There is a right way and a wrong way to eat breakfast in front of the tv

The Last Day of School

Technically, this is Mattie’s last day of elementary and next year she will be a middle schooler.  And Reese will now be a 2nd grader, which seems all sorts of blah after his reign as a kindergartener and then the ever illustrious first grade.  Though there wasn’t going to be nearly the fanfare that followed the closing of the school doors last summer, I had at least planned to get up and make the kids smoothies or something.  Brandon had an early engagement this morning and let me know that the kids were both already up, dressed and eating breakfast – all before my alarm had gone off.  I decided that since there wasn’t any breakfast to be served or lunches to assemble, I was just going to sleep in for as long as possible.  And that I did.

Funny little side note, we were still late for school though.  When I did come downstairs at 7, the kids were totally engrossed in an American Girl movie (don’t tell Reese I shared this with you, but he was really captivated by whether or not Isabelle was going to complete her turns during her show flake dance).  We still had a good 30 minutes before the doors would actually be opened, so I also settled in to the drama unfolding before me.  I don’t want to ruin the ending for you should you plan to watch Isabelle Dances Into the Spotlight, but it was pretty intense there for a bit. It dawned on me shortly after the credits started to roll that I was these kids ride to school and I was wrapped up in a blanket and not yet wearing pants.

We rolled up to school, 4 minutes late and feeling like complete bosses.  Tardy, what tardy? It’s the last day of school, sucka! They didn’t even hurry to run inside.  I think it would be safe to say that there was even a little swagger going on.  As she was not hurrying to get out of the car, Mattie randomly shared with me that silly Cybill had jumped up and helped herself to some corn this morning while the kids were eating breakfast.

If you are a smart person, you know that corn on the cob is probably one of the absolute worst things for a dog, or any other animal that you love, to eat.  Turns out, most animal bodies will not digest the cob and that means that it becomes a gigantic plug in their stomach and/ or intestines.  Also, to alarm you even more, corn cobs and getting hit by cars are two of the most common ways that our canine pets die every year.

I am not a smart person, apparently because upon hearing this news I simply drove home and thought nothing more about it.  When Brandon came home after his meeting, I told him about our silly dog’s breakfast caper.  Lucky for me, Brandon is a smart person and they must teach the dangers of corn cob eating in grad school because he seemed to know right away that Cybill was in horrible danger.  I decided now would not be a fun time to tell him how the kids and I had been late to school even though they were up before the sun.

The vet was called, my panic set it and we were on our way to see just how much damage our little Labra-girl had done to herself.  Another funny little side note, our previous Labbie had also dined on something that was not fit for consumption and it too had caused a blockage in his body.  In his situation, we didn’t have any warning of what had happened until he started having other “issues”.  The refusing to lie down, they wailing, and the need to constantly drink water should have told us something.  It wasn’t until the explosive diarrhea and then the vomiting that we caught on that all was not well.  To make a long and disgusting story short, Crosby ended up having to have emergency surgery at an after hours vet clinic on Christmas Eve to remove a small chunk of towel that he had dined on while visiting the groomer about 5 days prior.  So it seems kind of ironic, yet also vaguely normal for us to be dealing with this situation.  Only this time, our dog wasn’t on the brink of death…….she was definitely headed there, but not for at least another 48 hours and her body hadn’t clued her in on it yet.  From now on, I will always assume that labs get their shots when they are babies, get spayed or neutered when they are about 3 months, and then somewhere between 11 months and 2 years they have their special gastro surgery that costs about the same as getting my kitchen remodeled.

While sitting in the vet’s office, waiting for Cybill to come back from her x-rays, I realized that Brandon had put Lila’s dress on backwards.  I know we were in a hurry and emotions were high, but still…..it had a Peter Pan collar and buttons all the way up the front.  I could kind of understand if maybe he had never seen a dress before, or his daughter wearing one, or if he didn’t have a daughter, or maybe was blind.  Instead, I made her stand still up against the yellow wall so I could take pictures for you to see for yourselves.

It felt very strange just leaving my pup there at the vet, everyone feeling a little tense because this really was an emergency, but she was completely unaware and seemed so fine.  We started to walk out and she planted herself between me and the door, not knowing what was going on but very certain that whatever it was, the safest spot for her was outside.  I had intended to run a few errands, go get my nails done and definitely take pictures of the kids with their teacher to compare first day with last day.

But we did this instead.

I’m not sure what the moral of my story is.  Never let your kids watch American Girl movies while they are eating breakfast because they might be too engrossed in them and not notice the dog standing up at the counter eating last nights leftover corn on the cob. Maybe put away your leftover corn on the cob before going to bed every night?  Don’t ever eat corn on the cob or watch American Girl movies because they also lead to other reckless behaviour like being tardy to school. Whatever it is, I’m thankful that Mattie at least thought to share with me that the dog had partaken of the corn along with her I love you’s and have a good day.  I would have been even more thankful had she told Cybill “no “and tried to take away at least one of the 4 corn cobs, but hey, I’ll take what I can get.

One last thing, while in a parking lot this evening we parked right across from this guy.

I have no idea what year it is, but I do know that it is a Chevy Impala and it looks just like the little metal Chevy Impalas that have lined Poppy’s shelves for years.  My boy saw it about the same time I did, “A full-size adult collectible!” he said.  We don’t usually take pictures of other peoples posessions and typically, I would get very uncomfortable with my children just standing right up close to someone else’s car…..but I let that slide this time.

When he was done looking and finally came back, he held my hand but didn’t say anything.  Tonight when I tucked him in, and was leaning really close, he whispered in my ear, “Poppy would have liked that car.” But even more than that, I think Poppy would have liked that Reese liked that car.

Happy Summer vacation friends! Stay clear of corn cobs.

Not Sure What To Do Now

We are on the lat week of school.  So far we have had the last Monday of 1st and 5th grade and today was going to be the last Tuesday soccer practice of 5th grade, but Mattie got in trouble and ended up spending the afternoon giving me a little slave labor instead. Funny story there, last Friday she and Reese both won awards – very prestigious awards that are voted on by the faculty and staff – for leadership.  Only a small handful of kids were recipients of these awards unlike so many of the trophies and accolades that my kids receive.  We have quite the collection of “You Showed Up” awards, as we like to call them.  But to have a real, honest-to-goodness award that they won on their own merit, was pretty exciting.  And both of my kids!  I have to say, I was pretty darn proud.  Not proud enough to actually take a picture of them with their awards, but still very proud.  And then today happened.  Mattie decided to take those leadership skills of hers and lead out in some heckling of her teacher in the middle of class.  There is more to this story, and I am happy to say that when I approached my first-born about her crime, she spilled way more information than I had originally received from her teacher.

At least she is still honest.

And I might add, when she is fearful she is an extremely hard worker! Not a single peep out of her for 2 hours while she did the unpleasant task of bagging up branches that had been pruned from the smaller trees.

I am ready for school to be over.  This is exhausting!  But having them home with me, all day and all three of them…….that is its own breed of tiring.  Thankfully, we have the JCC and the pool which is set to open here in just a few days.  We also have plenty more limbs that can be cut and bagged should we need to go that route.

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I was reading over blog entries from this past year the other night.  This year has flown by for me – I think mainly because most of it was sort of a blur.  Nothing has been as it usually was, there has been a sort urgency about things.  There wasn’t the gradual easing into school life and then the relaxing visits from Mumsey and Poppy in October.  We visited over Labor Day, but it was the first real visit after Poppy was feeling bad – the beginning of the end.  And from that point on, everything went on Cancer Time.  We didn’t make plans, we made tentative arrangements and frequently in pencil.  I noticed as I was reading over the last 9 months, I have no idea of the minutia that has gone on in my life.  We are always rushing to this or that and have pretty full calendars, but normally I am the type that enjoys just the random every day whatever.  That’s where I get my best stories from and my favorite memories, but this past year…..I just have no idea.  It’s as though we had been holding our breath, trying not to make any sudden  moves and just get through it.  There is an old country song that has a line in it,

“If you’re goin’ through hell keep on going
Don’t slow down if you’re scared don’t show it
You might get out before the devil even knows you’re there”

I think that sums things up perfectly.  We were hoping to get out before he knew we were there.  And now this school year is over and I hardly even remember when it started.  Honestly, last I checked it was Spring Break! And now we are here at the end and it all makes me sad.  I feel like I have missed things, that I didn’t savor what I was right in the middle of because my mind was so preoccupied with other things.  And I am sad because usually the thing I look forward to the most about summer time, just isn’t going to happen.  This has been the year of, “Not this year, but next year it will be back to normal” and now with the summer in front of me, I am looking at a vast emptiness.

I miss Poppy

Poppy is summer.  Summer is mowing the lawn and grass allergies. Summer is the beach and swimming pools.  Summer is a long drive in a car, usually headed south with him behind the wheel and insisting on a map for our directions.  Summer is Subway sandwiches  and yellow squash and tomatoes grown in the garden of my parents backyard.  Summer is a button-up shirt with old cars and tractors on it – the vacation shirt.  I have worked hard to fill up my summer and it hasn’t even started yet.  Mattie is going to summer camp, Lila swim lessons and tons of play dates – but it will still feel empty. In ways, I wish I could have known last summer what was coming.  But then again, I think even without knowing what the future held, we did it up pretty big.  We made memories that will play over and over again for the rest of our lives.  And hopefully, this will all serve as a reminder to live each season as though it were the last.  Take the trips, buy the t-shirt and take the tour at Talladega even though you are trying to hurry and make it to your destination.

Happy Almost Summer Vacation friends.

P.S. – Because April was completely voided out in my life, I have been a little behind on things…..some bills in particular, celebrating my husband’s birthday and taking that annual Easter photo of my children in their coordinating outfits.  I think while we are here, since I drug it out this long, maybe I will make it last a little longer.  Lets take a look at Easters from the beginning of kids to now…….

It was crazy early this year and the Easter dress had to be warm enough. You will see a dress similar to this one several times in this little walk down memory lane

Fourth Easter and another chilly one.

Fifth Easter with kids, this time with a new little bunny…..who had straight hair!

Sixth Family Easter – the curls have made their appearance!

Seventh Family Easter – he’s wearing a brown two-piece sailor suit and she still loves smocking…..those were the days!

Eighth Family Easter – And then there were 3!

Ninth Family Easter – Not our finest hour, but notice the littlest one’s dress……it is not the same one as her sister’s but rather a replica. That anger on Reese is completely genuine however.

Our Golden Easter together!!!! And they are all matchy-matchy!

Year 11, he’s wearing a Batman tie, pink coordinates with navy and her dress matches his belt. The best we could do.

And drumroll please……Easter one month after it actually came, but better late than never!

Back in the Saddle

Lila and I have been home for a week now.  I think in my last post I made a cocoon reference and how it had felt that while we were at Mumsey’s house – we were still in that cozy, warm and comfy cocoon.  Now that I am home again and have all of my children, not just the 1/3rd, coming out of our cocoon into the real world has been far less cocoon like and more like an egg that has been cracked…….and then scrambled.

Nana was here for my first full day back, which was really great.  However, Tuesday morning when I awoke to my task of “mothering”  – I think I just stood at the refrigerator staring inside, completely lost.  I couldn’t even remember what I usually packed in the kids lunches, much less find it.  It’s possible that my children just took cans of corn and mandarin oranges to school.  It was also Teacher Appreciation week and I was completely unprepared for that as well.  Each day, the kids were supposed to take a specific little something as their “thank you” offering to their teachers.  I finally got my act together around Wednesday.  It may have been delayed, but by Friday I was all caught up with my appreciation.  Which was really good because Saturday we had Adventurers Investiture.  This sounds really big and impressive, but mainly it just means that the kids get all of the little patches representing the awards they have worked on all year and they get their little pins indicating that they have completed the next level of their Adventuring.  It also usually includes me saying some things about the kids and typically, I cry.  This year, I feel like I held it together really well, mainly because there weren’t any kids graduating out.  As much as I complain here at home about being the Adventurers Leader, I sure get attached to those kids.

My view of my Adventurers

The Busy Bee class of 2016…..and Livie

We went home and I changed into pajama-esque clothing and officially started my summer vacation.  The kids don’t get out for another 2 weeks, but I’m starting early. While at the grocery store yesterday, I stood in the cereal aisle with Mattie and Lila trying to figure out something they would eat.  After eating cereal for breakfast almost every school day since she has been attending, Mattie has officially given up breakfast cereal and it didn’t take much coaxing to bring her brother along with her.  They never seem to know what they actually want for breakfast, but they are 110% certain that they do NOT want cereal.  That is until yesterday when I saw that the gigantic, Family size box of Frosted Flakes was crazily marked about $3 less than it normally is.  Fact is, all of the smaller boxes were a good dollar more.  And when I was checking through my Kroger on-line coupons, I saw that there was one for $1 off Frosted Flakes.  It made them practically free! And because I am already on vacation time, I went ahead and bought them.  Normally, I don’t get the sugary cereals. Not because I don’t like them, I LOVE them! But, I feel like if I have the opportunity to pick slightly healthier options, it would probably be a good parenting choice to do so.  This might explain why my kids have given up cereal.  Anyway, the kids were thrilled and were super happy about eating this morning. Sorry teachers……..but at least they are fed.

Mother’s Day has seemed to lend itself nicely as a “gateway holiday” for starting my lower key lifestyle.  My family treated me especially lovely on Sunday.  I was allowed to sleep in, which is always fantastic.  Nobody came up and asked me if I was awake or told me that they were hungry.  They did seem to be playing a very enthusiastic game of Twister or something downstairs, which did not exactly make for a quiet, graceful awakening…….but its something.  Brandon make us a delicious breakfast and then I just sat in my chair, not lifting a finger, while Mattie Belle cleaned up and Lila pretended to do my hair.  She’s a lot bossier than Ms. Nan is and uses some unconventional tools, like toy cars and a rolling-pin, but it’s suprisingly relaxing.

Like so many other Sundays, there were soccer games.  But unlike so many of my recent Sundays, I have been able to actually be there for those games.  I have missed being a soccer mom and I loved spending that snippet of time with my fellow soccer ladies and dads.

And then we went on an adventure downtown.

I had seen somewhere that this weekend would be the Urban Barn Market at the Woodruff-Fontaine House, which is a fabulous old mansion that is now a museum.  Fun fact, it was originally built for a mere $40,000 back in 1871 on what was then known as Millionaires Row.  I like local artists and barns and markets, so I asked Brandon if he would take me…….and the kids.  We had no real expectations, but it wasn’t at all what I was expecting.  The kids had a surprisingly pleasant time rummaging around through old spindles and vintage furniture.  They played for a good 15 minutes on an old school desk with a map of Pennsylvania modge-podged across the top.  The house itself was incredible and though we were only allowed to poke through the first floor, the kids thought it was just the coolest thing ever. Mattie got to buy a box of macaroons and Reese saw his first ever tandem bike.  Lila had other plans for her day and could hardly stand to be seen with us……two out of three isn’t bad though.  P.S – she is still adjusting to her life with siblings.  Turns out she really wasn’t kidding when she said she didn’t miss her family back when we were at Mumsey’s house.

We ended our day with dinner in a fun part of town called Overton Square.  There is a huge area dedicated just to the game of corn hole and Lila loved the outdoor stage, where she finally happied up a bit when she was allowed to perform.  We journeyed home with full bellies, a new end table and a bouquet of cotton.

Happy Mother’s Day from the Three Kings of Memphis

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday in May.