Thank Goodness for Kits

In a fit of frustration at the beginning of the summer I organized and labeled the bins we keep on high shelves in the playroom.  Generally, these bins have been for toys we were rotating out or that the adults couldn’t stand anymore.  Now they are for things like paint, paint supplies, and other themed items.  One bin is for kits that the kids get, usually at birthdays, that often don’t get used and thus clutter up the already cluttered playroom.

Well, today it’s raining.  It’s raining cats and dogs.  It rained so hard most of the day the DOG wouldn’t even go out in it and she loves the rain.  So this afternoon we pulled down the “Kits” bin.  Thank heavens!  Nobody finished anything, but everyone was happily busy (with occasional please for adult assistance) while I tried to find an orthodontist for Spencer.

The dog may not have liked the rain, but the kids did.  They got completely soaked and muddy this morning.  That’s the way it’s supposed to be on a day like today!

Cookie’s Better!

All she needed was some doggie Alleve, an antibiotic, and a day to rest.  While she’ll be on meds for a week or so, she’s feeling much better.  But she’s really thirsty and keeps peeing!  But I’d rather have a happy dog who can’t hold it while she’s on drugs than a dog in pain.  She’s a lot more active now.

Poor Cookie

Poor Cookie has an infection as a result of her spaying.  She’s staying at the vet today where she’ll get painkillers and antibiotics.  She was so sore the vet couldn’t properly examine her belly, so hopefully she’ll feel well enough (or drugged enough) that the vet can get a good look at her.

Since we are new dog owners we asked for advice from both the vet and the shelter.  Cookie was eating once a day (we put out food twice a day but she wouldn’t eat in the morning) plus treats, was drinking, eliminating, and sleeping ok.  She did seem a little tired and was walking stiffly, but everyone said as long as she was eating and peeing she was probably fine.  I still feel total guilt over this and wish I had known to take her in sooner.  She looked sad to me, but since I’m not really a dog person I didn’t feel qualified to say something more.

Two More Cookie Pics

Meet Cookie!

Meet Cookie, the dog we just adopted from the Bloomington Animal Shelter.  She’s a beagle and very sweet.  The kids love her.  We haven’t had her overnight yet, so we’ll see how we all do.

Cookie will turn 2 in October and we don’t know how much she weighs yet.  We’ll find out soon!

C is for Cookie

Everyone fell in love with a beagle named Cookie today.  Unfortunately, 2 others had already put in applications.  While I was filling out ours one of them fell through, so you never know.  We visited with two other dogs and one of them looks like it might be a good match as well.  We’ve decided to wait until we know what’s up with Cookie.

What I can’t believe is that *I* have agreed to this dog business.  It’s crazy and so not me.

Dogs

I don’t believe this, but we’re considering getting a dog.  We’ve fostered puppies once before, and that was fun, but we’ve never really been serious about adopting before.  Yesterday I took the kids to the animal shelter to see the dogs, and they fell in love with a few of them.  We’re taking Alan with us today to see if any of them are a good match for us.

Nighttime Swimming Tough for One Little Boy

We're at the tail end of swimming lessons. It's a two-week session, four days per week. This year I signed up for the evening time because I know how hard it is to get into the dinnertime lesson and I figured since my kids weren't wee anymore we could hack it. I just let the kids sleep in as late as they need to the next morning.

Well, it's backfired. Spencer can't get to sleep after swimming and he's cranky all day. Now he hates swimming even though his teacher says he's doing well. He doesn't know this, but we're signed up for another session in a few weeks. He's going to hate swimming forever.

At least Evie's having fun.

We are all connected...

and boy, don't we hate it when we're not? We lost our internet connection yesterday and part of today, most likely because of a storm. It's hard not to be connected. Also, I didn't realize how much I use the internet as a reference. Whenever I want to look up hours for a business or anything else, the web is the first place I look. It's amazing. Now our network isn't available (no home server or computer) because the outlet in the office is fried. I'm working in the bedroom on a nightstand connected directly to the modem. I wonder if Alan will set up the router in here, too? Hmmm.

Yesterday Alan's parents took the kids to the Fun Frolic. They had a great time. We rushed it at the end because of swimming lessons only to find out once we got to the pool that lessons were cancelled due to flooding. If the internet had been working at home I would have known this through Twitter and we would have been able to stay at the Fun Frolic later. But we were all hot and sweaty, so maybe it's a good thing that we were able to go home and wash everyone off.

A blast from the past today--Evie wanted to skate on the kitchen floor after it got mopped. Both kids did a pretty good job getting the floor dry and I only had to touch it up in spots.

Mom and Me on Father's Day

Mom and Me camp was fun, but we got no sleep. I need more than 6 hours of sleep that were interrupted 6 times. Spencer is in even worse shape. As for the camp, I probably would have organized it a little bit differently, but overall it was fun. Spencer wanted to go home to play with his LEGOs and play video games, so he was having trouble getting used to the idea of nature. The big question is, why was this camp on the same weekend as Father's Day? Parent and Pal camp is next weekend. Why weren't they switched so fathers could be with their boys. It made for a cranky Father's Day.

Speaking of, Alan had promised the kids unlimited screen time for Father's Day and they spent a lot of time XBox-ing. I did get in about 20 minutes of DDR, which Alan had figured out for me. No more frustration, yeah!

Garage Sale-ing

We stopped by a friend's house for their garage sale this morning. We intended to stay for just a few minutes so Evie could peruse the Polly Pockets for sale (thank goodness they were all gone) but the kids played for over two hours. My plan for the day was messed up, but the kids had a good time.

We even managed to hit the library in the afternoon. I was happy to find out the book that was absolutely due today and we couldn't find anywhere was already at the library. Someone else checked it out and it was taken off my account. That's the last time I return things at the Bookmobile--this was the second book returned there that didn't get checked in properly. I was about to charge Spencer for the book since we'd have to pay for it, so we all lucked out.

Off to pack for cub scout Mom and Me camp!

Dance, Dance, Revolution

While waiting for the Sears photographer to set up all the enhancements she had to try to sell me we found DDR on sale at Sears complete with a pad for $40. That's only $10 off, but it's still a good deal. When we got to the checkout the price was only $20! Super deal! So, if you want DDR dance your way down to Sears today. They had several game system types available.

On a bad note we had trouble navigating the menus. But we did do a little training session and I found it fun. I can't wait to do it in workout mode without the kids around.

A Two-Year Hiatus

Wow, it's been more than two years since I wrote anything here. I think this place needs an upgrade! With concerns about privacy and a huge lack of time, I haven't been doing much on this blog. I think I'll change that now. Now I finally have a little more time.

I have another blog about being a nursery school teacher, but there's plenty that's not really appropriate for that blog. And now that it's summer, we're doing all kinds of things everyday instead of spending the days in our separate schools.

Just as an update, my son just finished first grade and my daughter just finished kindergarten. It was a rough year for the kindergartener, so I'm glad it's over. My son discovered he hates school (he actually hates doing repetitive activities and being told what to do, which we already knew), so he's glad it's summer. He also chose not to do much in the way of organized activities.

Due to the weather this summer is short. I'm sad. Hopefully with very few organized activities all around we'll all get the chance to recuperate and be fresh for the next school year.

I'm back!

Caught on tape

Today the kids built a little city out of a play mat, various vehicle toys, and Little People. They were both narrating their own stories and working together, so I decided to pull out the camera and shoot a little footage. They didn't even seem to notice me, they were so wrapped up in what they were doing. About a minute after I started there was yelling and punching (I didn't do any of it, I swear!). So, my great idea of saving their cooperativeness for the future was completely wrecked my their innate need to bug the heck out of each other.

The perfect Mother's Day

Today was pretty much perfect. They let me sleep in a little, and when I came down I had to wait until they got in their places. (I was told that next time I should stay in bed until they get me.) When I walked into the kitchen there were streamers hanging over the door and they threw little balloons up into the air. There was a card, some "princess" flip flops, and some flowers to plant, and a NEW BIKE! Yeah! So exciting!

For the rest of the morning I worked in the garden. The kids were supposed to help me plants the flowers they bought and water the plants we've already put in, but Spencer went to play with the neighborhood kids and Evie didn't want to get her feet pricked by the pricker weeds, so she stayed inside while Alan watched the F1 race. Once we finally got ourselves together we went over to my mother-in-law's to help her hang a blind.

Spencer got a little upset and out of control, so instead of the kids hanging out with their grandparents for the rest of the afternoon we came home and Alan worked on fixing our phone line, which wasn't working for some reason. That took 2 hours. It turns out Spencer had eaten 2 bags of gummie type candy, which explains why he wouldn't eat real food and was behaving like a stinker.

My mother-in-law came over to hang out with the kids while we exchanged my bike for a smaller size, had dinner, and did the grocery shopping. I put Evie to bed and then took a bike ride while Alan put Spencer to bed.

It was a really great day. The best Mother's Day I've ever had.

Pretty plants

Today the kids planted the boxes they got for Easter from their grandmother. Evie had sunflower seeds and Spencer had tomatoes. The tomato seeds spilled after they were planted, so we may just be mowing them every week instead of watching them grow from their box. Evie was sad to hear that we'd have to move her sunflowers when they got too big, but 6 foot flowers just won't fit in the little 6 inch box that came with the kit.

Since we were on a roll we decided to plant our carrots and radishes, too. A friend had suggested we surround the carrots with radishes to deter rabbits. I guess the radish leaves are prickly or something. At any rate, that's what we'll try this year.

I'm also hoping to plan mini pumpkins once I get a trellis worked out. We also have zucchini seed (why?) as well as chives and lavender. I'm not really sure where to put all this stuff, especially since I have other gardening plans that I just don't have time for.

Oh, the strawberry plants the kids picked out a few weeks ago have now yielded three strawberries. These plants are pretty big, so I imagine we'll have to move them to a larger pot or the ground soon. I'm just not sure how they'll survive the winter.

The maple tree planter has some seedlings, but I have no idea if they are maple trees or weeds. I'm going to let them grow a little to find out. If we do get a bunch of trees I'm not really sure where we'll put them or what we'll do with them.

Paddling Pool

The kids and I managed to fill the little pool with some water for a brief time today. We didn't get lots of opportunity, and between Evie's fear of the pricky weeds in the grass and Spencer's hesitation to put on his swimsuit (this was all HIS idea, anyway!), it was quick. Then, off to Spencer's soccer game.

Kindergarten, bikes, and boo boos

Boy, what a busy day!

We ate lunch at St. Mark's after school, cleaned up, and then dropped Spencer off at the Kindergarten Roundup at St. Charles. After spending a week telling me that he was going to tell anyone who asked that he didn't own any western wear he ended up wearing the white cowboy hat I brought him just in case the whole time. He seemed to enjoy his hour there. The teacher changed her snack plans at the last minute so it could be something Spencer could eat. And she served water instead of milk. It was really sweet of her. But now I'm left with 3 dozen cookies!

While playing outside Spencer's back bike tire literally popped. It has a gash in it all the way through. He's been skidding his tires whenever possible and it has several weak spots. He wasn't skidding when it happened, so it was a little bit of a surprise when it blew. He took it pretty well and showed the neighborhood kids the tear.

Then, only 5 minutes after reminding Spencer that his helmet needs to rest on his forehead and not pushed back and less than 1 minute after I told him that he should use his scooter break pedal and not his foot to stop, disaster struck. He tried to stop himself with his foot while going fast down the hill, tripped, and fell right on his forehead. He was in quite a state for a long time. He's got a lovely mark on his forehead. He even told me I was right about the helmet thing.

So poor Spencer has no bike until we get a tire and doesn't want to wear his helmet to ride his scooter because of the boo boo, so he's stuck with just his big wheel. And of course the wheels are looking a little thin on that thing, too.

Peter and the Wolf

Today was Evie's performance in Peter and the Wolf. She was a kitten. It was all incredibly adorable and fun. Pictures will be posted when I get a chance.

Busy day

The weather was great today, so both kids got lots of outdoor time at school. I know in my own class we were out for almost 2 hours. Evie's was as well and I think Spencer's even sat in the sun to eat lunch (too hot for me, but it didn't stop them!).

After school Spencer had to go to his Kindergarten assessment at Summit, one of our public schools. It was completely different from the one at St. Charles. Spencer was very reluctant and shy, barely talking through most of it. Evie, on the other hand, answered the few questions she was asked (her name and age and if she's like to color). We will be arranging to go observe during class some time to see what we think. They had a Bev Bos quote in the hallway, which I thought was encouraging, but then I heard a teacher yelling at her class to line up. That was not so encouraging. It was an older class, but still. Lots to think about.