Whew!

Today I went to mini#1's parent/teacher conference. Sometimes these make you feel like you're the one being graded! Only you're discussing your child and not you. You're just ready to defend, make excuses or lie just in case. I'm kidding!! Any way, it was a very good conference. The kid is doing great. Whew. Of course, the conduct needs a little work (remember the cutting up in gym class and hallways I mentioned?), but I am just so thankful he really LIKES school and is, therefore, doing well. PLEASE let's hope this continues, say, for another 12 years so he can support himself one day. In the meantime, I took him out to lunch where very fun conversation ensued and then to a great local used bookstore where I gladly purchased 4 "new" books for my super reader. Mini#2 is happily at a sports camp today. They both return to school, or track back in as it's called, on Monday. That's a big whew! I'm running out of fun things to do!

Random

Hello! Just a few things.

1- It's rained all day and I'm thankful. And for the cooler temperatures!

2- I'm not thankful for the sinus cold I have. Ugh! I always feel weird buying Sudafed because the pharmacist scans your license and looks you over to make sure you don't look like you're going home to whip up some crystal meth. I guess I pass the test (of not fitting the profile!).

3- Despite feeling yucky, I hauled the minis to Mr. Pink's office to go to lunch with him today. We went to a Mexican place, but I couldn't really taste a thing!

4- Watched Mad Men last night. GREAT episode. I LOVE this show. I gladly give up Brothers and Sisters to watch Don Draper. I am so tired of the gloom and doom on Brothers & Sisters.

5-My NC State Wolfpack cracked into the AP Top 25 at number 23 this week after beating Georgia Tech on the road. Finally, a good start to a football season! We took the minis to the NC State/ Va Tech soccer game Saturday night. Good time, but they lost 2-1. Mini#2 was excited to get some of their autographs after the game.

That's all I've got today.

New discoveries

While on vacation my kids discovered a few gems on TV. They watched these two shows every morning before we headed out to the beach for sun and fun. They loved them! And it brought back memories for me, too although these two shows weren't my absolute favorites (Dare I say that about North Carolina based Andy Griffith!) growing up. Don't you miss the good wholesome shows? No bad language, no trashy clothes, obedient children, parental role models, etc etc. What had happened in the last 30-40 years? REALITY TV that's what!!

So what were your favorite shows? In 70's I loved Family Affair, I Love Lucy, Dick Van Dyke Show, Laverne and Shirley and The Brady Bunch. Wait...and Hazel and The Waltons. 80's- probably Facts of Life was my fav. I miss these shows! Don't you?

Sleep?

First of all, thank you all for your kind words and thoughts regarding Mr. Pink and our loss. We are doing fine. The funeral was very special (ok the old man I didn't know hugging me and and saying I hugged like an 18 yr old was a little bizarre!!). Going on vacation right afterwards has been a blessing.

However, our vacation has had a bit of drama. I thought we would stay up late and sleep late. Isn't that what vacations are for? Well Monday night mini#1 woke up at 12:30 throwing up for about 10 minutes! I think he just had way too many hushpuppies at dinner. Do you northerners know what those are? Fried, greasy heaven and you get to dip them in whipped honey, cinnamon butter...I digress. Yes, throwing up violently until there was nothing left. FORTUNATELY, he made it to the bathroom and didn't mess up floors or sheets. After that, nothing....thank goodness!

Fast forward to this morning. Mini#1 came in our room at 4:50 a.m. to say that mini#2's wheezing and coughing had gotten worse. It had and the nebulizer wasn't helping as we hoped when it started yesterday. He sounded like Froggy from The Little Rascals (for those of you that remember this ancient show). So I'm calling the insurance company at 5:00 a.m. for hospitals we can go to. And, thankfully, Mr. Pink already put his clothes on and ended up taking the sickly kid to the emergency room for treatment. I went back to bed and they came home at 8:00 a.m. Mini#2 declared "we were there the whole night!" It was funny.

Other than that we are still enjoying 80 degree cloudless skies for most of each day!
Sun, pool, ocean, lazy rivers...it's just what we needed! Hope all is well with you and your families.

Friday

So I've tried to keep it light on the blog this week because, in reality, we've been dealing with some heavy stuff lately. My father-in-law passed away Wednesday from lung cancer. He was diagnosed at the end of March, had surgery in April, but was only able to complete one chemo treatment afterwards. Over the last month he's been in the hospital, rehab, hospital again and then moved to hospice last Monday (week ago). Mr. Pink has been back and forth a lot while I held down the fort at home. We did take the kids to see him in the hospital 10 days before he passed away (but we saw him several times this summer). We are so glad he was still able to communicate with them and recognize them, us. It was all pretty peaceful as far as it goes with no pain. Mr. Pink made it in time and was there with his stepmother when he passed away. The worst part of all of this is that you may remember that my mother-in-law passed away from pancreatic cancer in January '09 after a 15 month battle and we were her caregivers for most of that time. Mr. Pink was with her as well when she passed, ironically just across the hall from where FIL was. This just all comes so close together so it's a sad time for all of us. I am taking the minis after school for the visitation tonight and the funeral is tomorrow. The minis are officially tracked out of school for 3 weeks starting today (year round school)and we had planned a beach vacation to start Sunday. This ends up being perfect timing because we all need, ESPECIALLY Mr. Pink, a relaxing time away from work, home, school and for a time to reflect upon this huge loss. Therefore, I'm taking the week off from blogging, too. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers... Be back soon!

I'll have what she's having...

So I read that Halle Berry has moved on from THIS:



TO THIS:



Wow! She has a tough life...bless her heart.

(The new guy is the man Diane Lane had a fling with in the movie UNFAITHFUL. Remember him?)

Wordless Wednesday- She's leaving!

Benefits of volunteering at your child's school.

So I volunteered at the minis' school this morning. As I see it, here are my top 5 reasons that volunteering is worth it to ME (not the teacher or the school for which it is intended).

1- You notice your oldest child at the front of the line after gym class and you are able to, through the glass door, give him the MOM STARE that translates into: "You better have behaved today and I better receive a positive report from your gym teacher!" Ahem. He has had a few controlling of his body issues in this class lately! Dancing, talking when supposed to be listening, etc.

2- It's a real ego booster as numerous times I heard "Hi Mrs. Pink" from various excited neighborhood children. Apparently OTHER kids like me!

3- You get to surprise your youngest child at lunch (poor kid eats at 10:45!)and he showers you with hugs and kisses and "I love you mom!" I think he must have thought his teacher was looking or something. I almost thought I was sitting next to the wrong kid!

4- While filing students' school work into their Monday folders, I really felt an over abundance of pride in mini#1. I will not tell him this, but his grading on his AG (academically gifted) reading received more OUTSTANDINGS from this teacher than any of the other AG reading students. I know. I shouldn't compare and, like I said, I will not tell him how his grades were higher than others, but I will heap on the praise for his hard work he did in that class when he gets home. Sometimes I get so stressed and bogged down by the "negatives" of his behavior issues (which are mainly during transition periods,PE or trying to do homework!) that I forget to focus on his many positives and how well he does overall in school.

5- The main benefit to volunteering? It reminded me of what great minis I truly have and to step it up in the praise department. We all have highs and lows in that dept don't we? So go tell your kids something good they've done!

It's that time again....

GO WOLFPACK!!!!

The excitement keeps coming...

I just watched Camp Rock 2 with the minis. They were excited. It wasn't too bad. But one of the Jonas Brothers has a very annoying singing voice. I never can remember which is which.

Earlier tonight mini#2 slipped in my shower while I was making dinner and mini#1 was in their shower. They have to stay separate these days in order to finish quicker AND to be safer, so I thought. I heard him scream "I'm BLEEDING!!" I ran in there and Yes he was. You know the pouring of blood when you can't quite determine how bad it really is, but you and your heart think it's the worst ever.... Well, I laid him flat on the cold tile and pressed a washcloth to his mouth while trying to get him to explain what happened. He slipped and hit the drain. How this happened I don't know, but it just takes a second. We learned this when he was 2 and he has a nice scar under his eye from that slip in the tub. This time it was a couple little knicks on the lip and the small "gusher" was on the corner of his mouth. It stopped. I applied steri strips and off I went to finish dinner while he remained in a pool of blood. Not really. Just sounded more dramatic.

Earlier earlier this afternoon mini#2 hit a woman in the neck with a squishy yet rather hard water ball that his friend brought to the pool and they were throwing to each other. I had just said that they were going to hit someone as I took a call from Mr. Pink on my cell phone. Then I saw mini#2 and his friend walking over to the woman with friend's mom to apologize. Apparently, she was ticked and wouldn't give the ball back! They're 5, but yes, it was wrong to be playing with that in the pool since others were around. Assaulted woman was sitting on side of the pool. My friend (mini#2's friend's mom) told me the scoop after I got off of the phone. Maybe we should have bought the woman a beer to relax. She scared the kids, but heck somebody needs to every now and then. It was an important call by the way. Mr. Pink's dad is not well so I was engrossed in the call as he has been with him for the last 2 days. After that we left before any more incidents could occur and we were asked to leave. Little did we know what awaited us at home.

And that's my exciting day. Hopefully, the late movie will keep the minis in bed later tomorrow morning. I want a few extra zzzzz's myself!