You all remember this blog? Occasionally, I update it but mostly I forget to do that so blogs are posted and then months go by with no resolution.
Back in November, I talked about how WF was struggling in school and we were thinking of pulling him. I called the district about having him out for the semester. I was told that unless I could prove that he was going on sabbatical, then there was no guarantee that he would get back into the school for 4th grade. This seriously tilted things because long term homeschooling or having two kids at two schools was not something I was interested in.
So we decided to keep him in school with careful monitoring. We have started scheduling playdates with kids from school to help him make friends. The theory being, if he can talk to them one on one, then in a group, he'll have an easier time talking to them. We've had a couple so far. One was pretty successful, the other I wouldn't say as much about. As for the bullying, I don't know if it is getting better but they are mostly having indoor recess and the bully is in another class so they haven't been interacting much. We'll keep a close eye on it, as it gets warmer and they start going outside again.
On a positive note, I'm pleased to report that his school work has gotten MUCH better. I add up the total number of points the kids could have gotten for the quarter and then what they did get to come up with a quarterly percentage. It makes more sense, in my head, that way and gives me an easy point of comparison for overall achievement. His first quarter percentage was 74%. His second quarter percentage was 87%!!!! His only two 1 (they use number instead of letters. 3 is grade level, 2 is working towards grade level and 1 is significantly below grade level) grades were in handwriting and does neat and careful work.
Right about the time everything else was happening, he got a 504 plan that allows him to use a laptop at school for writing because his handwriting is so terrible. We've done a couple of different handwriting programs, he has worked with the OT at school, etc, etc, etc and it just never got any better. Although the computer doesn't help with the spelling and such, at least the letters are formed properly and there are spaces between the words so I can figure out what he is trying to write. The VERY best part of his 504 plan? He gets to dictate his extended responses on the ISATs instead of writing them!!! If you have ever talked to him, you know the kid has a huge vocabulary and can talk your ears off. As long as he doesn't have to write it himself, he will rock ISATs. It also means that he won't be being graded in handwriting anymore, because he isn't writing. So good stuff!
While I didn't talk about her in November, we just new report cards so I'm going to brag about MF too for a minute. She was slightly below grade level in her reading during 1st quarter. Nothing horrible, just a little lower than they wanted her. By the end of second quarter, she had improved so significantly that even if she doesn't improve one single point for the rest of the year, she will still be at grade level! Plus, he handwriting is already better than his is.
I think there are several factors that contribute to that. Most importantly, she has the DESIRE to learn, where he never really did. Second, she had a consistent preschool experience, while he went where ever I happened to be working at the time. Third, they have different teachers. His teacher, who was super nice, didn't seem as focused on academics as her teacher is. During the whole first semester, his teacher didn't send home any homework, except for name writing work sheets. Her teacher sends home 2 letter sheets and a sight word sheet every week. Now that they have all the letters, she is sending home word sheets. She is learning to properly form the letters from the get go, instead of learning bad habits that he never unlearned.
Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Things that are going on
I was looking back at my blog yesterday and realized that aside from overheards, I haven't posted anything much at all for a while. So it is time for an update!
Back in April, we started looking at possibly buying a house. We don't have a lease where we live, exactly. My parents rent this place and sub-lease us the basement apartment so we can leave whenever but they have another year on the lease. The plan had been is look casually for awhile and get serious about the search a little after Christmas. This would have put us a little closer to the end of the lease and allowed us some time to save a little more money for closing and down payments and things. We started looking and right away found a house that we really liked, in our price range. We called the realtor and started the process of putting in an offer. Apparently, right before we called someone else called and put in a higher, cash, offer on the house. We decided we were too early in the process to get into a bidding war and passed on it.
We kept looking and saw several houses that were so not right. I found one that looked good. It was listed for 109k and had 1500 sq ft. We looked at it and decided that we really liked it. Our realtor told us that if we wanted it, we needed to move on it because he had 2 appointments over the weekend to see it as well. We opted to put in an offer that afternoon and he said he would call the next day with details about signing the contract. They ended up accepting our offer of 106k. The next day (Friday of Memorial Day weekend), he called and said that something happened with the house they were supposed to be buying (apparently, the woman couldn't afford it so she was selling it but once she had an offer, she quit paying her mortgage meaning she couldn't get a loan to move so they couldn't move so we couldn't move). They ended up, despite some finagling with extended closing dates and things, deciding to pull the house off the market completely. We were pretty bummed but kept looking, at least sort of.
A couple of weeks ago, we decided we should start looking in earnest again and looked at another bunch of houses. We looked at one that the neighborhood was a little dicey. The house was decent enough but the surrounding houses were not great. We also looked at an older one near us that the porch was falling off of and everything inside was scuffed and scraped and creaky. Then we looked at a house near the pool. It was listed at 114k had 1063 sq ft with a decent backyard and an attached garage. As soon as we walked inside, I was fairly sure I wanted the house. It has 3 bedrooms and a kitchen, dining room, living room combo. It is 2 blocks from the pool, a park and the schools the kids will go to when they are older. It is .2 miles closer to the school they go to now. After haggling for what seemed liked the whole night, we got them down to 107k. We got a signed contract the next day. We've met with the bank lady to sign things and we have the inspection Weds at 4. Assuming the inspection goes well and the house appraises out ok (it should but you never know), we will close on July 30th. The plan is to do the painting (the house is a nice neutral color but to get the kids excited about the move away from Nonni and the only house either one has ever known, we promised they could paint their bedrooms) and some cleaning that weekend and start moving over the next week. RF has vacation the second week of August so anything not done by then will get finished up that week.
The long term plan is convert the garage into a family room, although I intend to use it as such right away. The kids can just deal with the concrete floor and avoid the door until we can take it out and add a real floor with carpet. Eventually, we want to move the door to the back yard over and add a second bathroom, at least a half bath, anyway.
That is the big news but other news is that we are out of school for the summer and spending lots of time hanging out at the pool. Wild Freak is doing College for Kids last week and this, which is cutting into our pool time but he is having fun with it. He is doing Lights, Camera, Action. So far, they have done an infomercial and a talk show. MF got into WF's school (not that siblings generally get separated but it can happen) We requested a different teacher for her than WF had. His teacher was nice enough but I think that MF needs a more consistent structure. We'll find out at registration who she gets so we are excited for that. DSD is also visiting this summer. She is staying with MIL during the week and visits us on Sunday and Monday when RF is off. Things are a little better than summers past, but I think it has as much to do with limited contact as anything else. She goes home in about 10 days. I've learned how to knit as well this summer. I made a skinny scarf for MF and I've started a scarf for WF. It is supposed to be ribbed, but I think I've done something wrong, since it has no pattern to it at all.
Back in April, we started looking at possibly buying a house. We don't have a lease where we live, exactly. My parents rent this place and sub-lease us the basement apartment so we can leave whenever but they have another year on the lease. The plan had been is look casually for awhile and get serious about the search a little after Christmas. This would have put us a little closer to the end of the lease and allowed us some time to save a little more money for closing and down payments and things. We started looking and right away found a house that we really liked, in our price range. We called the realtor and started the process of putting in an offer. Apparently, right before we called someone else called and put in a higher, cash, offer on the house. We decided we were too early in the process to get into a bidding war and passed on it.
We kept looking and saw several houses that were so not right. I found one that looked good. It was listed for 109k and had 1500 sq ft. We looked at it and decided that we really liked it. Our realtor told us that if we wanted it, we needed to move on it because he had 2 appointments over the weekend to see it as well. We opted to put in an offer that afternoon and he said he would call the next day with details about signing the contract. They ended up accepting our offer of 106k. The next day (Friday of Memorial Day weekend), he called and said that something happened with the house they were supposed to be buying (apparently, the woman couldn't afford it so she was selling it but once she had an offer, she quit paying her mortgage meaning she couldn't get a loan to move so they couldn't move so we couldn't move). They ended up, despite some finagling with extended closing dates and things, deciding to pull the house off the market completely. We were pretty bummed but kept looking, at least sort of.
A couple of weeks ago, we decided we should start looking in earnest again and looked at another bunch of houses. We looked at one that the neighborhood was a little dicey. The house was decent enough but the surrounding houses were not great. We also looked at an older one near us that the porch was falling off of and everything inside was scuffed and scraped and creaky. Then we looked at a house near the pool. It was listed at 114k had 1063 sq ft with a decent backyard and an attached garage. As soon as we walked inside, I was fairly sure I wanted the house. It has 3 bedrooms and a kitchen, dining room, living room combo. It is 2 blocks from the pool, a park and the schools the kids will go to when they are older. It is .2 miles closer to the school they go to now. After haggling for what seemed liked the whole night, we got them down to 107k. We got a signed contract the next day. We've met with the bank lady to sign things and we have the inspection Weds at 4. Assuming the inspection goes well and the house appraises out ok (it should but you never know), we will close on July 30th. The plan is to do the painting (the house is a nice neutral color but to get the kids excited about the move away from Nonni and the only house either one has ever known, we promised they could paint their bedrooms) and some cleaning that weekend and start moving over the next week. RF has vacation the second week of August so anything not done by then will get finished up that week.
The long term plan is convert the garage into a family room, although I intend to use it as such right away. The kids can just deal with the concrete floor and avoid the door until we can take it out and add a real floor with carpet. Eventually, we want to move the door to the back yard over and add a second bathroom, at least a half bath, anyway.
That is the big news but other news is that we are out of school for the summer and spending lots of time hanging out at the pool. Wild Freak is doing College for Kids last week and this, which is cutting into our pool time but he is having fun with it. He is doing Lights, Camera, Action. So far, they have done an infomercial and a talk show. MF got into WF's school (not that siblings generally get separated but it can happen) We requested a different teacher for her than WF had. His teacher was nice enough but I think that MF needs a more consistent structure. We'll find out at registration who she gets so we are excited for that. DSD is also visiting this summer. She is staying with MIL during the week and visits us on Sunday and Monday when RF is off. Things are a little better than summers past, but I think it has as much to do with limited contact as anything else. She goes home in about 10 days. I've learned how to knit as well this summer. I made a skinny scarf for MF and I've started a scarf for WF. It is supposed to be ribbed, but I think I've done something wrong, since it has no pattern to it at all.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
I'm dyeing over here
The drawback of facebook is that I post status updates there fairly frequently and don't update over here hardly at all. Some of the highlights of the last few weeks:
-The Boy turned 8 last month and we went to Bloomington to the rock gym for his party and the kids had a great time. The kid that ran the party (he was 18 or 19 but that is still a kid IMO) was pretty impressed with TB's climbing and suggested he consider the climbing team. I pointed out to the kid that we live in CU and that was too far to drive. I checked the only rock wall we have locally and it is a small wall (34 feet, compared to the 65 he climbed up there) and mostly focused on classes for outdoor climbing and not really for kids. I thought some more about it and we signed him up for the team. We will be driving 45 minutes to Bloomington twice a week, starting in January. Plus other competition around the midwest various weekends throughout the spring. Crazy? Yes. Will he love it? I hope so.
-I'm busily wreaking havoc and creating chaos where I go. I have adopted a new cause. At school, the music teacher has decided that, instead of doing a holiday concert for all the kids, that she wants to concentrate on doing musicals with only the 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade. K, 2nd and 4th won't perform at all. I don't agree with this. Even if my kid were performing, I would be angry at the injustice of this (Like a young friend of mine, I have a "highly develop sense of justice"). So I'm pursuing a way to address the performance needs of these kids through various means. At this point, I'm championing the inclusion of an after school music program, run much like our after school Spanish, self defense, jump rope, drama, etc.
-The biggest announcement? I got a new job! I'm working at MT's preschool. Earlier in the year, I asked the director if she was looking for subs. She said she was always looking for subs and suggested that I apply for it online. I attempted it, but there were no positions listed as available. I contacted HR and they contacted the director who told me that she made an error but to hold off, because there would be an regular teaching position coming open soon. She suggested I apply for it and, then several times over the next few weeks, updated me on the status of the posting. I went in last week for an interview, she called my references that afternoon and offered me the job the next day. Right now, I'm working in the 5 day class but once they get one more person hired to cover some off site classes, I will move to the 3 day class. That happens to be MT's class and she will be moving to the 5 day class since me being her teacher won't work out well.
-The title's meaning? As many of you know, I have a tendency to ruin clothes. Working in a messy environment, such as preschool, only ups the chance that I will spill or splash something on myself. I went a bought a bunch of plain undershirts to wear to work so I don't destroy my regular clothes but after 2 days of plain gray shirts, I was already bored. That didn't bode well for the rest of the year. So today, I went and got some Rit dye and tonight I spend some time wrapping rubber bands around sections of cloth and dropping them in blue dye in my sink. Tomorrow, I intend to wrap the other side of the shirt and dunking it in green to make some pretty blue and green tie-dyed shirts. So, tonight, I'm dyeing over here :)
-The Boy turned 8 last month and we went to Bloomington to the rock gym for his party and the kids had a great time. The kid that ran the party (he was 18 or 19 but that is still a kid IMO) was pretty impressed with TB's climbing and suggested he consider the climbing team. I pointed out to the kid that we live in CU and that was too far to drive. I checked the only rock wall we have locally and it is a small wall (34 feet, compared to the 65 he climbed up there) and mostly focused on classes for outdoor climbing and not really for kids. I thought some more about it and we signed him up for the team. We will be driving 45 minutes to Bloomington twice a week, starting in January. Plus other competition around the midwest various weekends throughout the spring. Crazy? Yes. Will he love it? I hope so.
-I'm busily wreaking havoc and creating chaos where I go. I have adopted a new cause. At school, the music teacher has decided that, instead of doing a holiday concert for all the kids, that she wants to concentrate on doing musicals with only the 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade. K, 2nd and 4th won't perform at all. I don't agree with this. Even if my kid were performing, I would be angry at the injustice of this (Like a young friend of mine, I have a "highly develop sense of justice"). So I'm pursuing a way to address the performance needs of these kids through various means. At this point, I'm championing the inclusion of an after school music program, run much like our after school Spanish, self defense, jump rope, drama, etc.
-The biggest announcement? I got a new job! I'm working at MT's preschool. Earlier in the year, I asked the director if she was looking for subs. She said she was always looking for subs and suggested that I apply for it online. I attempted it, but there were no positions listed as available. I contacted HR and they contacted the director who told me that she made an error but to hold off, because there would be an regular teaching position coming open soon. She suggested I apply for it and, then several times over the next few weeks, updated me on the status of the posting. I went in last week for an interview, she called my references that afternoon and offered me the job the next day. Right now, I'm working in the 5 day class but once they get one more person hired to cover some off site classes, I will move to the 3 day class. That happens to be MT's class and she will be moving to the 5 day class since me being her teacher won't work out well.
-The title's meaning? As many of you know, I have a tendency to ruin clothes. Working in a messy environment, such as preschool, only ups the chance that I will spill or splash something on myself. I went a bought a bunch of plain undershirts to wear to work so I don't destroy my regular clothes but after 2 days of plain gray shirts, I was already bored. That didn't bode well for the rest of the year. So today, I went and got some Rit dye and tonight I spend some time wrapping rubber bands around sections of cloth and dropping them in blue dye in my sink. Tomorrow, I intend to wrap the other side of the shirt and dunking it in green to make some pretty blue and green tie-dyed shirts. So, tonight, I'm dyeing over here :)
Friday, September 18, 2009
Wow
It is 7:15. I've been in my jammies since 3:30. I've watched one of the movies I rented from the library. I've completed the school directory. I'm still struggling with the labels and I hate them (if you ever do labels in Word for Mac, email me, I need help). They look crazy cool, if I could just get them to print right. I am watching "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" out of desperation. I'm considering getting redressed and going to the library for an iced coffee before maybe meeting RF for a late dinner. I'm bored to FREAKING tears.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Weekend in review
Friday
Spent the day shopping and cleaning for the 4th
Saturday
Spent the morning cleaning and monitoring Twitter for 4th updates
Took a nap in the afternoon, in case fireworks were a go
They weren't but we still had our cookout, it just became a cook-in.
Lots of people in my little house but everyone had fun and ate way too much
Sunday
Morning workout, while my mom took the kids to the park
Then my parents decided it was too nice of a day to stay at home so we took the kids to BN
They had a lot of fun playing in the sprayers at Miller Park (even if it was cold water) then we did Chuck E Cheese for lunch
We were joined by Ms. LL and family for fireworks later.
I was a little disappointed to miss the Brat Pack on Parkland but after seeing the traffic by my house, I realized it was SO not worth the hassle to see them
Today
I got nothin'
Maybe a trip to the pool and possibly park this evening
On a not weekend related note, I'm not doing weight watchers this week. I haven't been feeling it for the past couple of weeks and have been slogging through anyway. I've also been stuck at the same weight for the past 2 weeks and I'm not pleased. I've said all along that my goal was 150 but that I would quit if it got hard. Instead of quitting out right, I'm not doing it this week, at all. I'm not tracking, I'm not weighing, I'm not measuring, nothing. Saturday, at the meeting, we'll see how I'm doing and how I feel about starting up next week. I'm paid through the 20th of August and I have until the 2nd of August to decide if I want to keep it up. I'll know way before then if this is the end of my weight loss journey
Spent the day shopping and cleaning for the 4th
Saturday
Spent the morning cleaning and monitoring Twitter for 4th updates
Took a nap in the afternoon, in case fireworks were a go
They weren't but we still had our cookout, it just became a cook-in.
Lots of people in my little house but everyone had fun and ate way too much
Sunday
Morning workout, while my mom took the kids to the park
Then my parents decided it was too nice of a day to stay at home so we took the kids to BN
They had a lot of fun playing in the sprayers at Miller Park (even if it was cold water) then we did Chuck E Cheese for lunch
We were joined by Ms. LL and family for fireworks later.
I was a little disappointed to miss the Brat Pack on Parkland but after seeing the traffic by my house, I realized it was SO not worth the hassle to see them
Today
I got nothin'
Maybe a trip to the pool and possibly park this evening
On a not weekend related note, I'm not doing weight watchers this week. I haven't been feeling it for the past couple of weeks and have been slogging through anyway. I've also been stuck at the same weight for the past 2 weeks and I'm not pleased. I've said all along that my goal was 150 but that I would quit if it got hard. Instead of quitting out right, I'm not doing it this week, at all. I'm not tracking, I'm not weighing, I'm not measuring, nothing. Saturday, at the meeting, we'll see how I'm doing and how I feel about starting up next week. I'm paid through the 20th of August and I have until the 2nd of August to decide if I want to keep it up. I'll know way before then if this is the end of my weight loss journey
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Wild Weekend
Yesterday morning, I went to Weight Watchers at 8:15. There, I found out that I lost 5.8 pounds and I was crazy excited. The leader asked if she could give me my 5lb star during the meeting and I said "are you kidding me, I'm screaming this one from the rooftops"! LOL Incidentally, I need to mention that I thought those little rewards were kind of lame. I mean a ball of name tags or a little fuzzy flower? Lame, really really lame. That is, until I got them. I got a 5lb star, a little bravo star for walking 3 miles on Monday and the baby biggest loser flower. I was outrageously excited to get those things, which is just a little sad.
After my meeting, I ran home and picked up the kids to go to our post-Easter egg hunt. Loosey is a genius for scheduling this like she did. First because it wouldn't conflict with the million other egg hunts that go on in town and second because everything was on clearance. The kids had a great time. Loosey did a fab job of roping off areas of the yard and separating the big kids from the little kids. MT was a little angry when she was done getting eggs and saw that the other half the yard was still full of them. She was able to be distracted by a cookie and quickly got over it :) TB ended up with the big prize egg, which had a Cars car in it.
We came home and sorted through their eggs and then headed to the Biology open house on campus. Originally, MT was supposed to stay home with my mom but because my aunt was in town she couldn't. I promised her that there would be a real crab, like Mr. Krabs and she decided she wanted to go. I lucked into parking just across the street from the building but it was near the back door (apparently, nothing said that) so we had to wonder around for awhile because there were no signs telling us where to go. We finally found someone that had a Biology shirt on who directed us to the right place. They got to see a baking soda and vinegar volcano, extract DNA from a strawberry, dig for fossils, hold and pet real crabs, and attempt to make their own ice cream. MT was much more interested in holding the crabs than TB was. He poked at them, but wouldn't hold them.
We came home and the kids played outside for awhile, then MT came downstairs, asked to lay down with a blanket and promptly fell asleep. After she woke up, we had dinner. My aunt and uncle are visiting and when they come down, he always gets steak and grills it for dinner one night. Last night was the night. I knew it was coming so I saved my points so I could have steak and a baked potato. I was little sad that I couldn't have a second baked potato because I didn't save that many points. I was going to have some popcorn to finish off my points, but I was too tired to actually make it so I passed and went to bed.
This morning we got up and I took TB to see Hotel For Dogs. It was cuter than I expected but it was a Nick movie so it wasn't stellar cinema.
After that, we went to Ruby Tuesday for lunch. I was good, only having the salad bar. Apparently, everyone else was super starved so by the time I ate my one small plate, they were done so it was time to go.
After lunch, my mom and I took MT and TB to the library. TB wanted to go to the Pokemon club. My mom took MT and entertained her for awhile. I sat with TB and tried to figure out the rules of the game and I'm fairly certain so that if I really tried to understand it, my head would explode! There are so many rules and special exceptions and conditions and all kinds of stupid nonsense. However, he was in hog heaven and the guy that runs it is very helpful. He spent a lot of time helping TB figure out strategy and learn some of the rules.
When we left the library and headed for brain awareness day at Lincoln Square. They had several brain themed stations set up, including one where you could make a play-doh brain. They also had a giant ant farm, showing how they work as a collective brain, they had a sea slug that you could hold (MT did TB wouldn't). But the big hit of the day was holding the REAL brains. They had real human brains out for the kids to see and touch. MT picked it up, hefted it, showed it to me, talked about it, etc. TB poked at it, looked at it and said he was done. MT can't wait to go to school tomorrow to tell the kids she got a hold a brain. TB doesn't want to talk about it.
When they had their fill of brains, we went to Target to buy him a Pokemon deck so he doesn't have to borrow one again next week. We came home from there and I helped him sort his cards and MT watched TV.
Then we went to dinner at Monical's. I was STARVING but I knew we were going to be there so I saved plenty of points for running wild. The problem was, when dining with my aunt and uncle and other uncle, one should never plan on eating in ay kind of a timely fashion. It forever to order their food, just like it always does. This was even at a restaurant that offers a gluten free option. I went with the foot long turkey sub, no mayo, one bread stick, a dab of cheese (thanks Quigs for looking up those points for me) and a big salad. I'm very full but I ended up 2 points under for the day, even with that big dinner.
We came home and the kids played for about 5 minutes before MT melted down completely and asked to come in the house and watch TV. As soon as her show was over, she crashed and now I'm sitting here on the couch, deciding whether I want to do a little scrapbooking of if I just want to go to bed. I'm worn out and I'm thinking bed might win.
After my meeting, I ran home and picked up the kids to go to our post-Easter egg hunt. Loosey is a genius for scheduling this like she did. First because it wouldn't conflict with the million other egg hunts that go on in town and second because everything was on clearance. The kids had a great time. Loosey did a fab job of roping off areas of the yard and separating the big kids from the little kids. MT was a little angry when she was done getting eggs and saw that the other half the yard was still full of them. She was able to be distracted by a cookie and quickly got over it :) TB ended up with the big prize egg, which had a Cars car in it.
We came home and sorted through their eggs and then headed to the Biology open house on campus. Originally, MT was supposed to stay home with my mom but because my aunt was in town she couldn't. I promised her that there would be a real crab, like Mr. Krabs and she decided she wanted to go. I lucked into parking just across the street from the building but it was near the back door (apparently, nothing said that) so we had to wonder around for awhile because there were no signs telling us where to go. We finally found someone that had a Biology shirt on who directed us to the right place. They got to see a baking soda and vinegar volcano, extract DNA from a strawberry, dig for fossils, hold and pet real crabs, and attempt to make their own ice cream. MT was much more interested in holding the crabs than TB was. He poked at them, but wouldn't hold them.
We came home and the kids played outside for awhile, then MT came downstairs, asked to lay down with a blanket and promptly fell asleep. After she woke up, we had dinner. My aunt and uncle are visiting and when they come down, he always gets steak and grills it for dinner one night. Last night was the night. I knew it was coming so I saved my points so I could have steak and a baked potato. I was little sad that I couldn't have a second baked potato because I didn't save that many points. I was going to have some popcorn to finish off my points, but I was too tired to actually make it so I passed and went to bed.
This morning we got up and I took TB to see Hotel For Dogs. It was cuter than I expected but it was a Nick movie so it wasn't stellar cinema.
After that, we went to Ruby Tuesday for lunch. I was good, only having the salad bar. Apparently, everyone else was super starved so by the time I ate my one small plate, they were done so it was time to go.
After lunch, my mom and I took MT and TB to the library. TB wanted to go to the Pokemon club. My mom took MT and entertained her for awhile. I sat with TB and tried to figure out the rules of the game and I'm fairly certain so that if I really tried to understand it, my head would explode! There are so many rules and special exceptions and conditions and all kinds of stupid nonsense. However, he was in hog heaven and the guy that runs it is very helpful. He spent a lot of time helping TB figure out strategy and learn some of the rules.
When we left the library and headed for brain awareness day at Lincoln Square. They had several brain themed stations set up, including one where you could make a play-doh brain. They also had a giant ant farm, showing how they work as a collective brain, they had a sea slug that you could hold (MT did TB wouldn't). But the big hit of the day was holding the REAL brains. They had real human brains out for the kids to see and touch. MT picked it up, hefted it, showed it to me, talked about it, etc. TB poked at it, looked at it and said he was done. MT can't wait to go to school tomorrow to tell the kids she got a hold a brain. TB doesn't want to talk about it.
When they had their fill of brains, we went to Target to buy him a Pokemon deck so he doesn't have to borrow one again next week. We came home from there and I helped him sort his cards and MT watched TV.
Then we went to dinner at Monical's. I was STARVING but I knew we were going to be there so I saved plenty of points for running wild. The problem was, when dining with my aunt and uncle and other uncle, one should never plan on eating in ay kind of a timely fashion. It forever to order their food, just like it always does. This was even at a restaurant that offers a gluten free option. I went with the foot long turkey sub, no mayo, one bread stick, a dab of cheese (thanks Quigs for looking up those points for me) and a big salad. I'm very full but I ended up 2 points under for the day, even with that big dinner.
We came home and the kids played for about 5 minutes before MT melted down completely and asked to come in the house and watch TV. As soon as her show was over, she crashed and now I'm sitting here on the couch, deciding whether I want to do a little scrapbooking of if I just want to go to bed. I'm worn out and I'm thinking bed might win.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Busy busy weekend
Friday was FunFest at school. I was part of the planning committee and was getting kind of stressed out toward the end. I had big fears that it wasn't going to go well (as I usually do for these kinds of things). My dad picked the kids up at 2, so I could help set up. I told him "I'll be home between 3:30 and 4, no biggie". At 5, I finally drug myself through the door. Just in time to change clothes (I was FILTHY from cleaning the rooms and setting stuff up) and head back in time for food. The entry way was awfully busy and as it turned out, I was glad we didn't have to mess with eating. Quigs and Looseyfur joined us and we sat with them for a few minutes until X-man decided he needed to go play games and Mr. Quigs got there to help with her kids. Then we went to play games. Some of the rooms were better than others. The Wii room seemed to go pretty well (big sigh of relief since that was my idea) and many of the other rooms were really fun. We ran around all night until 8, when everything closed down. Then the kids came home and spent the night with my mom.
Saturday, we got up and went to the free movie. After that, we had lunch, then I took TB to the kid's photography clinic at the library. He had a good time and came away from it with a lot more questions about how to take better pictures. We spent some time sitting out front on the wall, practicing using shutter speed on the passing cars. He was figuring out how to either freeze motion or pan and blur, which was kind of cool. After that, we decided the weather was too fab to stay home so we went to the park. I put out a call to everyone and Quigs and her fab fam joined us and the kids had a really good time. At least until MT had to pee and I couldn't get Quigs garage door opener to work. then MT Supermanned off the swing and landed on her face. I laughed a little, but then felt bad when she was laying in the dirt crying, picking wood chips out of her mouth. We came home, fed everyone KFC and put the kids to bed early.
Today, I got up and thought that it was nice, we should take the kids to the park. But while we were gone, I wanted to call my FIL and have him and my dad put up the trampoline. I called my mom and found out that my dad was planning to take the motorcycle out and wouldn't be around. I said "screw it" and I called FIL and asked if he would help ME set it up. He said he would and my mom and the kids and I set about cleaning up the yard and figuring out where to put it. We cleaned the yard for about 2 hours, then I started unpacking the parts of the trampoline and my mom and I started the basics of assembly. We didn't get far when MIL and FIL showed up and they started helping. We got the frame assembled (with much cursed and beating involved) and started on stretching out the mat, when my dad finally showed up. We finished setting it up (with more cursing and yelling and fending off the kids who demanded "is it done yet" every 2 minutes). Once it was done, the kids jumped on it and then got the adults involved. MIL and FIL both got on it and then they got me on. I had a really good time but it was kicking my ass! I promised the kids that I would jump with each of them for 5 minutes and after the first 2, I was ready to be done. My brother came over for dinner and had to have a turn and RF jumped on it as soon as he came through the gate.
I got up to get ice cream a little bit ago and it feels like I got beaten with the trampoline, instead of putting it together. Now I'm going to bed and read for a little bit. School for one but not the other tomorrow, which is a little crazy. TB is pretty excited that he gets to hang out here without his sister all morning. :)
Saturday, we got up and went to the free movie. After that, we had lunch, then I took TB to the kid's photography clinic at the library. He had a good time and came away from it with a lot more questions about how to take better pictures. We spent some time sitting out front on the wall, practicing using shutter speed on the passing cars. He was figuring out how to either freeze motion or pan and blur, which was kind of cool. After that, we decided the weather was too fab to stay home so we went to the park. I put out a call to everyone and Quigs and her fab fam joined us and the kids had a really good time. At least until MT had to pee and I couldn't get Quigs garage door opener to work. then MT Supermanned off the swing and landed on her face. I laughed a little, but then felt bad when she was laying in the dirt crying, picking wood chips out of her mouth. We came home, fed everyone KFC and put the kids to bed early.
Today, I got up and thought that it was nice, we should take the kids to the park. But while we were gone, I wanted to call my FIL and have him and my dad put up the trampoline. I called my mom and found out that my dad was planning to take the motorcycle out and wouldn't be around. I said "screw it" and I called FIL and asked if he would help ME set it up. He said he would and my mom and the kids and I set about cleaning up the yard and figuring out where to put it. We cleaned the yard for about 2 hours, then I started unpacking the parts of the trampoline and my mom and I started the basics of assembly. We didn't get far when MIL and FIL showed up and they started helping. We got the frame assembled (with much cursed and beating involved) and started on stretching out the mat, when my dad finally showed up. We finished setting it up (with more cursing and yelling and fending off the kids who demanded "is it done yet" every 2 minutes). Once it was done, the kids jumped on it and then got the adults involved. MIL and FIL both got on it and then they got me on. I had a really good time but it was kicking my ass! I promised the kids that I would jump with each of them for 5 minutes and after the first 2, I was ready to be done. My brother came over for dinner and had to have a turn and RF jumped on it as soon as he came through the gate.
I got up to get ice cream a little bit ago and it feels like I got beaten with the trampoline, instead of putting it together. Now I'm going to bed and read for a little bit. School for one but not the other tomorrow, which is a little crazy. TB is pretty excited that he gets to hang out here without his sister all morning. :)
Friday, February 20, 2009
Big update-y update
So Purple Cow accused me of being inconsistant in my blogging. I seriously have 15 posts written in my head that just never make it to the page. When I sit down at the computer, it sucks all the brain out of my head and with it my posts. Plus, I'm in a winter slump and the deepest thoughts I can manage are what clothes to wear each day. Normally, I don't do updates that often because I see a lot of you regularly and I figure the rest don't care about my day to day stuff. But there is a lot of stuff to talk about so you are getting a paragraph update :)
I picked up my van tonight from Tatman's. In case you don't know, it was parked at Christie parking lot a couple of weeks ago and a guy was pulling into the space in front of it and missed the break, hitting the gas instead. I had a couple of puncture holes in the front bumper but he busted his radiator. It still cost over $800 to get it fixed. We took it in yesterday and I have driving a Grand Prix for the last 2 days. Even though it was a "full size" car, it was tiny and little and I'm super glad to have my van back.
I some super b-day presents all ready for my upcoming celebration. I'm trying to decide if the Happy Bunny would be acceptable as a purse :)
Looseyfur commented the other day "well you guys don't have jobs so it is ok" I knew what she meant and it didn't bother me. However, I've been filling out some online surveys and then yesterday at Enterprise it happened too. The guy askd where I worked and I said "at home" because I dare anyone to tell me that a SAHM doesn't work and he said "what is the business name" I told him no name (although I should make one up and just use it from now on), I was a SAHM and he said "oh, so you don't work at all them" WTF? Seriously?
Apparently, I don't possess the ability to suspend disbelief enough for Lost. I can read all these wacky vampire books where vamps and witches and shapeshifters and demons are all real. I can watch Lost and buy smoke monsters, polar bears in the jungle, secret organizations doing experiments, etc etc etc. But time travel? No way, get real! LOL
It occured to me today (after busting Quigs' chops a little about not posting) that I hadn't logged into Blogger for 3 days. No wonder I didn't think anyone had updated. Duh!
This kid is all kinds of awesome! I wonder if he needs plain folk support for his cause? (I'll post a video of his interview if I can find it)
Finally a conversation with MT.
MT: yak yak yak, something about laser tag
Me: nods head
MT: yak yak something else about laser tag (I swear to God she talked about laser tag for over 10 minutes by this point in the conversation, I had moved on)
Me: nods again
MT: MOM, you need to respond to me when I talk to you!
Me:I did respond, I nodded
MT: Well I can't hear your brain rattle, now can I?
ROFL
I picked up my van tonight from Tatman's. In case you don't know, it was parked at Christie parking lot a couple of weeks ago and a guy was pulling into the space in front of it and missed the break, hitting the gas instead. I had a couple of puncture holes in the front bumper but he busted his radiator. It still cost over $800 to get it fixed. We took it in yesterday and I have driving a Grand Prix for the last 2 days. Even though it was a "full size" car, it was tiny and little and I'm super glad to have my van back.
I some super b-day presents all ready for my upcoming celebration. I'm trying to decide if the Happy Bunny would be acceptable as a purse :)
Looseyfur commented the other day "well you guys don't have jobs so it is ok" I knew what she meant and it didn't bother me. However, I've been filling out some online surveys and then yesterday at Enterprise it happened too. The guy askd where I worked and I said "at home" because I dare anyone to tell me that a SAHM doesn't work and he said "what is the business name" I told him no name (although I should make one up and just use it from now on), I was a SAHM and he said "oh, so you don't work at all them" WTF? Seriously?
Apparently, I don't possess the ability to suspend disbelief enough for Lost. I can read all these wacky vampire books where vamps and witches and shapeshifters and demons are all real. I can watch Lost and buy smoke monsters, polar bears in the jungle, secret organizations doing experiments, etc etc etc. But time travel? No way, get real! LOL
It occured to me today (after busting Quigs' chops a little about not posting) that I hadn't logged into Blogger for 3 days. No wonder I didn't think anyone had updated. Duh!
This kid is all kinds of awesome! I wonder if he needs plain folk support for his cause? (I'll post a video of his interview if I can find it)
Finally a conversation with MT.
MT: yak yak yak, something about laser tag
Me: nods head
MT: yak yak something else about laser tag (I swear to God she talked about laser tag for over 10 minutes by this point in the conversation, I had moved on)
Me: nods again
MT: MOM, you need to respond to me when I talk to you!
Me:I did respond, I nodded
MT: Well I can't hear your brain rattle, now can I?
ROFL
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Operation: Clean the damn house (and a few other things)
As part of O:CTDH that I started before Christmas, I spent most of yesterday and part of today getting it back in order from Christmas break. Heaven help us when summer comes but hopefully by then it will be a habit to clean regularly and not such a dramatic thing. My house looked like wild raving animals took it over for awhile. But it is much better now! After I did the generaly clean up, I moved on to scrubbing the bathroom. Usually, I just wipe everything down with Clorox every few days and call that good enough. It disinfects, it gets the toothpaste out of the sink, it is good enough (no matter what, the bathroom with always be my weak spot in cleaning). But today I scrubbed the hell out of it. I got out the "soft cleaner" and attacked that mess. I climbed into the shower and went over every inch of it, getting it clean (don't get me wrong, it doesn't look clean because it is old and stained and I think I might have created some toxic gas trying to get it unstained when we moved in but I assure you that it is, in fact, clean). It makes me smile a little every time I go in the bathroom and see the couple of unstained parts sparkle just smidge :) You know you are truly pathetic when a slightly sparkly shower surrond makes you smile.
Tomorrow, I finish the bathroom, which includes the sweeping and mopping, knocking down cobwebs, and scrubbing the outside of the tub and the walls with the Magic Eraser. If I can manage that in a reasonable amount of time, I'll start on my bedroom, which I'm not looking forward too. I have to move my bed and clean all the crap that has fallen under it over the past however many months. Not appealing in the slightest and a definate factor in saving it for last (and the fact that is has a door that I can shut so no has to see the mess when they come over :) ).
Wii Fit is kicking my butt. According to it, I'm doing nothing but gaining weight (which is somewhat odd, since I haven't gained any weight since I had the kids). I gained 50 lbs with The Boy, never lost it, had Ms Thang, lost a little from being sick but gained it back by the end of the pregnancy. Since then, my weight has fluxed a pound here or there but since I started doing the Fit, I've gained 6 lbs, with no change to my diet or activity level, aside from commiting to 20 on the board each day. Something fishy if you ask me! However, I'm a hula hooping champion and I rock the yoga. My sides are also sore (from hula hooping, I assume) and my let leg hurts so it is doing something at least.
TB was late getting out of school and when I asked him why he said "my teacher held me back and told me to talk to you about *sarcastic mimic*being responsible with my hair" He explained that people want to touch the hawk and he doesn't want them to so he was running in the classroom, trying to get away from someone that wanted to touch him. I told him that if someone wanted to touch it and he didn't want them to all he needed to do was say "do not touch me" at whatever volume he needed to use to get results. He said they aren't allowed to yell in school and I pointed out that he can't run in school or hit in school either so what other choice did he have, really? He probably shouldn't snarl, like I did in a pregnany hormone induced frenzy when some old lady that I didn't know rubbed my belly without asking "How would you like if I walked over and grabbed your boob? You wouldn't like that? Then keep your damn hands to yourself, you old bag" Obviously, I don't deal well with handsy people LOL
When I got home, I had an email from the teacher telling me her side of it. She said that "his hair is becoming a distraction to himself and others" She said that he is rubbing it in people's faces (he says this is in response to people pulling it) and letting some people play with it. I don't know if that meant that he is letting people play with it in class and it is disruptive or if he is only letting some people touch his hair and not everyone. IMO, he can't control what other people do, only himself, so disruptions to other people are not my problem. I did point out to him that he can't let people touch it during class and that he can't rub it on anyone, but that is rude and not a little gross. We shall see what the next few days bring. I get the impression that she doesn't like his hair and is looking of things to gripe at him about it. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe it will go smoothly and this will be the end of it. What I do know is that I won't cut his hair to please her. There is nothing in the school dress code policy preventing it (I checked before I ever did it, just to be on the safe side) and there isn't much she can do about it. Except make him miserable and he already hates school and begs me to switch him classes so I don't think it can get a lot worse.
Tomorrow, I get to go buy socks and a replacement bathroom step stool. I bought some at Target in the dollar section that are great. They cost $2.50, are plastic and are higher than average step stools. TB broke our bathroom one tonight and now has to pay to replace it. Any recommendations for step stools you like? I want it to be plastic (the wooden ones are great but I'm afraid they wouldn't hold up in the wet of the bathroom), inexpensive and tall. The tall was critical when we bought it because MT couldn't reach the sink at all. Over a year later, she is plenty tall enough to reach, even without the step stool, but now she uses it in the kitchen to help me cook and the tall is required again so she can reach the top of the counter.
Tomorrow, I finish the bathroom, which includes the sweeping and mopping, knocking down cobwebs, and scrubbing the outside of the tub and the walls with the Magic Eraser. If I can manage that in a reasonable amount of time, I'll start on my bedroom, which I'm not looking forward too. I have to move my bed and clean all the crap that has fallen under it over the past however many months. Not appealing in the slightest and a definate factor in saving it for last (and the fact that is has a door that I can shut so no has to see the mess when they come over :) ).
Wii Fit is kicking my butt. According to it, I'm doing nothing but gaining weight (which is somewhat odd, since I haven't gained any weight since I had the kids). I gained 50 lbs with The Boy, never lost it, had Ms Thang, lost a little from being sick but gained it back by the end of the pregnancy. Since then, my weight has fluxed a pound here or there but since I started doing the Fit, I've gained 6 lbs, with no change to my diet or activity level, aside from commiting to 20 on the board each day. Something fishy if you ask me! However, I'm a hula hooping champion and I rock the yoga. My sides are also sore (from hula hooping, I assume) and my let leg hurts so it is doing something at least.
TB was late getting out of school and when I asked him why he said "my teacher held me back and told me to talk to you about *sarcastic mimic*being responsible with my hair" He explained that people want to touch the hawk and he doesn't want them to so he was running in the classroom, trying to get away from someone that wanted to touch him. I told him that if someone wanted to touch it and he didn't want them to all he needed to do was say "do not touch me" at whatever volume he needed to use to get results. He said they aren't allowed to yell in school and I pointed out that he can't run in school or hit in school either so what other choice did he have, really? He probably shouldn't snarl, like I did in a pregnany hormone induced frenzy when some old lady that I didn't know rubbed my belly without asking "How would you like if I walked over and grabbed your boob? You wouldn't like that? Then keep your damn hands to yourself, you old bag" Obviously, I don't deal well with handsy people LOL
When I got home, I had an email from the teacher telling me her side of it. She said that "his hair is becoming a distraction to himself and others" She said that he is rubbing it in people's faces (he says this is in response to people pulling it) and letting some people play with it. I don't know if that meant that he is letting people play with it in class and it is disruptive or if he is only letting some people touch his hair and not everyone. IMO, he can't control what other people do, only himself, so disruptions to other people are not my problem. I did point out to him that he can't let people touch it during class and that he can't rub it on anyone, but that is rude and not a little gross. We shall see what the next few days bring. I get the impression that she doesn't like his hair and is looking of things to gripe at him about it. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe it will go smoothly and this will be the end of it. What I do know is that I won't cut his hair to please her. There is nothing in the school dress code policy preventing it (I checked before I ever did it, just to be on the safe side) and there isn't much she can do about it. Except make him miserable and he already hates school and begs me to switch him classes so I don't think it can get a lot worse.
Tomorrow, I get to go buy socks and a replacement bathroom step stool. I bought some at Target in the dollar section that are great. They cost $2.50, are plastic and are higher than average step stools. TB broke our bathroom one tonight and now has to pay to replace it. Any recommendations for step stools you like? I want it to be plastic (the wooden ones are great but I'm afraid they wouldn't hold up in the wet of the bathroom), inexpensive and tall. The tall was critical when we bought it because MT couldn't reach the sink at all. Over a year later, she is plenty tall enough to reach, even without the step stool, but now she uses it in the kitchen to help me cook and the tall is required again so she can reach the top of the counter.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
They say that a hero will save us
While doing some after Christmas shopping last night, RF bought me Guitar Hero for birthmas (my b-day is in Feb so I often ask for, and get, larger presents because people will combine them and that is fine with me). Plus, I bought Wii Fit and Raving Rabbids TV Party on eBay that I just have to wait to have shipped. So we will have a rock star style party at my house one of these days :)
Additionally, Christmas was good at our house. MT got a Batman shirt and a pink DS from Santa (the only things she asked for). TB got a new computer and a remote control car from Santa. They both got a Chia Pet, which we are waiting to grow now. MT got some wedgits, which I confess I thought had limited play option but she loves them, and TB got new Magnetix. the kids both got some new clothes and we got MT some games for her DS.
I got my curling iron and RF got some new pajama pants to replace his 10 year old pair that finally fell apart.
Today, I'm going to go shopping and see if I can find a new pair of boots and some leggings for MT. It is 2 days after Christmas and they already have bathing suits out in stores. Do they not understand that people still need cold weather apprioriate clothing for kids? Hopefully, I'll get some deal with the after Christmas sales :)
Additionally, Christmas was good at our house. MT got a Batman shirt and a pink DS from Santa (the only things she asked for). TB got a new computer and a remote control car from Santa. They both got a Chia Pet, which we are waiting to grow now. MT got some wedgits, which I confess I thought had limited play option but she loves them, and TB got new Magnetix. the kids both got some new clothes and we got MT some games for her DS.
I got my curling iron and RF got some new pajama pants to replace his 10 year old pair that finally fell apart.
Today, I'm going to go shopping and see if I can find a new pair of boots and some leggings for MT. It is 2 days after Christmas and they already have bathing suits out in stores. Do they not understand that people still need cold weather apprioriate clothing for kids? Hopefully, I'll get some deal with the after Christmas sales :)
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Let's get physical
The Boy had his seven year check up today, only 6 weeks late which is much better than say his 6 year check up that was a year and 6 weeks late LOL
He is 56 pounds and 49 inches tall. That makes him 50% for height and 75% for weight. At least this time, the doctor didn't tell me to put him on a diet (maybe had something to do with the fact that I laughed in his face the last time he mentioned it, especially after all the "feed him more, feed him more" when he was younger).
The doctor said he didn't think his headaches were too big of a deal but to keep an eye on them and if they persisted or got worse (he gave me a whole list of things to keep in mind for tracking the headaches), see him again. Unfortunately, he failed the eye test :( I have to call the optometrist to get him checked for real (the test at the doctor's office is a basic test that doesn't necessarily indicate an eye problem) because they close at noon on Weds and are obviously closed tomorrow. So I will follow up with that early next week (I might try to call on Friday but we will see if I can work it in around shopping and traveling).
After his appointment, we went to Toys R Us to find some gift ideas for Xmas. We came away with a couple of things for TB and very little for MT. :( I'm sure neither of them will be hurting for presents :)
A mom of one of TB's school friends called me this morning to let me know he had broken out in Chicken Pox. Fortunately, both of my kids had it about 2 years ago so we are safe but she said she called the "frienemy"'s mom and let her know and is calling the school so they can let the parents in his class know. That sucks for all of them.
He is 56 pounds and 49 inches tall. That makes him 50% for height and 75% for weight. At least this time, the doctor didn't tell me to put him on a diet (maybe had something to do with the fact that I laughed in his face the last time he mentioned it, especially after all the "feed him more, feed him more" when he was younger).
The doctor said he didn't think his headaches were too big of a deal but to keep an eye on them and if they persisted or got worse (he gave me a whole list of things to keep in mind for tracking the headaches), see him again. Unfortunately, he failed the eye test :( I have to call the optometrist to get him checked for real (the test at the doctor's office is a basic test that doesn't necessarily indicate an eye problem) because they close at noon on Weds and are obviously closed tomorrow. So I will follow up with that early next week (I might try to call on Friday but we will see if I can work it in around shopping and traveling).
After his appointment, we went to Toys R Us to find some gift ideas for Xmas. We came away with a couple of things for TB and very little for MT. :( I'm sure neither of them will be hurting for presents :)
A mom of one of TB's school friends called me this morning to let me know he had broken out in Chicken Pox. Fortunately, both of my kids had it about 2 years ago so we are safe but she said she called the "frienemy"'s mom and let her know and is calling the school so they can let the parents in his class know. That sucks for all of them.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Hm
Feeling too crummy to come up with an interesting title.
We had people over for dinner last night. This is seriously something we NEVER do but I did it. I spent ALL DAY cleaning the house. RF scrubbed the kitchen for me while the kids helped with the living room and dining room and I cleaned the bathroom. Seriously, every time I thought I was actually done, I found one more thing that had to be cleaned. At one point, I scrubbed the lid of the trash can because I thought it looked bad. I know the people that we had over are my friends and they wouldn't have ridiculed me too badly but I suffer from house jealousy. They have nice, newer construction homes. I live in a crummy basement of a house that was built in the 50s and remodelled to include a the basement by someone who knew nothing about house planning. It was some kind whose MIL got sick so he threw up some walls in the basement so she could have a place to stay in their house. So I over-compensated for the age of my house by cleaning like a mad woman. Then I cook all afternoon.
I was supposed to go to BN with S and J and their kids but I'm super glad I passed. I was under the mistaken impression that I could get everything done I needed done in a couple of hours. What a joke that was :)I'm sad we didn't get to go to the museum, but I'm glad dinner worked out.
I got a call today from the PTA president about bringing the PTA into the 21st century. I'm always pushing for more techy stuff and always getting rebuffed. If something isn't easy, people aren't going to do it. She decided that I was right and we are meeting today to discuss how to modernize our communication. Good stuff.
I have a cold. My head is all stopped up and I feel like crud. Blah.
I watched about an hour of Sweeny Todd last night and I was bored to tears. I like musicals, but I don't like where nearly every line is sung. I prefer normal movies that randomly break out in song. I saw Les Mis a few years ago and hated it. Sweeny Todd is pretty similar. :( I had hoped it would be good but I was disappointed.
We had people over for dinner last night. This is seriously something we NEVER do but I did it. I spent ALL DAY cleaning the house. RF scrubbed the kitchen for me while the kids helped with the living room and dining room and I cleaned the bathroom. Seriously, every time I thought I was actually done, I found one more thing that had to be cleaned. At one point, I scrubbed the lid of the trash can because I thought it looked bad. I know the people that we had over are my friends and they wouldn't have ridiculed me too badly but I suffer from house jealousy. They have nice, newer construction homes. I live in a crummy basement of a house that was built in the 50s and remodelled to include a the basement by someone who knew nothing about house planning. It was some kind whose MIL got sick so he threw up some walls in the basement so she could have a place to stay in their house. So I over-compensated for the age of my house by cleaning like a mad woman. Then I cook all afternoon.
I was supposed to go to BN with S and J and their kids but I'm super glad I passed. I was under the mistaken impression that I could get everything done I needed done in a couple of hours. What a joke that was :)I'm sad we didn't get to go to the museum, but I'm glad dinner worked out.
I got a call today from the PTA president about bringing the PTA into the 21st century. I'm always pushing for more techy stuff and always getting rebuffed. If something isn't easy, people aren't going to do it. She decided that I was right and we are meeting today to discuss how to modernize our communication. Good stuff.
I have a cold. My head is all stopped up and I feel like crud. Blah.
I watched about an hour of Sweeny Todd last night and I was bored to tears. I like musicals, but I don't like where nearly every line is sung. I prefer normal movies that randomly break out in song. I saw Les Mis a few years ago and hated it. Sweeny Todd is pretty similar. :( I had hoped it would be good but I was disappointed.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Good doctor, bad guy
So TB woke up this morning complaining that his chest hurt when he took a breath. To the doctor we went, to make sure it wasn't bronchitis or anything serious. MT was also complaining that her ears hurt so we took her too, just to make sure. We went to CC but were told, as usual, that peds likes to see their patients so they got us in with a new doctor, Dr Porter. If I didn't already have a doctor that I liked, I would switch to her in a HEARTBEAT. She was super. She laughed and joked with the kids, answered all their crazy questions (you all know the kinds of wacky stuff my kids come up with) and gave them both medicine to help, even though neither needed antibiotics. TB got but on Albuterol and Pulmacort with the nebulizer because of his history of lung issues and wheezing. MT had fluid in her ears but it wasn't infected yet so she has some decongestant, although no where seems to carry it so CVS has to order it and it will be in tomorrow.
Then, we went to McDonald's for lunch (after I spent all morning cleaning, I so didnt' want to mess with lunch). While we were there, the kids were running across the room and pretending to run into the wall and then falling down. Apparently the guy that works there didn't know they were pretending and was freaking out. He kept saying "stop, stop that, quit doing that". Of course, my kids barely listen to me so they weren't paying him any attention at all. They played for awhile and some other kids showed up and they were all playing, very nicely, together. They were sitting at one of the unused tables and after a bit, MT started shoving the table around and banging it's legs on the floor. I told her to quit and she did. Instead she (and a couple of the other kids) starting banging on the top of the table like a drum. They were all laughing and having a good time. All of a sudden, this guy just SCREAMS at them to "STOP IT" and the stormed out of the door. Pardon me? You don't get to yell at my kids. RF immidiately got up and went to find a manager. He told him what had happened and was told "they were very sorry and someone will talk to him" which basically means, "sucks to be you dude, if you don't like it, don't come here anymore". As we were leaving, the guy came out and glared at me. I didn't say anything but if he ever says another to my kids again (we see him there pretty much every time we go for lunch), I won't remain so quite!
Then, we went to McDonald's for lunch (after I spent all morning cleaning, I so didnt' want to mess with lunch). While we were there, the kids were running across the room and pretending to run into the wall and then falling down. Apparently the guy that works there didn't know they were pretending and was freaking out. He kept saying "stop, stop that, quit doing that". Of course, my kids barely listen to me so they weren't paying him any attention at all. They played for awhile and some other kids showed up and they were all playing, very nicely, together. They were sitting at one of the unused tables and after a bit, MT started shoving the table around and banging it's legs on the floor. I told her to quit and she did. Instead she (and a couple of the other kids) starting banging on the top of the table like a drum. They were all laughing and having a good time. All of a sudden, this guy just SCREAMS at them to "STOP IT" and the stormed out of the door. Pardon me? You don't get to yell at my kids. RF immidiately got up and went to find a manager. He told him what had happened and was told "they were very sorry and someone will talk to him" which basically means, "sucks to be you dude, if you don't like it, don't come here anymore". As we were leaving, the guy came out and glared at me. I didn't say anything but if he ever says another to my kids again (we see him there pretty much every time we go for lunch), I won't remain so quite!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Barking mad
So, long time, no post. Sunday, I started getting a sore throat. Sinus drainage and all that. I popped some Sudafed and Tylenol and was fine. Monday, the throat got worse, as did the sinus pain. I upped the Tylenol and Sudafed and drank my weight in liquid. Tuesday morning, I woke up coughing some but the sore throat was mostly gone. It was a lovely barking sound that indicates croup. I get croup every year, sometimes 2 or 3 times a year. I'm completely used to it and there is nothing I can do about it. 4 days getting worse, 3 days getting better, over and done. Rest as much as you can, frink plenty of fluids, etc.
As the day wore on, I got worse and in a hurry. We went to Verizon to get new phones (more about that later) and I was flat exhausted. I came home and layed down and felt like I was breathing through a wet washcloth. In addition, I almost completely lost my voice. I put some Vicks on and layed down with a heating pad until it was time to pick up TB from school. It was the only way, I could breathe even a little bit :( It took all the energy I could muster to get out of the van and walk up to the school to pick up TB. We went home and I layed back down because I was dying. However, this felt different from my usualy croup. When I get it, I never lose my voice and I have never had more problems breathing when laying down. I also never wheeze and feel like I'm breathing water.
I decided I need to find out for sure that it was something different and the doctor confirmed that I did not have croup, I had bronchitis :( So I started Zithromax Tuesday night. I took 2 pills, some cough meds, Sudafed, Tylenol, ran the humidifer, ran the Sudacare plug, slathered myself in Vicks and slept on 4 pillows so I could actually breathe. Weds morning, it more Zithromax, lots more Sudafed and Tylenol and I felt much better. Since worn out and not 100% but good enough to go back to Verizon and exchange my new phone for an internet enabled phone that actually GOT on the internet! They didn't have the phone so I came home and took a nap.
Weds night, I went to book club and came home and collapsed. Today, I feel even better. I ran around and went shopping, bought MT some new pants. Looked for some Xmas presents, bought TB's bday present, bought the party supplies for Saturday, raised hell at Verizon (can you sense a theme here), and went to see the Marching Illini play. Now I'm watching TV and getting ready for another early night.
I'll blog more about the phone stuff later. Maybe even from the phone! :)
As the day wore on, I got worse and in a hurry. We went to Verizon to get new phones (more about that later) and I was flat exhausted. I came home and layed down and felt like I was breathing through a wet washcloth. In addition, I almost completely lost my voice. I put some Vicks on and layed down with a heating pad until it was time to pick up TB from school. It was the only way, I could breathe even a little bit :( It took all the energy I could muster to get out of the van and walk up to the school to pick up TB. We went home and I layed back down because I was dying. However, this felt different from my usualy croup. When I get it, I never lose my voice and I have never had more problems breathing when laying down. I also never wheeze and feel like I'm breathing water.
I decided I need to find out for sure that it was something different and the doctor confirmed that I did not have croup, I had bronchitis :( So I started Zithromax Tuesday night. I took 2 pills, some cough meds, Sudafed, Tylenol, ran the humidifer, ran the Sudacare plug, slathered myself in Vicks and slept on 4 pillows so I could actually breathe. Weds morning, it more Zithromax, lots more Sudafed and Tylenol and I felt much better. Since worn out and not 100% but good enough to go back to Verizon and exchange my new phone for an internet enabled phone that actually GOT on the internet! They didn't have the phone so I came home and took a nap.
Weds night, I went to book club and came home and collapsed. Today, I feel even better. I ran around and went shopping, bought MT some new pants. Looked for some Xmas presents, bought TB's bday present, bought the party supplies for Saturday, raised hell at Verizon (can you sense a theme here), and went to see the Marching Illini play. Now I'm watching TV and getting ready for another early night.
I'll blog more about the phone stuff later. Maybe even from the phone! :)
Monday, August 18, 2008
Knight's Action Park
We went to Knight's Action Park in Springfield over the weekend. I hadn't been in a while (not since I was pregnant with TB) and I was wholly unimpressed. Pricing is pretty expensive. For an adult to get into the waterpark, it is $23.99. If you add in a ride pass, it is an additional $14.95. If you do the math on that it is a total of $38.94. That price doesn't include the go-karts, mini golf, driving range, or batting cages they also offer. Currently, that is more expensive than going to Six Flags since they are running the "everyone pays kid's price" promotion. Even regular priced, Six Flags is only $1.05 more expensive. Knight's Action Park is also pretty small. For the rides, they are all carnival type rides and if you have little kids forget it. There are only 3 rides they can ride :( For the bigger kids there are only a few rides as well. Very disappointing selection.
The waterpark isn't a lot better, but there is enough stuff to do to keep busy for part of a day. They have a couple of kiddie areas, 4 big water slides, a wave pool, an "action" river, bumper boats and peddle boats on the lake. The wave pool is decent, although they require a tube past the 3 foot line. My kids just weren't sure what to do about that because they like being in the deeper water but not with tubes. The action river was nice and a great way to get around the back side of the park. It was one of the fastest "lazy" river's that I have been on, with a serious current, as well as sprayers, white water sections and a wave area. TB enjoyed it as much as anything else.
Seal Bay is a nice play area for middle sized kids. There are several small slides a couple of things to climb on and best of all, there were 3 bigger kid slides that were perfect for my 2. It was perfect because you could sit at the bottom of the slides and still see the ramp up to the top so you weren't walking back and forth to get them up and down. MT spent a lot of time running up the ramp and sliding down one of the 3 slides.
Besides that, they have 4 big kid/adult water slides. 2 of them are new and 2 of them are original. The new ones are the "Royal Flush" which is a bowl type slide. The other one is called the "Devil Ray" and it looks like a half pipe. You sit on a raft and slide down and up the other side, then back down and so forth. The 2 original slides are built into the side of a hill and are flat abusive. TB and I both got hurt on one and although it wasn't an active hurt, I came off the other one feeling like I had been beaten. They are old and poorly maintained, as well as too narrow to be comfortable. The twists are sharp, the bumps are hard and I was left with a headache that took the rest of the day to get rid of.
The bumper boats and the peddle boats were both nice. The bumper boats are big enough for adults to ride and younger kids are able to ride with an adult. The peddle boats are peddle boats. You do get to take them through the "feed the fish" part of the lake so the kids were able to se the gigantic fish pretty up close.
The food is marginal. We ate at Barnical Bill's and were disappointed to find out that they only offer nacho cheese sauce for their burgers. The chicken was decent and the amount of food was better than expected. I was also impressed with the price of the food. The meal (entree, fries and a drink) was around $6 and contained plenty of food.
The bathroom/changing rooms where gross. They were small and inadaquate. There were 5 stalls, one small bench and 4 open stalls to be used for changing. There was no where dry to put our stuff and no where closed to change, unless you took up a bathroom stall. The lack of privacy doesn't concern me but other might well be bothered by it.
Overall, the place was over priced, small, old and poorly maintained. Everything had paint peeling off of it and looked a general mess. I would give it 2 stars, simply for proximity. It is closer to drive to Springfield than to St Louis or Chicago for something bigger and better. If given the choice, I would absolutely drive further to one of the other options.
The waterpark isn't a lot better, but there is enough stuff to do to keep busy for part of a day. They have a couple of kiddie areas, 4 big water slides, a wave pool, an "action" river, bumper boats and peddle boats on the lake. The wave pool is decent, although they require a tube past the 3 foot line. My kids just weren't sure what to do about that because they like being in the deeper water but not with tubes. The action river was nice and a great way to get around the back side of the park. It was one of the fastest "lazy" river's that I have been on, with a serious current, as well as sprayers, white water sections and a wave area. TB enjoyed it as much as anything else.
Seal Bay is a nice play area for middle sized kids. There are several small slides a couple of things to climb on and best of all, there were 3 bigger kid slides that were perfect for my 2. It was perfect because you could sit at the bottom of the slides and still see the ramp up to the top so you weren't walking back and forth to get them up and down. MT spent a lot of time running up the ramp and sliding down one of the 3 slides.
Besides that, they have 4 big kid/adult water slides. 2 of them are new and 2 of them are original. The new ones are the "Royal Flush" which is a bowl type slide. The other one is called the "Devil Ray" and it looks like a half pipe. You sit on a raft and slide down and up the other side, then back down and so forth. The 2 original slides are built into the side of a hill and are flat abusive. TB and I both got hurt on one and although it wasn't an active hurt, I came off the other one feeling like I had been beaten. They are old and poorly maintained, as well as too narrow to be comfortable. The twists are sharp, the bumps are hard and I was left with a headache that took the rest of the day to get rid of.
The bumper boats and the peddle boats were both nice. The bumper boats are big enough for adults to ride and younger kids are able to ride with an adult. The peddle boats are peddle boats. You do get to take them through the "feed the fish" part of the lake so the kids were able to se the gigantic fish pretty up close.
The food is marginal. We ate at Barnical Bill's and were disappointed to find out that they only offer nacho cheese sauce for their burgers. The chicken was decent and the amount of food was better than expected. I was also impressed with the price of the food. The meal (entree, fries and a drink) was around $6 and contained plenty of food.
The bathroom/changing rooms where gross. They were small and inadaquate. There were 5 stalls, one small bench and 4 open stalls to be used for changing. There was no where dry to put our stuff and no where closed to change, unless you took up a bathroom stall. The lack of privacy doesn't concern me but other might well be bothered by it.
Overall, the place was over priced, small, old and poorly maintained. Everything had paint peeling off of it and looked a general mess. I would give it 2 stars, simply for proximity. It is closer to drive to Springfield than to St Louis or Chicago for something bigger and better. If given the choice, I would absolutely drive further to one of the other options.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Odds and ends again
Yesterday was a busy day. I had to go grocery shopping, which takes half a day, then we booed the pool for TB's b-day party, then I cleaned the house, took TB shopping to spend his vast amounts of money ($35), cooked dinner, went to the school fundraiser meeting, then home to watch Lost.
Speaking of birthday days, I have apparently missed the boat on goody bags. Quigs made super cute summer fun sets for PG's b-day. S had purses for the girls and little baskets for the boys with cute fun summer stuff in them. Missy had neat bags with beach accessories in them and even had a CD of summer music in each to set the mood. At TB's last birthday, we did Harry Potter and since no goody bags were to be had, I had the kids decorate brown lunch sacks with HP stickers and some markers and then put in some bubbles, a rubber ball, some truck things, etc. Nothing thematic. In years past, I alwasy bought whatever theme items they had a FActory Card and called that good enough goody bag. MT has never had a birthday party were goody bags were given (family only so far). Now I'm thinking that I need to step up my efforts, lest I fall even further behind. This year is Star Wars so I should have an easier time of it.
CDs are also the new thing in goody bags. I need to find some good Star Wars music (I'm going to find the Weird Al songs and some of the score I think) to make for our CD and maybe a picture of TB dressed in his Star Wars halloween costume for the cover art.
I absolutely can not compete in the domestic games (or as RF tells me "of course you can. Someone has to come in last place LOL). I don't sew, I don't cook, I rarely make it if I can buy it, I'm inclined to eff the house, I'm going to the pool, etc. I can (and do) compete in the wit and sarcasm games. In fact I not only compete but I hold world records in sarcasm and bad attitude :)
Maybe I'm a selfish bitch (ok, before you call me a liar as well, I realize that I AM actually a selfish bitch but I keep hoping) but I'm really irritated by parents who bring no toys for their kids but expect other parents to share. We went to the "Hassle Park" today because I didn't want to go to the pool. I took the regular, 2 buckets, 3 shovels, one rake and a sifter. That way, I have enough for the kids to have what they want and to share with anyone they are playing with. What I didn't take was enough for every kid in the park to use. What I also didn't take was enough for a kid to accost me before I ever got to the park telling me that she could play with our stuff. Um, no you can't. What I also didn't take was stuff for the same kids (who were completely unsupervised) to come to my table while I was sitting there and just take the toys I told them they couldn't play with. I also didn't take things for the other kids to take and then refuse to give back when MY kids (the owners of the toys) wanted to play with them. The first few times they came to the table and took things, I would get up and politely tell them that I needed them bac because I wanted to keep everything together. After that, I tried to impart my brand of morals to them by telling them that it was very very rude to tae things from people without asking. That if it wasn't their's they shouldn't touch it because then it was stealing. When that didn't work, I demanded to be taken to their adult, which prompted both girls to run to the other side of the playground where I couldn't see them. I never did see them with an adult but I was ticked about the whole mess.
I get to go to a school meeting tonight. When I went to registration today, they had papers out about a "parent forum" about silent lunches and a few other things I don't really care about. I know that last year some of the classes had silent lunch because they were out of control. I don't think that a silent lunch policy across the board is acceptable. Show of hands, would you sit at a table with 8-10 co-workers and friends for 20 minutes, and say nothing to any of them? No you wouldn't, especially if you had nothing to do to entertain yourself while you sat there. Why would anyone think that it is an acceptable thing to have kids do? Unknown, but that is my point and I intend to make it!
Speaking of birthday days, I have apparently missed the boat on goody bags. Quigs made super cute summer fun sets for PG's b-day. S had purses for the girls and little baskets for the boys with cute fun summer stuff in them. Missy had neat bags with beach accessories in them and even had a CD of summer music in each to set the mood. At TB's last birthday, we did Harry Potter and since no goody bags were to be had, I had the kids decorate brown lunch sacks with HP stickers and some markers and then put in some bubbles, a rubber ball, some truck things, etc. Nothing thematic. In years past, I alwasy bought whatever theme items they had a FActory Card and called that good enough goody bag. MT has never had a birthday party were goody bags were given (family only so far). Now I'm thinking that I need to step up my efforts, lest I fall even further behind. This year is Star Wars so I should have an easier time of it.
CDs are also the new thing in goody bags. I need to find some good Star Wars music (I'm going to find the Weird Al songs and some of the score I think) to make for our CD and maybe a picture of TB dressed in his Star Wars halloween costume for the cover art.
I absolutely can not compete in the domestic games (or as RF tells me "of course you can. Someone has to come in last place LOL). I don't sew, I don't cook, I rarely make it if I can buy it, I'm inclined to eff the house, I'm going to the pool, etc. I can (and do) compete in the wit and sarcasm games. In fact I not only compete but I hold world records in sarcasm and bad attitude :)
Maybe I'm a selfish bitch (ok, before you call me a liar as well, I realize that I AM actually a selfish bitch but I keep hoping) but I'm really irritated by parents who bring no toys for their kids but expect other parents to share. We went to the "Hassle Park" today because I didn't want to go to the pool. I took the regular, 2 buckets, 3 shovels, one rake and a sifter. That way, I have enough for the kids to have what they want and to share with anyone they are playing with. What I didn't take was enough for every kid in the park to use. What I also didn't take was enough for a kid to accost me before I ever got to the park telling me that she could play with our stuff. Um, no you can't. What I also didn't take was stuff for the same kids (who were completely unsupervised) to come to my table while I was sitting there and just take the toys I told them they couldn't play with. I also didn't take things for the other kids to take and then refuse to give back when MY kids (the owners of the toys) wanted to play with them. The first few times they came to the table and took things, I would get up and politely tell them that I needed them bac because I wanted to keep everything together. After that, I tried to impart my brand of morals to them by telling them that it was very very rude to tae things from people without asking. That if it wasn't their's they shouldn't touch it because then it was stealing. When that didn't work, I demanded to be taken to their adult, which prompted both girls to run to the other side of the playground where I couldn't see them. I never did see them with an adult but I was ticked about the whole mess.
I get to go to a school meeting tonight. When I went to registration today, they had papers out about a "parent forum" about silent lunches and a few other things I don't really care about. I know that last year some of the classes had silent lunch because they were out of control. I don't think that a silent lunch policy across the board is acceptable. Show of hands, would you sit at a table with 8-10 co-workers and friends for 20 minutes, and say nothing to any of them? No you wouldn't, especially if you had nothing to do to entertain yourself while you sat there. Why would anyone think that it is an acceptable thing to have kids do? Unknown, but that is my point and I intend to make it!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Holiday World Day 2
Day 2 was very much the same as day one. We got there just as they were opening. We went directly to the Scrambler because the kids had been begging since the night before to ride it. Fortunately, MT was big enough to ride because we would have had a serious problem is she hadn't been. I kept telling her "you may not be big enough" and every time she would respond with "I'm big and I'm tall and I'm brave and I'm GOING to ride the Scrambler" She spent the whole ride laughing her head off and as soon as we got off, she was ready to go again. RF and I neither one could take another trip on it and they couldn't go alone so I had to convince them to go ride the old time cars.
After the cars (much shorter wait this time), we got measured again then MT rode teh salmon run and TB and I went to ride the swings. We stood and watched for a minute before he decided he was too scared to do it so we browsed in one of the shops while we waited for RF and MT to be done on their ride. Then we headed to the waterpark.
RF was done before the day even started but he did an amazing job not bitching too much about it. We rode the slides, played in the wave pools, played at Kima Bay, etc etc etc until lunch time. TB had wanted Goblin Burgers for dinner the night before so I promised him that for lunch. We all got dressed (Holiday world does not allow uncovered swimsuits in the park, everyone has to wear a shirt, shoes and shorts while in the park) and headed to Halloweentown for lunch. Fortunately, they weren't just burgers so MT was able to have chicken fingers. The burgers were super tasty and I liked that they offered a "veggie pack" (lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions) with the burgers, which is something most food stands don't offer.
After we ate, we had to ride the Scrambler again since we were directly across the walk from it. Then we talked MT into going on the Log Flume ride. She didn't want to but we convinced her it was just like the Indian River Canoe ride, not mentioning the drop at the end. She likes roller coasters and so forth so I didn't think it would be a big deal, we just had to get past her refusal to get on the ride. We did convince her on the ride and she really enjoyed it. After we got off, she kept saying to herself "That was awesome, that was so awesome" When we would ask her what she thought about it all she would tell us was "that was really fast" LOL
After the log ride, we asked if she wanted to go on Thunder RIver (what it called at Six Flags and the only name I've ever called it)and she wanted no part of that. So I asked her if she would rather go on "the splashing river" That was an absolute yes!. She didn't even hesitate getting on and she laughed and giggled and squealed her way through the ride.
Then it was back to the water park for more water play for another couple of hours. Finally, RF couldn't take anymore and we decided to head out. But first we needed funnel cakes from the "Funnel Cake Factory" They were very tasty but I must comment that the funnel cake on their sign looks more like a soft pretzel! More canoes and salmon then we went and did the kiddie rides they hadn't had time to do yet. It was really sad to see that TB was tall enough that he was being measured to make sure he wasn't TOO TALL for the kiddie rides :( I geave them each one turn on each of the rides they were willing to ride (neither wanted anything to do with "Reindeer Games"). Fortunately, it was not too busy and they were able to pretty much walk on to each ride. We were all tired and it was hot and I was ready to GO. T
After riding all the kiddie rides and meeting 2 other boys with completely awesome spiked mohawks and their little brother who had a cute faux-hawk, we made a bathroom stop and a stop at guest relations to check on my missing sunglasses (which were never found :( ) and then got in the van and headed for our hotel. An hour later and we got checked in and unloaded. Dinner, a little TV and it was time for bed. Once I turned the TV off, the kids were asleep within 10 minutes and slept like the dead all night.
We got up, had breakfast, listened to some people debate the time in China for the Olympics (they were debating if they were 12 hours ahead or 36, the answer is 12-ish depending on time zone, if you are interested), listened to MT tell everyone in the breakfast area about the slides and how "they were FREAKIN' fast" LOL and then headed for home. We made worse time coming home, despite only one stop for bathrooms, which was disappointing.
After the cars (much shorter wait this time), we got measured again then MT rode teh salmon run and TB and I went to ride the swings. We stood and watched for a minute before he decided he was too scared to do it so we browsed in one of the shops while we waited for RF and MT to be done on their ride. Then we headed to the waterpark.
RF was done before the day even started but he did an amazing job not bitching too much about it. We rode the slides, played in the wave pools, played at Kima Bay, etc etc etc until lunch time. TB had wanted Goblin Burgers for dinner the night before so I promised him that for lunch. We all got dressed (Holiday world does not allow uncovered swimsuits in the park, everyone has to wear a shirt, shoes and shorts while in the park) and headed to Halloweentown for lunch. Fortunately, they weren't just burgers so MT was able to have chicken fingers. The burgers were super tasty and I liked that they offered a "veggie pack" (lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions) with the burgers, which is something most food stands don't offer.
After we ate, we had to ride the Scrambler again since we were directly across the walk from it. Then we talked MT into going on the Log Flume ride. She didn't want to but we convinced her it was just like the Indian River Canoe ride, not mentioning the drop at the end. She likes roller coasters and so forth so I didn't think it would be a big deal, we just had to get past her refusal to get on the ride. We did convince her on the ride and she really enjoyed it. After we got off, she kept saying to herself "That was awesome, that was so awesome" When we would ask her what she thought about it all she would tell us was "that was really fast" LOL
After the log ride, we asked if she wanted to go on Thunder RIver (what it called at Six Flags and the only name I've ever called it)and she wanted no part of that. So I asked her if she would rather go on "the splashing river" That was an absolute yes!. She didn't even hesitate getting on and she laughed and giggled and squealed her way through the ride.
Then it was back to the water park for more water play for another couple of hours. Finally, RF couldn't take anymore and we decided to head out. But first we needed funnel cakes from the "Funnel Cake Factory" They were very tasty but I must comment that the funnel cake on their sign looks more like a soft pretzel! More canoes and salmon then we went and did the kiddie rides they hadn't had time to do yet. It was really sad to see that TB was tall enough that he was being measured to make sure he wasn't TOO TALL for the kiddie rides :( I geave them each one turn on each of the rides they were willing to ride (neither wanted anything to do with "Reindeer Games"). Fortunately, it was not too busy and they were able to pretty much walk on to each ride. We were all tired and it was hot and I was ready to GO. T
After riding all the kiddie rides and meeting 2 other boys with completely awesome spiked mohawks and their little brother who had a cute faux-hawk, we made a bathroom stop and a stop at guest relations to check on my missing sunglasses (which were never found :( ) and then got in the van and headed for our hotel. An hour later and we got checked in and unloaded. Dinner, a little TV and it was time for bed. Once I turned the TV off, the kids were asleep within 10 minutes and slept like the dead all night.
We got up, had breakfast, listened to some people debate the time in China for the Olympics (they were debating if they were 12 hours ahead or 36, the answer is 12-ish depending on time zone, if you are interested), listened to MT tell everyone in the breakfast area about the slides and how "they were FREAKIN' fast" LOL and then headed for home. We made worse time coming home, despite only one stop for bathrooms, which was disappointing.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Holiday World Review
We left here at 7 on Tuesday morning. We drove, except for a quick break at McDonald's for breakfast and bathrooms, straight through to Holiday World. Unfortunately, we had some of the worst directions I've ever had from Google maps
:( It first off routed down a road that was closed (not Google's fault but a pain none the less). Then, once we took the detour and got back on the right road, it wound us around down through these little towns with 25 mile an hour speed limits, around hairpin turns, up and down hills etc. For the last half hour of the trip, we couldn't go over 40, which was extremely frustrating. We got in just before 11, so we still made pretty good time. The weather was dreadfully hot so our first stop was "Kringle's Cafe" to get drinks before we headed for the water park. Before we made it to the waterpark, we had the kids' official height measured so they could get wrist bands and we wouldn't have to mess with having the measured at every ride all day long. The waterpark measures shoes off and the other rides are all shoes on. Ms Thang was absolutetly over 36 inches and The Boy was just barely 48. He actually had to put his shoes on to top 48, but that was ok. He was actually the best height he could be. They charge a reduced price for anyone under 54 inches, but the max height of any of the rides is 48 inches. He fell in that "golden zone", which was fantastic for us.
After getting measured, we went around the corner and down into the waterpark. We got changed and went to get sunscreen. Unfortunately, they were nearly out so we got a little and went to find a spot for "home base". The water park was crazy busy so we ended up just parking the stroller (which neither kid rides in, but it makes a nice container for our stuff) near a fence and moving on. Ms Thang wanted to play in "Crocodile Isle" which has a nice all ages slide but is really too small for anyone but her. It has a small kids' slide and some sprayers and is absolutely perfect for younger kids. The Boy was more interested in going to the wave pool (of which there are 2) so we rounded her up and headed for The Wave (the smaller of the 2 wave pools). After she got over having her fit, she decided that the wave pool was pretty cool and figured out quite quickly that she could jump over the waves and they were fun to play in. She was insistant that she could go past the "strong swimmer" line. After the cycle of waves, the kids wanted to go to the treehouse, but I suggested the new feature "Kima Bay", which was similar to the tree house.
Kima Bay was awesome! It was a long walk from The Wave (and appeared to be a long way from everything else except the Bakuli slide but we found out later, there was a bathroom/sunscreen station and an Oasis just around the corner). It is all spraying water, climbing things and slides. It has 7 slides, 3 that are able to be used by the 36 inch and under crowd. TB and RF took off and did the big id stuff and MT and I did the stuff she could do. We went down the slides and up the stairs and under the spayers a million times. We finally drug her out to have lunch because it was 1 o'clock and we were all getting hungry. We ate at Safari Pizza, which is centrally located. They offer combos that are 2 pieces of pizza, one order of fries and one cookies. We decided to get 2 of them and split them, which caused lunch to be all of $14. That is one of my big selling points about the park, is that food is VERY reasonably priced. After lunch, TB decided he wanted to ride the "jungle racers", which Ms. Thang was too small for (and quite pissed about, at that) so I took him on it and RF took MT to the "jungle jets" which is right next door and a "sprayer garden" that she could play in. The racer was really awesome, but watch out for the second hill. It is a rough one!
TB and I went to play in the jets, for about 5 minutes until TB banged heads with another kid and decided to go to Bahari, the other wave pool. Bahari is huge, more like 2 wave pools smushed together. One side has big aggressive waves, suitable for older kids and adults. The other side has much smaller, softer, less consistant waves. It is perfect for younger kids and worn out adults (us by that point in the day LOL). MT refused to play in the smaller waves so huge pounding waves it was. When that cycle was over, we went and got more sunscreen (I love the free sunscreen) and then went back to Kima Bay. By then MT was melting down so nothing was working well for her. We played for a few minutes but it didn't work out too well. RF tweaked his leg and wanted to sit down. I took the kids to the only place in the whole park where I could watch 2 kids by myself, the lazy river (also one of 2). Plus, I thought if she would lay quitely on me for a few minutes, she would fall asleep. There was a problem with wrong sized tubes and I ended up dumped in the water, twice. Once by myself, once with MT on my lap. The second time, I also managed to lose my sunglasses which sucked. :( We finally got some right sized tubes and started around. Part way around, the radios cut out and changed to a warning that storms were in the area and that all rides were being shut down. There went my idea for a nap! We got out and camped out, waiting for all the people to leave. It wasn't raining so it wasn't that big of a deal. Then it started to rain in huge fat drops and we booked to shelter. Not for us, I was drier in the rain than I was at Kima Bay, but for all of our stuff that we didn't want soaked. The rain was short lived, too short to really chase many people out of the park, sadly.
By then it was nearing 6 so we decided to ride the family raft slide, which MT loved. It was good, calm ride for the over 36 inch crowd. After the slide, MT and RF changed clothes, but TB and I stayed in swimwear so that we could ride Raging Rapids, a Thunder River type ride that I took TB on last year and he loved it. MT rode the Salmon Run and the Indian River Canoes, both of which were super. After the river ride, we changed clothes then RF and I had dinner at The Alamo resturant. Tacos, burritos, fajitas, etc. The food was fantastic, which was pretty standard for the park. I didn't have anything there that wasn't good. The fajitas where enormous and the tacos were so full of filling that RF ended up having to eat at least of it with a for because it all fell out. The kids wanted a cheeseburger (TB) and pizza (MT) and the only place in the park that had both of those items together was Kringles Cafe. We took the kids there to eat and then rode the antique cars.
My major complaint about the park was it's lack of correct line use. All of the rides have several rows so the lines can wonder up and down and back an forth, because walking is always better than just standing in line. So many of the lines didn't have any of them open, causing the line, while not terribly long to seem much longer than it was. It was super frustrating to to see all those open lanes and no one in them.
After the antique cars, we went to our hotel. After a bit of a disaster checking in (we were booked under my mom's name so she would get the points but because I was paying with cash, they wanted my ID which was forcing them to check me in under my name, costing her the points, we did get everything fixed and finally got into our room, where everyone promptly crashed.
Day two update coming later. I'm all tuckered out from writing this and I'm sure you are all tired of reading :)
:( It first off routed down a road that was closed (not Google's fault but a pain none the less). Then, once we took the detour and got back on the right road, it wound us around down through these little towns with 25 mile an hour speed limits, around hairpin turns, up and down hills etc. For the last half hour of the trip, we couldn't go over 40, which was extremely frustrating. We got in just before 11, so we still made pretty good time. The weather was dreadfully hot so our first stop was "Kringle's Cafe" to get drinks before we headed for the water park. Before we made it to the waterpark, we had the kids' official height measured so they could get wrist bands and we wouldn't have to mess with having the measured at every ride all day long. The waterpark measures shoes off and the other rides are all shoes on. Ms Thang was absolutetly over 36 inches and The Boy was just barely 48. He actually had to put his shoes on to top 48, but that was ok. He was actually the best height he could be. They charge a reduced price for anyone under 54 inches, but the max height of any of the rides is 48 inches. He fell in that "golden zone", which was fantastic for us.
After getting measured, we went around the corner and down into the waterpark. We got changed and went to get sunscreen. Unfortunately, they were nearly out so we got a little and went to find a spot for "home base". The water park was crazy busy so we ended up just parking the stroller (which neither kid rides in, but it makes a nice container for our stuff) near a fence and moving on. Ms Thang wanted to play in "Crocodile Isle" which has a nice all ages slide but is really too small for anyone but her. It has a small kids' slide and some sprayers and is absolutely perfect for younger kids. The Boy was more interested in going to the wave pool (of which there are 2) so we rounded her up and headed for The Wave (the smaller of the 2 wave pools). After she got over having her fit, she decided that the wave pool was pretty cool and figured out quite quickly that she could jump over the waves and they were fun to play in. She was insistant that she could go past the "strong swimmer" line. After the cycle of waves, the kids wanted to go to the treehouse, but I suggested the new feature "Kima Bay", which was similar to the tree house.
Kima Bay was awesome! It was a long walk from The Wave (and appeared to be a long way from everything else except the Bakuli slide but we found out later, there was a bathroom/sunscreen station and an Oasis just around the corner). It is all spraying water, climbing things and slides. It has 7 slides, 3 that are able to be used by the 36 inch and under crowd. TB and RF took off and did the big id stuff and MT and I did the stuff she could do. We went down the slides and up the stairs and under the spayers a million times. We finally drug her out to have lunch because it was 1 o'clock and we were all getting hungry. We ate at Safari Pizza, which is centrally located. They offer combos that are 2 pieces of pizza, one order of fries and one cookies. We decided to get 2 of them and split them, which caused lunch to be all of $14. That is one of my big selling points about the park, is that food is VERY reasonably priced. After lunch, TB decided he wanted to ride the "jungle racers", which Ms. Thang was too small for (and quite pissed about, at that) so I took him on it and RF took MT to the "jungle jets" which is right next door and a "sprayer garden" that she could play in. The racer was really awesome, but watch out for the second hill. It is a rough one!
TB and I went to play in the jets, for about 5 minutes until TB banged heads with another kid and decided to go to Bahari, the other wave pool. Bahari is huge, more like 2 wave pools smushed together. One side has big aggressive waves, suitable for older kids and adults. The other side has much smaller, softer, less consistant waves. It is perfect for younger kids and worn out adults (us by that point in the day LOL). MT refused to play in the smaller waves so huge pounding waves it was. When that cycle was over, we went and got more sunscreen (I love the free sunscreen) and then went back to Kima Bay. By then MT was melting down so nothing was working well for her. We played for a few minutes but it didn't work out too well. RF tweaked his leg and wanted to sit down. I took the kids to the only place in the whole park where I could watch 2 kids by myself, the lazy river (also one of 2). Plus, I thought if she would lay quitely on me for a few minutes, she would fall asleep. There was a problem with wrong sized tubes and I ended up dumped in the water, twice. Once by myself, once with MT on my lap. The second time, I also managed to lose my sunglasses which sucked. :( We finally got some right sized tubes and started around. Part way around, the radios cut out and changed to a warning that storms were in the area and that all rides were being shut down. There went my idea for a nap! We got out and camped out, waiting for all the people to leave. It wasn't raining so it wasn't that big of a deal. Then it started to rain in huge fat drops and we booked to shelter. Not for us, I was drier in the rain than I was at Kima Bay, but for all of our stuff that we didn't want soaked. The rain was short lived, too short to really chase many people out of the park, sadly.
By then it was nearing 6 so we decided to ride the family raft slide, which MT loved. It was good, calm ride for the over 36 inch crowd. After the slide, MT and RF changed clothes, but TB and I stayed in swimwear so that we could ride Raging Rapids, a Thunder River type ride that I took TB on last year and he loved it. MT rode the Salmon Run and the Indian River Canoes, both of which were super. After the river ride, we changed clothes then RF and I had dinner at The Alamo resturant. Tacos, burritos, fajitas, etc. The food was fantastic, which was pretty standard for the park. I didn't have anything there that wasn't good. The fajitas where enormous and the tacos were so full of filling that RF ended up having to eat at least of it with a for because it all fell out. The kids wanted a cheeseburger (TB) and pizza (MT) and the only place in the park that had both of those items together was Kringles Cafe. We took the kids there to eat and then rode the antique cars.
My major complaint about the park was it's lack of correct line use. All of the rides have several rows so the lines can wonder up and down and back an forth, because walking is always better than just standing in line. So many of the lines didn't have any of them open, causing the line, while not terribly long to seem much longer than it was. It was super frustrating to to see all those open lanes and no one in them.
After the antique cars, we went to our hotel. After a bit of a disaster checking in (we were booked under my mom's name so she would get the points but because I was paying with cash, they wanted my ID which was forcing them to check me in under my name, costing her the points, we did get everything fixed and finally got into our room, where everyone promptly crashed.
Day two update coming later. I'm all tuckered out from writing this and I'm sure you are all tired of reading :)
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Home from vacation
We got home this afternoon but after eating lunch, running a couple of errands and going to playgroup, we didn't get to stay home until after 7 tonight. It has been a long 3 days. Everyone was pushed to the limit and then some everyday. It is now 10:30 and the kids have been in bed for an hour. I'm on my way right behind them. I'll update tomorrow and give a review of our trip. The most important point is that we all had a wonderful time. No one got sick or hurt and miracle of miracles, no got sunburned. Not even pasty white RF, who has no base color because the poor thing is trapped at work all the time. We also came back with enough extra money to pay off the tires we recently had to put on the van and buy a couple of more expensive items that we have been wanting. All in all, a fantastic trip. :)
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
More odds and ends
I like the list posts. I have 1000 things bouncing around in my head to blog about but none of them ever get fleshed out into real posts. So you all get pictures and lists :)
Ms Thang's face is better. Thanks all for the concern. It is scabbed over but not looking so raw and painful. She did ask to wear her sunglasses to the park so no one would see it.
We had a playdate at the park. I left feeling kind of icky. It made me sad.
At the park, we ran into J and his mom. I chatted with her for a bit while the boys played. They did a great job not being brats!
After the park we went to Mejier to buy The Boy a new pair of sandles because his broke. I wasn't going to do it since it is the end of summer and he could just make do with his flip flops and crocs, but since we are going on vacation next week, I decided to go ahead. Neither of his other shoes are good for walking or for moving rides. He needed something that would stay on his feet.
I like the new Kid Rock Song "All Summer Long"
I also think it is a little bit awesome that he Boycotts iTunes. Not that anything is wrong with iTunes but he has a valid point about record companies.
My fruit leather has partially failed. The strawberry, 24 hours later, was still almost totally liquid and there were little fuzzy blossoms on it tonight :( the cherry and blueberry look like they are almost done and nothing fuzzy on them. Not something I will likely try again.
I feel a little bit bad that I bailed on my conversation with Rogers last night, telling her I was going to bed because I was tired. I always read while I floss before bed and I got sucked in, hard core last night. Instead of going to bed because I was exhausted, I stayed up reading until after 1, so that I could finish the book. Sorry Rogers :(
My house is really dirty. We have no plans tomorrow so we are going to stay home and clean it up.
Ms Thang doesn't want to go to preschool. She says "they will oppress me at that school, if you make me go, I will be oppressed" I'm fairly certain she means "depress", however it is really funny to think about "the man" keeping her down while at school LOL. Anything school related stresses her out right now.
We have taken The Boy to get hit with a Jesus stick (for you Lost fans out there, that is a reference to Charlie's conversation with Mr. Echo about his "Jesus stick" having blood on it in season 2). We go to the First Christian Church on a fairly regular basis to play at their FANTASTIC indoor playground. For months, they have had signs up, promoting vacation bible school. They all show science-y stuff and TB was enthralled. He begged to be allowed to go so I signed them both up for it. It started Sunday, which is a dumb day to start VBS, but whatever. We missed day one because of the afformentioned dumb day but I went ahead to take them last night. After her day (no nap, busted face, etc), when she begged me not to make her go, I decided not to push it. Turned out to be a good thing since when I stopped in her room to tell her teachers that she wouldn't be coming after all, I saw a little boy that we know in there that she has a "personality conflict" with (which is a nice way of saying he is a bully and she doesn't let him get away with any crap and he whines and cries about it). TB loves VBS and asks every day if he will be allowed to go back the next day. He is gonna be upset when he finds out it is only a week long.
We got caught in the crazy ass downpour that hit town while we were picking TB up from VBS. It was raining so hard I could barely see. It looked like they were evacuating the classes when we got there. I ran back out to get the van to pull up under the over hang to get everyone loaded. The water, although it didn't look that deep, was to the middle of my calf. Too bad I wore my leather sandles out there :(
Personally, I'm opposed to being hit with a Jesus stick but I found that out for myself and my kids deserve the same chance. He can decide if he wants to do something more with it as he gets older. I will absolutely take hm to church, should he choose that route.
Speaking of school, Tb has such different interests from me, it just boggles my mind. I'm all about books and reading and English (which could explain why a large portion of my friends are English majors) and he is so into science and little math. He is forever asking what numbers added together are and has started talking about subtraction. Heaven help me when he gets much older. I could barely pass basic algebra and had to take remeidial math in college (which I never did pass, preschool teachers really only have to be able to count to 10 so it isn't that big of a deal LOL). There is no way I'll be able to help him at all once he is past the ad subtract multiply and divide stage.
The Boy has decided to start doing chores again. For the last half of the school year, he had chores that he got paid a dollar a day to do. We had a good routine but once school got out, it all went to hell! He didn't do any the entire month of June and now most of July. Then suddenly, out of the blue, he promised Ms Thang he would buy her a Barbie doll. When pressed on the subject, he said that he wanted to buy her one because she deserved it for being good. News to me, but ok. I told him he needed to get back on doing his chores so he could earn some money to fulfill his promise. He started by putting away all his laundry yesterday. Today was crazy busy (park, Meijer, McDonalds, rest, pool, VBS, dinner, bed) so he didn't have time to vacuum, but I'm going to make him earn it tomorrow! :)
Ms Thang's face is better. Thanks all for the concern. It is scabbed over but not looking so raw and painful. She did ask to wear her sunglasses to the park so no one would see it.
We had a playdate at the park. I left feeling kind of icky. It made me sad.
At the park, we ran into J and his mom. I chatted with her for a bit while the boys played. They did a great job not being brats!
After the park we went to Mejier to buy The Boy a new pair of sandles because his broke. I wasn't going to do it since it is the end of summer and he could just make do with his flip flops and crocs, but since we are going on vacation next week, I decided to go ahead. Neither of his other shoes are good for walking or for moving rides. He needed something that would stay on his feet.
I like the new Kid Rock Song "All Summer Long"
I also think it is a little bit awesome that he Boycotts iTunes. Not that anything is wrong with iTunes but he has a valid point about record companies.
My fruit leather has partially failed. The strawberry, 24 hours later, was still almost totally liquid and there were little fuzzy blossoms on it tonight :( the cherry and blueberry look like they are almost done and nothing fuzzy on them. Not something I will likely try again.
I feel a little bit bad that I bailed on my conversation with Rogers last night, telling her I was going to bed because I was tired. I always read while I floss before bed and I got sucked in, hard core last night. Instead of going to bed because I was exhausted, I stayed up reading until after 1, so that I could finish the book. Sorry Rogers :(
My house is really dirty. We have no plans tomorrow so we are going to stay home and clean it up.
Ms Thang doesn't want to go to preschool. She says "they will oppress me at that school, if you make me go, I will be oppressed" I'm fairly certain she means "depress", however it is really funny to think about "the man" keeping her down while at school LOL. Anything school related stresses her out right now.
We have taken The Boy to get hit with a Jesus stick (for you Lost fans out there, that is a reference to Charlie's conversation with Mr. Echo about his "Jesus stick" having blood on it in season 2). We go to the First Christian Church on a fairly regular basis to play at their FANTASTIC indoor playground. For months, they have had signs up, promoting vacation bible school. They all show science-y stuff and TB was enthralled. He begged to be allowed to go so I signed them both up for it. It started Sunday, which is a dumb day to start VBS, but whatever. We missed day one because of the afformentioned dumb day but I went ahead to take them last night. After her day (no nap, busted face, etc), when she begged me not to make her go, I decided not to push it. Turned out to be a good thing since when I stopped in her room to tell her teachers that she wouldn't be coming after all, I saw a little boy that we know in there that she has a "personality conflict" with (which is a nice way of saying he is a bully and she doesn't let him get away with any crap and he whines and cries about it). TB loves VBS and asks every day if he will be allowed to go back the next day. He is gonna be upset when he finds out it is only a week long.
We got caught in the crazy ass downpour that hit town while we were picking TB up from VBS. It was raining so hard I could barely see. It looked like they were evacuating the classes when we got there. I ran back out to get the van to pull up under the over hang to get everyone loaded. The water, although it didn't look that deep, was to the middle of my calf. Too bad I wore my leather sandles out there :(
Personally, I'm opposed to being hit with a Jesus stick but I found that out for myself and my kids deserve the same chance. He can decide if he wants to do something more with it as he gets older. I will absolutely take hm to church, should he choose that route.
Speaking of school, Tb has such different interests from me, it just boggles my mind. I'm all about books and reading and English (which could explain why a large portion of my friends are English majors) and he is so into science and little math. He is forever asking what numbers added together are and has started talking about subtraction. Heaven help me when he gets much older. I could barely pass basic algebra and had to take remeidial math in college (which I never did pass, preschool teachers really only have to be able to count to 10 so it isn't that big of a deal LOL). There is no way I'll be able to help him at all once he is past the ad subtract multiply and divide stage.
The Boy has decided to start doing chores again. For the last half of the school year, he had chores that he got paid a dollar a day to do. We had a good routine but once school got out, it all went to hell! He didn't do any the entire month of June and now most of July. Then suddenly, out of the blue, he promised Ms Thang he would buy her a Barbie doll. When pressed on the subject, he said that he wanted to buy her one because she deserved it for being good. News to me, but ok. I told him he needed to get back on doing his chores so he could earn some money to fulfill his promise. He started by putting away all his laundry yesterday. Today was crazy busy (park, Meijer, McDonalds, rest, pool, VBS, dinner, bed) so he didn't have time to vacuum, but I'm going to make him earn it tomorrow! :)
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