at 1:30. The call in number was wrong. Then they emailed the right number and I still couldn't get through. Not good. While I was going through all this, some guy comes to the door trying to sell me packaged meats! I hate the assumption that if you're home, you're not doing anything. I sent him away. I thought he was the UPS guy with DH's birthday present (his birthday was yesteray- whoops!)

[LA98]

Okay, finally getting to read this thread! And it's only the 20th of the month. ;) :)

Susan, glad your trip went well. Had to laugh about you meeting Paul McCartney's sister -- I met his brother in Manhattan once many years ago. His siblings sure do get around! :p

Joanne, holy cow, what a scary incident with Caitlyn. :( :(

Helene, so glad to hear you're healing well. Your dinner sounded wonderful, and I hope your train trip went well too. (Happy Passover! Heather, you too! :) ) We are heading up your way in two weeks to visit my best friend and her family, her son is making his First Communion. I need to stock up on some toys/games for Brian for the ride. Our best travel time to their house in MA is 3.5 hours. (Our worst was 9 hours!!!)

Lara, how was the wedding? Our 10th wedding anniversary is this year too, in August. We don't ever do gifts either, and we could definitely use furniture, but we realized that in the past 5 years we've been out to dinner probably more than 5 times but less than 10. So we are (fingers crossed) leaving the boys with my parents overnight for just one night, going to a concert, staying over in a hotel, and bumming around the next day. :)

Kim, had to laugh about the dammit. I think one of my most humbling moments was watching Brian (he was about 2 1/2 at the time) stomp away after getting in trouble, saying the same thing! He now says "Oh coconuts" although I have no idea where he got it from.

So we've had our first few days of beautiful weather, finally. I took the boys to the playground the other day, of course everyone had the same idea, and now that Jason's walking, trying to keep an eye on both of them in a very crowded playground was, um, interesting! :eek: I was exhausted by the time we left. Is there a secret to it??!

I had a very interesting conversation with a mom at Brian's school the other day. She's been getting very similar feedback about her daughter, so we compared notes a bit. She said a lot of the same things I did about the sort of generalized negativity coming from these teachers, and the unwillingness to deal with each child's differences. This is actually the girl Brian was kissing that time. (The director of the school is now irritating me to no end by constantly asking "When's the wedding?" :rolleyes: ) I gave this mom the info on the school Brian's going to in September, and she's going to look into it for her daughter too since she doesn't think she'll be going to K either.

Actually got another bit of validation from a different mom the other day at school (so nice to know I'm not paranoid!). Her son is also very high energy. Every day when the teacher opens the door to let out each child one by one to the parent in the hallway, this boy always launches himself out the door like he's being shot out of a cannon. It's pretty funny. So the other day he does this exact thing, just goes running out the door like you wouldn't believe. The door opens again and I hear "Walk! Walk! Walk!" Yep, it's Brian. :rolleyes: The other boy's mom made a comment about why Brian had to walk but her son didn't. Yeah. Exactly. Counting the days now till school's over!

Lori

[MrsReber]

Hello. Pretty quiet around here these days. I have to admit, without the notifictaions working, I sometimes forget to pop in.

Lori, that's funny that you met Paul McCartney's brother. They must be a fun family. Makes me dislike Heather Mills even more. I know Paul McCartney has a ranch in AZ so I'm not surprised that his sister is there, too. Though she did say she was "from Liverpool, luv." So I guess she travels. I'm not exactly sure what she does for work that my dad would work with her.

The kids had a three day weekend as Friday was a teacher workshop day. First, DH said we'd go camping. Then he changed his mind and said we'd go to the kite festival on Saturday. Well, he woke up Saturday morning and declared there was no wind outside so we weren't going. We wound up just going into town, having lunch and checking out the stores. There were 2 new stores that we hadn't been in yet.

On Sunday, I went to meet Zackaboo in Roanoke. The place we were going to go to was closed. There was construction right outside and the sidewalk was closed. We wound up going to a new Mexican grill. I don't know how new it was since I don't get down that way often. I really should go in more often. It's a very nice city and things there seem to change so much. Anyway, it was a pleasure to meet a fellow BB member as nice as she was. Her son is Brenden's age (though no kids at lunch!) It really was a nice lunch, though.

7 more weeks of school and counting. Field day is on Casey's birthday. I might go help out again. It was a long 4 hours last year, but that was before Brenden was in school so he had to sit there with me. We manned one of the activities. It's from 8-12:00 and then they give you lunch. I remember it was pretty cold out last year, oddly enough.

Not much else going on around here. Hope everyone else is well. Joanne, I think I like the sound of the chocolate night! How was that?

[LaraW]

Hi everyone-

Well, Natalie's foot is fine. The doctor agreed that she saw some pronation, but she saw it in the other foot too. Natalie is not in any pain, and is able to run, jump etc without any problem. Dr. said she'd likely outgrow it and I probably just noticed it b/c she was barefoot, and I had a reason to be looking at her foot.

The wedding is actually this coming weekend. We leave Thursday and come back on Monday. I'm looking forward to it. I talked to my sister tonight and I said that the one thing I don't like about these weddings is that I don't get to go on a vacation afterwards like they do ;)

I am sure the kids will be totally off their schedules all weekend. It will be great :p

We bought a portable DVD player over the weekend for the trip, and both kids practiced with the headphones yesterday. I think Natalie can be trusted with them but Colin wore them for a few minutes, but then lost interest. Of course they were watching a Barbie movie, so it might have been that. :)

[RunnerKim]

Lori - that is very interesting what you're hearing from other parents. It must be a relief to know you have somewhere better for Brian to move!

Lara, I'm glad Natalie's foot is fine! I've been reading bits and pieces of the Love & Logic book. My mom sent me 2 and one is specifically for under 6 so I'm looking at that one now. It is affirming in that we do much of those things already. I had to laugh though at the little scenario they present about a kid in a store not staying with their parent and taking things off the shelf to play with. The parent walked on/hid and then the child got upset. Parent soothed the child - empathized about it being scary; next time stick with me etc. That's all great but what about all the stuff the kid took off the shelf?!!! And I haven't read any of the situations that deals with sibling to sibling issues which is when I quite honestly lose my cool and don't respond in the way I would like to. I haven't read far - but have you talked about that in your classes?

You remind me that I need to pull our portable DVD player out and check it out. Our trip isn't until the end of May but I've already been collecting stuff for the trip. Our last plane flight(s) were HE-double hockey sticks so I'm going overboard trying to plan for this one. We're going to take a long car trip for Labor Day so I figure anything I don't need can be used then. I have several new movies/DVDs stashed away. I've been contemplating a superhero DVD too. Lainey's been really in to spiderman lately and she saw a little preview about a movie with batwoman in it and wanted to get it. Ugh I've been avoiding the superhero stuff because a) it tends to be violent and b) it tends to be male dominated.

I've ordered a couple of Search & Find books by Usborne that I think the kids will really enjoy (we got a Scooby Doo one from the library that they just loved. Where's Waldo is good for Lainey but Jamie wasn't as interested). A few other new books and some trinket type toys. I'm sending a box of stuff for the trip home to my MILs. I wrapped a few things (didn't someone here mention doing that) and it'll be my luck that I'll have to unwrap everything at security.

Jamie has his own "gameboy" now (Leapster) and he was actually able to play one of the games fairly well. I'm hoping the earphones for the portable DVD player will work with that too.

Lainey's neighborhood kindergarten orientation was last week. It was fun and she had a great time. I had only been hearing about one of the 2 morning teachers (great things) so I started asking parents about the other teacher and heard not-so-great things. So I decided to write a letter and request the one I wanted. I hope I did it okay - I wrote mostly about Lainey and then said I thought the certain teacher would be a good fit for her if it was possible. If nothing else the school has some good background information about Lainey. Ugh.

T-Ball has been fun. Lainey is having a blast. It's exactly like everyone thinks about it - a pile of kids jumping on the ball. Some kids picking flowers, forgetting which way to run etc. Our team is almost half girls which I find amazing (her soccer team only had 2 girls and soccer is really big here - we have a nationally ranked women's college soccer team that's very popular etc.). Coaching a big job for DH though. He was pretty exhausted after the 1st game. Much more so than soccer I think. I think there's just more to help the kids do & learn. He needs to use parents more and that's not as easy for him to coordinate so I've stepped in and started asking for someone to help with the bench, be the 1st base coach (i.e., remind the kids to run to 2nd). It feels a little awkward asking people to do something that I'm not doing (since I have to keep an eye on Jamie).

[JoanneOR]

Hi everyone! I haven't been able to get on this site for a few weeks, so I'm way behind on what's going on with everyone!. Kind of weird, but it kept blocking me. Now it let me on.

Kim, good luck with your next flight! My kids used to enjoy those search and find books. How about coloring books? Hope Lainey gets the teacher you want. We have an awesome kindergarten teacher at our grade school who all the boys had. I seriously think she paved the way for them being such good students now and enjoying school. I just love her. They now have another teacher who I know nothing about and I'm sure she's just fine, but I really want Caitlyn to have the teacher the boys had. We'll see! I do think baseball is more exhausting than soccer for the parents! The games can be so long (especially as they get older) and there's more micro-management, so to speak! :) You've made me reminisce about our T-ball days! Playing with dirt, 8 kids running after the ball...fun stuff!

Lara, glad Natalie's foot is OK. Have fun at the wedding!

Susan, how fun to meet a fellow BBer! I may be helping out with our field days this year too. DH is running it and it's always a fun day. Just about seven weeks left of school for us too. Chocolate fest was fun! They had a really neat band, the kids danced. Lots of vendors, including some selling chocolate. I think the name was just a draw to get more people and it seemed to work. It was fun, though.

Lori, I'm sure it's reassuring to hear that feedback from other parents about Brian's teachers. Our 20th anniversary is this year. Yikes! How'd we survive this long?? :eek: JK, of course. ;) DH wants to go away just the two of us. It's really sweet that he's thinking of it, but it's not practical financially and it would mean my MIL would stay at our house with the kids. Not a happy thought!! I'm still considering it, though. Don't know where we'd go, though. I'm really apprehensive about leaving the kids. I'm sure they'd be fine, but both of us being so far away from then is a bit scary.

Helene, that dinner sounded wonderful! Glad your eye is doing better.

Poor Colin was so upset this morning and I was just flabbergasted that someone would do such a thing, and mad. :mad: About a week ago all the kids in his grade got a tree to plant. It had the roots and was about 1.5 foot high with some branches. They told them to make sure to keep it moist until you can plant it. Well Colin was so persistent in taking care of this thing. Constantly changing the wet paper towels he had it wrapped in. Finally we got a chance to plant it yesterday in our front yard. We had to cut down a tree that died last year, so it was perfect. He planted it and faithfully went out to water it a couple times last night. He was so proud of this tree. Well, this morning he goes out with his cup of water and comes back in a minute later just in hysterics. I finally got him to calm down and went out with him. Someone had broken all the little branches off and cut off the top, so only about six inches is sticking up out of the ground. :mad::mad: What would possess someone to do something like that?? Just so cruel. Colin put his heart into keeping this tree alive and planting it and then for someone to do that?? I thought maybe it was an animal or something, but the branches were neatly piled to the side of what was left of the tree and the "trunk" wasn't chewed or anything - it was obviously snapped or cut off. I just don't get it.

Besides that trauma, things are fine. Winding down the school year. Jameson is doing track and soccer and Colin is doing soccer. Poor Jameson. His team is just horrible! They've played 4-5 games and lost all but one by scores of at least 10-0. One game they lost 3-2. They've had to endure teams laughing at them and making comments. That upsets them more than the losing. The last team we played was great though. I had a lot of respect for their coach. It was about 12-0 at halftime. He told his team not to try to score any goals and to be easy on our team and let us score. He talked to the ref to let him know. None of our team seemed to catch on. We did score one goal. Jameson was hilarious. They put him in the goal. After the game he was so excited. He said wow, my team puts me in the goal, and we played awesome. I must be good luck! I'm surprised he didn't catch on. Colin's team has won every game and he's scored a goal in all but one game. Jameson's team is in a tournament Saturday. They'll play at least three games and it goes from 8-4. I'm just praying for no rain or it's going to be a very long day!

All the kids are taking swimming. Caitlyn won't go in the water unless DH takes her, so he's been taking her. The boys are enjoying it. I'll feel better with them going on the boat this summer if they can improve their swimming skills.

Oh, and Jameson went to another dance this weekend. How did he get so old??? It was pretty funny. I got there at the end and they were slow dancing. I spotted Jameson dancing with a girl. They were funny. Couldn't be any farther apart and stiff as boards! Just like most of the other kids. He wouldn't tell me who she was though, or anyone else he danced with! Seems like yesterday I knew everything little thing they did and it's hard not to know everything!!

Well, I've written a book so far, so I better sign off!

[hrk]

Hi all

Joanne- So sorry to hear about the tree. That would have broken Logan's heart as well. Is this a situation where maybe getting a new tree would help or just wait and see what happens to the tree? Kudos to Jameson for sticking with soccer even though it is hard.

Lori- I hope that talking with these other parents about the teachers behavior is making you feel a little better. We are celebrating 10 years this year as well, but not sure what we are going to do.
As for the park, I tend to concentrate more on Ari and let Logan kind of do his own thing. That seems to work out OK, but most of our playgrounds at least have fences around them so it is still a confined place.

Lara- I broke my ankle many years ago and every once in a while it still rolls, but it doesn't seem to affect anything I do. Good luck with the wedding.

Kim- Hope the flight goes better than the last one. We find that Logan is easily entertainable but Ari is hard cause of his attention span. I find that bringing lots of little snacks and letting him eat every once helps.

Well we had a great trip to LA. We flew Virgin America which was very nice. They keep the flight pretty dark because of the TV's so it helps to encourage sleeping, the TV's had both TV and games so Logan was very entertained and the seats were comfy cause they were leather. I was very glad though that I still brought food, cause they only had food for purchase and none of it would have been of interest to Ari or Logan.
My grandfathers eye surgery seems to have been somewhat successful since he can now see some light, shapes and colors. It was very nice that we were there cause he was really able to see a little of Ari's features for the first time since Ari was born.
The boys had a blast cause it was warm and they could go swimming in my moms pool. I am amazed at how well Logan is swimming, he was even swimming on his back.
Passover was very nice, but I basically cooked the whole thing, so after 10 hours of cooking I was exhausted. Logan did great though at the seder and seems to be starting to understand some of the customs.

Now it is back to normal for a little while.
Hope everyone else is well.
Heather

[LaraW]

Kim, some of our reading material last night specifically addressed siblings. I will try to dig it up today and post it.

I have a question for you though. I seem to remember you posting a while ago about leaving super-early in the morning for a long car trip. We had been planning on leaving at around 7am but now I am thinking it might be better if we left around 5am instead. How did you do that with the kids? I'd like to get an hour or 2 or 3 of driving before we have breakfast if at all possible.

I'm probably going to be in and out today as we're leaving in the morning and I have a lot to do today. Plus, I have a 2nd interview with a new company for a new job, so I have to fit that, speech therapy and storytime into my day that is already full of laundry and other packing. And entertaining the kids.

[hrk]

Lara-
We have left for early car trips with the boys and gotten in a few hours of driving before we eat breakfast. We have done it two ways, one we put the kids in sweats and a t-shirt to sleep and then just before we are ready to leave, carry them down and put them in their car seat. We have also just put them in their pj's, kept a change of clothes out in the car and then change them when we stop for breakfast. We usually leave about 4 in the morning and get about 2 hours in before the boys wake up. It helps to leave when it is dark also.

Good luck with the second interview and your trip.
Heather

[cchhbb]

Lara, I always try to leave super early. I generally just have everything in the car and then go get the kids in their pjs and put them in the car. I usually can get about 2 hours in before they want breakfast. The only problem is bathroom time. Garrett really needs to go as soon as he wakes up so that may mean a stop.

Good luck on your interview.

Heather, sounds great about your grandfather. He must be so excited to be able to see Ari clearly for the first time.

Joanne, that broke my heart to hear about the tree. And too bad about the soccer team this year. Too funny about Jameson.

Kim, I pretty much did the same thing about K for Garrett. I wrote a letter to the principal describing Garrett and the talents I think the teacher must have for him to be successful. There are probably 10 K classrooms at this school and unfortunately the teacher that I really wanted him to have is retiring. I think my babysitter's mom might be moving to that school and I would love for him to have her so we'll see.

Griffin and I have planted 8 flats of flowers this week and some veggies and herbs. He's a pretty good helper and really loves to use his watering can to water the plants in. I bailed out the bathtub last night so I could use that water since we have an extreme drought here.

Garrett's school has been doing standardized testing for the last week. His class is not being tested, but the older grades are. As a result of making sure the kids being tested are not distracted, Garrett's class hasn't been allowed to have recess. I'm so annoyed. Garrett is really high energy and needs to exercise. He's really struggled with his behavior since he's not getting any downtime. I really feel sorry for him. He came home on Friday saying I just want to be good.

Griffin's 3rd birthday party is on Saturday. We're just inviting a couple of kids. I still have to call my neighbor and see if her son is coming. I mailed the invites 3 weeks ago. I hate having to follow up on RSVPs. Griffin also wanted to invite his teachers since they are his favorite friends.

C

[RunnerKim]

Lara - leaving super early bikefired for us. By super-early I'm talking around 3am or so. Normal/early for us is 5-6am since Lainey often wakes up at 5am, especially if she's at all excited about something. :eek:

The problem for us was that the kids did NOT go back to sleep. Too many lights in the city maybe. (and we didn't get them dressed or do anything more than just move them from their beds to the car). I think we might have had Lainey use the potty since she'd woken up enough anyway.

There's not much they can do in the dark and they quickly became bored and unhappy in the car. Lainey would watch about 10-15 minutes on the portable DVD player at that time and then not be interested. Jamie at that age was too young (I believe this was actually 2 summers ago so the kids were a little over 1 and 3.5).

DH promptly decided it was not at all worth his losing sleep and we'd just leave at our regular early time. It might be different this year because Lainey is so much more in to watching TV now. Our kids do NOT sleep in the car. I don't know why not - even during normal nap time they wouldn't fall asleep.

Cheryl - did you say 10 kindergarten classes?! How big is the school? Are they doing any alternative activities for recess? I've seen music put on and dancing done but then maybe that would be too loud too. I can't imagine it's good for the kids doing the testing to not have recess either. This testing stuff is just too much. :mad:

Joanne - you've mentioned about Jameson's soccer team...being not so successful before. It's too bad there's not more balance in the teams because that would have to be pretty hard on the kids (and coach!). At a totally different level but last Fall, our team ended up dominating quite a few of the games and DH would start requiring the kids to pass before trying to score and then pulling kids from the field (they don't play positions obviously). Glad to hear there's some compassion from some of the coaches at least and I REALLY hope that the coach/parents of the team that said rude things dealt with it. I was at one of my nephew's games and hadn't seen/heard what happened but noticed all of a sudden the coach pulling a couple of kids out of the game and then afterwards there was apologizing happening and I asked my nephew what happened (and made sure he wasn't involved).

Kim

[HRJ]

Cheryl, I can't believe the pre-K kids don't get recess because the older grades have standardized testing? :eek: :mad: :confused: Just when it seemed that this whole testing thing couldn't get any more insane ... that is just crazy. Poor Garrett.

Happy Birthday to Griffin!

Lara, good luck on your interview!! And good luck on your early drive, and enjoy the wedding. Can't offer any advice about getting an early start, though -- that's something that DH and I would never be able to pull off, kid or no kid! Glad Natalie's foot is OK

Joanne, that is so sad about that tree!! My heart just broke when I read that. :( I was thinking of Colin the other day, too, when we had our anniversary dinner -- DH ordered a chocolate bread pudding, served with sauteed bananas and Nutella sauce! (Can't begin to tell you how rich that dessert was!). I immediately was thinking how Colin would like the Nutella sauce.

Lori, it must be reassuring to hear similar feedback from some of the other parents -- although I'm sure it would be nicer not to have to deal with the teachers' negative attitudes at all!

I'm not even going to ask how you made it from northern NJ (Morris County, right?) to Boston in 3.5 hours -- you must have been flying! ;) Hope you make good time on your upcoming trip. It's funny -- my entire extended family is obsessed with the idea of "making good time" on car trips -- at every family gathering, instead of people greeting each other saying "how are you?", we say, "Did you make good time?" :rolleyes: I've always said that if two of my cousins became astronauts and met each other on Pluto, the first thing they'd say to each other would be was "Did you make good time?" ;)


Kim, do they show the program "Word Girl" on your PBS channel? It's a show designed to teach kids about vocabulary, but the main character is a female "superhero" and the show is very, very clever. Victor loves it. Anyway, I mention it because maybe you could record a few episodes for Lainey to watch on your trip, if you have equipment that allows you to record to a DVD?

Heather, glad to hear your grandfather's sight is getting better. I was hoping Victor would say the Four Questions at this year's Seder (in English -- I wouldn't expect him to know them in Hebrew yet), but he got shy at the table, because some of my cousins and their SOs were there whom he hadn't seen in a long time and he didn't really remember them. Were there any other children at our seder -- Victor was the only child at ours, and I think it was a little lonely for him, or maybe that's because I'm remembering my childhood seders, with my pack of cousins. I think next year we will have the Seder at our place, and I will try to invite another family with kids Victor's age.

Susan, glad you had fun with Zackaboo.

Our trip to NYC was nice. The train ride was fine -- I kept thinking how it would have been much more captivating for Victor a few years ago, when he was so crazy about anything relating to trains. He still said he liked it more than the plane, though, because he got to get a hot dog from the cafe car; the seats were bigger; the bathroom was bigger :rolleyes: and he got to see more stuff out the window. We were delayed for about 45 minutes just as we got to NY, though, and that made all of us a little cranky. I feel silly that I asked whether you could use a laptop on Amtrak -- practically every single person on the train was using a laptop!

On Sunday, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to see the Arms and Armor exhibits (lots and lots of stuff related to knights -- mostly European Medieval knights, but also stuff from China, India, Tibet, Mongolia, etc. ) Victor thought that was really cool. Then we spent the rest of the day in Central Park, because it was so nice out.

This is school vacation week here -- I've been home for the past two days, and we've just hung around the house and had playdates with a couple of Victor's friends, and it's been very nice. Tomorrow and Friday Victor will go to "vacation camp" at his after-school program.

We recently had to fill out "class placement" forms for first grade -- it's sort of like the stuff they asked us to fill out for kindergarten, describing our child. Last year I wasn't too comfortable with the form, but this year I had a much better idea of what they were looking for -- and I also had a better idea of what Victor's "learning style" is like. But they specify that you cannot ask for a specific teacher. Since there are only two classes at each grade level at our school, it's not like there are a lot of choices, anyway. I have talked to parents of older kids about the two first-grade teachers, and both of them seem to be very well-regarded -- of course each of them has certain strengths and weaknesses, but I think I'd be comfortable with either one, from what I know.

They do ask you to name other children that your child gets along with particularly well, and say they will *try* to place children with at least one friend -- I was kind of surprised about that, but I guess it's a good thing. Victor has two "best friends" in his class right now -- I think he would be particularly unhappy if the other two ended up in a class together, and he was in the other class. Let's just hope that doesn't happen. (OTOH, he is very social, so I don't think he'd have that much trouble.)

Helene

[LA98]

Helene, :D :D I'm totally cracking up about the "making good time" thing!! We never, ever thought that way until we starting going up to see these friends. Her family (from NJ) and his family (from NY) would practically grill us about our "time" the second we walked through the door! (And when they're done with that, the conversation turns to the routes everyone took to get up there, LOL!) Yep, we're in Morris, and they're actually next to Worcester. Three and a half hours is zero traffic, zero construction, and pushing the speed limit just a wee bit. :) So needless to say, that has happened only once. :rolleyes:

Joanne, I was so sad thinking about poor Colin going out and finding his tree like that. :( It's got to be the hardest thing to watch your kids learn that people can be rotten sometimes.... I had to laugh though at your description of Jameson and the girl dancing, I got a great visual on it!

Heather, wow, 10 hours of cooking! How many people did you have?? Glad your grandfather's surgery has helped, and how wonderful that he was able to finally see Ari.

Cheryl, I'm shocked at 10 kindergartens too. And wow, no recess, I can imagine the teachers can't be happy about that either since those kids are going to be sooo fidgety by the end of the day! Happy birthday to Griffin! I can't believe he's 3 already. Then again, I can't believe Jason just turned one!!

Kim, how fun that Lainey gets her dad to be her T-ball coach! Glad she's enjoying it. And I'm glad to hear that there's some "mercy" involved when the scores get really one-sided. It must be so tough for kids to lose by that much.

Lara, hope your interview went well and enjoy the trip and wedding!

Lori

[JoanneOR]

Helene, that is funny about the "making good time" stuff. DH's family does that too. Too funny about you thinking of Colin when you had that dessert. :D Sounds delicious!!

Lori, I can't believe Jason just turned one either!

Kim, good luck on your trip! Wow, I can't believe your kids don't sleep in the car. Ours usually do, but Colin is so funny. He's usually out within 3-5 minutes. We always joke around - is Colin asleep yet?? And, he usually is. Although I'm the same way. DH gets annoyed when he's driving and everyone in the car is asleep.

Cheryl, that is nuts about the standardized testing and no recess. You'd think a break would be good for all the kids, even the ones having the tests. They place way too much emphasis on these tests in grade school. Wow, 10 kindgartens?? How many kids in each class? Happy 3rd birthday to Griffin!!

Heather, for now Colin is nurturing what's left of the tree and hoping it still grows. I don't know enough (not much at all) about trees to know if it'll still grow. I did think about buying him a new one. He also has some seeds that we need to plant in a pot - I'm not sure what they are exactly, but it's some type of tree. DH has any idea of who did it and he wants to confront the kid. I think he may be right, but on the chance he's not the kid I'd rather DH didn't. Even if he did do it and DH confronts him, if he's the type of kid to do something like this, being confronted will probably provoke him to do something else.

The other night I found an old VHS with the movies we had taken from when Jameson was born until Colin was about two months old. I found it about 11pm and wound up staying up till 1:00am watching it. Of course, bawling my eyes out! Happy tears, of course. Just such sweet stuff. Jameson meeting Ian for the first time. The look on his face was priceless. Hugging and kissing each other. First birthdays. Made me miss my little babies!! And made me wish I had kept up the videotaping. I think I have another one that might even have a minute or two of Caitlyn. :rolleyes: I know, the latter children really do get less pictures and video. They really do grow up fast.

Jameson's soccer team is in a tournament Saturday. They'll play at least three games. I'm just praying for good weather.

[cchhbb]

I think Garrett's school has about 600 kids in it. Last year there were 10 k classes of 14 - 18 kids. There are two teachers in each class too. The school goes from pre-k to 5th grade. I think the 5th grade classes have about 25 kids in them.

Well, Garrett starts getting recess today. The kids that got tested did end up getting recess after the testing period. The testing went until about 11:00 each day. But there wasn't enough room on the playground area for all the children to get recess so Garrett's class didn't get it. He just bounced off the walls. Luckily it's been nice here so he could get a lot of outdoor time. We also borrowed one of those blow up jumpy things for Griffin's birthday and I have it in the garage and I have them jump in there at least once a day.

Joanne, I can imagine how you felt watching your now big boys as babies. We never got into videoing the kids so I don't have much. We did buy one of those flip cameras and have used it lately. I need to find it so we can use it tomorrow at Griffin's party.

I really need to get moving on getting things ready for the birthday party. I baked the cake this morning and I'm not sure what happened, but it ended up being undercooked even though I tested it with a toothpick. So, I just rebaked another one and am waiting for it to cool. I can't clean the kitchen until the cake is done so I'm kind of in waiting mode.

DH leaves tomorrow for a week golfing with his friends. I hope he has a nice time, but I think I'll be ready for a vacation when he gets back. We are going to Thomas next week too. That always makes me tired. So many little boys in one small place.

Cheryl

[hrk]

Cheryl- Happy birthday to Griffin, hope the cake turned out OK and the party went well. We are headed to see Thomas this weekend as well. Guess there isn't just one Thomas in this world;)

Joanne- How is the tree coming along? I know what you mean about pictures and videos of younger kids, DH accuses me all the time of overcompensating by taking tons of photos of Ari. Actually my goal is usually just to get a few shots of Ari alone.

Helene- How was Spring Break? Logan read the four questions at the seder only by repeating them after me, but it was only family at the seder, so I don't think he had any reason to be shy.

Lara- How did the trip and the wedding go?

Well this weekend we are headed to see Thomas too. Some of you may have read about our conflict with my IL's over it cause my SIL planned her christening for the same time. Well Sunday night DH called to formally RSVP that we couldn't make it. He spoke with his BIL who was totally fine with it and kept saying how it was short notice and they understood. We both breathed a sigh of relief. But last night FIL called to talk to DH. We weren't home, but it seemed kind of coincidental since we haven't spoken to them since the initial conversation about the whole thing. UGHH I know DH doesn't need this especially since he is recovering from Strep throat and has been feeling pretty bad lately.

But other than that looking forward to a quiet weekend and the boys having a ton of fun at Thomas.
Happy Wednesday
Heather

[LaraW]

Hi everyone-

The wedding was great. Both kids did great in the car. We ended up leaving around 5am, which was OK - neither of them really went back to sleep, but we had "quiet time until the sun comes up" so that worked out OK. I will tell you though, it is impossible to find a decent cup of coffee at that time of day in Iowa. We stopped through a McDOnalds drive through, and that coffee was barely drinkable. We joked that it had been made at 1am and was only for the drive through since nobody would come back to complain. DH drank that one, but he got another one at some truck stop and I could barely stand the smell of it, it was so nasty. He just dumped that out. :o

Both of the flower girls made it down the aisle OK, so that was good and the wedding itself went off without a hitch.

Natalie was sick in the night the first night we were there, but she was better by the morning. I think the hardest part about that was that we didn't really know where extra sheets were, and when I took the sheets down to the laundry room, I didn't know how to operate their washer. I felt bad asking my dad to take care of pukey sheets. :o I was sick too, but never threw up and didn't feel well all day Friday. But I went to bed early and was fine by Saturday.

The only bad thing is that my IL's are mad at us. MIL had a retirement party that started practically the moment we arrived in town, and DH didn't go to it. He was helping me get the kids fed, bathed and in bed, and by the time we did all that it was over. As a result, MIL and FIL barely spoke to us all weekend. :rolleyes: That didn't make me mad so much as the fact that they left the wedding without saying goodbye to my parents. My parents have hosted a brunch for the out-of-town-people (since there are always a lot) to come over and eat before heading home. MIL/FIL were helping with this on Sunday keeping serving plates full, making coffee, etc and they left that without saying a word to my parents either. I feel like, if you have a problem with us, fine, but don't drag my parents into it.

We are back and are trying to get ourselves back into the swing. I need to go food shopping this afternoon since we don't have much in the house to eat for dinner tonight.

I will try and get caught up on everyone else's posts.

[JoanneOR]

Lara, glad to hear everything went smoothly with the wedding. Am I remembering right that your sister lives in the Chicago area? Your ILs really should have been more understanding about the party.

Heather, have fun with Thomas! Colin is faithfully watering the tree (or what's left of it). It's hard to tell if it'll come back or not - looks about the same.

Cheryl, that's a nice size for the K classes. Hope your DH enjoys his time away and you survive his time away! ;)

Not much new with us. Tonight is Jameson's band concert. He informed me at 9:00 pm last night that, no, they're not wearing their band shirts, he has to wear a white long sleeve shirt and black pants. Well, the only shirt I could find came half way up his arms and the pants were about two inches too short. Luckily I was able to find a shirt and pants during my lunch hour today.

[hrk]

Lara- Glad to hear the wedding was nice, sorry to hear you and Natalie were sick. And I don't know what to say about your IL's sometimes, I think people have just gotten way to crazy in this world.

OK, I have a quick question- we were invited to a family friends older sons first communion. I don't know if we will go to the mass portion but they are having an open house that evening that we will probably attend. Do kids get gifts for this and if so what? I am completely clueless as to what to do.
Thanks,
Heather

[JoanneOR]

Heather, I can answer your question having had three kids make their communions in the last three years and going to countless communion parties! Yes, people generally do brings gifts to communion parties, most people give cash or savings bonds. They do sell communion cards, but sometimes they are hard to find this time of year. I like to give cash and then maybe some type of religious medal, if it's someone I'm close to, like my nephews.

Jameson's concert was nice. I couldn't see him at all though - we sat on the wrong side thinking he'd be where he was at the last concert. DH didn't go - he hadn't slept all day so I took all the kids. They were a bit restless. Afterwards I took them all to Cold Stone Creamery. I think half of the band had the same ideas as us!

[cchhbb]

This has been a long week. DH is on his golf vacation. I think I spent most of it in Doctor's waiting rooms. Nobody was sick or hurt, but since my parents were here, I scheduled a lot of appointments. Griffin had his 3 year well check-up and has finally made it to the 10% line for weight. He's close to 50% for height with a BMI of 13.

Garrett went in later that day for a recheck for his ear infection. The doctor couldn't see the ear drum and thought perhaps Garrett had a foreign body in his ear. A nurse and I held him down so the doctor could try to remove it. No dice. I called the next morning and managed to get into the ENT for that afternoon due to a cancellation. It ended up being ear wax (a huge piece) that the ENT removed with 4 people holding Garrett down. I'm glad Garrett's not prone to ear infections so he probably won't need his ears looked at again for a few months.

I had a mammogram on Tuesday morning and got great news that the suspicious area that they had been following has been cleared so now I don't have to have another one for a year. I also ended up at the Chiropractor a couple of times.

Tomorrow, we go to see Thomas. I hope that the rain holds off until afternoon. It's a 2 hour drive and I really want to get there as early as I can to avoid the crowds. Garrett had a field trip today so we couldn't go up tonight.

On Thursday, I taught Garrett's class how to make ice cream. I brought in my ice cream maker and then the class made 4 batches of ice cream in a coffee can. They had a blast.

Griffin had a nice little birthday party on Saturday. He was a little bit of a brat at first not playing nicely, but things ended up better. It was a Thomas theme and I borrowed a bouncy moonwalk thing from a friend.

Garrett just called and said he needs help brushing his teeth so I need to run. He wants to play a board game before bed so he's motivated to get ready.

Cheryl

[MrsReber]

Hello. I am here. Still alive! I had a busy week, on top of not feeling well. My head was so congested at the beginning of the week, but I had so much work to do so there was no rest for me. It was parents/grandparents week at school. I had lunch with Brenden on Monday and then Casey on Tuesday. The book fair was going on, too, so I had to take each of them after lunch on those days. Of course, they had already been to the book fair the Friday before, but I have a hard time saying no to books. They were all 1/2 price, too. I'm just glad that my kids love books as much as I do so I try to encourage them as much as possible.

Thursday I had to go for a sonogram. The new dr here wants to keep an eye on my fibroids. I haven't heard back about the results yet. I only saw this dr for the first time last week. I figured I had to go get an exam since my last one was in 2005. I knew I had the fibroids, but she seems concerned for some reason. I'm trying not to worry about it because I'm not having any problems or symptoms. Guess I just have to wait to see what the test results say.

It's been beautiful out here so the kids have been playing outside until late. Much later than they should, but they're having such fun running around with some other neighborhood kids. It reminds me of when I was a kid. But something weird happened last night that doesn't sit well with me. I went to the library at 5:30 to drop off some books that were overdue by a day. I was gone maybe 20 minutes at the most, since I stopped for milk on the way back. I came home and the down syndrome girl from across the street is standing on the edge of our lawn and a young woman is crossing the street with her. My two kids and one other neighbor girl are in the middle of the lawn. They tell me "that lady is coming back over to talk to you." Sure enough, she comes over and introduces herself, first name only (I didn't give her my name). I asked if there was a problem. She pulled me over to the side and told me that Casey and the 10 year old neighbor "almost ran across the street and got hit by a car. If I didn't see them, they would've stepped right out in front of it. I'm just telling you because I would want to know. I figured you might want to know." Well, having not been there to witness this, I asked the girls what happened after Ms. Nosy left my yard. The 10 year old neighbor (who knows darn well how to cross the street) said that she saw the car and they were waiting for it to pass. DH was inside the house, in the livingroom with the blinds open, which gave him a clear view of the whole front yard. He said he was watching the girls going to cross the street and they hadn't reached the side. He saw Kayla tell Casey not to go because there was a car coming so they were waiting.

Okay, so about an hour later, the down syndrome girl comes over to play, which is fine with me as long as they all stay outside and everyone is gettinig along fine. Her mom comes over to get her and to apologize for Ms. Nosy cominig over here. The woman works with Child Protective Services (CPS) and makes visits across the street because of the girls problems (aside from havinig Down Syndrome, she was diagnosed with Autism) and the mom has horrible arthritis so sometimes has trouble in the mornings getting the girl off to school. Ms. Nosy comes by to offer counselling, per court order. So the mom tells me she saw the girls and she just waved to them to tell them there was a car coming and to wait (there's a bit of a blind spot with the way our road curves). The CPS woman immediately jumps in and asks "where are their parents? Why aren't they out there?" She said "I'm sure they're keeping an eye on them." CPS lady says "I'm going to talk to them." The neighbor says "Please don't do that. They're my neighbors and I'd prefer if you didn't say anything." She replied with "I'm either talking to them now or I'm calling CPS on them." :eek: !!!!!! As if?!?! I was furious. Since when does a parent hover over kids playing right on the porch, directly outside the front door, with the husband watching from 3 feet away in the living room. And, of course, this worker is about 24 years old, just out of school with no kids of her own. I told Casey that if she sees that woman across the street when she's in the front yard, she should go play inside or in the back yard. It's so easy to find something wrong by taking things at face value. Her comment to our neighbor was "if their children got hit by a car, you can bet they'd be watching now.

How much is too much? Should I hover over them or do I trust their judgment at some point? They KNOW they are not to cross the road except with the neighbor (who is 10 and has been crossing the street for quite some time) and I'm usually home and watching when they do cross the street because she has to tell me where she's going if she's leaving the yard. They know. I am confident that I have done my job, but to have some 24 year old single woman with no kids implying that CPS needs to investigate us?? I'm still annoyed at that. I told my neighbor she'll be very sorry if she ever makes a call to CPS. I'll destroy her career before it ever gets off the ground. Apparently she walked over here with a business card, but thought better of it and never gave it to me. The neighbor told me she saw her stuff it in her pocket real quick.

Well, sorry to rattle on, I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. I have to go pick up our pictures at the fire station. Even though I insisted we never made a dontation to that particular fire squad, they told me I did and we needed to come in for a free family portrait. The guy did a few shots so I'm sure I'll buy more than I bargained for. But we have never had a family portrait done so I'm hoping they came out nice. We only have shots here and there when we could get someone else to hold the camera for us!

After that, it's off to a riding lesson and to see the new foal that was born Thursday. I can't wait. He's beautiful. Then to the store to get ravioli as we seem to have run out of one of the 5 things Casey will eat :rolleyes:- then 2 more flats of flowers and back home. Casey's friend is coming over later. She wants to spend the night, too. Casey was apprehensive about spending the night over there, though I wish she'd give it a try. So we'll have an overnight guest. I just love the girl, too. She's so funny. I hope Casey is friends with her for a long time. They're right down the road from us, too.

Tomorrow, we're going to see Guys and Dolls in Lynchburg. Casey's riding instructor is in the play. It's one of my favorites. That should be fun.

Heather, I hope you're enjoying Thomas! I miss going to see him in PA. That was great.
Cheryl, I hope you're enjoying Thomas, too!

Lara, IL's can be so weird, can't they? MIL told DH that she sent him something for his birthday. However, just like our Christmas presents and the various cards she says she sends, they disappeared into never never land 'cause nothing ever showed up at our door. I keep telliing DH to question that and make sure she has our address- but everyone else has sent us stuff with no problem! Well, anyway, glad the trip went well aside from that. One thing I tell myself in those situations is that I am only responsible for what I do and I have no control over others actions. We can't make everyone happy all the time.

I better run. That's my week in a nutshell and now I must get out of here and start my day!