Pinewood Derby

We had our first experience with the Boy Scout's Pinewood Derby today. If you have never had this opportunity, take a moment to get down on your knees and thank someone. No, seriously, it wasn't that bad, but it was a very long day. Joey and Daddy got there at 8 this morning and we didn't leave until about 4:30. Here is my midget carrying the flag.Here we are getting ready to race. There were about a hundred kids and they went only 2 at a time, 3 races each, double elimination. Lots of wait time.Which is what we are doing here. (Can you tell Daddy looks a little tired? He thought he'd go ahead and stay up all night last night working on his own derby car.) Joey was very good, of course, and Ben was really good considering what we were asking him to do. The other kids in the room apparently didn't have parents so they ran around like maniacs all day.

This is the car that beat my Joey (Joey's Speed Racer is on the left). Look how close it was! But he got second in his age group and gets to go to the regional races in April with Daddy.

He was a great sport and I am so proud of him. He had lots of fun today.

Carp-A-Thon 2008

We had the big Carp-a-thon yesterday allll day. We got up and woke the boys about 5:20 in the morning, were on the water by six, and didn't get home until 8pm. Here we are in the morning bright and shiny and still waiting for good things to happen. Shortly after this picture I noticed welts all over Ben's body and Joey started feeling sick. Ben was fine, but Joey ended up throwing up over the side of the boat a few times. After that he was fine and we stayed on the water. It was kind of boring and we didn't have too many bites, so the boys tried to rest and I tried to get some sun.
After a few hours we managed to get one fish for each of us. Ben got the biggest at 7.1 pounds.
Next was Joey with 4.14 pounds. Mommy's was 2.7 and Daddy had 1.7. Not the best fishing day but we did pretty good. The winner's fish was a record 27 pounds.
Ben ended up getting the trophy for his age group. We were all excited and surprised. (Joey was more upset and surprised because he didn't get one.) He was also on the local news last night.

You can watch it here (click on Carp-a-thon). The boys also won big tackle boxes (I'm trying to convince Ben to let me "borrow" his for my scrapbook supplies), and had fun playing games. It really was a great day because we were all together doing something (mostly) fun all day.

Recap

Allow me to recap the last few days. Friday I met the girls at work to write Thank-yous for a couple hours, then headed out to Poplar Grove to scrapbook with a new friend. I had decided to change my albums to 3-ring binders and intended to work on that, but when I opened my new albums I realized that they didn't come with page protectors. Oh well, I just checked out Dede's projects. She has the most awesome scrap room and she is an Uppercase Living consultant so she has lots of words in her house. I had to go home after just a few hours because the boys were coming home from vacation. I stopped for some page protectors on the way home and worked on organizing while I waited. The boys were late, of course. Didn't get home until about 8. We went out for dinner and visited with them for a while then off to bed. Saturday morning was swim lessons. Both are doing simply amazing. Joey is finally putting his head in the water and jumping in the pool by himself. Later I got to watch this little cutie for a couple hours. I don't have little girls at my house very often so had to get the camera out. Saturday night we went to the Riverhawks game (our local baseball team). The stadium is really nice and there are no bad seats, but the boys really didn't get into watching the game. They mostly played around in the seats and annoyed the people araound them. There was a cute little grasshopper to keep us occupied for a few minutes.We did see a few people we knew, and ended up sitting with an old student and coworker toward the end of the game. Sunday we did a whole lot of not much. Went to lunch at Tom and Jerrys, stopped at Menards for paint samples because I've decided to add some color to some of the rooms in my house, watched some episodes of our new favorite Deadwood, read a new book Twilight by Stephanie Meyers. Today I mowed the lawn then we went to the pool to cool off for a bit before Joey had gymnastics. He is also doing great things there.
So that's my fascinating life the past few days. Nothing too exciting, just life as it should be: steady, normal, boring, fun.

Mommy Guilt

Is it just the natural order of things to constantly worry about being "fair" and "equal" with your children when you have more than one? Part of it may be that I had (have) huge issues with how fairly I was treated by my parents. That is a story for another day, but it has left me feeling guilty about how I treat my boys. I know that I am much more physically affectionate with Ben: he sits on my lap, I still carry him sometimes, we exchange lots of kisses... Joey won't sit still when he's on my lap, is obviously too big to carry, and we do kisses but not as frequently. But Joey I think gets more positive verbal affection than Ben. Joe is my laid-back, smart, relatively calm, funny guy. Ben is my high-strung, sometimes angry, really cute funny guy. Sometimes I feel like all I do is complain about Ben's problems and praise Joey when that is not really how life is. Joey can tend to be whiny. Ben cracks me up with how he pronounces things still. They are just so different and have such different needs that I don't think I'll ever be able to treat them "equally." Is that ok? Are they going to grow up and hate each other? Or me? Do they even notice or care?

There's A New Car In My Garage

I just need to say up front that it is not the car of my dreams (any of them), but it is newer and it is in much better condition than my old car. It is the same car as my old car, though, which also did not thrill me. But we got a good deal, it has a cd changer, leather seats, a third row, no flaws, etc, etc. So...introducing my new gold Mercury Sable Wagon. Woo-hoo.
Ok, the pictures aren't so good. I'll take better ones outside in the daytime later.

And here is what remains of Joey's "adventure". I am still trying to get all the dried blood out of his hair, but the cut only seems to bother him if I touch it or he tries to lay down.

He's Just Fine

Well Sarah really says it all on her blog, but Joey had quite an adventure last night. He had his first ride in an ambulance (mine too) after falling off the bleachers and cracking his head at Jacob's baseball game. I will admit that I completely panicked when I saw the amount of blood coming out of his head and all over his hands. The thing I remember now is that he wasn't even crying that hard. His head didn't hurt so much as the blood freaked him out. He said later that he thought the bench had water on it and he got wet, but when he felt it he saw blood on his hands. And you know I had just gotten done telling them not to play on the top of the bleachers because I was nervous that they would fall and get hurt. Well, he didn't fall off the top, he reassured me several times. He was siting with his knees up to his chest and lost his balance. He only hit his head on the next bleacher (we think). Imagine if it had been the concrete 4 feet down. So that "possible" baseball game turned into quite a crazy night. At least we saw Jacob make a few plays. And thank God Joey wasn't hurt too badly. After we got home and took a bath last night, I decided we should take one more minute and pray our thanks that this incident turned out as well as it did. Makes me extra thankful for their good health every other day of the year.

Happy Birthday Joey!

My big boy is six years old today. I remember like it was yesterday going to the hospital to have him, and here he is almost grown up. Well, getting there anyways. And he is about to lose his first tooth. We're hoping it comes out today so he can remember it that way. We're not having a party, just family over for cake later, but he gets to choose where we eat for lunch and dinner and pick out a toy at Toys R Us. I'm sure that will be an adventure because he is into Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda right now and does not make quick decisions.
So here's to my little man. I hope the growing up slows down soon. I can't even blink or I'll miss it. First grade, handstands, swimming, dodgeball, friends, sleepovers all coming up.

Quick

Gotta say real quick that I am lovin my blog list.

And I forgot to talk about Joey's report card: All S's except one P in learning center for listening. I think the librarian gave that to everyone. My smart wonderful boy.

Summer Changes

I just got reprimanded for not updating my blog in a while...sorry. Daddy got home Thursday night, and it has been an adjustment getting used to all of our new schedules. I have been training for my summer job along with stopping by my school job every couple of days to check mail and messages. Joey had his last day of school Friday which was bittersweet. He's getting so big and he really enjoyed Kindergarten. I hope he loves First grade just as much. Daddy started working nights today so we are really messed up on time right now. To me it feels like early afternoon right now even though it is almost 6. We're not really sure what we're going to do for dinner during this time because I don't really like cooking for just the three of us and I don't want him eating fast food every night. Wednesday the boys start their gymnastics classes and Saturday is their first swimm lesson of the season. I noticed the pool was open when i drove by today, so hopefully we'll be able to go soon for a swim (maybe when all these thunderstorms and tornados finally go away).
I just want to briefly talk about my training today. It was crisis prevention and intervention training, and I got some great tips for dealing with situations that I'm sure I will encounter this summer. But...I was a little distracted. The instructor told us from the beginning that she talks really fast and boy does she. She would tell us some thing, then finish with "Know what I mean?" except it came out "knowdmean?". Once I noticed this quirk I also noticed that she said it alot. Like every sentence. At one point I started counting before I decided that would be too obnoxious. But I really had a hard time focusing on what she was telling us because I was waiting for "knowdmean?"
On another topic...I did it again. those of you that have known me for a while know that I am "slow to warm up." I'm shy and I have a hard time starting conversations with people I don't know. Pretty much every job I've had, once I get to know people they tell me that they used to think I was a b**** because I didn't talk to them. Well, I'm not a b*** at least not intentionally but I apparently don't give good first impressions. I thought I was getting better, and I know I'm getting better about confrontations, but one of my coworkers at my school job sat me down today and had a very (brutally) honest conversation with me about how I came off to her in the beginning. She said she eventually figured out that I didn't mean it, but in the meantime she thought I didn't like her. I just wish people would talk to me sooner so I can assure them that my intentions are good, but I'm still working on my communication skills. I need to wear a sign: "beware- personality may appear meaner than true self." It sucks-I know that I have this flaw and I don't seem to be able to fix it. Baby steps. I'm still trying. Also, I am very tender. I know you are saying "Really?" in this really sarcastic voice right now. But really, I feel horrible that this person was offended for that long and I didn't know and I didn't fix it. I'm going to dwell on this for a while now.

So was that a good update? I'm still here, just trying to adjust to lots of changes.

And if you haven't seen Carol's updates: they seem to be getting ready to say good-bye to her. Her whole family is back in town and they have taken her off life support. She is being kept comfortable. It is very sad, but her family is so strong in their faith. They know that she is going to walk with Jesus and she will be waiting for them when they get there. Please still help me pray for strength for the family for these next days and weeks of grief.

Life Continues

In less than 24 hours Daddy wil be home! The last two weeks have gone pretty fast, and it was nice that I had my sister and my MIL to help me out, but I am so ready for Daddy to take back some of the routine. I cannot imagine how single Moms do it. I would very quickly lose my mind without my other half. The bed has also been pretty lonely, and the last few nights I've had a really hard time sleeping. Last night I actually got up at 3 in the morning to pay a bill I realized I had forgotten. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep better tomorrow night.

I got my heart rate monitor the other day and have been using it to work out. The one thing I've learned is that I'm burning way less calories than what I was calculating. That and that fact that I've been hungry all the time lately might account for why I haven't lost any weight in several weeks. I also learned that when I do my cardio, like Jillian or Tae bo, my heart rate goes way higher than my "target heart rate". I actually have to slow down from what I normally can do, but I need to figure out a way to do a longer workout. I think I'm going to try doing a video in the morning and elliptical in the evening to burn more calories. I am not a dieter and I refuse to cut back my intake any more. We'll see.

I get to go to Joey's school tomorrow for "Portfolio Day." He's going to show me what he's been doing all year, I guess. He's pretty excited about it because he said that he and his friends cleaned their room today and made a welcome sign. Then Friday is report card day and his last day. They have an hour on Monday, but it is not mandatory, there is no transportation, and I will be in training, so Friday will be Joey's last day of Kindergarten. Acckk. It's ok, I still have one more baby to go through it. I think it will be more traumatic in 3 years when Ben is done because then there will be no more. I've hemmed and hawed about another baby, but I'm back on the I'm done side. Anyway...I've been really good about giving teacher gifts all year, and of course I don't have anything ready for tomorrow. I'm thinking about making a card with my cricut, and running out for gift cards in the morning. I do appreciate, as a teacher, my gift cards. Yeah, that'll work.

We're still praying hard for Carol. Not too much news today, good or bad.

Ok, now it's 11:30, but here are the cards I made. Pretty cute, I think.

Kids...

Funny stories I have to share before I forget:
Ben just grabbed my measuring tape off the desk (I use it frequently. It has to be out at all times. That half inch I'm going to lose next week is the difference between life and death.) He said " I found your mejister."
"What?"
"The thing to see how high you are."
"But what is it called?"
"A mejister. It mejurs you."
"Oh. A mejister. I understand now."

The other day Ben saw a car that he said looked like his Grandpa's. Joey said Grandpa has a Jeep (he does), and I pointed out that this particular car was a Saturn. One of them asked me why we don't have a car like that. I told them I don't want a Saturn, I want a Mazda. Joey said "yeah, but Daddy wants you to have a Tortoise." Well, yes, Daddy has been pushing a Taurus.

Ok, one more not so funny:
I was just giving myself a pat on the back this afternoon for how well we've done with Daddy gone for two weeks (he gets back Thursday). Then everyone decided to go on a rampage. I spilled the milk gallon all over the floor, Joey waited for me to get it all cleaned and the floor mopped then dumped his plant and dirt from school all over the floor. Ben has been absolutely wild today. He's made Joey cry several times, and he ripped my tablecloth. I must admit that none of that sounds that bad, but I no longer get to praise myself for my patience. There was some "slight" voice raising and a "short" time-out for all of us. Tomorrow is another day.