Near Death Experience

Derrick had a near death experience today. I was just typing along, working like a good little person, when the breaker flipped downstairs. I stopped at the john on my way down (the room that the breaker box is in gives me the willies!!), and the room was promptly re-occupied by my husband while I went downstairs to reset the breaker. I climbed back upstairs with a basket of clean laundry (had forgotten it earlier when I was down there before work), sat down to turn my computer back on and get going back to work. That's when I noticed it. My two diamond rings were MISSING!! All that was left was my gold band. I asked Bub if he'd put them up or seen Derrick with them. He said no, that he was in the bathroom and hadn't heard anything. So I asked Derrick, "Where did you put Mommy's pretties?" I showed him my gold band so he had an idea of what I was talking about. He brought me over to the stove, pointed to the floor and said "Dropped it." So I moved the stove and saw nothing. I sat down and tried to work, but my mind kept bringing me back to needing to find my rings!! Bub said he didn't hear anything, so I figured they HAD to be on the carpeting somewhere. I punched out of work for my lunch break and got down on all fours, looking closely at our (desperately needing to be vacuumed) carpet for any sign of a glimmer, a shimmer, a hint of glint...ANYTHING. Derrick was now on time-out until I found my rings...even if it took a week and a half...he was going to stay THERE! He watched me crawl around on my hands and knees like a handicapped neanderthal for 15 minutes or so. I gave up, I asked him again, "Where did you put Mommy's pretties!!" Okay, I demanded it. He brought me back over to the stove. I had already checked there!! I decided my youngest child wasn't smart enought to realize the difference between what he did with something and the hole in the wall I was ready to make out of sheer anger. I looked. I cried. I cleaned. Then Bub had the idea that when he came out of the bathroom he had seen Derrick standing by the fridge, so maybe they were under there. We moved the fridge, and my brilliant husband's idea paid off...half-way. One of my rings was indeed trapped under the fridge amongst the other prisoners held captive, the magnetized alphabet, tin-foil wrapper balls, all guarded by big, black dust bunnies!! Bub swept the mess up, moved the fridge back and forth a few more times in order to free more debris, and then we decided that my other ring wasn't under there. Well, I figured if one was under the fridge, maybe the other really was under the stove. So we moved the stove half way across the kitchen (we have a small kitchen, so this really is possible), and LO AND BEHOLD A MIRACLE OCCURRED!! My other ring was sitting there, in a pile of fuzz and dust at an angle that I hadn't been able to see the last time I'd moved the stove. HALLELUJAH!! Derrick was allowed out of time out. I hadn't felt that much relief since, well...I'll get back to you on that. Derrick was promptly taught he is NOT to touch Mommy's pretties at all!

My rings now have a new resting place while I work, up all the way on top of my computer armoire where Derrick can't see them, and even more importantly cannot REACH them! This should save me the grief of being insanely angry at myself, and even more angry at him for taking them and losing them. I have never, EVER been as angry at any of my kids for any stunt they've ever pulled as I was at Derrick today. This one is going in the books, folks...and he's getting reminded of this at every major event in his life!! LOL

It Finally Looks Like Christmas!

Yesterday afternoon and last night we FINALLY got the first big snowfall of the season. Normally I'm not a huge snow fan. In fact, I hate driving in the stuff, and worse yet, it's COLD! But, it is pretty to look at from the inside out a window, and nothing says Christmas better than a white blanket of snow. I remember one year being outside in a T-shirt and jeans, with no snow on the ground at Christmastime, and that just didn't feel right. Plus, decorations put up on dead grass and scattered leaves just doesn't have the same ambiance that snow gives off.

I love how everyone is putting out their decorations...everything looks so festive! We, of course, haven't gotten that far yet. Matter of fact, the Halloween bin is still sitting waiting to be put away! Oh well...it'll get there. Probably Monday night I'll haul that bin downstairs and the tree and decorations upstairs, and have the kids help me and Bub decorate the place. Wonder if the cats will climb the tree...hmmm.... It's always interesting to have the kids help decorate though, because there's three of them using both hands to grab things to put up, and two of us using both hands to decorate with the last item one of them had handed us! Six things out, two things used! It's fun though, and they have a good time with it :o)

Now, to get that confounded Christmas shopping done! I'm seriously, SERIOUSLY considering just ordering everything off of LTD Commodities. Anyone else do that? I just don't have the time, money, energy or desire to go out to store after store and look for ideal things for everyone, just to wonder what I'll find at the next place. Forget it. This way I can glance through everything WITHIN OUR BUDGET and have it delivered straight to our door. Presto Cheapo...DONE!

Trey is still just loving being on the swim team, and he does such a good job most of the time. Except last week he lost one of his swim suits. Again. I've done everything I know to do to help that kid remember to put everything in his bag after swim practice, and he still loses things!! He has a list in his bag of the things he needs in there, we've talked about ideas to help him keep his things organized, and he was doing really good for awhile. Ugh.

In the "Interesting Things Kids Say" category, Talin took the cake this week. I was talking to Bub about how the car is making a funny noise when it's idling. As I was describing it, Talin pipes up from the back seat, "It's probably my foot." Completely serious, as if his foot seriously had something to do with the strange noise the car was making while he was nowhere near it! I had to laugh...it was too funny!

Derrick started going to his new daycare full time on November 26, and he LOVES it!! I'm so happy things turned out the way they did, but I knew they would! I'm a firm believer that the Lord has helped us along that path. He misses his former daycare provider, who moved to a different town, but is always happy to go to his new daycare. What a relief and huge pressure off of us! He's also starting to see and recognize more things around him, and with his ever-expanding vocabulary, it's adorable to hear him say "Look! Pretties!" when he sees lit-up decorations, or "Pretty House!" when a home is really decked out. It's worth the "scenic route" home just to hear him!!

Otherwise things have been pretty normal. Bub is doing a good job adjusting back and forth between working his night shifts and then coming back to daytime during the week. Soon he'll be able to work daytime weekends, and that'll be nicer still. I just can't believe it's December already. Somehow it doesn't seem like an entire year has almost gone by already. Wow...amazing!

Going Through Doors

Well, let's try this again. I typed up a blog last night, but it got deleted!! I was highlighting it to copy it into my MySpace blog, and suddenly it was just gone! I forgot to post it before copying it...ERRRGGGG!!!

This past weekend was full of excitement for us! Friday evening, my mother-in-law and her husband arrived to spend the weekend with us. We talked about the events we had planned, Saturday installing our new door in the main entry way, and Sunday having 20+ people over for Derrick's birthday party, and all of the things that needed to be done before that. We visited for a bit and then hit the sack.

Saturday morning Bub and I slept in until 9...which is unheard of!! I don't remember the last time I slept until 9! So we got up, had our morning coffee, and then Bub and Tom got going to work at ripping out the old door. I was so excited to finally be getting rid of the old, yellow, ugly, inefficient, windowless, useless slab of wood someone called a door, and be putting in something that would actually serve more of a purpose than to just block the light from coming in. That's something else I love about our new door...the window is huge! Around mid-afternoon, Derrick decided to help, and things were coming along nicely:

Around 7:30, the door was completely in, and I began painting the trim outside. It sounds completely insane, but I kept going outside and standing on the sidewalk, admiring our door! I can't tell you how happy I am that that hideous pee-colored thing that was lodged in my kitchen wall is finally gone! Tom suggested burning it, I was all for it, but we ran out of time to cut it up and roast it. There will be other days!

Then Sunday came. I woke up at 7:30 and hit the floor running! I went through and tended to all of the furry critters, then got ready, told the kids to get ready, and we all went to Sunday School. Normally, with a birthday party under construction, I wouldn't have. But today I was introducing the kids to our new Service Project. Every lesson lasts approximately four weeks, and at the end of each lesson we take one week to do a service project, where we try and teach the kids the value of volunteering, giving back, helping out, etc. This time we're having a food drive to donate food to local food pantries. So, the director and I thought it might be fun for the kids to break down into groups of four and turn it into a bit of a competition. Of course the first week of the new lesson was this past Sunday, so I hauled the boys into church and tried my best to get the kids excited about helping out others in the community who aren't fortunate enough to have enough to eat all of the time.

After that, the kids and I raced the clock back home, and somehow I think we tied! I was happily surprised to find that my mother-in-law had most of the food heating up (we had made up the majority of it Saturday), and there were decorations up! Our new door was adorned to greet the guests:

There were more balloons and decorations around the entry into the living room:

And no three-year-old party for Derrick would be complete without an Elmo birthday cake!

It seemed to be a nice day for all who came. Happy surprises for us were that sister-in-law and her family came from Minnesota, my great-aunt and my grandma from northern Wisconsin all came to join the party! My sister-in-law and her hubby have two little guys close to Derrick's age, and the three of them were outside most of the time, running around and playing. It's something they've all missed doing, since Mother Nature seems determined to drive all of us crazy by keeping the kids inside due to rain the whole entire last week! After lunch, visiting and cake, it was time for every kid's favorite part of any birthday party...the presents! Derrick did a great job opening things this year with minimal assistance from me, but a lot more help from Talin LOL He got a lot of nice gifts...some clothes, socks, two movies, and sippie cups filled to the brim with Halloween candy corns, courtesy of my sister. Oh, and my personal favorite, money! LOL
After everyone was gone and we got everything cleaned up, it was nice to just have a quiet night the rest of the evening. I love having company, but it's nice to have some down time, too. Derrick was wired on sugar, so was literally bouncing off the walls until bed time, and even then he was still pretty wired. But he decided at about 10:30 that he could sleep on the couch. He could have slept hanging upside down from the kitchen fan as far as I was concerned at that point! LOL

So now it's Monday. And I'm finally able to be at work and relax! Have a great one!

Late Night Or Early Morning?

How is it that kids' school projects for homework somehow wind up being your homework, too? Maybe it's just me, but it seems to be a common affliction with many other moms I know. Last week, Trey brought home a sheet of paper with school projects to do, and was to choose one. He chose to make a board game. His idea involved a bunch of boxes, four of which were somehow going to become elevators via string, and the contraption was going to be about 3 feet tall when he was done. That idea got nixed fast! So, while we thought about how we were going to do this, a week somehow slipped by, and this past Tuesday I suddenly remembered that Trey had this project due! So Tuesday night Trey and I hit Wal-Mart to acquire all needed supplies for this undertaking. A piece of black foam board, a piece of bright lime-green poster board, a laminated map of Wisconsin, four Hot Wheels cars (hey, it was a good idea for game pieces, just too bad it didn't work :o( so now Trey has four new Hot Wheels), glue, blank business cards to be used as game cards, and a color printer cartridge, because somehow I psychically knew that we were going to need more ink than we had available in the half, okay probably almost empty printer cartridge. Fifty dollars later, we were ready to start.

We destroyed the brand new map in order to trace it onto the poster board for the game board. After those were cut out, and the new bright green Wisconsin cut-out was glued to the foam board, we called it a night. Then, Wednesday night we plotted out major cities we would use as spaces in our game, and drew a path to all of them. We also finialized the rules of the game...which probably took longer than cutting out both Wisconsins! That seemed like enough work for one night, so we decided to finish up after school Thursday night, last night.

See, I have a problem with time. I always think everything is going to go smoothly, and we'll be done in a relatively reasonable amount of time. I am an idiot. Last night was the night Trey and I finalized his game, printing out stars for the major cities and gluing them to the game board, and printing out the 50 game cards we had decided to use instead of dice (fewer parts to throw across the room at fellow classmates), tracing the game path in magic marker, hoping to hide the zillion other erased pencil marks, printing out the rules and gluing them to the foam board so no one could lose them and then make up their own rules. Trey and I started this endeavor at 5:30 last night. Everything was going smoothly until we got to the business end of things...the business cards that would be transformed into game cards. Printing out 50 copies of the same design seemed to be no problem for our printer, but ask the stupid thing to print one copy of something, and it has a meltdown!! I had Trey go to bed at 10:00 PM, two hours past his normal bedtime, because he was starting to scare me with his, um, creative ideas to stay awake, and I figured it was probably safer for him to be sleeping at that point. Dancing in your boxers at 10 PM in the rain doesn't sound like the greatest idea. Nor does banging your head against a wall until you're fully awake.

Bubba was my champion last night. He stayed up with me, tried helping me get the printer to work better, and at 1 AM the devoted man re-installed the printer driver because everything else we'd tried didn't work. That actually did a good job of things, and I was grateful I only had the very few 10 cards left to print out, and was probably more thankful that there weren't more since the printer was starting to bog itself down again. I tried explaining to it that I didn't want to be up that late either, and if it would work faster, I would, and we'd both call it a night early. Apparently my printer was made in China or something, because it didn't understand English. Bubba finally tapped out at 1:30, and I had the distinct honor of calling it quits at 2 AM. Of course, then I couldn't sleep. I mean, I only had to be to work earlier than usual this morning, so of course it's perfectly logical that I deprive myself of more sleep, right? Ugh.

But, what made this all worth it was Trey's gratitude this morning, his exclamation of, "Wow mom, that looks awesome!" when he saw the cards made up and the rules glued onto the foam board. He thanked me for helping him, and I told him he'd better thank Bubba too, since he helped out a lot with the printer. So Trey went in and woke Bubba up to thank him for his help, too LOL Trey and I played a quick game, I won, so I know it's a great game LOL Just our luck, it was raining this morning, so when I drove the kids into school (I normally don't, but I kinda wanted Trey to have his project last longer than 10 minutes), I carried the game up to the door for Trey, so the front didn't get too waterlogged. We got to the doors, I handed him his project, and in they went! He better get an A++, darn it!!

On a different note, Derrick has his first session of speech therapy with his new therapist, which is conveniently located at Trey & Talin's school. Seeing as how Trey forgot his swimming gear, and I forgot to have him pack it in all of the excitement last night and this morning, I'll pop in and give it to him during therapy today. How handy is that? With any luck I'll get Trey & Talin's school pictures cut out and labeled for Derrick's party this weekend, so we can hand them out to everyone while they're here. Their school pictures, and Derrick's 3-year-old pictures we had done yesterday all turned out really nice. I have such handsome men!

Which Of These Is Different?

Here's an age-old kids game that never seems to lose it's allure...which one of these is not like the other? Ready? Here's the first picture:




Got it? Okay, now here's the other picture:



LOL This doesn't happen on a regular basis, so don't worry. I begged Bub to pose for this pic so I could have some fun with Derrick getting the last little bit of strawberry milk out of the carton, bypassing the trouble of getting a cuppy! LOL

We had a rather uneventful night last night, which was a nice change from the afternoon! While the two older boys were playing outside yesterday with a friend and I was inside working, these young Einsteins decide to use the push-button trunk release in our car to pop the trunk. This is apparently a ton of fun, and to add to the festivities, they decided to shut themselves in the trunk two at a time, so one was left to push the button and let them out. This fun did NOT last long, because as soon as I realized what was going on, I went outside, popped the trunk, yelled at the boys, shut the glove compartment, locked the doors (made sure the keys were out first!) and scolded them again about how dangerous that could have been. Then I went in the house to continue working, smirking to myself because I could totally see myself doing something like that when I was their age! LOL

Bubba treated us to China Buffet last night, since we hadn't been out as a family for awhile, and neither of us really felt like cooking by the time he got home. One of our baby sitters and her family walked in while we were eating, so it was nice to see them and chat for a little bit :o) She's one of the few who hasn't run screaming for the hills after 15 minutes alone with all three boys LOL She's actually considering sitting with the boys for us in a couple of weeks, so Bubba and I can get some adult time in away from the kids. Yay!! If this actually happens, I'm considering having the event added to the list of rare events in history! LOL

Today is Derrick's birthday, he's officially 3 now. It seems like he shouldn't be 3, he should be turning 1 or something...how can he possibly be 3??? So we'll be having spaghetti for supper tonight, Derrick's favorite! I'll be sure to take pictures and post them tomorrow! Three years old...wow!

Have a great Friday...and thank goodness for it!