Flu Season

I have 75% of my children home due to the Flu.

I am not entirely convinced that Ike or Izzy have the flu, but they were pathetic enough to convince me to keep them home.

Ike in particular has this cough that rivals an emphysemic squirrel.  But he has the energy of a 5 year old hopped up on mountain dew and chocolate (neither of which he has eaten recently).  So, I am puzzled as to how to proceed. If I send him to school, I'm sure the nurse will be harrasing me like a telemarketer.  But he is driving me nuts here at home.

Moops though, he is really sick.  He finally broke his fever, but he still gets dizzy and has a nasty cough.  And he puked, it was only once and really not bad at all.  But he still puked.

Izzy was standing in the doorway as I cleaned it up.  I told her "one day I will be old and I'll poop myself and puke, and I want you to take care of me". Izzy looks me dead on and replies with "That is what nursing homes are for....."

I'm totally feeling the love there.

It's December....

Which means Christmas is around the corner.  And that means I have to clean things I normally ignore.  Like, the window blinds and that one cabinet in my kitchen that holds all the things I only use at Christmas time.

Of course December means many other things as well.  Such as concerts for both Choir and Band, which means I am seriously reconsidering my decision to enroll Izzy in both.  Two concerts in the same week.

There is also meal planning for when family comes.  The Hubs and I are not exactly wearing the same pair of rose colored glasses, his are far more rosy than mine....  The good news is  my Sister's hubby mentioned Deep Frying a Turkey and The Hubs was all over it.  So, I guess I will be investing in a fire extinguisher instead of a 15lb standing rib roast.

And Holiday parties at school, which reminds me, I need to email Alex's class about their party..... 

Oh, and then there is The Hubs' Company Party that is cocktail attire.  That means I have to buy a dress, and heels, and possibly get my hair done.  And maybe dig out my super expired make up that I bought when my sister got married.....  Or just buy more make up.

And there is the Army/Navy Game.  The ONLY football game "WE" watch.  Go Army! Sink Navy!  I go for the wings and to watch The Hubs relive his days with other Alumnists.  Is "alumnists" a word?  I should use spell check.  Nope, it's not, but you catch the drift.  Right?

We had NAGA this weekend.  It was a blast.  Alex got first place and earned his Katana.  Moops pulled off the most incredible arm bar ever!  And my Mom was there to see it!  Super exciting!

Oh, then my sister had her baby.  An itty bitty cutie of a little girl.  We spent the whole weekend holding her.  Well, except for when we were at NAGA watching my boys do great!

And now, I am here and falling asleep at the keyboard.  So, I wish you all a good night and hopefully no reindeer disturb your slumber....

Question...

If a mirror comes crashing down in the middle of the night, and everyone is asleep, will anyone hear it?

Answer:  Yes, The Hubs.

 

But that doesn't mean we will realize that it was the mirror in the hall bathroom, until the following day. 

 

Instead, The Hubs will scour the house and then question his sanity.  Since NO ONE else heard the very loud crash associated with a large mirror falling off a wall onto a tile floor.

 

It felt good to message The Hubs a picture of the mirror and reaffirm that he has not yet lost his marbles.

 

Of course I had myself questioning my sanity just a week earlier.

 

I take the boys to the park after school on Fridays, while we wait for Izzy to finish up chorus.  It was a gorgeous day and we were really enjoying our time outside.  With the exception of this helicopter that kept hovering over us, and then it looked like it was landing and taking off from the Golf Course in our neighborhood.  And whomever was flying that helicopter was flying in circles and really low.

 

Then all of a sudden the helicopter tips to it's side and you can see something falling out of the helicopter.

 

Admittedly, this freaked me out.  I yelled for Alex to take cover, because it was right over us.

 

He looked at me as if I was overreacting a big.

 

Be honest, if it were you, and you were watching this little helicopter flying all over the place like the pilot was 5 years old and hopped up on Coke and Birthday Cake.  You would be concerned too, right?

 

Alex then pointed out that it was a guy and he had a parachute.

 

Whew!

 

Helicopter landed again, then took off, and parachute dude jumped out again. 

 

At that point, it was time to pick up Izzy.  But I vowed to return to figure out what the heck was going on.

 

And we did.

 

Which we then discovered....

 

 

 

An Army Black Hawk!

 

And a Chinook!

 

And that crazy little helicopter with Parachute Dude.  I couldn't get a picture of them though, they never stood still long enough to.

 

For Veteran's Day, a local Reserve Unit showed up for a bit of a show!

 

The kids got to tour the Chinook.  And we got to watch as both the Black Hawk and Chinook took off. We also saw Parachute Dude jump out of the small helicopter a few more times as well.

 

The kids were super excited. 

 

And even better.  Ike is now old enough for Laser Tag!

 

He had so much fun.  He would play dead, when he got shot by another player.  He cracked me up.

Riding Along In My Automobile

Picking up last minute supplies for my procrastinating kids.....

I have a realized a true testament of a Mother's Love is her restraint from strangling her kids.  After all, many other species eat their young for far lesser infractions.

Yet, here I am 10:00 at night, with the house finally quiet.

The Science Fair was assigned in September.  Supplies were bought in October.  And constant reminders every week, regarding their progress.

I found myself rushing out this evening to pick up the pictures, they had 2 months to get ready.  I also found myself at our local home improvement super store buying yet another thermometer.

And then at the local office supply store picking up supplies that were never mentioned but absolutely necessary for the "success" of said scientific experimentation.  I did veto the hot pink and black zebra stripe duct tape...

Once the kids did finally get their projects completed, I announced it was bedtime.  To which Izzy responded with "But I haven't had Dinner yet!". 

Ummmmmmmm  "what were you doing at Dinner time?"

She shrugged, "painting my nails".

I rolled my eyes faster than a roulette wheel.

I know what I was doing at Dinner time, I was editing Alex's typed out work.  And then making him reprint it.  And then I was making Ike and Moops get dressed for the fourth time this afternoon, so we could go pick up the pictures we needed printed.

Since then I have also made 3 attempts at heating up leftover dinner in the oven, only to realize, each time I set the oven I hit "cancel" instead of "start"....

And yet, it is only Wednesday.

On a positive note, I remembered Ike has a concert on Thursday.  This is a positive, because not only did I remember about the concert, I remembered about a week early.  AND I made it a point to put an alarm on my phone so that I wont forget for when the concert actually does happen, next week.

Holding My Child Hostage

At least once a week (usually on Tuesdays, since Mondays are a late night for us), Ike falls asleep on our way to jiu jitsu.  And, in an effort to promote world peace, I let him sleep while parked in the dojo parking lot.  And, I usually use this brief moment in time as an opportunity to bond with my oldest over homework.

Today we ventured into the world of two-step equations.  Basic Algebra, which I actually do comprehend.  Bwahahahahahahaha.

So, wielding my not-so-smart phone calculator app, an antiquated understanding of how to figure out "y" and a 12 year old who just wants to make it look like she did her homework.  We set off on our grand adventure. Which lasted a whole millisecond before we were arguing.

Oh how I love puberty....

Ten minutes, three envelopes once containing bills and now graffitti'd with math problems, and my calculator later. Izzy finally acquiesced.

And my spell check says I spelled "acquiesced" correctly!

Alex has started a new hobby and that is to antagonize his sister.

Moops, in an effort to be an overachiever, has resorted to doing all of his homework for the week as soon as he gets home on Mondays......

And so far, I have only eaten 2 fun sized kit kats out of the Halloween candy stash! 

Alas, we still have 3 days of this work/school week to endure.  And Halloween lands smack dab in all that is going on.  So, a sugar high on hump day is how we will play it.

Procrastination Is Where Creativity Is Forced Into Overdrive

I am a master procrastinator.

Halloween is on Wednesday.

We bought the kids costumes today....

I'm sure, had we purchased the costumes a month ago.  Everyone would have been able to be exactly what they wanted to be.

Instead they are a ninja, indian, zombie, and a vampire with glow in the dark teeth.  Because after 4 different stores, the only vampire teeth I could find were glow in the dark.

They did have these fangs that you can adhere onto your canines, which looked really cool.  Only problem is, Izzy canines haven't grown in yet. 

Once Halloween is over, I can then focus on all the things I want to get accomplished for Christmas, but wont.....

Hindsight is 20/20

Yesterday I went a bit overboard at the gym.  I rocked out my Burpees, my walking lunges, my knees to elbows and my 400 sprints.  I got so motivated, I decided to finish off with an additional 1200 meters on the treadmill to give me a solid 2 miles.

Today I walk up and down my stairs as each and every muscle in my legs and butt scream at me for the torture I have put them through. 

And of course, today was the day we ran out of toilet paper upstairs.  I left the phone downstairs and it started ringing.  And then I had left my car keys in my jeans pocket but had changed into a different pair of jeans after I spilled my lunch in my lap......

This is where I have flashbacks to when we bought this house, and I informed the realtor I only wanted to look at houses that were 2-stories.  And I keep thinking to myself "You were an idiot back then".....

This reminds me of other mishaps and ignorant actions on my part.  Most of which are all clustered into my early to mid 20s and involve the lack of better judgement on my part.

Like, that one time I decided to paint the inside of my house terra cotta orange!

It came out great, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  There were vaulted ceilings involved, plant shelves, and I didn't own a ladder.

And there was that one time I painted a back drop for my aunt.  I used my master bedroom wall, because it was the largest blank space I could hang the canvas.  The back drop came out great, both on the canvas and on my wall.  This is where my Dad taught me all about primer.  Which he probably should have taught me about before I attempted to paint my house orange....

I learned how to clean out the glove compartment in my car the hard way as well.  It was 2 in the morning and my husband was coming home from Iraq, and I spent 15 minutes at the post gate looking for updated insurance.  I found it, and then gave the gate gaurd dirty looks as he lectured me on organization. 

I will be honest though, I didn't learn that last lesson very well.  Because this weekend I spent a good 20 minutes looking for my most currant insurance registration again.