Happily ever after Prom

Once Upon a time..... About a week ago.....There was a young maiden who waited and watched out the window for her young man to arrive so he could take her to his house to watch the Office and then go to a play. She waited and waited and was almost ready to give up, so she took herself to her room to rest.

(forgive me young daughter, I could not resist this pic)

Like I said, the wait was long, she was resting and everyone in the house was busying themselves with various activities when out on the lawn a trumpet sounded. It sounded as if it was announcing the arrival of royalty. Everyone was quite puzzled. So everyone had to come see what all the noise was about.

At the frontdoor stood a footman of sorts and he began to read his proclamation....
"Hear ye, Hear ye...
By the order of the Prince of Richland, all fair maidens, are requested to come forward and try on the royal shoe! The maiden who matches the royal shoe will please accompany the Prince to Live--slashed out Live---dance Happily Ever After......


Everyone was puzzled and then quite excited to try on this royal shoe. The house was full of young maidens and their mother, and a visting little boy. One by one the maidens lined up on the bench. The shoe was presented to each young lady--with the exception of one young maiden that could rival the future wearer of that coveted shoe.



For the first young maiden it was way too big, the second was a closer fit and yet it was still too big. For the 3rd young maiden, it ALMOST fit but yet still too big.

Before the last young maiden could try on the shoe, the other daughters told the mother She should try it on. It was a tempting offer and she jumped on it before her last daughter tried it on. The opportunity to possibly escape all the fair young maidens for a night was almost a dream come true. Besides, her Prince Charming was not as young as he use to be :) Alas, it did not fit the mother either, it was too small.

Finally, the oldest daughter had her chance to try on the shoe and it was just right. The father was turned into a hard hat when he tried to protest.

The shoe fit so now it was time to prepare for the Prom......As the footman and Prince were about to leave the rival wearer of the shoe showed up but it was too late. The Friendly woodland creatures witnessed the event and approved with much quacking.

The Fair Maiden, wearer of the shoe, was prepared for the dance by her Goofy Real Sister. Unfortunate for the Fair maiden because yes, they are related. Instead of singing a silly song and creating magic with a wand she worked her magic with a montage of very silly faces.

Besides the hair the Goofy Real sister also did the fingernails and toenails. Those fancy toenails are fake. The Fair maiden lost both of her toenails from a pair of past ill fitting shoes.


Goofy Real Sister was not alone in her preparation of the Fair Maiden, instead of mice working on her dress, The Bestest Mommy in the Whole Wide World added fabric to the back and sleeves and hand sewed 6 sets of appliqued flowers to her dress. The best magic was the back of dress was not attached with thread. It is a separate piece connected to the dress with adhesive velcro.....oooooooooh

So the fair maiden was beautified beautifully. She also had a little help with Auntie Devvy Cookie Lee. Those crazy eyelashes are not fake. They are hers.

So fair maiden was ready for the Arrival of Prince Rich. (his last name is Rich, okay)

He arrived and was still preparing for the magical night with another Prince.

The royal exchanging of the flowers commenced.

Properly flowered up, many pictures were taken by all. The paparazzi-otherwise known as The Bestest Mommy in the Whole Wide World, King Rich, Queen Rich and 2 of the younger fair maidens-kept taking pictures...Exhausting them before they left to take more pictures in the park to begin their night.

And Hopefully they pictured, ate and danced Happily Ever After at the Happily Ever After Prom....

They arrived very promptly before the curfew they were given. They ate great food, had fun at the dance and Amber did not loose her shoe at the dance but she did loose a fake toenail. It was too gross for the Prince to attempt to find and recover. Hopefully that does not arrive by another Prince on a pillow in the future. EWWWWW

They had a happy night.

The End....

Look who's driving now!

I haven't taken any pictures but now I realize I should have. Ms. Sassy britches passed her driving test and written test with flying colors! She is a licensed 16 year old driver and boy was she ever driven to get it. She made her own appointment with the guy that she had to test with and just took care of business. Now I don't have to drive with her anymore but I sure do fret when she is out. Ugh. She has been very possessive over Senor Fuego Nada Peso. She has groomed the car inside and out. The car has a smell but in every other way it is 100 times better than the KIA or otherwise known as Asco. I don't get why Amber thought she had to keep that car. The KIA does have air conditioning and Senor Fuego Nada Peso does not. Only drawback so far.

Lee Joe informed me later last night that he was going to Seattle this morning. He is assembling something and could be gone all week. That meant he wasn't here to take the kids shopping but guess what? Teenagers with a license and jobs can take of things themselves now. I don't have to drive them there and sit in the car like I did one year. So we will see what tomorrow brings.

On Friday we heard a trumpet in our front lawn like you would hear to announce the arrival of royalty and then there was a knock at the door. At the door was a footman of sorts announcing the arrival of a prince (This is a true story-I am serious) And he had a shoe that he needed to try on every fair maiden in the house. The girls lined up on our bench outside-Kelsea was off on her own adventures so missed out- (Lucky Kelsea wasn't there, she wears the same size) the girls told me I had to try it on. Amber was the one that fit the shoe and she was asked to the Happily Ever After Prom. She accepted. Her boyfriend had her shoe on a pink pillow. I gave the shoe to them, then they gave Amber the pillow. He was dressed in a prince costume and his younger brother was the Footman announcing the trying on of the shoe and his dad(our doctor) played the trumpet. Pretty cute and funny. I have pictures!! I will post them later. I am not going to post them on Facebook. He asked us not to. I have been altering a dress for Amber to wear to prom. It is such a pretty dress!

I had something else to say but I don't remember and I have piles of clean laundry on my bed still.

The naming of a car

One of the funniest parts of the trip home was the naming of the new car. Amber named our KIA Asco or Osco-(Spanish I don't know how to spell it) Which is Spanish for disgusting. The new car's name was discussed with much humor on the way home. Many laughs were shared between the 2 oldest and Lee Joe and I had to put in our two cents-mine was more like a peso. So the car is now newly named "Senor Fuego Nada Peso AHHHHHHHHHH" The ahh part is Kelsea's bit, you have to hear her say it and she said it has to spelled with 10 H's. Pretty silly but the Senor Fuego Nada Peso is sure fun to say :)

Here is couple of Miscellaneous bits--

I went to my sinus doctor and the neurologist yesterday. The sinus doctor felt some things were looking better even though my temp was over 100 and I was still having sinus pain and residual head pain from the headaches I had this weekend. I am using some famtastic allergy sinus spray. It works so good. Everything is in bloom and I can breathe and I barely sneeze. That stuff is called Veramyst. I went to the neurologist. He says it sounds like I am having some migraines that are kind of overreactive as he put it "we need to put out the fires because you are having some serious inflammation going on" So he put me on an antidepressant that also works for chronic pain. Then he is putting me Prednisone again for a week and on a high dose-7 pills in one day to 1 pill the last. I will wait for Saturday to start that. And then he gave me several samples of some designer drugs for my headaches. My sister takes one of them and I think it works for her so I hope something will work. He wanted to do an MRI as well. I found out my insurance still may not cover it. I might have to wait until December. That just ticks me off. Maybe if I had gone to the ER they would cover it.

A Friend of mine at the school had a pretty bad accident on Monday. She was putting one of the cafeteria tables up into the wall and it didn't latch and the two tables fell on her. She had turned around and didn't know it was coming and totally knocked her to the ground unconcious for few seconds. I came into the school from the crosswalk and the principal and the secretary were running into the gym and I went in there and she was on the floor. An ambulance was called. Her daughter is Autumn's age and she was brought in to see mom. We told my friend not to move. I was the one that was going to take her to the hospital but instead at the last minute she went to the hospital in the ambulance and her daughter got to go with her. Everyone was worried about head trauma. She found out today she has a broken arm. She is so bruised. It was very scary. But she is OK.

I have found my Dad's family on Facebook. I am excited because now I am friends with 3 of my Aunts and 4 of my cousins. 2 of them I haven't seen since I was 4 but one of them remembers me. I found out through my Aunts that my dad moved to Wisconsin. So you think I heard about it from him? No. I have no idea how long they have been there. My step mom is a piece of work. But I looked them up on the internet and I am pretty sure I have found their address and phone number. HA HA HA HA HA!!! She can't get rid of me that easy! But I am pretty sad about it really. But I will get over it like I have gotten over the past 30 something years. It is getting better-or at least a little easier to understand. I just know it will always be like this and I have had some good moments and that is all they are- are moments with my dad I will have to come to peace with that and I think I can.

So on that sad note--say out loud "Senor Fuego Nada Peso" (you can say the AHHHHHHHHHH if you want to)

Safely Home

First of all, I made a promise to post a picture of my office in what I consider a clean state. Yes that is clean. Here is the reminder that it can be that way and I enjoy being here more when it is that way. Now that I have gotten that off my chest...onward to this past weekend


This week was a crazy nutty week. It was tough at work everyday and the evenings were not much better until I took Friday off and took it easy while I cleaned. Yes, I was able to do both. It was great. The big finale concert of the year took place Friday night. We almost had 4 kids in the concert but there were no Bass clarinet parts for Amber in any of the pieces that the High School orchestra played and sophomores were not required to play so Kelsea opted out. Kylee and Autumn were it. In the Elementary Honor Choir together.


We have been attending this concert every year since Amber was in 5th grade and in the Elementary Honor Choir as well. It was a big switch to have Amber and Kelsea sitting with me along with Hannah. They remided me of the days when they were 4 and 2. Seriously obnoxious!!!! Hannah was completely well behaved and I threaten those two over and over. The crazy part was Kelsea had played 10 tennis matches that day--Yes TEN . I like Yes today. Apparently either playing 10 tennis matches didn't phaze her or she was hysterically over tired.

This is the huge amount of kids that performed in the concert Friday. By the way--This is where Amber's graduation will be held.


We drove to Utah on Saturday morning. We left a little late but we have NEVER traveled anywhere here where it rained the entire trip. That is what it did. Rained and POURED and rained and rained. My car has more and more issues. The passenger side window has decided it doesn't work anymore. WHen it quit it was not quite up all the way. There was a sliver of window open. Just enough to make it quite noisy while traveling and every now and then get splashed with water. And the left blinker still doesn't like to work all the time. Blah. So because of the rain and I also had another really horrible headache. Talk about torture. We almost ran out of gas because Lee Joe thought Snowville was closer than it was so we made a couple more stops than we would have made. Then we took the wrong exit so went the long to the church. We missed the baptisms. But the girls and Lee Joe heard part of one confimation and all of the other and he was able to give the closing prayer even though nobody was in their Sunday clothes for it. It was take us as we are kind of thing. I was in the car trying to cope with my headache some more.

We made it to the temple on time. That was the first time I have been in the Salt Lake Temple. The beautiful part was when Molly and Allan came out of the temple it stopped raining. And it was beautiful and you would have never known that it had been raining only minutes before so I got some good pictures. Devanie took many more than I did and hopefully she will get a chance to post some.


Clearing skies finally for some great pictures!!! Molly and her family



All the girls in the Tabernacle. Amber and Kelsea super posing. The bench was super wet. I loved how all the trees were in bloom and there were tulips everywhere. I just love tulips.

Autumn and Hailey.....Sierra's back

I played with these two pictures on Picasa

I liked this picture except you can't quite get away from the construction of all the new high rises they are putting up.

So our ride home it was calm for awhile. Then we hit a pretty nasty storm. Then it would clear up and then every storm we would hit got worse and worse with pretty sunny spells inbetween. I put my sunglasses on and took them off over and over. The most intense storm seem to be the one hitting Boise as we got back to town. Or maybe I felt that way because I was the one driving. The wind was incredibly bad and the rain fell like it does in Texas. Like someone just unzipped a cloud. But we are home and the sky is pretty here once again. After waking with the headache again this morning I am now headache free and that is a beautiful thing!!!

ack ugh and blah

I went to the chiropractor yesterday. My neck is starting to feel like flesh and my back included was starting to feel less like an exoskeleton and more like some relaxed muscle but I think I undid all that in two days. Two crazy days at work and I have a neck spasm but I also have tendonitis in my shoulder that flares up in the morning when I wake up with fury. In the past two days we had a grandma threaten to sue the school because we had to send the granddaughter home for the 2nd time with head lice. Grandma says "she doesn't have headlice" and the evidence is more than 7 bugs taped to the paper. We had the most volatile child in the school ready to explode yesterday and he really did it today. The child should be suspended but they just put with him " you should expel everybody on the playground over there or I am going to kill them all" from the mouth of a 4th grader. Today he punched a girl several times because she pinched him for not listening to her telling him to stop harrassing another student. On and On and to finish the day some kid put a bead in his ear. He tells us there is something in there but he really doesn't know how it got there because he didn't do it. HE DIDN'T DO IT REALLY--he says. Some gal I work with won't leave my desk and computer alone. And yeah it goes on and on. With the PE teacher almost running me down in the crosswalk to end the day. I hope tomorrow is better, I am taking Friday off. Someone said there is only 5 weeks left so vacation sounds great!! At least I get one. That is the light that I will chase. To bed I go. I was headed there 30 minutes ago.

picture montage

I should be making dinner...

This kind of sums up how things were when I picked the girls up on Sunday. Amber caught in the middle and her boyfriend being highly ticked at her sister.

This one was just was too cute of the two of them. This is at the Santa Monica pier.

Kelsea had to hold these poses for a long time to get these pics. I laugh so hard every time I see them. Top one is California Screamin at California adventure. The bottom--well I am sure you can read :)

Internet down!!!

I was without internet since Thursday night. You would have thought that the outside world disappeared. But it is only Saturday morning and after the quest guy came I am hooked up again before 10 am. That put me in a long overdue cleaning frenzy-even after a long week and how tired I already was. I WILL post pics and I might need to take one to print and hang in the office to show how it should look. But I cheated. The paper trail is now in one box and I still need to go through it. anyways.......

My oldest 2 are having a blast in California. I wish every time I talk to them that I could have gone. But it is really good for them to have that time with friends. Before Kelsea left she was kissed on the cheek by a boy. And at Disneyland another one tried real hard to hold her hand and then she ditched him for that and then the Quiznos guy told her she had nice eyes and that was in a 24 hour period. Amber has been with her boyfriends nonstop. His parents are chaperones so no worries there. There was a Hugh Jackman sighting. But my girls were not the ones to spot him and I guess he just got his handprints in the whatever place that is and Amber at least saw the freshly imprinted cement. They went to the Santa Monica pier and walked on the beach. I think there was an attempt at Kelsea double dating with a boy on the trip with Amber and her boyfriend. They are back at Disneyland today all day until 10 and then they make their way home.

Now I need to get off this balsted computer and finish all the awesomeness I started last night.

TOMORROW

The sun is already out so we are OK there. But Amber and Kelsea are off to Disneyland tomorrow. Yes, I want to stow away and go too---for free---because it cost enough to get them on this trip and enough to make sure they are nourished and have a little fun too. Amber has her spending money. Kelsea has had a harder time. But she will have some. I have to go back to work.....But I'm wishing.....Wishing.... for a trip away....to somewhere.....somewhere....lots of fun!!!

The ups and downs

Here is a mixed feeling item: Amber got her graduation announcements today. If I make her responsible they might get sent out. BUT that means the end is near that my first born will be done with school and out in the real world but that real world will still be at home. We aren't sending her away the way her boyfriend's family is sending him almost the minute he finishes school. Anyways they are nice and I still have to pay for her senior pictures. I have the proofs I just need to order our copies but it will happen soon.

I am fighting that stupid thing I that afficts me way too often. I have missed the past 2 days of work from it. I am frustrated and have done nothing but sleep. I get rid of it only to have it come back at 4 in the morning. The sinus doctor isn't helping much. I am waiting to see the neurologist on the 5th and I was fed up still yet again and went to a chiropractor that is also an acupuncturist. She was amazed at how tense all my back muscles and neck muscles are and says that my sinuses are really bad but of course it can't all get resolved in one visit. Hence the headache revisiting today. My back and neck feel better. She said it is like a sinus migraine flu and that describes what I feel perfectly. Add a little anemia and you wind up feeling like a beat up puny little pile of sleepy mush. I am desperate for pain relief and am frustrated with the lack of help in that department. I should cry and make more noise about it I guess at the doctor's office. Hopefully I will be better tomorrow. I feel better now but that didn't make a difference last night leading into today. So I will stop complaining--

On to the other up---My grandfather's visit was great. He is so funny. Only he can come from a trip from Alaska and have a near miss with a buffalo herd in Canada and hit a snowbank with his car. His car was in the shop while he was here getting a paint job. But he offered us this other car he has in Washington. I guess it is a 96 Dodge Neon. We just need to go pick it up when the snow melts a little more. Kelsea can get her driver's license now so it is perfect timing. Can't beat a free car. He was so excited to give it to us. He is so good about remembering birthdays. It is crazy his memory. He has been calling all the kids and me on our birthdays. And there are so many besides us. Someone asks him why he doesn't write it down and he says it he would just loose the thing he would write it down on.

Easter was nice. Grandpa and my mom were over for dinner. We still miss my sister and her family. It is always so quiet. But it was a very laid back day otherwise and the weather was beautiful. Grandpa brought his dog Bitsy. She was very attached to grandpa and he was attached to that dog too. We know where get all our pet lovin from.

Other than that--Amber and Kelsea go to Ananhiem next week for their music department trip. I wish I could go.....

random pics

Blogger is having issues while I try upload a few more pictures. Anyways, I took pictures at the girls tennis matches on Tuesday. I was so impressed with my camera-finally. It seems to get better at picture taking the more I use it. I am pretty sure it is not just me. I took great pictures with Melissa's camera that is the same brand and now this one is starting to behave like hers. What I was trying to show was that the coolest part in this pic is seeing the tennis ball so clearly. So I will to post more pics a little later. Amber's movement is not blurry either. Hooray for great action shots!

The drawback of the girls being on Varsity tennis is the coaches(all guys) I guess, pick the uniforms for the year. This year the dress barely covered Amber and Kelsea's butts and they have "cleavage" whether or not they have any. Ridiculous. My girls are funny. Amber wore her guy shorts under her dress and Kelsea wore long spandex shorts. And they usually wear some sort of under tank top underneath. By the way-Amber won her singles match. It lasted so long and she was so tired. She wins with consistency even she practically hits it back to her opponent everytime. Eventually they will mess up and that is how she won. Kelsea won her doubles match this day.

This is near dowtown Boise. I love the skyline pictures too.
I totally love the town we live in!

Fun on the tramp

Icing on the grumpy cake

Here is the icing on that grumpy thing I have going on about and may sum up my frustration and why I resist going on and on about the source of my grumpiness. It takes A LOT to make me loose it. But I shall NOT restrain myself no more! This morning, my husband, The grown man of the house! was dumping his boots on the front door mat just outside the front door. Why he couldn't reach one foot over and dump it in the rocks just off the front porch is beyond reason. And WHY he sees NOTHING wrong in this practice and WHY he thinks I am UNREASONABLE to ask him not to do such a thing when the wood floor is already ruined and covered in sandy dirt all the time-yes he makes a living that way and yes I show restraint in expressing my frustration at this. But PUHLEEESEEEE-who is being unreasonable. He never cleans up any of the dirt unless it is an obvious trail of large dirt clods from one end of the house to the other. I don't even have a decent vacuum and somebody tell me who hid the stinking BROOM!!!! Ok don't anybody comment defending on his behalf. If I piled HIS random stuff I find everywhere, which amounts to more than the 3 oldest leave around here-but in competition with the youngest, it would amount to a mountain. I am glad he is making money even though I never know when I can pay anything. All I can say is the Lay family ability to clean does not exist. I am not sure if I can take it anymore. OK I can breathe again-for right now. until I find that last straw, or sock, or shoes. I shall carry on, with my basket of his abandoned items. Have you seen my muscles lately? I hope I didn't harm your hearing(or eye sight) with my rant.

Sunny yet grumpy

I am seriously grumpy. Could be the weird night sleep, Monday and a bunch of other stress getting to me. I could be much more positive and say "hey, I am so seriously thankful for 3 days of great weather after the blizzard misery that was Friday." I would have enjoyed being home looking out the window and saying "Man, look at that." But I was outside during the worst of it blowing me and all the poor little kids outside. I guess we could of said go in because no one was prepared for winter, it WAS suppose to rain. I was dressed for rain. The wind chill was 24 degrees ---not at the school(it had to be colder). The kids were huddling in corners with their ice creams-silly kids-and their popcorn-the school sells that on Fridays. We did let the last two grades go in but I was done being outside by then. But I am thankful for my paycheck because that has saved us the past few months and for the insurance. I am also thankful for the laptop I just got from cleaning a storage closet. I was told I could have it because it had been in there so long. I almost shook from containing the disbelief and excitement because I have been wanting a laptop for SOOO long. It works great even though it has all the school software on it and the battery is shot. Those things, I hope, can be fixed and I can still live with it in the meantime.

Somehow we scrounged up $900 for the 2 oldest to go on their Anahiem trip with the music department. It took rolling coins-about $48 worth and pulling out some unused lunch money from their lunch accounts-about $50. Amber has worked a bunch and Kelsea has babysat, grandma helped and the other grandma let Kelsea do a bunch of chores. I had to come up with $230.00 in the end and now we need to find money for them to eat and do whatever with when they go on the 22nd. Amber might have more paychecks and she has $75.00 coming for talking about fries for 2 hours. I would have done that! Kelsea will probably get to babysit a few times before she goes. Anyways, they will get to go now with their buddies. Going to Disneyland with my friends in high school is one of my favorite high school memories.

Yeah, I have spring fever. I want to be home doing something else all week. Oh well.

Spring Break is over.

So we are back into the swing of things like it or not. I like it not. I liked it at home. But the weather was pretty crappy all week. So not much happened. And of course it was sunny today but very chilly with the wind. We had a rather nasty storm blow in Saturday night and the wind howled all day Sunday. My mom's patio umbrella blew away to who knows where. I was afraid my gazebo would blow into into my family room window but it didn't.

We had company last night. Thomas and Randa came over. My kids were somewhat obnoxious-aftermath of being home all week together.

Since Janika asked-I read a book called "The Help" It takes place in Mississippi in the 60s it was a pretty Ok book. It was well written. But the books I love to read are by Maeve Binchy. She is from Ireland and I read and love anything by her. The latest book I read called Heart and Soul linked a bunch of characters together from her other books and I loved that. Now I want to go back and read her other books again So I can remember all the other stories. One of her books Tara Road was and Oprah book club pick but I was reading her books long before that. Some of her other books are Quentins, Scarlet Feather, Circle of Friends-that was a movie with Minnie Driver and Chris O'Donnell. There is so much by her I can't remember them all. I can't think of one I didn't like.

I haven't posted pictures here yet but I did put some on Facebook. I will try to get this updated soon. I have been a little out of it even though I was home for a week. I didn't get much accomplished. My back had issues for 3 days. I did visit a friend with all the kids and they all played. That was nice. I invited Amber's boyfriends family to the zoo with us and she(the mom) invited someone else and her kids along and I came home wishing we went on our own instead. Long story I don't care to revisit right here now. Little of my social phobia showing itself. I found out my brother has been in jail for a month and my mom isn't doing that great health wise. She is OK just not great. It was an interesting week and I still have a moutain of clean laundry in my downstairs bathroom and a broken handle on the toilet upstairs. I guess I should go to Home Depot tonight so we can flush the toilet like a normal family with indoor plumbing. Ahh the little things. It is time for me to write my own book :)

Happy and other...

The best news came today!! We knew a week or 2 ago that Amber got into to Boise State University. But we kind of figured that would happen. I was waiting for scholarship and grant news. We got that today. She got $500.00 scholarship for the school year-a $3000 scholarship for the school year and $2010 scholarship for the school year from the engineering school. And she got over $5300.00 in pell grant money. They look like they can be renewable for each year she is there. We will have to find out about that. There could be more still. Those were just from BSU. I need to talk to my sister and see how much that might cover for the year since she just graduated from BSU last year.

I went back to my sinus doctor today and he has referred me to a neurologist for my headaches. The bad news there is that I will have to wait until May before I can get in but that might help me not have to wait until Dec like the sinus doctor is trying to do so my insurance will cover it. So it could be helpful. I just want to do something now and not go through another month of this headache crap while trying to work.

I am miserable. I have been so stressed that my left shoulder blade is in a serious spasm. I can barely move and it hurts to breathe but I got to read a book yesterday but it is killing my get busy time during spring break. But that is a typical issue I have been having with time off. Oh well. I have actually read 2 books in a week. That is amazing for me. That is some good down time for myself. I guess I will take it. I am ready for that hot pad again.

Funny little secret

I have a funny little secret. The copier machine was jammed the other day. I was helping someone else because I have been able to fix it when I spend enough time working on it. I happen to forget about a convenient little door for pulling out the paper when it is stuck. Instead I reached behind the drawer where the paper is stored. I have really big hands my hand barely fit in to reach the paper. I got the paper but my hand would not come out. I was stuck and my hand would not pull through the largest gap. All of a sudden I started imagining how silly it would be to have to tell people in the faculty room that I was stuck there. And further imagined people trying to find ways to get the drawer released to let go of my hand. All of that was too much to imagine so I pulled my hand out and ignored the pain as best I could to spare myself a ton of embarrassment. So a scratch up my palm and bruised up the back side of my hand I have spared my pride and am able to go on about my business :) It took me until a week later to admit to anyone how I got myself stuck in that predicament.

Happy Birthday Autumn!

We are having a birthday weekend as we try to relax and catch-up on long neglected chores this weekend. That is kind of impossible to do together kind of thing isn't it? Laundry Laundry Laundry.

I will post loads of pics -I hope- this week and give a proper tribute to my two March girls.

Time change...Blech....

Who's having a hard time with the time change? Raise your hand if you are. Can you see my hand waving frantically? Week 2 and I am still a sleepy, tired, mess. I have not blogged. I did have a daughter turn sweet 16 this weekend.

Kelsea is a 16 year old now. She will be able to get her license next month. It is all so very scary! I would love to do a nice Kelsea tribute but I need to have thoughts in order to say something. And I need to stop being so dyslexic with my typing.

Both girls were gone until late Saturday evening at Lewiston. They both won the first day they scrimmaged. I told everyone about that. Day 2 Amber won, lost, lost Day 3 was win win. Kelsea was loss loss win and Day 3 was win win.

We had a family thing for Kelsea on Sunday. She got a new dress and jacket. She got a car--I love this one-It is the Matchbox brand. She got an itunes card, an orange purse, some scrapbook paper and a striped sweater and a triple barrel curling iron. She might be having a friend party this weekend. Autumn's birthday is Saturday. We get to party some more but no friend party for her this year.

The BEST part about this weekend is my car passed the emissions test and were able to get my car registered. It didn't cost us anything to fix the car.

In general though things have calmed down but we have not caught up on anything. Maybe we will during spring break next week but I may be enjoying down time too much to care but I hope not. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE at the school is ready for next week. I am sure it will go by too fast.

So I continue to be exhausted... without much more to say... Yep....Taking a little snooze soon sounds good to me......

Life so far...

So this week has been loooong. I don't like this time change and this early. It has been so cold. I have been cold all week long. But it is sunny the past 2 days and that is nice.

Amber and the boyfriend have worked things out I guess and things have been fine. Amber finished her Young Womens stuff On Tuesday. She was recognized for that on Weds at the stake standards night. But the bummer part on that was she was stuck in Caldwell playing in her first tennis match of the season. She won her match but didn't make it back until the end of the meeting so she was mentioned but not there for that part. She got there in time to play the piano for the closing song. She looked like she just got done playing tennis with a skirt on.

Kelsea lost her singles match on weds but won her doubles. Amber and Kelsea left for Lewiston this morning for tennis. They scrimmaged today. They both won. I guess Kelsea played this really good girl. And she was behind like 2-5 and came back and got all the way up to 8-8 and then she had to win by two so it was a crazy long match. I really don't know that much about tennis and how it scores. They will be back late on Saturday night. Kelsea will be the BIG !!16!!! on Sunday! We are in so much trouble, man. Ugh.

For me--my house is a complete nightmare but we made a dent in it tonight. I have been so tired from the time change. And here I am. But I took a nap today when I got home. We did Kindergarten registration today so I worked late. Yep, things are dull ---finally! Dull is good sometimes. I look forward to a reduction in teenagers this weekend. AND a Saturday without anything on it!! Can you see my happy dance?

Happy!

Guess where I have to be tonight? Nowhere!!! Happy day. I think I will take a nap since the time change is kicking my fanny.

Toughest call

Saturday was a long drawn out day. Dress rehearsal for honor choir first thing, Taxes were to done-we don't so them ourselves but the paperwork trail is enormous, a basketball game that required a clothing change in the car on the way there because it was close timing, then a basketball party that became a 2 hour thing but it was cute. The kids got to make their own pizzas. Then I had a couple hours before we got ready for the concert and went to it. Lee Joe was late like he always is but he was visiting with his Uncle Jared at a basketball game in Nampa. After the concert Amber and her friend wanted to do something nice for the boyfriend since his birthday was Monday. But he was in a mood and didn't want them to do anything. Everyone was encouraging him and then his family and ours left the concert. Then things went sour. I knew he was in a mood and called Amber to see what was up. And then I got mad because I knew he was hurting Amber's feelings which she does not express and told him he needed to treat her better. Little did I know she got hurt before that. It was dumb teenager stuff with a volkswagon bug-his bad mood and persistent friends. But Amber came home in tears and in pain. He saw her get hurt and didn't respond right away. I was angry. I was hormonal too so I always 2nd guess myself and I knew his parents would be angrier. I wanted to call them but didn't. Lee Joe was a little more casual than I was. In the morning though I was still very upset. Then Lee Joe agreed with me in how I viewed things. Amber couldn't get up. She was in pain. I am sure depressed. She did come to church eventually. She came home and went back to bed. I debated on calling, then going to his ward to talk to his dad/bishop. I didn't. I came home and talked to my sister and my mother-in-law before I was able to make the call. It was hard to tell parents I respect of an otherwise usually very good young man, what their son did to my daughter. She was in disbelief, but so upset at her son as I knew she would be. I was near tears by the end of the call. He did get in a heap of trouble but it opened more doors of communication for him with his parents and an awareness that he needs some help. I know he is not prepared for graduating and then being sent off to BYU immediately after he graduates for the summer. I remember my senior year with my mom moving away the minute I graduated looming over my shoulders and I was very unstable during that time and I understand that. But I want my daughter to come home in the same condition that she left my house, while under his care. So he came over and was very apologetic to me and to Amber. I told him it is time for him to get some counseling and some help and he says he will. Where did Amber get her tender heart I wonder?

I get into this uncharted territory of being a parent, you hope to never find yourself there. I am trying to teach my daughter how to put herself above those she cares for. I am not the best example. To see your daughter hurt physically and emotionally that way is heart breaking. For my strong steadfast oldest daughter, to see her weakness in her caring for someone at her expense yet knowing this boy can come around- but should she hang on...... OK it is late and I am hormonal I will admit yet again but some of these parts of parenthood you will never be totally prepared for. You are never quite sure if you are doing the right thing. And sometimes you have to let your child follow the path they choose and they will have to learn things their way in their time.

Ummm

There isn't much to report except for the same things you already have heard. Yes, my daughter did hijack my blog and my facebook page. Yes, she did dress like cat woman at the dance. What a nut. That is what I get for being busy and catching brief moments here and there on the computer. This week was another ugh fest. Tonight is the only night I have had to do whatever and I need to be finding tax stuff. Taxes are getting done tomorrow. Guess what I am doing instead. PROCRASTINATOR!!!

What's new---Basketball will be over tomorrow-Hooray!! I wasn't sure I would make it and am still not sure about tomorrow. There is an Honor Choir concert and a game and a party. Last Saturday was nuts with stuff too. Amber and Kelsea tried out for Tennis and they both made Varsity even though Amber is in the process of loosing her toenails and couldn't really play. I am glad they are on the same team though. It saves me. Amber just got the letter saying that she is accepted to attend BSU in the fall. That is almost an anxiety causer--money money money. But I will get really excited for the scholarship letters. Amber had to go to the doctor again because her toes were looking like they were getting infected. From personal experience I put loosing your toenails on the pain scale right up there with kidney stones and childbirth.

Lee Joe is out of town and on his way home now. Oh!! The funniest thing ever. I was mad because Lee Joe wanted to take an ipod and he took mine. But he was tortured by my ipod. He said if he was stuck on a desert island by himself and my ipod, he would chuck it in the ocean. I don't think he will take that again. hahaha.

I was so nicely recuited to help maintain kids at the choir concert on Tuesday and then did a table of flashcards to kids at the math and science night at the school on Thursday. Needless to say I am a little tired of managing little people. I went to the miniature golf and arcade place last Saturday to pick up Autumn from a party. I was shocked at my surprise at not having kids run up to me "Mrs. Lay!! Mrs. Lay!!!" I am so ready for Spring break but everyone at the school is. And we get the time change on Sunday that will make Monday more of a challenge. 2 more weeks before spring break for us.

My quote of the week. A little girl told me after her long drawn out story about going to the doctor visit, that the doctor thinks she has The Walking Asthma. For sure he thinks she has The Walking Asthma. I asked her if she meant Walking Pneumonia. Yeah, that's it. Oh and sick people are EVERYWHERE!!! Pneumonia is everywhere. My kids have made it to school though for 2 full weeks. But it seems like some sort of cold is about to make it's 2nd visit. Someday I will post pictures again but right now I need to unbury my desk. Do I HAVE to?

KELSEA :D

i have decided to hack!!
well not really, mom just left her blog up so i decided i would write a little something.
SOOO....... My birthday is comming up and i just thought id let you all know so you can get my birthday presents in advanced.
;D haha, just kidding.

GUESS WHAT!?!?
the SND (saturday night dance) this saturday has a theme of superheros and i have decided to be.............................................CAT WOMAN!!! HAHAHA amber and i went to savers today and i got a leotard and this pair of like running tights thing and a jacket and a tennis skirt. it was fun.
I LOVE lemon pie. :D you wouldnt know what im talking about unless you live in my house.
but anyways im tired and its late and i have to wake up early!!!! :P
-mostlikley the only blog you will ever see from me
sorry if anithing iz spellded wronge i couldnnt cute ande paste two word document to checked my words wite or note.

Saddest thing ever

If you you are in our ward and have not heard I am sorry to bring this bad news. It is the saddest news ever. We had a young couple in our ward a while ago. He grew up in our ward and his family is still in our ward. His wife Tasche has died. I don't know details except for the very sad fact that she just gave birth to twin boys the beginning of this month. I found their blog and all sorts of pictures of the beautiful babies on Facebook. www.Keola-tasche.blogspot.com and look up Tasche Stone on Facebook. My heart goes out to Keola and his newborn boys. I will be praying for him and his family. Nothing is posted on there right now so I wouldn't comment on any of these sites.

Is it over?

I wish this week was over but we get another grand finale weekend to the craziest past few weeks. I won't even go over the schedule. Ridiculous. Anyway. The week is over and I survived it. Not sure how though. I am ready for a serious nap but can't get one yet. The hubby should be home sometime this evening- I hope. He has no cell phone coverage where he is right now. Hannah is catching up on the enormous homework load she has neglected. We managed to find all but one of her missing work and it was all unfinished. We had our last basketball practice last night (YES!!!) 6th grade girls are an interesting group to coach. They are so social beyond anything and like a bunch of pre-schoolers in their attention span. ACK> Their last games are tomorrow and a team get together. Autumn had another week added on to hers so next week is her last game.

I am trying not to think too much about tomorrow. I will think about my mom's late birthday thing for tonight and an early nights sleep.

I have ants all over in my downstairs bathroom darn it. Like I needed another thing to add to my list.

Headache

I had a couple of bad days with my dumb headache. I am seriously overwhelmed because it bearly brought me to tears today. But something I did at my lunch got rid of it by 1pm. Tuesday it was gone at 8pm and was much worse. But once the headache left it left a very vacant space in my brain and I can't think and I can't do math and it is amazing that this blog is coherent and the words aren't all a jumble and misspelled.

It is hard right now. Have I said that before? I am really hoping to be in bed by 10. I had several kids fall asleep when they got home today. So I hope that happens for me-early bed. I went to bed at midnight Monday night because there was so much to do. I went to bed at 11 last night. I went to a concert for Kelsea last night that I found out about on Monday. I haven't even looked in Hannah's backpack in days. I found out she has a bunch of missing math assignments from when she was sick. I just looked in it. It is just FULL of stuff. Ugh. I haven't been able to visit my mom yet for her birthday because we have all been to sick and now busy.

I better find out how neglectful of a mom I have been with my little first grader. !!!13!!!! missing math assignments!!!!! I am hunting high and low for them now. So much for early bedtime.

Random

I am going to do my mini post that could become long. I really need to be doing something else but everyone is gone right now. That never happens. I don't have to fight for computer time.

I love Dr. Pepper. I don't like many sodas but Dr. Pepper is my favorite. I like it at McDonald's because they usually have a good mix. Today they goofed up my soda. I would drink Diet Dr. Pepper but I have a reaction to the sugar substitute and it makes my mouth swollen and sore. Darn that. It would be helpful to reduce calorie intake but it is not worth the sore mouth problem. Oh well. So now I have a soda I was looking forward to that I can't drink. It was too late to turn around and straighten it out.

The hubby is gone to Nevada again. I get to do the single mom thing again this week and it is another full one. But as of this weekend 6th grade basketball will done. 5th grade runs another week. I am still trying to shake this cold. I don't have the full blown nasty thing the girls have had but I still keep losing my voice and cough a lot.

The last thing. Amber's boyfriend had to get rid of his Facebook. His mom doesn't understand or want to. The mom has not been paying attention for months. He is having an interesting time right now. She was so sad it was almost like they broke-up. They didn't but she was very upset.

Anyways that is the run down for the moment. I need to clean something or pay something or find some dinner and do about a million other things other than this.

A week!!

A week has slipped by without a blog from me. Wow. I guess it spared everyone the run down of more sick people's status but I am never one to spare the memories. Yes-Autumn caught the crud. She started Weds night. She ran fevers everyday through Monday. I took her to the dr and recapped Kelsea's antibiotic and pneumonia run down and said Augmentin worked for her please give it to Autumn too. So they did. She also has a pretty good ear infection to go with it. She did make it back to school all day today. She is getting better a little faster than the first 3. Kelsea went to the Doctor this week and they said her pneumonia looks really good for as soon as it has been since she has had it. But she is still improving. I caught the cold, I have felt yuckier and yuckier. I have worked and when I get home I am worthless. I have had a really yucky voice or soft and raspy. Blah.

Devanie came Sunday afternoon. Then Randa came a few hours later. We had Amber's boyfriend over for dinner with the crew. Then that night was rough. We had Autumn up at like 3 from a coughing fit. Sierra was sleeping in Kylee's room which must have been 90 degrees from the 4 kids sleeping in that tiny room. So Sierra threw up at 6:30. We took care of her, poor thing. Then at 7 Zach paid us peek in visit and then went to play somewhere else. I took Autumn to the Doctor. The kids went to the park, we saw Marley and Me. A bunch of us cried in the end. But Devanie doesn't know much about the movie because she took the little ones to the car to settle down and watch a DVD. We went to dinner at Golden Corral. We came home finally and the kids played. Randa left back to Nevada. Lee Joe and Kelsea went to see Amber working at the frozen yogurt place she is working at now. While they were gone they missed a classic sick kid moment. Little Zach ran up the stairs to tell us he was going to Throw up. And he did a little. Then he did a bunch and some more and more. I think that little guy had a gallon in him. It was a 4 towel job. Devanie and I did our best not to repeat what he just did trying to clean the floor and him up. Then he felt better. We gave him a bowl. The next day before bed he wanted another bowl. He didn't throw up but he stood in it then crouched down and said it was his egg and he was a birdie and the bowl went everywhere with him. He slept with it too. I think that blue bowl gave him comfort like a blanket. I felt bad because she was able to stay 2 more days but we all had to go to school. Lee Joe had to go back to work. But Autumn stayed home those 2 days. Devanie helped me out so much by being there and the kids got some time with at least one cousin during the day. I would have let Hannah stay but she has missed several days already and she is the only one who hasn't gotten this particular crud yet. Hopefully she doesn't but is she does there are more missed days to come. I REALLY REALLY hope Devanie and her kids didn't bring it home with them. Thanks for coming Dev!! Sorry it wasn't something more exciting.

I suppose the most exciting about the week is that I got a hircut yesterday. It was really long again and now it is above my shoulders. All the kids at the school were so cute. "you got your haircut! I really like it!" I heard that a lot. ANd the sdults were complimenting me too. But my husband made a face when he saw me and said "It's too short." He has never learned tact. Oh well.

Guess what

So someone is following my blog. She lives in my house and has red hair. One of the links is carrot tops are green. That's funny. But the title of her blog is "Save the redheads! They are almost extinct."

Today I went to work at 8 and came home before noon. That was cool. I don't have to be back until Tuesday. That is cooler.

I got some serious laundry and house cleaning done. The kids have been cleaning their rooms. I have more to do though. And loads and loads of other laundry to catch up on. I did get woken up last night about 11:30 by the vacuum running. I told Kelsea to put that off until tomorrow and that did not mean in an hour. Then she had a horrible coughing fit at 2 am. She still is dealing with this crap.

Devanie will be here tomorrow. We are almost ready for a visit.

Autumn has the crud darn it. She has been running a fever for 2 days and a night. She is coughing. I thought we were done. More like hoping really really hard that it would finally go away.

Lee Joe brought me some roses and we went to dinner tonight. A little Valentines early. We had gift cards to Carraba's Italian Grill but I guess it is gone so after discovering that, the cards were good at Outback Steakhouse too so we went there. We had to steak dinners for $14.00-that was with the tip. How cool was that?

Misc...

Oh my gosh, I have never felt more tired so many days in a row. I have had so much on our schedule that I have had no time to rest really. Here I am blogging. But there is no point in going to bed if one of the kids is going to wake me up and then I wouldn't be able to fall asleep again after that. So here is the rundown:

Amber had a very nice birthday. Her boyfriend and other friends went to the Olive Garden. My mom got her a diamond heart necklace and diamond earrings-Hey I don't even have any diamonds. I do have some really nice Sapphires and I like them a lot. So moving on. She asked for black converse shoes and she got those along with a John By the Way CD collection and a cute 101 Dalmation figurine. That was her first and first favorite Disney movie. Her friends gave her some nice presents as well.

I have had five kids in school 3 consecutive days now. Even though Kelsea thought she might die on Monday but she made it and took a really long nap when she came home. For some reason she ran into a wall today in PE and could not recall how the wall got there. She got a beautiful bruise on her knee. She is not quite there yet. But tonight Autumn is running a fever. But she can't miss tomorrow. It is Valentines party day. We will see what happens.

I just took Kylee to the jr high orientation. I have enjoyed the 2 school thing a whole bunch this year. Back to 3 next year. I can't believe it. And I could not believe what I saw next to the trophy case. I was looking for some past basketball stuff that had Amber and Kelsea in the pictures but it was gone. But next to the case was a large plaque with names of students for an Athletic "F" award. I suppose the F stands for Fairmont not Fail. It said the students represented a whole bunch of cool things. There were maybe 10 names or 12-ish per year. I need to go back and take a picture. My brain is hammered. Both girls had their names on it for the years they were there!! But poor Kelsea's name was spelled wrong again. She should be use to it by now. I keep telling her to get over it anyway.

And Devanie is coming for a visit! We have a 4 day weekend-I have a 3. Next week is a tiny bit calmer than this one. It should be fun as long as Autumn does not get the long drawn out illness the girls have been passing around.

So we all are having a clothing crisis. There has been no time to get laundry put away even though everyone has pitched in on the washing of the most necessary to be washed stuff. I have to get on figuring out taxes and tackling the paper trail once more. Someday, maybe someday, My sister will get her Christmas and now birthday present as well.

Happy Love day to all-I might miss it here.

Surprise Party

I couldn't say a word and it was planned so quickly, but we threw a surprise party for Amber. Her boyfriend's mom offered to do it and to do it at their house-I didn't have to clean. The only glitch in this weekend was that the Special Olympics had their opening ceremony on Amber's birthday and a lot of her friends volunteered for that so they were either unavailable or exhausted by party time. We had our traditional family get together and then the boyfriend, and her great friend and her boyfriend came over for a bit. They were "going to a movie" then they put a blindfold in her and drove all over the place before they came to his house. We were there with the friends that were able to come. She was carried in and deposited on the floor. All the stuff over her head was removed and we yelled surprise of course and threw balloons at her. She sat their open mouthed for a long time. It was funny. Autumn videoed it so if I can figure out how to post a video I will. She said that she did not know where she was. She realized there were people in the room. Then she realized they were people she knew-AWESOME.

So my baby is officially 18. We are in mourning. But it turned out to be a great birthday.

We had 2 games this weekend and both were lost. One was by 4 points and the other by 2.

Kelsea still is recovering. She wears out really easily and still has coughing fits. It is going to be a long recovery for her. The thing about Kelsea's grades is she got sick at the beginning of 3rd quarter so nothing has been turned in which amounts to F's but the teachers are going to be working with her to help her get back on track and I have someone lined out to tutor her in Math.

I am up this late because I watched the Masterpiece Theatre version of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Auston with Kelsea. I just LOVED it. Oh my gosh. It is a very well done version as well.

Well, I still have to work tomorrow.

Vacation?

I wish I was going on one. A nice long one. All alone. It doesn't even have to be that warm. A comfy bed would be great. An ocean view would be cool. A place like the Oregon coast where the walks on the beach can be pretty solitary. Or even a vacation in my house with everyone gone and people thinking I am gone too. HMMMM...... Maybe I can go get some sleep and dream about one because I won't be getting one. Visualization will have to work.

Pneumonia

My poor kid. I came home today for lunch. I have been letting Kelsea sleep in the mornings because the minute she wakes up she coughs and coughs. So I get home at 11 and wake her up to see how she is. She is not right. She doesn't have a fever. She is coughing and when she stops she looks like she ran a mile. I ask her questions and she is just responding slow and not making much sense. I was trying to determine how tired she was still or if something was wrong. I went ahead and went back to work after I made sure she got her medicines and I was not feeling right about her. I am kind of slow trying to figure it out. But she should have been improving and that was a step backwards I thought. I talked to several people at the school and they said "take her in" Every time I do jump on that bandwagon I hear that it is viral. But I really felt like something was really wrong. I was able to get her an appointment this afternoon-that does not always happen at our dr's office, especially at 11:45. The PA we saw was really concerned. her lungs sounded clear but her ears were more infected. They did a chest x-ray. He said it was obvious she had pneumonia. So they gave her shot. She refused it. I coaxed and finally pulled my 140 pound solid muscle kid out of her chair and stood with her and held her as she cried. She has an inhaler now and since the shot, even though she is complaining more about the pain from it than she has about any other thing she has been through the past 2 weeks, she is acting more like herself already. Poor kid.

You know what? I am hammered. I am just hammered from all of this. It has been so stressful with just everything. Somehow I am not sick but I am exhausted. I need some sort of really long vacation. Lee Joe will be home in hours but that doesn't mean anything will ease up. I am listening to some ridiculous battle over who is going to wash the crock pot. At least it isn't 4 kids echoing each other's cough. I think we might be down two one really bad cougher and one mild one. I have been sighing and taking deep breaths for about a week now to calm myself but I don't think it is very effective. So I am hanging in there like always.

I think I will have some good reports on the little girls in the school art contest. I know right now Autumn won a first place for a watercolor painting and 2nd on a drawing and Kylee won a 2nd place on a drawing. There are a few more I need to find out about like Hannah's and a couple more pieces. I need to go e-mail teachers now. My two oldest have been trying to pull themselves out of a mountain of F's. Well Kelsea hasn't been well enough to do much on that.

promised pics

I thought there were more to post. I guess not.

Hannah's birthday.. She really wanted a sock monkey. She is a goofy kid

Hannah lost her 2nd front tooth without as much drama as the first.

Autumn's basketball action shot. I didn't get any of Kylee. The game was to intense for the coach to do that. :)

Note to self--take more candid photos. I did get some of the two oldest in Amber's room all sick but I am sure I would be chastised for those.

Maybe an upward turn soon

I took Kelsea in to the doctor today. The poor kid is not improving at all. She is worse. She has been on penicillin and he looked in her ears and went-"OH" she has double ear infections I guess that can cause the nasty cough he said and that bacteria also can cause bronchitis. He didn't want to do a chest x-ray because he was wanting to treat her with the same antibiotic no matter what the results. Her pulse was really high and her bottom number on her blood pressure was high. So she is on Zythromiacin. That really good stuff for 5 days. Hopefully she will start feeling better real soon. He gave her some cough medicine too. As soon as we got home she coughed so much she threw up. Kylee did that too last night, really bad. Amber couldn't sleep because her cough kept her up too. But the little girls should be able to go back to school Weds. Fortunately the little girls were not hit as hard. With Kelsea on better meds I should be able to go back tomorrow without worrying about her all day. I feel on the verge of something everyday but it is mild so far, thank goodness. Lee Joe is back on Thursday for the weekend and then he is gone again.

pictures?

No pictures yet but it is about time I posted some. Same old Same old around here. I am home with 3. I am wondering that maybe the youngest 2 are not going to get this as bad. There is some improvement from yesterday. I thought they would be worse, that is why I stayed home with them today. Kelsea is still struggling. I am trying to figure out-take them in to the dr-don't take them in. I don't know. I have it just a little, not bad though. And it is worse later in the day. I am trying to take advantage of some time at home. Posting is not one of those things. Oh well.

It might have us all...

I won't elaborate too much unless I decide it is late enough and I am without adult company to drone on. But I believe this thing has taken down child #4. And the #5th was curled up in a ball tonight on the couch in a similiar way that it took down kid #3 to get it. I feel it coming on. The past two nights have been pretty rough for me. It would help if wandering teenagers didn't come over to my house after 10 to visit my sick teenagers so that I could go to bed and stay asleep at a decent hour. Here I am at a crazy hour going on about this. We did take a trip to the mall tonight for just a little bit to use Hannah's b-day coupon at Build-A-Bear because it expired today. I had 4 kids and 3 of them kept coughing and I decided pretty quick it was time to go. I don't think I am taking 4 possibly 5 hacking kids to church. 2 of the sickish ones played basketball today and they were down the rest of the day. Kelsea is done now for the season. They lost today. She was in bad shape to play. Kylee's team played a team with way more skill than our poor little girls had and we had a rough game. Kylee has no stamina 3 weeks later. Autumn's team won and she scored 4 points. If it gets me and the two youngest this may be one awful week. Oh man. I am going to get some rest so I can try to still fight it off the best I can.