"Another week of sheer craziness"

The Hull household has been pretty much going non-stop since I last blogged.  Hayden and Cebelle had chiropractic appointments on Wednesday and Friday last week.  We found out a lot about their spines and how several things have been impacted by the supplexations in them.  I knew that having misalignments certainly wasn't good for you, but when a friend said to me, "It's the way that your brain talks to the rest of your body.  If those nerves are hindered in any way, how can your brain send the correct signals to the rest of your body"  It was a like a total lightbulb moment for me.  And if I can get my kids healthy and off the medications that they are currently taking by keeping their spine aligned and feeding them a healthy diet, then I am all for it!  After our chiropractic recommendations on Wednesday, we have completely eliminated the following from our diets:  cane sugar, gluten, hormones, dyes, and preservatives.  I know that sounds crazy-but you wouldn't believe the difference in our children!  And I feel really good!  It's not as difficult as I thought it would be, either.  We are eating lots of fruits and veggies and lean proteins and also cheese and yogurt and mostly all organic.  The price for a box of cereal that is gluten free and sweetened with molasses and honey and not cane sugar is pretty much the same as the price of a box of crazy sugary cereal.  Bread was a little tricky, but we found a really good one that the kids love.  I'm very proud of them for not complaining.  They both have told me how much better they are feeling, so I know that it's the right decision.  (And don't worry-I consulted their pediatrician before I did any of these things and keep in touch with her constantly.  She also wants what's best for them!)  

Thursday was a pretty quiet day for the kids and I.  Jeff was at Castleton all afternoon and evening.  They had workshops and a production of "A Chorus Line" to try and recruit some students.  They all really enjoyed the show.  

Friday was a crazy trip.  The kids had chirpractic appointments early in the morning and then we had to take off to Burlington so that I could start my venom immunotherapy.  I was a total nervous wreck.  I got there and had to have two shots and wait 30 minutes and then have two more shots.  Which I guess is going to be the norm once a week for at least the next three months.  One hour and four shots.  Thankfully, I didn't have any adverse reactions.  After that, we went to Costco and the kids helped us pick out healthy snacks for themselves.  I was really proud.  They chose lots of fruits and veggies and hummus and beans and cashews and string cheese.  I tasted some dark chocolate covered acai berries at Costco.  They were SO YUMMY!  I wanted to get a bag of them, but they were $10 and I was afraid I would eat them constantly and totally defeat the purpose of a healthy snack....maybe next time!

Saturday we celebrated dad's birthday.  Roni and Jim joined us for lunch.  We had a surprise visit from our pastor and his wife.  They wanted Jeff and I to be in the play that our church does for Good Friday.  This year, the story is about Pilate and his role in the conviction and crucifixtion of Christ and how he deals with the aftermath of that within his personal life.  Jeff and I agreed and then Hayden later got roped in as well, so I guess we will be on stage!  I'm a little nervous about it because it's been years since I've acted in anything....but I'm sure it will all be fine!

Sunday we went to church and came home and cleaned house and did laundry.  Nothing terribly exciting.  

Monday I had a house full of daycare kids all day and Hayden and Cebelle had chiropractic appointments in the afternoon.  It was a bit of a crazy day.  Hayden and Cebelle are doing so terrific in their school work, despite our busy schedules and the fact that there are other kids here two days a week.  I'm very proud of them for maintaining their focus and working hard on their schoolwork.  

This morning, I had a follow-up appointment from my ER visit a couple of weeks ago. I went to and OB/GYN because the CT scan showed a large ovarian cyst. The doctor examined me and went over the causes and such of these cysts.  I have to have an ultrasound in the next few weeks or so to see if I need more follow-up.  AND-he thinks that the problem may not have only been a cyst, but also my gallbladder.  I'm still having pain (which I actually did not know until he poked at me...and then I sweared very inappropriately.  Thank God he thought it was humorous instead of being offended) and so I have to ALSO have an ultrasound on my gallbladder.  Which from my understanding...if that is the case...I will have to have my gall bladder removed.  Also-to add some more icing to my already scrumptious cake...the only way to keep my ovarian cysts from eventually causing issues is to have my tubes tied.  So-more dr appointments, more testing, probably more needles in my near future.  I knew things started going downhill at 30-I didn't realize that everything was going to go to complete crap by the time I turned 35...oh well, here I am, rolling with the punches....

The days from here on out look pretty much the same....appointments, rehearsals, daycare, homeschool....somewhere in all of that comes my 34th birthday.  (Honestly, until about two days ago, I thought it was my 35th...that's how much I care about these things...)  But-I am still extemely thankful for all I have been blessed with and I know that God will not give me something that I cannot handle.  I am in His hands and therefore I am not scared or worried.  I am too busy to be either of those things, anyhow!  But I love it and I wouldn't have it any other way!  Until next time.....God bless!

"Too many days to count...in 10 minutes or less."

When I started this blog, it was with these good intentions:
1.  For my kids to look at and know how much I love spending everyday with them
2.  For my Missouri family to read and get a look at our daily lives
3.  To remind myself of how special and unique everyday with kids is
I forgot to take into account the follwing:
1.  Everyday with kids, while special and unique, is also wild and crazy
2.  At the end of these days, I am so tired I forget what happened all day
3.  Finding time to sit at the computer, even for 10 minutes is very rare for me

There have been so many blog-worthy, crazy, wild happenings around here and I end up too tired and exhausted to sit down and tell the story.  So I'm going to try to sum up the highlights of the last 10 days or so.  I have realized that I don't have 10 minutes to sit down every day, so I'm going to aim for twice a week or so!
The last 10 days have gone somewhat like this:
For the first 2 or 3 days, I was highly medicated on pain pills.  I managed to teach school, go to our church marriage class, and do things around the house.  I did NOT drive, operate heavy machinery, or get out of my pajamas for most of those days.  Also, I'm pretty sure that more stuff happened then, but I don't remember it.
By Thursday morning of last week, I was finally out of my pain/medication haze and I was able to get a bunch of stuff in the house cleaned and organized.  Unfortunately, I remember most of that.  I went Thursday afternoon and picked up some donations for the regional drama festival and chatted with the head cook about the stuff I would need in the school kitchen to cater.
Friday was a round of appointments.  Hayden and Cebelle went to the chiropractor for the first time.  I'm very happy with how that turned out.  Turns out, both of them had some pretty severe misalignments and once they were adjusted, they both felt great!  We met mom and dad that day at McDonalds and had some lunch.  Jeff was busy with festival prep and he didn't get home until really late that evening.
Saturday morning was the start of the festival that Jeff was in charge of.  He woke up at 4:00am that morning and couldn't go back to sleep. Pretty rough, considering that we had to be at the school until almost 11 that night and he hadn't gone to bed until after 11pm Friday night.  We headed out around 7:30 am and he ran the festival and I catered the lunch and the dinner along with a host of some really terrific parent volunteers.  Jeff's students won which means they get to advance to the state competition which will take place over April 8 and 9.  Mom and Dad brought Hayden and Cebelle to eat dinner at the school so we could see them.  It was really fun to sit down and enjoy a meal with them.  Hayden was fascinated that I could cook dinner for that many people at once. (There were about 150)
Sunday morning, Jeff and I had nursery duty at the church.  We took care of 4 kids under the age of 2, which was tons of fun, but exhausting.  We came home and cleaned up our backyard some, cleaned up the driveway, fixed my van, cleaned house, and did the laundry.
Monday morning I had daycare kids start arriving at 6:30am and I had a house full of kids from 6:30 to about 5.  Hayden and Cebelle did all their schoolwork.  They have been running through all their schoolwork with ease and learning lots.  I am very proud of the both of them for all their hard work and dedication.  They both ended up having some major meltdowns Monday evening.  I expected it at some point because it has been such a crazy couple of weeks-and there doesn't look to be an end in sight as of yet.
So far today, we have finished our schoolwork.  I had a couple of daycare kids arrive at about 1.  They will be here until after dinner when we meet their parents at our church marriage class tonight.  Jeff will be home this afternoon early, so it shouldn't be too much trouble.  Hayden and Cebelle are wearing a little thin.  I think they could use naps, but they are refusing to take them.
Planned for the rest of this week:  chiropractic appointments Wed, Jeff taking a group of kids to Castleton and being gone until really late Thu, I have my first venom immunotherapy injection on Friday which requires me to take a trip to Burlington, birthday lunch for dad on Saturday, church on Sunday.  Possibly getting together with friends Friday evening.  And then Monday starts again with a house full of daycare kids.  Like I said, no end in sight!
That's a small summary of what I haven't blogged about lately.  There's been so much going on in our world as well and I don't really have the time to go into all of that!  I am, as every day, grateful for my family and wonderful friends,  thankful that I have another day on this earth,  hoping that people can change, and praying that they will.  God bless!

March 10-13 or "Holy crap! What a crazy few days!"

So on Thursday, Jeff's One Acts opened at Otter Valley.  The kids and I spent the day doing school and then watching a movie.  Mom and Dad were supposed to make a trip to White River, but the weather was going to be bad around those areas, so they decided to stay home.  Thursday was actually pretty uneventful.  I was able to read some of my book and do a little knitting while the kids were watching their movie.  We had dinner and mom and dad went to the one acts and I stayed home and put the kids to bed early and stretched out on the couch and watched "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" while I waited up for everyone to come home.
Friday was also fairly uneventful.  The kids actually woke up really early, which kind of backfired on me.  I had put them to bed early to help them catch up on a little sleep, and they only ended up losing some more sleep.  They were both quite cranky.  We managed to finish our schoolwork by 10am, though.  Which was nice, because I had an appointment.  Mom kept the kids for me while I ran to town and I got back around lunch time.  The kids were exercising on the Wii so I made them some lunch and I ate my lunch.  I got around and fixed dinner and put it in the crock pot to keep warm.  I actually picked up my friend, Angela and she and I went to the one acts on Friday night.  We had a really great time.  While we were doing that, the kids stayed home with Ninny and Papa and ate grilled cheese and french fries and ice cream and lots of other stuff.  And they got to watch a movie and stay up late.  It's a rare treat for them, so they really enjoyed spending time with mom and dad like that.  Jeff and I got home around 11 and had some macaroni and cheese and watched a show and then we headed to bed.
Of course on Saturday morning, the kids woke up early.  It never fails that on the days that we are able to sleep in, the kids get up early.  When I woke up,  I noticed that I was having some pretty bad pain in my abdomen.  Starting from right at my chest all the way down to my pelvis.  I didn't really think much of it because I have been doing Pilates exercises which are specific for toning my abs.  Except it was really hurting.  And it didn't really get better.  At lunch time I took a couple of ibuprofen and it helped.  Mom and Dad headed out to go to Jim's birthday party in Colchester around 4.  Jeff headed out to his last night of shows around 5.  I fed the kids some dinner and noticed that the pain in my abdomen was returning.  Then I took them upstairs to shower and get ready for bed and I noticed that the pain was much more severe than before and this time, it was centered on the right side of my body slightly above my belly button.  Knowing that is where my appendix is, I looked it up online and checked the symptoms.  I had three of the five.  I was a bit worried and a lot in pain, but I didn't have anyone to watch the kids and I figured it wasn't really an emergency.  So I planned to wait until Jeff got home around 11 and then head to the emergency room.  But then the pain was terrible.  So bad that I could barely take a deep breath in without breaking into a cold, clammy sweat from the pain.  And I knew I had to go to the hospital.  So I called Jeff and he met me and picked up the kids and took them to his show where he could keep an eye on them.  And I called mom and she and dad met me at the hospital so  that I wouldn't have to be there alone.  Luckily, the ER was pretty quiet and I got in and was seen by the Dr. right away.  She felt that it was either my appendix or ovaries.  I was immediately hooked up to an IV and had blood work drawn.  Then I had to drink 3 bottles of contrast so that my insides would show up on a CT scan.  And since the pain was so horrible that it was making me nauseous, they had to inject anti-nausea medication.  The blood work came back with an elevated white count.  The doc felt that it was very likely that I would be having emergency surgery to remove my appendix.  Then the CT scan came back, and lo and behold, it was not my appendix, but a cyst on my right ovary that was over 3 cm. in diameter.  Yes...3 CM not MM.  It's huge.  I was very thankful that I did not have to endure an emergency surgery after I had already spent almost 6 hours in the hospital.  And I was unbelievably grateful for the pain medication that they gave me.  I am prone to these cysts but the pain from this one  is unlike any other.  Now I just have to go back for a follow-up ultrasound or two to make sure that it goes away.  Until it shrinks or ruptures, I have some good hefty doses of pain meds to help me out.  So-I went to bed highly medicated at about 3 am.  Right about the time we 'sprung forward'.  The kids didn't go to bed until after 11 last night because they were with Jeff and he had to stay and clean up the school and put everything away after the shows.  We all got up shortly before 10am.  I would have liked to not moved all day as I am still in a considerable amount of pain.  But next weekend, I am catering a regional one act festival that Jeff's school is hosting.  And today is the only day that Jeff and I could travel to Burlington to pick up all the supplies.  So after my breakfast and pain meds, we set out to Costco.  The car ride up and shopping weren't so bad, it didn't take me very long to gather everything I needed.  Hayden and Cebelle were big helpers.  But on the ride home, my pain meds started to wear off and I didn't  have any more with me because we were picking the prescription up on the way home.  So every little bump in the road was torture.  I was never so thankful to bed home and put on my pajamas and crash on the couch.  I am also unbelievably thankful for my mom. Because in addition to hanging out with me at the hospital all night last night, she made us a delicious dinner and I didn't have to worry about cooking.  I'm getting ready to put the kids to bed and curl back up on the couch.  Hopefully, the pain won't last for long.  It's crazy how these things always happen at the most inconvenient times.  Please say a prayer for me.  I have a really busy week ahead and I need to feel better soon!

March 9 or "My very accomplished day"

Today I made about 15 phone calls that I had been putting off.  Made appointments that I had been putting off.  Cleaned out stuff that I had been putting off.  Went to the store...because I had been putting that off.  The problem with procrastination is that it eventually catches up with you and mostly in a big way.  I was supposed to have one of my three year olds today, but she may or may not have croupe and since Cebelle has asthma, I was hesistant to have her here.  Instead of sleeping in, I got up early and started getting stuff done.  I even had time to start a new book and exercise and teach school!

The kids did pretty great in their school work again.  Cebelle is experiencing some frustration with the letter x and remembering the /ks/ sound that it makes.  It makes her blending a little difficult, but she only learned that letter on Monday, so I'm sure she will get it.  It's the first letter she has had trouble with, so it's doubly frustrating for her.  Hayden had a spelling test today and he got a 91%.  Most of the mistakes that he makes are from getting in too much of a hurry.  He is learning in math how to turned mixed numbers into fractions to multiply them.  He has done very well with that concept so far.  School is still lasting about three hours a day for us, which I think is a good amount of time to be studying diligently.

One of my other main daily occupations is breaking up kid fights constantly.  My kids are constantly arguing about playing.  It all centers around the two of them playing what one wants to play and then refusing to play what the other wants to play.  Or agreeing to play with each other and then one of them deciding they don't want to.  It has gotten so ridiculous that by 4 pm today I was threatening to lock them in their rooms and forbid them to speak or look at each other except when it is necessary for school work.  Honestly, I have no idea what to do with the two of them.  I think they just like to argue.  I assume they must be getting some kind of fun out of it...otherwise, why the heck would they do it all the time?

The only thing I didn't manage to accomplish today was crafting.  I had planned to work on my cross-stitch and get a lot more of it done and complete some squares for a baby blanket, but that was the thing I ended up putting off today.  Which I suppose is fine.  Because now that I have all that other stuff that I had put off finished, I have more time to craft tomorrow. 

Hayden accidentally squeezed my hand in a manual can opener today.  I was handing it to him by placing it on my palm and reaching my hand over to him.  He grabbed both handles and squeezed them together.  A big chunk of my palm got squeezed in the part that actually opens the can and I started screaming and he panicked and squeezed harder.  Ouch. Painful.  It's a miracle that it didn't slice through my hand.  When he finally let go, I had tears running down my face and he was so upset.  I was grasping my hand and trying to reassure him that everything was okay.  Of course he didn't mean to do it!  He ran and got me a cold washcloth to hold against it and before too long, it wasn't so bad.  It didn't break the skin, but I am sporting one heck of a bruise just underneath my left hand ring finger.  Poor little guy.  I felt so awful for him.  He has been apologizing ever since and telling me how much he loves me.  He has so much empathy that it just broke his little heart to have hurt me. 

I am getting ready to tuck my sweet little monkeys in bed.  They got in bed late last night because of our marriage class and both of them got up early today.  I'm hoping to get them tucked in and get them some good rest tonight.  Maybe the result will be less fighting tomorrow.  Or maybe it won't....

Then I plan to curl up on the couch, catch up with my hubby, and watch a couple of shows before I head off to bed.  I plan on sleeping very well because my mind will not be filled with how much I need to accomplish tomorrow!  

March 7 & 8 or "Let's talk about what a slacker I am....or not"

Sunday evening, while Jeff was on the computer looking at fun apps we could get for us and the kids,  (Macs have apps now that transfer to iPad, iPhone, and iPod-you can share all of them between devices and it is wicked cool!)  I was struggling with how to go about losing weight.  To be honest, I have tried nearly everything.  I had some terrific success with Weight Watchers a few years ago-I lost almost 50 pounds.  Then I went through a four month period where I gained and lost the same 5 pounds about fifteen times.  And that isn't an exaggeration.  No matter what I did (how much extra I exercised, how much less I ate) I could not break through that plateau.  Eventually, I ended up gaining all the weight back even though I tried really hard not to.  So I had decided Sunday that it was time to get my butt in gear and do something about it.  I am not getting any younger and as I get older, I know this struggle is only going to get more difficult.  So-I found an app for it!  I downloaded the Calorie2 app to my computer (I had to pay for it) and I have been using it to keep track of my diet and exercise.  It's really simple.  I just type in what food and when I ate it or what exercise and the app tells me: the breakdown of my intake (carbs, protein, fat), how many calories I need to consume, how many calories I burn by the exercise I do.  Then it goes even further and has things like weight loss graphs, breakdown of nutrients and vitamins consumed based on the foods you eat, and a lot of other neat things.  So I got on the ball with eating healthy and exercising.  As it turns out, I was once again eating about half the food I needed to consume.  Essentially my body is starving, so it stores everything as fat when I eat.  Over the last three days, I have consumed the amount of calories that my body needs and I have lost 6 pounds.  I'm sure a lot of that is water weight-but I don't care.  I'm just praying that I can continue to do well.
In other news, Sunday night and all through Monday we got a massive snow storm.  It was coming down about 2 inches an hour.  So of course, there was no school Monday morning.  I was supposed to have a house full of daycare kids.  We spent the day doing school work and then a couple of hours in the afternoon shoveling.  I burned a ton of calories....shoveling is great exercise!  We ended up with over two feet of snow.
Tuesday was sort of a nutty day as well.  I had daycare kids, which doesn't normally happen.  Jeff has One Acts opening this weekend, so the missed day of school and rehearsal messed up his tech week.  We signed up for a marriage class at our church which was meeting Tuesday night. So it was a pretty busy day.  I had the daycare kids all day, Jeff had school, rehearsal, p/t conferences and then we met up at marriage class.  When we got home it was time for bedtime for the kids and we watched a couple of shows before crashing ourselves.
It's been a crazy couple of days and I haven't actually had the time to sit down at the computer.  I did finish reading a book on my NOOKcolor yesterday that I borrowed from the library.  We also watched "Let Me In" which I actually really liked.  I put the book on my NOOKbook wish list because I am positive that since I liked the movie, I will love the book even more.
I don't mind all this snow at all.  But for the first time in several years, I am really looking forward to Spring.  I love taking my morning cup of coffee out on the deck with a book and enjoying the morning sunshine before anyone else gets up.  I love letting my kids play outside for half an hour before we start school.  I'm looking forward to puttering around in my flower beds and putting in the new one we planned this year.  But for now, there is still snow on the ground and things to be accomplished inside.  I guess I should get back to work on accomplishing them!  Have a great day!

March 4-6 or "The weekend we got everything done....mostly"

We had a very good weekend!  Jeff came home Friday afternoon and I was able to get a bunch of my cross-stitching worked on while he and the kids played games.  I didn't really feel very much like making so we had some Mickey Mouse Chicken Nuggets and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.  Not my finest nutritional moment-but I was exhausted and pretty much done for the week.  I was so looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday-and of course, Hayden got up at 7:15.  I find it perpetually annoying that he sleeps AFTER 8 on the days that I get up at 5:30 and on the days I can sleep until 9 or whenever I want- he is up with the sun.  It's just one of nature's cruel jokes, I guess.  Jeff and I tell him that we can't wait until he is a teenager and wants to sleep because then we are going to roll him out of bed every morning at 5:30.
Saturday we just hung around the house.  I did a bunch of stitching and knitting, the kids got to play their video games, Jeff played with his phone...we all watched "The Wizard of Oz" together because the kids have never seen it.  It was really funny because they kept asking what was the matter with the color for the first thirty minutes of the movie.  Then when Dorothy arrived in Oz, Hayden said, "Oh, there it is!  It finally fixed!"  Which of course, we all found pretty funny.  Mom decided to make some cinnamon rolls that evening so I made some orange cream cheese frosting to go on them.  Then I scrambled some eggs and cooked some bacon and that's what we had for dinner on Saturday.
Jeff and the kids and I got up and went to church Sunday morning.  I'm always excited for our Sunday services.  Even though the weather was really rainy and nasty.   Jeff and I are starting a marriage class through our church and I'm really looking forward to that.  It's always nice to spend time with people who help lift you up.   After church, we had to make a run to Rutland because Jeff needed some last minute stuff for his one acts this weekend.  We picked some stuff up at Wal-Mart.  I got a new workout dvd.  It was only $6 and it has three 10 minute workouts for abs and cardio.  I did one of them after we got home and it was really awesome!  We also stopped off at Home Depot and ate lunch at Burger King and filled up the van with gas.  All the while, the weather was deteriorating rapidly.  The loads of rain started turning into a nasty mix of sleet and freezing rain and snow.  The temperature dropped, so the water that was on the roads started to freeze.  By the time we got home, there was about an inch of snow and it has kept going all night.  We are supposed to have two feet when its all said and done.  It's pretty much a mess.
However, because we were home and tucked safely away we were able to get SO much accomplished!  The kids cleaned their rooms, we cleaned the whole rest of the house and vacuumed all the rooms, the dogs got dry baths and their teeth brushed, and all the laundry got washed.  We even had time to watch a movie at the end of the night.  We had "Case 39".  It was creepy, but pretty good.  Or, I guess, not as awful as I expected it to be!  So, despite the nasty weather, we had a really great weekend!  I'm hoping that it moves over into the week because Jeff has his shows this weekend, so there are still many things to get done!

March 3 or "Playdate mania"

Cebelle woke up at 7:20 this morning.  She was so excited about her playdate this afternoon that she had to get up and tell me how excited she was.  She got in bed with me and snuggled up and was almost back to sleep....when Hayden came in at 7:35.  Hayden is anything but quiet in the mornings.  He has this thing where he shouts.  Constantly.  Even if you are sitting right next to him.  Or even if your ear is right by his mouth.  I have had his hearing checked multiple times, but there is nothing wrong with him.  He only has one volume:  obnoxiously loud.  So of course Cebelle did not go back to sleep.  It was mostly impossible, considering that Hayden was shouting at her about the book that he is reading ("Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief") and that she can't read and then he proceeded to tell her about everything he had read thus far.  Cebelle was not thrilled.  She is very much like Jeff and she is NOT a morning person.  She said, "Hayden!  I don't care!  Stop shouting and trying to be smart and leave me alone!"  Which then caused a fight because Hayden felt the need to explain that he wasn't TRYING to be smart because he was IN FACT, smarter than most adults and he was DEFINITELY smarter than Cebelle because mommy said yesterday that age brings wisdom and he was almost two years older than Cebelle.  So, I diffused the fight and got into the shower, hoping to brighten my day a bit.  Turns out I had to shower with my eyes open while staring at the light/vent fan in the shower because a wasp was in there and trying to get out.  In case you have never tried it, showering while keeping eyes open and tilted upward is not an easy task.  You are, in fact, more prone to get shampoo, conditioner, and face wash in your eyeballs while showering this way.  Even when your head is tilted upwards.  I don't know how it's possible, I only know that it is.
So we had our breakfast and did our school work.  Cebelle had a phonics assessment and a math assessment, both which she scored perfect on.  Hayden had a Language Arts test, which he scored 87% on and a Penmanship test, which he scored a B+.  That's the first time he has gotten above a C on Penmanship and I'm very proud of him.
After lunch, I was able to work on my cross-stitch.  I actually finished 3 sections of it and started the next section up.  I was really excited.  Cebelle played "Eye of the Tiger" very loudly on the stereo and danced and sang.  My favorite part is when she sings the lyric "rising up to the challenge of our rival" because she says, "raisin up to the chillin of our rye-ho"  I have no idea what that even means, but I find it hysterical.
It was finally time at 2:30 to pick up Cebelle's friend from school.  The kids who are here during the week are all younger than Cebelle, except for the boy who is Hayden's age.  So, Cebelle ends up playing either tiny girl stuff or big boy stuff if she wants to play with someone.  She doesn't really have someone her age to play Barbie or Littlest Pet Shops or Zoobles with very often.  Of course, she was unbelievably excited to have her friend come over. They have been doing girly-girl stuff all afternoon.  And Hayden has been...complaining.  I tried to explain to him that Cebelle doesn't really like to play all that other stuff like LEGOS and Bakugan, she only does it so she has someone to play with.  He just doesn't really get it.  So I had him do homework and his reading for his book report while the girls played.
We are getting ready to have some pizza for dinner and then we are running our friend home.  Hopefully, I can get my kids in bed a bit early because they got up so early.  Jeff has been texting me all day that he isn't feeling very well, which is very unfortunate because he has parent/teacher conferences tonight until 8.  I hope that he isn't coming down with something.
Once I get the kids down, I will either watch some Netflix until Jeff gets home (probably "Secret Life") or I will read my book ("The Queen of Attolia").  I haven't really decided.  Not sure what I'm in the mood for.  Whatever it is, I will most likely be curled up on the couch with the dogs at my feet and enjoying the life that I have.  Despite the daily ups and downs, not a moment goes by that I am not thankful.

March 2 or "The day of the squalling...kids and snow!"

Today was one of my 5:30am wake up days.  I really don't mind getting up that early.  It's another chance to enjoy blissful quiet and a great time for reading.  I actually spent most of the morning watching Disney Junior, as that is what my daycare girl loves to watch.  She sings the theme songs from all the shows, which I find totally hysterical.  She cracks me up, especially when Special Agent Oso comes on and she sings, "He's Oh So Special!"
Hayden woke up at about 8, after a really restless night.  Jeff and I gave him Claritin last night because I think his sinuses have been bothering him.  Hayden isn't really terrific at pinpointing a problem when he doesn't feel well, so most of the time it's a guessing game.  But he was up three times last night after we put him to bed, so he didn't get a good night's sleep.  Cebelle finally got out of bed at about 9:15.  I really think she is in the middle of a growth spurt, so sleep is exactly what she needs!
Everybody had breakfast and we started schoolwork.  It's actually the first day this week that I haven't had to fight or argue with anyone about school.  And...it was the only thing that I didn't have to fight or argue with my children about today.
Lately, my children have been obsessed with a book that Hayden got two years ago for his birthday that shows you how to make all kinds of paper airplanes.  So, my house is filled with paper scraps, staples, tape, scissors, and rubber bands.  This book also teaches how to make slingshots out of paper and rubber bands.  So for the last three days, my kids have been folding, cutting, stapling, taping, flying, flinging, and running all over the house.  Normally, this would not bother me.  But the airplanes are getting bigger and more dangerous (we have already slammed several into the television and computer and glass cabinets in the kitchen and dining room), the supplies are a total mess everywhere (I stepped on a staple, caught a dog chewing on a rubber band, found a wad of paper in my bra because they had been aiming the slingshots at me, and ran out of tape when I needed it in school because it was used for the 300 various airplanes that are lying around my house), and the kids are fighting and whining constantly.  Over paper airplanes.  In addition, I have repeated the phrase, "No running in the house!" about five million times because they are barreling through the house at ninety to nothing with the stupid airplanes, thinking that it will make the airplanes go farther and fly faster.  We have had several near mishaps involving airplanes and cooking food in hot pans.  Needless to say, I am nearing the end of my patience with this latest fixation.  I threatened to throw all the airplanes away if Hayden and Cebelle didn't start listening better and they bawled and squalled and threw fits.  And now...Hayden is making some MORE airplanes.
The weather today wasn't very helpful, either.  We went from having a beautiful, sunny day to experiencing snow squalls on and off.  So it's not like I could bundle them up and send them outside to run it off.....though I was seriously considering it at one point, squalls or not.
I was able to finish a book today.  "The Thief" by Megan Whalen Turner.  Its the first in a series.  I started the second this afternoon while I was showering the kids.  It's called, "The Queen of Attolia".  I am really enjoying her writing.  I borrowed the ebooks from the library and I am waiting for the third one to be available.  Barnes & Noble has been offering some great NOOKbook deals. I got a couple of books I had been wanting to read for 99 cents.  They feature different authors every once in a while and make their books a little cheaper so people will read them.  This is one thing I love about my NOOKcolor.  I can always find something interesting to read!
I was also able to get some more of my cross-stitching finished today.  I have learned that I can only work on it during the daytime.  There is a lot of natural sunlight in our living room during the day, but we don't have a ton of lights in here for evening.  If I try to stitch all those tiny squares or read the pattern at night, it makes my eyes cross!  So, I work on it during the day and I work on knitting or crocheting in the evening while I am watching television with Jeff.
I put a pork roast in the over for dinner.  We are having that and some mashed sweet potatoes and salad. I didn't feel like making too much of an effort and mom and dad and I had big salads, baked potatoes, and garlic bread for lunch so I really am not very hungry still.  I thawed out some zucchini bread that I baked this summer with zucchini from our garden and had a slice of that with my coffee this afternoon.  I will probably have some with a cup of tea before bedtime tonight and I will very likely eat some for breakfast in the morning.  I went through several different recipes of it (our zucchini plants went wild this year!) and this one is definitely my favorite.  It's moist and delicious, and not overly sweet.
I am once again looking forward to putting my kids to bed.  I assume that all parents get to this point in the day.  I know that once my kids hit about 6pm-they are pretty much done for the day.  The listening doesn't work, they are crabby, they are just irritated by everyone and everything.  I have come to realize that it's probably genetic.  Jeff and I hit about 8pm and we are pretty much useless for the rest of the evening.  Sometimes I feel awful for being so glad that my kids are in bed and I can enjoy the peace and quiet with Jeff.  But on the other hand, it's probably not good trying to interact with them when they are done for the day and my patience is at its limit.  So I will put them to bed tonight and I will be glad that I made it through one more day without clotheslining someone for running in the house, or throwing someone outside in the middle of a snow squall, or burning that damn paper airplane book and all the stupid crap that goes along with it.  And I will go to bed tonight and get up tomorrow, ready to face all of  it again with a little more patience and able to appreciate my children's joy in something so simple before it starts to drive me crazy again.  After all, snow squalls don't last forever.  And paper airplanes will eventually be recycled.  And a child's life never stays simple for very long because they grow so awfully fast.

March 1 or "The day that tissues did their job"

Holy cow!  I slept until almost 9 this morning.  Even more amazing, Hayden slept until almost 9 this morning!  That hardly ever happens!  I woke up and the first thing that I noticed, much to my elation, was that the sinus headache that has been plagueing me for the past few weeks was gone!  No pressure, no pain, and no swollen eyes!  I should have known that with Hayden sleeping so late and then wanting to snuggle and the no sinus headache was not a signal of wonderful things to come...
I sent Hayden to get dressed for the day and hopped in the shower.  Literally, as soon as I stood, my nose started running.  I used tissues and hopped in the shower, thinking how glad I was that all that ickiness was finally leaving my body, thereby causing my head to not hurt.  Except ever since I stepped out of the shower, I have been reaching for one tissue after another in a constant stream.  I have gone through nearly two boxes.  Now, I am NOT complaining about all of this....even if that is what it seems.  I am happy to be feeling better, but I am completely grossed out by having to blow and wipe my nose all day.  It is just so nasty and unladylike!  Also, even though I have tissues with lotion, my poor nose and face are a sore, raw mess.  And my hands are cracked and bleeding from the constant washing and sanitizing because I do not want to spread my germs to everyone else.  I have been using all manner of lotions, creams, and ointments today....but still.....ouch.
As for Hayden, turns out he isn't feeling too great either.  I know this because he has been bouncing off the walls wild and crazy all day long.  Cebelle is also not feeling great.  I know this because she has been whiny and clingy all day long.
So of course, homeschool was a bit of a trial.  All three of us are a bit crabby and short with each other, and the smaller ones are having issues with their listening ears....But thank God, all the schoolwork was finished and all the lessons learned.
I tried to do some cross-stitching, but quit after about an hour.  I have no interest in reading or knitting, either, and that is very unusual for me.   I really hope that we aren't all coming down with something.  I don't feel badly, just very tired and worn down.  Hayden says that his head hurts and Cebelle said her ears are itchy, so I am thinking that some Claritin and an early bedtime tonight might do everyone some good!
I think I'm going to make some comfort food for dinner-Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets and some french fries.  I will probably eat my nuggets diced up over a salad....or on a sandwich.  I had some peaches and cottage cheese for a snack earlier, so I am not terribly hungry, but in order for early bedtime we are going to need an early dinner.
Today was trash day, and I forgot to take the trash out this morning.  I think that the garbage men must get completely annoyed with me.  Our company calls us if we forget to pull the trash out to the end of the driveway.  Honestly, they have to call me at least once a month.  I feel bad because it must be very frustrating for them.
I got my Schwan's home delivery today.  I got one of their frozen fruit blends that have pineapple, mango, strawberries, and peaches.  I thought that it would be really delicious stirred into my Stonyfield Farms French Vanilla Yogurt with my toffee almond granola.  I LOVE yogurt and granola for a snack.  It's filling and good for you and it satisfies a craving for sweet.  I sometimes get Bare Naked Granola in chocolate and Stonyfield Farms Chocolate Underground Yogurt and then strawberries....it's to die for.  So delicious!
People are generally surprised by how healthy we eat.  We don't generally have a ton of junk food around.  Dad loves potato chips and diet soda, so we always have those around.  I don't really care for potato chips.  I would much rather have tortilla chips with some great salsa or something like that...or some Wheat Thins or Triscuits.  I don't generally drink diet soda.  I find that if I drink one, it generally makes me crave some really unhealthy foods.  So if I want soda, I will drink a regular soda.  I allow myself one a day, though I don't always drink one everyday! Mostly I drink decaffeinated iced tea with a little bit of equal.  Cebelle is mostly a vegetarian (she will generally only eat chicken...occasionally, we can get her to try something else....but we are working on it!)  so we eat a lot of legumes...we love beans, lentils, hummus, etc.  We also eat salad with nearly every lunch and dinner.  My kids love most vegetables, fresh and cooked, so we usually have a salad plus two more cooked vegetables at dinnertime.   They usually don't eat much veggies for lunch except for olives, cucumbers, or carrots with dip.  That's not to say that we don't have a junky meal once or twice a week.  But, when we have that meal-I try to make sure it's the best that we can do.  Our Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets are breaded in whole grain...and the french fries that I get from Schwan's are actually pretty low in fat and calories compared to other brands.  Hopefully, I can teach them to eat well and keep making good choices so that they never have to struggle with weight like I do.
I am very much looking forward to Jeff getting home.  Mom and Dad took off for their casino trip today since the both of them were feeling much better, so I have been alone with the kids all day.  I very much need a quiet moment or two.  My kids have no sense of privacy, even though they made signs on their bedroom doors that say, "KEEP OUT!"  For some reason, they don't think that it applies to them.  They will even bust in while I am going to the bathroom, even if there are three other adults here to help them. The irony is that it is never anything very urgent.  They come busting in and will throw out something like, "Can I watch my favorite show in two hours when it comes on?" while all breathless from running. Since we have no locks on our bathrooms, the dogs are also able to open the bathroom doors.  If they can't manage it, the kids will help them out.  So often for me, a quick trip to the restroom ends up in a party with two dogs who stare and make me very uncomfortable and two kids who need to ask me an urgent question about something happening within the next six months.  So, quiet moments are hard to come by for me.  Having Jeff here to keep everyone out of the bathroom for five minutes is an awesome thing...even if it is very small!  Truth be told, I can't function without the madness, though.  I have to have a tv on to go to sleep because quiet weirds me out.  The day that I went to the allergist and spent over two hours in a quiet room by myself, I nearly had a panic attack.  So, while most of the time, I'm glad for the craziness (its where I'm happiest!), I need a break from it...even if it's just for a few seconds.
I hope your evening is spent in your happy place!