The Verse

For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Emily was in her first year of AWANA this year and she finished her first book a month or so ago. And I thought she had to go back and review the whole thing since she couldnt' get her next book until 1st grade. The first verse she would have had to say again was John 3:16. She knew it just by the reference. It got me to thinking about that verse. You can ask almost any Christian to recite John 3:16 and almost everyone can. It's a verse etched into our hearts and minds. I've known it for as long as I can remember.

I think that is a verse that God allows us to really hang onto. I've memorized lots of verses in my years at church and I'll sadly admit there are few I remember. But that verse is one that is always there. I think it's an important one. It says it all. God loved us, the world, that he sent his son to die so that we can have eternal life. If you can't remember anything esle when witnessing to someone, you can always remember that verse and share God's great gift. I just think that is a verse that we remember because God gives it as a gift. Yeah, we hear it a lot in church but we hear a lot of things in church. Why does that one really really implant in our hearts and minds over other verses? Maybe I'm way off course but I really just think that is a verse that, in essence, says it a lot.

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.

GOT THAT COVERED!

Sickness

I was really hoping 2009 was going to be the year of health. 2008 seemed to hold so many colds for us. I had big plans for this year to be just the opposite. Unfortunately my life doesn't always go according to plans.

The past two weeks have been filled with sick kids. Emily has been the strong force throughout all of this, and she goes to school with 17 other kids...go figure!

Rylee came down with the stomach flu late Tuesday night early Wednesday morning and is still sick. She just lies pale on the couch or floor on her blanket. She doesn't say a word or show any emotion. Just lies there looking utterly miserable. I had to leave her with Mike this morning for what I thought was going to be a quick checkup with the doctor to see if Allyson's breathing treatments are working. I hated leaving Rylee. It was just on the cusp of me worrying about her getting dehydrated. It had been about 30 hours since she held any liquids down.

Ally has been our other sick kid. She started at the hospital with a little pneumonia in her right lung that was really giving her a run for her money. Got released Wednesday, got the ok from the doctor Friday that she was on the mend only to start a downward spiral Saturday. She was wheezing and wheezing and by Tuesday struggling again. We got a new anti-biotic (which took 7 different pharmacy trips before I found one that had it), cortizon twice daily (sp?)with albuteral breathing treatments. She started sounding so much better. But I've found breathing treatments can be deceiving. She is doing better however the doctor was still hearing a lot of fluid in her lungs. So up we went for a chest xray. It showed quite a bit of fluid in her right lung, you couldn't even see her heart. And the doctor thinks it's moved into her left lung, which it wasn't there in the beginning. He also said it isn't just bacterial anymore, which the antibiotics take care of, but also viral. So he said we have to wait until it runs his course and we get to continue breathing treatments for 3-4 more weeks with more checkups. Did I mention that they take about 25 mins. each? Every 2 mins. she asks, "is it done?"

I must say that even though this is all a little exhausting, especially while trying to plan out a special easter kids church, that I honestly can really feel God's presence. And it's so strong right now. He's granted me so much patience, so much needed energy at the critical moments, and just a ton of peace. Yes, it's a lot of work. Yes, it's stressful. Yes, I want it all to go away. But with all the juggeling I've had to do with hospital stays, doctors appts., many many pharmacy runs, household chores, kids church planning and more, I still am amazed at how much God is holding me up. I honestly don't know how people function without Him! And I also thank God for an awesome husband who is helping out a ton when the kids don't want to be put down so I can deal with the needs of the house!

Here's to staying positive and joyful,(thanks Mike and Leslie!).

Not fun, But Funny

It's that time of year again. Time for the annual allergy picture post. This is how Allyson woke up this morning, and no she isn't blinking. Her eye had swollen/adhered together. I felt bad for her but it was kind of funny because it didn't seem to bother her. She just wanted to eat breakfast! I told Mike to grab a wash cloth and he told just to put her in the bath, it would get better. So we put her in there and Mike ran off to tend to the other kiddos and I was getting ready. 10-15 mins later he came in horrified I hadn't helped Allyson with her eye, forgetting he told me to leave it alone that the bath would help. I also was trying to see if the bath would help because she hates her eyes washed. But Mike eventually had to get in there and get her very red eye open. But the whole time she was in the bath, she still didn't mention that her eye was shut. I think maybe she feared the eye drops from the night before!

She's definitly breathing heavier again today, wheezy a little. And she says she's sick. So hopefully we aren't having a relapse. I think she may have a touch of asthma though. I guess time will tell, which stinks when you are watching your child breathing so hard.

Back to Normal

We're back from Ally's hospital stay this week. There is no getting any good sleep in a hospital room. I was so glad to be home. The last day and night our air conditioning wasn't working and our room was annoyingly hot. I like to sleep with the room freezing and lots of blankets, but that night was totally opposite due to the temperature of the room. Poor Ally was even sweating a lot.

For those who didn't hear what happened, Monday Ally didn't seem to be feeling well. I chalked it up to a little asthma due to really bad allergies. As the day wore on I got more and more concerned as she was so incredibly tired and out of it and seemed to be really struggling. So around 4 I threw some clothes on her and went to the walk in. By the time we got there she was asleep and not waking up well, but still we waited 45 minutes. I was so glad Mike came and got the girls. Rylee was a wild woman, rearranging furniture in the waiting room, escaping outside, throwing all the magazines on the floor, ect. By the time we got called back her oxygen was really low so they made her a priority, then called the ambulance. I was feeling really low for making her suffer breathing all day.

We made it to the hospital after a long ride. Ally didn't much care for the ambulance, I couldn't sit in the back with her. And she did great in the ER except for when we first got there and were swarmed by doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, and x-ray techs. But after a while it all calmed down and we settled in. We were in the ER for 5.5 hours, diagnosed with pneumonia, then transferred to Peds. for 2 nights. She was on oxygen, a heavy steroid, antibiotics, IV, and breathing treatments every 3-4 hours. And let me tell you, the second half of the second day, those breathing treatments absolutely wired her. When she would actually stop moving for a second, her whole body would shake. It was a lot of work keeping her from running and pulling her IV out.

She was discharged Wednesday morning at 9, it was sooooo good to be home. Ally was wired from the last breathing treatment they gave her before we left so she bounced around to her hearts content and then crashed hard for a 3 hour nap. She is totally back to her old self other than I notice she's a little more tired as she took another nap today. And for those who know Ally, that is totally unheard of. Hopefully this will conclude our hospital stays for a while! I am still trying to shake the exhaustion from being there.

A Busy Busy, Fun Saturday

Today was super busy for Mike, the girls and I. We woke up, got ready grabbed yummy choc. chip bagels to go and headed down to Anderson's Home and Garden show to drop of our satelite receiver for Matt. Mike's goal was to attract clients with sports...I think it worked! Then we ran a few errands before returning home to change Emily and pack up for her first soccer game. Pre-Game viewers in their little chairs...it didn't last!
Emily throwing the ball in, she loved doing that.

Her first game was so fun. We had a blast. Emily did so well! They are called Storm and they played Galaxy. Picture 8 children who have never played a soccer game in their lives all chasing a ball around on a field. It was hilarious. But towards the middle of the game something clicked and they all seemed to catch on really well. The way this younger group works is there are 8 players on a team and they do four on four for four quarters. We thought that Em was going to get to play 2/4 quarters, however the two times she sat out she literally had time to drink some water quickly and was called back in. And for those who don't live here, it was WARM! She was hot after the game and told us she wanted to take swim lessons! I thought that was funny! . They tied the game 3 to 3. We were laughing because the game was actually really intense to see who would score the last goal, but time ran out.

After her game, we headed back down to Anderson where the girls and I hung out while Mike worked the Home and Garden show for a few hours. Then it was home to change and walk the River trail. The river trail is 5.7 miles. Mike pushed RY and Al in the double jogger while Em rode her bike. She did so good riding all that way. We were very proud of all her sportlike efforts today. I think she'll be exhausted, especially since she's on heavy allergy meds and cough meds.

Then we grabbed chilly dogs and topped it off with the best dessert ever! For those cold stone lovers out there, they have these new ice cream cupcakes. They're 6 for $9.99. They replaced the paper cup with dark chocolate cups, then a layer of yummy cake, then ice cream topped off with a light creamy frosting. They were AMAZING! You should try them if you haven't. I guess they killed all that work we did jogging, but oh well!

And Ahh, baths and bed for the girls. It's 8:00 now. I'm loving the warm but not hot weather. If only it would last!

A Little Bit of Everything

It's been a while since I've blogged. It's funny because we are super busy but nothing blogworthy. So I thought I would combine a bunch of little happenings to create one blog.

Emily officially started soccer last week. She looks so cute and very grown up with her soccer cleats, shin guards and socks. She is having a fun time and Mike says she is actually pretty good at it, for having never played. She practices every Wednesday night, which we love because it's our only free night. And her games are every saturday at our awesome new soccer park. Her first game is this saturday. I can't wait to get some cute pictures of her in her uniform. Mike took the camera to the first practice but as you can see, she was kind of far away.

Mike takes Em to her practices and he takes Ally so he can kick a soccer ball around with her. I'm not sure who is more excited for Wed. night, Ally or Emily! I think Ally is really going to be our athlete.


Rylee is a book lover. She brings me books all day long and doesn't take no for an answer. But sometimes I can't sit 24/7 and read to her so she just started accepting Emily and Ally to read to her. I took some funny pictures of Rylee sitting on Ally's lap, (it's the only way she'll do it), and Ally can't even reach her little arms around Rylee and hold up the book at the same time. It's fun to watch.

This is Rylee's favorite, Mommy Loves Me Lots and Lots and Lots

While Mike was out of town Sunday, my mom, Jennifer, Emily, Ally, and Rylee all piled in my car to go shopping. After I picked up Jenn, I was traveling down the road and a lady turned right in front of me. I braked so hard it turned my car off. She ended up still swiping me with her car but there is little damage. I think if I hadn't have stopped in time, her passenger would have been really hurt. I would have t-boned her passenger side going about 45. Thankfully I saw her and it wasn't the day before when it was raining. But now I have to give up my car soon to have it fixed. When you have kids and all their seats and gear in the car, I hate moving it all around. Oh well!

See, nothing overly exciting going on if those are the only things I can think of. Our days are full with Softball monday, womens group tuesday, soccer wednesday, Awana thursday, soccer game saturday and now we can include Mikes baseball games on alternating week nights and every sunday! That's not including helping at ems school and all the other things I have planned week to week! I need three of me! But hey, at least we're having fun!

New Shades...No Scissors...Must Wear Immediately!

whirlwind Trip

We got more pictures with Characters in 1.5 days than we did in Disneyworld this summer in 6 days. We got Donald, Goofy, Micky, and Pluto twice!

Riding It's A Small World

Emily wearing her new Ariel costume

Totally exhausted after day 2!

While my parents were planning their vacation, my mom expressed her wish to be able to have their own vacation yet still get to have the girls at Disneyland for a day. It, of course, wasn't possible to get them down there to them without Mike and/or I taking them so off they went alone. On Tuesday, Mike and I were driving back from running a few errands and I (half joking), said, "lets just get in the car and go down to Disneyland." Mike said, "ok, lets do it." After realizing he was serious, I ran home and packed in 30 min. so we could get gas, cash and Emily and hit the road.

The girls did AMAZING in the car. Ally and Rylee are normally not big on traveling. But Rylee made not one peep the whole way. She was content to sit and read books, look out the window for cows or sleep. So much so that I didn't get her out from 1:30-8:00. Big mistake...she leaked all over her car seat and in my hurry during packing didn't pack any extra pants for her. So mom got the call to run down the street to Target for some pants!

The next day we went to disneyland and had a blast, although it rained all day. It isn't supposed to rain in L.A. right? This was my parents second day so they even allowed Mike, Em, and I to ride the fun rides while they went on the girls absolute favorite, It's a Small World. All the girls loved that ride, even Rylee.

We left the park at 6 to get dinner and not spend a fortune and were going to go back for the Fantasmic show but low and behold, it started pouring again. So we scraped that and went back to the hotel. Mike and I got our family season passes because we plan on going back a few times so we went for a half day the next day and of course it was beautiful. We rode a ton of rides both days as it was not busy at all.

Emily had a funny story. We told the girls ahead of time, this is not a trip where we're shopping. It's just to ride rides and have fun. But in the castle they have a princess store with dresses and accessories. Well, they had an ariel skirt and top that she was dying for. Mike told her later that day if she was brave and rode the Tower of Terror at California land that she could have it. She wouldn't do it the first day but the next morning said she wanted to. So we waited in a line before they opened and were the first on. She and I went together while Mike stayed with the girls. She was ok until we right as we're getting on but I made her get on at that point. I had been on the day before so I held onto her and told her drop for drop rise for rise what was happing. When we got done the guy told us to all buckle up again and get a free ride again. Emily started sobbing. I told the guy we needed off and he looked at me like, "no!" I then sternly said, "we want off!" and he let us off. I don't think she could handle another ride. Darn it though, it would have been fun! But she did pretty good and true to his word, Mike bought her the outfit which is the last picture on the blog.

Overall, it was a super fast trip but a ton of fun. All of our girls really had a great time!

Thoughts On TV Favorites

Since most of our friends watch the same shows as us, I thought it would be fun to write down what my thoughts are for some of the favorites. Might be fun to compare notes... Oh, and a warning...don't read if you are behind in any shows!!!

Amazing Race: If we didn't have work and kids, Mike and I would apply in a heartbeat. This show is great, especially with people like, models, hillbillies, brother/sister teams that seem more like boyfriend/girlfriend teams and of course the every season struggeling marriage/relationship that this game is going to determine whether they stay together or not! So great!

Chuck: This is one of my favorite shows. I love the chemistry between Chuch and Sarah. I just wish the would stop bringing on old and new flames. First it was Chuck's turn and now Sarah's. It's like Pam and Jim all over again.

24: Love love love this season of 24. We caught up yesterday and I'm glad we didn't watch it until then because I'm dying to know what happens and now I don't have to wait long.

Heros: This season is waaaayyyy better than last season. I'm actually really getting into it this year. Normally I have to make myself watch it and we watched 3 episodes while my mom had the girls and I wanted to watch the next one that's on tonight.

Biggest Loser: Mike really likes the new, nicer format this year. There is definilty not as much conflict as in past seasons. I actually find it a little slow. Still like it but as much as I hated icky Vicky, it did bring an element of drama. Maybe a much scaled down version of that wouldn't hurt. Also, I have to admit to being a big black team fan. I have since that one season where Jillian was working out with the "hidden" first day eliminated underdog black team. Go black!

American Idol: It's been ok so far. I'm so glad we're at the final 13, this is where it gets really good. And HALLELUAH that the annoying Tatiana didn't make it!

Lost: This season is a lot better than last season. I feel like we're getting more answers quicker. Last year it felt like they were just throwing in more senarios that confused you but didn't answer any of them at the end of the season...throw us a bone people! This year is a slight improvement.

The Office: The Office speaks for itself, it's awesome. Got to love the lunch Jim and Pam had for Valentines day. I also love what they've done with Angela's character this year. With the other set of dueling boyfriends! That's great!

ER: A little sad it's the last season, especially with all the favorites from the past coming back. But it does need to come to and end and ultimately I won't miss it that much.

Hell's Kitchen: Not too sure who out there watches that but if you do, were you as happy as I was that he sent back the 2 people voted to be eliminated and went with his personal choice of Colleen? She was a disaster each and every week. That one girl nailed it when she said..."at least Colleen's consistant...she's bad every single night." So true. I wonder what will
happen to her cooking school now?!

Survivor: As most of you know, Mike's old baseball coach, aka: coach, is a contestant on this show so we are watching it for the first time this season. It's interesting. I felt bad for Sandy being voted off but at the same time, she was the dirtiest person on that show. She was always filthy. I was just glad for her sake that she could take a shower. I felt bad for her! Tyson is by far my favorite. He cracks me up. He is hilarious and I hope he wins.

30 Rock: This is also new to Mike which we watch when nothing is on, (which looking above at all those shows I don't know when that is ever possible). It's hilarious. You should watch it if you get a chance...great cast.

Wow, we watch a lot of shows. But I don't know what I would cut out. They're all great. At least ER is going off so that will elimnate one.

The Day After

Mike, the girls and I just returned from a very fast trip to Disneyland. I'll post about that later but I just had to comment that I love the day after vacation. The girls are so content with their toys. I don't hear a peep from them. I think they are so grateful to be home on familiar territory, with their toys and their beds that they just want to sit quietly and play. They don't ask for much, they don't whine, they just play. It's wonderful! Do your kids do the same thing? I would love to know.

Milestone

Emily has had many milestones since she was born. Crawling, walking, first day of school, first dentist appt., and so on. But tonight she seemed so grown up as she sat in the chair at Claires and got her ears pierced. We weren't planning on it but we've talked to her in the past and she's wanted to but not enough to go through with it. But tonight she went for it full force. She even got to watch another six year old little girl go right before her, and she was really brave so that helped.

We picked out her earrings and in true Emily fashion it took her all of two seconds. She isn't one to deliberate for very long. She picked out her birthstone and that was that. I even pointed out some cute flowers but to no avail. She then got up in the chair with cautious excitement and was fine, until the first ear. Then she started crying, not hysterical but crying. She didn't want to do the next ear but then actually handled it very well. We let her get an Ariel hair piece for being so brave, which she knew about ahead of time, so she bounced out of the chair with little thought to her aching ears.

I of course didn't have my camera because I was downloading the scavenger hunt photos so my dad graciously used his camera phone...thanks dad!

Her earrings look really nice! I can't wait to buy some really cute ones in 6-7 weeks. Although Emily has declared she'll never take these ones off! Oh, and Ally really wants hers done now. Not sure we'll be able to hold her off, she wants to do everything her sister does!

Christmas In February

Last night our women's group went on a scavenger hunt, it was a lot of fun! But as we're driving around I notice Christmas lights not only still up but on. I commented to the girls in my car that I've been seeing a lot of that lately and they agreed they had too. Well this morning blew the christmas lights on the houses out of the water when I looked over at a house that still had their tree lit up in their big front window. It was crazy! I did a double take, I couldn't believe it. It had to be fake because it was still green as could be and all lit up! No one told me we were celebrating Christmas in february here in Redding!

We Want To Go To Disneyland Too, Nana and Papa!

Riddles

I told Mike a long time ago he should do a weekly riddle. I thought it would be fun. But he didn't keep up on it so I thought I would try. So, here's the first one. I hadn't heard it so if it's one everyone knows I'm sorry! =)

What common English word will describe a person or thing as not being found in any place and yet with no changes other than a space between syllables, will correctly describe that person or thing as being actually present at this very moment?

Our One Picture

I downloaded our camera from Vegas and I had to laugh, the one picture Mike and I took together is at the M&M factory. And to be honest it was for the girls. But how sad is it that we're in Vegas where we could have taken tons of pictures of us and we get one in the M$M factory!? The only other pictures were of the castle hotel for Emily and the lions for the girls.

I'ave been meaning to do this post since my mom did hers but kept forgetting. So here I go...

1. Vacuuming – Run it through the house hitting the heavy-track areas; or, move most of your furniture to get as much carpet as possible? (I honestly think I'm half and half on this. I don't move the heavy furniture but I do make sure all the big floor toys are up like rocking horses and play chairs.)

2. Milk – Use well past the date on the carton, until it smells funny; or throw it out the day after the date on the carton? (I follow the 7 days rule, and also the smell rule...if it remotely stinks it's out!)

3. Childhood – What do you do as an adult that you weren't allowed as a child? (My parents were pretty easy going so nothing really comes off the top of my head.)

4. Toilet Paper – Roll the paper over the top, or roll it under? (Oh my gosh, this is such a thing for me, I HAVE to have it over the top. It drives me nuts the other way.)

5. Bed-Making – It's made every morning, occasionally, or not at all? (every single morning. And if for some reason I can't get to it all day, (rarely happens) then I'll even make it before bed. I love getting into a made up bed.)

6. Most Hated Household Chore – Cleaning bathrooms; doing laundry; or dusting/vacuuming? (Bathrooms don't bother me one bit. I hate hate hate dusting. My parents used to work in a furniture store and they had Josh and I dust on the weekends. Yuck!).

7. Favorite Type of Vacation – Each day planned out with reservations; or, hit the road and go wherever you end up? (So opposite my mom here. I am horrible at planning vacations I actually don't like to do it. Mike is our planner. He makes all the reservations and looks up local attractions. But we both love to just go places spur of the moment.)

8. Butter – Stored in the fridge, or in the pantry? (On the counter. I like soft butter We did that growing up so that's what I'm used to.)

9. Bathing – Shower or bath; and once or twice daily? (Ditto on my mom's. Shower in the a.m. and bath in the p.m..)

10. Handling Life's Curveballs – When life hands you a big lemon, which way do you tend to handle it: get upset then make lemonade out of the lemons; or smile and make lemon creme pie and figure you may as well enjoy the lemons you were handed? (I think you should ask those around me but with most things I don't typically get over upset about things. I try not to let it get to me, it is what it is, you can't change it so you might as well move on!)

It would be fun to hear from other people what they say. I think it's a great way to learn something new about other people.

Crazy Vegas People

When in Vegas, I found you saw and heard many weird things from people. The first one happened for me in the elevator when I was getting Mike and myself breakfast. It was just an older lady and myself heading to the lobby and she turns to me and asks...

"Did you see the snow on the mountains this morning?"

Me: "Yes, it's beautiful. It's definitly a very nice day outside?"

The lady, with a look of total confusion: "Is it, I didn't look outside."

She then turned away from me looking like I totally missed the point of her comment. I was so confused. How do you look at the mountains without looking outside?

The second time was way funnier. We were walking the strip towards Bally to watch the Price is Right and if you've never been to Vegas, they hand out cards for, how shall I say it, naked girls looking to "hook up" every 5 feet. Well, we've never actually seen someone take one, until Saturday. The lady directly in front of us took one from every guy passing them out. We hear her mumble to herself as shes sorting them like trading cards, "oh, I have that one already, oh that's a new one..." Mike and I look at each other like, "are you seeing this?" and Mike asks her if she likes those. LOL! This was her hilarious answer, (and by the way she's probably in her early 40's), "No, I'm collecting them for my brother in law as a gift for when I get back home." Mike and I bust up laughing, there was no restraint to get past her before we laugh. Honestly, that was the best thing all weekend. What must her sister in law think of her collecting nude pictures for her husband? Do you think she'll gift wrap them? I wish I had my camera playing during that conversation! Mike said maybe he should collect some for Josh!

Bucket Of Water

Today was another whirlwind day. I was super busy all day. After school, I picked up Tessa from Jed's and they came home and had a blast doing valentines for their classmates and homework. Tessa stayed for dinner and then womens group. Well, tonight I under estimated how wound up having a friend over all evening and left on your own can cause Emily to be.

After we got the bedroom all cleaned up, I turned out the light, and Ally asked for water. So I took her sippy cup to fill it up when Em then wanted some. I knew they would fight over it, both being tired, so I made Em use a dixie cup in the bathroom and firmly told her to hurry up and get into bed. This was one of the many excuses to get up. Well, next thing I know, Ally comes out and calmly informs me that she's wet, Emily had thrown water on her. I'm thinking little dixie cup here. I turn on the light, and realize that there had been a bucket we had bought for easter last year in the bathroom and Emily had put quite a bit of water in it and threw it on Ally and her bed. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING????

I was so mad, so frustrated at her that I was completly speechless. I literally had no words. It sounded so stupid to say, "don't throw water on your sister." DUH! No brainer here! Honestly, I could have wrung her neck. I asked her why she did this, (not that it mattered). I got answers like, "I don't know" and "It was a joke" and "It was an accident". Yeah, an accident. You accidently put water in a bucket, carried it in the room and whooops, sorry sis! I would love to have thrown water on her and make her stay in bed all night like that but it was so cold it was snowing outside, so not exactly the best time. There really wasn't a good punishment for this crime. So tomorrow night we'll be trying to learn the correct way to go to bed, only quite a bit earlier.

Sanity returns in two days, or should I say, insanity goes to someone else in two days! Thanks mom and dad!

Ahhhh, Monday!

Today was one of those days that wasn't over busy, wasn't bad, wasn't good, wasn't great....just kind of weird. One of those Mondays where I'm tired. Mike is gone and I woke up at quarter to six and couldn't go back to sleep. Something I don't think would have been a problem if he had been there.

The pre-school morning went well, especially since I was up so early I was completely ready before the girls even got up. It's so nice as a mom to get ready without saying NO 100 times because they're getting into your makeup, hair stuff, cleaners under the counter, ect. Anyway I got Emily to school and came home long enough to have a quick conversation with Mike. Then it was back to Emily's school to put in my hour and a half at center time...and of course there was a sub today. I'm sure she loved seeing me walk in with 2 kids in tow!

The project with the kids was fun but it involved pretzels. And I had to tell the kids not to eat them, but how do you convince your one year old she can't have them? It wasn't pretty! She finally did manage to sneak some in between group changes. Afterwards, I'm always tense and a little stressed with the busyness of the school kids and keeping my kids out of, well, everything! So I wisked them home to feed them and put them down because, since Mike is gone, I have to pick Emily up and go to the doctor for Rylees 2:30 18 mo. checkup. What the heck was I thinking setting a 2:30? I must have lost my mind!

So we leave just in time to pick emily up and as I walk in I notice she is looking like she's trying not to get upset on the rug with the other kids. Sure enough, as soon as she see's me she bursts into tears, not like Emily. So she rushes over to me and I ask what's wrong. She tells me she doesn't know. Her face is bright red and I can tell she's embarrassed about crying. Turns out that the substitute had used these weeble type animals to keep the kids in line. She put them around to room to "look" for good behavior and then drew names at the end of the day for who got to take them home. Well, Em's name didn't get drawn and she was heartbroken! So we rush out, me trying to comfort her but get home in time to get a new shirt because Em managed to somehow cut a hole in the middle of her shirt, oh and get half her lunch on it too.

We make it to the doctor and the nurse opens the door and calls for Rylee. Rylee immediately starts hysterically crying. She remembered that this nurse gave her shots last time and is trying her darndest to not go back there. I scoop her up and try to put her down on the scale to be weighed....yeah right! She clings to me, I can't get her off of me and make her stand still...so she and I got weighed together. Which means I have to put her down to weigh myself so we can subtract the two numbers. As soon as I put her down she runs off to leave, and almost made it out the door. And measuring her height almost didn't happen either. She was really not wanting to be there. She calmed for the doctor as usual and then freaked out again when the nurse came back in the end to give her the shots. Luckily, as soon as she was done and I said, "All done" she was totally fine. Checking out with 3 kiddos is hard enough without adding loud crying on top of it.

After all that, we find out that Rylee is healthy, no kidding! She weighs 21 lbs even and was 32 inches long. ( I know I always give those numbers but they're for me for later too!).

All in all, it was a tiring day. It's 4:30, the time of day when I start the countdown to Mike getting home. But there's no countdown today. Mike won't be here tonight. It's sad. I already miss him. I hope he's having fun, but I wish he were here to! Thankfully I can have a countdown tonight as Jenn promised ice cream and Chuck together tonight! What a friend!