Saturday, January 31, 2009

No power, no blog

We are visiting friends in Martin today to reconnect to the outside world! We are recovering from an ice storm that crippled the area for the last few days. We are hopeful of having power restored, but have no idea when that might be. We were warned yesterday that it could be up to 30 days. We are hoping that was an overly conservative estimate. The city has power and water so Tim will be back at work next week. We will let friends and family know when we have phones, power, etc. Keep us all in your prayers. We are very thankful for a gas fireplace and stove that have enabled us to be fed and warm over the past few days. We have taken pictures and will post those once our access is restored.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Sleepwalking

Last night Matthew scared me to death when he walked into the living room at 9:00. He couldn't tell me who he was nor did he know who I was. His eyes were dilated and he was not responding to my questions with coherent answers. We have dealt with night terrors, but we have never seen this calm but uncommunicative behavior. After a little while he seemed to come around and was able to talk to me and go on back to bed. I, on the other hand, was totally freaked out about it. Tim came home after class and told me he used to do the same thing to his parents. Hopefully Matthew will grow out of it as his Daddy did. I just hope next time his Dad is around to experience the weirdness.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

The horrible, no fun, worst of the worst, bad day

Some days the teacher needs to learn a lesson. We had a bad day. Its that simple. Everything sort of just went wrong all day. Piano practice this morning was awful, school was chaotic, and the afternoon ended with Matthew and I both in tears at piano lessons. Time off our normal school work earlier in the week for a field trip has us behind so I felt pressure to get it all done. As Matthew and I were blubbering in piano I realized I had created the day that I work to avoid. We missed out on a beautiful day because I had the focus on the wrong thing. It is contrary to everything I am trying to accomplish in our home as their teacher. Thankfully our piano teacher was understanding and encouraging, so we are going to take a more structured, yet less intense approach. As far as school goes, two science experiments tomorrow, books for me to read to them, and a math game. All fun stuff to make up for a miserable day. We are all going to bed early tonight and hoping the memory of today will fade quickly. The next time it is beautiful day I promise we won't miss it!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Basketball Time!

The kids are so excited about basketball. Carter, Matthew, and Laurel are all playing in an Upward league. We were able to get them on two teams so we are happy about that. They left this morning to play their first game. We had to document the time (notice the clock).

We aren't early morning people- we can get up and go when we have to but generally the day begins around here at 8 am. Carter's ballgames will be at 8:00. That means the kids have to leave by 7:45 am each Saturday morning. Today we did well. Hopefully we won't be scrambling on Saturday mornings to make it.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

So it was worse than I thought

This afternoon further consequences of Katey's "water play" surfaced. The living room ceiling began leaking water from the seams in the drywall. Not good. Thankfully it appears that the drywall tape is all that is damaged. We have someone coming by later this week to see about repairing the mess once it is all fully dry. I remind myself there are people dealing with much worse, however Katey will find herself on a very short rope for a while.

This girl has gone wild

Katey is a challenge these days. Yesterday she flooded my bathroom floor by "bailing" water with a cup from the sink and dumping it on the floor and counter. Today she did it AGAIN and also stripped all the bedding off our bed and crumbled styrofoam packing all over our bedroom floor. Today I took pictures so there would be evidence of her tornado like tendencies. When I walked in my room to check on her and found the mess her immediate response was "I want Daddy!!!" She knew Mommy was not happy. She will be spending the afternoon with our shop vac.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Mattress in a Box

Laurel's new mattress arrived- the Mattress in a Box. Here are some pics and a video clip of us unpacking it. It is amazing to me that you can get a decent mattress this way. The reviews were great so we took the plunge and on the advice of some of the reviewers documented the unpacking process. (Actually, the reviewer suggested inviting friends over to watch, but we didn't go that far.) I don't know if it would work for two adults, but for a kid is awesome...how cool is it to watch your mattress literally spring forth from the packaging! Here's some photos and the You Tube Link to a short video we made while unpacking it.







Tuesday, January 6, 2009

She doesn't listen to a word I say

I debated about posting this one since the younger members of our house read this, but my Mom told me I should post it so I won't forget it. Life is fun with preschoolers!

Sunday at church Carter's teacher found me and told me needed to tell me what happened in class. (Yes, in my mind I thought "what did he do???") She told me they were talking about telling people about Jesus and that she told the kids they should tell their brothers and sisters. Turning to Carter she said "You can tell your little sister about Jesus." To which he replied "Well, I'll tell her, but she doesn't listen to a word I say." Totally honest, hilarious, and unfortunately quite true.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Much Better!!

The world has stopped spinning-6 days later the world is solid under my feet! Today was a much better day. Laurel and I enjoyed a lunch out with friends. It was nice to get away on our last day off. I joked last night about the miraculous cure moments away, but after the third dose of medication last night I did feel much better!

The new fridge arrived today. We thoroughly inspected it. The poor Lowes' guys. I doubt most of their deliveries are so time consuming. We wanted to be sure everything was perfect this time. After they left we started hearing a strange noise and both Tim and I almost lost it. We pulled the fridge out and found a piece of paper was left taped to the back. It was "flapping" in the breeze created by the fan on the rear of the fridge. The relief following the discovery was palatable and we laughed at ourselves for how on edge we are over an appliance. Hopefully the saga of the fridge is over. We were even bold enough to go out and buy groceries!!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

The world keeps spinning

I have been "under the weather" since Saturday with dizziness and nausea. Its an off and on thing and I have my good moments and bad ones. Yesterday I found the cause was vertigo (yes, we wondered about the obvious other thing, but it was not the case). The doctor gave me some meds and promised a quick recovery. What she failed to mention was that I would be trading being dizzy for being "drunk" while taking the medication. I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30 last night, Tim woke me to go to bed late last night after he rang in the new year with a sleeping spouse and I stumbled (literally) upstairs. I woke up at 10:30 this morning. Yes, 14 hours of sleep. I can't remember the last time I slept that long! I have spent the day today slurring my words, sleeping (yes, I still took a nap even after all that sleep), hanging onto things to walk, and wondering if the cure is worse than problem it was to treat. Thankfully Tim has no classes this week!! I can't imagine trying to manage the children in my state. Hopefully my miraculous recovery is moments away. The doctor promised the world would stop spinning within 48 hours. I am ready to be still and enjoy what is left of our holiday break!