When Not Bleeding...

...Miss C managed to have a fab week!

Visiting with George at a library branch:

Soaking in the sun while watching big brother jump off the diving board over...and over....and over:

 "Do I have yogurt face?"

HAPPY FRIDAY!

What's More Important? {A Quandary}

I mentioned in yesterday's post that the B-man enjoyed reading the new Daniel Tiger book we'd bought for C earlier in the "head wound day."   If you know me at all, you might have thought that sounded odd since I pretty much never buy books.  (Yay libraries!) After her playground playdate at the preschool, however, I decided to pull into a local bookshop that is seriously only 0.5 mile from her school.  But I haven't been there in years.

Why not?

Because, as a bargain shopper, I'm programmed to look for the best deal.  Gonna tell you now-- it's not at the local bookshop.  But it's now 2014 and 16 years (!!!!) have passed since You've Got Mail was released.   I feel like it's amazing there still IS a local bookshop, right?

We went in and I was reminded that they carry a nice selection of children's books, with a special section of book/plush toy (of characters from the books) combos that would make great gifts.  But there really aren't many price tags on items because the price is the one printed on the lower corner of the book itself by the bar code-- you know, the one I always compare to the actual sticker price at stores to make sure I'm getting a deal.

No deals here.

But....but.....      My heart tugs in the direction of supporting local business.  I always get so sad when a store goes empty, even when I don't shop there.  I don't WANT to live in a world of only giant chain stores.   I'm certainly part of the problem, however, with my reliance on online shopping at places like Amazon.    All prices being equal, the local store is probably not the place to shop.  But isn't there value in community support?

We actually bought several books on Tuesday-- and I was doing a little hyperventilating at paying the manufacturer's price, not gonna lie-- and I asked the cashier how business was.  "We're still here," she said, "but it gets worse every year."

Ugh.   I probably shouldn't let these things bother me, but I do.   So I once again go 'round and 'round on where best to make my purchases.  Is it worth it to spend a little more to help a local business stay in business?

WHAT SAY YOU, FRIENDS??  Is this something you even consider or am I just the weirdo that feels conflicted?

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I realize there probably isn't much of a point in asking "audience" questions anymore since I keep learning about more and more of you who aren't able to leave comments because you view the blog on a mobile device rather than a computer.   (Thanks still for reading!!! And thanks to those of you who do comment!!)   I guess maybe I should look into some sort of other tool that allows mobile readers to connect--- I sure do miss getting more comments!  And now I really miss my Daddyrags, whom I could always count on to make me smile with his very regular blog commentary...

CJK's Day

The day started out fabulously for Miss C with a playground playdate for her preschool class (The Turtles).  While we don't know a single name on the class list, she wasted no time enlisting others to help her "bake" sand "pies" in the "oven" as well as just generally having fun running around and playing.

Then, while eating her lunch at home, she decided to fall off her chair and hit the other chair on the way down.  I scooped her up immediately and was comforting her when I realized there was blood all over the place.  Oh, man.  So I get a washcloth and I'm trying to clean it up (and figure out where it's coming from) and she's crying, crying, crying (and saying, "Am I going to be OKAY?" so I knew she was mentally fine) and I'm wiping, wiping, wiping.....and then I got all sweaty and shaky and knew I had to lie down on the floor.    It was awesome.

Actually, it was all okay.  She had a cut on the back of her head but it stopped bleeding pretty quickly.  I find the whole "is this really a big deal?" quandary to be my biggest concern with parenting, however, so I was a bit stymied as to how to proceed.  I decided to call the medical office and had to answer all their emergency head injury questions before finally getting the one about whether it looks like it needs stitches.  Um, I don't know?   That's my point.    Of course, this was several hours before B was due to get home from school but I wasn't sure how long a trip to Urgent Care might take so I scheduled an appointment for after school so I didn't also have to fret about him getting off the bus to find no one at home.  (I think that might be illegal.  Heh.)

Since it had stopped bleeding, she was able to nap as usual and, in the meantime, I was able to track down the BG at school (thankfully, it was his off period; otherwise, that might never have worked).  Upon hearing it was under her hair, he figured it would be fine to heal on its own but I went ahead and sent him a picture of the injury.  (I will spare you the pic.)   His response was, "Yeah, that looks pretty big!" so I figured I would not cancel the Urgent Care appointment and that would be our new afternoon activity.

We had a wonderful experience at that facility.  Didn't have to wait very long.  While we were waiting, B had fun spinning around on the chair while reading C a new book that we'd bought yesterday morning, prophetically titled Daniel Tiger Visits the Doctor:

The doctor arrived and told us we'd done the right thing by coming in and that she'd be able to glue it together after a very thorough cleaning.   Cue lots and lots of Miss C tears during said thorough cleaning but, by the time the doctor was done, she was fine.    We returned to our favorite outdoor shopping center for some Potbelly sammies and shakes, some playground time, and even checked out some bling:

We all survived this momentous occasion!  Frankly, I think it's pretty good that I made it 6.5 years as a parent before having to go to Urgent Care!   :-)

First Day of School

As those of you on Facebook saw, I was in the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru line at 5:27 AM yesterday to get some munchkins for the guys starting school.  (In order for them to be surprise munchkins, I had to go and be back by the time the BG left for school.  I probably could've gone a good 20 minutes later but I was awake so why not.)

The moment that The First-Grader saw the donut box on the table:

Doing his celebratory dance-walk:

Happy boy:

 

Then on to pics outside so let's throw in some comparisons!!   White shirt is 2014; green shirt, 2013.  The angle isn't identical but you can tell by the marks on the front door window that he has grown quite a bit!

Sister went from being unsure last year to downright sad this year that she can't go to school on the bus with him!

But she's okay!

I love this shot:

Miss C and I enjoyed our morning of errand-running.  Between one shopping center and the library, we were able to put together this fun "welcome back!" arrangement for Big Brother!

Here's to a successful year at school!

Highs and Lows

(or, more accurately, Dry and Wet)

Friday afternoon was Open House at B's elementary school.  They post the class lists and, once you find your name and see your teacher assignment, you head off to that room to meet the teacher and get settled in a bit.    Someone is going to miss her brother:

Saturday morning, we were getting all geared up to go to the BG's first scrimmage when the skies opened.  Undaunted, we dug out the Swedish rain gear passed down to us by our neighbor.  (C insisted on wearing her butterfly rain jacket but she does have on the Swedish bib underneath.)   Unfortunately, the scrimmage got called off due to bad field conditions.  C was none too pleased about this change in schedule:

And....now it's back to school day for both guys in this household!  First grade and 16th year of teaching, here they come!

Mid-Week Adventure

 B has wanted to see Planes: Fire and Rescue since it came out in mid-July.  I figured that a movie outing would be a fun back-to-school kickoff event so I looked up its schedule earlier this week, only to find it is currently playing at just one area theater at exactly one time per day.   I accepted the challenge-- an adventure we would have!

The theater probably would have taken 25-30 minutes to get to by car but it happens to be very near a metro stop.  Since we live within 10 minutes of a stop on the same line, we decided to make it even more of an exciting adventure and ride the rails!

Going down the escalator into the station:

We had the train car to ourselves!

I forget that my children are less enthused about wandering around and exploring than I am.  Short legs and all that.  Arriving one hour early with an intent to do some shopping was met with complaining so we ended up killing the time with assorted treats.    This eating/spending of money meant that my original plan to eat a fun dinner after the movie didn't happen, but that's fine because we came out of the theater to find rain:

So, to make up for my lack-of-dinner disappointment, the 3 of us went to a different shopping center last night (the BG has been working until at least 9 pm several nights in a row) and dined al fresco where they could run around and scope out the "lake"front while waiting for our food:

And it was delicious!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Treasure Trove Thursday

One thing I've learned in the last 4 months is that it's never too late to send a card.  I have been very touched by notes that friends have sent from far and wide, and they are every bit as meaningful months later as they would have been earlier.

I received a note earlier this week from my middle school swim coach full of kind memories and thoughts....and also a bit of a treasure trove.   Apparently she was cleaning out some papers from her house and came across the program from one of the performances of Greater Tuna that my dad and brother did many moons ago as a fundraiser for the high school drama department.   I'm quite sure I've posted pics in these electronic pages before, but this was the show for which Sheils checked out all the nearby Payless shoe stores to see what they had in a woman's size 13 for the guys to wear!  They were a hoot to watch dressed up as numerous characters and I know it was an experience my dad treasured.

Reading the last line of his bio, almost 20 years later, made me smile:

(Disclosure:  it is possible that I would have heavily dropped hints at the time that I hoped I'd score a mention....but I honestly don't remember!!!!   hee hee!)

One Giant Leap For......A Fabulous Summer!

This trip to a Dallas pool in early July with our cousins was a huge tipping point in the aquatic life of B and his fear of not being able to touch the bottom.  After mastering the slides that spilled out into 5 feet of water, he returned home a changed man, er, boy.   He has spent the last month repeatedly jumping in off the sides into the deeper water, paddling around, and generally being fearless-- with only one area of the pool left to conquer.

Yesterday was the day.

Check out the face on his very first diving board jump ever!!!!!

We had an impromptu pool date with a classmate and learned upon arriving to meet her that she had just become a diving board queen herself on her previous visit.   B had been bugging me for awhile to go into the "deep deep end" but it wasn't until everything aligned yesterday that it happened.

I think he was pretty happy, don't you?

PS:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to loyal reader Uncle Fred!!!

Sibling Smoothie Smiles

I was due for an oil change and decided to take it to a local service center that happens to be tucked in behind the shopping center with our most-oft-visited grocery store.  So yesterday, we dropped the car off to be serviced and then walked over to do some shopping.  We ended up filling our basket a little quicker than the time necessary to do the work on the car-- what were we to do except walk next door to Panera and share a smoothie to kill time?!

Too bad these two don't have fun together at all:

Weekend Recap, the Photo-Less Edition

Things I didn't capture "on film" this weekend:

• Finally ordering pizza to be delivered at the pool for dinner Friday night so we could feel hip and cool!  :-)

•  Bending over and walking with one hand on the back of each of the kids, pushing them on their bikes because "IT'S A HILL" during our early Saturday bike "ride"

• Then, as a reward for bike "riding," going to the local family farm to buy the special weekend cinnamon sugar donuts as well as the latest variety of peaches, and having an impromptu tasting session on a bench in a barn

• Taking the kids to a birthday party at an indoor swim school Saturday and marveling at the beach-themed decorations that I can only describe as "Texas-caliber"  ;-)

• Knowing that the kids ate enough...pizza/fruit with flip-flip toothpicks/flip-flop cookie/assorted snacks spilling out of beach buckets/a gorgeously decorated cake...that they were all set for dinner, so the BG and I could enjoy a take-out sushi feast on the back deck after he finally got home from a 12-hour Saturday of work/practice

• Waking up super early on Sunday and being the first customer at the bagel shop when it opened at 6:30

• Getting the kids to help me go through all the bought-in-advance clothes piled up in each of their closets to get a sense of fall wardrobes-- and them saying over and over how much fun they were having ripping into the plastic bags and sorting everything by category 

• Watching 10 episodes of United States of Tara on Netflix.   Fascinating show.

• Observing the B-man get better at returning badminton volleys...but being happy that there was a bunny in the yard he could chase so the BG and I could get in some actual playing time last night

When sitting here this morning trying to figure out what in the world this blog post could cover, I saw that this is post #1877.  It's basically a part-time job, this blog, with my commitment to write something every single weekday.  I'm sorry I don't always have photos to accompany, or even interesting tales to tell, but I truly appreciate you coming to this electronic space and sharing in life with me!

Fabulous Friday Find

(Okay, it was actually found on Wednesday, but that's not alliterative.)

Part of my success in arriving at the train station right in time for it to depart not be running was by stopping at the Dollar Tree near the park entrance to kill the few extra minutes.   I know my thrilling thrift-store bargains have long been documented on this blog but, every now and then, I like to hit up a good dollar store to see what treasures await.  (And, by "good dollar store," I mean one where everything is a dollar, not these crazy "dollar plus" places that have popped up everywhere and charge all manner of prices for their loot.)

When we came across this box kinda haphazardly hanging out on a shelf alone, I seriously stood there and pondered whether some kid accidentally left it in the store.  Because playmobil...for a dollar?  Yes, please!

Unfortunately, little sister apparently absconded with the little white piece that attaches the umbrella to the clown's head so we're all on the lookout for that currently.  But it really does squirt water!   AND DID I MENTION IT WAS AT THE DOLLAR STORE?

Hooray for unexpected finds!

May your weekend be full of them!  Happy Friday!

Re-Entry

Fall sports practice officially started yesterday but the BG had pretty much kicked it into high gear at the beginning of the week.  So we're back to him leaving at 6 AM and not getting back until more than 12 hours later.   I totally understand that this is par for the proverbial course for many of you....but that doesn't mean the abrupt return to me being responsible for the tykes literally all day long is any easier.  I am constantly caught in a battle between choosing what's best for me (as in, letting them do whatever they want in the house--which, as of late, has been watching Curious George and/or Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood on Netflix--so I can do my thing) and what's best for them (probably anything else).   As much as I can't imagine my life without the BG's companionship, it's times like this where what I really miss is his awesome ability to entertain the children so I can go do something else.

Just keeping it real.

In any case, I decided yesterday morning that we needed to get out of the house.  So we made an impromptu decision to go to the local gardens/park to run around.  We timed our entry to get there right at 10am when the wonderful little train opens.   Upon arriving, we discovered that the insane rain we got on Tuesday had left the track a little wet and they were going to re-evaluate the situation at noon.

So we rode the carousel instead:

Fun flashback to 2 years ago when they rode it for the first time:

We then walked ALL over the place (like 7500 steps, FitBit people!) exploring all that the area has to offer, and then we made sure to get back to the train station at noon.....where we learned they'd now realized there was a tree on the tracks and the train was not going to be choo-chooing anytime soon.

So we visited the ice cream truck that had parked nearby instead!   And then went home, rested/napped, and hit up the pool for a couple of hours.  I felt moderately successful!   :-)

WayCOOL Wednesday

Frozen

(having nothing to do with Anna and Elsa, amazingly enough.)

It was a creamy deliciousness Monday around here.  First up:  trying out the $1.99 pack of frozen popsicle molds that we picked up recently at IKEA.   We went for vanilla Greek yogurt layered with blueberries and peaches and it was a hit:

Then, in the evening, the BG arrived with supplies to go with his new toy sent by Grandma: a homemade ice cream machine.  Here, the boys mix the ingredients just behind the blueberry cobbler I threw together for the occasion (because vanilla ice cream is kinda boring, right?)  (Karen I-- I know you're just salivating over all these blueberry mentions...ha ha ha!!):

Reading the directions for the machine:

(time passes....)

SUCCESS!

It's always a treasure to have hand-written recipes for our forever stash!

Night Out

Saturday afternoon, we met up with Karen and Ian after WAY too many months without seeing them.   Turns out that, while the boy might get bigger, the upside-down-fun never ends:

(From April 2011):

We grabbed pizza out on the town and the guys (in their twinsie blue-striped shirts) got to the restaurant a titch faster than we did.   Happy birthday to the BG-- you've now driven a really, really nice sports car:

Since it was a celebratory weekend (BG's bday yesterday/Ian's bday today!), we then went from the pizza place to the town center to get some birthday gelato and sorbet.  Apparently I was too busy inhaling my Sicilian Almond and Orange Dark Chocolate to take pics.

Then it was back to their pad for some game time-- as you can see, the girls were engaged in a very serious My Little Pony Memory challenge!

It was 10 years ago this summer that Ian hired me to work for him in my first real job out of grad school.  CRAZY.    We are so thankful for the decade of friendship!!!

Breakfast with C

And lots of faces!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

A FAIRly Good Time!

Football practice starts next week so we're at the end of summer fun time with the BG.  He's had workouts every day all summer except for Wednesdays, which is a rest day each week for the players.  So yesterday was our last full day with him for many, many months.....how could we not hit up the county fair?

This photo, taken right before we spent our life savings on ride tickets, sums up a lot of the day:  Miss C is just shy of the 42" that is a cut-off to ride alone on many rides, and B is taller than the 48" that is the max on some of the littlest rides:

The thing with being able only to go on a Wednesday is that Wednesday is NOT one of the days that has good deals on rides/ticket prices.  Let's just say that I realize now that going to the county fair (and riding rides/eating food, at least) is a pretty special event, financially-speaking!!!

We did go ahead and get the kids the bracelets for unlimited rides and this was the first one they hopped on together:

Then we coughed up some money for additional tickets so the BG and I could go on the Ferris Wheel, too!

 B amazed us with his willingness to go on so many "scary" rides.  He and his daddy went on the one that lifts you straight up and then suddenly drops, as well as this one.  (He's directly above the yellow middle thing):

Such a fun riding adventure they were all having (and I went on the Tilt-a-Whirl with C and the Tornado with B)....until B made the mistake that I remember making many long years ago.  Back then, it was called the Gravitron but now it's the Starship.  In any case, he left that ride looking pretty green.

And that was the end of B's fun times at the fair.

(He didn't get sick, thank goodness.  And he managed to enjoy some ice cream after the fact, too.  He just was a little more interested in calling it a day sooner rather than later!)

 There might have been some other sweet snacks, too!!