NaBloPoMo - Day 10

Holy Man!

I left my home at 8:30 this morning to bring the girls to school and volunteer in Kalli's class. I didn't get home this evening until 8:00 pm.

I had my niece for a few hours, did lunch with Becky, did a little shopping, picked my mom up from her house, dropped my niece off, picked the girls up from school, went to meet up with Kelli to order her wedding dress and the girls' dresses for the wedding, fed the kiddos, drove over to where Tony and Kelli are having their wedding/reception so the girls could see it and Kelli could check a few things out, dropped my mom off at home, and then came home with my girlies.

We were all tired. It was a very full day. But it was also fun because I was moving all day.

Tomorrow isn't going to be THAT much better in the morning because I am volunteering in Kalli's classroom and then in the library before I take Cassie to some testing she has to have. Then we will be heading back to school to pick up Kalli before heading home.
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Today we told Cassie that her para-professional (she helps Cassie with bathrooming) at school, Miss Patti, is leaving at the end of this month to go work at another school. Miss Patti has tried to stay with Cassie, but in the world of trying to keep your job to feed your family she was sorta forced to have to leave. I am not sure who will be taking Miss Patti's place, but I know that we will definitely miss her. When we told Cassie she looked like she was going to cry and burried her face in my side. After a bit she looked up and started acting silly. I think it was a laugh or you'll cry type thing. I know that over the next several weeks she will probably go through a range of emotions because when you spend time with someone like Cassie does with Miss Patti, you become close with them. I'm just hoping that whoever takes her place is half as nice as Miss Patti has been.

NaBloPoMo - Day 9

It is the 9th day of NaBloPoMo, and look at that...I have posted every day. I know...I'm impressed too. I can't say it is easy as there are nights that I sit here staring at the screen wondering what on earth to say. Can I just write "here is your post...night now"? I didn't think so. But some days it is hard. I don't feel like anything is real noteworthy and trying to make something that isn't noteworthy sound interesting isn't exactly easy. Add to that fact that by the time I sit down to write I'm tired and my husband is waiting for me to finish so we can to go bed...it is very hard to work under these conditions. The pressure is almost too much.
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Today I knocked a few things off my "To Do" list. I straightened the living room and kitchen. I sorted, vacuumed, and mowed the lawn. Then my niece was here and I took her for a nice long walk. When we got home she played and I started working on my last calendar and then I ran out of glue dots.

Tonight Andy was nice enough to watch all the kids, and after getting more glue dots, I got all the months, days, holidays, and toppers on each of the calendars. I've now started adding little touches to each month and from there I will be deciding who gets what calendar so that I can put in birthdays where necessary.

Look at me accomplishing things!

NaBloPoMo - Day 8...Hey, I'm doing great!

I am running a race that never ends. It is called my life.

With Becky's baby shower finished, I thought I could sit and relax for a while. Maybe my "To Do" list would shorten some and make me feel less stressed. Have we talked about all the issues I have with stress? And guilt? No?? That is a story for another time.

Today after visiting at my parents I came home and looked around my home. My first thought...who the hell messed up the place and were we robbed? Then I remembered how I have been busy with shower things, school things, and all those other things. None of which included cleaning and straightening. So I added cleaning and straightening to my "To Do" list.

Then I remembered that I haven't finished all of the calendars that I make for Christmas gifts. I do have pictures picked out for all of the months...minus November and December, of course. However, I don't have my last calendar completed with backgrounds, months, numbers, and holidays. So I added that to my "To Do" list.

Then I also remembered that Christmas is under 2 months away. Which, honestly, scares the crap out of me. To start with I don't have any shopping done or ideas of what to get anyone. And most importantly, Christmas Eve is Cassie's birthday. Her 9th birthday. Do you know what this means? It means that I WILL HAVE A 9 YEAR OLD! And yes, that deserved to be in CAPS and with an exclamation point.

I find it so hard to believe that she will be 9 in just a couple months. I can still remember the day she was born. And how in denial I was that she was coming that night. I didn't want a Christmas baby. And I had already been to the hospital with preterm labor so I didn't want to go again. I remember saying to Andy and my mom that I wasn't going to the hospital again just to go home without the baby outside of my body.

Cassie was born one month premature, yet very healthy. She had trouble with her first few breaths but was ready to go after those. And that pattern has continued to this day. There are moments when she struggles, flounders some, or has trouble with things. She needs some reassurance or a few extra words of encouragement along with a hug and then she is ready to go. Cassie had her first surgery at 2 hours old and her second surgery at 2 days old. And since then several more. She bounces back quickly and for the most part doesn't let things get her down.

Lately, however, a few things have been changing. Cassie is more emotional then her normal. She is crying more easily and has been wanting to cuddle more. She's been giving hugs and kisses more freely and has been wanting to be held. Yet she is becoming more independent too. She wants to do things with friends without Kalli tagging along. She sometimes pushes me away when I try to play with her. She is growing up quickly. In 6 weeks and 4 days Cassie will be 9 years old. And I will be adding to my "To Do" list again. This time adding finding a way to slow down my childrens' aging process.

Let's not even talk about the fact that Cassie literally comes up to just below my shoulders now. And we also won't mention that when I noticed this fact she looked at me and said, "it's ok...you are short." And we also will ignore the fact that it is a good thing that she is so pretty and still innocent because seriously...how rude.

NaBloPoMo - Day 7

Alright. Not sure how long this will be. I somehow sprained my wrist and typing isn't being friendly with it.

Today was the baby shower for my BFF, Becky. I was up until 12:30 this morning finishing things up and then up again at 7:15am and going. Things went wonderfully at the shower and I think that Becky had a good time and was happy with her party. After the party was over, my mom and I went looking at wedding dresses with my brother's fiance, Kelli. I pretty sure she found 'the dress' and I think that we all had a good time while out having a "girlie day". Alright, I'm going to put pictures up from the shower and call it a night.

Oh...and since I said I would. I measured Becky's belly circumference today. It was for a game, but seriously...it is just fun to know. :) After bringing home the yarn I wrapped around her, I measured it and the number is.....drum roll please...43 inches. Just to point out though that I think this is a wonderful number. I mean hello, she is 8 months pregnant, and that number is full of a beautiful baby boy. Thank you Becky for letting me have my little fun and be part of your day.

(Becky and her beautiful baby belly)

(Diaper Cake decoration)

(Cupcakes...the sticks make them look like rattles. Turned out alright, but not AS good as I wanted them to be. Oh well. People loved the punch I made though :) )

NaBloPoMo - Day 6

Exhausted. It's late and I'm bushed. More tomorrow.

NaBloPoMo - Day 5...Procratinating and all

See that chicken running around with it's head cut off? That's no chicken....that is me. My mom was right when she said I'd loose my head if it wasn't attached.

I have so much to do lately that I just want to crawl into my bed and under the blankets. How is that going to help me get things done? I dunno. But at least I'll be warm while I try to ignore the things I should be doing.

Tomorrow instead of doing the things I should be doing around here I'll be volunteering in Kalli's classroom and then working in the library. After which I'll be coming home and moaning about all the things I have to get done. I'm hoping to talk Andy into doing some of them for me, though that is unlikely. I'll be happy if he just keeps me company while I try to accomplish things.

Hey, what can I say. I'm a top class procrastinator. I've worked many years at it and expect to be getting my award and diploma in the mail any day now.

NaBloPoMo - Day 4

As I said last night...I got a new picture of Becky's belly. Not that anyone else gets as much of a joy of seeing them as I do. But I'm sharer...

I know that I'm crazy, but Becky loves me anyway. Look at that beautiful belly....it's growing. And I love taking pictures of it :)

Today I saw my little Kaitlynn girl. I did a photo shoot with her and of course, got tons of pictures. I'm still working on fixing them up, but I did one up some to share tonight.

I'm bushed though so I'm heading to bed. This post is short, sweet, and still keeps me on track for NaBloPoMo.

NaBloPoMo - Day 3....look at me

I spent my day today in Kalli's classroom. All day. Ok, so I left to have lunch with my aunt and to put dye in her hair, but then I was right back to help in the classroom again. And let me just say, for the record, that kindergarten teachers deserve much more then they are paid....and I don't even know how much they are paid.

We worked on a craft project for pretty much the entire time from 1:30-3:00. Minus 30 minutes which was used for getting ready and going to recess. It took that long to complete this project. And getting 23 five-six year olds to do a project one step at a time, and to listen, and to stay in their seats, and to not have disagreements with their classmates, and to not smear their purple glue stick all over the table and their hands, and to not hoard all the colored paper....it's a SUPER FUN TIME.

Let me just note that the child with the glue stick issue and the hoarder are the same child. Said child was trying to hide about 20 slips of paper in pencil box. Said child also never finished project (which was making a turkey) because child completely chopped turkey body into chunks and hid dismembered turkey body in pencil box. I can see issues in this child's future.

I enjoyed helping out though and am really getting to know the kids.

I do, however, have to say that I was doing well until I got out of the classroom and into the quiet. At that point, a massive throbbing headache set in. I'm considering buying Kalli's teacher a humongous bottle of Advil for Christmas.
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Tomorrow is a late start day for the girls which means that they start an hour later then normal. Now if only I could convince Cassie to sleep in a little bit. I'm going to be bringing the girls into school so that I can help in the library for an hour and then I will be going to meet my Becky for lunch and hopefully remembering to bring my camera to get another belly picture.

This coming weekend is Becky's Baby Shower and I'm so excited to be part of giving her this party to celebrate her wonderfulness. (I know, Becky, you are gagging right now) In all seriousness though, I couldn't be happier to be part of her pregnancy and shower. And I can't wait to see what a beautiful little boy she has.

And hello...look at that beautiful belly from last week!

NaBloPoMo - Day 2 and still going

Yesterday, during part of the Packer/Viking game, Andy headed outside to escape the frustration of the game. He grabbed the rake and started raking the leaves in our yard to the curb. To say that he under estimated the job at hand would be a complete understatement. Our curb looks as though an entire forest dropped their leaves right there.

Today when the girls arrived home from school and got off the bus, I decided to have a little fun with them. I picked Kalli up and set her down in middle of the pile of leaves. She quickly got up, brushed her self off, and started swatting at the leaves at the edges of the pile. At seeing all of this, Cassie asked if she could play in the leaves and I told her that she could until it was time to leave. (We were heading to my parents for dinner tonight...Wherein I cooked and brought the food to them. They love the meal, I love the cooking, and we all enjoy getting together during the week.) Cassie was walking along side the pile when suddenly I grabbed her and pushed her into the leaves. While holding her so she didn't fall too hard. She laughed and moved more into the pile and began covering the bottom half of her body with leaves. Cassie then created little arm rests for her arms and a 'pillow' for her head to lean back on.

Kalli continued to swat at the leaves. I was able to get Kalli into the leaves for a picture, but as soon as I was finished she got out of Dodge.

As we were getting ready to leave, I helped Cassie out of the leaves and was brushing her off when she informed me that there was a leave down her shirt. I looked and sure enough there was one so I picked it out. She then told me that there was still one in her shirt, but it felt like it was between her skin and bra. I checked and sure enough a leave had made its way into her bra. The poor girl is already having issues with bras. I'm telling you...being a female is hard.

Bringing you all up to date.

Yes, I'm still here. And yes, I've been a slacker. But...I'm only one person and between volunteering, children, and trying to keep things going here at home I feel like I've had no time and by the time I get to sit down here at the computer I'm absolutely exhausted.

Halloween has come and gone. We had a few Halloween events that we attended and then the girls also did the regular trick-or-treating. We only went about a block and a half and then the girls were cold and according to me they had plenty of candy so it worked out well. I really love that my children like dressing up, but don't want to go for blocks and blocks and blocks. I'm sure this will change as they get older but for now I'm enjoying it.

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As I believe I mentioned earlier, we also attended the Hiss and Howl Halloween Hullabaloo and had a dog for the day last weekend. The dog we got to care for was a female shih-tzu mix, named Rosie. She was absolutely wonderful and extremely easy to care for. She wasn't bothered by Cassie's crutches or Kalli running around. Rosie also had no issue with all the other dogs or cats that were there. A very laid back dog indeed.

Let's add to that the fact that the girls loved her and it made for a wonderful day. Cassie and Kalli took turns holding her leash and petting her. They also did a wonderful job of understanding that we couldn't keep her. At the end of the day they said their good-byes, hugged Rosie, and asked me if we could get another dog next year to have for the day and dress up. I said that we could probably do that.
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This past week the girls had a 'Fall Fest' at their school that we attended. There were tons of games at which you could win candy, Kalli won two times at the cake walk, and there was even an inflatable obstacle course. Looking at the course I told Cassie that she probably wouldn't be able to do it because there was a wall that you had to climb. I should know better then to doubt her though...when she became upset, I told her that she could try. To Andy and my amazement, she made it through somewhat easily. Twice. By the end of her second time she was exhausted, but the girls both went home with very good memories of their new school.

The highlight of the night by far was the limo ride. Yes, I said limo ride. For 3 tickets, which would equal $.75, kids could go on a 5 minute limo ride. When we got towards the front of the line, I asked the girls if they wanted me to come along or if they wanted to go alone. (there was a high-schooler and a couple other adults along to keep everyone safe.) Almost before I could get the question out of my mouth, Kalli was saying "alone". And they did. I helped Cassie in and out of the limo and took pictures when they arrived back and were getting out of the vehicle. So...as a 5 and 8 year old, my girlies had their first limo ride...and they LOVED it!

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So....I think that brings me up to date. And, to make all my loyal readers happy, I am going to try doing NaBloPoMo again this year. NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) is every November and the challenge is to post everyday for the 30 days of November.

So far, I'm doing well.