I am so tired...

This week has been good so far, but man am I tired. It's days and evenings like today that I really miss having Kris here to share in the parenting. Here's a rundown of my day:

8:30am--take Ross and Hope to daycare; bring Grant with me to Jenny Craig

9:30--speedy grocery shopping at WalMart

10:10--head from southwest Fargo to the middle of Fargo to take Grant to his first day of writing enrichment class in summer school. Walk all the way around Clara Barton Elem and enter 3 different doors before finding the right entrance.

10:35--take Lola out of the van (yes, she tagged along too this morning) so that we can take a walk around the neighborhood.

11:00--run home to put away groceries, drop of the dog, and eat a quick and healthy lunch

11:50--leave home to pick up Grant at noon

12:10pm--take Grant out for an afternoon with mom: Space Aliens (where I did not eat--yay me!), bumper cars and minigolfing at Thunder Road; used bookstore; and new Fargo Library (again driving from southwest Fargo to downtown)

4:30--leave library to head back to south Fargo to pick up Ross and Hope; call doctor to see if Grant can get in tomorrow for a probable sinus infection. Dr is out tomorrow. Begin entertaining idea of taking him to walk in clinic tonight. Decide I'm too tired to even make hotdogs, so we run through the BK drivethrough

5:00--get Hope and Ross inside, hands washed, and started eating. Pee. Go back out to van to wake up Grant who has fallen asleep. Serve all the food. Heat up my own Healthy Choice meal (and eat with Grant's french fries).

5:30--clean up kitchen, kids, and call gma Carol to see if she can watch Hope while I take both boys to the clinic. No answer. Call my mom. No answer. Call neighbor girl next door--she can come in 10 minutes. Yes! Promise her to be as quickly as I can. Wrangle both boys into peeing, washing hands, and blowing noses. God, it's like herding cats!

6:35--leave for clinic. Turns out both boys need antibiotics. Grant for a sinus infection and Ross for an ear infection.

7:35--call babysitter to check in and explain we need to stop at the pharmacy. She says all is well, but I feel badly for keeping her there for more than an hour. Pull into Hornbachers and hope that their pharmacy is still open...it is until 8! Whew! Answer all questions since I've never filled prescriptions there before. Try to keep boys busy while waiting. Call dad. Talk to dad. Play gimme five with Ross. Let Grant buy a word search puzzle book. Chase after Ross.

7:55--FINALLY get the antibiotics and instructions. Ross runs off. Send Grant one direction while I look in the opposite. Grant finds Ross. Try to be firm and convey that it's scary for me when you run off.

8:05--get home. Give boys medicine. Ross dribbles half his dose down his shirt. Hug Hope then put her down to make her bottle. Finally lose my patience with the whole situation--EAT YOUR CRACKERS AND COME UPSTAIRS WHEN YOU'RE DONE! Go upstairs to have 5 minutes alone with Hope to clean out her drippy nose, check her diaper and tuck her in. Feel my blood boiling when both boys follow me. Get totally pissed off when they start to fight AGAIN right in Hope's room. Ross accidentally spills Grant's goldfish crackers all over the carpet. GET OUT OF THIS ROOM SO I CAN BE ALONE WITH HOPE! SIT IN THE HALLWAY, BUT DO NOT STAY IN HERE.

8:20--head back downstairs to clean up kitchen a second time while boys finish snack. Let Lola out. Yell at Ross to come back in. Tell Grant it's time to come up to bed. Go upstairs and realize that this time, neither boy is following me. Mutter something about how my children never listen to me. March back downstairs and yell--get upstairs right now!

8:30--tinkle. brush teeth. put on PJs. Tuck in. Kiss, cover up, ruffle hair, and say good night.

8:55--go back downstairs with all the trash from upstairs and begin taking out garbage to the curb. Get one bin out and hear scream-crying coming through the window. Run inside to truly terrified boys screaming and crying at the top of the stairs: MOM! WHERE ARE YOU???!!!! They were completely freaked out. Calm everyone down and agree to let them watch a cartoon for 15 minutes to help them relax.

9:10--Finish taking out garbage. Come in to find that Grant has taken out the Goldfish again and Ross wants blueberries. Oh, whatever. Let them eat again. Go through the day's receipts, prep my coffee for the morning, and wipe down counter. Find a forgotten bottle of wine in the wine rack. Thank you, God. Pour a glass and come into the den.

9:40--tell boys it's time for bed. Tinkle again. Tuck in again.

9:55--Come back downstairs and pour another glass of wine, eat two slices of cheese, some pretzels, and some popcorn. Begin an episode of Little House on the Prairie. Pull chocolate chips out of the freezer and eat a bunch with a third glass of wine. Shit. Feel overfull and frustrated that I let myself stress-eat. Turn off the DVD and put wine away.

10:55--finish this post. Go to bed. Get ready to do it all again tomorrow. Ugh.

Only 4 more weeks until Kris comes home.

The Last Days of School...

Grant
Today was Grant's last day of first grade. I just can't believe my firstborn baby has just completed the grade I used to teach. Add to that the realization that my third "class" of first graders is graduating from high school this year...and boy, do I feel old.

First day of first grade

Last day of first grade


My little boy is growing into a tall, lanky, athletic, smart, funny, musical, artistic, big boy.

Ross

Ross has grown so much this year, too. He has grown from a toddler into a funny, independent, kind, loud, sometimes challenging, completely potty-trained little boy.

First day...


Last day, with his teacher, Kasey

Pictures

I FINALLY went through all the pictures on my digital camera. What a task--I always wait too long to do it...so I end up avoiding it until it takes hours. But the pictures are cute! Ignore the dateline on the photos--I forgot to reset it the last time I recharged the batteries.

Do you ever...

stay up WAAAYYY too late watching stupid stuff on YouTube? It's 12:35am and I have to work tomorrow (not to mention I've had to pee for about 2 hours now). Here's the progression:

9:15--started reading Harvey Milk's bio on Wikipedia, only to realize at 9:50 that I still had three sections left. It's long!

10:20--clicked on other links within the wikipedia bio, including George Moscone, Dan White, Scott Smith, and bath house. That was interesting.

10:40--remembered that I wanted to check out Pink's video for So What, so I jumped over to YouTube to view it. Grant LOVES--I mean LOVES--this song and has been singing it all weekend. I figured if the video was okay, I'd show it to him. It's not. But my mother in law (yes, I have very cool inlaws) told me tonight that Pink sang it on Ellen last week, so I also viewed that performance. She sounds even better performing live.

11ish--viewed Ellen's duet with Josh Groban singing Total Eclipse of the Heart

11:05--noticed a link to clips of Ellen doing What's my Next Line with members of the cast of Friends. Viewed that 7+ minute clip.

11:15 to present--that led to a whole bevy of Friends bloopers and outtakes on YouTube, which I've just spent the last hour watching and LMAO. I haven't laughed this hard in ages. Even though I'll pay for it tomorrow, it was so worth it. Here's links to a few of my personal faves, but beware--you could easily watch for hours!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQicfUjVVqU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMPWhbt36Uk&feature=related

DAMN IT! I just lost another half hour watching and laughing...

Youth Soccer--requesting your input

Have any of you enrolled your kids in youth soccer in the FM area? After doing some researching, I see that there is Red River Soccer and Fargo Soccer Club, as well as Moorhead Youth Soccer Club. Grant wants to play and I need to register now for next fall (why is that, anyway? It seems so early to me.). If you have any input on these three organizations, I'd love to hear it. RRSC appears to be more expensive for one season ($60) but Fall and Spring charge is $80. FSC is $40 for fall. I didn't see any info on the MYSC site about a fall season.

Thanks!!

15 years

It's our anniversary today. Kris and I have been married 15 years! how did that happen? God has blessed us abundantly. In that time, we have:

created three beautiful, smart, good-hearted children
earned two undergraduate, two Master's, one doctorate, and one specialist's degree
lived in two apartments and three homes
weathered layoffs only to come back to teaching in better positions than before
grown more deeply in love and friendship with each other

I love you, Kris!
E

Going to Minneapolis

Dear blog friends,
I am leaving for Minneapolis tomorrow and won't be back until Thursday(!). Yikes! I am going to the International Reading Association annual conference with three other colleagues. Two of us are presenting a session on a relationship-based infant/toddler early literacy curriculum. To have your presentation proposal accepted by IRA is a big accomplishment, so I'm pretty pumped about that. Otherwise, it is an excellent opportunity for professional development, networking, and just seeing lots and lots of great resources in the exhibition hall.

Please say a prayer for my kiddos while I'm gone. They will be in excellent hands with Grandma and Grandpa Gillett and visits from G & G Ingersoll. I'm not worried about them; I'll just fight the guilt and miss them a whole lot. However, I will also thoroughly enjoy spending time with my dear colleagues, drinking a little wine, and not having to multi-task so much when I get ready in the morning.

Have a great week!