WE FEEL FOR OUR HOOSIER FRIENDS . . .

Who have been paralyzed by an ice storm. Our family remembers so well the ice storm and the blizzard that paralyzed our county and much of Indiana in 1978. We were out of school for almost a full month. I remember especially during the ice storm that it was illegal to be on the road. We had a houseful of people that stayed with us for nearly a week because they couldn't get back to their homes. It was both a fun and scary time. Several people perished in their homes because they lost electricity and heat as well as being in accidents on the road. We sure hope things go much better and people are safe this time. Bless you all. Know you are in our thoughts and prayers.

Grandpa had a check-up on his shoulder today. The surgeon thinks he is doing well except he is concerned that Dad is a little bit stiffer than he should be. He wants him to exercise it just a bit more. The stiffness could be from his Parkinsons. He is already really faithful with his exercises but hopefully he can combat the stiffness with a little more work.

We got a tiny bit of snow here today but it didn't last. It's in the low thirties but other than being cold it's not too bad. We don't have a whole lot going on.

Well, hope all is well with you. More later. :)

WE HAD SOME VISITORS THIS WEEKEND

Sarah and her son Ian surprised us by dropping in on Saturday. They were on their way to a wedding reception near where they used to live. So they came and spent an hour or two with us. Then they came back and spent the night with us and spent the morning today. It was fun catching up. Mom and Dad were very glad to have some company. Here's some pictures of them chilling with the little ones.

NOBODY CAN FILL DADDY'S SHOES . . . NOT EVEN ME

BUT THAT DON'T STOP ME FROM TRYIN'!

(You may have to look close to see my Daddy's black, size 14 shoes on my feet. They are so heavy I can't even lift my legs! Hahahaha!)

HAPPY ME!

Rob just got home! I'm very happy! He's been in Denver the last few days doing some training and I've missed him very much. I've got a couple of monkey's under the weather and a third one with a hurt paw. That makes single parenting pretty tough.

Carly and Jon both seem to be running low grade fevers, though Carly has been the most miserable. She keeps telling me her head hurts, too. I've been giving her Tylenol and that has been helping. Jon hasn't complained at all but he is more lethargic than usual.

Julie's wrist and hand are bugging her but she hasn't done anything to them that should make them hurt. It's not even her dominant hand so it's kind of weird. Finally took her in for XRays tonight but nothing was wrong with it. They just decided to immobilized it for awhile to see if that would help. My theory is that she is sleeping on it wrong and not realizing it. I guess time will tell.

We had a birthday party here for my niece Keelie tonight. She turned 7. Carly loves Keelie! It was fun to have her over! Especially the cake part!
Mostly, I am just so darn glad to have my hubby home! Yay for me!

Got up early today and watched my friend's little girl while she went and helped at her boys school. Her name is Ellie and Carly and Jon love playing with her. They had fun--after they all finished screaming! Oh wait, that was part of their fun. It must be the age they are all at. It's gonna drive me crazy!

When Robin came back for Ellie we took the kids out for lunch to a playland. Jono is practicing to be an escape artist. I don't know how many times I chased after him. I still don't know whether he was going for the door to leave or trying to get into the kitchen for more food. Although if I had to make a guess it would be the latter. That's my hungry boy!

Grandpa went to physical therapy today for his shoulder and worked extra on flattening out his knee. He was pretty sore afterward. He didn't seem as wornout to me as usual, though. While Grandma went and got her hair done, the kids and I went to pick him up from his workout. That was fun for the kids. They like their Grandpa.

We had blueberry pancakes, bacon and orange juice for dinner. It was really yummy. Besides that, we just kind of lazed around the house. I finally got the kids down around 8:30 and got to finish the laundry. Nothing exciting going on here. That's for sure. Well, tomorrow is another day! :)

MY LITTLE MONSTERS

are little monsters! Jonathon turned 17 months on the 24th. Carly will be three in a couple of weeks. They are on both ends of two so what else should I expect, right? I really needed a decibel meter today to measure the noise level. They are into screaming now and when one screams the other screams just to top it! And on and on it goes~ . . . So lovely! No wonder I've been having migraines! Lol!

The last couple of weeks they have been fighting their naps, too. It takes me a minimum of three times each to get them down for their nap and they are in separate rooms so that isn't the problem. If I let them stay up they are cranky as all get out!

I'm missing my cute, cuddly babies who just laid in my arms and cooed and smiled. These ones have opinions, likes and dislikes and they don't always agree with me. (Go figure.) This too shall pass, right? It's just a phase, isn't it? Where are my ruby red slippers? Aunty Em, Aunty Em! There's no place like home. There's no place like home . . .

MORE SNOW

Yesterday was a bit of a blur. I've had one of those hanger-on migraines. Bless my husband, my 17 year-old and Grandma for taking care of the babies so I could crawl in bed and take care of my head. It's better now by oh so much!

We woke up this morning to some surprise snow! There was already a good inch and a half on the ground by the time we got up and it was still coming down hard. We got about four inches total. What is funny is that none of us in the house knew it was coming. I guess we need to listen to the weather forcast more often.

We have the best neighbor. He keeps showing up to shovel our walks and our driveway when the weather is bad. It is such a wonderful blessing for him to do that! I just can't get out there during the day with two toddlers,
at least it would be very difficult to do. So, it is amazing to walk outside and find the walks and driveway cleared already! Thanks so much, Bud! You're amazing!

Grandpa has physical therapy tomorrow. Julie has a special training class for her SAT going on. Other than that there isn't much news here. That's probably a good thing. Night all. :)

OUR LAZY SUNDAY

I'm thinking it's time for the after-the-holidays diet. Now, if I can just convince my willpower and my pallette to go along! Why is it I can't seem to go through Thanksgiving and Christmas without adding between 5-10 lbs that I really don't need? Do you do that too? It's so ridiculous, too. Why can I eat fairly normal the rest of the year and then for about a month, on and off, go nuts?! Gah!

We had a lazy, lazy Sunday today. Don't think any of us felt too well. Rob and I both had headaches. Got some good sleep, though and feel a little better tonight. Thank goodness for our teenager! She is such a great helper!

We threw a roast in the crockpot in the morning and Julie made homemade buns later in the day. When the roast was done we shredded it and had Au jus sandwiches. They were NUMMY!

Well, nothing exciting going on here. It's January--what do you expect?! Lol!

DON'T REPEAT, RELOAD!

(Sorry everyone--I tried for a half an hour to post this last night and my blog site was having problems. So, I trying again right now. Here goes!)


A little bit ago I went to load the last few dirty dishes in the dishwasher and run it for tonight. I opened the door and to my surprise and horror it had been unloaded and put away. Normally, that would be a nice surprise--but these were all DIRTY dishes! ICK!

I knew immediately it was my teenager trying to be good and surprise me. Well, she did--surprise me, that is! My problem was that we hadn't done a ton of cooking for the last couple of days so it was two full days of dishes and I couldn't for the life of me remember what had been in there. There was no way I could just start pulling the right things from the cabinets. Plus, e-gads, what to do about the silverware! I had to go wake her up and have her come pull out what she had put away. Frustration!

I got her up. She said "I thought it was clean. It looked pretty clean." Well, in truth, I do rinse everything off pretty well but, that doesn't mean I'd want to eat off it again unless it had been washed really well first.

So, Julie pulled everything out of the cabinets that she'd put away and I reloaded. I decided to re-wash all the silverware too. No telling where to start and where to stop--so might as well just clean it all.

Sent Julie back to bed and restarted the dishwasher. Hopefully, we got everything and there are no germs left behind. Hey, wasn't that a government program?

MAYBE NEXT TIME . . .

Grandpa and Grandma got a new dentist today. We sent them to the one we go to and he's a pretty funny guy, too. Anyway, they both went in for a check-up. Then Grandpa had his physical therapy. By the time he got back home I thought Grandma was bringing in a rag doll! Just kidding--but he was plum wore out!

Grandma left me in charge and went to get her hair done. Grandpa, the kidlings and I just hung out, had some dinner and watched TV until Grandma came home. Rob had a late work meeting and Julie had gone to her tournament.

It was pretty loud and raucous here and I thought Dad and I were going to pull our hair out until we finally lasso'd the kiddo's and put them to bed! By that time, Grandma had come home and we were all tuckered out. Grandma and Grandpa headed to bed. I was left alone to tell the boring story and then, I'm headed to find my own pillow and sack out. Maybe next time you'll get a better story. Maybe not! :)

WHAT'S THE DEBATE?

Julie has a debate tournament tomorrow and has been asked to compete on the Varsity team! She is filling in for someone who can't be there. That's a real honor for her since this is her first year. We are so proud of her! Congrats sweetie!

Jonathon was feeling a little better today. His temp was fairly normal but his appetite still isn't totally back. Wonder how come mine is? No fair! No fair! Lol!

Grandpa got his physical therapy in today. He has more to come tomorrow and Friday. He is doing good though. Grandma gets her hair done tomorrow. She actually has her own hair stylist now. It only took a little over a year to achieve but we did it!

We took (I say that lightly. I think I only took out 2 or 3)Carly's extensions and braided her own hair over the last couple of days. I say that really lightly, too. Julie actually did all the braiding. Carly's hair grew quite a bit while it was in extensions. Although, it's not as thick. I still need to put beads on the ends but as soon I do I will take pictures and post them. She is such a little cutie.

Well, not too much else to tell. We are doing pretty good. Night all.

A SHORT REPORT

Jonathon has been fighting a fever for the last three days. Tylenol and Ibuprofen have been helping keep it down but he still doesn't feel very good. Even when he doesn't feel very good he is in a good mood. He's such a nice little boy.

Carly did lots better today. She only had a couple of those terrible two moments. Julie was braiding her hair which meant she had to sit fairly still for a few hours and she did great.

Grandma and Grandpa got out to run a few errands today. I always think that helps Grandpa feel a little better, even if it does tire him a bit. Just getting out of the house and getting some fresh air and sunshine seems to brighten things up. It's pretty much only his right shoulder that gives him any pain these days. The first two operations have been really successful! Yay!

We are supposed to get snow tonight. I'm not sure how much but I guess a little won't hurt anything. Well, that's all the news from here. Have a lovely tomorrow!

WHERE IS MY SWEET LITTLE GIRL AND WHAT HAVE YOU DON'E WITH HER?!

Had a wonderful and long overdue visit with a dear friend of mine today; one of those I miss most from my former life. That's my way of saying I don't miss my career but I do miss some of the wonderful friends I made along the way. I wish some of them lived closer because they became like family to me.

Rob was gone overnight last night and Julie is home from school due to the holiday and an administrative day tomorrow. With all the mix of schedules Carly has gotten a little bit mouthy and hasn't been minding as well. I made the mistake of letting her go to the store with Julie and me tonight and we paid dearly. She told us "NO!" She threw tantrums! She sassed and got bossy and none of my usual parenting methods to settle her down worked. None of the threats were taking effect and you just don't swat your kid anymore or someone calls the ALCU and gets them a lawyer.

I was at my wits end when Rob called to check in for the day, so I explained what was going on to him and handed the phone to Carly. Needless to say, she did not want to take the call! Lol! Well, that bought five minutes of good behavior from her. Luckily, I was still talking to Rob when things got bad again so I put her back on the phone with him and that gave me another 10. Unfortunately, I had another 20 or so minutes of shopping to do. By the time I left the store I was up to my neck in irritation. When we got home she got in trouble and got to go to bed pretty quickly!

I always heard that two's were terrible! Isn't that why we called them the TERRIBLE TWO'S?? For the last year or so, people have been saying to me, "Oh, if you think the two's are bad, wait till you get to the three's." I kept thinking, "No Way! There is no saying about the threes! We've never been warned about the threes! You can't just surprise parents with this after the fact!" Well, apparently they can!

So, I'm here to tell all of you that didn't get pre-warned! I don't know for sure but it's looking pretty much like it's true since we are only a month away from the threes and my adorable little girl's terrible's are starting to turn to horrible's. Yep, I'm here to warn ya! Apparently, there are the Terrible Two's, the Travesty Threes and I don't even want to think about the Felony Fours . . . LOL!

GOT A PARROT AT OUR HOUSE

Over heard between Carly and Grandma

Carly: "Grandma, Why you do that?"
Grandma: teasingly "Cause."
Carly: "Cause I said so, that's why?"

LOL! Funny how those words come back to haunt you--or someone else! Hee Hee! Of course, I do remember my Mom saying them to me, too!

SOME DAYS IT'S HARD TO MEASURE UP

Sometimes, I stare at this page for a long time before I write anything--like I'm a painter and it's my canvas. Well, tonight is one of those nights. Ha! Well, this is the first place I'm not measuring up. But that isn't what's on my mind tonight. It's been a frustrating, stressful week and as a mom of kids from 16 months to 27 years there are so many priorities pulling me in different directions. That's okay. I signed up for this duty. I may not have known exactly what I was getting into but I had a pretty good idea.

I rarely get everything accomplished I meant to in a day--let alone what I needed to. Sometimes I feel like I let everyone down and there is just not enough of me to go around. Ever have one of those days. Well, it has been one of those weeks.

I am going to forgive myself, pull it together and try harder next week. And if you're feeling anything like I am--GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK! :)

MY CRAZY LITTLE DUMPER!

So last night I was in the kitchen working on dishes and talking with my husband and brother-in-law when Carly comes screaming into the kitchen jumping up and down begging for help. She was crying hysterically. When she got close enough so I could see what was going on her face and hair were all wet and foamy. She was grabbing at her eyes and screaming for us to get "it" out of her eyes. None of us knew what "it" was but Rob and Steve grabbed her and rinsed her head and eyes under water until they got "it" all out.

In the meantime, I found the sippy of orange juice she had just been drinking on the floor near us. Guess she dropped it when she ran in for help. It only took me a moment to put the two together. Turns out "it" was orange juice! Yep, my child is a DUMPER! Turns out she had dumped most of the sippy of orange juice over her head. It's not the first thing she's dumped on her head. She has dumped several cups/sippy's/handfuls of water, milk, cereal, sand, dirt--you name it, she's probably dumped it--ON HER HEAD. I don't know what it is about dumping things on her head she likes but she does enjoy it. I'm guessing she wasn't counting on the acidity of OJ and it getting in her eyes! Carly has always been a texture girl. She likes to feel different textures. I knew she enjoyed feeling things with her hands but apparently her head likes trying things out too! :) Go figure! She's my crazy little dumper!

THE DRONES OF JANUARY

Tonight we got a bit of an ice storm. It started coming down as a wet snow but started to freeze as it was coming down. It got very slick really quick. I don't know whether this was an expected storm or not. I only know I wasn't expecting it!
Hopefully by morning it won't be as bad but I'm not counting on it. I sure hope no one is hurt driving in it. I'm sure the roads are really dangerous.

The big news in the house today is that that both of the babies got changed to heavy duty overnight diapers. Mommy is tired of waking up to wet kids and wet soaked through diapers and pajamas and bed clothes! BTW, Bed clothes = sheets and blankets if you didn't know that. My Grandma Flint taught me that, but that was another day and age. Wow, so much excitement and even a little learnin'! Aren't you glad you took time to read my blog this morning?! LOL!

I think I have the after-Christmas jet lag. I am tired all the time. I just want to sleep and sleep and sleep. Of course, it's January, too. That alone could explain it. Well, I drone on. So, now I will stop. I'll be back when I have something a little more interesting to say. Maybe. :)

TODAY'S NOTES NOT OF NOTE

Today was just plain uneventful. Besides being cold here and having snow on the ground there isn't much going on. At least we could be one of the 49 states with snow on the ground. Did you hear that? Even Hawaii has snow on the ground. Only Florida doesn't have any. Kind of odd, isn't it? I wonder if that is a first or not?

Grandpa had PT today and came back worn out. I think they work him pretty hard. Other than that, it is really quiet on the western front. Night all.

THAT'S DEBATABLE

We got Julie home tonight after her California trip! She did really well in her debate tournament and then got to have fun at Disneyland for a couple of days. We missed not having her here, especially Carly who looked for her all over the place while she was gone.

Wow, it has sure been cold here. It has been in the teens and lower for several days but I swear it feels colder than that. Well, that's all the news today. Night all.

BIG WEEKEND, MONDAY LULL

After the big weekend, it was nice to have a bit of a lull today. Took a good nap when I put the kids down. Enjoyed the quiet. It was so nice to just stop when the world quieted down today.

Feeling sad for those who were hurt and those who lost love ones in Tucson last week. Such a needless tragedy.

Julie comes home tomorrow night. She has been having a blast. We are glad she did well and had fun but will be very glad to get her home safely.

Well, need to get to bed. Take care.

PROUD, FOX-Y MAMA!

Julie called today from somewhere near the Magic Kingdom where she has gone with her high school debate team to participate in a large multiple high school debate. She and her partner were entered in three categories and felt they had not placed in two of them but had a slight chance in the third. They were waiting for the judges to announce the winners when she called. Those who won would go on to Semi-finals.

She was so excited when she was telling me about the category she felt they had a chance in because it was one where the judges gave the topic and they only had a couple of minutes to come up with their arguments. Their topic ended up being the Wiki leaks fiasco and Julian Assange. They had to defend him. It turned out that Julie knew all the details about him and this case. Her partner had not heard much about it but knew most of the legal terms and law that would apply to the case. So, together they made a very strong argument.

The hilarious thing to me about this is that my kids and my husband do not at all enjoy the fact that I LOVE WATCHING THE NEWS! I could watch FOX NEWS all day (and sometimes do! I do switch it up sometimes to get other points of view but I really like to know what is going on in the world. It drives them nuts! (I got this legitimately from my parents.)

One day, when I was watching the news and it was driving Julie nuts I told her it would serve her well to stop complaining and start listening to the news since she was now in debate. I guess she listened because when I asked her how she knew about the Wiki leaks case she sheepishly said: "Listening to FOX News." I giggled loudly and said: "I'm so happy right now! Oh, and I'm proud of you too sweety!" Lol! There aren't a ton of pay days in the teenage years, but ain't it great when you get one! Yay!
Oh, she did win at the Semi-finals but lost the next round! Still, did so, so, great! So proud of my girl!

SHOPPING AND DINING

Spent all day today shopping for wedding dresses with my daughter and her fiance. Then this evening Rob and I took our soon to be married couple and our daughter's future in-laws out to dinner. It was our first meeting. We had a really terrific evening with them and enjoyed ourselves a great deal. They are very down to earth and easy going. We just loved them!

Our kids have are shooting for a mid-March wedding--the date is still tentative at this moment. So, we aren't going to have a ton of planning time. Ahh! Oh, who am I kidding. I was an event planner for a lot of years. We can pull this off even if we pull our hair out doing it! I always say I can accomplish anything if I can whine about it! (Prepare to be whined to for awhile! Lol!)

SHE'S LEAVING ON A JET PLANE

Actually, she alread left and got there safely. Whew! Here's to hoping she does well in her debates!

Grandpa got a real work over today in physical therapy. He was worn out and told me so the minute he walked in the door. He also told me it's helping him so I think he considers it worth it still.

Tomorrow, Sara and I are going shopping to look at wedding dresses and then tomorrow night Rob and I are going to meet the future in-laws. We are excited! Well, that's all the news for today. More later.

YOU CAN'T HOLD THEIR HANDS FOREVER . . . CAN YOU?

Julie is going on her first airplane ride tomorrow. Don't know who is more nervous, her or her mom? She is in debate this year at school and they are going to a tournament in California. They leave tomorrow and get back early next week. She is really excited. It's her first big trip of this kind and they get to go to Disneyland while they are there. I would have been so excited to do something like this when I was in high school. So, I know how she must feel. I just never realized how the parents must feel when the kids go. It's such a different perspective from this side of things. It's interesting getting the crash course in things like this, though it's beginning to come naturally. Either way, I don't like it. I was already a pretty good worrier before I had children. Now I'm a blue ribbon champ!

BTW, think she would mind if I came along in case she gets scared and wants to hold my hand?

A SHORT REPORT ON THE DAY

My husband's aunt died this past week and her funeral was today. Sara and Stephen came up from Cedar and we took them and the little kids and went to it. She was a neat lady and it was a very sweet funeral. We did the viewing before, the funeral, the cemetery and the family dinner afterward. So, it ended up being a marathon day but it was nice time spent with family who needed to connect with each other. Each family had lost a parent this year. Rob lost his Dad, these cousins lost their mom--(Rob's Dad's sister) and his other set of cousin's lost their Dad not long after Rob's Dad passed away. Only one sister remains. It's hard seeing people you care about lose their parents. I don't think it's easy at any age.

I was surprised at how good the kids were. They weren't perfect but for as long as we hauled them around they were pretty darn good.

Sorry there wasn't a blog last night. We were up talking with the newly engaged kids until 4 a.m. and I just couldn't pull one out. We had to be up early today.

Mom got a perm, a hair cut and hair set today. Dad has his physical therapy tomorrow and Friday. Everybody is doing well, we are all just exhausted.

OUR VERY GOOD, VERY BAD, VERY LONG DAY!

This morning all was going well. Carly was watching her cartoons like normal. Jonathon was eating in his highchair and watching too. I was sitting on the couch doing the same and reading my email. Carly began dancing with one of the Dora songs and twirling around. Apparently, she twirled one too many times because she lost her balance and came crashing down hard on the edge of our glass coffee table. It shocked both of us--well, probably Bubby too, but I didn't take time to look back at him. I just grabbed her and ran to the bedroom with her where Rob was. She was crying so hard. I felt so bad for her. I couldn't tell until I got to the bedroom that she had cut her head on the table.

Her cut is near her eyebrow and is only about a half inch long but is somewhat deep and it bled pretty good. Rob cleaned her cut up and bandaged it. We got her calmed down and she was so cute after that. She kept telling me "Mommy, I O.K. and I not too hurt."

We took her to the doctor and instead of putting stitches in opted for the Super Glue. It supposedly leaves less of a scar. The Dr. Super-glued it shut in no time. It closed perfectly and she only cried a little--mostly when they were cleaning and disinfecting it. They put a Snoopy band aid over it and we were done! Carly was so cute and polite with the doctor and nurse. I just love my baby girl so much! It hurt my heart to see her scared and in pain today. But there is nothing that compares to the feeling of being the one she wants to hold her when she is feeling that way. Nope. Nothing. :)


P.S. I now know I could never have been a doctor. Never could handle my Super Glue without gluing my fingers to something or at the very least having it stuck all over my fingers for days! Should of seen how smooth this doc was with his tube of S.G.--not a drop anywhere but where he wanted it. Slick as a whistle. A true professional! Lol!

P.S.S. Grandpa went for another shoulder check-up today. He has to do more exercises. Actually, I guess we are supposed to torture him a bit. In order to get the motion or movement he has to have a little help. We have to be behind him when he is laying down and pull his arm over his head to stretch his reach a bit. The Dr. wants to see him again in a month. The good news is that this shoulder is doing well enough that Dad now says that his other shoulder has become his bad shoulder. So it sounds like this was a successful surgery to him! Yay!

Well, that's all for today. Night all! N.

MY LITTLE CHERUBS

This is Carly's new Christmas dress. She wore it to church today. Julie did her hair. She put her braids up in a darling little bun. I had her take pictures so I could show you from the front, side and back. The funniest thing is I didn't notice until I was cropping the picture that both of my Cherub's were in at least two of the pictures. Can you find Waldo, er, I mean Jonathon? Lol!

JUST A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR . . .

Carly called to me from her bedrooom today while I was in the kitchen and said; "Mama, I need some medicine, I sick. "I said, "What's wrong, "Baby girl?" She said, "I cough. I need some medicine. You give me some medicine."
I said, You come in here so I can feel your forehead and see if you have a fever. I'll give you medicine if you have a fever too but not for just a cough." Then she said; I have a fever Mama, it's in your bedroom but I cough, too.

Now just to be sure I heard that right, I had her repeat that last part. Sure enough, somewhere in my bedroom Carly has a fever. I've been cleaning my bedroom this evening and I haven't run across it yet. In fact, I'm not exactly sure what a fever looks like on it's own. But if I happen to run across it, I'm gonna give it some medicine for sure! Kind of funny the things that goe through little kids heads!