Backpacks and Hoddies

A few years ago while at the Gap outlet in Park City, they were having a clearance sale on black backpacks. They were really good quality, and only $5. So I purchased five of them. My thinking at the time was they would be really good for 72 hour kits for each person in my family.

Well the 72 hour kit never materialized, and it was time to send Mark to school. The black backpack was perfect. I sent Mark off with his backpack, and within the first two weeks of school he lost it. (Not that I was really surprised....unless its a train, Mark is not capable of keeping track of his shiz.) But I wanted Mark to understand he needed to be responsible and keep track of his backpack, or at least find his backpack when he looses it.

For the next two weeks I sent him to school without a backpack. (I am sure the teachers loved me.) I told him every day to look for his backpack. Every day he came home, sans backpack. Finally I decided to haul out a new backpack from my stash. That was all it took, one day at school with the new backpack to be able to locate the old backpack. (Still not sure about the whereabouts of the original backpack, I could not get a straight story on that...., not that I think he was lying, I think he is just clueless.)

So three weeks ago I sent Mark to school with a hoodie. The weather was warming up and his big winter coat was not necessary. Did the hoodie come home from school???? Of course not. So for the next week I sent Mark to school without a coat and told him to go find his hoodie. Every day he came home, sans the hoodie. Finally I was out doing some Easter dress shopping for the girls and found hoodies on clearance for $11. I purchased two. I figured for $11 if he continues to loose hoodies, I will not feel bad. And lets face it, I KNEW he would continue to loose hoodies.

What came home from school on the same day I purchased new hoodies? Yep the old hoodie. I swear Mark is seeking to drive me crazy. And its a short trip.

The only thing worse....

The only thing worse than having to do that stupid bun/hair growth thing on Lauren and Katie's head for dance competition, is having to do it while I am sick and they are sick. I nearly thought Saturday morning was going to send me to my grave.

The girls had their first dance competition on Saturday morning. We. Had. To. Go. Here is the long and short of why I hauled my sick kids and self to a dance competition on Saturday morning. The dances are "blocked" for each kid. If one kid is gone, it messes up the blocking, and the dance. As parents we pay an obscene amount of money for the kids to compete, and the kids want to do well. So if your kid doesn't participate it pretty much tanks the dance for all the other kids in group. Lauren has three group dances, Katie has two. Do the math.......

Basically if the girls were breathing on Saturday morning, they were going to the dance competition. By Saturday morning, Katie was faring better in the wellness category than Lauren, by about 15%. Lauren was in tears not sure she would have the energy to dance.

Now before you think I am a completely mean, heartless, and cruel mother, I knew once the girls got to the competition, got their costumes on, and were with their friends, the adrenaline would kick in. Plus I told Lauren that once we got there if she simply could not compete I would pull her out.

Sure enough the adrenaline kicked in, both preformed really well, had a great time, and were glad they went. They both came home, and CRASHED on the couches for several hours.

Now if only the same could be said for me....I was running on about 25% power on Saturday, and after the hour that it took to get the girls ready and out the door on Saturday morning, it was a good thing I had a 25 minute drive to the competition where I could just sit, because I was not sure I was going to make it. I wonder if they can pull a mommy from the competition?

Do you get a group rate for that???

Stay away from us. We are a breeding ground for bacteria. A pool of bacteria. A scientific experiment gone terribly out of control. It all started on Friday the 18th .......I noticed my throat, specifically the left side of my throat in the back was extremely sore, plus it was giving me a terrible headache to boot. I chalked it up to stress, and promptly ignored it for the next two and one half days, because you know that ignoring things always makes them go away. By Sunday night I knew I was sick, with 19 legal decisions to write by Tuesday afternoon. I wrote 8 on Sunday before going to bed, knowing that was going to pace myself on Monday and Tuesday to get them done. On Monday the soreness, and fever set in. I cancelled Katie's play date. I wrote decisions intermently all day and night until I was up to 17 written decisions. With how I was quickly deteriorating, I knew I would be in bed all day Tuesday and do my Board meeting by telephone. Tuesday morning found me in the barely functioning category. Linda was scheduled to watch the kids, so at least I didn't have that responsibility. I worked from bed, my office thought I was already under the influence of drugs, despite only taking over the counter medication. I had planned on going to Quick Care after I had the kids in bed to get real drugs, but I was too tired to go. At 4:40 a.m. Katie came into my room. Whatever I had, I shared with her. She was now sick. I sent Rick an SOS, and asked him to come stay the night on Wednesday because I knew that this was quickly becoming beyond my ability to handle I got Mark and Lauren off to school on Wednesday morning and put Katie on the couch with her blanket and the television. I returned to my bed for the remainder of the day. Rick came and took care of the kids. Around 9:30 p.m. I decided that I could not wait until morning to see a doctor and headed to the Quick Care. I arrived two minutes before they closed, which of course means I got in and out, they wanted to go home. Verdict: Strep Throat. Next morning with Katie showing no signs of improvement and now knowing what I had, I hauled her to the doctor. Verdict: Strep Throat. That same afternoon, (by now we are at Thursday, in case you lost track) Lauren comes home from school sick. At this point in time I don't need a doctor telling me what's wrong, I need another prescription. I was gearing up for another doctor visit, when my neighbor across the street, who husband is a surgeon, told me to give Lauren some to Katie's medicine to get her started and she would have her husband write a prescription for Lauren. Nobody went to school on Friday. We stayed home and languished in our agony. Truth be told I needed the girls to rest as much as possible because they had a dance competition on Saturday morning. For me any amount of expended energy was excruciatingly difficult. Compound that with a three year old who HATES the antibiotic, and has spit it back at me at least one time, and you can begin to have a glimpse into the joy that was my life last week. I am looking forward to feeling human again.

I knew it was only a matter of time.....

Yep she did it. By "she" I mean Katie. On Sunday I was doing Katie's hair for church and noticed on the left side she had quite a few strands of hair that were missing about 4 inches. It was clear to me she cut it. I questioned Katie and she got that look like "I am so busted, mom told me not to cut anything but paper...." and admitted to me that she had indeed cut her hair.

Its not super obvious, and I am grateful she really did not hack it off. But still she looks lopsided. Now I would just trim her hair up and let her have a cute bob, but you see I have that dang bun/head growth thing I have to deal with for dance, and if I cut her hair to even out the damage, I will never get her hair into the bun/head growth thing.

So for now, Katie will be a little lopsided. And yes all scissors at my house are on lock down.

The warm up.

Its the start of dance competition season, beginning this coming Saturday. To warm up for the competition the studio scheduled a performance at a local retirement community, to give the girls an opportunity to strut their stuff in a non-competitive environment.

Here is Katie waiting with her friends.

Her she is strutting her stuff.

Of course Lauren strutted her stuff too.

To celebrate it was In & Out Burger!

This is why I should have skipped church yesterday...

Meet Bob.

Katie came prancing home from Primary with Bob.

Katie is very proud of Bob.

Lauren & Mark wish that Bob belonged to them.

Sunday was spent arguing about who got to feed Bob.

Mommy fears Bob.
Mommy know that she will have to clean Bob's fish tank.
Mommy is going to have to buy more food for Bob.
Mommy has no time to deal with the likes of Bob.
Mommy fears the day Bob dies and I have to explain to Katie why Bob is no longer in his fish tank.
Mommy loves Katie's Primary teacher, but really?? Bob???

The Waiting Place

Upon college graduation a really good friend of mine gave me the book "Oh the places you'll go." Its one of my favorites. She wrote in the book "Oh the places you have been and the places you have yet to see. When it gets too serious Dr. Seuss always helps up put it in the right perspective."

The message of this book has stayed with me for 21 years now. One of the parts of the book that really resonates with me is "The Waiting Place." The character comes to The Waiting Place after confusion about which direction to go in life, because nothing is clear. In The Waiting Place people are just sitting around waiting for things to happen. Everyone is just waiting. Its a frustrating place. Waiting for things beyond their control. The Waiting Place is a stop, its not the destination. Time always pushes you out of The Waiting Place.

On more than one occasion in the last 21 years I have been in The Waiting Place. For me The Waiting Place is painfully frustrating. I am a go getter, a self starter, an in charge sort of person. To be stuck waiting is extremely discomforting. For the past three months I have felt stuck in The Waiting Place. Not begin able to move forward, to the side or even backwards, Just stuck. Feeling paralyzed, while trying to function in The Waiting Place.

Its also been an intense time of personal growth. As I have been stuck and not able to move in any direction, its forced me to stop, pause and reflect. After all The Waiting Place is not just about waiting, its about what you do while you wait, and what you learn from The Waiting Place.

A growth on the side of the head.

Here is my attempt to create bun like growths on the side of Katie and Lauren's head.

A little messy, I didn't get the sponge/bun maker thing covered with hair, but I was also dealing with a moving target.

Now one thing I had not planned on was the difficulty of lipstick application. The required lipstick is actually a lip stain. For those of you not familiar with a lip stain, think semi-permanent, and very long lasting. So now imagine me trying to apply RED lip stain to a moving target. Yes do the math....it was not pretty. In fact it was frightening and looked like clown lip stick. The only way to remove the lip stain is with oil. So out came the waterproof make up remover and a Q-tip, and I was able to undo most of the damage.

As you can see Lauren's bun looks much better, probably because this target does not move.

Her lipstick application, much easier....

I only have to go through this process nine more time between now and the end of June....

What is it?????

Do you know what this is????

Is it:

a. A dish scrubber

b. A birth control device

c.. A new craft tool

d. A device for creating a large bun like growth on your daughter's head.

If you picked "d" you are correct. This along with all the items in the picture above were what I was instructed to purchase to do both Lauren and Katie's hair for the up coming dance competition season.

I theory I am to put their hair into a pony tail on the TOP of their head, slide the hair/sponge looking device around the pony tail, with the hair coming out the center of the hair/sponge looking device, and then fan the hair out to cover the device, meanwhile bobby pinning as I go. I complete the look with a hair net. The instructions were so complicated the dance studio has a 7 minute Youtube video showing you how to correctly create a large growth on your child's head.

I am not so much concerned about doing Lauren's hair.....but Katie on the other hand....like you really think she is going to sit still and let me do this to her hair????? Pray for me.

Pillows and Blankets

Katie built herself quite the little throne of pillows and blankets for her television viewing enjoyment, after all she is the QUEEN, just ask her she will tell you.

The muffin man....

Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man,

the muffin man who lives on Dury lane?

Yes, I know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man,

the muffin man who lives on Dury lane?

Well according to my children the muffin man has been replaced by the muffin mommy, she lives on Brookshire Drive.

Did I mention....

Did I mention Katie's current obsession with scissors?

Confetti all over my kitchen floor, and a whole bunch of paper with little cuts. Seriously I only turned my back for like 5 minutes!

Spring.

Yep, ready for spring. Attitude not optional.

Blue belt.

Its official, we have upgraded from a purple belt to a blue belt.

Got to show off your kicks.

Got to show off your jumps.

Got to show off your karate stance.

Got to show off your new belt.

Tea for two, three or four....

Katie would like to envite you to tea. Party dress optional.

Ski bunny.

Meet my ski bunny! For several years now Rick and I have been trying to encourage Lauren to take advantage of her school's ski program, to no avail. Finally this year Lauren agreed to ski. Guess what??? SHE LOVES IT! Look for her on the hill every other Friday, she is the cute blonde girls with a big smile!