August 16, 2008
School starts on Monday for the kids. (Actually, it starts on Monday for Jim and I as well!) Since Catherine is going into the 7th grade, she wanted a new “look” and I mentioned a perm for her hair. She was a little dubious at first, with visions of Little Orphan Annie hair swimming in her head, but she decided to give it a try.
Today I took her to my salon for what turned into a 4 hour hair appointment. She had it cut, permed, and then had her eyebrows waxed for the first time ever! (She’s got her dad’s eyebrows, which could either be a blessing or a curse. They’re a curse if you don’t want to wax or pluck, but I say better to have too much and be able to remove hair than to have to draw fake eyebrows on, like a little old lady.) Anyway…she looks amazing. Her hair is fabulous, and what a difference on her face with her eyes being so opened up due to the eyebrow wax!
Here’s a before picture of Catherine, taken on our vacation last week, and one I look just a few minutes ago:
Big difference, right?
7:11 pm
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June 27, 2008
A boy just called…
…for my 10 year old! It seems her little friend gave the boy, who was in their class, our number. (Note to self: tell little friend to knock that off.) This boy, according to the story I got from Grace, “liked” her at the beginning of the year but she doesn’t like him, and they’re just friends. She told me he used to poke her all the time in class, and I said, “That’s because he liked you!” I left out the part about how by not tattling on him, she proved she liked him back.
Raise your hand if you remember saying and / or hearing this from your friends when you were her age:
I like you, but I don’t like you like you.
(How is it that repeating a phrase makes it take on a whole new meaning?)
6:00 pm
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May 13, 2008
Matthew is another year older! 10 minutes ago (as I write this at 4:34pm eastern time) and 9 years ago, I huffed and I puffed and I pushed him on out! As I did last year, I’m sharing a link to the story of his birth, as well as pictures (non gory / graphic) of May 13th, 1999. Please enjoy my circa-1999 Geocities homepage while you’re at it!
Click on the more link below for a trip down Matthew memory lane…
3:51 pm
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May 9, 2008
A few weeks ago, I mentioned my infamous summer chore chart. With less than a month to go in the school year, it’s time for me to revamp last years chart. Technically, it’s a list, but I’m making it into a chart and the kids will need to cross off or check off their chores each day during the summer. I’m also going to switch up the chores too. For example, Catherine has been vacuuming the upstairs, and Gracie has been doing the downstairs - they’re going to switch. Since everyone is a year older, we may even add additional chores! ::claps hands with glee:: Leave it to me to make my kids start dreading summer now, right?
I decided to make my life easier by using the free pre-made printable chore charts available at ChoreCharts.com. My plan for now is to have a separate chore chart for each kid - maybe the “Messy” theme for Catherine, “Rocking” for Gracie, and “Sports” for Matthew. I love the layout of the messy chore chart, because it lets you assign a number to each chore on the left hand side, like “Vacuum downstairs” as #1, and so on. Then, on the daily portion, you just bubble in the number of the chore or chores you want completed that day! It leaves room to write in something extra too, like, “Do a good job on the carpets, Love Mommy!” Hee, hee!
9:22 pm
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May 1, 2008
With summer vacation comes my famous summer chore chart. It’s not much of a chart - it’s more of a list of chores assigned to each child, with certain things to be done every day (make your bed, put away the laundry) and other things to be done twice a week (vacuum, clean the bathroom). The current chore chart has been on my fridge since last summer…outdated much? This summer I’m thinking of switching to a free printable chore charts that will let the kids mark off when they’ve done things day by day, instead of leaving it up to them to remember, which usually results in missed chores.
For those of you wondering, we do chores during the school year too, but they’re not required like summer chores. There are some days when it’s enough to go to school, do homework, and play - I want the kids to be tidy, but I don’t want them tied down. We tend to worry about the chores on the weekend when they have more free time. We also don’t tie the chores into an allowance. I expect chores to be done in return for being a member of the family. You don’t want to put away your laundry? Well, I don’t feel much like doing it, but the work needs to be done!
8:34 pm
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April 15, 2008
My wedding anniversary (12 years, hence the title of this post) was Sunday. We celebrated with a family trip to the fair on Saturday night (nothing says Happy Anniversary like funnel cake and rides put together 3 days earlier!) and a trip to JCPenney. We decided not to buy each other gifts, but rather to get one thing we could use together. So what did we come home with? New sheets! And not just any sheets, but 500 thread count sateen sheets. It’s like sleeping on a little cloud, I tell ya. They’re worth every penny.
The county fair and new sheets…we really are an old married couple!
9:14 pm
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April 3, 2008
I just printed this note out, and I’m leaving it on the kitchen counter for the kids to find in the morning:
Who left an old ham & cheese sandwich on a hamburger bun in his or her backpack? Lola got it out and tried to eat it!
DO NOT LEAVE FOOD IN YOUR BACKPACKS!
ALL LUNCHES MADE SHOULD STAY IN THE FRIDGE UNTIL THE MORNING!
ALL LUNCHES MADE SHOULD BE EATEN AT SCHOOL!
DO NOT WASTE LUNCH MEAT!
Love,
Mommy
Lola is our 7 year old dachshund, and apparently she’s quite the hunter. As long as her prey is lunch meat, that is. She took the sandwich (which is in a ziploc bag) out of a backpack (which one, I don’t know, since they’re all by the door in the same spot) and brought it upstairs. She was dragging it under my bed to kill it off when I caught her.
The kids denied having the sandwich, but based on the sandwich itself, I think the culprit was Gracie. The girls are the only ones who eat ham, and Gracie is the only one who uses American cheese. Plus, the automatic school thingamabob called me yesterday and today to tell me she owes $2 for a lunch purchased on Tuesday…
You just can’t be sneaky with a super sleuth for a mom!
2:15 pm
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March 10, 2008
My son is quite possibly the worst patient ever.
He’s been sick since Friday, and each day he gets a little better, but each day he also gets a lot whinier. He’s definitely not a “patient” patient - not even close. There are temper tantrums when he needs to take his medicine, or when he coughs too much, or when his throat is sore. My own patience wore out today, when I told him I didn’t care if he was sick / bored / tired of being at home, I had HAD it, and I would ground him if his bad behavior continued. The threat of being sick and without access to the TV, computer, or Playstation seems to have worked for now, but believe me, I am counting the minutes until his return to school. (Looks like he’ll be going back Wednesday!)
3:51 pm
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March 8, 2008
I got a call from the school clinic on Friday - Matthew was there with a 102.5 fever. I rushed right over to the school and brought him home, and he’s been going downhill ever since. He’s feverish, hacking, coughing, and he’s got this rattle sounding in his chest. I was worried that the fever meant strep, so I called our pediatrician this morning only to find out that all of their offices were completely booked. I started checking into walk in clinics in the area, and was clued into the fact that drug stores now offer walk in clinics, and there was one reasonably close to our house.
We jumped into the car and went to the drugstore, checked in, and were seen within 20 minutes. The nurse practitioner gave us her complete and undivided attention for 20 minutes, and after doing a rapid strep test and checking the boy out, told me he had an ear infection, swollen tonsils, and an upper respiratory infection. Um, yay? I’m glad it wasn’t strep, but none of those things sound that great either.
He’s so wiped out that he asked to go to bed at 7:45 (unheard of!) and he’s tucked in, Vick’s vapo rub on his chest, humidifier going full steam…I’m hoping he sleeps well tonight, because he was up 3 times last night crying because he ached so bad. His little throat was so sore and swollen that he couldn’t breathe well, and at one point he told me he was scared to go back to sleep, because he might die. Heart breaking, huh?
9:05 pm
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February 15, 2008
As you all know (unless you live under a rock), yesterday was Valentine’s Day. My oldest, who is 12, came home from middle school with two roses - one she had purchased at school for me, and one that a boy in one of her classes had purchased for HER! Do you hear that sound? It’s the sound of my voice, screaming as we start to fly downhill, because it is ALL downhill from here.
This is how it starts, and soon she’ll be getting phone calls from boys and sneaking out behind the gym during her lunch period to make out. Boys will be ringing our doorbell - I’ll make pleasant conversation while Jim cleans his gun. Curfews will be set and broken, clothing choices will be approved, and too much makeup will be worn. Hearts will be broken, hands held, and I’ll be a nervous wreck through all of it.
And I thought potty training was hard.
11:27 am
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