Minus one, plus one!

Today Emma finally made it to the birthday party/sleepover. I guess I won't be able to use that against her anymore..............not that it worked too well anyway! It was kind of weird dropping her off knowing I wouldn't see her until tomorrow morning. It was strangely quiet in the house this afternoon. As soon as Gage got home from playing at a friend's house, he wanted to know if his other friend, Alexandra, was going to be able to come over for a sleepover at our house. I called her Mom and left a message on the answering machine and then we just waited. Gage seemed kind of bored without Emma around to pester him and he even got his winter gear on and just played in the front yard awhile. Not too long after that, Alexandra called and Gage was thrilled to learn that she was going to be able to spend the night with us.

They had a little time to play before supper and then after supper we watched The Wizard of Oz, since she had never seen that movie before.

Scott (sleeping), Gage and Alexandra watching The Wizard of Oz. They were pretty engrossed in the movie so it was a quiet night as well.

After the movie it was time for bed. After reading a couple of stories, they spent a little time giggling before they fell asleep.

Now, I wonder how long I should wait up to see if Emma decides she needs to come home from her sleepover in the middle of the night. It wasn't until I was a little older that I was able to stay overnight at a friend's house, all night. One of my friends lived right across the street from us and I would leave in the middle of the night to walk home without telling anyone. I would always get creeped out because my friend's Mom had some sort of medical issue that forced her to wear wigs. I didn't know that at the time and it was totally freaky seeing fake heads with her hair on them! Maybe that's why I think hair is overrated to this day? :-) The one time Gage spent the night with his friend, Grant (a few years ago now), I had to go get him around 11pm, so I think it runs in the family. Although Gage did spend the night with his cousin Colton while we were in Iowa over Christmas, so maybe he's outgrown that now? There's just no place like home in my opinion.

If, by chance, Emma makes it through the night, we plan to go get her around 8:30a so she can go to church with us. Tomorrow is going to be a cranky day, I can feel it.

BINGO for Books

I can't even believe that I forgot to take my camera to BINGO for Books! UGH! Mrs. Schmidt took a picture of us while we were there, so maybe I can get her to email me a copy of it? I don't do many one picture layouts, but I really like the ones I've seen done. I can never take just one picture. I guess I'm kind of like Ruffles potato chips.

We had a good time. Both Emm and Gage got a BINGO so that was good. I think this was the first year we have gotten any! Emma came back from the prize table with candy! I didn't even know there was candy on the prize table! I had Gage go exchange it for a book. We told Emma we came for books, NOT CANDY! She wasn't too happy about it, but she soon got over it.

I worked in the library today and had a good day. The library is being turned into a "Safa-READ" and there are alot of fun things they will be doing this month, including a reading contest. The class who reads the most books gets to choose what the principal will be dressing up as at school one day. I heard one class talking about dressing Mr. Olson up like Elmo. That would be pretty funny!

The weather was beautiful again today. We were hot and sweaty on our walk home from school. You know it's been too cold for too long when the 30-40 degree weather feels like summer! I hate the slushy melting mess we have going on outside though. This is my least favorite time of year because of that....................and because of shedding animals!

Emma has a birthday party and sleepover tomorrow. She made it through the rest of the week without getting in trouble at school, so we'll see how it goes. Gage is requesting to have a friend from school sleepover with him since Emma is sleeping over at a friend's house. He wants his friend, Alexandra............................yes, that is right, AlexanDRA not AlexanDER, to spend the night. Hmmm. I saw her parents this morning after dropping the kids off at school and they didn't seem to think it would be a problem. She is such a nice girl and her parents are very nice as well. He is a minister at a Methodist church in town. What is it that they say about the "preacher's kids"? I think Alexandra may stay overnight with us tomorrow night, but I will have to confirm those plans sometime tomorrow. I'm in trouble when he turns 16 and is still wanting to have girls spend the night! YIKES! That scares me to death!

February 4, 1962

That was the date that my Mom and Dad were married and yesterday was their 47th wedding anniversary! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD! I tried calling, but I'm sure you were busy with better things. Maybe Dad took you to the casino Mom, to celebrate or something? I didn't forget you, but I wanted to call instead of tell you on here! We love you with all of our hearts and souls. Forever and Ever. I'll try to call you again tomorrow after school. (There's your warning in case your avoiding my calls! :-)

It was a beautiful day here. The high was around 33 degrees and it's so funny that it feels GREAT at that still-freezing temperature! I walked 2 different times at the YMCA and have some awful blisters on the bottom of my feet. I'm looking real good as I walk around as if I'm walking on hot coals (because of the blisters), still with Igor's posture. Kara and I walked on the track in the Y this morning and I tried talking Sherry into walking outside this afternoon when we walked, but she wasn't interested. It was still a good walk and it was fun catching up on things. Thanks for the exercise ladies! I needed it!

Not much else going on here. We have our annual BINGO for Books at school tomorrow night from 6-8p. The kids are very excited about it. I am too. I love this event and missed it last year. I think I was scrapbooking and Scott was out of town, So Juanita, Kim and Erin took Gage and Emma to BINGO for Books and the kids had a great time. We've been going through the books so we can take them in to trade for different ones. Emma keeps trying to sneak some in the bag that I don't want to get rid of. I have been telling her I want to keep those books to give to her babies when she has them. I'm not sure what she thought of that idea?

I'm working at school tomorrow and excited about being there. I saw Mrs. Schmidt in the hall at Corpus Christi this afternoon when I picked Emma up and she said she missed me today. That made me feel good. Sometimes I think I probably bug her too much with different questions. I am just excited about learning the entire process! I best get to bed so I'm not too tired to be excited tomorrow! :-) G'night!

Eating my words

Tonight I am eating my words! I hate when I do that! Today I worked at the school in the library and this morning a man from the district, who has something to do with ergonomics, came in to assess the library. It is not set up to be real functional AND with Juanita recently needed to have neck surgery and Mrs. Schmidt constantly needing to see a chiropractor, they brought in a specialist to see if things can be revamped. I happened to be the one in the "hot seat" when he was there, so he was watching me work and watching all of the twisting, turning etc. that is required to do this job in the set up that they currently have. I can't remember exactly what was asked of me, but it was something along the lines if I felt I was having alot of twisting and turning of my neck. I spoke right up and replied, "Oh, I wouldn't go by me, because I am MUCH YOUNGER than all of these ladies here and don't have such problems." I'm not kidding when I tell you that not too long after he left, I started having neck pain! I don't know if it was caused by me being tense while he was watching me, or if maybe just being a smart ass might have been the cause? Needless to say, it has progressed to the point where I have had to medicate myself tonight for neck pain and I feel like I'm walking around like Igor. When they were talking about the level of the computer monitor, he wanted to know if we wore bifocals and I once again said, "Oh no! I'm too young for those!" So, I'm waiting, because I'm afraid that my vision is going to be the next to go!

I'm going to go lay on the couch and read my book and see if this medication will start working to relieve my neck discomfort. I'll learn not to be such a smart ass in the future!

Early to bed

Today when I was picking Emma up from school, I had another report that she wasn't behaving appropriately (acting silly and not being quiet at rest time) at school again today. She was held back from P.E. for 5 minutes this time. Her teacher said she wanted Emma to understand that she means what she says. I told her that if she needed to do more than that, please feel free! I don't know what to do about it. She acts like it is no big deal. I think I know exactly what the problem is, so I guess I do know what to do about it, I just hate to turn into a "mean Mom". Actually, she already calls me that, so I don't know what I'm worried about. She needs to know that when we tell her that she can't do something because of bad behavior, or whatever, then she can't do it. No second chances. She has a birthday party to go to on Saturday and it includes a sleepover. I have been threatening and threatening her that she isn't going to be able to go if she doesn't straighten up. I have been planning on her attending the party, but the sleepover part is what I've been dragging my feet about and using as leverage. That apparently hasn't been working too well though. I'm tired of continuing to give 2nd chances and 3rd chances, to both Emma AND Gage, and I'm just going to have to start sticking to my guns. Starting now. :-) These two don't appreciate things like they should because they get too much. They can be very ungrateful and that needs to change. For example, lately Emma has decided she doesn't like her bedroom. WHAT?!?!?! Most little girls would DIE to have her room! She says she wants her old bed back. She said that she wanted to have a slide on it and that's why she doesn't want it anymore. A very good example of her ungratefulness. She begged and begged to have a tall bed like Gage's and when she saw a picture of that dollhouse bed, she wanted it. She's lucky in that she has a Grandpa who can make those things, which is the only reason she could have a bed like that in the first place. I have told her that if she doesn't want that bed anymore, then she is going to have to talk to her Grandpa about it and I told her that it would be sure to hurt his feelings. She replies, "Well, he made my old bed too!" Hmm...........I guess she got me there. She has too many things just handed to her and it's got to stop. Unfortunately for her, her birthday is coming up in a week and a half. I have sworn that I am not going to buy her any toys because she doesn't play with the ones she has. Yes, Dad, you read that right and this time I'm hoping I can stick to the plan!!! I may have to keep the list of girls she invites to a minimum to help my cause. I suppose I should stop griping now. I got the kids to bed EARLY tonight, so hopefully they'll have different attitudes about life tomorrow!

This week I am working on Wednesday (tomorrow) and Friday. I wish I had more days, but the days off have been nice. I'm looking forward to going in to the library tomorrow.

Superbowl/Wii Party

Yesterday afternoon our friends, Steve and Laura, and their kids, Ellie and Alan, came over for a Wii/Superbowl Party. I hate football, so I wasn't too interested in the Superbowl part of it. We had a good time playing the Wii, however. We did a little of everything, including bowling, tennis, boxing, Rockband, Handbells and Clone Wars. Rockband is always a big hit and I thought I should post this video of Scott and Steve rockin out.

I was glad to send the kids back to school today. Gage was quite a mess yesterday after getting to bed late on Saturday. We had several go-rounds with him and he was just being mouthy and defiant. Thankfully today was a better day. Gage has always been a good eater and lately he has been a real pain in the butt at supper time. He claims every night that he doesn't like what I've prepared. I'm praying this is just a phase that we are going to get through. Unfortunately for Gage, he either eats what we have on the table, or he goes hungry. Last week before we left for gymnastics, I had mentioned that Scott was going to be fixing taco salads for supper and I remember both Gage and Emma being happy about that. I thought maybe we should do the same thing today, since I know they both like taco salads. Gage claims that Emma was the only person who said that last week and was ticked about having taco salads for supper. He ate very little of his supper so I'm sure he'll be quite hungry in the morning. He now claims he doesn't like cooked vegetables. It all seems to be a texture thing in my opinion. He's been complaining about "mushy" foods. It's totally wearing me out.

As I was looking through Gage's Cub Scout Wolf handbook this evening, one of the things we need to have Gage do is plan all of the meals for one day, making sure he chooses foods from all the food groups. I've decided this is a perfect time for him to do this, since he seems to not like anything I fix. I'll let him do the planning! He will also have to help fix at least one of these meals, so this should be a good thing for him. He will also have to help plan, prepare and cook an outdoor meal eventually, but it's probably a good idea to wait for warmer weather. It was pretty unpleasant this morning walking to school in -4 degree temps so I can't imagine grilling out and having and outdoor picnic sounds like too much fun. We'll have to wait until spring for that one.

Today was the 100th day of school. The kids were excited about it. Emma took 100 goldfish crackers to add to their 100th day of school snack mix. Her class got to do several fun things. Gage complained that his class didn't get to do too much. He said they paraded through the classroom to see each kids' collection of 100 things. He wasn't happy because he said he didn't have enough time to set up all 100 of his Lego dudes. That would take quite awhile to do, so I don't think he would have had enough time to do that, regardless. I sure don't remember celebrating the 100th day of school when I was growing up!? Did any of you?

Hey, hey I wanna be a Rockstar!

This afternoon I came upstairs from the basement and found the kids playing "Rockstar". It was pretty cute so I had to go after the camera. The other day, a nurse-friend of mine, from Memphis, sent me an email with a link to another version of the song, which I seem to like a little better. If you would like to listen to it, click here. This song was written by the nurses in the ICU at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, TN. I'm betting that this song might disturb many of their patient's and their families. I just hope they weren't doing it when they were on duty! :-) Emma and Gage aren't the only ones with talent; however. Their buddy, Silas, Emily's son, won a talent show at school this weekend! It was amongst the K-4 classes (is that right Emily?) and Silas won the entire contest and won $100!!! Check out his act here. I just linked her blog, instead of just the "Silas Video" post so if you want, you can scroll down a little ways to see the words as well. It's pretty darned cute!