Daddy's are....

This morning I took my youngest DS to have his Kindergarten placement testing. He breezed through all the letters, numbers, fine motor skills, and gross motor skills easily. There was one blip though….in the section where the teacher asked DS to name opposites. One of the questions was:

“If Mommies are women then Daddies are……PIRATES!” …now, that explains a lot about my family.

Welcome back to the routine.

This week finds me trying to settle back into the normal routine after a wonderful, relaxing week of Spring Break. We split our Spring Break time between Myrtle Beach, SC (at the request of the children) and Isle of Palms/Charleston, SC (at the request of the Mommy)! DH took the entire week off and spent it with us and that was just wonderful. It is rare that he will take that kind of time off and I loved, loved, loved having him footloose and fancy free. So, after a week of eating, shopping, sunning, and napping reality has set back in. I am not real fond of that.

My number must have come up this week...

Now y'all remember that on Tuesday my car DIED on me. It has been in the shop and as of yesterday afternoon the mechanic could not get it to "act up" for him (geez). DH told him to keep it a few days and see what happens.

Well, low and behold, this morning I was driving the MomVan to take the kids to school and guess what???? It starts having an identitiy crisis and starts squealing and smoking like some hopped up teenie bopper. Yes, you are reading that right...I have 2 seperate vehicles that have broken down on me in a 2 day period! NOW, how many folks can lay claim to that, I ask you???

When DH arrived on the scene to yet another of my car emergencies he calls over to the mechanic that has my car, and says we are going to just come pick it up and drive it until it "acts up" again. LOL You know what? It finally decided to "act up" yesterday afternoon and so they started taking it apart and it was still in pieces this morning!!! So, my car is in pieces and the MomVan is not doing much better. Our trusted mechanic doesn't work on the brand of van I have but he did give us a recommendation on where to take it. Yep, I have 2 vehicles in 2 different repair shops as we "talk".

Oh, yeah...it is going to be an expensive week.

5 cows and 2 snakes

Today, after picking up DS#2 from preschool and stopping by the grocery store, I was heading home and enjoying the beautiful, sunny afternoon when my beloved car died. Yep, just kicked off right there as I rounded a curve.

Hmmmm, God was there too, as I was able to safely, roll right off the main road onto a little-traveled side road next to a pretty creek and a cow pasture. I do kind of wish that God had also kept the cell phone service in this picturesque locale but I won’t complain (much).

So, after getting my little man out of the car and locking it securely we were just getting ready to start walking up the road and along came the sweetest lady and her little boy. She stopped and asked if we needed help. Well, I am bit wary of strangers (and I think she probably was too but was taking a chance that if things went awry that she could probably take me and her little boy could probably take my DS since she was perched all high up her SUV and I was in my puny little dead car) so I ask if any chance she had cell phone service and she said she had left her cell phone at home but she could run home and get it. I actually just asked if she would please take my DH’s # and call him and tell him my car was DEAD and where I was…she said she would. Isn’t that just sweet? Especially since she was obviously heading out to do errands of her own with a child just the age to really pitch a fit when Mom turns around and heads back home without doing what she said she was going to do! She went back home and called my DH and then came back and let me know he was on his way. I thanked her profusely (and will definitely send her a thank you note!) and sent her on her way.

As I had just come from the grocery store I happen to have a flat of bottled water and it is baseball season so I had my trusty folding chairs in the trunk; I pulled those out and set them up under a shady tree and got DS#2 a water and he was happy as a lark. It also, so happened, that we were sitting in a patch of clover so we spent some time looking for 4 leaf clovers but didn’t have any luck with that (obviously luck wasn’t our thing this afternoon). We also walked over to the creek…actually we kind of went toward the little creek until, 1st, one snake plopped off a limb and into the water and then, 2nd, we saw another one slithering quickly to the creek…needless to say, we went back to our little chairs under our shady tree and watched the 5 cows in the pasture meandering their way to what I assume must have been lunch. DS#2 was just thrilled with this adventure and told me he was having a good time! I mean 5 cows, 2 snakes, water and a shady tree…how that could not be a good time to anyone is beyond me.

Of course, I tried cranking the car a couple of times to no avail but when DH arrived in short order he cranked it right up. Isn’t that just annoying??? He drove it on home and I drove his car. He did agree that it is running horribly and probably wouldn't even make it to the mechanic's so he called a tow truck to come pick it up and take it to our trusted mechanic (yes, we have a trusted mechanic!). So, I guess I am driving the MomVan for a few days.

Long weekend.....

My children (or rather, the school admininstration) has blessed me with a long weekend! No school today or Monday. Here in the south we don't get the end of February "Winter Break" so I am excited to have a mid-Feb. long weekend!!!

I would have enjoyed sleeping in this morning but DS#1 had a friend over and DS#2 felt compelled sit outside his big brother's bedroom door and play - loudly - until they (and everyone else) were awake. Not that it was a big surprise since my boys tend to get up early but I had been up several times during the night telling them to try to be quieter and settle down and my sleep wasn't the best. Anyway, in honor of being considered a good hostess, I trudged downstairs to whip up some pancakes, sausage and fresh strawberries. Of course, the boys - being 10 and completely starved - inhaled their breakfast and went off to play. I probably would have been just as good a hostess if I had put out a box of PopTarts on the table along with juice boxes and let them have at it.

So, here I sit debating on whether or not I take a nap as soon as DS#1's friend leaves or should I actually start the "BATHROOM PROJECT"? This Bathroom has haunted me and now I have determined that this will be the weekend when it gets taken care off. Not to mention DD has one of her girlfriends from our old home in NY coming to visit in 2 weeks and I don't want to frighten her with the "we are in the middle of redoing that bath" room. Almost all the wallpaper has been removed and I purchased fine sandpaper for smoothing out some areas before painting. I have picked out the paint color (Kennebunkport Green!) and need this room to be completed. Of course, I still need to get to Lowes for the new lighting fixture, although, I know how hard to to understand why I am ridding myself of the lovely large round light bulbs on a chrome bar - think lighting around a Movie Star's dressing table - BUT it must be done! The bathroom must come into the new century! Must, I tell ya!!!!



Anyway, it is cold here (not as cold as other places but for us...it is COLD!) so I guess it is as good a weekend as any to get to it.

I have been away for the land of blog for a bit. I haven't kept up reading others very much and haven't written. It seems a season of meloncoloy has come and I am stumbling around in the fog that it brings.

I could have danced all night...I could have danced all night...

Last night was DD's 1st formal and her 1st dance! She attended her school's Homecoming Dance. I was privledged to attend as well and chaperone. It was such a fun night. The kids dance for 3 straight hours.

It was much different from the dances I remember from high school...there were no couples who tried to hang out in the dark corners and there weren't any of the groups gathered that never seemed to dance. That is something I love about DD's school. Everyone enjoyed each other and there were no appearance of cliches and even if you couldn't dance you jumped in and added your 2 goofy cents! I (and the other Moms even got into the act and dance along with some of the 80s tunes...DD even said I was a good dancer -- a good 80s dancer that is -- WHAT does that mean!) DD before in her Jessica McClintok dress. I think I wore a Jessica McClintok dress when I was in high school...or maybe that was Gunne Sax?
DD invited a friend from church to attend the dance as her "date". Don't they look sweet?
We had a gathering at our house before the dance so that everyone could visit and eat. This is a photo of some of the kids. There were no boyfriend/girlfriend combos just a great group of buddies who enjoyed the entire night together...along with a late night visit to IHOP after the dance.