Boring Saturday

That's right; today is going to be officially "boring". Dan survived his first DQ campout last night. His only complaint was that the boys went to bed way after midnight and got up at 5:30 a.m. Because they got up so early, they made it home an hour early. Jonathan should be a joy to be around later this evening.

I started my day by running Nolan to baseball practice. Then I took a neighbor kid to swim team tryouts. The kiddo needs lessons instead of swim team. Then I went and got Nolan from baseball. I threw the 3 boys out the door for a day at Lagoon (thanks, MegaDiamond), and have spent the past hour updating trek stuff. Next, I get to hang out at the copy center for quite a while (I have literally hundreds of trek copies to make today) then I'm going to OfficeMax. After that I get to organize my copies, label them, staple them. Finally, I'll top off my day by burning 40 copies of the same CD. Sounds real exciting! Anyone want to trade days?

Our silly sprinkler system is still leaking. Already Dan has "fixed" it 4 times in the same area this year. I have no idea why he can't get it right (I think it has something to do with the gray pip he is using instead of normal PVC, but what do I know?). At least this time it didn't completely blow apart! I just want it working so I can water the lawn, flowers, and garden.

Okay, enough procrastination, I'll go to CopyTec now.

End of the School Year

Tomorrow is the official end of the school year for Jonathan and Nolan. They go to school for a whole hour and a half tomorrow. Yipee! Yesterday was 7th grade awards day at Oak Canyon. Jonathan received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the English department and was recognized for having a cumulative GPA of 3.95 or higher. Nolan today received the Academic Achievement Award for his third grade class! Yea Boys! Both boys survived the year in one piece. Actually, they both had a pretty good year, with the usual road bumps to go over. Now it's on to summer with swim team, cub scouts, regular scouts, golf, piano, summer band, and whatever they can pack into their day!

Oh, by the way, Beijing slipped and fell in the bathtub today. She was running along the edge of the tub while Nolan was bathing when, whoops! in she went. Nolan has recorded his first lifesaving! No harm done- he towel dried the kitty then used the hair dryer on her. By the way, this cat burps. Is that typical?

Introducing...

... Beijing.  Nolan's got to bring his kitten home today.  He picked her out a few weeks ago from an animal rescue.  She will be two months old in two days.  He named her Beijing because she is beige and "so that I can remember China".  Nolan has been asking for a cat for every birthday and Christmas for the past 4 years.  We finally caved. 

 

Jonathan's Birthday

It's official!  There is a teenager in my house.  Jonathan's birthday was on Saturday.  He celebrated turning 13 by sleeping in the backyard in a tent.  The next morning, he got up early (for him... 7 a.m.) and wanted his presents.  He got Mario Kart for his DS from Nolan and a set of golf clubs from Dan & me.  For breakfast he wanted doughnuts; I think he ate 5 for breakfast. After breakfast he checked out his new clubs and wasted time until he could head off to the links.  

Jonathan, Nolan, and Dan had a 12:40 p.m. tee-time.  The plan was that Dan and Jonathan would play 18 holes and Nolan would play 9.  However by the seventh hole, Nolan was having so much fun that he decided he would play a full 18 holes.  Jonathan had his greatest golfing triumph so far on the 12th hole.  He got par- a real par.  He was the only one to par a hole that day.  The pictures are of him making his par put and feeling triumphant.  After their round of golf, we went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner.  After 8 slices of pizza, a bowl of Mac-n-Cheese, a ton of plain pasta, and a salad, Jonathan declared himself "full".  Yes, he definitely is a teenager!

Randomninity!

I got the last box of Gymboree stuff I ordered and just played the "price tag game". That's where I add up the retail price of everything in the box and compare it to what I actually paid. It makes me feel like a bargain shopper, but the truth is I would NEVER pay Gymboree's regular retail prices. I bought 2 one-piece winter toutfits, 2 hats, 2 pairs of socks, 1 baseball hat, 1 t-shirt, 2 t-shirt onesies, 1 pair of shortalls, and 2 one-piece summer outfits. Retail on that stuff was $202.50. Ouch! I paid $50.46, or 75% off retail! I could buy 40 gallons of gas with what I saved.

Nolan had an outdoor swimming "lesson" today. It was 46 degrees out there. It was a rude shock for him to get out of the 90 degree pool and dry off. I wonder how much the O'Neal's gas bill is. Their pool is always 90 degrees.

Today is Bona's birthday. Bona had a surgical heart procedure done earlier this week. It was one of those "via the vein" surgeries and not open heart. Anyway, she's been doing fine, but one leg has swollen up really big and she can't walk without assistance. This happened the last time she had a heart procedure done as well. Parley took her to the doctor's this morning, but we haven't heard anything since. Later tonight we're going over to see Bona and bringing her a birthday cake.

Apples are expensive right now! I know it's not apple season, but today at Macey's, they were $1.59 per pound. Ouch! I'm eating a lot of apples right now... so long as I have caramel to dip them in.

Jonathan got to play around on his new saxophone today. He got it a week early, but I thought he could use a pick-me-up after his disappointing day in extracurricular band yesterday. The only problem he has found so far is that the spit swab that I bought for him doesn't fit through the neck piece opening. I told him we'd change the bead on the end and then it would fit.

As of tomorrow I will have an official teenager in the house. For his birthday, Jonathan wants to play 18 holes of real golf with Dan and Nolan (notice, I was not invited; my job is to make him an Oreo cake). Nolan has agreed to play 9 holes and then I will pick him up at the golf course and rescue him from what I am sure will be a frustrating situation. I guess I better wrap Jonathan's birthday present tonight since he'll need his new golf clubs bright and early tomorrow. If he pulls the "what, only 2 presents" carp with me, I will be forced to sit on him. Maybe I should leave the price tag on the golf clubs.

Mad, Mad Mommy

Miss Ugaki can go to el diablo! That woman is driving me nuts and making Jonathan's life miserable.

Miss Ugaki is the band teacher at Jonathan's school. She is adored by all the students but is driving me mad. Last week she called to discuss a few issues she had with Jonathan. Jonathan was playing too loud, standing up at inappropriate times, picking his nose, and giving strange answers. We addressed her concerns with Jonathan and Jonathan said he'd try harder. Miss Ugaki said that without improvement from Jonathan he would not be able to skip Concert Band and go into Symphonic band (which is what Jonathan wants to do). Fair enough.

Well, I've decided that Ms. Ugaki has it in for Jonathan. This morning Jonathan had early morning Jazz band. This is not a class for him. It is currently an extracurricular activity. Jonathan said that he needed to shift his seat to avoid getting nailed in the back of the head by a trombone slide. Somehow in the process of shifting, he tore his sheet music. He told Miss Ugaki what happened and she lowered his band citizenship grade to a "Needs Improvement" What?!? He was responsibly dealing with what happened in a band session that took place on an "A day" and BEFORE school even started (his band class is on B day) and his citizenship grade gets hit when he's not even in class. Jazz band is not part of his schedule.

I don't get it. Any little thing Jonathan does wrong she slams him. If she treats every student this way then every kid in band ought to have a bad citizenship grade. Oh how I would love to get my hands on everyone else's citizenship grades...

Sleep, Sleep, Where Art Thou?

I can't sleep. Let me rephrase that- I can't sleep at night. Evidently I have pregnancy induced insomnia. No, it's nothing new... I've been dealing with it for about 3 months now, but I feel like I am reaching the end of my limit.

Two nights ago I slept like typical carp. I toss and turn all night and take a few catnaps in between. Yesterday I was dragging so bad that at 11 a.m. I lay down for just a minute and woke up 3 hours later. That nap felt amazing. I didn't think that nap would interfere with my sleep last night; however at 1:30 a.m. I was still wide awake. I did get 2 hours of solid sleep between 3 and 5 a.m. this morning, but that was about it. I had to get up at 5:45 a.m. to get Jonathan out the door for early morning band. He gets up at 6 a.m., but since time is so tight on early band mornings, I like to have his pancake ready for him as soon as his alarm goes off (he leaves for school at 6:20 a.m.). Anyway, here it is...12:42 p.m. and I am dead in the chair. The warm space heater by my feet isn't helping. I could fall asleep so easily right now, but I have to be at Nolan's school at 1 p.m. There is some assembly there today and he is getting 2 awards- one for reading and the other for fitness club. Maybe if I resist all urges to nap today I'll be able to sleep tonight. It's worth a try, but I'm not holding my breath that it will work.

Moms Can Over-React

So I blew it. Jonathan was a chef at the CTE Cafe at school today. His section of CTE opened a breadstick and lemonade cafe for the other CTE sections. The other classes used their "reward dollars" to buy from the cafe. Jonathan was evidently working with a bunch of bonehead seventh graders who were not concerned about quality control issues. Each breadstick was to be 8" long, brushed with butter, sprinkled lightly with salt or cinnamon sugar, and baked. Well, I guess some of his fellow chefs were making breadsticks as long as possible and as thin as a pencil. Jonathan was having to go and fix their inept breadstick shaping. Then Jonathan was supposed to melt butter in the microwave, but forgot to cover the container and had to clean up a butter explosion inside the microwave (this has cured him from wanting to put an unpunctured potato into the microwave to see what would happen). Then he somehow got a baking pan tilted inside the oven spilled breadsticks down to the bottom of the oven. He did not enjoy fishing them out. I guess he got so frustrated that he started to cry. When I heard that, that's when I blew it. I chewed him out for crying in class. I told him that the kids were thinking he was a baby and would make fun of him. I told him to learn some stress/frustration management skills. Boy, I really helped him out, right? Anyway, his evidently teacher handled things much better than I did. She took him out into the hall and helped him calm down. She thanked him for being a conscientious worker. He survived the rest of the class period. I just checked his grades/attendance and noticed that she gave him an "R" for attendance today which mean "Positive Present- Really Here". Thank goodness for teachers who understand and care.

How to Block a Web Site?

Anyone know how to block me from a web site? Gymboree is getting far too much of Dan's paycheck and I'm having far to much fun giving it to them. Dan is not a believer in getting rid of stuff (I assume he inherited that from his family). We have all of the baby stuff since Jonathan was born. Jonathan and Nolan wore the same clothes from birth because they were born during the same season (spring). Skellington is going to be a fall baby and therefore, he needs seasonally-correct clothes (that means warm clothes!). Gymboree has been having great sales lately and I placed my third (yes, third) order in 2.5 weeks this morning.

This morning I found an email in my inbox from Gymboree saying that all sale items were an additional 20 percent. I got a 20% off coupon from them in the mail earlier this week, so I had to go see what was such a great deal that I couldn't pass up. I love getting name-brand clothes for less than Wal-Mart prices. Skellington is going to be one warm and stylin' little guy (now, if he only had a real name...).

Oh, I also got a Gymbuck from my purchase today. I that means I'll have to buy something else in a few weeks!

Be Prepared!

Warning! Dan is a grump! It's a good thing that he doesn't read my blog...Yesterday, Dan was sustained as the Deacon's Quorum Adviser and SCOUTMASTER. I can't stop laughing, but he's one ornery tiger.

To put it plainly, Dan HATES the scouting program. It was used as a "motivator" when he was in Scouts... No Eagle=No Driver's License. He finally got his Eagle, but it means nothing to him. Not only does he dislike scouting, but he generally dislikes the boys in the Deacon's Quorum. He taught them in Primary when they were 10/11 year old annoying boys. They really haven't changed much.

Anyway, the Bishop wants Dan to "motivate" the boys and to catch them up on their scouting advancements (as well get them to wear their uniform each week, catch them up on Duty to God, and prepare them to be missionaries). The truth is, most of the boys (and their) parents are very apathetic about scouting. The boys would rather shoot hoops than do scouting stuff. I told Dan he needs to find a way to have them do scouting without them knowing it is scouting. I also suggested that after mutual opening exercises, to do a 10-15 minute scouting requirement and then do the main mutual activity. At the end of each month, he could send home a note saying what was done each week and what needs to be "made-up".

Anyway, the Little Black Raincloud was pouting last night. He needs to get over it... I guess my feelings are that once you accept the call, get over your issues and get busy.

Nolan's Birthday Party

We finally had time and a free night to celebrate Nolan's 9th birthday. He turned 9 in China, but didn't think the trip counted as a party. He decided this year that he didn't want a friend party- he's having friend issues and was worried about who he should invite. Nolan decided that we would celebrate his birthday as a family at Boondocks.

Boondocks is a "fun center" with batting cages, arcade, laser tag, mini-golf, go-carts, and bumper boats. Dan came home from work early. Nolan wanted to be there from 6 p.m. to close (midnight). Costco sells discounted "unlimited attractions" tickets so I bought our tickets there.

First thing Nolan wanted to do was play Laser Tag. We had to coerce Jonathan to play. He thought it would be dumb, but guess who is our biggest fan of Laser Tag? Next the boys headed out to go on the bumper boats. They cruised around the pool chasing and squirting water at each other. They were soaked. And then the breeze started blowing and they were freezing! They played a round of miniature golf and drove the go-carts. They have go-carts that are designed for those between 4 and 5 feet tall, so Nolan was able to drive by himself. They had a blast. We ate dinner there then played more Laser Tag, did another round of miniature golf, and several more go-cart rides. Finally at 11:55 p.m., Nolan realized that we hadn't gone into the arcade yet. I told him that Boondocks was closing we'd have to come back another day to use our tokens. He said it was a great birthday party and as soon as we got into the car, he asked when we could go to Boondocks again! Oh yeah, the ladies room at Boondocks is evidently named after me!

Skellington

Aly said I needed to add this email I sent her to my blog. I sent it from Shanghai, China about our far too eventful trip...

Okay- Skellington is in time out for the next 5.5 months. I had some brown bleeding on the plane ride to Beijing. I had some pink bleeding after climbing the Great Wall. Yesterday I had increased brown/pink bleeding. Needless to say I have experienced the Chinese medical system first-hand now.

We went to the "expensive" Shanghai hospital at 5 a.m. this morning with our tour guide. It does not have 24 hour full service care. They doppplered me at 5 a.m.& we heard the heartbeat. I had to go back at 8:30 a.m. for an ultrasound. There was Skellington- measuring 14 weeks 6 days. The doctor said everything looked fine and
put me on prescription progesterone for the next few days. My total bill for 2 doctor visits, an ultrasound, and 4 taxi rides was $100 Yuan (or about $14 USD).

This trip has really been quite stressful and I haven't slept basically at all for the past week
(less than 24 hours total). We left the boys alone in the hotel when we went to the hospital for the first time (They were still sleeping). In between appointments, we told them what was going on and that I was pregnant. Both boys were excited- especially Jonathan. Wow! Shocker for me. Anyway, today I am laying low in the hotel. I had to miss today's tour to the "Venice of the Orient". The boys, however, are on the tour. Yes, my boys are 2 hours away from me by bus, unaccompanied by parents (Dan is with me), in a foreign country. The tour group really likes the boys and wanted to watch them for us today. Anyway, wish me a successful last few hours in China and plane ride home. I feel relieved but am still quite stressed out.

That day's excitement didn't end there though... We were in the taxi headed to the restaurant with our tour guide to meet up with the tour (okay, really for us to meet up with the boys) for dinner. Michael the Guide got a text message from the other tour guide asking us if Nolan could have Pepto Bismol. We said yes... but it was too late for Nolan. Nolan puked on the bus several times. He burst into tears as soon as he saw us. "My tummy hurts" is what he had to say. Nolan visited the bathroom 3 more times during dinner... By the next morning, he was fine and ready to see more of Shanghai. No one else got sick and the rest of the trip was uneventful!

Proud Mom of the MVP

Oh yeah! I have a blog. Let's see, no posts for nearly 6 weeks. I'd better give a recap... let's see... went to China, found out we're having boy #3, and been beyond busy with end of the year stuff for Jonathan and Nolan. Yep- that summarizes the past month and a half.

So why blog today? Well, I actually have something to write about (and a few minutes to spare!). Last night Nolan pitched his very first inning in Little League. He's on the Mariners and this is the first year where they boys actually get to throw the ball at each other. He's been playing some form of baseball since kindergarten... T-Ball, Coach Pitch, Machine Pitch, and now finally Little League.

Yesterday morning he was in a funk. I asked him what was bugging him. He told me "Coach says I'm pitching tonight. I bet I'll be bad and walk every batter." I told him better to walk every batter than hit every batter. Well, I sent him off to school with encouraging words and a tennis ball so he could practice pitching at recess.

Nolan was last night's starting pitcher. He looked so little on the mound. He did a great job. He walked a few. Threw some strikes. Two runs were scored off him (all the other Mariner's pitchers had at least 3 runs scored off them). Onekid hit one of Nolan's pitches. It was a blooper to Nolan. He caught it (for the second out of the inning) and threw the ball to third where that runner was tagged out (for out #3). Nolan was responsible for a Double Play! The inning was over. Nolan was relieved! He felt pretty good about his pitching and ecstatic about the outs!

In the fourth inning, Nolan was playing third base (a triumph for him!). Another in-field blooper was hit just to his side of the pitcher's mound. Nolan called everyone else off and charged in for the ball. He caught it while running and the batter was out. He was floating on cloud nine. And of course, I forgot the camera.

Well, the Mariners lost 15-2, but Nolan was named the game's MVP for his pitching, role in the double play and the running catch he made while playing third. Today while Nolan was taking a bath, I noticed that his game ball was in the bathroom with him.