Best quote(s) of the week:

Scenario:  Max and I were talking about something, I don't even remember what,  that occurred when he was little.

Sarah:  "How old was I?"

Max:  "Sarah, you weren't born yet.  You were a puzzle in heaven that God was putting together."


What a perfect explanation.  That kid amazes me with the way he thinks.



Scenario:  It's 4am and I have 2 girls in my bed.   Leah wet the bed around midnight.  I stripped her sheets but was too lazy to make the bed so I brought her in bed with me.  Sarah came in some time after that and was like a raging inferno.  She had a high fever, was restless, hungry and not ready to go back to sleep.  I gave her some medicine and stripped off her jammies. She rolls over and says:

"You are the best mommy ever."  And then she kisses my hand.

It doesn't get any better than that.  Period.



Scenario:  The kids are playing in the family room.  Max has just learned to make fart like noises using his hands and armpits and hand and knees.

Max:  "Mom!  Leah can do knee farts.  Those are the hardest body farts to  make!"

Max and Mom Date

Thursday night was a mom and son event sponsored by Max's school.  The last time Max and I went on a "date" he made a big deal about me not calling it a "date" which made me say "date" louder and more frequently and the I made a deliberate  attempts at holding his hand and kissing him.  You know, all the stuff that mom's can do that will embarrass their kids?  That's what I did.  So on the way to Craig's Cruiser, our date night destination, I told Max that I was so excited and had been looking forward to our "date" all day.   I expected to hear "Moooommmmm!"  But what I got was, "Me too, mom.  I've couldn't stop thinking about it all day at school."  Wooohooo!  He still wants his mom!

We had the best time.  I lost track how many times he told me he was having fun.  We raced the go-carts.  He won.  We drove the bumper boats.  I got soaked.  We hit balls in the batting cage.  I still got it.  And we wasted money played in the arcade.  I'm so thankful that his school encourages events like this.  I've had good intentions of scheduling date nights with the kids, Rob with each of the girls and me with Max but we just never go in the routine of it.  But after this I told Rob we are definitely going to do it.  It's definitely a memory maker!

Me and my date

Getting squirted

How can I forget to mention we fed the fish?  It's what nightmares are made of.

Five 6 months left.

What?  That doesn't make any sense.  Five 6 months?  Well if you see it the way I intended you would think of it as 5 blocks of 6 months time.  Huh?  Let me explain.  It has been 6 months today since I was fired from the hospital.  The time has passed so quickly.  No slowly.  Well, a little of both.  It was the quickest passing of slow time ever.  The fact that it had been 6 months got me thinking.  How many more 6 month blocks of time  do I have with my kids before all of them are in school full time.  Well, thanks to Siri, the answer is just over 4.  It probably makes more sense to say that I have 28.71 months, or 2 years 4 months and 22 days, or 28 months 22 days, or 124 weeks 6 days.  Or let's just break it down to days-  874 days left with my kids before a school teacher spends more time with them than I do.  Looking at it that way seems like I have all this time in the world left to mold and shape them.  But when I think back to how fast the past 6 months have gone and that I now have just 4 more 6 months left with them it kind of makes me sad.  I won't get that time back with them.  Ever.  Max is already too grown up and cool for me to walk him to his class room.  The girls are pretty much as self sufficient as any 3 and 4 year old can be.  So, for the next 844 days (I subtracted a few because I KNOW there are days when I look at them as think "whose kids are you?" and wish they were in school all day with some wonderful, underpaid teacher dealing with them) I will treasure every hug, kiss, whispered secret, and minute of time I have left with them.   I wish that I had had the courage to quit my job instead of getting fired but getting fired has been the best blessing ever.

There are days that I miss my "ED Nurse" identity.  I loved the thrill and the stigma attached with being an ED nurse.  Well, I'm still doing my nursing duty.  I look at it this way:   I apply a lot of bandaids and kiss many a boo-boo to three kids that think every injury is an emergency.   One day... maybe... I'll step back into an Emergency Room (as a nurse, not patient, God willing) and grab that thrill but for now, I'll enjoy the more mundane scrapes and bruises because I love these patients best.

It doesn't get better than this

It doesn't get better than this. What an absolutely beautiful day!

Gettin' dirty

Epic Fail

It is 83 degrees and sunny outside.  Absolutely a perfect day. A day that we have been waiting for all winter and this very long spring.  And in my books it's been an epic failure.  How can I manage to ruin this day?  First off, I'm am not going to win any mother of the year awards for the way I've handled any part of today.  I started they day off lounging around.  Max was questionably sick this morning so I kept him home from school.  When it became obvious that he wasn't sick I decided to run errands.  The kids were crabby.  I've learned not to ask their opinions on anything.  They can never agree and most of the time purposefully disagree with each other.  Then I become the bad person because I have to choose and make the ultimate decision which usually makes  some one sad or mad.  We went out to lunch and to the store to grab stuff for dinner.  All I heard was, "Can I have this?"  "Why not?"  "Just this?"  No, No, and NO!  Never once did I hear a thank you.  The kids were bickering with each other and someone was always crying.  I bought a bike at a garage sale for Leah and she furrowed her brows and very gruffly said, "I'm NOT going to ride it."  Seriously?  So we get home and I'm on the verge.  On the verge of what I'm not sure but I was certainly on the verge.  I told the kids they need to stay outside and play.  More tears.  "But there are bee's out there and you know I don't like bees."  WHERE HAVE I GONE WRONG?  How have I managed to raise kids that feel so entitled?  Am I really going to have to lock them outside?   I feel like I'm losing every battle with them lately.  Right now they are in their rooms "playing."  I think they are too scared to come out!  :-)  After I got home I sat down and thought, "I need advise."  "Who should I call?"  "Who can I vent to?"  And then I thought to myself, "You can rant and rave to anyone you want but until you bring this before God nothing is going to change."  It's the first thing I think I did right today.  I am very quick to give God thanks but not so quick to bring my everyday issues before him.  Most likely because I have a patience problem and want answers NOW.  So, now that I'm done ranting and raving... I'm gonna ask for a little bit of help.