The good part of the visit...

Friday:
Our drive down was fast and uneventful. We left our house at 1:45 PM and made it to Mom and Dad's by 7:00ish. That was the fastest we have ever made the trip. I think it really helped that we did not make the usual stop at Chick-Fil-A for an hour. We only stopped by Wawa for a few food items and drinks. The kids were fantastic and watched movies or listened to the iPod. Had a little dinner after arriving and then set up the bedrooms for the kids.

Saturday:
The girls spent the morning in the IT center (otherwise known as the dining room.) We went to MacArthur Center for a little family time. Dad could get his walk in and the rest of us got out of the house. Mom wound up doing a little shopping at Ann Taylor and J. Jill. I found her a great jean skirt and cute shirt and was totally thrilled when she bought them. Middle and Youngest got new Webkinz - a Chihuahua for Middle and a Bulldog for Youngest. They loved them. Oldest and J hit up the Apple store.
Saturday night we cooked out since we didn't get to on July 4th. Dinner was great and easy clean-up.













Sunday:
Since we spent most of the day at the Urgent Care and the ER, dinner was great. Neither J or I had any lunch and nothing at the ER so we were famished. Mom had ordered an entire turkey, dressing and gravy from the club since we couldn't go there to eat. Eric and T came up and brought Ben for us to meet. He is a cutie. Dinner was soooo good. Thanksgiving in July.

Monday:
Ash spent the day hanging out with Amanda and Sam. They went to see Hancock at the movies and then hung out for a while. Ash then spent the night at Amanda's which was fantastic cause it gave her a break out of the sick house. Audrey hung out with J and Pop-Pop since I had to take Abs back to CHKD for a check-up. Abs got a new Webkinz (again) since we promised her with all of the tests and shots she got from her ER visit. The great part was that the Webkinz of the Month was free with the purchase of Abs horse so Aud got a new one too - a Cheeky Monkey.

Tuesday:
Ash spent the day with Amanda hanging out and watching movies. J took Audrey to the Virginia Aquarium (that name sounds so unfamiliar as it was always the Virginia Marine and Science Museum.) They had a blast and even took a boat ride in the inlet. That made me nervous as another storm was rolling thru. J said he also rode by the old house and neighborhood. Our old house is 8 years old now; apparently the landscaping has really grown and looks great. We ate turkey dinner again - always good.

Wednesday:
J. left this morning to go to Nashville. Mom was great and took him to the airport so I didn't have to get up early since I had been up half of the night again with Abs. Aunt T came up with Ben again and spent the day with us. She made the girls spaghetti for lunch and Abs ate some - which was fantastic. Mom was able to come home early since Dad went into work for a while. Aud performed another piano concerto for everyone. Ash went to the mall with Sam and then over to his house to hang out. Eric came over, so we all had dinner together. We cooked out again which was another quick easy meal. YUM!

My budding artist...

Has discovered her love of painting. Now she wants to go to Michael's and purchase more birdhouses.

I love my kids at the beach

Never had a chance to post these from our March trip to the g-parents. Kids had a blast - I realized how much I miss living seven minutes from the ocean. I miss the smell. I miss the wind and the warmth.

Shhhhhh! Don't say it too loudly or you'll jinx it

The kids are WELL!!!! No one is sick - hallelujah. Now be quiet and go back to your day. ;-)

So I survived the wedding

but J was sick. We left @ 2:30 yesterday to drive out to the in-laws and drop off the kids. Not a whole lot of conversation going on. I was not a happy girl. Just could not get in a happy place. I was a real B**** the entire trip. By the time we finished getting everyone where they needed to be, we had about 45 minutes to get over to the wedding site. Thank goodness there wasn't much traffic. Thank goodness for snow plows!

Jennie looked very beautiful - even at 7.5 months pregnant. Gracious. But J and I both say that Jennie and Michael are 25, very much in love, have jobs, and wonderful supportive families. They will be fine. Baby Ella is due in April. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that Michael has $$$$ so that issue that so many young couples face - won't be an issue for them. (Michael just special ordered his first car - a BMW.) First car??? Yep, he never had to drive before - he had a driver if needed. What 16 year old boy doesn't want a car??? Crazy.

OK - back to the story. Poor J - he was so ready to leave right after the sit-down dinner. He was exhausted since he woke up at 5 am for the call that school was closed and his sinuses were giving him a fit. Thank goodness for the fantastic hors d'oeuvres. Scrumptious!! The food at the William Penn Inn was absolutely wonderful too as was the open bar. :-) Didn't get to drink too much because I wasn't sure J would feel up to driving to the hotel. Luckily he was OK but he crashed as soon as he could change out of his suit. The hotel was blissfully quiet, and we both were able to sleep in since we had no kids or dog to deal with. Oh, how I miss those days. That was may be worth all of the aggravation of the wedding and the trip.

Got a guilt trip from Nana for not bringing over this kids today to visit. As J said - it was a short (guilt) trip. Just cannot squeeze it all in.

Visited with Linda and John when we picked up the younger two. Youngest made it thru without a tear shed. Maybe she is growing up a little more? Maybe staying awhile before leaving her helped? Who knows? Or maybe it was all of the X-mas gifts that Linda had for them. It was a toy explosion. She spoils them once a year. They love it! Aud was happy and that is all that mattered. Middle, of course, was in her element. She discovered Betty Spaghetti and played with it most of the night. Billy, as ususal, hated having the girls in his house. He even went so far as to make a No Girls sign for his bedroom door. What a boy - a 9 year old one at that.

Melissa brought Oldest over about 11ish along with her brand new green Converse. Why green ? Oldest's says so that she isn't like everyone else. Whoa!!! Where did she come from? I was so afraid to go out on a limb like that as a teenager. Not her. I am proud of her. OK, I digress....

Went to Lou and Barbara's after. Girls got their X-mas gifts from them. We got a bottle of wine and a new X-mas ornament with all of our names on it. Got to try to play Wii. I think we all fell in love with it. Wish we had the money for one and a new TV. Not in the budget yet. Wait until we are finished with J's doctorate classes. Then, maybe. Or I could just go back to work full time. Then we would have $$$ again. Ha. Not gonna happen yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Digressing, again. Sue me.

Left there about 4 to head home. Made the decision to stop out in Gap at Chilis. Much better than the one in Lancaster - but the waitress SUCKED!!!! She behaved as if she was doing us a favor by taking our order. Didn't help matters that we had to wake up Youngest. She was a bear - refused to sit down, wouldn't eat, kicked me. Finally we got her to curl up in J's lap, but she kept asking to go home. I switched w/ J after I ate a little dinner, so he could eat. Of course, Aud was soooo much better and hungry just as we decide to leave. Oy! McD's for her. Not ordering again from Chili's and waiting.

Home. Unpack car. Open X-mas gifts from Linda and John. Great hot chocolate maker and an electric broom. Don't laugh; I am THRILLED with both. Middle already tried out the broom for me. Works like a charm. Kids showered. Suitcases unpacked. J and Youngest are asleep. Middle and I are heading that way in a few. Just gotta break her away from her new Blendy Pens that Linda gave her.

'night.

School is cancelled

First J. got the phone call that school was delayed 2 hours - J got up after doing the phone tree to iron his shirt and get ready to go in. Then another call @ 7am. Nope, school is cancelled. I guess the buses couldn't make the journey safely to all the nooks and crannies of his school district with all of the ice. Following J's school districts lead, all of the other districts, including ours, started cancelling too. Middle was soooo excited. She said this was the best day ever.

The downside of this? Now there won't be a four day weekend. Friday will be the make-up day. That means I have to go with Youngest for Grandparents' Day at preschool because Lou and Barbara won't be coming and J will have to work. Drats. That screws up my work schedule. Oh, well. I get to spend the time with my four year old - maybe we will do lunch too.
These are from Tuesday. Not much in the way of snow, but they were dying to get out there.

Catching Up - Present

Currently home with the two sickies - otherwise known as Middle and Youngest.

Still waiting to hear from Dr. Tom about the next step in Youngest's hearing loss.

Need to go clean. Ugh....

Catching Up - Past

OK - pinky swear aside - I did mean to catch up the other day. Life, it got in the way again.

December:
Christmas was fantastic. Oldest loved the cell phone and was blown away that she got one. So far, so good with it.

Mom and Dad were able to make the drive up to visit. They stayed for a few days - we hit up Target and both outlets (Tanger and Rockvale.) Mom did pretty well with the shopping especially since she hates to go.

January:
1st - Middle and I ran in the New Year together. Yes, my 6 year old made it to midnight and actually even later. She realized that it was AM and thought she should just stay up. Yeah, that didn't happen.

3rd - made a road trip with Youngest to Timonium, Maryland to hit up the Recollections Scrapbook store since it was closing. We had a good time, and she was a huge help with picking out new supplies. She was great for throwing Memory Makers paint in my basket - everyone had to have their own color.

5th - Middle's first basketball game, and Daddy is the coach. She did OK - a little 'tude, but it worked out overall. The I had a date with J to Panera Bread that night. Oldest watched the younger two so we could go out for an hour. It was sooooo nice to eat by ourselves and just talk. We went over to the Kirkland Outlet and the Restoration Hardward Outlet, but didn't buy a thing.

6th - the sickness came....Middle was throwing up in the bathroom @ 1 AM. Oh, my gracious - NASTY!!! I don't know what she picked up, but it was B-A-D.

7th - Youngest failed her second hearing test. We now have the referral to the ENT doctor. Make an appt. with Dr. Tom of CHoP. He is suppose to be very good.

11th - Oldest has a tooth pulled to make the braces work this time. They better for 4 freakin' thousand dollars.

12th - went to Julia's crop in Maryland for the day. Oh, how nice to have a little time for myself. J is fantastic about that.

14th - Oldest gets the rest of the braces on. She picks pink - who knew? Last year she despised pink. Teenagers.

19th - Middle scores her first basket in basketball. Way to go, girl!! She was so proud of herself.

20th - decide it might be time to move since the new house next too us is in our front yard. Yeah - that SUCKS!!!! We are so very pissed off at our builder. Talks with him are ongoing to try to rectify this situation. We went to look at a few new houses today - but we were not blown away by any.

21st - took Oldest to see 27 Dresses and out to dinner at Macaroni Grill for a Girls' Day Out. She seemed to have a great time hanging out with Mom. The movie was good - it is a total Chix Flix.

22nd - Middle to the peds because enough is enough with this mess. I am tired of her being so sick. Not much to do but let it run its course.

23rd - took Middle out to breakfast since the "issue" seems to be subsiding. Just to be safe, she sticks with the BRAT diet. We went over to see J at school. Middle took a picture to him that she had colored at breakfast. Went to look at a house tonight in a neighborhood with tons of kids, but it was a no go. The backyard was not workable since it was straight down. The basement; however, was clean enough to eat off of.

24th - Youngest sick again

25th - Youngest too sick to sing in Winterfest.

26th - Middle - peds again. HIVES. Ugh... a side effect of the virus she has been fighting for three weeks

28th - meet with the real estate agents about selling the house. We might lose 3 - 4% due to the placement of the house next door. We are PISSED OFF to say the least. Oh, and I do NOT want to pay them $20,000 as their commission to sell my house. Ridiculous. I've never paid anyone that amount to sell my house - won't start now.

29th - take Youngest to Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries and stuff for Oldest's BD Party - find a big ol' nail in the tire. The tire is going "SSSSSSSS" and going down. High tail it back in the car and go over to H&F to get it fixed. Of course, it is also raining and freaking cold. Figures.

31st - Youngest's first appt. with Dr. Tom. Tests with the audiologist. Nothing conclusive except that she has a conductive middle ear hearing loss. At the point the cause is unknown. CT Scan is the next step. Schedule that for February 6th in King of Prussia.

February:
1st - Oldest's BD Sleepover. She seems to have a good time, and they were asleep by 11 PM. What is up with that? They are 14!! It's OK - I'll take it.

2nd - Oldest's 14th Birthday. How the hell did that happen? I was just taking her to her first day of kindergarten the other day. Crazy, crazy, crazy how time is flying.
We went rollerskating as a family. This was a first and tons of fun!! Willow Street sponsored it. Youngest did a better job than Middle - and then Youngest promptly threw a fit when it was time to leave. I had a fantastic time - I haven't skated in years, but picked it up again easily. I even went BACKWARDS!!!

4th - started my One in 48 class with Hillary Heidelberg's NYCScraps. Great sketches to work with and color schemes.

5th - Middle's 100 Days of School Celebration. She had to dress as a 100 year old woman. Yeah, she wasn't too into it, but some of the other kids were. Very original costumes.
Oldest had High School pre-registration. OMG! Stop growing up so damn fast.

That is it for the PAST. Now onto the Present....

five weeks is W.A.Y. too long to be sick

but in this house, that is just what is happening. Middle and Youngest (and the other three of us to a lesser extent) have been sick since January 6th. Enough already!! Middle woke up with a temp of 101.4 under her arm. Her cough is horrible. Youngest is right behind her. Both have an appt. with the Nurse Practioner today. I hope they have something treatable rather than just a bad cold because we need some rest. They are both up coughing all night and that is WITH the meds. Gracious. I am O.V.E.R. it - puking, diarrhea, coughing, sneezing, runny noses, all of it. GO AWAY, GERMS!!!

Youngest is sick

Ugh...started @ 3AM on Sunday with puking right on my bedroom carpet. Poor thing. She seems to have just a random virus (vomiting, diarrhea) but also had a high fever of 102.7 taken under her arm and a headache. We had her checked out yesterday at the pediatrician with the caution to come back if the fever, vomiting or headache continued. Poor thing.

Thought she was better but she threw up again this morning @8 (just clear liquid.) Ugh.. that makes over 29 hours. The worst part is the randomness of it. She started at 3 AM, then went on to 5:30, 6:30, 7:30 AM then nothing all day Sunday. Sunday night it was 7:30, 9:00 and 9:30. Monday morning @ 4:15. Nothing all day on Monday. I am really glad we took her to the peds since they checked her for strep, flu, and meningitis.

She doesn't have a fever today but still has the occasional headache (probably dehydration) and no energy (not a surprise though.) She did allow me to give her a bath and has eaten a couple of soda crackers. We bought four flavors of Gatorade so that seems to be getting liquids in her - thank goodness.

This is sooooo not fun. All of my plans for the last three days are out the window - parent visitation at Oldest's school, preschool for Youngest, goodie bag items for the Black Rock Retreat, working last night, etc...

Keep your fingers crossed that this is it. My poor little baby.

Hubby's away at an Ed. Conference

and boy do I miss him. The kids behave until 4:30/5 ish and then boom. I am tired, tired, tired of referring the fighting and name calling and hitting. Oldest is 13 and should know better than engage in battle with a 6 year old. But nooooooo, she has to fight back. Youngest and her lovely insults are just about doing me in. How did my sweet, lovable, cuddly baby become this 4 year old that runs hot and cold. One minute she loves ya, the next she tells ya what an idiot you are. Like I said, I am TIRED of all of their attitudes and behavior. Mommy needs a nanny!!!!

Report cards come home tomorrow for the older two so I cannot wait. I already know Oldest made Honor Roll as usual. Middle - waiting to see where her skills are as a first grader. Youngest's conference is in two weeks - see if there is any difference from last year.

Youngest's next hearing test is in early January. I really wish it were tomorrow - I want to know if there is truly a hearing loss and to what point. Will it get worse? Will she go completely deaf in her ear? What about the other ear? Gah....I detest waiting.

Mammogram report came back clean. Yeah - first one down - many to go. :-)

J will be back tomorrow night. We are all looking forward to Daddy's return. The kids are getting gifts; I am getting some alone time - just ME!!!!

We have a date night set for Saturday. Mom sent us some gift certificates to Gibraltars. YUMMY! The last time we went was for our anniversary a couple of years ago; it set us back over $100. Gracious it was so worth it though. I am going to indulge and enjoy every stinking bite.

Biggest news for last....got a promotion today at work. I am moving up to Teacher Monitor and get a small raise of $2 per hour. That will help with the bills. I was so darn nervous during the interview and tried very hard to answer the questions thoroughly. Guess I did OK because I was offered the job after the first ten minutes of the interview. I will be one busy chick as the company is going to hire over 1000 new teachers, and I will be one of the TMs doing the evaluations for new hires. WOW!!!!! Oh, and I love that I get to set my own hours. That will be wonderful especially with the holidays and the kids schedules - plus J's hours changing again for the last set of doctoral classes.

Time for bed. I did not sleep well last night since J wasn't here. Guess I should turn in early for a little more zzzzzzs.

'night y'all

Mom Song

Hilarious!

Click here

I am so far behind....

Where do I even start? The past two months have zoomed by.

Youngest: loves preschool. Favorite words - Chop! Chop! - to get us to hurry up. Don't have a clue where she picked this up. Much preferred to her calling everyone a loser. Really needs to move up to the next size bike but still loves her tricycle.

Middle: having a fantastic year so far in first grade. Making new friends and is invited to her first birthday party next week - she is so very excited. Reading very well and really getting a grasp on subtraction. What a great kid - so very personable. Adults love her.

Oldest: really likes her 8th grade team and her teachers - 3 men and 1 woman. Grades are fantastic right now - I am proud of her diligent work every night. Trying to keep the 'tude manageable - not always easy sometimes. Has the first "boyfriend" - but since it is long distance - I am OK with it. Biggest news - the $4000 in braces needed now. Oh, my gracious. I need a winning lottery ticket here.

J: still working on the last few classes for the doctorate; dissertation starts soon. As I have said before and will say again, man, he has been an expensive hubby but I am extremely proud of what he has accomplished and how intelligent the man is.

Me: really need to learn the word NO when it comes to being asked to volunteer or help out. I just spent three days at WS Elementary volunteering for the book fair, parent visitation, and the Race for Education. Had a blast and am meeting many new moms. Good news - applied for Teacher Trainer position and am applying for Team Leader at EO. Keeps your fingers crossed. I would love one of these (or both) and hopefully a raise. Tuition bills are killing the checkbook.
Going to Patti's (kaesmom) for Croptoberfest - YEAH!!!! Happy dance. I need this.

Dad: doing OK; physical therapy includes hydrotherapy; was released to drive again - he hasn't driven since last May - boy is he a happy guy; applied for Social Security - he does not want to go back to work but Mom has other ideas.

Mom: hanging in there with Dad's problems - needs a L.O.N.G. vacation now. She is so uptight that I would imagine the next heart attack will be hers. They need to find a buyer for the business or turn it over to E.

The SIL: has lost her friggin' mind. Cannot even begin to blog about this cause I don't even know what to say. Her issues have become overwhelming for all of us. I love her creativity and caring nature, but when she has issues - it isn't pretty and it just all consuming.

Meredyth: just had a fantastic turn-out for the Angel race. I am so happy that she was able to have some joy lately. She has so much on her plate - I am in awe of her strength.