Thankfulness continued

Soo thankful that is all the hair she managed to cut off in her first attempt at cutting her own hair. Unfortunately, it came right off the top on the middle of her head so she looks a bit like Steve Perry at the height of his career in Journey during the 80's.

I am thankful for the little boy at the park the other day who looked at Emma Mae and said "you talk a lot!" It's just good sometimes to have unbiased outside confirmation of something I already highly suspected.

Thankful for my job where I can bring the Kindergartener to work with me when he has a day off from school and I don't. And for my boss who showed us this wonderful idea for a Thanksgiving tree and even supplied us with the materials to create one of our own! I'm also thankful for the beautiful words of Ann Voskamp whose book "one thousand gifts" could change the world.

And I am very thankful that my dog Brady (the bus) is not dying. Mike found a huge mass on Brady's side last week and after a trip to the vet today it looks to be just a fatty tumor. Which is gross but not life threatening. Who knew I wanted that dog to live so badly?? We're still not sure if we want to get the thing removed  enough to spend hundreds of dollars to have it cut out. But we're thankful we don't have to make that decision right away!

Sick days

I've spent the last two days with sick children in the house. I know it sounds crazy but sometimes I'm thankful for sick days. Jake came down with pink eye Tuesday night so he stayed home from school Wednesday and Thursday. And them Emma Mae woke me up at 11:45 Wednesday night because she threw up all over her bed. So we pretty much spent yesterday watching movies, cuddling on the couch, playing games and maybe we let them play outside on their new truck with the neighbors for a second. Anyhow-I got a lot of good cuddle time in but I was really hoping that Emma would be over the vomit today. Because I am definitely over the vomit.

She seems to be doing better. She has managed to keep down all of her food today and we even got out and ran a few errands today. Because I remembered after I got Jake on the bus this morning that today was our day to take snack to his class. So Em and I headed out to WalMart to buy something quick and the whole time I was praying "please don't  puke in the car, don't puke in the car."

And she didn't! We came home and I made lunch. I put her sandwich on the table and then got distracted and looked out the kitchen window. That's when I saw our neighbors two cute labs walking down the street. I knew the neighbors were at work and I was pretty sure the dogs were not supposed to be out. So I went outside and called them over and brought them to our backyard. I saw the animal control truck patroling our neighborhood this morning so I didn't want the dogs to be found and jailed.

Anyhow, I let Brady out to play with them and called the neighbors who asked if I could keep the dogs in the backyard until one of them could get off work and come pick them up. I said sure. I would want the same thing if someone found Brady wandering around town. I sat down and ate my lunch while Emma played with the dogs outside. Then she came in to give me a dog report and eat two bites of her sandwich.

A few minutes later I went outside to check on the dogs. The only problem was that the only dog left in the backyard was mine. The two labs were missing. Under my watch. I was mortified. It seems they busted through a small hole in our fence and took off. So I looked out the kitchen window. And there they were walking down the same sidewalk again. So I went out and called them over again. And brought them inside the house this time. Before I knew it the black one had jumped up on the table and eaten the rest of Em's turkey sandwich and the brown one was in the bathroom drinking water out of the toilet. Listen, I can't even guarantee that the toilet had been flushed yet. I kept having flashbacks to the movie "The Christmas Story" and those Bumpus dogs that caused such havoc in the house on Christmas!

The next thing I know Emma Mae is yelling something about the yellow dog making a mess all over the floor. So I looked over just in time to see a pool of brown liquid about the size of the smallest great lake making its way toward the only rug in our house. Too late, I found a towel and spread it over the mess. That rug may never be the same. In fact, I may never be the same. My stomach is still clenching up involuntarily. And I'll be really thankful when these sweet puppies go on home.

Power Wheels

Today I am thankful for my friends who give us the clothes and toys that their own kids have outgrown. Especially when the toy is something I wanted to get the kids for Christmas but couldn't justify the money! And I'm also thankful that our kids are still young enough to love hand me downs!
And one more thing-thankful that Emma Mae didn't kill anyone or damage anything when it was her turn to do the driving.

Friends

I am thankful for my girlfriends. Especially this gal. We've known each other since the fifth grade and have been BFF's for most of that time. Countless hours on the phone, mutual boy crushes and lots and lots of laughter have built a solid friendship that I can count on forever. Love you Amy Sue!

On a side note, she is aging much more gracefully than I am. Not that I'm bitter. Try not to look at my neck in this picture. It looks like all I do is work out my neck muscles or something. It looks like my neck is about to pop my head off of my body. We must have taken ten pictures of ourselves trying to get one that we were both satisfied with. It led to much giggling and pandemonium. Amy was woried about her head being too big and I just kept thinking "how much could plastic surgery possibly cost?" These bags under my eyes need to take a trip already.  

Veterans, puppies and blankies

I am thankful that I got to go to Jake's first school performance tonight! And I am truly, deeply thankful that it is over. We got a notice a couple weeks ago that Kindergarten would be having a special Veteran's Day special tonight. Jake has been practicing his songs at home and I was really excited to see them perform. Especially since he kept singing a line about "holding puppies in our hands" and I just really thought he had some lyrics down wrong. I went through all of the songs I know about America and couldn't think of one that talked about puppies. I knew they were singing "God Bless America" and "Grand Old Flag" and "This Land is Your Land" and Jake was having trouble with some of the words in those songs so I figured "holding puppies in our hands" was really supposed to be something else too even though he assured me he had the words down right.

I also thought it would be neat for Mike to go since he is an actual Veteran. However, he had to work and couldn't make it. Jake's teacher even asked Mike if he would speak about being a Marine because their other guest speaker fell through. That would have just sent Jake over the moon. But, it didn't work out and then I realized that I would have to attend with Emma Mae in tow without my backup parent.

And Emma Mae did not take a nap today. I repeat. She did not nap.

The show started at 6:30 and they wanted the kids there by 6:15. So we showed up at 6:10 because Jake's teacher told us that the cafeteria would fill up quickly. There was a line to get into the school when we arrived. Turns out the first grade and fifth grade were also performing in one way or another. We finally got Jake to his class and headed to the cafeteria. There was not a seat to be had. Well, there actually were several empty chairs but people were "saving" them for friends and relatives. I'm gonna go ahead and call that crappy. I'm sorry if you have people who want to be there but haven't yet arrived. I'm here. I'm on time. I have a three year old girl wearing pink cowgirl boots on my hip. Let me have a chair please.

Actually, I think every Veteran in attendance should have been offerred a chair up front. And then every Kindergarten parent should have had next dibs. All the other riff raff could have stood up in the back. This wasn't their first rodeo.

I finally found a spot along a side wall for Emma Mae and I to stand. Now, listen. I talked with Emma in depth before hand about expected behavior. I told her that once the performance started she was to be still and quiet. I bribed her with treats. I told her she could have candy or ice cream or candy covered ice cream if she behaved herself. Then I asked her if she understood and she said yes. Then I asked her to repeat my words and she did.

We had ten minutes to kill before the kids came out to sing. Emma spent that time spinning around in circles, crawling all over the floor and generally being a nuisance to everyone around us. I reminded her of our deal and told her the treat was off if she didn't get quiet and still when the singing started. T-minus two minutes to performance she told me that she needed to go potty. Now, listen. This is Emma Mae's go to "get out of jail free" card. She plays it all the time when she wants to leave somewhere she's not having fun at. Like, every morning meeting I go to at work. So I knew she didn't really need to go. I also knew if we left our spot to go to the bathroom we probably wouldn't even get back into the cafeteria. So, I wasn't moving. It's not fun when your child tells you that she'll just go potty all over you instead. And your fellow student parents stacked up beside you like sardines in the cafeteria over hear that. Still, I held firm.

Finally, the kindergarten classes came out. I thought this would calm down little sis. Unfortunately, we could barely see Jake so Emma just decided to entertain herself. First thing she did was take off her cowgirl boots and start sliding all over the floor saying "yipee!" I decided to ignore her. And maybe pretend I didn't know whose kid she was. Kindergarten started singing. I busied myself trying to pick my little ant out of the crowd so I could videotape him. Then I noticed that a few parents were starting to stare down towards my feet. Where Emma Mae had pulled her pants up above her knees and was spinning around in circles on her booty again. I should mention that she colored all over her legs this morning with black dry erase marker and I hadn't bothered washing it off yet because hello! her pants covered it up. Oh, she had also taken my lipstick out of my purse and applied it liberally.

Kindergarten sang another song. A song about holding puppies in their hands! Then  fifth grade started reading essays to the veterans. This is when Emma started shouting "hey! where's Jake? JAKE! Get up and dance Jake! Why aren't you singing??" I chose this time to take her out into the hallway and threaten her very way of life. I told her that the treat wasn't happening and that if she didn't get quiet for the rest of the evening I would have to take away her beloved polka dot blankie when we got home.

Well, she didn't get any better. When one of the kids announced we were going to have a moment of silence to honor the veterans I was afraid I might cry. I just prayed it would really be a moment and not a full minute or anything. Oddly enough, Emma Mae was quiet during this time. It's because she is so respectful. The one good thing about our evening is that she didn't actually pee on me. So when we got home and got out of the car I told her to bring me her blankie because she wouldn't be seeing it for 24 hours. And that's when she decided to stand in the middle of our front yard and scream "YOU ARE NOT THE NICEST MOMMY ANYMORE! AND I DON'T LIKE YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE MEAN. AND THAT IS MY PROPOSITION!"

It was great. Although I was pretty impressed that she used the word proposition in a sentence. Even if it didn't really make sense. So I finally got her inside and took a look at my precious son. Who was doing all the right things. So I told him how proud I was of him and how I loved the way he sang those songs tonight. And he looked at me and he said "did you hear the part about having puppies in our hands?" And I said yes. And he said "so that means I was right and you were wrong."

Little Em

Thankful for my girl's creative spirit. Unbeknownst to us she built herself a cage of some sort for her and her animals to sleep in tonight. I would be even more thankful if she was wearing some pj's!

Super Hero Zip Line

I'm thankful for a husband who takes my crazy ideas I see on other people's blogs and implements them for our children's pleasure!

Yahoo!

Thankful for her sense of style. I think.

Being thankful

This is my favorite time of year. I pretty much love Halloween through Christmas. It would be nice if the weather would cooperate. Although I am saving a lot of money this fall by not going to Starbucks for pumpkin spice lattes because it is just too hot to drink them. I tried an iced one a few weeks ago and let me tell you that was not a good idea.

Although I love this time of year, I have to say I hate this point in Mike's schooling. We are six weeks away from the end of this semester and it cannot come too soon. He's tired. I'm tired. We're testy with each other. We lose patience with the kids. And all of a sudden, I find it hard to be thankful at the time of year we're supposed to be the most thankful! But, wait! I have a blog. And I can make it my thankfulness journal. We'll try this through November and see how it goes.

I can be thankful for the comic relief in our life that is a five year old boy. On our way to get donuts yesterday he started talking about farts. I don't know why little boys think this is such a hilarious subject but they just do. So he was in the back talking about his friend at school named Marlin. Apparently, Marlin has some stinky farts. And every time he farts it makes Jake and two of his friends laugh hysterically. But then Mrs. Ware gets Marlin "in really big trouble" and then everyone stops laughing. And that "is really weird." You know what I think is weird? I thought it was weird last week when Jake said this to me after dinner. "Mama?" Yes, babe. "I love my weiner." Go tell your daddy what you just said. "Hey daddy! I love my weiner!" And then I just hear hilarious laughter from both of them. Really? So then I looked at my sweet little Emma Mae sitting there licking ranch dressing off of her plate and I was just thankful for another girl in the house.

Halloween 2012

How is it November already? And why does our neighbor across the street already have up her Christmas decorations? Why can't I stop eating the children's Halloween candy? It's not even that good! These are the questions keeping me up right now.

Let's start with Halloween. Our friends Eva and John brought their girls over again this year to go trick or treating with us. We also tagged along with some of our neighbors. Trick or treating is always fun in our neighborhood! Jake opted to dress up as Bat Man this year rather than Spiderman. Emma Mae finally settled on being a witch after flirting with being Captain America for awhile. They both looked really cute.

They decorated pumpkins before we headed out.

My parents sent them these adorable monogrammed candy baskets to use.

Then we went out into the night to join the rest of the spooks and goblins.