Days 1, 2, & 3 While in Japan

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Jennifer

My husband just returned last night after being away for almost 2 weeks on a business trip to Japan.

(He had to go train people in a computer program. No one in Japan has the technical knowledge to do this training? I think he really just went for the Okonomiyaki and Ramen. Love you dear!)

Regardless, we are all very glad to have him home.

Each day I emailed him a little synopsis of our day so I thought I would share days 1, 2, and 3 with you.

Day 1

Roughly 5 hours after you left…
Caroline woke up with a fever
toaster oven handle broke totally at breakfast
garage door suddenly not working correctly so we are now walking the bikes through the house
filled Caroline up with Advil and she went to school
swam 1400 until got kicked out of lane
picked up Sophie and the vet informed me that she needs to have her ears washed out and medicine put in everyday for the next 14 days – I will let you guess who will be doing the last 2 days of treatment
music class – made $20 selling cards towards adoption
dinner at Cici’s
basketball – Andrew’s head coach is weird, like straight from the chimps looking weird, Andrew thought he was fine
Andrew swims then Alex swims
Smuggle Caroline into girls locker room where I give her a shower and ignore the mean looks from the cleaning lady who is doing no cleaning
Drive home while Andrew & Caroline watch Tom & Jerry Nutcracker in car
Alex is dropped off by Sheryl from practice
went to bed at 1:00 am

Day 2

Caroline still had fever, went to school, would not hear of not going
swam 2100 – didn’t get kicked out – tired
pick up Caroline and she has a constant cough
Alex goes early and stays late to work on project
piano lesson
drive thru mac n cheese & cornbread for boys for dinner, Caroline thinks I’m poisoning her with said bread
drop Andrew off at boy scouts with Bryce
drive Alex to soccer practice (Laura brings him to indoor game after practice)
go back to Boy Scouts
Andrew has to bring a collection of 10 of something to next meeting – he wants to bring 10 pencil leads – our kid is weird sometimes
take little 2 home and shower them
drive to indoor soccer game at 8:30 pm game where team is killed 9-0
drive home & kids asleep by 10:15 – yikes!
went to bed at 12! getting better

Day 3

fever still, doesn’t go to school, cough is too bad
Drive Alex to school early
Start cleaning out closet with Caroline – complete waste of time attempting that with her
doctor’s appointment at 11:30 who says she has no idea what the cough is – if doesn’t go away by Friday will do chest xrays – decides to put her on liquid zpack
go to target to pick up a few things before winter storm which is supposed to hit tomorrow night – $160 later we leave Target
get Caroline lunch and medicine and start to heat lunch in microwave
Caroline starts throwing up everything she had to eat that day
Clean up puke – fun!
Put Caroline in shower and eat lunch
Andrew comes home and shows me his collection of pencil lead that he has had at school – Jessie is helping him collect the lead “I think she’s breaking her pencil lead on purpose. She gave me like three leads in three minutes.”
Get lecture from nurse on phone about why Caroline needs to have her medicine & that if she doesn’t take it, she’ll have to come in for a shot
I plead, I beg, I try and hide it, I literally sit on top of her, and yet no medicine goes in – it all comes out with spit and runs down her face
I say, welcome shot!
Pick up Alex from band rehearsals. He is so enthusiastic about the practice that I’m willing to bet that he will want 76 trombones played at his wedding.
Eat chicken dinner, burn rice, eat leftover cornbread, and strawberries. I eat the corn. No one else acknowledges its existence.
Everyone “helps” in giving Sophie her medicine. Basically Sophie got 3 treats and no medicine tonight. I don’t care. She can go deaf.
Drive to swimming.
Again shower Caroline in locker room.
Drive home. I say no to Tom & Jerry. Caroline proceeds to harass me for next 15 minutes on why she can’t watch it. I win.
Put younger to bed in our bed. You are going to have to kick Andrew out of your spot. He’s been loving sleeping there every night and says it’s so cozy. Have to reassure Andrew that Caroline will not throw up on him.
Alex gets dropped off from swimming and takes worlds longest shower all while humming Christmas carols. He then eats last piece of pumpkin pie and 2 granola bars.
Tuck Alex onto the sofa cushions in our room. We’re having quite the slumber party without you here.
I eat tons of Halloween candy while sitting at the computer.
Looks like it might be another 1 am night.

Love you and miss you – only 9 more nights till you come home!

Jennifer & the kids

Fat Belly

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Jennifer

I was helping my four year old with something when she poked me in the belly and said, “You have a fat belly.”

“That is not nice. People don’t like to hear that they have a fat belly.”

She poked me again and said, “You have a medium belly.”

I see many parent teacher conferences in this ones future.

Baby It’s Cold Outside

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Jennifer

Baby, it’s cold outside.

Actually, it’s not just cold in Texas right now, it’s freezing.

Wednesday we were in shorts and it was 79 degrees outside.

Thursday we had tons of freezing rain and temperatures below 30 degrees.

School was cancelled on Friday (insert cheer from my kids) so we stayed home all day. With temperatures not expected to reach above freezing until Monday we may be in the house for several days.

The kids wanted to go outside because everything was covered in white. Initially, I told them no, “It won’t be fun. It’s just ice.”

But I relented and we all bundled up and ventured outside. After five minutes I was done. Actually I didn’t want to go out at all so I’m being pretty generous when I say five.

“Can we have a snowball fight?”

“No, it’s just ice.”

“Can we make a snowman?”

“No, it’s just ice.”

“Can we slide down the hill?”

“No, it’s ice and you would kill yourself.”

I went inside after about 15 minutes, standing in the doorway, watching them, peppering them with constant demands – “Get off the fence,” “Please don’t climb on that, “Get down from there.”

Seriously, I’m worried about their common sense.

It’s ICY folks.

With temperatures that officially felt like 13 degrees and ice covering the ground, my kids naturally played soccer outside for an hour and a half.

Incredible.

Now they’re inside watching Christmas movies which I’m completely fine with.

Gives time for the pneumonia to set in.

Just a joke, please oh please God, just a joke.

Update: The kids are home again today (Monday) and still thrilled about it. Too much ice on the roads. No one to clear them for us in the South so we wait till it warms 🙂

Five Minutes Until

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Jennifer

Isn’t it amazing how the words, “Five minutes until dinnertime,” can suddenly cause 3 people who just spent the previous 30 minutes arguing about which game they should play, to immediately start playing a game as if they had been playing it for the last hour?

Good Morning!

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Jennifer

I’m fairly sure…

that this is…

how the rest of the world…

eats their breakfast.

Nothing says “Good Morning,” like a cheetah hat and Mardi Gras mask.

Told you she was a fashion icon in the making.

The Rabbits – Part 3

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Jennifer

You thought it was ugly when our dog killed the baby bunny?

Well a few days later…

She killed the momma bunny.

Or the daddy bunny.

Or the auntie bunny.

Whomever it was, it was huge.

I’m calling it a miracle that our oldest two were not home when this happened. Combine this with the fact that my husband WAS home and I’m pretty sure that’s a certifiable miracle.

I was sitting at the breakfast table with my youngest when my husband, who had just glanced out the back window, stopped moving, and went back to the window.

He turned to me with wide open eyes and I just knew Sophie had done it again.

I quickly said, “Caroline, do you want to watch some tv?”

Without hesitating she jumped at the opportunity.

Is this lady really asking if I want to watch tv before school and I’m not even dressed, finished eating, or ready for said school that begins in 20 minutes? Hell yes!

Or maybe it was, “Okay mama.”

Once she was completely zoned out, my husband went out, grabbed a shovel, shooed the dog away, and got rid of the bunny.

Baby bunny. Mama bunny. Could have sent me over the edge.

I’m starting to wonder if our neighborhood bunnies have been engaging in some illegal extra curricular activities or whether my dog has been watching the hunting channel.

Seeing as we don’t have cable, I’m thinking there’s a problem with the bunnies.

I think the piece de resistance occurred later that day when I came home and found that the dog had had diarrhea in her crate.

For about ten minutes I pretended it wasn’t there and wished and hoped that my husband would walk through the door.

But alas, our miracle for the day had already occurred so I had to clean it up.

I can’t tell you how much I’m hoping the bunnies band together soon and get some revenge.

Thankful Turkey – A Family Tradition

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Jennifer

Each year I make a paper bag turkey and feathers for our family’s annual Thankful Turkey.

He usually gets called Tom the Turkey or Ted the Turkey and we add thankful feathers onto him each day.

Here’s a photo of our 2009 Tom:

This year I decided to upgrade us to brown wrapping paper.

I know, we are the last of the big spenders.

I found a turkey picture I liked, printed it out, and drew freehand the turkey onto the brown paper.

My children have informed me that it looks like Ted is holding his private parts.

Children.

You just have to love them.

Or tell them, “Do not say Ted the turkey is holding his private parts ONE MORE TIME!”

After dinner, everyone takes a feather (scrap paper I have) and writes down one thing they are thankful for that day.

After I had written my feather on the first day I asked my preschooler what she was thankful for.

She said God.

I decided to take that moment to add a bit to my feather.

Here are some more things we are thankful for…

But don’t worry the next holiday is never far from our minds.

And just to cover our bases…

🙂

Preschool Drop Off

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Jennifer

Everyday, immediately after preschool drop off, where the teacher comes to the car and helps my daughter out, I vow that today will be the day I go home and clean out my car.

And yet, I don’t.

I’m just banking on the fact that my car is not the only toy filled, clothing filled, school work filled, and goldfish filled car they’ve seen that day.

Halloween 2013

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Jennifer

Just popping in today to share costumes from last night.

My 4 year old was a cheetah for most events this Halloween but chose to be Belle for trick or treating.

My 11 year old didn’t care about his costume so he went as a soccer player by default.

My 8 year old decided he wanted to be something from Harry Potter. Any guesses?

Yep, he’s Mad Eye Moody.

We took a $7 coat from Goodwill, ripped it up, lightly spray painted it with white (to make it look dusty) and stamped it with a black stamp pad to make it look old.

I bough these face paints and brushes this year and have loved how easy they are to use and how the paint doesn’t smear.

I would love to hear in the comment section what your kids dressed up as this year.

Now on to November!

Mystery Boxes…Do You Dare (Halloween Party 2013)

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Jennifer

We had our annual Halloween party this past weekend and it was a lot of fun.

As well as being quite tasty.

But….not too healthy (only some of the butter we used).

We may have cooked ourselves silly making sugar cookies, pumpkin whooopie pies, banana bread, oreo mummies, cupcakes, chocolate faces, pretzel witch fingers, pretzel eyeballs, marshmallow sticks, rice krispie treats, snickerdoodle cookies, and pumpkin muffins.

We also played a game which I think the kids enjoyed – Mystery Boxes

The idea of Mystery Boxes is to reach into the box and try and figure out what food is in there.

For example, I told the kids that I had witches hair. Once they felt it, they needed to decide what food my witches hair really was.

I took 4 boxes (Cheezits, Amazon, shoe boxes) and spray painted them or covered them in fabric with Modge Podge.

I then glued on a piece of cloth to the outside which covered a hole I had cut out in each box.

Each box on the inside was lined with tin foil. One had a cup and another had a bowl which held the food items.

Before starting the game, I handed out a piece of paper to each child and told them what was in the mystery boxes – witches hair, mummy intestines, troll eyes, and Frankenstein eyes. Then I had some parents hold the boxes for me, not letting the kids peek inside the boxes.