Winding down

This is Evan's last week of school. Tomorrow is the last "day" and it is Evan's special day, so we have to go out with a bang. I am still trying to decide if Jenna will be attending this school or not. Of course, do I have another one lined up? No. But when you are having a second "meet your new preschool teacher" in a matter of one year, it might be time to cut loose and bail. Especially when you hear that the reason for the new preschool teacher is because the other two didn't get along, and it is now causing a rift in the church, to the point of the new pastor (the main teacher's husband) needing to leave.

Evan has his little graduation on Friday and picnic, and then that is all for Evan and preschool. I can't believe he will be in school school this September! My little man is growing right up!

McCayla has one more week of school. She has her field day on Thursday, and that is all she wrote.

And she was BORED yesterday. So you can well imagine the length this summer will be.

Off to feed some kids.

The newest Mom in my family ....

Yep. You read right. My niece, Amanda, is expecting!!!! I am SOOOOOOOO flipping excited!!! I can't stand it. I have already called my sister TWICE this morning, asking her questions and seeing if Amanda would be open to cloth diapering. She thinks she is (Amanda told me as much last night when she told me she is pregnant!).

We think we are looking at an around Christmas baby!!! I cannot WAIT to get my hands on this baby!!! I cannot WAIT! This is better than having my own!

So this girl who I knew since she was just a little bean in her mom's belly is going to be a Mommy! And I am going to be a GREAT AUNT! Yuck.

pessi pease?

I love Pepsi. I love the stuff. I love it. I could have it hooked up to me, 24/7 and be a happy camper. I am sure that my family would love to have me hooked up to it 24/7 so THEY could be happy campers. 'Cause if mama ain't happy, nobody's happy.

When I was pregnant with McCayla, I swore off the stuff until my last trimester. It was a rough first few weeks, but as soon as I kicked the caffeine habit, morning sickness settled in, and the thought of throwing up Pepsi just didn't do it for me, so I kicked that habit. Until I started stopping at Sonic to get a Cherry Coke after my weekly OB appointments. I figured that it would do nothing to the baby, and of course, it didn't.

When I was pregnant with Evan, I cut out the caffeine in the first trimester, got over my morning sickness, and stayed off Pepsi for a while. I can't remember when I picked it back up, if at all.

Jenna's pregnancy ... totally different story. I RAISED that baby on Pepsi.

So now I suffer the payback. I open up a fresh bottle of Pepsi, I hear from the sweet little lips "pessi pease? pessi pease? PEASE?!?!?!" She sounds remotely like a drunkard when she asks.

What is that bright orb in the sky?

is .... is it .... the sun?!?!??!!?

I can't be! Because we haven't seen that for close to a week.

Wow. I just don't know what to do around here.

What do you mean I'm not getting any milk?

Patrick's birthday went off without a hitch. Well, if you consider the fact that, the night before, our stove decided to heat all the way up instead of turning off like a good little stove should "without a hitch" then it did. We got to take a trip to Lowes to purchase a new stove. Good thing for LOTS of Lowes credit. I wanted to stay away from Kenmore (Sears... the stove we had before) AND the control panel (because we are certain that is where the problem was), and we accomplished one out of two. I was just fine with the plain Jane, burner stove with the dial that turned the oven on. But Patrick loves his glass tops, so we settled for no Kenmore, but a control panel. And really, nowadays, there aren't many out there with the dials to turn the oven on (there was only ONE at Lowes), so the pickings were slim in that department.

So we are now the proud owners of a new stove, not because we WANT to be, but because we lost faith in the other one. The part was going to cost between $ 225 and $ 250, so really ... what is the point?

Mother's Day was wonderful. We got our picture taken at church, we went out to Cracker Barrel, went to my parents to let the kids run off some energy, and then came home. I even got a 2 hour nap in there. I suffered for it last night and didn't sleep well. Of course, who can sleep well when their smallest child decides that she is going to SCREECH at the top of her lungs at 12:15 because she had had a bad dream ... something about water "coming in." She was a little terrified, the sweet thing.

Last dance class, dress rehearsal, recital, and EOY party for Brownies this week. All about McCayla. Second to last week of class for me. Typical week for the rest of the family.

I don't think M will be returning to Becky's next year. She gets performance anxiety like nobody's business, already concocting her excuses on her way home from school on Mondays. Last week, her head hurt TWICE and her stomach hurt once. Daddy still made her go, and she survived. I can't WAIT for Saturday afternoon. She will be a REAL case then.

Mom, Bethany, McCayla, and I attended our church's Mother/Daughter dinner. It was nice. A friend from church came up and said "hey... aren't you missing a daughter?" Thanks, Sharon... ;)

While I was getting ready for the dinner, I was looking for a pair of shoes. I have a WHOLE bunch of clothes that I am going through in the bottom of my closet, so that means limited access to my shoes. I was looking and looking and looking for a pair on Saturday, and then just laid down on the clothes in defeat. Patrick came back with Evan, and Evan had asked for a glass of milk. Patrick said he would get it for him.... and then he said "oh no ... Mommy has collapsed." Evan's respons....

Does that mean I don't get my milk?

Tomorrow is someone's birthday

and I ain't sayin' who ... but he's gonna be 36. He has FINALLY caught up to me, and he will be the same as as me (finally) for six whole months!

Hopefully he has a good one. Evan couldn't wait to give him his birthday card so he gave it to him tonight. Evan couldn't understand why Patrick had to celebrate his birthday all day at Ace Hardware.

This afternoon, the Mormons came to our door while I was fixing dinner. McCayla yells "Mommy ..... someone is coming to the door!" and of course, I knew who it was immediately. There was no hiding from them, either as I had the front door open. It never fails that when I have the front door open, some child exclaims something loudly so they know we are there, or they stand and stare at the person at the front door.

Evan called them the Boney Brothers. I have no idea why. But it was pretty funny. They wanted to know if they could share their walk with Jesus Christ, and I said I didn't think so as I was a pretty devout Church of God'er. He wanted to know if there was anything that he could help me with. I said "you mean other than dinner? Well, no then."

Summer is coming

I can't wait for summer. I can't wait to stop having the morning fight with McCayla over what she is going to wear. I don't care if this child spends the whole summer in her bathing suit or Daisy Duke shorts, but at least there won't be a fight anymore! And this is just FIRST grade, people!

I bought her a pair of shorts over the weekend at our local Goodwill store. I was there, picking up some decorative tins to decorate for Universal Mama for our Earth Mama stocking. She saw them, wanted them, and I thought "ah... two bucks. Go ahead and get them." Did I look at the size? No. I assumed they looked to fit, but they are a 6X. So they are the *official* Daisy Dukes of the season. We have a pair every year. Last year, it was a pair of Osh Gosh or something like that ... and I think those were a 5T or something smaller ... she LOVED them. She reached for them first, and I didn't mind them being the lounge around the house shorts. But when she tried to venture out in them, she was yanked back in the house to change her clothes. So these shorts will be worn and loved all summer long, and then retired QUICKLY.

We need to start weeding through our clothes for the upcoming garage sale at the first of the month next month. I love the money we bring in, but MAN I hate preparing for them. But, we do them every year ... I don't think we have missed one yet. I remember when we had our "Moving Sale" in Lexington .. and people CAME INTO OUR HOUSE, wanting to purchase our couch. And with the state the couch is in now, I should have let them have it! I remember looking in the house where I had McCayla on the floor, sleeping, and there were these complete strangers standing in my living room!!

Two soccer games this weekend instead of three. That is good. Patrick is doing his yearly man duty and singing in the male chorus at church on Mother's Day. Now if I could just talk him into joining permanently. And the kids and I have to run out and get some Daddy birthday stuff for Friday. Mom and Dad are coming over to watch the kids for us so I can take him out to dinner. I am sure it will be to Tony's or The Gathering or an attempt at The Outback. Meat man.

Fab Friday

It has been a GOOD week, regardless of the fact that Evan had the vomiting, I've had the other way (for FOUR days now), and Jenna has had a touch of it with me. Evan went to his Kindergarten meeting last night at Whittier, and immediately wanted to know this morning why he was not boarding the bus with Sissy this morning. Bless his heart... he is so instant. So he went off to preschool this morning, looking very forward to the time when he can say he is a Kindergartner. It will be a special day here.

I am THREE ... count them THREE!!!!!!!!!!!! cases from being finished with work for the week. I am just avoiding the fact that today is dreaded audit day. I won't think of that now ... I will think of that later because, yes Miss Scarlett, tomorrow IS another day.

McCayla has Spring Fling tonight at Wilson Vance, so we will go over to that for a while (probably in separate cars) because then tonight .... I get to be with my SCRAPPIN' SISTAHS! Can't wait, ladies!!!!

Tomorrow, we have two soccer games, and Patrick is going over in the morning to a local school to beautify it. We have a soccer game on Sunday afternoon, and then NOTHING for the rest of the weekend. NOTHING!!! Maybe we can make a trip over to Fotown to get some plants or something from the store. I also want to pick up one of those trunk things where we can throw all the kids' outdoor toys. It looks like a daycare in my backyard (and a kindly gentleman who was looking for a flatbed trailer from an advertisement asked me if I was a professional babysitter ... so that tells you something... either I don't LOOK like my kids' mother, or we have too many toys in the backyard... I am going for the latter).

So that is the Friday and weekend in a nutshell. I am PRAYING for well children all weekend. It will be a nice change...

Totally bummed

McCayla put in her DVD from her Kindergarten program last year, and I always get teary-eyed when I watch it. And now I am truly bummed because her K teacher is retiring THIS year, taking her out of the running for Evan's teacher next year.

I am really upset about this. I never thought that I would become SOOO attached to a teacher, but I have. Mrs. Culver is an amazing teacher. I know we all have them in our lives, but truly this woman is amazing. She is so nurturing and caring and wonderful, and she would have been the perfect match for Evan, who has the same personality.

Alas, he will not have Mrs. C. I will only be able to say that one of my children was touched by this incredible woman.

On another note, I am looking into the summer to get the kids involved in things so they don't keep asking me "what are we doing today, Mommy?" I am signing M up for an art class up at the Toledo Museum of Art, and Evan will return for another year of Safety Town. We will have the dreaded Vacation Bible School during the third week of June, and of course, because our maniacal director insists on the WHOLE church being involved, there is no escaping having to help with that or be involved in some way.

So that has been my morning. Really exciting stuff.

But no choir tonight. No class. Just AT HOME for one night. Evan has his K meeting tomorrow night at school, so PawPaw will come over and watch Jenna and McCayla for Daddy, while I teach my Crim Pro class. I need to see if I can get in contact with a law enforcement officer of some type to come in and speak to my class on Tuesday night. Or some night. Gotta love guest speakers!

Patrick might be making a trip to Vermillion today with his boss. He hasn't been over there yet, so this will be an adventure for him.

Well, off I go. McCayla has decided that riding the bus isn't from the devil anymore, so she is back to that, which takes a LOT of pressure off of me, especially with having had a sick kid these last few days.

Play Doh

Jenna loves Play Doh. She loves to play with it. She loves to squish it in between her fingers. She loves to make pancakes and cookies with it.

Jenna loves Play Doh so much that she sends it through her intestinal tract.

This morning, I was blessed with a diaper full of green-tinted poo. She had helped herself to the blue Play Doh yesterday morning.

Yummy.