365/181 The things to come

Today JD took his driving test and passed; he now holds a learner’s permit. In Michigan, this is the first segment of a 3 step process of getting your driver’s license. He now must drive with his parents for 60 hours, with 10 hours being night driving, before moving on to the next segment. He is super excited and wants to drive everywhere.

I see this a bit differently; it is the start of the end of the family life I know and love. Once he gets through this stage he will get his license, then comes a car, a job and a busy social life. With each stage, we will see him less and less until we are just the place to get a free meal and warm bed between the rest of the stuff going on in his life. I don’t know if I’m ready for this, it seems like just yesterday he was learning to walk….

 

365/180 A lesson learned the hard way

24 hours after

This afternoon CJ learned that even though the stove burners are not red, they can still be hot enough to hurt someone. I had made the girls scrambled eggs for dinner and called them out to the kitchen to eat. While I was getting Syd situated, CJ came in and I told her if she wanted eggs, to climb in the her highchair.

Her highchair was up against the countertop and she placed her hand on the stove top to climb up.  Immediate OUCH!!  {I have always disliked the stove top being in the center of the kitchen.}

While running her hand under cold water and between the wails, she said “it was not red so I thought it was not hot.”  Bless her heart.

We have told her repeatedly that she should never touch the stove top for any reason, even when she doesn’t think its hot.  I think she understands why that is now.

It is her right hand, on her palm just below the fingers. There is no blistering, just redness, and she complains that it hurts. She has kept ice on it most of the evening.

Daddy being the “country doctor” that he is, prescribed some ice cream from DQ and that seems to have put her on the mend.

365/179 hide and seek

MJ had the neighbor kids over tonight for a game of hide and seek. Most afternoons MJ hangs out with these same kids either here or at their house. Lately they have been have water fights.

Neighborhood living is great for the kids!

365/178 A Baha of her very own

Today we took Syd to the audiologist to pick up her Baha (bone aided hearing aid). She was not pleased with it at first and refused to wear it for the car ride home. After some errands, I put it back on her this evening and she cried until I turned Bubble Guppies on. She stopped crying instantly and was mesmerized by the singing.

Summer school starts next week and speech therapy will resume. We know she can hear better with the Baha.  Now the speech therapist will have to do her magic and get Syd back on track with talking. 

I am Thankful Week 26

365/177 We borrowed a Gorilla ladder…

And replaced the light in our stairway. {thanks mom}It only took an hour or so and a visit to the Do it Center for a extra nut. We had it up before the JD and MJ were up from their naps {early Sunday paper route does them in}.

While Hubby was in the mood for lighting I convinced him to replace the two outdoor fixtures on our garage as well. They required a trip to Lowes to replace the cracked glass in the last one and while we were there we picked up the matching post light too. I love the new ones!

Now we only have the dining room light still sitting around waiting to be installed. That one will require wiring and plaster work.

365/176 Team work

We had a relative's open house back in G-town this afternoon. After visiting with my kin, we convinced Grammie and the Fitz’s to join us at our favorite G-town spot, The Corner House.

I got a chuckle out of Brent and Heather feeding Little Man together while they ate their ice cream. That is what I call team work for sure.

After spending 3 to 4 hours with Little Man he did not  open his eyes. Tonight I received a text from Heather with this picture.

What a cutie!

365/174 HBO and Cinemax Free Weekend

It is Charter’s free HBO and Cinemax weekend. According to Hubby and JD, that means we need to record a month’s worth of movies. Between the two of them, we will have a large percentage of our DVR filled by Monday.

It will take them to Christmas to watch them all and, even after Hubby watches them, he will be inclined to keep one or two just in case he wants to watch them again.

365/173 The Perfect Patient

That is what the dental hygienist says about CJ. She is the perfect patient. She is eager to open her mouth and does everything that they ask of her. This is her 3rd dental cleaning and she has been excited all week to go. {how did I get so lucky?}

 

365/172 Caught in a downpour

The kids didn’t plan for today’s weather on their paper route.  JD didn’t have any rain gear and got soaked when the rains came.

They thought this weather should be considered extraneous circumstances and the paper company should not have them delivering today. I explained to them that like the mail, the paper gets delivered in all types of weather. “Rain, sleet or snow; the mail will always go”

It stopped pouring after the 1st route was done but they were miserable wet the rest of the afternoon.

365/171 A little switcheroo

We installed a new light in our entry way this evening. In my opinion, it is an improvement over the small brass light that was there and it is much brighter.

We have a few more lights to install but they will need to wait until another day. They will require a taller ladder and some plaster repair.  Hubby is all for the work requiring a taller {new} ladder but you can bet that he isn’t putting plaster repair on the top of his ‘to-do’ list.

365/170 Crime & Punishment

I took a look at our AT&T account, just like I promised I would. Our billing cycle is from the 18th of the month to the 17th of the next.

I was logging on to check last month’s usage when I discovered that since June 18th, we {as in the whole family} have texted 634 times {just two days!} It breaks down like this: Hubby 2, MJ 4, Me 14, JD 614.

The amount of texts was a shock but not as much as the crime itself.  JD is not allowed to text, email, call, or web surf after 10 p.m. on school nights and 11 p.m. on non-school nights. In those 2 days, there were 80 texts afterhours, some as late as 1:30 am. He had been told, up front, that for every text after hours, he would lose his phone for one day. What was he thinking???

This means that he has now lost his phone until September 7th. And for “lying” to me about what time he was going to bed every night, he lost his PC, Wii and PS3 for 2 weeks. {I call it lying; he insists he is adhering to the contract terms of being in bed by the 11. He never agreed to go to sleep by 11} Maybe he should be a lawyer after all

Hubby has given him a bit of an out. For every mile he runs, he can get his phone back a day earlier.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see him sign up for a marathon next weekend

365/169 The newest twinkle in Grandma’s eye

We threw a surprise party for Heather and Brent today.  It was planned as a baby shower but the little tike arrived 3 weeks early…Surprise! So, it was more a celebration of his birth.

This was the first time Grandma G laid eyes on the little man, her great grandson.  I think she was smitten from the start. {I think we all are, he is a cutie}

 

365/168 Google Chrome has Angry birds

That was JD’s big announcement today. He has fell in love with Google Chrome and is trying to convert the whole house. {Hubby uses the browser but not the app features}

He has played Angry birds most of day and when not playing Angry Birds he is using Google Chrome to make music. He is loving the summer time.

365/167 Loving Driving

JD has a couple drives under his belt now and he is thinking that driving is eeeasy! Really I think is feels safe driving with the instructor {who has a brake and will grab the wheel if need be} and they have yet to get into traffic {that is the next drive}. I know he is annoying me by  telling me every time I do the wrong thing while I’m driving, but that is par for the course.

I hope he continues to have fun doing this but I’m really not excited about riding around with him any time soon. I’m not ready to have a teenage driver.

365/166 A trial run

I have seen gallery walls all over blog land and have been collecting frames from Goodwill and garage sales for a few years now. I just never had the “right” place for such a wall. In reality I was trying to get the courage to assemble such a wall and make it look good.

Well, I’m tired of looking at this blank 3’ space between the paneling and bulkhead in my living room so I’m trying out the gallery wall idea.  I’m more of a symmetrical kind of gal and the asymmetry of this is not completely settling well with me. {It seems a little chaotic for lack of a better word}

My family likes it so I’m gonna give it a go, maybe it will grow on me….. 

I decided the the papers were not cutting for me in terms of giving me a realistic view of what it will look like so I bit the bullet and put up all the frames.

Okay, still not loving it but I’m willing to live with it for a while before I make the finally call, again my family thinks it is a great idea still.

365/165 Fed up

This afternoon I got fed up with the state of my kitchen and cleaned and de-cluttered {except for the shelves by the sink, I overlooked them until now}.

When Hubby called to tell me he was on his way home from work, he asked me what I was doing. When I told him I was shoveling out the kitchen, he asked if he should stay at work. Ha ha mister!

With the kid’s paper route paraphernalia in the corner of my kitchen creeping into everywhere else, the piles Hubby and I create and 2 toddlers hauling toys in and out constantly; it gets crowded very quickly.

Now if only the cleaning fairy would keep it neat and tidy for more than a few hours, I would be perfectly happy.

I am thankful Week 24

365/164 Be warned fellow drivers

If you live or work in my fair city I would advise you to steer clear of a navy blue Saturn Ion with “Student Driver” stickers.

In case you have not guessed it; that is JD behind the wheel. He is in his second day of driving school and they got him driving a car already!

I just about had a heart attack when he told me he was assigned to drive this afternoon. I just can’t image him driving on the road with other unsuspecting motorists.

While were waiting for the instructor, he became so nervous I wondered if he would get out of the van. He planned on letting the other kid drive first but I’m sure the other kid had the same plan. They had to walk around the car inspecting it and JD ended up in front of the driver’s door, so he drove first.

Our life will no longer be the same, we will soon have a teenage driver under our roof!

After his 1st actual driving lesson, JD doesn’t know what all the fuss is about – “driving is easy”, he says.

Heaven help us

365/163 Happy Birthday Syd

Our Baby is 3!  I can not believe it. Syd was pretty much oblivious to the fact that today was a special day for her. MJ blew up balloons for her and she had a ball playing with them all day.

She refuses to eat cake and ice cream so we did not even try it with her. But she enjoyed her birthday like every other day in her life. She was happy and smiley most of the day.

By next year I hope that she will be talking nonstop like CJ and will be able to hear us sing her Happy Birthday.

It’s hard to really get down about anything in life when you look at how she and others handle far worse in a far better fashion.

I am Thankful Week 25

365/162 A full day

We had a jam packed day today.

We started with the paper route in the early morning. I had a trip to Urgent Care to have my hand looked at because of a minor bike accident last night {all is just fine}.

We had a open house for my cousin’s daughter to attend in Mt. Morris and while we were in the neighborhood we visited with Uncle Spike {Hubby’s good friend from college}. We got back home just in time to take JD to a pool party at the Country club.

While he was swimming, the rest of the family had ice cream with some good friends. We then put the girls to bed just in time to pick JD up from the pool party. 

FYI, the man in the white tee is JD’s girlfriend’s step-dad and she is right behind him. JD is a tad nervous around him and did not hang around once he arrived. I just have to laugh at JD’s nervousness, he seems to really like Madi.

365/161 Sir Rescuer

This afternoon JD went down in the basement to do his laundry. He come barreling back up the steps to get me. He wanted me to listen to a noise he heard.  He thought it was a mouse squeaking. {oh that would be just great}

We discovered it was a baby bird in the window well by one of the basement windows. JD got the little bird out with the shovel and rake after much squealing and jumping around by him. CJ and I had a good chuckle at his little dance.

This is the second bird he has rescued from the basement window wells. The first one flew into the picture window before it landed in the window well. Both birds survived as far as we know. 

365/160 Choo Choo

Syd has been doing the “Chugga chugga, chugga chugga, Choo Choo” lately. She was cuddling with Hubby and doing it for him this afternoon.

She looks so happy in this photo. She does not usually snuggle down with anyone but me so this a sweet sight to see.

This is the sound that woke me

At 2 am I was woke up by this sort of screaming sound and I got freaked out!  I was up for nearly 2 hours trying to envision what it was.

First thing this morning I researched the internet {isn’t the internet just grand!} and found this :

I never would have thought a fox would be in my neighborhood in the city

365/159 Unexpected home repair project

This evening I was at the dining room table when I heard glass breaking. I jumped up and ran toward the sound not knowing what the heck was happening, what broke or whom broke it. My first thought was a baseball had come through a window somewhere.

I found the lowest glass panel of our front door smashed {outward} and nobody around it. The best we can figure is Ruby somehow put her front paw through the glass. After spotting blood on the cream carpet we discovered small cuts on her paw. {She should be fine, though Hubby was not so thrilled with the news that his least favorite dog had done it.}

It was a mess to clean up. This thick carpet likes to hold on to tiny shards of glass. I must have vacuumed for 30 minutes just to be sure I got it all.

Hubby is hoping to find a place to buy a piece of glass to replace it ASAP. Thank goodness it is not winter. 

365/158 Making good choices

After running errands today {I think I have ran errands everyday for last week or so!} CJ and I grabbed a quick bite from Subway.

She insisted on eating a sandwich for the first time. When they asked her what she wanted she ordered: “Turkey on a bread with round cheese, not the red spotted cheese. Tomatoes and leaves please and no yellow stuff just the white cream.”

Translated: Turkey on wheat, provolone cheese not pepper jack, tomatoes and spinach with mayo not mustard.

She also choose apple slices instead of cookies {that surprised me} and apple juice. I was very pleased when she ate every last crumb.

365/157 Many face of Syd

Today Syd gave me a show. We were getting ready to take her to school when she started hamming it up in the mirror. She was so absorbed in her reflection she was oblivious of me  taking pictures.

I have never seen her make some of these faces before; like the center bottom one, she must have learned that one at school. She was sure entertaining.

Her personality is coming out more and more lately. I can hardly wait until she gets her Baha, her world is just going to explode with possibilities!

We have a tentative date now for “activation” {getting the Baha installed}, July 7th.

365/156 The kindness of strangers

This evening Hubby and I went on a bike ride after the girls went to bed. We were planning on checking out a playground near the kids paper route neighborhood for future use by the girls.

We were flying down the sidewalks and just crossed a driveway when I heard Hubby say that he thinks his tire is flat. After we stopped, a car turned into the driveway we had just passed. As we were chatting about what to do, the gentleman that lived in the house came out to the sidewalk and offered us a ride back home.

This man had no idea who we were or where we lived but was willing to help us out. We were less than 2 miles from home and my bike was fine so we declined the ride and I rode home to retrieve the van.

I was touched by the kindness of this stranger.

I am Thankful week 23

365/155 bike ride rest stop

Yesterday we found a bike trailer on Craig’s list. It is not the model we were looking at buying but it was less than 1/2 the cost of new. I think it will work for this summer.

Syd’s first ride yesterday was… okay. There were times I thought she was going to climb out but she toughed it out and we had a successful ride.

This afternoon the girls rode up and down the road a few times.  As we were putting their bikes away, Syd tried getting into the bike trailer.  So we took that as a hint and went for a little ride.  We stopped at the park to swing and have a juice bag.

I guess the first ride was not as bad as we thought it was.  Her eagerness to get in it again was a pleasant surprise.

Lu is hanging with us until her baby brother is released from the hospital today. She is super excited.

365/154 Puppy love?

JD had his girlfriend, Madi, over this afternoon. They spent 6 hours together today {he kept track}, we even took her out with us for DQ. The poor girl was sandwiched in the backseat and forced to watch Max and Ruby videos, she may never agree to this again.

She is a big reason JD texts 2500 times a month. He can’t stop talking about her and wants her to come over every day.  She no sooner leaves our house and gets home than they start texting all over again.

Could it be puppy love? It sure looks like it to me!

365/153 Progress

After her latest test were are ready to proceed with ordering the BAHA for her.  The audiologist has place the order and we just have to wait for the insurance company to accept the charges {which they tells us it will be covered} I certainly hope so. This device costs more than our first house did!

But if you think about it this little processor is worth more than anything! It will give Syd the ability to hear and learn to speak. You can’t really put a price on that can you.

365/152 She is a sister now

My brother and sister-in-law delivered a perfect little boy this evening.  He arrived about 3 weeks early and surprised us all.

Where has the time gone; it seems like just last week that they told me the news. After many many years of trying they were pregnant.  What a happy day this is!

He is 5lbs 8oz and 18 inches long. He also has the proudest big sister I have ever known. She is staying with us while they are in the hospital and she is talking non-stop about her little brother. I don’t blame her – he is pretty darn cute!

365/151 Evening activity

Hubby and I have been taking bike ride through our fair city most evenings. {Yet another thing that makes our move the best decision for us}

We have been enjoying the alone time and getting a little exercise as well.

Knowing that the older two are not willing to babysit every evening {I don’t blame them} we are researching  bike trailers.  I have no idea if Syd will want to ride in one but that is are only option at this point.

Hubby is toying with the idea of riding in the MS 150. It is a 150 mile 2 day bike ride to raise money for MS. I’ll let you know if he takes the plunge