A Wild and Crazy Guy!

Grant is, at best, goofy. Someday, some teacher will tell me that he is the class clown and does things to make his friends laugh. If you've met his father, this won't come as a surprise.

Monday Night, he topped himself.

On a normal night, we put the kids to bed around 8 and after the routine is done, we're back downstairs by 8:30ish. Somewhere through the years, we've stopped going back up to check on them. They are good kids; they stay in their beds...even if they need something from us, they yell from their bed instead of getting out to come find us.

Monday was no different. Kids in bed by 8, adults watching TV and on computer by 8:30. Around 10:15 we stumbled upstairs to bed for ourselves. Here is where Monday took a detour!

Who do I find laying in my bed, eating my midnight snack? Grant!
We are still not sure if he had fallen asleep and got up thinking it was morning, or if he was just feeling mischievous. He certainly had been up for a while. He had:
- played in the tub (without water) as evidenced by the tub toys all lined up on the bottom of the tub
- Attempted to turn on the TV- he'd dragged in the step stool and left it sitting there. (He later reported that he wanted to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse- thus maybe thinking it was morning?)
- He was eating the dry cereal I keep by my bed (in case I get hungry when up feeding Chase in the middle of the night). He'd made quite a dent in that!
- Several of his favorite stuffed animals were all lined up on the bed resting with him...enough animals that he must have made several trips!

We could barely contain the laughter as we put all the pieces together! What a stinker.
When I asked him why he was in our room he said he'd "snuck in like a burglar".
When I wondered aloud how long he'd been there, he smugly announced "just 10 hours".

Silly man! I guess we'll have to go back to checking for a while, but I'll be checking with a smile!

Phoning it in...

Chase is still sickish but I am at work. There is nothing I can do to help him and they will call me if they really need me right...

I'm a bit tired from the whole sick baby-up all night- must be held thing... and I've exhausted myself with truth over at Changing our Weighs.

Tomorrow- a confusing and funny story about Grant. Today, hopefully a nap later.

I made it through the day!

Today, I was the stereotypical working mom who everyone doesn't want to be...

I sent my sick kids to school! I know, I shouldn't but it really couldn't be helped. (Daddy couldn't stay home either since he had been subpoenaed as a witness for court and Grandma was unavailable too.)

Chase has had a cold for almost a week and although it is winding down, he's still coughing. Sometimes the coughing triggers gagging and the gagging triggers vomit. I spent all day working as fast as I could just *knowing* that the call would come any minute... "Chase's mom, you have to come pick him up now..." But it didn't come.

Brianna was up until nearly 11:00 last night because she "just couldn't keep her eyes closed". I know- weird! But I think it had something to do with her cough, and her persistent fear of throwing up. She wouldn't admit it, but I'm sure she was laying there stressing over every little throat/stomach tickle.

If anyone is sick tomorrow, I can be a good mommy and stay home. SO- Murphy's law of parenting states that everyone will start improving tonight and be fine tomorrow.

Because thinking hurts my brain

Grant showing off a new sweatshirt!

The kids first "driving" lesson!

Brianna LOVES holding "baby Chase".

Cutie girl...

Big kids by the Christmas Tree.

Out of her mind!

Hello,

Jo is out of her mind today. She will be blogging over at Changing our Weighs. If you'd like to leave a message, please wait for the beep.


BEEEEEEPPPPPPPPP

From the mouths of babes!

Brianna doesn't really say funny things too often anymore but she definitely does funny things-

She has noticed that sometimes when I mix a bottle for the baby, after I've given it a good long shake, I hold it up above my head and stare at the bottom of the bottle. She has started doing this when she "feeds" her babies. It so cute how she mimics me. She walks around the house, bouncing the baby gently in one hand while shaking the bottle with the other. Finally, she lifts the bottle, stares at it, and finally pronounces it ready.

She's been doing this for several weeks and it never fails to make me smile. This week, I couldn't help but laugh with she finally asked me WHY I do that! :-) Sadly, now that she knows why, it doesn't seem as interesting to her anymore.

Grant is SUCH a character! When I picked him up from school Tuesday, his teacher couldn't wait to tell me this one-

While doing their "stations" that morning in preschool, the teachers had some music playing. They do that everyday... On this day, Ms. Mary had picked the latest album by Taylor Swift. Grant likes Taylor Swift, we listen to country on a regular basis in our house. Apparently, at one point, he just stopped coloring, looked up at his teacher, and said, "What's the big deal about being 15? I don't get it." Ms. Kim and Ms. Mary couldn't help themselves, they said they were crying from laughing so hard. Of course, with a reaction like that, now he repeats his famous statement every time the song comes on.

Chase... well, Chase doesn't say much of anything yet. But he laughs a lot! Especially when Brianna plays full body peekaboo with him. This basically means that Chase sits in someones lap on the couch, Brianna squats down in front of the couch so that she is almost out of site, and then pops up and says Peek-a-boo in a style slightly reminiscent of Molly Shannon's SNL- "Superstar!" character. Oh, the hysteria!!!! .... I should work on getting that one on video...

American Idol: Pants On The Ground

TOO, Too funny! Made my day....

The teacher side of me is screaming AMEN!

i-Tunes, Take me Away!

In an effort to escape to a happy place in the middle of the day... I turned on my i-Tunes and let it pick some songs for me.

The first 5 to show up were:
Spice Up Your Live- The Spice Girls
Speed of Life- Sugarland
The Right Kind of Wrong- LeAnn Rimes
Crazy Dreams- Carrie Underwood
Goodbye Earl- The Dixie Chicks

Other than the obvious pattern of country songs, I'm not sure what to think of these selections. Not bad at the concept of cheering me up, although the next few songs were all tear-jerkers!
Maybe some hidden message about my job or my life?

As usual, I'm probably over thinking things. :-)

Adventures in Accountability

I have been thinking about (knowing I should) lose weight for quite some time. That time is NOW! Why?

1. I am done having children so there won't be any more pregnant feasting.
2. We have a family wedding in Mexico this July and I'd like to feel slightly more comfortable in shorts and a bathing suit.
3. I want to live longer for my children.
4. I'm tired of being 2 people. (2 x's on the tops, digits starting with 2 on the pants).

I am lucky (and cursed) to have my husband along with me on the journey this time but I thought I needed more accountability. SOOOO, I volunteered to be a contributor on a new blog~ Changing our Weighs. You can see what I'm thinking every Tuesday over there.

Just Because

I feel my other blog entry for today was lame at best. Here are some pictures to help spice things up!



Chase at 4 months... he started "talking" that day and didn't stop for 2 weeks!













Chase on our faux-Christmas Morning. (Santa visited us a few days early so we could head on vacation).












Chase at my parents Christmas party/gathering. Every child MUST get a picture in this chair! :-)

The weekend of nothing!

This weekend, I barely ventured out of the house, Heck!, I barely ventured out of my house clothes! (You know, the ones that are warmer and less revealing than your pajamas but that you wouldn't actually wear in public.)

Friday- our school district had a SNOW DAY! That most glorious of all unplanned days off that does not involve a sick person or an emergency. And better still- it really was a fine day. The snow ended by 8ish and the roads were clear by mid-morning. I think they were just being "safe". On that day- I threw on some jeans to hit the grocery store mid-afternoon. Who knew that would be the last time I got dressed all weekend!

Saturday and Sunday- I don't know what I did all day! Cleaned, did laundry, fussed around the house, kept the family fed, watched a lot of NCIS and NCIS, LA that I was behind on. I think it was the perfect weekend!

Busy Days

Not that it is anything new, but I am unbelievably busy this week.

I am finishing up some committee projects this week while starting a new, HUGE, project with my students. And did I mention that I have a life, 3 kids, and a husband who expect things of me.

That being said, I have a new sticky note on my computer. It is my calming mantra for the new year....

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." -- Emerson

Bored, what's that?

When we were kids, we used to complain to my mom that we were "bored". She really hated that! Of course that was before home computers and video games and DVD players... but still.

Every once in a while, my kids tell me they are bored... that they have nothing to do. I think I may kill them the next time I hear that!

After this Christmas/Hanukkah they have between them:

• 2 personal DVD players
• A Nintendo DS
• 2 different Leapster/Leap pad reading systems
• More computer games than they can play in a year
• More movies than I've seen in a long time
• TOYS coming out the yahoo!
• Books, puzzles, games.
• OUTSIDE! (When it's not freezing)

Besides all that, I think I am jealous. I would love to have the luxury of being bored. Without laundry, cleaning, cooking, diapers, children to entertain, work to do, papers to grade... to sit in silence and genuinely say I have nothing to do. HA!