Strep

Happy Friday! The good news is I'm feeling much better today. The bad news is I came down with strep throat early this week and have felt like crud for pretty much the whole week. Strep throat--I haven't had that for 20 years! Not since I had my tonsils out at 17. Let me tell ya, it HURT more than I ever remember it hurting as a kid. The doctor who looked at my throat actually told me, "I wish my med student were here to see this. From a medical perspective, that's quite impressive. We don't usually see throats like that in someone who's had their tonsils removed. It looks almost like you've got ulcers back there." Nice.

Anyway, this week also entailed two nights of conferences for Kris, a late meeting last night for me, going to the Wedding Singer musical Monday night, and generally just lots of running around. Pretty much a typical week for all of us, right? So, in the hustle and bustle of life, I hope you all find a few moments for yourselves and few more to enjoy your loved ones. Have a great weekend!

Grant Got a Haircut!

I AM GRANT!I GOT A HAIRCUT ON FRIDAY.I REALLY LIKE IT. my mom made a deal that if i got a haircut that same day that i would be able to get a toy. my toys are two packs of mightybeans and a bopbag. my hair is red now (but not forever).


Yep, we did it. Although I was Grant's strongest advocate for growing out his hair if he wanted to, it was finally time to go short again. He's had it long since last summer. He didn't fuss or complain at all once he decided to take me up on my "deal." We went to Lil' Whipper Snippers, which was great because Grant got to watch a movie while the girl cut his hair. His favorite part was getting red hair gel on the tips of his spiked hair. It took him a few hours to get used to it, but by the time we got home that evening he said, "Now that I'm used to it I think I like my hair short." We all love how it looks on him, and I'm excited to hear how his teachers and friends react tomorrow.

Goofy Kids

Here's a video of the kids "skating" around the den as they watched the pairs skating short program tonight. It's dark for a few seconds at first, until I remembered to turn on the light. Notice Grant trying to spin Hope around like Ladwig and Evora. Ross is skating in the style of, well...Ross.

Relaxing

Tonight after work, 4 colleagues and I drove to Minneapolis for a meeting tomorrow morning. And although I miss Kris and the kids, I have to admit that I'm enjoying a little slice of time to myself. The group of us ate steak dinners at Mabel Murphy's in Fergus Falls, so we didn't even pull into the hotel parking lot until 9:40pm. But the dinner and the good conversation were so worth it.

I'm sitting here in my very own hotel room, watching Celebrity Rehab and painting my nails. It's almost 11pm, and although I'm tired I'm not *sleepy.* Pretty soon I'm going to crawl under the covers with all the fluffy pillows and read my book. Tomorrow will be a busy day followed by a long drive home, but right now I'm looking forward to not having to rush when I get up tomorrow...and sleeping in until (gasp!) 7am!

PS--the two best parts of my week were (1) last night, reading to all three kids at the same time: Grant on my left, Ross on my right, and Hope on my lap while we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Mrs. Wishy Washy. It was an idyllic moment in time.

(2) Going to be early on Tuesday night and having both Grant and Ross climb in bed with me. While I read my book, Ross snuggled up next to me and Grant lay quietly next to Ross. It was so peaceful listening to their breathing get slow and sleepy, and glancing over to see their eyes drift closed. When I turned off the light, Lola barked at some unknown sound and roused the three of us. But you know what? That was okay because it meant Ross resettled back into a cuddle and we fell asleep holding hands. To borrow Bonnie's word, it was bliss.

It's Saturday night,

and we're all here in the den watching Mall Cop (yes, Mall Cop). It's sorta lame, but we all love it. I just tucked Hope in, the boys are eating bologna slices, Lola is drooling over the bologna, and Kris is playing World of Warcraft. There's laundry to wash and fold, bathrooms to clean, floors that need vacuuming and washing, a week's worth of mail to go through, but hey--this mom needs some time to veg.

Grant wrote out everyone's valentines today--all 18 of his, all the ones for Ross's class, and all the ones for Hope's daycare. What a huge timesaver for me! And the best part was that he did it all on his own initiative; I never asked him to--he just started the process and worked on them all afternoon. Earlier this evening we got all the candy treats taped to each valentine, too. So even though there's a crapload of housework to do around here, at least that job is done.

Do you ever get to the end of a post and not know how to wrap it up? Me too.