Surprise

While we were sitting in our usual spot in the balcony at church, a little after the service started, we were pleasantly surprised by an old friend who showed up at church today! Jodie and Emily Nuss were in town and it sure was nice seeing them and visiting with them. Gage was not very happy that his old buddy Ben was not with them; however. Emily and Emma were pretty good buddies when they lived just on the next street over from us and they seemed to pick right up where they left off a couple of years ago when they moved away. After lunch Emily came over for a playdate with Emma and they played so nicely together. Since Ben wasn't here for Gage to play with, we called his friend/classmate, Matthew, to come play as well. They all were very well behaved and it was a nice afternoon.

Tonight was our first church league volleyball game at 6:30. We were afraid that we were going to have to leave early because the kids both had baseball games tonight at 7:30. There were only 4 of us there, so they beat us pretty quickly in the first 2 matches. We actually came back and won the 3rd match though, which was quite amazing! A new member at our church signed up to play. She said she hadn't played since college, and has never played on sand, so it might take a little while for her to get into the swing of things. Man, I was surprised at how wimpy I was to begin! It took several rotations for me to even get my serve over the net! My shoulder is a little sore tonight from the extra effort it took. It's all about timing and we didn't get a chance to warm up at all before the match. It was a good warm up for me though as my first adult sand volleyball league game is tomorrow night. I'm glad I was able to get a little practice in before tomorrow. Although I'll probably be so sore tomorrow that it won't even matter!

Emma's first t-ball game was tonight. It should almost be a crime as to how cute she looks in her uniform. LOL! Tonight was the first time she has had it on since they tried them on when they distributed the uniform. The waists seem a little tight on these pants. I don't remember Gage's being like that last year, but we have a hard time getting his snapped this year too. There's definitely no physical need for the belt that they have to wear! When Emma came upstairs with her uniform on she didn't want us to tuck in her shirt because she said, "The pants are squeezing the air out of me!" LOL! I thought that was pretty cute. I seem to have some of those pants myself...............the kind that squeeze the air out of me. I try avoiding those at all costs! :-) Anyway, Emma did a great job. She had several nice hits off the T. The last inning the coaches pitched to the kids but she didn't get a piece of that one, so they brought the T back out for her. I think she enjoyed playing. There were several kids that had no attention span at all when they were out in the field. One kid reminded me of Pig Pen on Charlie Brown because he was constantly making a cloud of dust wherever he went. Man was he dirty! Emma did a little bit of that too, but not as bad as a lot of the boys. Both Gage and Emma play again on Tuesday at the same time, so Scott and I will tag team and he will go with Emma while I go to Gage's game. I think there are only a few more that are doubled up on us.

We're looking forward to the new week. There's a big Summer Reading Kick-Off at the Heritage Center tomorrow that we will be going to. Should be fun!

$$MONEY$$

I have never been very good at following through with allowances. I never have cash on hand, which makes it difficult to hand out at the end of the week. I keep telling myself I'm going to get better at it, but it never seems to happen. The kids really aren't that great at doing their chores faithfully either, so I guess it all works out in the end. This past week I started keeping a list of the different chores the kids do around the house and thought maybe that would work better for me to keep track of that way, and then I know how much I should pay them and I have an incentive to have some cash on hand. Today was payday. The kids had a few chores on the list that they did, Emma more than Gage, and I gave them each $1. (I know, I know.....big whoop!)After I gave each of them their dollar, the next half hour went like this. Emma gets out her little zippered coin purse that Grandma Pipi sent her and decides to count all of her money. She has a whole $6.60. Gage then goes to his room to get his wallet. He has $3. Gage decides to get mad and pout about it. I told him I had the 6 cents he found in the parking lot the other day and gave it to him. He sighs and says, "That's not enough!" Apparently there is a toy he wants to buy that is $10. I guess he thought that by sitting around and whining it would make me just want to hand out more money? I told Gage that I would give him a little more money if he would clear his junk off of the table. He stomps off to his room. Emma starts clearing her stuff off the table, so I grab a few coins from my can and she adds it to her stash. She proceeded to clear Gage's stuff off of the table too. Then she said that she had picked up dog poop in the backyard the other day and never got paid for it. I told her that if she went out there to pick it up again today I would give her some more money. She was having troubles finding the piles, so I had to go out and point them out to her. There were more than she thought there would be. She earned herself another dollar. She was thrilled. So was I!

We went about our day. It was pretty uneventful. There was a dinner tonight with the Duck Factory people and wives were invited. When I went upstairs this afternoon to take a bath, I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into my bedroom. The bed was made (which I hadn't done), my pajamas were laid out very nicely on the bed and there was a note on my pillow that said, "I mad your bed. Love, Emma". She had also put a lilac that she had picked from the trees out back next to the note, along with 3 pencil erasers. :-) The pencil erasers were my favorite part of the whole surprise. Just one of the little things that makes Emma Emma, and I love her for that. What a little sweetheart. :-)

529

I woke up before Emma today if you can believe that! Apparently Gage didn't get her up like he has been all week to play computer games with him while Mom was still in bed! LOL!

We ate a late breakfast. Emma wanted pancakes, so we had those. I thought that maybe if I could hold them off of eating breakfast until 10 or so, I could feed them brunch and then not have to fix anything until suppertime? I'm not sure that's going to work. I just hate trying to come up with things to fix. I loved not having to fix lunch while they were at school. We went to the zoo around lunchtime and spent most of the afternoon there. We were there for at least 3 hours. We have never been there that long before. The weather was beautiful. Not too hot, not too cold. JUST RIGHT! The kids were great and we had such a nice time. They had a special thing at the zoo today for College Savings. Governor Hoeven has declared 5/29 as North Dakota's official College Savings day. LOL! We have our 529 plans for the kids with College Savings Iowa, but I think we're going to try to move them into North Dakota now that they have similar options available. Plus we can get some tax deductions having it in-state. I took tons of pictures at the zoo and have them all posted on Facebook. I'm not going to take the time to upload them onto my blog. It takes 100 times longer to do it on blogger than it does on Facebook. They were having free hotdogs from 4-6p at the zoo but we couldn't stick around that long. Around 3:15 the kids started smelling the hotdogs they had cooking and started to get really hungry since they hadn't eaten anything (except cotton candy) since 10a. It was unanimous that we couldn't wait until 4p for hotdogs so we left and got our own at the grocery store. It was at least a little more healthy since I bought wheat buns instead of the white that they would have gotten at the zoo. LOL. We didn't win the $529 dollars they were giving away to put into a college savings plan. :-( Maybe next year?

We had supper at 4:30 since the kids were so hungry and I thought that would work out well since Gage had a baseball game tonight. Or at least I THOUGHT he had a baseball game tonight. We started getting ready and headed to the baseball field around 7 for the 7:30 game. When we got there I didn't see any kids in purple, which is Gage's team color. We were just a little early, so we pulled into the parking lot to sit awhile and wait for people to show up. No one was showing up. All of the people on the diamond were adults and I started getting nervous thinking it was probably at the other field. I actually did have my cell phone with me, but only 1 number stored in it that was going to do any good as far as finding out where the baseball game was and he didn't answer. I hate the stupid cell phone anyway. When I really need it I either don't have it with me, or I don't have the number I need anyway. Around 7:20 I decided we better head to the other field if we were going to make it on time. Thankfully it's in the same area so it wasn't too far away. No one was there either. CRAP! I told the kids it would be a good idea to keep their schedules in the car from now on! They agreed! We got home and I looked on my planner and it said 7:30 at Solheim, which is where we were. So I had to get the hard copy out and discovered the game was LAST NIGHT! DAMN! I called the coach up to tell him about my stupid mistake. He was out fishing so I talked to his wife. She was as nice as can be. I went through and double checked all the rest of my dates to make sure I didn't screw up again. We should be good to go now. AND, I have the hard copies in the car so I'll always know where we're supposed to go. I just felt terrible. Gage didn't seem to be too upset; however, when Scott got home from his Duck Factory thing, that was the first thing he told him. LOL! We had such a good day today that I thought missing Gage's game by 24 hours was a rotten way to end it!

May is almost over

I can't believe that May is almost over and that the year is close to being half over! Where does the time go?

No syrup spills this morning. That is a much more pleasant way to start the day, syrup-free.

Not too much happened today. I finally got my hair CHOPPED off! I don't know why I go through these spurts of trying to grow it out. It gets to a certain point to where I can't stand it anymore. I think this is about the longest it's been for about 12 or so years. Maybe more than that? I decided to try and wear the kids out so we rode our bikes to get my hair cut. They were pooped by the time we got home. It was much easier going there because it was mostly downhill, so they got their workout on the ride home. They fought the whole way home too, which takes great talent when you're biking in single file.

We are headed to the zoo tomorrow. They are having some special Upromise prize drawing. The date, 5/29, is significant. Our Upromise savings goes into 529 accounts. They are having a drawing for $529 dollars, and if won it will be added to any college savings account. I hope we win. I don't know how many people know about, or participate in Upromise here. When I mention it to people, I always have to tell them what it is. Our odds could be favorable. We'll see.

Scott is busy with "The Duck Factory" throughout the weekend. I have no idea what that really is, except that there are a bunch of people here, major donors I think, that will get toured around and learn about ducks and the role North Dakota plays in their numbers. He has been quite busy the past few days preparing for it. Today when they were searching for nests, he accidentally ran over one. Emma asked Scott how he knew he ran over it and he said, "Well, when the hen flew out from under the ATV, that gave me a pretty good clue!" LOL! Since the hen wasn't killed, she will more than likely lay another nest full of eggs.

We have a baseball game tomorrow night and both Gage and Emma play on Sunday night, at the same time at different fields. I guess we'll have to split up. Thankfully Scott will be done with all of the DU stuff on Sunday so he can help me out. It will be Emma's first game of the season, so I'm hoping I can go with her to see her play for the first time ever. She had mentioned the other day wanting Scott to go with her. They typically choose their Dad to do those things with them because he's not around quite as much as Mom is. Hopefully I can change her mind. :-)

Day 2 of summer vacation

Usually when you hear, "Mom, we need help FAST!", first thing in the morning, it's not a good sign. As I entered the kitchen I see Gage in the refrigerator with dry paper towels trying to sop up the syrup that is gushing out of the syrup bottle. The waffles are on the floor, the butter is on the floor and the handle to the syrup bottle is lying on the floor while syrup is dripping down the crisper drawers and onto the floor in front of the refrigerator as it gushes out of the holes where the handle used to be. UGH! I did really well keeping my cool and I did not yell as Gage predicted I would. I told him next time it might be a better idea to leave the plate with waffles on the counter while you use both hands to bring the syrup to the counter. He agreed that might be the better way to do things.

An hour or so later, Gage comes to me and says, "Mom, I know you're going to be really mad at me and probably yell, but I need to show you something." Apparently Gage doesn't know that you can't draw on a thin piece of paper with a black sharpie marker on the table without the marker seeping through onto the table. AAARRRRGGGHHH!! Believe it or not, I didn't yell! However, it was getting tougher and tougher as I went into the living room a few minutes later, only to find them with ANOTHER Sharpie marker and signing (in cursive) their names to the top of the antique school desk we have that Scott's Dad refinished. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH! Gage said, "Well, Emma asked me to!" Can I please go back to bed and get up on the other side and see if things get better?

It was a LONG day, needless to say. After lunch they were allowed to invite friends over to play and that was fine for awhile. Of course they all can't get along with each other, so instead of refereeing 2, I then had 4.

After Scott got home and we ate supper, we decided to go on a bike ride. Scott loaded the bikes onto the back of the car and we drove down to the bike trails by the zoo. We did some exploring on the paths and went underneath the interstate to the Riverside Golf Course area. We have never been down that direction on the bike paths. It was nice, until Gage decided he was going to get a stomachache. After we stopped along the path to check out some baby birds in a nest, Gage said his stomach hurt. Scott and Emma were a ways in front of us so I told Gage we would need to catch up to Dad so we could turn around and go back to the car. I wasn't sure I believed him or not at first because he was complaining about going on the bike ride because he and Emma wanted to go to the zoo instead. After we caught up to Scott and Emma we got off the bikes to sit down for a few minutes. Gage was really having a rough time and I knew he was having problems because he was getting kind of clammy feeling. I sent Scott and Emma back to the car while we sat along the trail and waited for them. It seemed like a long time before they made it back. Thankfully we were right along The Pier and Southport Marina so Scott could pull the car into the gas station area and load the bikes back onto the car. I was kind of worried that he might be having some appendicitis, but after further investigation, I think it might be more of a constipation issue. We'll have to increase the fluid and fiber intake and see if that helps. I tried to check his right lower quadrant for rebound tenderness, which is the hallmark sign of appendicitis, but he said hurt more when I pushed than when I let go. Hopefully it's just constipation.

What an exciting day! I hope tomorrow is BORING!

Summer break - Day 1

Day 1 of summer break went okay. Not great, but not a disaster either. I actually didn't get out of my pajamas until late afternoon and that was only because I knew I was going to have to take either Gage or Emma to baseball practice. :-)

The kids were getting along fairly well for the most part today. There were a couple of spats, but it would be completely abnormal not to have at least 2 fights. They let me sleep in until 9 this morning! They were watching a movie so nicely together I didn't want to get up and mess it up, but I decided I best get my butt out of bed. This is when I get myself into trouble, when I sleep in. When I do that, typically I can't go to bed at night. That's when the vicious cycle starts and I get my sleep/wake pattern so messed up.

I started doing a little organizing this past weekend and did a little more today. This past weekend my project was the linen closet in the upstairs hallway. I thew tons of stuff away. I decided there was no reason to continue holding on to things like diaper rash cream, baby lotion, etc. LOL! I don't know why I didn't throw that stuff the last time I attempted to clean those cupboards out? Today I started in the basement. My main goal is to get rid of toys that the kids don't play with. That's about everything in the basement. I suggested maybe having a garage sale and the kids were acting like they didn't want to part with things. Then when they asked me if they could have the money for the things they sold, and I said yes, they were wanting to get rid of TONS of stuff! We organized a bunch of stuff and is ready to be hauled out. I don't know what I was thinking when I suggested a garage sale. I hate doing a garage sale. I'd rather go to them than have one. I had pretty much convinced myself that we weren't going to have one afterall, then Scott told me tonight Emma was VERY EXCITED about the garage sale we are going to have. UGH! Now I'm thinking that this might be a good thing for them to do, and I would make them be in charge of everything and figuring out how to count money, make change, etc. I don't know what I'm going to do now, but all I know is I want to get these things out of the basement before they tear back into them and mess it all back up. De-clutter. That's my summer goal.

Not sure what we're going to do tomorrow. I thought maybe we might ride our bikes to the library or something? We haven't been on our bikes much yet this spring. We haven't had the best weather for it I guess? Lots of snow, and then rain, makes for messy bike rides. I also need to establish a routine for reading, flash cards, etc. We need to work on some of that stuff throughout the summer so they haven't forgotten all they have learned when school starts up again!

Quiet Graduation weekend is over

We had a nice and quiet weekend. I was secretly hoping my Mom and Dad would show up on the front doorstep, but it didn't happen. They mentioned doing that a little while back and thought maybe with the long holiday weekend, they would surprise us. Maybe next time?

I took Gage to the walk-in clinic yesterday. The doctor took one look at his enlarged, pussy tonsils and said she didn't think she needed to do a strep test, because she was pretty sure that's what he had. She said they test for one type of strep, so if that came up negative, it is still possible to have another type of strep and she wanted to get him started on some antibiotics. He took a loading dose yesterday and will take half that amount for the remainder of the 4 days. He's already feeling better. I can tell because he's fighting with his sister. This morning they were downstairs on the couch watching Bolt, a movie we rented from the video store, and they were laughing and laughing. That was so nice to hear. By the end of the day, they were fighting and fighting. Back to the old drawing board!

We went to a graduation reception today at our neighbors' house. They had their open house from 10a-1p. They served a brunch and it was such an awesome idea, I hope that I can remember it in 9-12 years when my kids are graduating from high school. They had ziploc freezer bags with either 2 or 3 beaten eggs in it. Then you were to add whatever fixings you wanted to make an omelet. They had diced ham into really small cubes, frozen hashbrowns, cheese, diced red, green and yellow bell peppers and diced onions. After you added your extras you were to take your baggie out to the guys who were making the omelets. They were using turkey fryers but with boiling water instead of oil. After the air was squeezed out of the baggie, they dropped it into the boiling water and in about 5 minutes or so, your omelet was cooked and ready to be emptied out onto your plate. Then they had watermelon and tiny little cinnamon rolls that they kept warm in a crockpot. Oh, and they had orange juice. One pitcher was spiked, the other was plain. What a GREAT idea! They go camping quite a bit and they make omelets like this all of the time. One tip they mentioned is to ALWAYS use a freezer bag, because the other ziplocs will break open and then you will have egg soup on your hands. :-) I guess the reason I'm writing this is so that I will have it in writing and hopefully can remember to do this.

Tomorrow both of the kids have baseball practice, so we'll be getting back into the swing of things with everyone on the mend.

Prayers requested

I think my throat is now feeling a bit scratchy. UGH! I pray that this isn't another bout of strep throat. I think I'd almost rather walk on nails versus swallow them!

Gage is still not feeling well today. He's pretty much been on the couch all day and he's not lasting the full 6 hours between Motrin doses. Scott picked up some chewable Tylenol for him so we can alternate that between the Motrin.

I'm asking everyone to please pray for my dear friend, Emily, and her family. Luke nearly drowned today in a swimming pool at a birthday party. He is doing okay THANK GOD! I just talked to Emily and she is doing good and Lukey is talking and fully aware of what is going on. They are keeping him in the hospital overnight for observation and to check for any organ damage. They are pretty confident that there is no brain damage. THANK GOD for the man who jumped in and pulled Lukey off the bottom of the pool. THANK GOD for the nurses who performed CPR. THANK GOD for the ambulance crew. THANK GOD for the doctors and nurses caring for him at the hospital. THANK GOD for Emily and Jody for being so strong through all of this. We love you guys!

No more teachers, no more books..............

I guess I should have shut my eyes last night when I woke up to discover it was 10pm. I got up to make sure the kids were in their beds and to let Brie out one last time and to blog. I must have gotten my second wind because when I went back to bed I tossed and turned until about 2am. After I finally fell asleep, Gage came to my room around 3am, crying, telling me his throat hurt. Poor guy. I gave him some Motrin which seemed to get him through the rest of the night fine. He asked for more Motrin before we left for school because he wanted to be sure and feel good for the last day. I couldn't let him miss out on the last day of school. They had plans to go on a picnic to end their week at "Camp Skeeter". The entire 2nd grade walked to the McQuade Softball Complex where they had set up several different stations of activities. There were many parent volunteers there helping to run the stations and Scott was signed up to help at the freeze tag station. I just went along to take some pictures. It started sprinkling before we were done with the first session and the next station Gage's class was at was the playground equipment and following that was lunch. It came down pretty good during lunch and it was decided after that that they should walk back to the school because it wasn't safe to play in the rain. There was no thunder or lightning, so I'm not sure what the big deal was. I suppose if someone slipped and got hurt on the wet grass, someone could be held liable? Who knows? It was fine with me though because I just went back to the library to help the ladies there finish things up. Around 1:30 or so Gage's teacher called down to the library to tell me he wasn't feeling well. I went to the classroom to get him and he said he didn't want to miss the flag ceremony at 2:40, so I just took him back down to the library with me where he sat in one of the rocker chairs and watched television. After a dose of Motrin, he said he was feeling a little better and wanted to go back to his classroom. It's amazing what a little medicine can do for a person when they aren't feeling well. I don't know if we have another bout of strep throat in the works or not? I sure hope not! One of the other Mom's of one of Gage's classmates said they have been dealing with strep, so it is a possibility. He really needs to have his tonsils removed and we may need to check into that pretty soon.

When we got home from school Scott had the car packed all ready to go to Tuttle and was sad to find out Gage wasn't feeling well. We decided to stay home and hopefully he'll get to feeling better. It's always better to sleep in your own bed when you aren't feeling well. We may go up just for the day tomorrow to get the yard mowed. We'll see how Gage is feeling in the morning.

It's really hard to believe that today was the last day of 2nd grade for Gage and Kindergarten for Emma! I remember learning how to multiply in 3rd grade, and it's hard to believe Gage is that age already. We have 2 weeks off before Camp Edventure starts up. I know they will be ready for that to start up because I'm very sure they will already be completely bored by that time. It sounds like it is going to be a fun summer curriculum and it will be a good way for Emma to meet some of the 1st grade teachers and get comfortable with Northridge before the start of school in the fall.

I'm so hoping to get to sleep in tomorrow morning. I think 10am sounds like a great waking hour. :-)

Shot

Man, I AM SHOT!!! I'm not sure when I've ever been this tired before. I'm just dragging and by the time the afternoon rolls around it's all I can do to remain upright and keep my eyes open.

I helped in the library again today. I love change and am excited every day to see how the library looks. I think we're pretty close to being done with all we can do. The next step is construction. I also had to work in the lunchroom at Corpus Christi today. It's obvious that the last day of school is near. All of the kids seem to be getting restless.

Gage had an early baseball game tonight at 5:45. Scott is out of town so he missed all of the fun. NOT! I was a nervous wreck when I heard the coach announce that Gage would pitch in the 4th inning. UGH! He is having a real hard time throwing the ball for some reason. I think he is trying to do the things everyone has been telling him to do and has combined them all to make a really bad throw. It seems as if he's trying to throw the ball with his elbow glued to his side. If you can just imagine what that might look like, then imagine someone attempting to pitch like that. Not pretty! He did throw 1 strike, and I'd say 90% of the other throws were either hitting the ground half way between the pitching mound and home plate, or going behind the batter. Thankfully he didn't bean anyone! Needless to say, he walked all but 1 player and I think that player hit the ball after it bounced off the ground. Thankfully they only allow 4 runs per inning or we never would have made it out alive. It was priceless; however, to see Gage's face when the coach called "STRIKE" on the one strike he did throw! I'm hoping this experience has convinced Gage that he needs to practice playing catch outside with his mother and father! He struck out 2 times and then hit the ball on his final at-bat. He made it to first base and ended up scoring a run after a few more boys either hit the ball or walked. He was very excited about that and asked if he could call Dad as soon as we got home so he could tell him he got on base AND scored a run!

After we got home I gave the kids spit baths. Tomorrow is the last day of school and I really don't care how dirty they are. I got their faces washed and their hands and fingernails cleaned and I say they are "good to go". Emma wanted me to read to her in my bed and I decided to just go with it. While we were reading, Gage came in too, with his book, so I read a few chapters for Emma and a few for Gage. I told them, when I was done reading, that it was time to go to bed. I told them I was just going to lay in bed for a few minutes because it was so nice and comfortable and cozy. I think I fell asleep before either of them made it to their own bedroom! I believe it was around 9pm and the next thing I know it's 10! I should have just stayed in bed, but I was already feeling guilty for not posting last night, so I thought I best get that done while my eyes were still open! I attempted to post last night, but for whatever reason my computer wouldn't load either blogger OR facebook, so I just gave up and quit because I was just too tired to keep trying.

I can't wait to sleep in Saturday morning and for the next 2 weeks before Camp Edventure starts!

What a day!

This morning after I dropped the kids off at school I went down to the library to help do inventory. The library is in the process of being rearranged for a remodel and boy what a mess! I know all about the need to mess up before you can clean up, so I felt right at home. I can't remember exactly how many books are in the library............I'm thinking it is around 70,000 or so, and I'll bet that I had my hands on at least half of them today. It was a busy day in the library and I was there from 8:30-3p, so it was a long one. I enjoyed lunch with Jan and Juanita at the China Garden as well..................my favorite place to eat!

We had t-ball and baseball practice tonight for Emma and Gage. Scott went one direction and I went the other. Emma is so cute out there on the ball field. Before practice started the kids were playing a little scrimmage and one of the parents was pitching to them. When it was Emma's turn to bat I wasn't sure how that was going to go. She hasn't totally figured it out yet and I almost fell over when she swung at, AND HIT, the first pitch thrown! It was a nice hit to shortstop too!

Not long after we got home from baseball, while I was catching a few minutes of Dancing with the Stars, I noticed Brie was acting weird. I thought she was about to puke so I had Scott take her outside. When they came back in Scott said he wasn't sure what was wrong, but something weird was going on. We sat and watched her for awhile and she was having some weird, jerky, seizure-like movements. She was getting anxious and panting as well. She would stand up, jerk a little and then side-step to the right and kind of fall over. After about 15 minutes of this I called the vet. We had just increased her medication about 5 days ago that she takes for urinary incontinence and probably a week and a half ago she had her first heartworm pill of the season. The vet said to stop giving her the Proin (for incontinence) for now and to try to keep her quiet and see how she does, and she didn't think it could be the heartworm medicine since it was that long ago that we had given it to her. She said if she was still doing this tomorrow, that we should probably bring her in, but that if she got worse, to give her another call. An hour later, around 9:30p, this was still going on after sitting with her on the floor trying to keep her quiet. I hate when stuff happens at bad times of the day when you have to call someone in. We called her back to let her know that it was still going on and some of the fits were fairly long in duration. She said that if they were getting longer, that she should probably take a look at her tonight to make sure nothing serious was going on. Scott took her in a little before 10. When he got home he said that of course she stopped doing it when he got there so the vet didn't witness anything. Why does that always happen? Anyway, after examining her, the only thing she could determine was there being a little lump on her head by her ear and thought maybe she got stung by a bee or bitten by a spider and was having an allergic reaction. She said they weren't seizures if she wasn't losing consciousness. Brie got a big shot of Benadryl for $180! And I thought that was just a bump of knowledge.............NOT! Well, at least she'll sleep good tonight!

I'm glad the day is over and am ready to rest up for another busy day. The Northridge PTO is sponsoring Mini-Olympic day tomorrow at school and there will be several inflatables set up at both Northridge and Corpus Christi. I volunteered to help out so will end up being at the school all day again tomorrow. Emma is so excited she can hardly stand it!

A little practice never hurts!

This afternoon, after church, Scott got out the "Zip 'n Pro" for Gage to practice batting. That little thing is amazing and I wish I had invented it. It is a ball that has 2 long nylon ropes running through the center of it. One end connects to something stationary like a pole or something similar. The other end has 2 handles that someone holds onto. When the person holds the 2 handles and spreads their arms out to their side, the ball goes zipping down the ropes for a batter to hit. If they hit the ball, it just zips down the line back to the "pitcher". It's really pretty handy when you are surrounded by houses and people who don't want their windows broken out by a baseball and you don't have enough people to field the ball. Anyway, Gage was doing a little batting practice in the backyard this afternoon and I believe it paid off! Tonight at his baseball game he hit the ball and got on first and actually batted in a run! He was so thrilled you could see his smile all the way across the field. I almost started crying I was so happy for him! He's been a little frustrated as he has struck out every single time he's been up to bat. I'm hoping that this hit has given him the confidence he needs to continue hitting the ball. Unfortunately, Scott had to work this afternoon and into the evening and missed Gage's first hit. Hopefully there will be plenty more of them for Scott to witness.

This is our last week of school. This year has gone by so quickly. I can't believe Gage is going to be a 3rd grader and Emma a 1st grader! It seems unreal. I wish they would just stop growing and would stay little awhile longer. They just grow up too fast. There are a lot of fun things going on at school this week. Tomorrow the 2nd graders are going to Ft. Lincoln and Gage's class is going to "Camp Skeeter". They had to take in plain white t-shirts for this week, so I'm guessing they'll be tye-dyeing them. There was a permission slip sent home with the kids last week and a warning about how thick the woodticks are out at Ft. Lincoln. Apparently if you put Vick's Vapor Rub around your ankles, then put your socks on, it makes the ticks stay away. (There's another use for Vick's Vapor Rub for you Mom! It's the "cure-all" medicine!) On Wednesday the PTO will be setting up inflatables at Northridge and at Corpus Christi for a fun day. The entire 2nd grade class will be going on a field trip on Friday to the baseball diamonds to play a bunch of fun games. We have a few extra things going on as well, like baseball practice, a baseball game, I will be working in the lunchroom again on Thursday, and will be volunteering to help do inventory and start rearranging the library, so it's looking like another busy week!

Trying to teach a lesson

This morning when the alarm went off I got up and went downstairs to Emma cleaning off the table. It must be piled too high if it's starting to bother my 6 year old! :-) She also picked Gage's room up and made his bed................now that I think about it, I should have taken advantage of that little cleaning bug she had going on.

Emma's last soccer game of the season was today. Actually the last 3 games of the season. Today was the soccer jamboree. It was supposed to get down to 26 degrees last night, so needless to say, it was still quite chilly this morning. Emma got dressed in her soccer gear and as we were getting ready to head out the door, I told her she actually should put a long sleeved shirt under her uniform shirt. She said she didn't want to. I told her she needed to get a coat on then. She said she didn't want to. I wasn't in the mood to fight with her this morning and decided that maybe I should just let her learn her lesson. It is ALWAYS colder at the soccer field than anywhere else in Bismarck. Today was no different. Emma did grab a blanket that was in the back of the car, but I told her that wouldn't do her alot of good when she was out playing.

The wind was blowing and it was quite chilly. Emma is out on the soccer field in shorts and a short-sleeved t-shirt. Coach Theel comes up to her and says, "Emma, aren't you cold without a coat on?" I didn't hear Emma's response. I'm thinking to myself that I'm sure everyone must think she has a terrible mother. A little while later he comes up to Emma again and asks her if she has a coat to wear. I decided I better go tell him what the deal was. I walked over to him and said, "I'm quite sure that I'm up for Mother-of-the-Year award because Emma doesn't have her coat!" I explained to him that I thought maybe this would be a good day to learn a little lesson because I seem to ALWAYS have troubles with Emma and what she's wearing. I typically bail her out because I don't want her to be cold. I decided there was no bailing her out today and that she needed to figure out that I usually know what's best. He understood and said that he has the same problems with his daughter.

Tonight Scott asked Emma if she was cold at the soccer game as a smirk appeared on her face, a gray hair popped through at the very same time.

Girls' Night Friday

Scott took off work early to come home and get Gage so they could go to Tuttle and fish this weekend. There's another guy and his son there too. So, Emma and I had the evening to ourselves. She voted to go eat at Subway and since I needed to run to Walmart for a couple of things, Subway was a convenient choice. I was SO PROUD of Emma. She didn't beg me for anything at all! On our way out of the store I said, "Emma, I am so proud of you for not begging for anything or throwing a fit!" She said, "Well, I really wanted one of those bouncy balls but I knew you would say no, so I didn't ask." I thanked her and again told her I was very happy with her behavior and as we continued to walk to the car, an older lady overheard us and she told Emma that she did a great job!! I think Emma really liked that she said that to her. :-) We had to stop at Hobby Lobby next and Emma showed me one thing she really liked, but put it away when I told her she couldn't have it. On our way out of the store Emma said, "I did a good job not begging for things in there, didn't I!?" YES EMMA! You did a GREAT JOB! It was actually an enjoyable outing with her! She is also ASLEEP and didn't get out of her bed one time to tell me anything! I better take her temperature in the morning to make sure she's not sick! :-)

Emma has a soccer jamboree in the morning, her last games of this short spring season. I'm not upset at all that the season was cut short due to the snow and flooding we had earlier this spring. I'm hoping the wind will die down a bit so it won't be so stinking cold in the morning. I think we're supposed to have some nice weather for the weekend. Scott and Gage will actually get home later tomorrow, so they won't be gone the whole weekend.

I worked in the cafeteria at Corpus Christi again today. They were wild today. I think they must be getting antsy for the school year to be over. Only 5 more days. It was funny, one of the little boys asked me to come over to him so he could ask me a question...........................(oops! I spoke too soon on Emma. She is NOT asleep! UGH).............................and he said something but I couldn't hear him so I asked him 2 times what he said and then I about fell over when I finally understood what he said. He asked, "Is bitch a bad word?" YIKES! "YES!" I told him. I think he overheard someone else at the table say that because the ladies in the lunchroom said he's always a very sweet boy. You gotta love the things kids learn from their peers at school!

Sleep

Yesterday I went on Emma's class field trip to the zoo. It was cold and exhausting. Emma was so tired yesterday evening she was just laying around on the couch. We have had several late nights and they are catching up with her. Last night she would NOT go to sleep. We aren't giving her the Melatonin all of the time since it's use is somewhat controversial. I only give it to her when I foresee there being problems with her going to sleep. I did not see it last night. We got the kids to bed at 7pm and she was still awake at 9:30, wanting to pack her backpack for the next day. I knew this morning was going to be rough. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it wasn't as smooth as it could have been either. I was scheduled to work today at Corpus Christi in the lunchroom and after her lunch period, I was on recess duty with another teacher. Before I had even made it out the door, Emma came back inside the school asking me if she could stay inside for recess. I told her that she needed to go outside. She said she was too cold. It was chilly, but it wasn't THAT cold out! If she could handle the cold and wind we had at the zoo yesterday, then today should have been a breeze. She was upset that I made her go back outside, so she stood around pouting. I told her that she would be warmer if she would not stand in the shade and then she went and sat on the end of the slide. She said it was warm there. Well, there were kids who wanted to play on the slide, so she was getting mad at them for running into her. I told her several times she needed to get up and she WOULD NOT listen to me. I know what I would do at home under those circumstances, but I wasn't sure how to handle it at school. She was getting upset with the other kids because one accidentally pulled her hair when she was laying down on the slide and he ran into her. Once again I tried to get her to move, and told her I was going to go inside and get her teacher. The gal on recess duty with me wasn't helping me much and said she would let me deal with it. That was the problem! She wouldn't have done that with the other lady. Anyway, to make a long story short, Emma ended up throwing wood chips at the little girl coming down the slide and they hit her right in the face and that was the last straw. I grabbed her arm and made her sit along the fence until recess was over. UGH!
Today was our last official Daisy Scout meeting for the year. I knew it wasn't going to be much fun. Usually they aren't, because Emma is always misbehaving. She's the worst behaved one of the bunch, because I am the leader. We talked about her behavior on our way to the park, which is where we held the meeting. I had her repeat what I said so she couldn't plead ignorance when she started acting up. I told her that if she didn't listen, then she was going to sit out of the meeting in time out the remainder of the time. Well, she did end her last meeting in timeout. She found a mud puddle and was splattering mud everywhere with a pine bough and she accidentally splattered mud on a few of the other girls, AND herself. She wouldn't listen and she ended up in time out, just like I told her she would if she misbehaved. I am SO FRUSTRATED I don't even know what to do. I know what the solution is...................to stop being her leader, or to take her out of Girl Scouts all together. We talked about it some while I had her in the bathtub washing all of the mud off of her. She said all concerned, "Who will be the leader if you aren't?" I explained to her that since my co-leader is quitting, that there wouldn't be a leader and she might not get to be in Girl Scouts, or they would find someone else to do the job. She wasn't sure she wants that to happen, but she can't seem to remember to behave at ANY of the meetings. We had this problem with her when we were teaching her Sunday School class and we have this problem with Gage when we are teaching or coaching his group as well. I'm not sure what we're going to do about this, but something has to change.

Going Green

I'll bet that you're thinking this post is going to be about "saving the planet" or maybe even recycling. Guess again.



Here is the "Before" shot of Gage "going green".

Gage talking it over with our hairdresser, Pam.

We're at the point of no return!

Gage thought that this was pretty cool. I think he's pretending he's going to be an astronaut!

Fifteen minutes under the hairdryer wasn't quite as exciting as he thought it might be!

Time to wash so we can see what happened! I think Pam will be sporting green fingers for awhile!

Hmmmm....................it's actually a pretty color of green; however it would look better in our yard!

Gage and Emma look like Christmas together with their red and green hair! It was actually feeling a little like Christmas this evening when it started SNOWING!

I should have taken a front picture as well, but for whatever reason, I didn't even think of it. LOL! I'll get one tomorrow. I told Pam to be ready for a run of appointments with kids wanting their hair dyed green.

By the way........................it doesn't wash out.

The Dr.'s

My favorite daytime television show is called "The Dr.'s". Actually, it's the only show I watch on television during the day. I can't wait until tomorrow's episode. The entire show tomorrow is about Kayleigh Anne Freeman. I have been reading this blog about Kayleigh for quite some time. I've been so faithful about reading it over the last year that I almost feel as if I know these people. When I saw the advertisements, it didn't dawn on me that it was this family until it was over. Anyway, I just learned today that Kayleigh lost her battle and has gone to be with the Lord, but at the time of the taping, this hadn't happened yet. The family has accumulated over $2,000,000 in hospital bill debt, and it just makes me so sad to know that they have all of this debt and no longer have their precious little girl to show for it. I can't tell for sure by the advertisements, but it appears as if the family may be receiving quite a gift on the show tomorrow. I'm certainly going to have to have my box of Kleenex ready. If you can, you should tune in and watch it.

I've been doing it all wrong!

Apparently I've been doing things all wrong here. Sunday morning the kids were up at 6:30 am and didn't get to bed until almost 10p. They were so tired they fell right to sleep. I KNEW they were going to be a mess this morning and I let them sleep until 7:40. They were still clearly tired when I woke them up, but we had a GREAT morning! They were both so lethargic that they did just what I asked them to do WHEN I asked them to do it! It was amazing! They may not have learned a single thing in school today, but our morning went very smooth. LOL! I worked at Corpus Christi today in the lunchroom and one of the ladies who works at the school and also works in the lunchroom and does playground duty asked me if something was wrong with Emma today because she was just kind of sitting off to herself on the playground and not being "herself". I told her she was just exhausted from the long day yesterday. I felt so terrible about getting them to sleep so late last night, but I didn't have much of a choice. It was another late night again tonight because Gage had another baseball game at 7:30. Thankfully we finished earlier tonight than last night! They still weren't in bed until 9:30 though.

Last night's game was the first game of the season. I think they actually won the game by just a few runs. Gage played right field one inning, center field one inning and then left field one inning. They play 5 innings, but aren't allowed to score more than 4 runs/inning. That's a good rule at this age. The kids are doing all of the pitching which makes for a LONG, boring game. No one gets a whole lot of action. Gage batted twice last night and struck out both times. He swung at every pitch, good or not. He did much better tonight. He still struck out both times, but he was using a lighter bat and had a much better swing than last night. It was pretty ugly last night. I don't think we won tonight, but the kids played a much better game. I was so excited about the fact that I can eat sunflower seeds this summer since I no longer have my braces on! YIPPPEEE!

I'm back

As I was sitting upstairs on the couch with the kids, trying not to fall asleep, it dawned on me that I didn't blog yesterday. As I logged onto my blog, I see that I haven't blogged in 2 days! Geez! I didn't even realize it.

Yesterday we took our Cub Scout den and Daisy Scout troop on an Earth Day field trip. We had a total of 5 Scouts, so it was a manageable trip. It was so cold that there were even snow flurries while we were out! We went to Ducks Unlimited's Coteau Ranch, which is near Wing, ND, which isn't too far from Tuttle. Anyway, we cleared out a ditch of logs from a tree that was cut down, dipped up aquatic insects, candled eggs from some mallard nests and Scott and the kids took a hike. We met at the school at 8am and caravanned to our destination. We were home around 2pm, so it was a long morning for me. I've been so darned tired lately that I was pretty wiped out when we got home. It seemed like a long drive there and back and all I wanted to do was close my eyes on the drive back, but since I had 6 passengers in the car with me, I decided it would probably be a better idea to keep my eyes open, focused on the road. Our plan was to have lunch while we were there. When Scott was lighting the charcoals, it dawned on him that he forgot the hot dogs and brats at home in the refrigerator. UGH! Thankfully one of the other Mom's brought a package of hotdogs. Eight hotdogs for 12 people, hmmm...................how does that work? One of the families insisted that they were needing to get on the road and said they would grab a bite when they got back to Bismarck, which left 1 hotdog each. That was enough with the chips and other stuff; however. Now I have a gazillion hotdogs and brats in the fridge. Anyone wanna come over for a hotdog roast? :-)

I had a nice Mother's Day morning. The kids were up bright and early at 6:30 bringing me all kinds of things they made for me at school and at home. The special surprise was a Mother's ring. I have been wanting one for a long time and I love it. After church we went out for brunch with some good friends and had a great time visiting.

There is a group arriving in Tuttle from Mississippi State. One of Scott's old professors and a group of students are on a field trip and will be staying overnight in Tuttle. Scott took a detour and checked on the house on his way home from our field trip yesterday to make sure everything was in order. The water is working, so that is good. He had to have some new water pump or something put in last week because the other one wasn't working. He went up to Tuttle after brunch to meet with the Mississippi State group and will be home later tomorrow.

Gage has his first baseball game tonight. The darned thing doesn't start until 7:30 though! The kids' bedtime is 7p, so that ought to tell you we're going to have a great day tomorrow. I'll be lucky if I can keep my eyes open long enough to get him there. I haven't been to any of his practices yet because Emma has had practice at the same time, so I haven't seen him play yet this year. He is in lower minors this year, which means the kids themselves will be doing the pitching, so it ought to be quite comical. I hope they don't rotate everyone though the pitching position. I'm not sure Gage is ready for that spot yet. Actually, I'm quite positive that he isn't ready for that position yet!

Not too much else is going on here today. I just want to tell Mom, Happy Mother's Day! We love you so very much and are anxious to see you again! Mom, when we were walking through the grocery store today Gage came up to me and told me he found the perfect thing to get you. I knew he and Emma had been checking out the flowers, and thought that was what he was going to show me. He went to get it to show me and brought back a flyswatter. LOL! He thinks that would be the perfect gift for me to give to you for Mother's Day! It sure made me smile and I hope it makes you smile too! We love you! Happy Mother's Day to the best Mom ever!

Working tomorrow

I get to work in the library tomorrow for Juanita and am excited about it. It would be more fun if both Juanita and Jan were there though. Next week I may possibly be working at the LMO (Library Media Office) for another gal who could get called in for Jury Duty. I went down there the other day to meet the ladies and see what it is I would be doing. I think I can handle most of it, but the part that I'm a little scared of is answering the phone. That's a tough job to do when you don't know what's going on and who people are. I may end up being more of a hindrance than help! Maybe I'll get lucky and the phone won't ring..............or maybe she won't be called to sit on the jury.

It was a beautiful day out. The kids played outside most of the afternoon. At lunch time I was standing at the kitchen sink and saw a line of kids walking up the sidewalk on the other side of the street and then spotted Emma in the group. I ran to the front door to tell her hi. Scott was home for lunch at the time so she was excited to see us waving at her. Her "Phy Ed" class was taking a walk since the church was having a funeral today. It's fun to see her doing things like that. She's getting to be such a big girl!

Speaking of big girl, her ears are doing great. She is actually the one reminding me that her ears need to be cleaned. She tries to do it herself, but she basically just gets the front of her earring clean, instead of the actual hole, so I help.

Only 2 more weeks of school left! Gage was very excited yesterday after school because they have been incubating eggs in all of the 2nd grade classrooms (they do it every year as part of the curriculum) and one of the chicks hatched. This morning we went to school early so we could get some books from the book fair and asked Gage if he could take us to his classroom and show us the chicks. He was QUITE SURPRISED when we looked in the incubator and 6 more had hatched overnight! There was one that had broken a hole in the shell and was still working on getting out. He said it was still working on it today after school. I'm going to try to go in tomorrow and take some pictures for his scrapbook. If I can get some good ones, I'll share them with you all too.

Scott went fishing after lunch today and just got home a little while ago. He caught a great big walleye. I think he said it was 20 inches. I wasn't impressed when I went upstairs to see it because I then learned he planned to clean the stupid thing in the kitchen sink. UGH! You are supposed to do that OUTSIDE! I hope he cleaned the mess up, because I had just cleaned up the kitchen yesterday and have been working hard to keep it that way.

I need to get going so I can get some rest before a long day at school tomorrow. :-)

Taking the night off

I don't feel much like writing tonight, so I'm taking the night off.

Cinco de Mayo

May 5th was a busy day for us! My Mom turned 67 today (Happy Birthday Mom!) and Scott and I celebrated (well, not really) our 14th anniversary. I say not really, because we had a very busy evening with back-to-back-to-back activities. It all went well too! We brought IsaBelle, one of Emma's friends/fellow Daisy Scout, home from school with us so she could go with us to the Girl Scout event at Camp Neche. I had never been out there before. It is quite a ways south of town way back in the boonies. There was something dead in the trees I think, because there was quite a stench that just about made me sick. The girls made s'mores, a craft, played BINGO and also attended a "Uniquely Me" talk. They made books about what makes them unique. They had fun doing that. We had to leave before it was completely over because Emma had soccer at 6:30, and Gage had baseball at 6:30. Scott met us in the Scheel's parking lot on our way to soccer so he could take Gage to baseball. He handed me a sandwich from Quiznos and said "Here's your anniversary supper! Happy Anniversary!" That was about all we saw of each other today until about 8:40 when Emma and I got home from baseball practice. I'm glad today is over. I have been planning it out for a few days now to make it go as smoothly as possible. I had all of their gear for each activity in the car and made them sack lunches to eat while we drove out to Camp Neche. We rarely eat in the car so the kids seem to think that is some sort of treat when we do that. LOL! I think the only think that saved me today was that I had everything planned out.

I'm exhausted and am going to go to bed.

Jealous

I'm feeling a bit blue today. Not sure if it's the weather or my kids. Maybe it's both? Today I went about my day, did all of the laundry, washed sheets and made beds. I was feeling good about accomplishing those things. At 3p when I went to pick up the kids from school it was raining. They rode their bikes this morning, so I had to walk to pick them up. The first thing Gage said to me when he saw me was, "Can I get my hair dyed green today?" I told Gage that we could make an appointment. He immediately got angry and was just totally pissed off. Since we were still on the school grounds and the principal was standing right there, I had no choice except to tell Gage we needed to go home and started walking away. He pushed his bike along side me and continued to be upset and pout. I told him he had to have an appointment because when we checked the last time, they said they would need time to get the green dye in. Apparently no one keeps green hair dye on hand? I wonder why???? Finally, it came out. Gage said, "Mom! Alexandra got her hair dyed red and I'm jealous! I want to get it dyed TODAY!" AAARGH! What a nice start to our afternoon. We picked Emma up and had to bring another girl home with us today because her parents needed help getting her picked up due to meetings, etc. The argument continued ALL the way home. Finally, by the time we got to the house I was just about to blow up. We got inside and I told Gage that I thought it would be a good idea if he went to his room and he yells, "NO, I WILL NOT GO TO MY ROOM!" OMG! What do I do? I can tell you what I wanted to do, but that wouldn't be the best way to handle it. Gage is big enough now that I can't carry him down to his room when he's kicking and thrashing about. Finally, after he saw I meant business, he went to his room for awhile. That is always what he needs.........to get away and have some quiet time and think about his behavior. A little later, while I was sitting on the couch folding clothes, he came back upstairs and apologized and asked me if I could make an appointment to get his hair dyed. I couldn't help it when the tears started rolling. Why couldn't he have said it like that to begin with? I told him that my heart was hurting and that it really hurt my feelings the way he talked to me and treated me on our walk home and that he was going to have to talk to Dad about all of this because I wasn't going to have anything to do with it from this point forward. He felt bad and was telling me that he's been wanting his hair dyed for a long time and his friend came to school with her hair dyed and it made him jealous and said it just made his stomach hurt. He said he didn't even want to look at her because of the way it made him feel. Geez! I don't know what to do about that? Any suggestions? He hasn't even mentioned it since the day we stopped to have it done only to find out that we would have to make an appointment because they don't keep green hair dye on hand, and now someone else has it and he needs to have it RIGHT NOW! UGH!

Okay, I've ranted quite enough for today. Just feeling a bit blue and I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow.

Big Day for Emma

I know, I know! I said Emma wasn't going to get her ears pierced. Well, she got her ears pierced. Today. Apparently somewhere along the lines, Scott misunderstood me saying Emma is NOT getting her ears pierced, and he told her last night that she could get them pierced today. Great. So Scott told her she could and now I'm the bad guy. I don't really care about "good guy/bad guy" status, but I honestly didn't think I could take another day of CONSTANT begging to get her ears pierced. So, after her soccer game, we went to Claire's to get her ears pierced. She was SO EXCITED!


I asked the gal working if she could please give Emma the spiel about how to take care of them, etc. etc. It means more coming from someone other than Mom. You know, Mom's don't know anything............................yes, I will admit that I thought that at one time too, but come on, can't we break that cycle somewhere? I know now that my Mom is very smart and self-educated, according to my Dad. :-) Love ya Mom!

Emma gets to hold Claire the Bear while set-up is taking place. Unfortunately today there was only one gal working, which meant that Emma would not be able to get her ears pierced simulaneously. I thought maybe that would be good, actually, so she knows that it is really important to take care of them because an infection would be SO MUCH WORSE!

Dad signing his life away so that Emma can get her ears pierced. Her "Free" ear piercing cost $39. Hmmm.................false advertising? We had to buy the earrings, you know!

You can see here that Emma doesn't have the most pleasant look on her face. This is actually a picture of her 2nd ear getting pierced because I took video of the first one. I have been trying to get the video uploaded onto my blog but I have gotten error messages. I will try one more time before I log off, but if it doesn't work, I did get it uploaded onto Facebook, so you can check it out there.

I must admit that Emma looks pretty darned cute with her ears pierced. However, she looked pretty darned cute before they were pierced too! Please God, just let her be satisfied with her ears and not ask me to have any other body parts pierced.

Soccer for Emma

Emma had her second soccer game this morning. It was a breezy and chilly morning out there! It's always colder at that soccer complex than anywhere else in Bismarck. Hopefully the trees that are scheduled to be planted out there by the Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts will help with blocking that cold wind!

I don't know what happened today, but our girls had circles run around them by the opposing team. I don't know if that team is 1st graders or what but I'm glad there is no score at this age. I think the score would have been 100-3. Emma did score one of those 3 goals, thankfully. Those girls were REALLY good! It wasn't just one of them either, it was the entire team! I don't know if it is a certain school, or if the team was stacked or what, but they beat us BAD!

I had fun taking pictures though. I think I was in the right place with the sun behind me because I got several taken that turned out much better than usual. I'm only posting a few on here. The rest are on Facebook if you want to check them out.

Emma passes the ball to her teammate Lauren.

Go Emma, Go!

Emma seemed to be hogging all of the kick ins. She apparently likes doing that.

Emma played very hard and I think she was tired when it was over. We have a make-up game tomorrow at 12:30, so hopefully it will be a little better game. Emma's favorite part is snacks at the end. For whatever reason, they have 3 people each game bringing snacks, so there were plenty of them!

We had a busy day outside. We spent most of the afternoon outside raking the backyard. It desperately needed it and there is still more to do. I sure love our big trees out back, but I seem to have a love/hate relationship with them. I LOVE the shade they provide in the summer, but I HATE those stupid little seeds that drop from it. There are several million of those stupid assed things from 6 1/2 years of living here. I don't know how to get them all cleaned up. They are the size of a pea and I'm not kidding when I say several MILLION of them are laying in the backyard. They are wreaking havoc with the grass under the tree and I have to try to keep them under control. I have enough problems with Brie killing the grass after peeing on it all winter long, I don't need those stupid little seeds working against me too! Maybe we'll get it finished tomorrow? I'm quite sure I'm going to be sore and not really wanting to go finish it. My Dad always says you can't have kids, dogs and good grass all at the same time. He is so right. I guess I'll take my kids (I could leave the dog) and accept the fact that we have a shitty (literally) yard. LOL!

The kids were out of sorts for some reason this afternoon. Gage was having meltdown after meltdown and Emma is TELLING me she is getting her ears pierced TOMORROW! Boy is she wrong!

The thrill of a lifetime, on May Day

Last week Gage brought home a birthday party invitation from his friend, Tyson. I can't even tell you how many birthday parties these two kids have been to in the last few months, but it's been ALOT! Gage was pretty excited about Tyson's party. They were going to celebrate at Space Aliens. The kids always love going to Space Aliens. In the invitation, it said that she would be taking the boys with her after school to Space Aliens and then parents were to come pick their children up at 6p. This was going to work out good for me, because I had signed up to help set up the book fair that will be taking place at school this week, so I was going to be doing that right after school. I asked Toby how she was going to take all the boys in her small car and she swore me to secrecy, and told me that she was renting a limousine to take the boys to Space Aliens. OMG! I have never even been in a limo! I knew the boys were just going to freak out when they found this out.

I knew that this limo was going to be a HUGE issue with Emma. She would be with me helping to set up the book fair, so I knew it was going to be nearly impossible to keep this secret from her. I also wanted to get pictures of Gage getting into the limo, because it will be a LONG time before he ever gets to ride in one again! When Emma and I got to the school I was so upset because I saw the limo parked and kids were already getting into it. I thought I missed it, until I discovered it was 6th grade girls getting into this limo. What are the chances of 2 limos arriving at Northridge to pick up different bunches of kids? I was relieved when I discovered that and quickly took Emma into the school and down to the library. The book fair was being set up in the front lobby of the school, but I needed to get Emma completely out of the area to prevent the big blow up. Juanita, thankfully, agreed to watch Emma in the library for me while I ran back upstairs to get ready for pictures. The boys were gathered up in the lobby and Toby was with them and had them all ready to follow her outside. When we got outside and rounded the corner, they saw the limo parked on the other side of the street and they were saying things like, "Oh wow! A limo! I wonder what famous person is here!" They were just chatting like crazy as we crossed the crosswalk and turned in the direction of the car. Tyson was joking and told the boys they were riding in the limo, because he had no clue at the time. As we walked up to it and Toby opened up the door, they totally flipped out!

Here is the limo waiting for the boys to come out of the school.

They were all smiles when they learned that they were the ones who were going to ride in it!

You can totally see that Gage is grinning from ear to ear in this picture. He is having the thrill of a lifetime on this May Day!

They were so excited. They were checking out the television and all the luxuries that were there.

There they go! They were going to drive to Mandan to pick up another party goer and then drive from there to Space Aliens, so they actually got to ride in it for a good amount of time. I'm sure they were most thrilled about not having to be seatbelted in! Apparently the driver had a lead foot; however, and had some hard starts and stops that sent Gage over the edge of the seat. They had a great time and I was excited for them.

Emma was completely oblivious to the whole ordeal and I was so thankful. Thanks Juanita for helping me out! You saved me and prevented Emma from making a huge scene in front of everyone at the school! THANKS!

Emma and I proceeded to help set up the book fair and then walked home around 4:15 or 4:30. She was excited because we each got to take a free book for helping. She picked a diary with a lock and keys. Why am I not surprised?

As we were walking home Emma kept saying there would probably be May baskets on our doorstep. I kept thinking to myself, "Ah! Darn it! I should have done that for her as a surprise!" and then tried telling her that I doubted there would be any, trying to make her not feel bad when she saw there were no baskets. As we passed the big pine tree on our sidewalk, I was shocked to see that there WERE 2 May baskets sitting on our front step. I have no idea who left them, but if whoever did it, reads my blog, THANK YOU! Emma was thrilled to death. We proceeded to go inside and make some baskets for the neighbors. I figured that's who left the baskets, but after Hallie came over, rang the doorbell, and then ran, I decided it probably wasn't them, unless they were from Erik? Hallie left a cute note for Emma in her little Dixie cup that said, "O.K. Emma here is your May basket now come out and chase me - Hallie." LOL! Emma did go out to chase her and the friends that were at her house. She finally came back inside to finish the ones she was making and that kept her distracted from the fact that Gage was at Space Aliens. It worked out well.

Happy May Day everyone!