The kids are gone. Again. Mom called earlier tonight and asked if we wanted to come over for grilled burgers. I hardly ever turn down a night to not cook. Belle immediately piped up, "Can we stay the night???"
So here I am, alone without Hubby or kids. And I needed it after a long week of them being on spring break. We've been through sleepovers, a board game, grocery shopping today, as well as a bout of strong spring storms last night. It's not often that I get to have a night to myself, and two weekends in a row is virtually unheard of. I am going to take advantage of it.
We did receive a good tidbit of news today from our health insurance company. They were nice enough to send us an explanation of benefits saying they were paying for Bryce's visit in December, even though they didn't have him listed until this month despite the fact we had been with this company for over two years now. The is same visit that I received a bill for lab work because they denied the claim. Maybe now the hospital will refile the claim for the lab work and it will all work itself out.
I got a small baby fix today. My neighbor had her baby the end of January, maybe February, and she brought him by today for me to see. And hold. And smell. Oh my gosh, how I miss that! He let me hold him, grinned at me and talked to me. I got to see his precious little dimples. How my heart ached for another one. Even when his sweet little face wrinkled up as he tuned up and almost cried. Brady was also impressed. He thinks we need another one too. Maybe soon I'll get another fix.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Everyone's a Winner
The kids are still recovering from their long night. And so am I. Have you ever had to walk someone through a computer program after being up until 3am? No? I don't recommend it. Especially if the program you are walking through is a program you have never laid eyes on. Kinda hard to focus on the task at hand when your thoughts resemble scrambled eggs and the thinking process takes more effort than it should ever have to take.
The boys were in bed by 9pm. Belle did not make it through her sleep over last night. She called me just after 11, not long after I had gone to bed, to let me know she wanted to come home. The friend's mother offered to bring her home so that I didn't have to wake the boys to come pick her up. She came in and went right to bed. I wish I could say I did the same. I was up until after 1am (in bed, tossing) but that's a whole other topic. The kids all slept fairly well as far as time. Not one of them came into my room before 9am and I don't recall hearing any of them before 8:30 (about the time I woke up). They all had a pretty rough day yesterday, with attitudes and tempers flaring because they were so tired. I hoped today would be better.
Today they mostly lounged around but got a little rambunctious from time to time. The weather radio alarm went off this morning, to the tune of tornado watches until 5pm. The kids don't understand the concept of a watch. No matter how many times I explain that it's just a watch, does not mean that we will actually have a tornado, they still panic. They were kinda iffy on going out to play because of the high winds after that, so I didn't really argue that they didn't spend much time out today. They behaved pretty well when an couple of people came around selling cancer insurance. I had no intention on taking out a policy, but for every 50 people they spoke with, they would donate money to "Wigs for Kids" (I think, one of those companies) so I couldn't turn that down. Bryce started complaining about supper time that he didn't feel very well. I knew then that I would be putting them to bed at an earlier time tonight. The fact that ER had a a new episode airing tonight had absolutely nothing to do with it and I in no way warned them in advanced that they were going to be in bed by 9 so that I could watch it. Never happened. Yeah.
They have been bugging me to have a family game night but it just hasn't worked out with sleepovers. So tonight after I got the dishes washed and table cleaned they chose their game. The new "updated" version of Monopoly. The one were Boardwalk square is no longer Boardwalk and instead of costing $400 it now costs $4,000,000. Try to explain to a seven year old that he owes his sister $220,000 for rent on Disneyworld. Makes for an interesting time. The rules have a "quick game" version (about an hour or so) that has the banker mixing the property cards and randomly dealing three pieces of property to each player at no cost. This is the game we played (keeping an eye on 9pm). At 8:30, Bryce and Belle were laying down across chairs because "I'm tired" or "I'm bored". So I started making trades on property, buying up houses and encouraging them to buy houses in order to start bankrupting people. When they started to get on each others nerves and stepping on each others toes I declared the game over and it to be bed time. (ER had nothing to do with that. Ahem.) By now it is 9pm. Bryce asks the all important question, "Who won?"
"We all won. No one ran out of money."
Not one complaint was made that the game wasn't completely over and there was not one person angry because they lost. They were all happy that they weren't the loser that they all got up, brushed their teeth and made their way to bed. And I settled in my chair to watch my show. Now if I could get to sleep.
The boys were in bed by 9pm. Belle did not make it through her sleep over last night. She called me just after 11, not long after I had gone to bed, to let me know she wanted to come home. The friend's mother offered to bring her home so that I didn't have to wake the boys to come pick her up. She came in and went right to bed. I wish I could say I did the same. I was up until after 1am (in bed, tossing) but that's a whole other topic. The kids all slept fairly well as far as time. Not one of them came into my room before 9am and I don't recall hearing any of them before 8:30 (about the time I woke up). They all had a pretty rough day yesterday, with attitudes and tempers flaring because they were so tired. I hoped today would be better.
Today they mostly lounged around but got a little rambunctious from time to time. The weather radio alarm went off this morning, to the tune of tornado watches until 5pm. The kids don't understand the concept of a watch. No matter how many times I explain that it's just a watch, does not mean that we will actually have a tornado, they still panic. They were kinda iffy on going out to play because of the high winds after that, so I didn't really argue that they didn't spend much time out today. They behaved pretty well when an couple of people came around selling cancer insurance. I had no intention on taking out a policy, but for every 50 people they spoke with, they would donate money to "Wigs for Kids" (I think, one of those companies) so I couldn't turn that down. Bryce started complaining about supper time that he didn't feel very well. I knew then that I would be putting them to bed at an earlier time tonight. The fact that ER had a a new episode airing tonight had absolutely nothing to do with it and I in no way warned them in advanced that they were going to be in bed by 9 so that I could watch it. Never happened. Yeah.
They have been bugging me to have a family game night but it just hasn't worked out with sleepovers. So tonight after I got the dishes washed and table cleaned they chose their game. The new "updated" version of Monopoly. The one were Boardwalk square is no longer Boardwalk and instead of costing $400 it now costs $4,000,000. Try to explain to a seven year old that he owes his sister $220,000 for rent on Disneyworld. Makes for an interesting time. The rules have a "quick game" version (about an hour or so) that has the banker mixing the property cards and randomly dealing three pieces of property to each player at no cost. This is the game we played (keeping an eye on 9pm). At 8:30, Bryce and Belle were laying down across chairs because "I'm tired" or "I'm bored". So I started making trades on property, buying up houses and encouraging them to buy houses in order to start bankrupting people. When they started to get on each others nerves and stepping on each others toes I declared the game over and it to be bed time. (ER had nothing to do with that. Ahem.) By now it is 9pm. Bryce asks the all important question, "Who won?"
"We all won. No one ran out of money."
Not one complaint was made that the game wasn't completely over and there was not one person angry because they lost. They were all happy that they weren't the loser that they all got up, brushed their teeth and made their way to bed. And I settled in my chair to watch my show. Now if I could get to sleep.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Spring Break
My kids are on spring break this week. Oh. My. Gosh. This weekend was fairly uneventful, but Hubby was home. Because he drives night shift, he usually will stay up on Sunday nights so that he can sleep on Monday and get on schedule. Sunday he laid down after giving the kids night and good-bye hugs so that he could nap. It was almost midnight before I made it to bed and he got up. I woke at six, remembering that our new trash man (our old one sold out to a company I despise) would be picking up at seven am and that I had forgotten to have Bryce take it down to the end of the driveway. So I got up and had Hubby do it. By the time I got back to sleep it was after 7:30 and I got up at 9. Belle was just getting up and I had to wake Brady at 9:30 (Bryce got up before Hubby left at 8). My odd sleeping pattern left me with a headache that progressively got worse throughout the day. So I drugged myself. About suppertime, I took two Tylenol and a benedryl to help my aching head. I have a love/hate relationship with allergy/sinus products, especially benedryl. I love the fact that it can ease some of my headaches (except my migraines). It took care of my headache Monday with in no time. But. (There's always a but.) It makes me so. darn. sleepy. One benedryl can move me to the point that it's all I can do to keep my eyes open. It amazes me that this little pink pill can make me want to sleep so badly. Belle wanted two kids from the neighborhood to stay with us Monday night, but there was no way possible that I had the energy for that. I talked with Hubby at 9 and by 10, I was to the point of no return. I went to bed just after 10 and within five minutes I was out. Cold.
I got up Tuesday morning feeling much better. My head didn't hurt and I slept soundly. I encouraged the kids to play outside because rain was in the forecast (along with a cold front) and I didn't know when it would be here or how cold it was going to get. At some point during the afternoon, they got to playing with a few of the neighborhood kids again. Bryce and Brady wanted the boy they were playing with to stay last night. So I said fine. The Belle calls to ask if his little sister can stay too. Well you know I can pick and choose between siblings. I have three kids and we've been through it. So she stayed as well. It was 3am before they finally quit.
Three. I started winding them down at 1am. Before it was all said and done, Bryce and Brady had begun arguing about sleeping arrangements among other things. Finally, the friend slept in the top bunk, Bryce slept in Brady's bottom bunk and Brady slept in my bed. Belle and her buddy slept on an air mattress in the living room. It has been a very long time since one of my kids have slept in the bed with me. Hubby and I prided ourselves on the fact that we didn't allow our children to begin sleeping in our bed with us. I didn't sleep much. Bryce and Brady are currently exhausted, though they won't admit that. Belle is as well, but had been invited earlier (before the three am crash) to spend the night with another friend tonight and she is at her house. I warned friend's step-dad about last nights bedtime and that if they were ready to wind them down feel free to put Belle to bed. She needed it. And hopefully it will make their night a little easier. Mine will be. As soon as the boys finish supper and go to bed, long before midnight.
I got up Tuesday morning feeling much better. My head didn't hurt and I slept soundly. I encouraged the kids to play outside because rain was in the forecast (along with a cold front) and I didn't know when it would be here or how cold it was going to get. At some point during the afternoon, they got to playing with a few of the neighborhood kids again. Bryce and Brady wanted the boy they were playing with to stay last night. So I said fine. The Belle calls to ask if his little sister can stay too. Well you know I can pick and choose between siblings. I have three kids and we've been through it. So she stayed as well. It was 3am before they finally quit.
Three. I started winding them down at 1am. Before it was all said and done, Bryce and Brady had begun arguing about sleeping arrangements among other things. Finally, the friend slept in the top bunk, Bryce slept in Brady's bottom bunk and Brady slept in my bed. Belle and her buddy slept on an air mattress in the living room. It has been a very long time since one of my kids have slept in the bed with me. Hubby and I prided ourselves on the fact that we didn't allow our children to begin sleeping in our bed with us. I didn't sleep much. Bryce and Brady are currently exhausted, though they won't admit that. Belle is as well, but had been invited earlier (before the three am crash) to spend the night with another friend tonight and she is at her house. I warned friend's step-dad about last nights bedtime and that if they were ready to wind them down feel free to put Belle to bed. She needed it. And hopefully it will make their night a little easier. Mine will be. As soon as the boys finish supper and go to bed, long before midnight.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
"Hit'im Mom!!"
A few weeks ago, I picked up another Guitar Hero for my sister-in-law, because she couldn't find one where she lives. She has yet to come pick it up and doesn't know when she will be able to make it. Hubby told her he was going to borrow it so that we could compete against each other. (We're looking into buying just another guitar to do this regularly). We had our first round last night.
Brady was so excited as Hubby and I battled it out, that he kept hollering "Hit'im Mom!!" each and every time that I received "battle stars" to do so. You earn battle stars when they show up on the notes and you proceed to play the notes correctly. Then you can use those stars to attack the other player, resulting in them (usually) playing worse and their popularity going down. Bryce finally got so excited about the game, he yells "Hit'im like an old man!" Don't know where he got it, but the damage was done. We were laughing so hard by that point that neither of us were hitting too many correct notes. Never a dull moment here.
Brady was so excited as Hubby and I battled it out, that he kept hollering "Hit'im Mom!!" each and every time that I received "battle stars" to do so. You earn battle stars when they show up on the notes and you proceed to play the notes correctly. Then you can use those stars to attack the other player, resulting in them (usually) playing worse and their popularity going down. Bryce finally got so excited about the game, he yells "Hit'im like an old man!" Don't know where he got it, but the damage was done. We were laughing so hard by that point that neither of us were hitting too many correct notes. Never a dull moment here.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Childless
Occasionally, there are rare nights that I have no children at home. Tonight is one of those nights. The kids are officially on spring break. For the next week, they will be terrorizing me with requests to watch movies, play the Wii and computer games. But for tonight, they are spending the night with Memaw and Pepaw. That's right, I have no one here tonight (Hubby's not home yet) except for my fur kids and I have no idea what I am going to do. Outside of my husband, I have no real friends that I can call up and say, "Hey kids are gone. Wanna go shopping?" Instead I come home to a (mostly) empty house, watch some tv or a movie, maybe read or work on a craft. Decisions. I'll be sure to let you know what doesn't evolve out of tonight.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
April Fools
April Fools is a horrible holiday. One that I probably enjoyed as a child but now know how my parents felt. I had forgotten what day it was until I read an article on the top ten pranks. Then I went about my day and forgot it again. Until the kids got home. Brady tried immediately to get me to fall for a prank. After a few minutes, the pranks fell off and we went about our afternoon of homework and playtime until we picked Bryce up from violin practice. We had a couple more pranks in the car on the way home and they stopped. Completely. Some days I'm glad of their short memory spans.
I have a routine that I go through every night before I go to bed and part of that routine is checking on the kids. I do this to make sure they are still under their blankets, that they are not too warm or cold, and to make sure they are still in their beds. I have this irrational fear someone may take them from me when my guard is down (bedtime). When I checked on the boys, I almost fussed at Brady for still being up. Until my mind kicked in enough to realize that Brady was not as big as the figure I was looking at and fear crept into my heart. That is until I actually paid attention to what I was looking at.
Now this picture does not do the effect justice. This picture was taken this morning after the kids had left for school and does not give the impression of what I saw last night. Notice the night light just past the dog's right paw. Imagine, just for a moment, seeing a figure's shape illuminated by that light and dark from behind. Yep. That's exactly what I saw. A shadowy figure. A few seconds later, after my mind had run through all of the worst case scenarios that it could muster, I started to notice that the shape looked familiar. Very familiar. And then it hit me what I was actually looking at. Brady had decided to play some before going to sleep.
You could almost see the look of accomplishment when I told him this morning he almost gave me a heart attack. He pulled off the ultimate April Fool's joke and didn't even know it.
I have a routine that I go through every night before I go to bed and part of that routine is checking on the kids. I do this to make sure they are still under their blankets, that they are not too warm or cold, and to make sure they are still in their beds. I have this irrational fear someone may take them from me when my guard is down (bedtime). When I checked on the boys, I almost fussed at Brady for still being up. Until my mind kicked in enough to realize that Brady was not as big as the figure I was looking at and fear crept into my heart. That is until I actually paid attention to what I was looking at.
Now this picture does not do the effect justice. This picture was taken this morning after the kids had left for school and does not give the impression of what I saw last night. Notice the night light just past the dog's right paw. Imagine, just for a moment, seeing a figure's shape illuminated by that light and dark from behind. Yep. That's exactly what I saw. A shadowy figure. A few seconds later, after my mind had run through all of the worst case scenarios that it could muster, I started to notice that the shape looked familiar. Very familiar. And then it hit me what I was actually looking at. Brady had decided to play some before going to sleep.
You could almost see the look of accomplishment when I told him this morning he almost gave me a heart attack. He pulled off the ultimate April Fool's joke and didn't even know it.
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