A Squirrel Peed On Me Today

I am having a not so great day. It started out with a squirrel peeing on me while I was strapping Anna into her carseat. I had to get Jonathan to school on time, so I did not have time to react like I usually would have (something akin to a flipping flipout, a scalding hot shower, and repetitve use of hand sanitizer). Instead, I just let out an exasperated (yet, defeated) sigh and got on my way. I thought to myself, at least it wasn't poop, and at least most of it missed me, hitting my car instead. It's 5:30 now, and I have yet to get a shower. I really can't recall most of what made the rest of my day stink so much (not literally, if my day was less than fragrant, I am sure it had to do with the squirrel urine). I was cooking dinner just now and I burnt myself. I had to clean the fridge out when I got home (all of those Thanksgiving leftovers) make me wanna gag. I stopped to vacuum out my car, and somehow ripped off half my big toenail by hitting it with the hose. Not only did it really hurt, it totally ruined my look. I had just been staring down at my feet, thinking, I really need to buy a bottle of OPI's I'm Not Really A Waitress (my favorite nailpolish shade for winter) so I can touch up my pedicure a little, and then, BAM! Off went half my big toenail. You all might know how I feel about my feet. I have two humongous, unconcealed (no makeup) zits on my face today, and I neglected to brush my hair, but if my feet look bad, I feel REALLY bad about myself.
The kid I tutored today was spaced out most of the time, argumentative about simple addition (I am not the most mathematical of all girls, but I am pretty durn sure that 8 plus 8 is 16 NOT 15), and interrupted me at 4 PM to tell me that it was 4 PM, and since I had arrived at 3 PM, wasn't it about time for me to go? Well, I guess I can mark down that this particular first grader is pretty sharp with the concept of time! I wanted to say look, buddy, a squirrel peed on me today. You can't possibly make me feel any worse.
I have a fever. Jonathan has a fever. I sent him to school today, thinking (hoping) that what he has is just allergies, and not the cold the rest of us have... Anna stayed home from school. Well, I opened his folder when he got home and found a nasty-gram from the school that he may possibly fail the semester due to absences. Oh, really? You are going to F/A my 6 year old in his first semester of school? Maybe I should have sent him to school last Tuesday when he was vomiting every few minutes and his Daddy and I had to scramble to shuffle work schedules and I had to call in sick for the afternoon so one of us could stay home with him. How about the week he had the flu, and at least 6 other kids also missed the entire week? Should I have sent him then? What about the week he had the other nasty virus, with the fever and the croupy cough, and the lack of ability to speak AT ALL??? Is BPS trying to tell me, his mother, that I don't have the discernment as a parent to make a judgement call about when MY child is sick? It costs me thirty dollars every time I take my child to the doctor. Sixty if I take both. Am I supposed to waste the doctor's time, bully my way into a same day appointment, drag my sick kids in to be exposed to something that is guaranteed to be worse than what they actually have, pay them $30 to tell me it's a virus and it'll pass on its own, all to get a stupid doctor's note? The ONE TIME I sent him when I wasn't entirely sure I should have (he had no fever, but he had what sounded like a pack-a-day cough) they were calling all my phone numbers: Mrs. Dooley, we have Jonathan here in the clinic, can you come get him, he has a bad cough?
Um, yeah, I'll be right there!!!!
How crazy do you think the principal would think I am if I wrote back to her: Listen, a squirrel peed on me today. I can't deal with this right now! Could you send me a nasty form letter on another day when I will be able to muster a sane, reasonable response?
Tomorrow, tomorrow is Tuesday. And there is very little chance that I will have a day as uniquely bad as today. Because, let's face it, it's not every day that you get peed on by a squirrel.

Anna's Thanksgiving Feast

Anna made this little Thanksgiving tree. Her teachers wrote what she was grateful for: all the colors (this girl is all about the rainbows, and artwork) and Mom and Dad. Awww! I don't know what sort of face Jon was making in the background!

Anna and her Daddy. Pouty little princess!

Mama talking to her little Pilgrim after the big performance.

Our kids both being quiet at the same time... what's up with that???

Anna and Jon make these goofball faces for the cameras. They don't even have to communicate with each other ahead of time. It is some weird sibling thing they have going on. I can't believe they are only two years apart sometimes... Jonathan seems so much taller than her!

Anna's placemat. Love the turkey handprint!

Jonathan stayed home to go to his little sister's feast. It was so cool for him to go back into his preschool, and all of the teachers there made a big fuss over how tall he has gotten. He was very proud of himself. And then, he went with us so we could be dropped off at the Port for our cruise. He took my hand and kissed it when I was saying goodbye to him. Melted this Mama's heart!

Anna on the way to school. She was threatening to change pilgrim to poop in the words of the song, but thankfully, she sang like an angel up on the stage. We got the sweetest video of her. She stops and waves at us during the song, and then when it's over, she is so excited that she jumps up in the air and messes up her hat. Then she got all serious and concerned about her hat. Anna and the rest of the kids at the preschool were all so precious. They do a fantastic job each year with the Thanksgiving Feast. I am grateful for such a wonderful preschool!

My Cruise Top Ten

10.) Coming back home... we had a great time, but by Monday we were both tired and wanted to see our babies again.

1.) Everything to do with this... Just being together, just us, alone time, no schedule, no chores, no distractions.

2.) We woke up early and were one of the first people to get on Coco Cay. So we had this unblemished view of the water (later it was crowded with people).

3.) The Night of 21 Deserts. This is part of how I gained 3 pounds in 3 days. The head server special ordered 8 pieces of Warm Chocolate Cake for our last night (we loved it the first night, with vanilla ice cream, it was FANTASTIC). But then the menu came around, and everyone saw at least 1 or 2 things they just had to try. Dave and I both had the chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream, and I had the Banana Nut Parfait, and he had the Key Lime Pie and the insanely decadent brownie and dark chocolate mousse desert. I could only eat one bite of it. We didn't get it all in the shot, but the table was covered with it. I sucumbed to peer pressure and ate escargot. I felt like I was on Fear Factor or something. It was actually quite tasty. Do I ever want to eat it again? NO.

4.) We woke up early our first day, also, and we were one of the lucky few to see the sunrise. It was spectacular. It was also VERY windy and actually chilly. Very glad my Mom gifted me with a hooded jacket right before we left.

5.) The Night We Matched Our Polo Shirts On Purpose. One of the best things about a cruise is that you can behave in ways you normally wouldn't. For some people, this meant public nudity..., for us, it meant matching Polo shirts. We are wild, yet preppy... :)

5.) Snorkelling at Coco Cay. We snorkelled A LOT... and we held hands the whole time. It was gorgeous, and so peaceful. Coco Cay was definitely the best part of the trip. We think we may not even get off the boat at Nassau the next time. Coco Cay was like the Disney-ized version of the Bahamas. It looked sort of like Sea World. But we LOVED it there. I'm not quite tough enough to handle the aggressive "salespeople" at Nassau.

6.) I loved our room attendant. He was so sweet. I especially loved coming back to a made bed, clean room, plus, I ADORED these little towel elephants he left us. Dave said I had to
"molest " them each time. So here I am, 29 years old, enthralled with the towel elephant. I am not ashamed!

7.) At Coco Cay, they had all these hammocks in the center, which were shaded by palm and pine trees. The weather was PERFECT while we were gone, not too hot, just warm enough, with blue skies, and a little breeze. I am wearing a swimsuit and a coverup in this picture, just FYI. Anna accused me of "showing my naked booty butt" when she saw this picture.

8.) The iguanas. We saw some people gathered around the water, and I walked boldly down where they were because I assumed they were looking at some fish. When I saw this big A** iguana on the rock, I shrieked in terror. Then we realized there were actually several in the area. I had to scream again when one of them started running. Those things can move! They were eating something out of a big Bud Light bucket. Later, during lunch, I could not even eat, because there were TWO CHICKENS just roaming around all the picnic benches. TERRIFYING. The iguanas, I edged close enough to get a photo op. But those chickens, I just could not take. We went back out snorkelling instead. Because, to me, the slight possibility of a shark, barracuda, or jellyfish encounter is better than a roaming chicken anyday.
PS. Also, could not believe how many people were just chomping down on some bbq chicken. It seemed very insensitive to me. I mean, can you imagine how that chicken must have felt?

9.) This is me laughing at myself at my "Monica" hair. Dave called it this because of that episode of Friends, where they all go to the islands for Ross' dinosaur conference, and Monica's hair gets crazier and crazier? Well, I did not pack any conditioner or any hair product. NO CONDITIONER! So after spending the day in and out of the salt water and wind, this is what my hair looked like before we went to dinner. (I used some restraints and put it up, I do have some pride.)

We had a BLISSFUL time on our cruise. We sailed out Friday, spent Saturday at Nassau, and Sunday at Coco Cay. We arrived back home on Monday. As you can see from my top ten, which somehow wound up at the top of this post, we were glad to get back home. Of course, we woke up today, ready to get back to the work/school swing of things, and Jonathan started vomiting profusely. Welcome Home, right????

Thanksgiving

I was tutoring a third-grader the other day. We have some new individual sized dry erase boards, and they are magical. Kids that normally grit their teeth over writing a single sentence on notebook paper are suddenly very eager to write. I think having the marker and board is like being given control, a special privilige normally reserved for the teacher. I remember being allowed to write on the blackboard with chalk was such a big deal to me when I was a kid. Anyways, I asked her to write 5 things she loves about Thanksgiving, and 5 blessings, or things, she is grateful for. Then we turned her list into sentences. It was a nice little prewriting activity, and I was very happy with how eager she was to write (for once!). I had my own board, and was happily writing in my own answers (I have found that kids are a lot more willing to do work when they feel like I am working too) when I glanced over at hers to monitor how she was doing, to see if she needed any prompting. Nope, she was done. This is what she wrote under what she likes about Thanksgiving: getting to see her Dad who has been in prison, spending time with her family, having food to eat.... Under blessings, she wrote: having a house, having a family, having food, being healthy, and being able to go to a good school. Oh. My. Goodness. I had expected her to write stuff about getting out of school, that she was grateful for her Nintendo DS and her family pet... I really was floored by her answers.
Also, I was ASHAMED of myself. Do you want to know what I wrote about Thanksgiving? Pecan pie, the parade, vacation days, Black Friday sales, and oh, yeah, family (sort of as an afterthought... the pecan pie came to mind first and foremost *WHY am I so fat?*). I was humbled by this little girl's awareness of what really matters, and her gratefulness for what is truly necessary. When she read her list out to me, I was fighting tears. She could not name a single Thanksgiving food when I asked her, but she could name every last thing that really matters.
I had stomped into work that day with a bad attitude because my week was dragging on because I wanted to leave on my cruise already, and twenty other trivial things which had me feeling all pissy. Boy, did this little moment give me a much needed attitude adjustment!
She wanted me to read my list, and I did, but then I told her, you know what? I think your list is better than mine. So I changed it to better match hers.
I hope this dear child learned something from me during our session, something about consonant blends and reading comprehension and fluency. But I know what I learned from her had more substance. A lesson in thanksgiving to be remembered and treasured.

Cruise-mas Eve!

Today is Cruise-mas Eve! The day before our cruise!

I am very scattered and all over the place! I think I am just very excited! Thankfully, I only have to work at one school today, and then I have one tutoring session this afternoon. So I can spend the afternoon with Anna and pick Jon up from school. Then I can PACK! I love to pack. I make all of these lists, and then I check them twice (yes, exactly like Santa Claus).

Jonathan keeps talking about how much he misses Charlie and Jackie, his North Carolina cousins. I claim Lara as my sister, so it makes sense that he thinks they are his cousins. The other day he said, When are Charlie and Jackie coming down? I've been saving up all my wrestling, Mama!

And yesterday he asked again when they were coming. They must be so bored without me, he said wistfully. I think he is bored without him! They have each other, while he just has Anna (not that she isn't fabulous, but Charlie and Jackie just satisfy those wild boy urges: light saber battles, wrestling, screaming, ya know!)

Usually, Jonathan and Anna share the queen size bed in her room. He has his own bed, but never sleeps in it. Occasionally, Anna will be very cranky and difficult at bedtime, and Jonathan just wants to go to sleep so he picks up his blanket and pillow and goes to his own bed. Last night, he told me, I am going to go to my own bed as soon as you finish reading. Will that make you sad? I said, Well, I will miss you during song time, but you can go to your own room if you want to, that's okay. He looked at me, and said, But won't you be sad without me here? I realized that he wanted me to be sad without him there... and told him Yes, Mama would be sad if you leave, but I just want you to get good sleep, so you can go if you need to. He thought for a minute and said, No I think I don't want you to be sad, and he snuggled up next to me and went to sleep. I don't think he ever planned on going to his own room. I think he wanted to make sure that I wanted him there. Silly boy.

Anna's new thing at bedtime is this: I wanna talk about today! And then we start in the morning and she helps me remember the whole day, and everything that happened in order. She has an incredible memory. I can't believe the things she remembers about not only each day, but about things that happened when she was only 2. Sometimes she will bring up stuff that I have not talked about or scrapbooked or anything, it's all her own memory. And I am like, Oh, yeah... I remember that.

Dream

I just woke up from a very long dream. In the dream, David and I were spraying carpet with this weird steam blaster, and then pulling up the carpet. We were also peeling the paint off our cars (it was a dream, and it made sense then, and it was very satisfying, like peeling a sunburn or getting a label all off in one piece), and pulling up concrete edging from flower beds in a yard. We worked all night in my dreams, but for some reason, they were really, really happy dreams. David and I were having a lot of fun working together. Don't know why I am sharing this... It was just that kind of dream where you hit your snooze button and try to fall back into it, because it is so happy and you want to stay in it. Normally I am not even myself in my own dreams, it is more like I am a fictional character with my own consciousness layered underneath... But in this dream, I was exactly me, and Dave was exactly him, and it was exactly now, and we were exactly happy! I guess it bodes well for our marriage that even my dreams of house renovation and yard work are happy ones. We were having so much fun.
We board our cruise ship on Friday! I am so excited I can barely function! Seriously, never have I felt such an urgent, burning need to get AWAY! And this is like really, really AWAY! No cell phones! No computers! No Facebook! No one else but me and the love of my life! (And a couple thousand other people, but hey, I am banking on the fact that they will (HOPEFULLY) all be total strangers!) Last night, Jonathan had to read a book about transportation *which he read ALL BY HIMSELF!!!!* and then do a journal sentence I see a _____ go, and illustrate it. He chose ship *which he sounded out correctly and wrote down ALL BY HIMSELF!!!!* He then drew a picture, which included a dock, a ship, the ocean, and a GIANT wave that was perched in midair, threatening to drench the ship. Then he drew some "hurricane clouds." I don't need a child psychologist to interpret this for me! Resentful much, little buddy? Well, too bad, because Mama and Daddy are SO LEAVING YOU HERE!!!! I'm not even going to pretend like I am sad! (Just so you know, I love my kids dearly, and I am sure by Monday I will be running off the ship to get to see them again. I think it helps that I am leaving them with Nona, and she takes better care of them then we do! They will be in good hands, and I can leave them worry free. What a huge blessing that is!!!!)

Slumber Party

Here's a synopsis of Justine's play: Anna is working at the Barbie store. Justine comes in and robs her. Anna crawls under the bench and uses the Princess Phone to dial the police. Trystan and Jonathan rush in, and "shoot" and drag Justine off to prison (which is by the gerbil cage, probably punishment because of the gerbil stench). Anna, the store manager, joins the police officers in beating and dragging Justine off.

Anna in one of her "dance outfits." My Dad has started calling her Goldie Hawn (because of her movie star fab quality) all the time, and she likes it (even though she has to sass him about it).

Justine beat Dave and I bad at Monopoly, right after Dave said: "I NEVER LOSE." I was so proud to be a Smith when she beat him. Go, JoJo!
Dave and I joked about forming a secret alliance the whole time. JoJo thought we were total weirdos, and she said she was going to call Dave Uncle Nerd from now on. He said that was a compliment to him!

Another scene from the play: They got Anna's (soft) baseball bats and clubbed her for a while, then shot her repetively. (I guess our no cable tv stance is really paying off in the no violence department, huh?)

Trystan came up with this line, which both Anna and Jonathan repeated over and over: "You're going TO JAIL, PUNK!"

Enjoying some "caffiene-free" sodas that Nona sent over. We had so much fun! The kids are all growing up so much that they just hang out and have so much fun together. I can't believe they are 11, 6, 4, and 3! Anna is almost 4. Trystan will be 5 in February and Justine 12. Time flies.

Drum Set

The kids have created a very cool drum set using empty boxes, pillows, plastic chairs, toys, box tops, and a Dora Bat and a Batman sword for drumsticks. I know I am probably just crazy but I swear Jonathan is good on this drum set. I think Anna is not quite big enough to be able to use the unwieldy drumsticks effectively.
They are also using a Disney Princess guitar. They are switching between guitar lessons and drum lessons. Jonathan plays the drums while Anna plays the guitar. I don't know why I am writing about this, you'd really have to see (and hear) it to fully appreciate it.
Jonathan just got Dave's jug of apple cider out of the fridge and came lugging it in here, saying, "Mama, I want some chocolate milk." I told him it was definitely NOT chocolate milk. That would have been a nasty surprise!
Jonathan and Anna have too many toys. I think I spoil them a little because I grew up a little spoiled. I think Dave spoils them because he did not grow up spoiled. My point is, that they have too many toys, but what do they treasure the most? What do they battle over the most? A ball of purple yarn. They call it Stringy and talk about it like it is the family pet. I often take Stringy away because she (yes, it's a she) makes me nervous (I am afraid they will hurt themselves) and also because she causes such intense squabbles. When they discover her in her hiding spot, they rejoice and give her a big hug. The other night Anna found her and clutched her to her chest, crying, "Oh, Stringy! Oh, I missed you, Stringy!"
They have been attached to this same ball of yarn for months now. It baffles me a little, but also I find it charming.
Only 9 more days until we leave for our cruise. We are going to be boarding the ship a little later than we had planned, because it turns out that Anna's Thanksgiving Feast is on the same day. And there is no WAY we can miss that. She is so proud of all of the surprises they are working on, and they have been practicing for when they go on the stage. She said the girls are wearing aprons and the boys are wearing hats. But it is a surprise! (Sounds like Pilgrims, no?)
Well, it is time for me to go put the little monkeys to bed. Jonathan just announced, "I am going to put my pajamas on. I will be in the bed."
He is such a little man. So responsible! I am wondering if Anna will go to bed on time, since we both took a late afternoon nap. Dave is at practice, and it seems like no matter how hard I try, I am always asleep by the time he gets home.
I never ate dinner. I am on this oatmeal kick right now. I bought those Irish oats (I don't know why, but I swear they are much better). I mix in a handful of pecans, a little brown sugar, and a spoonful of peanut butter. Oh! My! Goodness! I could eat it all the time! I don't know why I thought of putting peanut butter in my oatmeal, but it is delicious! Actually, I think I thought of it because I tried a new flavor at Coldstone's. Brownie batter ice cream with fudge, peanut butter, and a brownie mixed in. I was thinking it would be peanut butter syrup, but no, it was a spoonful of peanut butter right from a jar. How clever, and super yummy.

What is Jamie thinking about?

Jamie is thinking about:
How sometimes people aren't as big of jack-donkeys as you might expect them to be. Sometimes people can suprise you. But sometimes some other people are even bigger jack-donkeys than you ever imagined.

How sometimes you make a choice, and you aren't sure if it is the right one, but you go with what you think is right, and months later you finally see that it was the right choice. And how that makes you feel more confident in your ability to choose wisely, even though you did not base your choice on any wisdom, but your success at choosing makes you think you might just have been wise... WHAT? Does that sound like something that Michael from The Office might have said? Or worse, Dwight?

How Jonathan is so adamant that Saturday be Stay Home Day, that I had to shoo him out the door to go see Astro Boy with Dave and Anna. I had to get a little ugly with him to get him to go. He will have fun once he gets there. He just doesn't have a lot of getup and go (I wonder who he gets that from as I sit her in my pjs while the rest of my family is at the movies?). Really, all we ask of him is that he goes to school, and that he goes to church. We don't have him in any activities, and Anna's dance class is during the day. We don't go to any church things during the week right now, so that we can have consistent family time on school nights. There are other kids who practically live in their cars. Why is going to a movie such a big deal!!!

How we have kept the cruise a secret from Jonathan and Anna for this long, and then we accidentally let the cat out of the bag (or the cruise out of the port?) this morning over breakfast... We were keeping it a secret from Anna, who is prone to melodrama. If she thinks I am going on a trip, she clings to my arm and says, Don't leave me, Mama! Don't go away! Don't go to Kentucky and leave me here! I always tell her, if Mama goes to Kentucky, you are going with because if I went to Grandma Jane's and didn't bring you and Bubba, Grandma Jane might not let me in the door. I've already arrived too many times without her son in tow, imagine if I showed up sans grandbabies!? Anyways, the funny thing is, Anna will be all clingy and dramatic for the next (THIRTEEN DAYS!!!) few weeks, but then when it is time for us to go, she is all, so long! Don't let the door hit you in the rear end!

How we can worry about certain things so much, and then suddenly, some event forces a decision to be made or an action to be taken, and you just can't worry anymore, because it has become apparent that you can only take one path. I'm talking about our pool. We will never EVER buy another house with a pool. (Please, people, remind me of this when we go look for our next home.) It has been nothing but a money pit and a funsucker since we moved in. (Funsucker, a clever word I learned from a teenage girl, usually used to refer to a person who is bringing others down, but in this case I am using it for the pool, because instead of being something that gives us fun in the sun, it is a source of much anger and irritation, really mostly for Dave, but it is a trickle down effect.) And I am not kidding you, it is a breeding ground for some of the scariest spiders imaginable. We have been trying to figure out what to do with our money pit of a pool, and now it seems to have been decided for us. It has developed another terrible leak. It is rapidly losing water (something that freaks me out a little: where is this water going?) We had a man come out and give us a quote to tear it out, fill it in. It would give us much more yard. Not that we ever go outside. But it is just the thought of having more space for ant hills and weeds, instead of having this big, algae infested, crawling with spiders hole in the ground that we have to look at everytime we come home. Having the pool just disappear seems like the lesser evil. And at this point, I think it will cost more for us to try and rescue it. I think it is at the point of no return.

Jonathan

Today Jonathan came home and said, I know how to spell fat! F-A-T.
So I said, then you can spell lots of words! I sat down with him and we wrote out bat, cat, sat, mat, fat and rat. Then I wrote this:

A big fat rat hit a yellow cat on the mat.
The yellow cat hit the big fat rat with a bat.

He read it! Next, I wrote out:

Anna and Jon like the little red car but they like the yellow cat more.

He read that! Wow! When did this happen?

I can see the red fire truck. But I like yellow fire trucks.

Read that too! Then he wrote: I like it.

Next, I wrote:
I like the dog on the mat. But I like the fat cat on the mat more.

He read that!

Then he wrote:
I see the bat. But I see the cat.

WOW! I am very impressed with him. I think I might be prouder right now than I was when he started walking!

Anna has what my Mom would refer to as "nursing home hair." The back of her head is a mass of huge tangles, from the crown halfway down the length of the hair. It looked like she had a bird's nest in it. Her tangled hair stood up all on it's own, a giant ball, and you would swear someone had teased it and hairsprayed it to look that way. I think it has gotten so tangly because she is so restless and coughing SO much all night long. Anyways, I came home from work today, and I decided we either work on it, or she was going to go get it cut... we are trying to grow it out so she can have a proper ballerina bun for her dance recital in May. Anna has really pretty hair, with the kind of lowlights and highlights that people pay a lot of money to try and achieve. But we all know that she never lets me brush it or do anything with it. I really want to grow her bangs out too, because I love to be able to see her little face. She is very expressive and you miss out on a lot of that with all the bangs hanging in her eyes. But I always wind up cutting them because using a barrette or a headband is really an issue for Anna. Some of you may be thinking, OK, who is in charge? But I have learned from Anna that there are just certain things that aren't worth fighting about. It is her hair. It is on her head, and the only real reason I make a giant stink about the whole thing, is because I want other people to see her, and think, Wow, her Mom, she must really have her act together! And also, because my own Mom would have NEVER let me go out in public with my hair all scraggly and crazy. So it's really a matter of pride for me, which makes it my problem, not hers. If Anna wants her hair down all the time, what's the big deal? I try to get a brush through it once a day. Anyways, back to the giant tangle ball. It took some teamwork (Dave holding her down) and a lot of slow and careful effort, but we did manage to get all the tangles out, while keeping as much hair as possible intact. I kept soaking it with No More Tangles, but it did not help. So I put some avocado oil in it, and that really helped. It also made her hair look super shiny and gorgeous. She was furious with me afterwards. I told her I was sorry, but I had to get it out (really, it was getting to the point of matting, like a dog, and I was afraid it would never come out, and we would just have to cut it). She punished me by sulking and by scooting over as far as she could without falling off the bed entirely. The other day, I was at work, and she did something mean to Jonathan, and my Dad said something to her about it. She went and stomped in her room, did her door slamming ritual (I can predict that she may have her door removed eventually. She may lose door privileges.) and LOCKED him out. By the time he picked the lock to get it open, she had fallen asleep, face first in the carpet. She really reminds me of Tinkerbell, the way she pouts and sulks. I was all ready to come home and discipline her for locking Papa out (that is a safety issue, and we have had punish her before about it). But when I went in and saw her facedown on the floor, I realized she was just so exhausted. She has been coughing so much that she throws up. She goes into coughing fits that can last an hour at a time. She is not getting very much sleep (neither is Mama or Daddy). She has missed school and ballet since last Monday. She is tired of coughing. I was on the way to go to the doctor's with her (to pay 30 bucks to have him say, it's a virus, just keep up with the nebulizers) and she was having one of her coughing fits. I had been up with her most of the night before. I stopped at a red light, and decided to use my time wisely to apply lip gloss. I looked over and this woman was staring at me in disbelief and disgust, because Anna had a McDonald's paper sack and was coughing and puking into it, and I was so nonchalantly putting on my makeup. I know she judged me, and I don't blame her. It did look bad. Normally if either child pukes, I am very attentive, soothing and concerned. But there has just been SO MUCH puking in the last week, that I am desensitized to it. Anna wasn't upset by it at all, and I thought she was very clever to get it all in the bag. And besides, I could see her in my rearview mirror. I was looking into it to put on the lip gloss. Sheesh.

Lara's Chicken-Ham Lasagna

2 cups chicken broth
black pepper
1 lb shredded rotisserie chicken (I just bought one from Publix and only used the breast)
3 cups low fat milk
1/3 cup flour
2 T butter
1 1/2 cups shredded parmesan cheese, divided
dried parsley
12 no cook lasagna noodles (I like the flat Barilla ones)
8 oz deli ham diced (or 8 oz. boneless smoked pork chops (this is what I used, because Lara said so)

Preheat oven to 350.
Place broth and 1/4 t pepper in medium pot over medium-high heat and bring to boil. Add chicken, cover, reduce heat, simmer, remove chicken with slotted spoon and set aside.

In a large separate part make a roux with the butter and flour. Slowly add the broth and milk, stirring well with a whisk. Bring mixture to a boil over medium high heat, stirring constantly. Cook one minute, or until thick. Remove from heat and add 1 cup of cheese and parsley, stir until cheese is melted.

Spread 1 cup sauce on bottom of 9 by 13 Pyrex pan. Arrange 3 noodles over sauce. Spoon 3/4 cup sauce over noodles. Top evenly with 1/3 of the ham and chicken. Repeat layers twice ending with noodles. Top with remaining sauce and sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese. Cover with foil lightly covered in cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 10 more minutes or until cheese lightly browns.

Countdown Begins! 19 days to go!

On November 20, Dave and I will be departing from Port Canaveral on a Royal Caribbean cruise! It will be in celebration of our 8Th wedding anniversary. When we were making our plans, Dave asked me what cruise line, which room I wanted, what date, etc., and my attitude was, I don't care! I really don't care! I just can't wait to get out of here! Things have been so hectic lately, and cars have been breaking left and right, and kids are getting sick, stuff just keeps going wrong, upsetting stuff keeps happening, or good things, but things that require us to adjust or things that steal more time away from us just being us... I just want to get away with my husband! The fact that our three day getaway will be on a cruise ship to a beautiful island is just gravy to me. Also, neither of us have ever left the country, been on a boat in the ocean (or gone on a cruise, or been on board a cruise ship). I am so excited about the entire thing! We have booked and cancelled so many cruises in our marriage (I kept getting pregnant, and then I couldn't leave Anna for those 2 plus years of breastfeeding, or we kept having to spend money on other things, or whatever it was...) that it is hard to believe that we will actually be going this time! I don't think I will completely believe it until we have dropped the kids off at school and are boarding the ship! I keep mentally packing our suitcase. It will be so great. A nice little pocket of fun and relaxation and together time before we go into the Thanksgiving through New Year's stretch. I just keep praying that our whole family will be healthy. I mean, if the kids are a little sick, I am totally leaving them here. I figure my parents did a great job taking care of me when I was sick as a child, so they can handle it. And if we are a little sick, we are totally going anyway. I am just praying for either total healthy or just a little sick. Just no pneumonia/hospitalizations or explosive stomach viruses. Will the food be great on the cruise? WHO CARES! Will the waters on the beach be infested with jellyfish? WHO CARES! Will it rain the entire time? WHO CARES! I am just looking forward to three days of alone time with Dave. Three days of being able to carry on entire conversations, from start to finish, with no interruptions! Three days of being able to sleep whenever we want, eat whenever we want, FREEDOM!

Trick or Treat Time 2009